Building Artificial Faces

Don't like your face online? There's software that can automatically swap out features from a library of other people's mugs. It looks like a variation on morphing, only the software is taking eyebrows, eyes, mouth, nose, and so forth, from one face and blending them into another's. It could be used to protect privacy -- but it also increases that unease over the nature of reality when that world meets a digital realm. Don't like your face on Match.com? Change it. I understand the desire for privacy, and yet I also appreciate how quickly we are slipping through the looking glass into a place where nothing is as it seems, literally.

Washington Post Photoshop Express Review

I haven't bothered trying Photoshop Express, not only because of the potential rights I'd have to give up, but, owing to being in a rural part of the country, there's no broadband in them thar phone wires - and no cable connection to even miss broadband. And if you're going to edit photos over the Internet, dial-up is the last thing you want to contemplate. However, Washington Post writer Rob Pegorano has a review on the product. From what he says, it seems that while there are some basic abilities, this is not really close to being Photoshop, and is slow, clumsy, and buggy, at least as of early April. If you want real photo editing without spending a lot of money, here are some choices that I've covered.

Online Photography Collections

I had caught misreading an article, thinking that a major museum in Cleveland was uploading its photography collection onto the web. But that got me wondering about what collections might be available for online views. I did some searching, and here are some suggestions:

• New York Public Library - The institution offers a number of online exhibitions.


• NOAA Photo Library - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has 10,000 environmental photos.


• George Eastman House - The foundation of teh photographic pioneer (Does the name Kodak ring a bell?) has a growing collection from its extensive holdings.


• Museum of Modern Art in New York - MoMA has online exhibitions and projects.


• US Geological Survey - Natural history and earth science images.


• Smithsonian Institution - Browse selected images, download screen resolution versions, and send e-cards.


• Library of Congress American Memory - Collections of teh LOC.