By David Ponce
Being horizontally challenged is not easy. I’d know. I had to lose 50 pounds, once. It was less fun than watching dry paint get dryer. But you know something? I’m glad I lost it; I didn’t just give up and give in to the sweet, sweet call of delicious fried chicken. And to me, there seems to be something oddly fatalistic about HP’s new “Slimming” feature found in some digital camera models; it’s something that says “Can’t lose weight? Take the digital way out!” You know you’ve lost control over a part of your life when you start finding features, in gadgets, that help you deal with it.
But anyway, it works like this.
You take a picture, and then, right from the camera, you can apply some post-processing. Among the many options, like “Vintage”, “Soft Glow” and such, you can find one that says “Slimming”. Select that, and then proceed to squash your subject. You can control the degree of distortion, presumably so you don’t end up looking like an unnatural spaghetti.
The feature is available on 7 different models, like the M628 and M527.
[HP Digital Camera Slimming] VIA [FayerWayer]
I still can’t believe this is not a joke.
I’ve written a critique of this and other technologies at http://www.portigal.com/blog/manipulating-social-realities-with-technology/
This feature is ridiculous…
It’s true that (according to an OECD report) over 30% of all Americans are obese (BMI>30), but these people have the right to see how they look on photographs…
Cut the junk food and buy a pair of running shoes instead of this ridiculous camera!