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Filed under: Fun, Photo, Windows, Macintosh

Paint with light using Glow Doodle


Glow Doodle is a quirky drawing app that lets you draw with light, and you can try out if you've got a webcam. If you've ever taken a photograph of something moving and seen the streak effect, you'll get how it works. Open up the app, and get some kind of light source, like a cellphone, and move it around in the air. It will leave a trail, and you'll have a light drawing.

The controls for Glow Doodle are pretty simple: click to clear, s to save, and space to upload to the online collection of glowdoodles. Experiment with different objects to see what kind of results you get. The reflection from my glasses worked pretty well, and I imagine a shiny watch face would be pretty good, too. I didn't have a laser pointer on hand - I know, I'm such a bad geek - but I'd like to try different light colors and see how those work.

Filed under: Fun, Windows, Macintosh, Productivity

F.lux adapts your display to the time of day

Let's face it: some of us don't get outside as much as we should. When you're working or playing in front of your computer all day, you don't always notice little things like a sunset. An ingenious little app called F.lux lets your monitor adjust to ambient lighting conditions around you, even when you're glued to the keyboard. It adjusts your display settings based on location and your current lighting setup, complementing the lighting inside your room or cube.

As time passes, F.lux checks the status of the sun in your zip code or latitude, and adjusts your display's color temperature accordingly. As a writer, I love the extra bit of environmental awareness it offers. As a designer, I would probably be utterly annoyed by shifting display settings. Good thing there's a handy "turn off for one hour" feature you can use to switch back to your regular whitepoint while you're working with color.

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Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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