Sometimes, a picture can be powerful enough to be inspirational material all by itself. To provide you with some inspiration for the upcoming week, this sunday we feature some truly beautiful and impressive images from talented artists and photographers worldwide.

Whether in black and white or in colors, they are all related by a strong sense of composition and an emphasis on lightening and colors work. All images are linked to their sources, which you are encouraged to visit. Other work of the photographers we have featured here is certainly worth discovering as well. Please notice that some images are available as prints as well.

[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that there is a Smashing eBook Series? Book #1 is Professional Web Design, 242 pages for just $9,90.]

Beautiful Photography

Dreaming
Amazing sleeping beauty, where the beauty is actually also the beast, by Peter ツ. Prints are available as well.

Blue Sky

Far And Away

Inside Capitol Hill

The Endpoint
By Jeannette Oerlemans.

Falling Up

Song of Tide
By Wira Nurmansyah from Indonesia.

Blue
By Earl A. Jones.

Bunny Bokeh
Happy bunny bokeh wednesday, by Little Miss Patricia.

The Cat

Abstract
By tanakawho.

Ink Sea
By Hermin Abramovitch.

Fan’s Eye
A macro shot by LauHi.

falltuer

Painter
By Konrad Bąk.

Ant, The Driver
By Raphael Guarino.

A purple leaf
By National Geographic.

Flower Petal
By Alistair Campbell.

Keeper
By Wysseri.

Who Feels Love
By Ciuky.

In The Mood 4 Love
By Antonio Navarro Wijkmark.

Tunnel
By Kleemass.

Eyjafjallajökull
By Skarphéðinn Þráinsson.

Susanna Majuri
A disturbing yet insteresting serie of images by Susanna Majuri.

San Torini

Abandoned
By tEdGuY49.

blue canary
By Ursula I Abresch.

Bearded Dragon
A macro shot by LauHi.

Ant (by Unknown)
Please let us know who is the author of this image in the comments.

Light Paintings by Twin Cities Brightest

Last Click

The Plugs
Well, that’s not a beautiful photo per se, but we are confident that this image will spark your imagination for a more productive workflow — at least when it comes to handling cabels and plugs!

Would you like to see more similar inspirational posts?

Would you like to see more similar (inspirational) posts on Smashing Magazine?Market Research

© Smashing Editorial for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
Post tags: photography, photos

  

Sometimes, a picture can be powerful enough to be inspirational material all by itself. To provide you with some inspiration for the upcoming week, this sunday we feature some truly beautiful and impressive images from talented artists and photographers worldwide.

Whether in black and white or in colors, they are all related by a strong sense of composition and an emphasis on lightening and colors work. All images are linked to their sources, which you are encouraged to visit. Other work of the photographers we have featured here is certainly worth discovering as well. Please notice that some images are available as prints as well.

[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that Smashing Magazine has one of the most influential and popular Twitter accounts? Join our discussions and get updates about useful tools and resources — follow us on Twitter!]

Beautiful Photography

Dreaming
Amazing sleeping beauty, where the beauty is actually also the beast, by Peter ツ. Prints are available as well.

Blue Sky

Far And Away

Inside Capitol Hill

The Endpoint
By Jeannette Oerlemans.

Falling Up

Song of Tide
By Wira Nurmansyah from Indonesia.

Blue
By Earl A. Jones.

Bunny Bokeh
Happy bunny bokeh wednesday, by Little Miss Patricia.

The Cat

Abstract
By tanakawho.

Ink Sea
By Hermin Abramovitch.

Fan’s Eye
A macro shot by LauHi.

falltuer

Painter
By Konrad Bąk.

Ant, The Driver
By Raphael Guarino.

A purple leaf
By National Geographic.

Flower Petal
By Alistair Campbell.

Keeper
By Wysseri.

Who Feels Love
By Ciuky.

In The Mood 4 Love
By Antonio Navarro Wijkmark.

Tunnel
By Kleemass.

Eyjafjallajökull
By Skarphéðinn Þráinsson.

Susanna Majuri
A disturbing yet insteresting serie of images by Susanna Majuri.

San Torini

Abandoned
By tEdGuY49.

blue canary
By Ursula I Abresch.

Bearded Dragon
A macro shot by LauHi.

Ant (by Unknown)
Please let us know who is the author of this image in the comments.

Light Paintings by Twin Cities Brightest

Last Click

The Plugs
Well, that’s not a beautiful photo per se, but we are confident that this image will spark your imagination for a more productive workflow — at least when it comes to handling cabels and plugs!

Would you like to see more similar inspirational posts?

Would you like to see more similar (inspirational) posts on Smashing Magazine?Market Research

© Smashing Editorial for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
Post tags: photography, photos

There's an amusing text-to-speech animated video making the rounds (I've been sent it half a dozen times already) mocking iPhone-obsessed buyers going into stores and not caring that phones like the HTC Evo might have better specs, because they just "want an iPhone." It's amusing (though, probably not safe for work from an audio standpoint -- so wear headphones, or work with cool people): Well over a million people have seen it. It's definitely gone viral. But that, of course, doesn't make it a story worth mentioning here.

What does is Best Buy's incredible stupidity about the video. Wait, you might ask, what does the video have to do with Best Buy? In the video the store is called "Phone Mart," and there's no mention of Best Buy at all. There's absolutely nothing about the video that would have you thinking about Best Buy. Until now.

Andrew F points us to the news that the creator of the video actually works at Best Buy -- even though pretty much everyone who watched the video had no idea. And now, Best Buy upper management was so afraid that Apple/AT&T might get upset at the idea that Best Buy was mocking the iPhone that it suspended the guy who made it and are in the process of firing him. Yes, despite the fact that no one was associating this video with Best Buy, Best Buy decided to do the one and only thing that would suddenly associate this video with Best Buy in a way that is not, at all, flattering to Best Buy. If it was afraid of how this video would look for Best Buy, it probably should have considered how much worse firing the guy who made it looks.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story


Mike Masnick140887905062639043010921213285531538542302493361864459897726112137277078886482921192644654223956036104016474186488620897177573192043254710191145212411900954010317989685531944757528075923763231351156791172715828948466217817485565091857948729094404024810008697821305059311685304810816856063829114255414128827882370147827241130827770553613319904587748544218900048015032837577026547301792905686688826609113143767479449534235119343829770200169240411696802534044388315503241385824533459124627616707032927891444690235190138181207401941953240603257108482613080823785321626309529855773652205121651468890047308108721673468739663440236252405889902845009559953256839315456

A classic collection of reasons, rationalizations, and justifications why you're better off without Apple's iPhone 4. (author unknown)

So it’s an hour before the curtain rises (I mean, if there was a curtain) and the power goes out at the Jimmy Kimmel Live taping and broadcast center. The show is still lit and the studio audience is good to go… but they can’t tape it.

Pop quiz, hot shot: how do you record a whole show with no equipment? Answer: pull out your MacBook.

Yes indeed, the sprightly mind of Mr. Kimmel went straight to the built-in webcam on his laptop, which he promptly had brought out to his desk. And then he recorded the whole thing. At 640×480, on his laptop.

All I have to say is it’s a good thing the lighting was still working, because those iSights aren’t so good in the dark. It’s on tonight! Go watch it!

[via Gizmodo]

Apple needs to go back to the drawing board when it comes to implementing multitasking on the iPhone.



iPhone - Apple - Smartphone - Handhelds - IPhone OS(author unknown)09879977286868249236031267105112428376320862442909291922376608153230191716130266120468848113732703811833707170973597034712990946534841410421063413877129321792341423398735661203096511441163357775894251119906950022037179110843594831269729493601650761658069285380143053371741067139840244447540540730739115387392647568994731130307349315917355430055828857697001820402823936728589691133089306217606367881331660123185055754166805109728855050309257179737789521010823080557798205408116273707568529539922289161151764926527807255541082647290592597515317749547229357927365146299714931694069491785700977006764089111064295896977136453025595870440191042111217184184994959208510873878696185775523024995492014122650181422091204555420621216730012077181798538066722632148904810710465983417080308204508965613119060697129113850948423762896391275757174665268504213029419545739634388123670576585507928420454090900191520032707803955114778986351036203982175258886731434339536801874273216783824462387265337078175321379828905860111618930136881112601799595435045745262046502294852241016320752391929341380402600778901325709383774171974121263446670960845135214054301824417146945050555949655074361423816171059190672139946407527035814295600616736276413008247551039023785590702270853217301183418429696956041412574025183533715189690210006283748615534814804248595148827141826098610103789995369850840974340843000783510011915559207646891022333032761417105651576234486737365140406249870058684372454163886748261198539340891583427566881643810087988533359187826155328836710004336810875627875347763949902631850854952222221127050990810152152210284846425686745156901194856576819327635031430522629392888980599428586991970179804002283723597444189021776578595143969470938305721407080036418064792328047929221001190725144947065730505733977660737368604440550031984313322078946705309818012180438821759552389600217680356761816853670180587590876625812290036795187317545655800508554775247567927077466217285404157331598392368139204340507568973981045689994

Facebook users beware: A new rogue Facebook app is spamming newsfeeds and tricking users into handing over profile access. According to the security firm Sophos, more than 190,000 people have already clicked on a link sent by this rogue app that promises to show “shocking video”" of a teacher physically assaulting a young man.

The bit.ly link redirects users to a Facebook Page that then prompts users to allow an application called “Teacher nearly kills 13 year old boy. SHOCKING!” access their profile information and permission to post on their wall.

As of right now, it doesn’t appear that the application does anything more than post the spam link to the newsfeed in hopes of tricking more users; however, the next message the app posts to your wall could be far more dangerous.

We echo Sophos’s thoughts in hoping that Facebook shuts down this app immediately and works on tightening some of the security policies that let this sort of thing through to begin with.

If you have fallen for this attack, remove the app from your profile and then check your privacy settings to make sure nothing has changed on that front. Also delete any posts the app has made on your wall.

[via Sophos]

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Antagain

For more technology coverage, follow Mashable Tech on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook

Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, iStockphoto

Tags: facebook, facebook app virus, facebook apps, security

A large part of our time on the computer is spent within the browser these days. And if the recent past is any indicator, this will continue to grow in the future as well with the likes of Chrome OS where all you get is a web browser to interact with your computer and the outside world.

A good thing about browsers as opposed to other desktop software is the fact that they are extensible. Firefox and Chrome are excellent examples of the same. Many Google chrome add-ons and extensions are available for customizing almost every aspect of browsing. The one aspect we are going to look into here is quick navigation.

Granted, you can use keyboard shortcuts for faster navigation and browsing but with so many add-ons available, there are plenty of choices to make your pick and navigate faster with a lot less work by combining the functionality offered by various extensions. Here are 5 of the better ones:

Keyboard Navigation

Keyboard navigation allows you to click on the links without using your mouse. The concept is not new, however keyboard navigation does a good job of implementing the idea.

The extension defines a hot key (,) which places a hint next to every link on the page that can be clicked. While the hint is displayed, key in the characters next to a link to highlight it. You can then do one of the following:

• Hit Enter to open the highlighted link in the current tab.
• Hit Ctrl + Enter to open the highlighted link in a new tab.

The extension is intelligent enough to know when you are entering text and need to use the (,) key in the literal sense.

Vimium

If you are adept with Vim or a Vim fan, this extension alone easily overshadows the others. While it doesn’t support all of the Vim key bindings (how can it possibly?), it does support the most common ones that can be directly applied to a browser.

You can use the ‘h’, ‘j’, ‘k’, ‘l’ keys for scrolling. A ‘gg’ to scroll to top, a ‘G’ to scroll to bottom. ‘/’ to enter search mode and the familiar ‘n’ and ‘N’ to find next and previous. In addition to many such obvious bindings, vimium also adds some of its own, like the ‘H’ goes back in history and ‘L’ takes you one step forward in history. ‘J’ and ‘K’ can be used to go one tab to the left and one to the right respectively and many more. You can actually type ‘?’ to get an overview of all the shortcuts.

In addition to all that Vimium also offers the functionality offered by Keyboard Navigation extension mentioned above. Just hit the ‘f’ or the ‘F’ key and it displays a hint next to each clickable link or input control on the page. Key in the hint and you are taken to that link or control.

You can also remap these shortcuts using Vimium preferences.

Yet Another Drag & Go

Moving a little towards the mouse now, Yet Another Drag and Go lets you do a variety of operations by a simple drag operation. You can open new links in foreground or in background, open links before or after the current tab, convert text links to URLs, select text and search in one of the different search engines or add your own. All this with just drag and drop.

You can add your own search engines via settings and configure the drag and drop zones for each of them according to your liking.

Smooth Gestures

Bringing more awesomeness to the mouse is Smooth Gestures. Mouse gestures, if you are not familiar with the concept allow you to draw on the screen with your mouse and perform different actions depending upon the shape you draw.

In addition, Smooth gestures also includes Rocker navigation, which allows you to use only mouse buttons to do things like going back and forward in history. Holding down the right mouse button and then clicking the left button would take you back in history, so would holding the right button and drawing a line towards the left.

You can customize the gestures by visiting options for Smooth Gestures.

Quick Tabs

Do you have a number of tabs open in your browser simultaneously? If yes, you know how hard can it be to find the exact tab you are looking for, specially with Chrome, where tabs are reduced to just favicons when you have a lot of them open.

The solution? Quick Tabs. Just hit Ctrl+M and Quick Tabs presents you with list of all the open tabs sorted in order in which they were recently used.

You can use the arrow keys to quickly switch to the tab you want, or better still you can actually type some of the characters of the tab you are looking for and Quick Tabs will search in the title and URL to list only the tabs that match the letters you typed. Quick Tabs also keeps track of recently closed tabs and allow you to search and restore closed tabs as well.

There you have it, those are our suggestions. We are sure you have plenty in mind too, so go ahead and sound off in the comments with your suggestions!

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People, let’s remember as we bicker over iPad nonsense and 3D movies, there’s an oil bloom larger than some states quickly growing in the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the ABC newscast above is the normal story, but click through to 1:30 mark for a quick time-lapse animation showing the scale of this disaster. It kind of puts it all in perspective.

A new merit badge rewards Scouts for learning about videogames with their parents, joining other geeky pursuits like robotics and geocaching.

Gus Mastrapa

A new merit badge rewards Scouts for learning about videogames with their parents, joining other geeky pursuits like robotics and geocaching.

Gus Mastrapa

A new merit badge rewards Scouts for learning about videogames with their parents, joining other geeky pursuits like robotics and geocaching.

Gus Mastrapa

After prominent Iranian cleric Kazem Sedighi said that women’s immodesty increases earthquakes, a Purdue University student named Jen McCreight created a Facebook event called “Boobquake,” calling for the women of the world to wear their most revealing outfits on Monday, April 26.

Sedighi was quoted in the Chicago Tribune saying, “Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes.”

The plan, of course, is to embarrass Sedighi if a significant increase in earthquakes does not occur on Monday. The event has more than 177,000 “confirmed” guests and 57,000 “maybes.” There’s also a Facebook page [Explicit Images] that has been liked by more than 37,000 users, and a Twitter hashtag called #boobquake that’s getting several updates per minute. Boobquake has been all over the mainstream media and merchandise is already rolling out — T-shirts and the like. It’s this weekend’s social media phenomenon.

For many, this is an example of how social media can raise public awareness and generate discussion. For quite a few straight men of the more narrow-minded variety, though, it’s mostly an opportunity to do some extra ogling. Both of those are the last things Sedighi wants.

The event has nevertheless stirred up a lot of controversy even among non-religious people. Some groups of feminists are saying that it only adds to the sexualization of women, in contrast to others who are saying that it’s all about women having the freedom to present themselves however they want.

McCreight responded to the concerns in her blog, saying she never knew the event would become much more than a private joke, and that she’d have been more careful about wording and execution had she known.

For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook

Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, blog

Tags: boobquake, facebook, religion, sex, social media, social networking

Let’s start with a couple of mantras. Repeat after me: Jailbreak is not Unlock is not Activate. Next; Baseband is not Bootloader is not Firmware. I read this somewhere a couple of years ago and laughed at first but found it really helpful afterwards. Many experienced iPhone users will agree that this very moment marks the initiation of a exciting cat-and-mouse chase which you’ll always need to be aware of.

Jailbreaking an iPhone, iPod Touch or an iPad is a rather simple procedure although it can be confusing for a new user to understand. What exactly is jailbreaking and why do you need it? Is it an application? Where can you download it? All of these questions and more will be answered in this very article.

Before we begin, let me elaborate on the whole ‘cat-and-mouse chase’ reference. Simply put, the reason we are able to jailbreak or unlock our iPhones is due to the fact that hackers found a way or “exploits” to customise and bypass any restrictions in the iPhone’s operating system. Whenever these exploits are made public, Apple will quickly respond by releasing a patch to fix the exploit, in the form of a firmware update — the notifications that you receive in iTunes, telling you that a new update is available. The hackers, collectively, is the mouse and Apple is the cat; always trying to catch its prey in our particular analogy.

Why is this important to you? Well, mainly because this is a perpetual movement and you need to be aware of who’s ahead of whom — the hackers or Apple. And since we love jailbreaking, we’re rooting for the hackers. Now, we may begin understanding the entire jailbreaking process and what you’ll need to know in order to stay jailbroken.

Let’s start with the basics and define the term ‘jailbreak’. Actually, it pretty much explains itself — to break out of jail. By default, you are confined to using the applications available only in the iTunes App Store. You’re not allowed to customise your device aside from re-arranging the position of the applications and changing your wallpaper. It’s like being in jail. You have no freedom to modify your iPhone’s settings, tweak the theme, edit the carrier’s name, change the default message tone or add third party applications. But by jailbreaking, you’re set free from Apple’s restrictions.

Jailbreaking is a process which will enable full write access on all partitions of your device. By doing so, you will be able to modify the operating system to allow visual customisation, third party apps, system modifications, replace the default audio files, and other goodies like unlocking and activating your iPhone. Jailbreaking is always the first and most important step to freedom.

To allow this article to be an evergreen source of reference, I won’t be stating which devices can or cannot be jailbroken. Instead, I will forward you to this wiki — locate your device type, figure out which firmware version it’s running (by going to Settings on your device, tap on General, then About and scroll down to Version) and whether or not it can be jailbroken. If your device cannot be jailbroken, then you’ll have to play the waiting game until the hackers release a solution. If your device can be jailbroken, iClarified will show you how — click for tutorials related to the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

How do I know if I’m jailbroken?

It’s easy. If you have successfully jailbroken your device, there will be evidence of a third-party installer application. At the time of writing, Cydia is the standard installer application found on most jailbroken devices. It will allow you to browse through a repository of third party applications, tweaks, utilities and modifications; and helps you to install them onto your device. Another installer is Icy, and an even older one is Installer.app — both of which have been discontinued.

Precautions

If you have somehow managed to pluck up the courage to jailbreak your device after reading this article, be sure to find the right method for the right device for the right firmware. Inappropriate jailbreaking may render your device into a “brick”. Taking the term literally, that means your device will be as useful as piece of brick — it won’t turn on. Jailbreaking will also void your warranty, so I reiterate — make sure that you know what you’re doing.

If you have successfully managed to jailbreak your device, congratulations! Breathe the fresh, free air. You’re now released from Apple’s deadly grasp. A couple of things to note. Remember when I told you that this is perpetual ‘cat-and-mouse’ chase? I wasn’t kidding. Every time Apple releases an update, you must resist the temptation. Do some research and make sure that the firmware that you’re updating to can be jailbroken. Find out if a jailbreaking tutorial exists. If not, find out roughly when it will be released and wait for it.

I hope that this article proves to be helpful for those who still find it too scary to jailbreak their devices. It’s not that nerve-wrecking once you get the hang of it. And trust me, the benefits of jailbreaking definitely outweighs being tied to a confining operating system.

Questions? Please direct them to the comments section below.

Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf fan page on Facebook. Over 17,000 fans already!

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So you have yourself a fancy new iPad, eh? Good for you. Now it’s time to deck it out with all sorts of cool but expensive add-ons. You could either drop some good coin on official iPad accessories or take the more frugal route and make some of your own.

Urban camouflage iPad case

Let’s start with an easy one. Take a composition notebook, remove the paper keeping the spine intact, and glue in a bit of non-stick rug padding or those dashboard cell phone holders. You might even want to put on a vertical elastic band for a bit more security and style.

Wooden iPad dock

This stand is an easy one too — as long as you have access to a couple of power tools. After all it’s simply a block of wood with a slit cut at an angle. It wouldn’t even take that much to embed a Dock Connector cable for a charging and syncing solution.

Simple and cheap iPad stand

What we’re doing here is repurposing a stamped-metal bookend. A couple of small rubber feet are needed as well to not only keep the iPad in place, but to also protect it from the sharp metal edges of the $.97 bookend. Super cheap and super easy.

Duct tape iPad case

What nerd didn’t have a duct tape wallet growing up? It was a rite of passage in many circles. This case uses the same basic construction techniques but is lined with bubble wrap for a bit more iPad protection. An Apple logo sticker in the center adds a bit of style, too.TUAW

iPad stylus

Some people want to use a stylus on their iPad. That’s cool, but there’s no need to drop cash on one when you can easily make one out of an old sock — a new sock works equally as well. Instructables

Cheap iPad stylus

So maybe you don’t want to use a stylus made out of a sock. That’s fine. You obviously care what others think of you. Here’s another that requires a bit more work and parts, but looks a lot more stylish.

The iBook

This has to be one of the most clever but involved DIY iPad cases. But you have to admit that it looks awesome. It effectively protects and camouflages the iPad at the same time. A perfect and classy solution.

Floor planks stand

This is another project for the handy-type. It uses maple floor boards to prop up the iPad. Of course your version could be a bit different and maybe even include a channel on the bottom where the Dock Connector cable can run.

Business card stand re-purposed

Many folks have been finding that business card holders seem to support the iPad perfectly fine. Just make sure you use one that’s sturdy. Like this one from Office Depot. It’s only $.69.

Papercraft iPad

Okay, so you don’t have an iPad and you’re still reading this post about iPad accessories. Have a little iPad envy, do ya? Well then, how about you spend sometime this weekend and make yourself a papercraft iPad. That way you can feel like a cool hipster as you flash it on the subway — until you get mugged.

Usually secretive, Apple actually tested many of the iPad's features in public long before the tablet was ever announced. MacBooks, the iPhone and even Snow Leopard all served as test beds for iPad components.Charlie Sorrel

If, like me, you live outside of the U.S. and you’re waiting for your chance to purchase the iPad, you’re out of luck. Apple has delayed the international launch of the device until the end of May because it has sold more iPads (over half a million) than it anticipated.

Here’s the official announcement:

“Although we have delivered more than 500,000 iPads during its first week, demand is far higher than we predicted and will likely continue to exceed our supply over the next several weeks as more people see and touch an iPad™. We have also taken a large number of pre-orders for iPad 3G models for delivery by the end of April.

Faced with this surprisingly strong US demand, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the international launch of iPad by one month, until the end of May. We will announce international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders on Monday, May 10. We know that many international customers waiting to buy an iPad will be disappointed by this news, but we hope they will be pleased to learn the reason—the iPad is a runaway success in the US thus far.”

Note the “large number of pre-orders for iPad 3G models”. Yes, the iPad has been selling well so far, but is it possible that the 3G model will be even hotter?

For more Apple coverage, follow Mashable Apple on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook

Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Tags: apple, Apple Tablet, ipad, trending

Summertime is around the corner, and many of the city's vegetarians are gearing up for their rooftop BBQs with their soy burgers and tofu dogs, resting peacefully with the fact that no animals had to die so they could eat. But were other humans harmed in awful factory conditions that exposed them to deadly chemicals? Probably.

A new study shows that a number of popular soy products contain trace amounts of hexane, which listed as a "hazardous air pollutant" by the EPA and is known to cause nervous system failure and skin disorders in humans. It's unclear how much hexane you need to eat before getting side effects, but do you feel lucky, veggie?

The 37-page report [PDF] says that though the use of hexane is prohibited in "organic" food processing, it's widely used in the "natural" soy industry, and even by some companies that use the wording "made with organic ingredients." Mother Jones reports that since many fake meat producers aim to have as little fat as possible in their products, they will soak soybeans in a hexane bath to separate the oil from the protein. One researcher said, "If a non-organic product contains a soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate, or texturized vegetable protein, you can be pretty sure it was made using soy beans that were made with hexane."

So what brands out there contain the hazardous chemical? Sadly, most of the good ones. Here's a little list:

• Amy's Kitchen
• Boca Burger, conventional
• Franklin Farms
• Garden Burger
• It’s All Good Lightlife
• Morningstar Farms
• President’s Choice
• Taste Above
• Trader Joe's
• Yves Veggie Cuisine

Below, the safe brands:

Hexane-free brands:

• Boca Burgers "Made with organic soy"
• Helen's Kitchen
• Morningstar "Made with organic"
• Superburgers by Turtle Island
• Tofurky
• Wildwood

The verdict is out on Whole Foods brands and Silk soymilk, as they did not participate in the project, but the Village Voice has the whole toxic list here. The worst part may be that many popular baby formulas also contain hexane! The report states, "Nearly every major ingredient in conventional soy-based infant formula is hexane extracted."

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What can you add to a bottle of distilled wheat mash besides sweet oblivion? How about a scrolling blue LED display that shows six programmable messages including, potentially, “Let’s get crunk!” and “Girls, talk to me! I’m rich and very, very hairy!”

The booze costs $40 plus your dignity.

How to Program a Message on Your MEDEA Bottle from Medea Spirits on Vimeo.

via Luxist