Snippets: 18 February 2013

Making of The Hobbit, first real protest, free 100GB storage

Snippets: 18 February 2013
Snippets: 18 February 2013

‘Making of’ videos are always interesting and if you have 4 minutes to spare, you can take a quick look at how ‘The Hobbit’ was created. Singapore finally saw her first large protest in decades. 3,000 may sound like a small number but that’s a big jump in Singaporean terms. Free network storage is great and here’s another local cloud storage option – 100GB for free. Nothing gets better than free, usually. Windows has billions of apps and there are some great ones that never get the attention. Have a top 10 list of great apps that you have probably never heard about. Lastly, a little how to. Velcro comes with the caveat of a loud disturbing noise when you pull two pieces a part. Fix that today.

 

#1: Video Effects of The Hobbit

CGI isn’t new but it has grown in importance to the point that 80% of a set can be purely computer generated. Peter Jackson’s massive battle scenes in the Lord of the Rings was one of the first few that relied heavily on CGI and the trend continues with his latest release – The Hobbit. This YouTube video seamlessly interlaces actual scenes with digital frameworks and set footage. It’s worth every second of the 4:21 min video. [via YouTube]

 

#2: First Large Protest in Singapore in Decades

Remember all the jokes that Singaporeans were too passive to come out of their shells and make a stand? Or, how international protesters were made to protest indoors in clearly marked zones? How about the speakers corner that collected dust? Well, all that changed. The population paper pissed Singaporeans sufficiently to get 3,000 bodies to the speakers corner to stage the first large scale protest in decades. Yes, you may contend that 3,000 is a tiny number compared to any other known protest, but this is Singapore and 3,000 is a massive jump from the usual 10 or 20. How does a 15000% increase sound to you? [via Aljazeera]

 

#3: Free 100GB Personal Network Storage

I’ll begin with the caveats because the headline tells you everything you need to know. This only works for the following Singapore internet service providers (ISP): LGA Telecom, M1, MyRepublic, Starhub, SuperInternet, ViewQuest. Yup, the big one left out is SingNet. If you meet the requirements, simply sign up and you will instantly get 100GB of network storage for free. You can connect it via WebDav and this can be done in Windows, Mac and any mobile platform that supports the standard. You do need to be a little comfortable with some technicality but otherwise, free space is always a nice thing to have. [via freenet.sg]

 

#4: Top 10 Underhyped Windows Apps

There are apps in Windows that you think off immediately when that Microsoft logo pops up. Well, here are 10 that you probably didn’t hear off and should take a look at. They make your computing experience better and give you added functionality you always wished you had. The apps are WizMouse, Skitch, PotPlayer, Bins, Chocolately, Dexpot, Growl, MusicBee, Nircmd and OneNote. To find out what they do, hit the link.  [via Lifehacker]

 

#5: Silence the Sound of Velcro

Velcro is awesome but the sound of it coming apart can irk quite a few and make it unpleasant for formal situations. Here’s how you can reduce the inappropriate ‘zaaaatch’ sound with a little bit of removable fabric. It’s a pretty creative project and you could do so yourself with just a little bit of sewing. Those home economics lessons in Secondary School will come in handy here. [via Lifehacker]