Cameras

After Moore, Oklahoma was struck by a deadly tornado earlier this week, photographs quickly emerged showing what the storm looked like from space and what the destruction was like on the ground. Now, Google’s Crisis Center website has published satellite photographs showing what the city look like before and after the tornado. As you can see from the “after” photo above, the tornado — which measured 1.3-miles wide at one point — left a trail of devastation on its 17-mile path. Here are some before and after photographs showing various parts of the city on April 29th, 2013 and on May 22nd, 2013: One striking thing seen in the satellite photographs is how concentrated the tornado’s damage is on the land. In certain neighborhoods, groups of three or four homes are completely destroyed, while homes nearby on either side of the path remain standing with their roofs intact: Here’s an interactive view you can use to browse the imagery yourself: You can find a larger version of this interactive browser over on the Google Crisis Center website. Moore, Oklahoma Tornado [Google Crisis Center via CNET] P.S. As we shared earlier this week, there are a number of major relief organizations you can donate to if you’d like to help the victims of this disaster. Thanks for sending in the tip, Leonardo!

CENTER has announced the 13th Annual Review Santa Fe, a juried portfolio review event and conference for photographers. Read more and comment »

Pictastik is a free, location-based photo sharing app that allows users to see what’s happening, right now, in the cities around the world. Read more and comment »

Ilford has announced a free webinar entitled, “Make Custom Paper Profiles Your Best Friend.” Read more and comment »

Topaz Labs have released Topaz Clarity, an image processing plug-in billed as the first software to give photographers the ability to easily adjust various levels of contrast in their photograph without degrading the image quality with halos or artifacts. Read more and comment »

Video sharing service Vine has generated a lot of buzz in recent months. Vine allows you to share videos of up to six seconds in length as either a single continuous take or as a 'collage' of short duration clips. Art Director Jethro Ames saw Vine as a challenge and decided to push his limits to see what he could do with the app. The result is a series of imaginative timelapse videos that are perfectly executed down to the last detail. Click through to see his work, and our interview on connect.dpreview.com.

Reprogramming the identification number of a cellphone could be punishable with a prison sentence of up to five years under the terms of a proposed law announced Friday.The Mobile Device Theft Deterrence Act of 2013 makes changing the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number in a phone a crime. The IMEI number is a unique identification number in every cellphone and is exchanged when a mobile phone signs on to a mobile network.In an attempt to combat the growing number of violent street robberies of high-end smartphones, carriers have built a database that blocks stolen phones from being reused. The database relies on the IMEI number, so if the number is reprogrammed in a stolen handset, it could bypass the database check and get resold and reused.Reprogramming the number isn't easy, but it also represents a weak point in the battle against these robberies, which now account for close to half of all street crime in several major U.S. cities. While the theft of the phone and the sale of stolen goods both constitute crimes, the electronic reprogramming in the middle doesn't. The new law would change that.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

With an update to its namesake configuration tool, Puppet Labs has introduced a programming language designed to give administrators more flexibility in scripting their deployment routines.Puppet 3.2.1, the first public release in the Puppet 3.2 series, can also now accept external certificate authorities (CAs), allowing organizations to use their in-house authorization systems with their Puppet deployments.Puppet is open-source software that system administrators can use to help manage systems. It can be used to automate repetitive tasks, deploy applications and manage the process of adding servers to scale systems."Puppet's configuration language has always been focused on the best combination of simplicity and power, and my goal was always to have it be more like a configuration file than a programming language," wrote Luke Kanies, founder and CEO of Puppet Labs, in an email interview. "However, as our community has built more sophisticated infrastructures with Puppet Enterprise ... people have needed more power in the language."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

CanvasPeople has their canvas prints on sale at 60% off with free shipping. Sale Prices:SizeStandardGallery WrapSale PriceThickGallery WrapSale Price8x10$20.00-11x11$26.80-11x14$27.20$35.2016x16$32.80-9x27$34.00-16x20$36.80$44.8018x24$41.20$49.2024x36-$54.0020x48-$56.00

eBay (via BigValueInc) has the Canon Speedlite 90EX Flash for Canon EOS M Mirrorless Camera available for $109.00 with free shipping. Compare at $139.99. Caveat Emptor: BigValueInc's positive feedback rating is at 98.3%. However, eBay seems to trust them enough to continue listing their auctions as "Daily Deals."