The camera obscura is one of the simplest ways to reproduce imagery in the world, but a pair of French photographers are using its basic principles to turn entire apartments into canvases. Traditionally, a camera obscura is created by taking a light-proof box and making a pinhole in it; hence the term "pinhole camera." Light enters the box through the hole, and recreates the image on the opposite wall, upside down. Romain Alary and Antoine Levi use the same technique, but with large physical spaces as their light-proof box instead — and then they film the result. It allows them to create dreamy, surreal montages where the physical textures of an apartment wall merge with the busy street outside in a kind of Inception-esque mash-up of reality and dream.

http://vimeo.com/alaryromain/pinholeroom

http://vimeo.com/70931458

In case you needed further proof that Sony will announce its "lens cameras" soon, Sony Alpha Rumors (SAR) has leaked the rumored accessories yet again. The camera site has previously revealed the lens cameras will attach to iOS and Android devices and act as a wireless lens using Wi-Fi. This time, the big surprise is color: SAR has obtained images from an anonymous source that show the rumored QX10 lens camera in a champagne gold and silver finish — perfect for that rumored gold iPhone 5S.

Prices could range from $250 - $450

Along with the new images, which also depict the higher-end QX100 complete with buttons and labels, SAR has more details on the lens cameras' specifications, prices, and features. The QX10 will reportedly cost $250, while the QX100 is pegged at $450. Both will be capable of shooting 1080p video at 30 frames-per-second and feature optical image stabilization. Images and video can be saved directly to your smartphone and to memory within the lens camera itself, and you'll be able to control zoom, exposure, white balance, and focus from your mobile device. An NFC logo that sits atop the lens cameras implies that you'll be able to pair the lens with your smartphone without diving through your device's Wi-Fi settings.

As previously reported, the QX10 is rumored to feature the same 1/2.3-inch 18-megapixel sensor and f/3.3-5.9 lens as Sony's WX150 camera, while the QX100 will apparently take the 1-inch 20.2-megapixel Exmor R sensor and f/1.8-4.9 Carl Zeiss lens from one of our favorite cameras, the RX100m2. We expect both lenses to be announced at Sony's September 4th press conference at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin.

Apple is widely expected to announce the second generation of its iPad mini in the coming months — possibly as soon as September 10th — but LG's competitor in the 8-inch class is getting the spotlight first. The rumored G Pad 8.3 has been announced by the Korean electronics giant this evening, featuring what LG claims to be the first full HD display (1920 x 1200, to be exact) in a tablet of this size — though it conveniently ignores the new Nexus 7, presumably because it falls into the 7-inch class, not 8.

The G Pad 8.3 will have 16GB of internal storage, 2GB of RAM, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor clocked at 1.7GHz. It runs Android 4.2.2 — not Android 4.3 — no doubt thanks to LG's software customizations that first debuted on the G2 smartphone. One unique feature to the G Pad is an app that LG calls "QPair," allowing users to pair to their smartphone and manage calls and messages directly from the tablet. Why a user would wish to take a call on the G Pad instead of their phone is unclear.

Pricing hasn't been announced yet, but LG says the G Pad 8.3 will be available in black and white across North America, Asia, and Europe in the fourth quarter of the year. The company had already promised to unveil its return to the Android tablet market at IFA 2013, so stay tuned for our first hands-on impressions from Berlin early next week.

Anyone looking to poke a hole in Project Loon — Google's ambitious project to use balloons to bring internet access to remote regions of the world — would likely point out that you can't keep a balloon in one spot. Google has an answer for that, of course. The Project Loon team says it could use wind currents at different levels of the stratosphere to control where balloons move and ensure that the "flock" remains evenly spaced out. That, in turn, would make sure that people down below don't have to wait for one of the airborne antennas to pass overhead before loading the internet.

Dan Piponi of Project Loon explains the technique by showing off some (very cool) simulations in a video released this week to explain the issue. By using publicly-available wind data, balloons can know when to increase or decrease in altitude to catch the current and stay in the right spot. The flock itself would continue to travel across the world — most of the winds in the stratosphere travel west to east — but a steady stream of balloons, evenly spaced out, could maintain stable internet access in areas targeted by the program.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mjyLynnQuC4

Erected on the banks of the River Seine in Paris earlier this year, artist Philippe Pasqua's Tyrannosaurus rex is even more terrifying than your typical reconstruction of the king of the dinosaurs. Why? Because he's made of several hundred gleaming chrome-plated bones, giving the magnificent beast a vaguely Terminator feel. Arnold Schwarzenegger's all-metal skeleton is scary enough as it is — a 12-foot tall T-rex is another story altogether. Standing behind the sculpture, the iconic Eiffel Tower rises off in the distance, letting you imagine that a futuristic race of cyborg fossils has descended upon The City of Light. Michael Bay, your $200 million budget awaits.

Following reports of internal disarray in May, when several executives departed, HTC has filed a formal complaint out of its offices in Taipei, Taiwan, that several high-level employees stole trade secrets after planning to leaving the company. Several Chinese papers report that HTC's VP of product design Thomas Chien, an R&D director Wu Chien Hung, and design team senior manager Justin Huang  were among five employees that planned to leave the company after collecting their mid-year bonuses yesterday.

Authorities raided HTC's R&D center yesterday

Engadget's Richard Lai cites several Chinese sources as reporting that HTC "caught Chien secretly downloading files related to the upcoming Sense 6.0 UI design" and sharing the data with external contacts via email. Chien and Wu were reportedly both taken into custody following raids at HTC's R&D center and the suspects' homes and offices.

In addition to stealing trade secrets, HTC also alleges the designers charged elevated fees for their part in the design of HTC's One smartphone. Although the design was done in-house, Lai reports that Chien, Wu, and Huang are accused of using "an external design firm to invoice HTC for over $334,000" before splitting the fee between themselves. The trio have reportedly registered a new design company aimed at the Chinese market, where Focus Taiwan claims they're "likely to work with Chinese smartphone vendors to develop new models, using the technology they stole from HTC." According to the China Post, one suspect at the scene of the R&D raid claimed HTC management was aware of the new business and questioned the reason for the search. It should be noted that, while UDN agrees with the chain of events, it doesn't attribute the comments to suspect, but rather an onlooker.

The problems are two-fold for HTC

The problems are two-fold for HTC. As well as allegedly dealing with a major issue of internal fraud, the company also looks likely to lose some very important members of its design team. Huang personally sketched out the design for the HTC One, while Chien spearheads the entire product design team in Taiwan. HTC hasn't commented on any of the revelations, apart from to note that "the matter is under investigation by relevant authorities."

Update: HTC has elaborated on its previous statement, telling us that it "expects employees to observe and practice the highest levels of integrity and ethics. Protecting the company’s proprietary and intellectual properties, privacy and security is a core fundamental responsibility of every employee. The company does not condone any violation. As this matter is currently under investigation by the relevant authorities, we therefore refrain from further comments."

The internet was always supposed to give us a hassle-free way to store and manage our stuff — but in practice, even storing photos and videos has remained a massive headache. Just as services like Apple’s Photo Stream have popularized the power of cloud storage, they have also revealed its limitations. Huge RAW image sizes, duplicate photos, 1080p videos, and years of library database bloat were all good reasons to just leave the photos sitting on your hard drive — and pray the drive didn’t stop working before you backed it all up.

But as the price of storage has fallen, and broadband access has become more pervasive, more and more companies are competing to make the cloud the default place to store your memories. For a few dollars a month and a few hours of upload time, you get features unavailable on most free desktop photo-editing software — and the peace of mind that comes with a cloud backup. These aren’t just for pros lugging around DSLRs, either: many of these services are fantastic options for even the most casual photographers looking to back up the photos from your phone. And they’re all better than Facebook for organizing, managing, and even just storing all your shots. So which app is the best for storing and accessing all your media from any device?

We’ll take you through 10 top services, from household names like Dropbox to newcomers like Everpix, highlighting each service’s best features while calling out any deal-breakers along the way. All of these services “work,” but depending on what you’re looking for (e.g. RAW support, a search bar, and even adaptive mobile video streaming) one option might be best for you. But don’t worry, we’ll list our favorites, as well as a chart at the bottom of the page for breakdowns of key features and details, compared app by app.