8 Ways to Sunday

If it hadn’t come from National Geographic, I’d assume this photo to be a fake. Pretty far out. (Warning: not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.)

Huge pythons like the one pictured are not native to the Florida wetlands where the photo was shot. They’ve been introduced into the environment by humans and thrived, coming into competition with native species such as this unfortunate alligator. For more information on this phenomenon, you can read Wikipedia’s articles on introduced species and invasive species.

Japanese scientists have captured the world’s first photos of a living adult giant squid (Architeuthis dux). They used a simple fishing-line-and-camera rig to lure and photograph the illusive and legendary marine animal.

(Props: Ars Technica)

Windows XP is finally getting an easy way to manage color profiles, which should be a big benefit to graphic designers and digital photographers. Details and an exact release date will be posted on the Windows Professional Photography home page.

It’s about damned time; the Mac has only had one for about a decade now.

(Props: Tim Grey’s “Digital Darkroom Questions” e-mail list)

Just a quick update before I hit the sack: new photos from my trip to Tucson have been posted in the photoblog. Look under the “Tucson Trip 2005” category.

I keep meaning to post more extensively, but haven’t found the time. Will try to do better over the next couple of weeks.

Men’s magazine Perfect 10 has sued Google for allegedly infringing upon its copyrights by displaying the mag’s nude pics in Google Image Search results.

This is an obvious grab for money. Google clearly states in its help center that there are ways to keep the Google indexer from snapping up your images. I use the technique myself; it’s not hard. Google also provides recourse for those who feel their copyrights have been infringed upon, by providing a way to notify Google and get your pictures removed from Google without resorting to a lawsuit.

Norm Zada, founder of Perfect 10, claims that Google’s indexing and display of sexually explicit images is part of a big conspiracy to draw web traffic and convert it into millions of dollars worth of advertising revenue. Never mind that SafeSearch is enabled by default, blocking such adult content. Clearly, what Zada is most interested in is those advertising millions.

(Props: The Unofficial Google Fan Club)