Gadgetwise: Playing Around With a Toy Camera

Toy cameras aren’t just for children There is a thriving art movement built on the out-of-focus, distorted, inaccurately colored photos that come from toy cameras.

The Bonzart Lit is a toy camera, but that doesn't limit the artistic possibilities.

The Bonzart Lit digital camera has a rudimentary filter menu, which can make your photos color, black and white, sepia or negative.

Nevertheless, your first reaction to the Bonzart Lit digital camera, which measures less than 3 inches by 2 inches, and is only half an inch thick, will probably be along the lines of, “How cute!”

But the tiny toy can take some very artistic photographs.

For one thing, it has a fuller menu of options than you’d expect from a camera this size. Resolution can be set at up to 2,048 by 1,536 pixels — the same resolution as an Apple iPad 3 Retina screen. You can also set light metering to measure the center of the picture, the whole scene or a small spot in the middle, just as you would on serious digital single-lens reflex cameras. And you can even set white balance for daylight, cloudy conditions, fluorescent or tungsten light.

You can also adjust exposure, and the camera has a rudimentary filter menu, which can make your photos color, black and white, sepia or negative — or even in tints of red, green or blue.

That leaves a lot of room for creativity, but it would be a mistake to call the camera sophisticated. It essentially has a pinhole lens, fixed focus and a very slow shutter speed. That means that lots of your photos are going to be a little soft (although it does have a screw mount for a tripod, to help steady the camera). The color is quite muted. And you get a natural vignette effect, a kind of darkening around the edges that draws your eye to the center.

But it is those limitations that can make the images compelling.

Offered in red, black, blue, white and pink, the camera is available online for $40. But you will also need a microSD memory card, which is not included. A 2GB card can be found online for less than $10. ROY FURCHGOTT

How Big Data Is Playing Recruiter for Specialized Workers

Jade Dominguez, 26, never went to college, but was hired by Gild, a start-up, after its algorithm put him atop a list of programmers.

WHEN the e-mail came out of the blue last summer, offering a shot as a programmer at a San Francisco start-up, Jade Dominguez, 26, was living off credit card debt in a rental in South Pasadena, Calif., while he taught himself programming. He had been an average student in high school and hadn’t bothered with college, but someone, somewhere out there in the cloud, thought that he might be brilliant, or at least a diamond in the rough.

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“The traditional markers people use for hiring can be wrong, profoundly wrong,” says Vivienne Ming, the chief scientist at Gild since late last year.

That someone was Luca Bonmassar. He had discovered Mr. Dominguez by using a technology that raises important questions about how people are recruited and hired, and whether great talent is being overlooked along the way. The concept is to focus less than recruiters might on traditional talent markers — a degree from M.I.T., a previous job at Google, a recommendation from a friend or colleague — and more on simple notions: How well does the person perform? What can the person do? And can it be quantified?

The technology is the product of Gild, the 18-month-old start-up company of which Mr. Bonmassar is a co-founder. His is one of a handful of young businesses aiming to automate the discovery of talented programmers — a group that is in enormous demand. These efforts fall in the category of Big Data, using computers to gather and crunch all kinds of information to perform many tasks, whether recommending books, putting targeted ads onto Web sites or predicting health care outcomes or stock prices.

Of late, growing numbers of academics and entrepreneurs are applying Big Data to human resources and the search for talent, creating a field called work-force science. Gild is trying to see whether these technologies can also be used to predict how well a programmer will perform in a job. The company scours the Internet for clues: Is his or her code well-regarded by other programmers? Does it get reused? How does the programmer communicate ideas? How does he or she relate on social media sites?

Gild’s method is very much in its infancy, an unproven twinkle of an idea. There is healthy skepticism about this idea, but also excitement, especially in industries where good talent can be hard to find.

The company expects to have about $2 million to $3 million in revenue this year and has raised around $10 million, including a chunk from Mark Kvamme, a venture capitalist who invested early in LinkedIn. And Gild has big-name customers testing or using its technology to recruit, including Facebook, Amazon, Wal-Mart Stores, Google and Twitter.

Companies use Gild to mine for new candidates and to assess candidates they are already considering. Gild itself uses the technology, which was how the company, desperate for programming talent and unable to match the salaries offered by bigger tech concerns, found this guy named Jade outside of Los Angeles. Its algorithm had determined that he had the highest programming score in Southern California, a total that almost no one achieves. It was 100.

Who was Jade? Could he help the company? What does his story tell us about modern-day recruiting and hiring, about the concept of meritocracy?

PEOPLE in Silicon Valley tend to embrace certain assumptions: Progress, efficiency and speed are good. Technology can solve most things. Change is inevitable; disruption is not to be feared. And, maybe more than anything else, merit will prevail.

But Vivienne Ming, who since late in 2012 has been the chief scientist at Gild, says she doesn’t think Silicon Valley is as merit-based as people imagine. She thinks that talented people are ignored, misjudged or fall through the cracks all the time. She holds that belief in part because she has had some experience of it.

Dr. Ming was born male, christened Evan Campbell Smith. He was a good student and a great athlete — holding records at his high school in track and field in the triple jump and long jump. But he always felt a disconnect with his body. After high school, Evan experienced a full-blown identity crisis. He flopped at college, kicked around jobs, contemplated suicide, hit the proverbial bottom. But rather than getting stuck there, he bounced. At 27, he returned to school, got an undergraduate degree in cognitive neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego, and went on to receive a Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon in psychology and computational neuroscience.

During a fellowship at Stanford, he began gender transition, becoming, fully, Dr. Vivienne Ming in 2008.

Gadgetwise Blog: Q&A: Playing DVD Movies in Windows 8

Does Windows 8 have a DVD player program for watching movies? If so, how do I find it?

Windows 8 does not include a default video player for watching movies on DVD. In a company blog post last year, Microsoft representatives cited the decline in disc sales and licensing fees for DVD player software as factors in the decision. Windows 8 should be able to read data stored on DVD discs; if not, check with your hardware manufacturer for troubleshooting tips.

The lack of built-in software should not stop you from playing DVD movies on your computer. If you have Windows 8 Pro, you can download and add on the Windows Media Center Pack software for $10 to get DVD playback capability; those with just Windows 8 need the $100 Windows Pro Pack to add a compatible version of Windows Media Center to their systems. Microsoft’s site explains how to buy the software and has more information on playing DVDs for various editions of Windows.

While you can find DVD player apps in the Windows Store, you may not have to go that far or spend any money. If you bought a new computer with both a DVD drive and Windows 8 preinstalled, see if the manufacturer included a program for handling DVDs. If not, VideoLAN’s open-source software, VLC media player, can play DVD movies. The program can be downloaded free, but the developers include a link to make a small donation if you would like to help out.

Nintendo Video Chat: Playing New Super Mario Bros. 2

Welcome back to another mushroom-y edition of Nintendo Video Chat, IGN's very own Nintendo-centric video podcast. This week we've got Audrey "OMG I Hosted The Fix!" Drake (otherwise known as ME!!), Sam "Mustache Power" Claiborn, Brian "I Hosted The Fix Too!" BRAP BRAP" Altano, and Fran "I Hate Wii" Mirabella. That last nickname was a joke, people. Well, they all are, but... anyway. Moving on. Let's talk Nintendo things, shall we?

This week we're playing through some levels of forthcoming 3DS game New Super Mario Bros. 2. Wahoo!! The game hits the States this Sunday, but if you don't mind a few spoilers, allow this podcast to serve as a lengthy early look at Mario's latest.

And as always, you can download the audio version of this episode on iTunes (whenever it decides to show up), or listen to it here.

While you're thinking of us, be sure to join our Nintendo Voice Chat Facebook page. Don't forget to give us a like while you're there! Why? Because every like we get is like an extra coin in your pocket. Except it's not like that at all. Do it anyway, though!

One last thing - don't forget to send your comments, questions and so on to nvc@ign.com. You can also follow us all on our IGN blogs and Twitter. We're especially interested in your feedback on our new format. This is all still very much in the experimental phase, so your insight is much appreciated.

Until next time, Koopalings - Game On!