Do feats of clay
If your home movies are just too dull to be endured, you have a new option: Turn your family members into claymation characters.
Honestech’s Claymation Studio is a software package that makes it easy to create video with stop-motion animation, the technique that brought Gumby to life. You can capture images from a digital camera or camcorder, a Webcam or any other digital source. You can then apply small changes and add background images and music to create full claymation movies.
The software displays each frame for editing in sequence. A drag-and- drop function lets users rearrange frames.
Previous frames can be overlaid on the current frame using the “onionskin” feature to help maintain continu- ity. The “rotoscope” feature lets users convert a reference source into a claymation image — say, turning a sleeping Dad into a sleeping bear.
Claymation Studio works only on Windows PCs and supports WMV and AVI video formats. It is available at for $40. — Dan Mitchell, The New York Times
This Fin is thin
Helio loves the sea. The company’s latest phone, the Fin, follows a pair of nautically themed cell- phones — the Ocean and the Drift — and it is as thin and menacing as a shark’s dorsal appendage slicing through the water.
The phone, manufactured by Samsung, is half an inch thick when closed and is clad in lightweight magnesi- um. It has a 3-megapixel camera and all of the high speed network features — including e-mail and instant messaging — of the Ocean and other Helio phones.
The Fin costs $175 after rebate and requires a Helio service plan, which starts at $65 a month for unlimited data and downloads and 500 minutes of talk time.
Helio’s service includes a few unique applications. Built-in GPS allows you to turn on a Buddy Beacon, which displays where your Helio-toting friends are at any time. The phone also has Helio on Top, an RSS feed reader that shows entertainment, technology and sports news on the phone’s main 2.3-inch screen. It includes Google Maps and supports stereo Bluetooth headsets for audio playback.
Barnacles not included. — John Biggs, The New York Times
