PhotoTime | Orbeus – The Best Way to Organize, Sort and Tag your photos

Jul 10

by WuKong in Technology 1 comments tags: Space Travel

SpaceX and the Beauty of Failure

By now, you’ve probably heard of SpaceX’s catastrophic launch failure: on June 28th, their Falcon 9 rocket exploded less than three minutes into its takeoff. Fortunately, no lives were lost- the Falcon 9 was an unmanned rocket tasked with transporting nearly 4,000 pounds of critical supplies to the International Space Station. And fortunately for the three men aboard the ISS, on July 3rd Russia’s Progress 60 successfully delivered that important cargo, ending a harrowing summer of failed launches and depleting air, food and fuel aboard the station. In spite of all of this, the focus of the me...

Jun 12

by WuKong in People 0 comments tags: photography

Serban Mestecaneanu – Interaction of Black and White

This week, PhotoTime is beginning a new series of articles, where we take a look at talented photographers from all across the globe, and speak with them to better understand what inspires them and fuels their art. This week we’re showcasing Serban Mestecaneanu, a talented Romanian photographer with an eye for the passion of daily life and the craftsmanship of fellow artists. Serban’s work can be found on his website, alongside selected prints for sale. PhotoTime: How did your artistic career begin? Is it something you’ve always seen yourself doing? Serban Mestecaneanu: I could say that ...

May 12

by WuKong in Technology, Uncategorized 0 comments tags: Startup, Technology, Trend

ReKognition versus Microsoft? Not even a contest.

There may be no such thing as bad press, but there is such a thing as a bad API, as Microsoft learned past week with their dubiously viral how-old.net. Introduced by VP Joseph Sirosh at Microsoft’s Build conference, the technology offered a taste of computer vision and deep learning to consumers, allowing them to track their age through pictures of their faces. There’s just one problem- it’s not very good. It’s not just that the experimental age detector is inaccurate, rather, that it’s completely arbitrary. Microsoft’s team seems to have the ability to detect faces down pat, but when a teena...

May 05

by WuKong in Travel 0 comments tags: Travel Tips, Vacation Ideas

Three Reasons to See Cape Town This Year

“The Mother City of South Africa is a bridge which connects us to the whole world.” – Gregory da Silva Many places lay claim to the title ‘most beautiful city in the world’, but few make the case quite as admirably as the cultural mecca of Cape Town. Built along the rim of the gorgeous Table Bay, the city offers some of the best of the nation, in sights, people and sheer experiences. If the pictures alone aren’t enough to convince you to visit as soon as possible, here’s a bit more on what makes it so special. The Landscape It’s almost too easy to talk about Table Mountain when you’re talking ...

Apr 27

by WuKong in Technology 0 comments tags: Dig, Space Travel, Technology

Japan’s Big Week in Tech

This week in emerging tech, we’re focused on all things Japan. It’s a good fit, right? For decades the country has been the epicenter of huge technological development, and this week has provided us with plenty of evidence that this is still the case. First up is an exciting new announcement from JAXA, Japan’s space agency, that the country intends to put an unmanned rover on the moon by 2018, in a bid that will put the East Asian nation on par with surrounding countries the US, China and (former) Soviet Russia. If another moon landing doesn’t sound all that exciting, look closer. Every opport...

Apr 12

by WuKong in Stuff 0 comments tags: MovieTime, Trend, Weekend

Three Things We Have To Know About Game Of Thrones

First off, congratulations! With yesterday’s news that the first four episodes of Game of Thrones have leaked, you’re frankly pretty brave for even opening an article on the series in the first place. Second, no need to worry. No spoilers here- as long as you’re caught up and ready for season five. And if you aren’t… what’s wrong with you? You’ve got like half a day left. Shoo. Go watch. Our calendars have been marked for months now- this is finally it. Season 5 of Game of Thrones, in which, for better or worse, we’ll be pushing past the current narrative of the novels themselves and into the ...

Apr 05

by WuKong in Travel 0 comments tags: Travel Tips, Vacation Ideas

A $15 Ticket to Europe? The Budget Flights of the Future

Ah, budget travel. There’s something very appealing about planning a vacation on the cheap – converting what you would otherwise be spending on typical nights out in some far-flung locale, taking in the culture and the sights. And the gifts of the internet era – the rise of couchsurfing, the ease of finding the perfect hostel or the cheapest train ticket, there’s a nigh-endless amount of opportunities for the determined explorer to keep things low-cost. Except for one sticking point: airfare. We probably shouldn’t complain, of course. As Louis C.K. said, we’re sitting on a chair in...

Mar 28

by WuKong in Technology 0 comments tags: Cool Apps, Startup

Periscope: A Superhighway for Streamers

These days, our phones have become repositories for all of our favorite memories- whether the memory is a night out with friends, a vacation to the beach, a chance encounter with, say, a celebrity- or a wild raccoon. (Or even better, some kind of… celebrity raccoon.) The hardware we have access to means we can easily take stunning photographs and high-quality video with almost no effort or training. Following from these capabilities, emerging tech in the world of smartphones generally focuses on two things: accessibility/ease of use (like PhotoTime, for example!) and sharing (think Instagram)....

Mar 24

by WuKong in People 0 comments tags: Meet the scientist, Office story, Startup

Still Far from the Real Solution: An Interview with Computer Vision Scientist Wei Xia

Thanks to a lot of careful design, PhotoTime makes organizing your pictures intuitive and easy. Underneath the hood, however, there’s cutting-edge technology at work, and the advances that make PhotoTime possible are constantly evolving. This week, we wanted to speak to an expert: our own Chief Scientist, Dr. Wei Xia, who gave a talk about large scale visual recognition at GPU Technology Conference last week. What led him to the field of computer vision, and how did that lead him to Orbeus (PhotoTime’s mother company) and this project? And what exactly is in store for this growing techno...

Mar 14

by WuKong in Fashion 0 comments tags: Dig, fashion, Weekend

The Weirdest, Coolest Fashion on the Web

Do you try to make a statement with your outfits? Or do you just like to turn heads? Everyone has a different style, but sometimes there are pieces and places that really turn heads no matter what your tastes may be. We wanted to share a couple of these crazy designs to make everyone’s photos just a little bit weirder. Also, we just found a lot of this stuff too adorable not to share. JumpFromPaper’s Mindblowing Cartoon Totes No, your brain isn’t melting, and these aren’t photoshopped. These are real bags from Taiwan-based JumpFromPaper, and… no, we swear, they’re real! Combining bright, shar...

Mar 10

by WuKong in Technology 0 comments tags: PhotoTime Tips

How to Keep Your Memories, No Matter What

Photos really are the best way to keep our memories intact. Few of us have perfect recall- the brain being the mysterious organ it is, and often we find ourselves struggling to remember occasions and experiences that by all means should be simple to recollect. As writer Eudora Welty once said, “A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.” It’s this impression that makes the prospect of losing our photographs so terrifying. We’ve all been there before: we open a folder or a digital camera roll expecting to be greeted by a long grid of thumbnails, and… nothing. Blank space. Confusi...

May 18

by WuKong in People 0 comments tags: Legendary, Music

The King is Dead – Long Live the King

B.B. King, legendary bluesman and American cultural icon, died on Thursday. He was 89. An artist whose music lifted him from rural poverty in Mississippi to superstardom, he remains one of the most visible icons of the blues, a talent that inspired generation after generation of musicians and performers. To honor the passing of this musical great, let’s look back at some of his most beloved songs, and explore what it is that made them so special. 3 O’Clock in the Morning “When you see me worry, baby- it’s you I hate to lose.” B.B. King’s incredible performance at the Regal in 1965 is consider...

Mar 26

by WuKong in People 0 comments tags: indie artist, photography

Dance with Nature: Mariko Klug’s Photography

As German and Japanese origin, Mariko Klug grew up in Japan and Brazil but now has settled down in Erding near Munich in South Germany with her husband, son and dog. She first became aware of iPhone photography in 2011 when a friend of hers started posting Hipstamatic photos on Facebook. Shortly afterwards she got her first iPhone 4 and since then iPhone photography is her dearest hobby. The simplicity of iPhone photography attracts her. “I simply take my phone out of the pocket and shoot. No lost opportunities anymore. If necessary, I edit my photos with photo editing apps and there are...