Daytime Fireworks Are More Beautiful Than You’d Expect [VIDEO]

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Everyone loves watching fireworks illuminate dark skies, but did you ever wonder what they would look like during the day?

Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang put on this enormous daytime explosion event at the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar. Guo-Qiang shows that just as nighttime fireworks are engineered to create mesmerizing light patterns, so can the chemical combustibles form unforgettable spectacles in the sun.

SEE ALSO: 7 Spectacular Fireworks Displays on YouTube

Guo-Qiang’s computer-controlled designs of black smoke clouds are individually calculated to resemble images such as “drops of ink splattered across the sky” and a pyramid floating above the desert.

Do you think daytime fireworks could become mainstream, challenging the traditional nighttime displays?

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BONUS: 10 Explosive iPhone Fireworks Photos [PICS]

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View As Slideshow »

1. The Devil Inside by Jamie Pachomski

This amazing capture shows the glowing red heart of the firework.

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2. Fireworks by Emanuelle Paradis

A lovely Hipstamatic shot, this gets bonus points for snapping multiple, multi-colored fireworks.

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3. iPhone Firework by Darghorn

This stunning abstract shot stopped us in our tracks.

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4. Fireworks by Oliver Astrologo

This looks celestial -- like a sun and stars.

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5. Sparkler by Andy Rasmussen

This Camera+ image has captured some sparkler action really nicely -- you can almost hear it fizz!

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6. Fireworks by Lucrecer Braxton

Lucrecer Braxton's perfect timing helps create a striking shot. We especially like how the firework stands out against the blurry background.

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7. Untitled by Jennifer Cowham

Red sky at night -- this unearthly photo really caught our eye.

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8. Fireworks by Jenson Lee

A shower of sparks looks luxurious against the midnight blue background.

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9. Fireworks by Brittany

A fun triptych captures several stunning fireworks in a freeze frame.

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10. Happy Indepedence Day from Austin, Texas by Chris Carter

Chris Carter's incredible iPhone photo looks like a star imploding.

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BONUS: Fireworks by lecinqjuillet

As a bonus, we've included this delicate pastel image. Snapped on a compact, but edited on an iPhone, we think it's probably the prettiest fireworks photo you're likely to see.

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iPhone 4S Siri hack adds spoken settings control and battery status

The Siri hacks continue, with the latest mod for the iPhone 4S granting voice control over settings like WiFi and Bluetooth, as well as the ability to summon verbal feedback on things like battery status while your phone is in your pocket or bag. Handiwork of Hamza Sood, this latest tweak allows Siri users to toggle wireless settings with their voice, set screen brightness to different levels, and even send dictated messages using emojis.

Sood tells us that by using MobileSubstrate, a framework that allows third-party developers to access system functions, he’s able to add the settings support to Siri without requiring a proxy server. That has benefits in terms of stability and privacy, since you’re not relying on a third-party server to be online 24/7 or passing your spoken commands and dictated messages through someone else’s systems.

Being able to ask your phone how much battery life is left without taking it out of your pocket is another potentially very useful trick, as is being able to shut off or turn on Bluetooth and WiFi without having to dig through the iOS settings menus. It can even tell you your WiFi signal strength and IP address.

Unfortunately Sood’s hack does require a jailbreak to your iPhone 4S, something that’s not publicly available at present. Beyond that, though, it’s a simple case of copying a few files to the phone, so when the various teams working on a 4S jailbreak finally do strike gold, we can see this mod being very popular.

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Build music with blocks: Audio d-touch

Researchers at the University of Southampton have developed a new way to generate music and control computers.

"Grab a block and add a base beat, turn a block to speed up the high hat and we have a new way to generate music through controlling the computer," said Dr Enrico Costanza at the University's ECS - Electronics and Computer Science, who is launching Audio d-touch (Thursday 25 August).

Audio d-touch, which is based on Dr Costanza's research into tangible user interfaces, or TUIs, gives physical control in the immaterial world of computers. It uses a standard computer and a web cam. Through using simple computer vision techniques, physical blocks are tracked on a printed board. The position of the blocks then determines how the computer samples and reproduces sound.

"As more of our world moves into the electronic; records to mp3s, books to eBooks, we loose the satisfying richness of touching physical objects like paper and drumsticks," said Dr Costanza.

"Our Audio d-touch system allows people to set up and use tangible interfaces in their own home, office or recording studio, or wherever else they like," said Dr Costanza. This is the first time that anyone has developed a free application like this."

Audio d-touch is more than just for play: TUIs are an alternative to virtual worlds. Human-Computer Interaction researchers are investigating ways to move away from the online, purely digital world and rediscover the richness of our sense of touch.

Dr Costanza has developed Audio d-touch over several years, "Our aim is to advance the field by gaining insight into how tangible interfaces can be used in the real world. We are keen to have more people download audio d-touch and give us feedback so that we can improve it."

All that is needed is a regular computer equipped with a web-cam and a printer. The user creates physical interactive objects and attaches printed visual markers recognized by Audio d-touch. The software platform is open and can be extended for applications beyond music synthesis.

Source: University of Southampton

(Photo Credit: University of Southampton)

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App review: Infinity Blade 2 (iOS)

The 3D duel-fest is back, and attempting to answer some of the questions left over from its first installment (and a few major updates). Infinity Blade has had a huge effect on promoting the iPad and iPhone as valid gaming options, with high quality visuals and intuitive touchscreen controls. Well, Epic hasn't tampered with the formula too much, but has tried to instill some considered expansions and pour even more eye-honey all over it. Will it stretch gamers beyond the original? We've now spent a fair bit of time slashing away at those pesky immortals and their underlings -- see what we thought of this little big adventure after the break.

Infinity Blade 2 screen shots

The game follows on from the end of the first game, the protagonist now wielding the Infinity Blade and attempting to finish the ruling Deathless once and for all. Unsurprisingly, his plans soon come unstuck, and you start anew with bottom-rung equipment and skills.You also now have the curious honor of naming the hero as you please. We stuck with the staple Siris, a thinly veiled nod to the voice assistant of Apple's latest smartphone. We'll leave the narrative to reveal itself, but the sequel has done away with those "nordish" voices of old, with a very swift transition within the first ten seconds to English voice actors. Purists may scream that it's a dumb-down, but we felt a little more involved in the plot exposition.

Sound is suitably grand, although you will tire of the same grunts and huffs by the hundredth battle. While the battles themselves remain, at their core, pretty similar to the first release, there are now three different weapon styles. There's the typical sword and shield combo from Infinity Blade, a high damage (but slower) two-handed weapon where defense is now exclusively block-based and dual-wielding weapons for faster attacks with defense limited to dodges. You'll find a style that suits, although overall damage is less of an issue, and it's more decided by your preferred method of damage limitation. The power attacks that charge up during fights will also differ between the three weapon classes. A new customizable option for weapons and armor, gems, now add extra elemental damage and defenses. Depending on which jewels you embed, you can also increase the spoils of battle with extra money or higher chances of equipment drops.

Equipment and item management has been overhauled, as has the in-game store, with new pre-fight energy drinks offering health regeneration and double experience points -- for a price. Minor gambling has arrived here in the form of new prize wheels (in three pricey flavors) offering the chance of high-end weaponry, if you're willing to risk the chance of a sub-optimal weapon at the same time. You're no longer able to resell mastered equipment, so it's now well worth taking the time to search around the environs for extra money. You'll now come across keys too; around half of the treasure chests are now locked-down, unless you have the right key. (Or grab them from the in-game store.)

Journeying around the stages of Infinity Blade 2 will take you from oriental temples with plenty of eastern style licks, to what appears to be the increasingly ruined locale of the first game. They've cranked up the light effects here, so expect to be impressed all over again if you were wowed by the original. Granted, it can't stun players with the same "a phone's capable of this?" sort of way, but the game is noticeably sharper, taking full advantage of the high-resolution screens of the Apple hardware. Load times barely ever get in the way, although they are slightly more pronounced on the older iPhone 4 and original iPad. Any difference between devices seems negligible from the time we spent playing on the original hardware -- we did, however, play most of this review slashing away at the screen of our iPhone 4S. The gameplay is still very well suited to mobile devices -- you can literally spend a minute exploring and fighting, lock your phone, make a phone call and jump back in where you left off.

There's still room for improvement -- the game rewards obsessive replay, and it can get veryrepetitive, although Infinity Blade 2 does attempt to add more variety to its character designs (female baddies!), kill animations and wacky helmets. If you're looking to get to the ending, you can skip ahead by exchanging your real-world money for in-game gold, but even then, you should find plenty of gaming hours here -- it took us over a week of concentrated gaming to go through the whole storyline. Unfortunately, the multiplayer option found on the original app hasn't yet been translated to this release, although it's already earmarked a space in the game menus, promising to reward challengers with in-game goodies. Similarly, updates are already in the pipeline and the makers are promising more creatures to slice and more weapons to dice them with.

Infinity Blade 2 is, in no uncertain terms, a sequel. If you weren't drawn into obsessing over beating the Deathless in the first game, then you're not going to be converted here. It looks like a console game, but there certainly isn't the same level of depth or longevity. However, the new game arc does force you to explore the labyrinthine screens, even if only in a point-and-tap way, and the character customization and expanded fight system does allow you change and tweak your character to your tastes. The game is sumptuous, with textures and lighting effects pushed beyond what we saw almost exactly this time last year. $6.99 is a very good price for one of the grandest -- and technically greatest -- gaming challenges available on iOS.

iTunes

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Jailbreak iOS 5 [5.0.1] on iPhone 4, 3GS, iPad, iPod Touch 4G, 3G with Redsn0w 0.9.9b8

This is a tutorial on how to jailbreak iOS version 5.0.1. This jailbreak works for all devices that can run iOS 5 except the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. Hopefully the jailbreaks for those are coming soon, but be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to be updated as soon as the jailbreak for those devices is out.

NOTE: This jailbreak is tethered, so you will have to run Redsn0w again after the jailbreak is completed before you can use your device.

Requirements

Redsn0w 0.9.9b8 (link)

The correct 5.0.1 firmware for your device (link)

Instructions

1. Open Redsn0w so you are looking at this screen:

2. Select “Extras”

3. Click “Select IPSW and choose your iOS 5.0.1 firmware for your device

4. Return to the main screen, and select “Jailbreak”

5. Follow the on-screen directions to put your device into DFU mode

6. Wait for Redsn0w to complete the process of jailbreaking your device

NEXT STEPS ARE IMPORTANT

7. Go back to the main screen and select “Extras”, the click “Just boot”

8. Follow the directions again to go into DFU mode

9. You’re done

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Jailbreak iOS 5 [5.0] on iPhone 4, 3GS, iPad, iPod Touch 4G, 3G with Redsn0w 0.9.9b8

This is a tutorial on how to jailbreak iOS version 5.0. This jailbreak works for all devices that can run iOS 5except the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. Hopefully the jailbreaks for those are coming soon, but be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to be updated as soon as the jailbreak for those devices is out.

NOTE: This jailbreak is tethered, so you will have to run Redsn0w again after the jailbreak is completed before you can use your device.

Requirements

Redsn0w 0.9.9b8 (link)

The correct 5.0 firmware for your device (link)

Instructions

1. Open Redsn0w so you are looking at this screen:

2. Select “Extras”

3. Click “Select IPSW and choose your iOS 5.0 firmware for your device

4. Return to the main screen, and select “Jailbreak”

5. Follow the on-screen directions to put your device into DFU mode

6. Wait for Redsn0w to complete the process of jailbreaking your device

NEXT STEPS ARE IMPORTANT

7. Go back to the main screen and select “Extras”, the click “Just boot”

8. Follow the directions again to go into DFU mode

9. You’re done!

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Jailbreak iOS 5 [ 5.0 / 5.0.1 / 5.1 ] on iPhone, iPod Touch, And iPad [Tutorial]

GUIDES 

Jailbreak 5.0 | Jailbreak 5.0.1 | Jailbreak 5.1 

Welcome to JailbreakNation’s iOS 5 jailbreaking guides. Currently Redsn0w is the simplest way to jailbreakyour device, and our main tutorials use it. Our guides are 100% free, so never pay for a jailbreak.

Devices Supported:

iPhone 4
iPhone 3Gs
iPad
iPod Touch 4G
iPod Touch 3G

Devices  Not Supported:

iPad 2
iPhone 4S

CLICK ON YOUR VERSION OF iOS TO BEGIN! 

Jailbreak 5.0 | Jailbreak 5.0.1 | Jailbreak 5.1 

iOS 5  jailbreaks are currently tethered and can be made semi-untethered using this guide after

What does tethered mean?

Tethered jailbreaks are the same as regular except for the when booting up. When your device runs out of battery or shuts off you will have to “boot tethered” with your computer to turn it back on.

What does semi-untethered mean?

Semi-Untethered jailbreaks are the same as regular except for the when booting up. When your device runs out of battery or shuts off you will have to “boot tethered” with your computer to turn it into a fully functioning jailbroken device. Turning it back on regularly will cause jailbreak mods/apps not to work.

What is jailbreaking?

Jailbreaking is a process that allows iDevice (iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad)  users to gain root accesses to their device, taking down Apple’s harsh resections. Jailbreaking generally installs an app called Cydia that acts as a third party installer allowing users to customize their device with apps, tweeks, themes, and things not possible in the Apple App Store.

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The iPhone 5’s Internet Is Three Times Faster, Says Chinese Carrier

Talking at Macworld Asia, state-owned Chinese carrier China Unicom claims that Apple's iPhone 5 will run on suppafastHSPA+ networks. It's not LTE, but that's a 3x increase: a maximum download speed of 21Mbps compared to the current 7.2Mbps.

Both AT&T and T-Mobile have HSPA+ networks, so American users would be able to enjoy this speed bump (well, in the case of AT&T, who the hell knows what the speed would be). The same is true in Europe.

It's logical to expect this to be true. We are very close to release now and China Unicom has a close relationship to Apple.

We didn't expect the faster, true 4G LTE to be supported by the next-generation iPhone. The technology has been ignored by Apple so far because it would make the iPhone too thick and consume too much battery. In fact, Apple's CEO Tim Cook has already said that they are not adopting LTE any time soon. [PC Watch via Macotakara via AppleInsider]

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