The Uffizi Gallery, a museum in Florence boasting one of the world’s most famous collections of Renaissance art, is readying touchscreen stations where visitors will be able to browse the museum’s collection in a Cover Flow–esque format. The stations, dubbed “Uffizi in a Touch”, were developed by an Italian company called Centrica and will be loaded with 100-megapixel shots of the Uffizi’s most famous works which include Boticelli’s The Birth of Venus and Titian’s Venus of Urbino.

The novel technology, rolling out in December, will presumably have one of two effects: cheapening the Uffizi’s masterpieces or elevating the elusive properly tagged iTunes library to work of art status. [CultofMac]

First Place
“Smoke Signal was taken with an Olympus sp350 set to night scene. This was taken with a colour-changing LED rave light about 15cm long by 1cm wide that I wrapped with electrical tape to create a candy-cane stripe. I placed the light on my record turn table at a slow RPM and swiped the camera vertically to create the spinning stripe”
- Brad Bogle

Second Place
“No Photoshop! To take this photo, I set up some white paper for a background in a dark room. I laid strawberries on a table and separately stood up a banana with some cardboard and tape. With the lights on, I set up a quick-release tripod properly framing the banana (this makes it much easier later). Now the lights are off. So now I set my camera to bulb and used my built-in pop-up flash to shoot straight down on the strawberries, filling the frame. Keeping my finger on the shutter button, I put my camera on the tripod and then hit the pilot button on an external flash. The flash hits the white background behind the banana, silhouetting it briefly. Effectively, this washes out all of the original photo of the strawberries except for where the silhouette is, thereby superimposing the first image onto the second. And you get a cool glossy product-shot-reflection-look that results from the shadow drop-off of the external flash (although if you look closely, you’ll notice the “reflection” is actually just other strawberries from the initial shot). And now you can have a strawberry-banana! Canon 20D 17-55 IS lens @ f/22 ISO 200 13s (multiple focal length)”
- Jason Yore

Third Place
Nikon D5000; Nikkor 18-200mm VR; Exposure: 36.5 seconds; Aperture : f/5.0; Focal Length: 38mm; ISO: 400; WB: Daylight. I had a friend spin some burning steel wool in an eggbeater attached to a lanyard at the top of the overpass. What you’re seeing are the resulting spark trails. More here. [Ed note: the umbrella shots are even more impressive]
- Dan DeChiaro

These placements are almost unfair with so many good shots being in the mix. You all deserve an honourable mention. Check out the best of the rest below. It’s time well wasted.

“Shot this in a pitch black room on a white board with a Nikon D60, F/7.1, 15-second shutter @ ISO 800.” – Brad Fitzpatrick

“Hey Giz, Nothing beats good old fashion film: Yashica 635 TRL; Ilford HP 5 Plus ISO 400, 120 Film; Exposure: 1 sec. @ f/22. Shot and developed this roll overnight. I doubt you’ll get too many film shots! My wife being the ‘Christmas Spirit’ type, we hung the lights this weekend while enjoying the unseasonably warm conditions here in Lincoln, Nebraska. I’m a little surprised this shot came out so well considering this camera does not have a light meter. I’m getting really good at guessing.” – Keith Derickson

“Shot using a tripod mounted Canon T1i with a 18-55mm lens at 3200 ISO. Ten-second exposure at f/4.5. Shot is of LED lights inside gloves being worn by my brother.” – Travis Chase

“Camera: Canon EOS-400D; Lens: Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8; Shutter Speed: 20 sec.; Aperture: f/10.0; ISO: 200; Focal Length: 32mm.” – Moein Alinaghian

“This photo was taken Saturday night in Cambridge, MA looking out over the Charles River into Boston. In the upper right corner of the shot you can see the Orion constellation (or his belt at least). Shutter was left open for 15 seconds. ISO 80, f/2.” – Thom Valanzola

“Long exposure shot taken in my apartment with a Canon 30D with the 28-135mm kit lens 30-second exposure F6.3 ISO 100. I used a little LED keychain light to ‘paint’. Minor touch ups in Photoshop.” -Evan Ryan

“The photo was taken of fire spinners in Dallas, TX. I use a Nikon D90 with the 18-200mm Nikkor lens. For this shot, I handheld the camera (sniper technique), and used the following settings: f/3.5; 7/10 second exposure time; ISO-500; 18mm Focal Length (27mm @ 35mm equivalent); Flash off; White balance was adjusted manually.” – Kellan C. Warren

Taken driving down I5 from Portland, Oregon to Corvallis, Oregon. Camera: 500D w/ Tokina 11-17mm F2.8; 5 sec shutter; ISO 400.” – Scott Burback

“This series was taken in dark environments with a Nikon D40x and D70s mounted on a tripod whose shutter was open for 25 seconds on average. I used an LED flashlight to illuminate the figure during different moments as I directed his body through the frame. The light was used for about a second at a time only when I wanted to capture that particular movement within the frame.” – Jesse Suchoff

“Campfire shot… photo specs… Canon Rebel XS; ISO 800; 50mm prime lens; f/7.1; 1/6 sec shutter speed.” – Timothy Rooney

“New to light graffiti, I created this stick musician using laser pointers. This photo was shot with Nikon D50 (18-200mm VR lens) with the following settings: f/4, ISO200, and an exposure time of 20 seconds.” – Kelly Seto

“This photo was taken Friday (November 20) with the models Megan Murray and Jade Pearl. Although it shouldn’t matter, the hardware particulars are below. The image was slightly cropped to conceal some naughty bits, which I’m sure would be unacceptable given your audience. While the image is largely unaltered from the original, I did push the blacks slightly and sharpened it a touch after reducing it in size. Camera: Canon Digital Rebel XT; ISO: 100; Exposure: 15sec at f/10; Lens: 18.0-55 mm.” – Mister Devious

“It takes realised with a Nikon D300, lens Sigma 18-250, takes at low speed with a leds lantern. ISO: 100; 18 mm; f: 8; v: 30.” – Diego Haristoy

“The idea behind this is using slow shutter as a way of creating time lapse in one still photo. Here I document the traffic of a Brooklyn street at from the time interval of 10pm to 11pm, meaning roughly an hour-long exposure, where light layers to document the traffic’s movement. It was shot on a Minolta X-700 body with a Soligor 28mm Lens at f/16 on Rollei Pan 25 film at an exposure of one hour as previously mentioned. Due to the weather and using a camera using watch batteries, you run into the problem of having the batteries getting too cold and having to change them out every couple of exposures, as well as not wanting to stand out in the cold holding the shutter down I rigged some tape and a quarter over the shutter release cable to allow no movement and for me to be warm and inside.” – Zachary Chapman

“30-second exposure with multiple light sources moving.” – Nick Acott

“Invite a friend for dinner, watch 2012 don’t forget to feed him… lol. Seriously use my Olympus E-300 on a tripod setup speed shutter to “bulb”, iso to 200, aperture to 8, use different coloured lights to paint the night… and you get what you see. No software involved (if you know this technique, you will understand easily).” – Ken

“‘Back to the Future’; Nikon D700; Sigma 50mm F/1.4G; ISO 6400; 20 second exposure; Subject: 1979 Porsche 911 Turbo.” – Derek Carpenter

“This is my one all the way from New Zealand. Canon EOS 400D; $NZ20 tripod for TradeMe (NZ version of eBay); focal length: 21; app: 5.6; Exposure time: 53sec; iPod 20GB 5th gen (light writing tool).” – Cameron Moore

“Canon Eos 450D; f/6.3; exposure BULB; ISO 200; 20mm focal.” – David Wheeler

“I’m new to photography. I’m basically really wet behind the ears when it comes to photography. I started using a DSLR for the first time this year (late January 2009) and it’s been a huge leaning curve, but it’s great to hobby and I enjoy shooting. After hunting my subject and with keeping patient I was able to capture this liftoff. I’ve titled it “Lift” which was taken in my backyard. It’s a handheld shot, using the lens kit that was included with the Canon 40D, EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM. There was minimal post editing done in lightroom, the image was a little dark so I increased the exposure. Camera: Canon 40D; Lens: EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM; Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200); Aperture: f/5.6; Focal Length: 132 mm; ISO Speed: 400.” – Rodel Binaoro

“I went to Mt. Wilson in Los Angeles on November 16 with the hopes of catching a photograph of a Leonid Meteorite. After several unsuccessful attempts and also freezing, my friends and I started experimenting with time lapse photography using our mobile phones. Eventually other crowds started joining in with the fun. The picture included here represents the culmination of the night: almost everyone on the side of the mountain who was camped out on the closed road we were photographing at took part in this picture. Over 50 people doing their own thing with their mobile phones. This photo was taken with a vintage Pentax K1000 on 35mm Fujifilm Professional 400 speed film. Aperture was set to f/4. The negative was scanned into a medium resolution positive and shrunk to fit the size restraints required for this contest. This particular exposure was 45 seconds long.” – Marrio R. Lopez

“I kept seeing this guy on the streets of Hong Kong and he would beg by praying. I noticed that many did not stop so I decided to represent the opposing worlds using the slow shutter :-) Nikon D300; Nikon 18-200VR Lens; ISO 250; F22@1/3 sec 18mm.” – Preston Janssen

“Just my trusty Panasonic Lumix FZ-20 (dead now, replaced by the FZ-50) at the Gathering of the Vibes festival in Mariaville, NY, 8/18/06. ’twas taking some shots of the man on stilts who had a lightstick bolo that he was twirling around.” – Kevin Oppenheimer

“Took this shot with a point n’ shoot (Panasonic Lumix ZR1) – my running camera – selected Scene mode and “starry night”, what kind of name is that right? 15-second exposure.” – John Wood

“I used a fujifilm f100fd. Set exposure time to 8 seconds and ISO 100. Swung a light pen and a mag light without the top like a mad man.” – Dennis MK

“Photos were taken with a Pentax K-7 using the kit Pentax 18-55mm lens, set to the widest focal length. Tripod mounted, ISO 100, shutter speed on the slowest possible setting (30s), shot mostly wide open. Effects were done with a cheap LED induction flashlight. Taken with the help of my roommate Aleksandar Pejič, who also deserves credit.” – Jus Premrov

“This was taken at Sewell Park at Texas State University in San Marcos Texas. The equipment used was a Nikon D40 at 18mm, iso at 400, 15 second shutter speed, on a tripod obviously. I took this this shot on November 17, 2009.” – Ryan McKenery

“Nikon D2X; F9 @ 3 minutes; ISO 100; Focal Length: 12.0 mm. I was intrigued with this location and the shadows that were being created from the outside street lamps. I built and wired a bunch of LED lights together and proceeded to light paint. Thank you.” – Charlie Cho

The Japanese maple in Jeff Dauber’s San Francisco backyard is not at the centre of a carbon-sucking vortex. Sorry, sci-fi fans, but the Berkeley-based architect Thom Faulders’s perfectly flat deck only looks like its far corner has its own warped gravity. Ever since Francesco Borromini’s Gallery Spada, in Rome, forced perspectives and architectural patronage have gone hand in hand, but whereas the Renaissance architect employed a mathematician to make that arcade seem longer through foreshortening, Faulders used 3-D–modelling software to achieve Deformscape’s dipping effect.

“I wanted someone to barf when they look at it,” says Dauber

So Dauber serves guests burgers on the built-in grill only to get a perverse satisfaction when they puke it up later on. Nice. But the weirdness doesn’t end there. Faulders also designed much of the interior space of the home, turning it into a bachelor pad/art gallery with crazy walls and ceilings that appear to undulate. Needless to say, if you suffer from motion sickness don’t hang out with this man. [Metropolis via Fast Company]

“Cable Drawings” is a series of installations by artist Maisie Maud Broadhead in which pesky cords are incorporated into the very decor of one’s home.

But as Lifehacker points out, this technique need not be for the pretentious class alone. Adhesive wire clips, like those used in the lead photo, are available on the cheap. And you’ve spent years perfecting your perspective of the crudest of body parts already. [Maisie Maud Broadhead via Design Lounge via Unplggd via Lifehacker]

According to Ron van der Ende:

I collect old doors and stuff. Old painted wood that I find in the street. I take it apart and skin it to obtain a 3mm thick veneer with the old paint layers still intact. I construct bas-reliefs that I cover with these veneers much like a constructed mosaic. I do not paint them!

I want some of these so badly. [Ron van der Ende via Diskursdisko via Neatorama]

Julian left his quantum physics research path, but he certainly carried knowledge and inspiration from it over into his art career. These sculptures are intended to portray some incredible quantum physics ideas for which there are “no consistent mental images.” That craziness aside, the sculptures are lovely eye-candy based on artistic merit alone. [Julian Voss-Andreae via Boing Boing]

Noah Feehan looked at his raw steak one day and thought “What if I plug some composite video into that hunk o’ meat?” So he did just that. Turns out that it lets him judge when the steak’s perfectly cooked.

If you have nothing better to do, it looks like you could easily imitate this project at home. Just keep in mind that chicken and fish apparently don’t “present an easily-readable image” on the screen. [Eat Me Daily via Kottke]

Oxman went through medical school, but abandoned that career path for a “mishmash of design, architecture, art, and computer programming”.

She works out of MIT’s media lab and strives to bring about her vision of the future which consists of all objects living, breathing and adapting as we interact with them. She imagines organic architecture designs, nanotube walls which change size, chairs that change shape as you sit, DNA-encoded clothing that grows with you. She explains that studying how human bones adjust, getting thicker when a woman is pregnant or thinner when individuals are in outer space, inspired that vision of hers.

As with many other designs that we see, Oxman’s are stunning in their intricate plays with textures and materials, but to me the dreamy vision that pushes her to create them adds so much more to the way I view her works. I expect them to draw breath. Maybe we should start taking closer looks at the minds behind the eye-candy we so enjoy. Are there any objects, maybe even gadgets, that truly made you want to know how they were inspired? [Materialecology Blog via Materialecology via Esquire]

[jenntotten via Geekologie]

The only problem is that Robolamps have not gone commercial, but if they did, I have no doubt that they would sell. Well, maybe not the robot that looks like it’s admiring its own giant wang, but other than that… [Robolamp on Facebook via Pocket-Lint]