Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, July 14, 2014

Secret widens its anonymous network to include your Facebook friends too

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/14/secret-adds-facebook-login-collections/

When Secret first launched earlier this year, the only subscribers who could see your anonymous missives on the app were folks who were somehow connected to your phone's address book -- they were either your friends, friends of friends, or friends of friends of friends (you get the idea). Now, however, Secret has loosened that restriction just a touch with the introduction of Facebook login support. Now if you sign up with Facebook on the app, you'll be able to spill your secrets to all your Facebook friends who are also on Secret. Of course, the company promises that no personal information is ever shared and you'll still be completely anonymous. On the one hand, this lets those of us who have more friends on Facebook than on on our phone's address book see more Friend posts on Secret. On the other, it does give us a tiny bit of the creeps. Thankfully, the feature is completely optional, so you don't have to participate if you don't want to.

Secret also announced another feature today called Collections, which are simply daily digests of posts from a certain category. You can go to Secret's brand new web interface and subscribe to any of the available Collections -- current categories include Popular, Dating, Reflections, Funny, Work and Loss. If you do subscribe, you'll get secrets from that collection in your Explore stream. This definitely narrow the kinds of posts you see on Explore quite a bit, and it seems like it lets you hone in more on what you prefer to see on there. According to the folks at Secret, they're still experimenting on how to give users more control over what they see on Explore, which can be a rather daunting task given the growing popularity of the network. If that sounds like something you'd be interested in, head on over to the source link to find out more. Don't worry, we won't tell anyone.

Filed under: Misc

Source: Secret (Medium), Secret

drag2share: This Robot Has Written More Wikipedia Articles Than Anyone Alive

source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/n0Zu2Mgo8vc/robot-most-prolific-wikipedia-author-2014-7

Wikipedia

You might think writing 10,000 articles per day would be impossible. But not for a Swede named Sverker Johansson. He created a computer program that has written a total of 2.7 million articles, making Johansson the most prolific author, by far, on the "internet's encyclopedia." His contributions account for 8.5 percent of the articles on Wikipedia, the Wall Street Journal reports.

But how can a bot write so many articles, and do it coherently? As Johansson--a science teacher with degrees in linguistics, civil engineering, economics and particle physics--explained to the WSJ, the bot scrapes information from various trusted sources, and then cobbles that material together, typically into a very short entry, or "stub." Many of the articles cover the taxonomy of little-known animals such as butterflies and beetles, and also small towns in the Philippines (his wife is Filipino).

Johansson's creation, known as Lsjbot, is certainly not the only bot to write articles meant for human eyes. For example, the Associated Press just announced that it will use robots to write thousands of pieces, and other news outlets use programs to write articles, especially finance and sports stories. And on Wikipedia, half of all of the edits are made by bots.

Several long-time members of Wikipedia are not happy that so many articles are being written by non-humans. But Johansson defends his bot, pointing out that the articles it writes are accurate (although there have been some glitches that he claims have been corrected), and can! very us eful. For example, Lsjbot wrote a stub about the town of Basey, in the Philippines. When Typhoon Yolanda hit the town, causing deaths, people were able to visit this stub and find out more about the town and its location.

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Google's augmented reality turf war, 'Ingress,' arrives on iOS

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/14/ingress-for-ios/

Ingress on an iPhone

Google's Niantic Labs grew the potential audience for Ingress in a big way late last year, when it put out the finished Android version of its augmented reality game. Today, the studio is taking the next (if fairly obvious) step toward grabbing more players: it's releasing the long-promised iOS edition. Both iPad and iPhone owners can now capture territory ("portals" in Ingress-speak) and build up their virtual skills by visiting real locations. The experience will be very familiar if you've played before; missions give you an incentive to keep coming back, while faction chats let you coordinate turf battles and meet fellow players. There aren't any major tweaks or upgrades that we've seen. The game ultimately remains an excuse to explore new places, but that's not a bad thing if you're tired of visiting the same old haunts -- hit the App Store if you're willing to give it a spin.

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Mobile, Google

Source: Ingress

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Cut a Watermelon into Sticks (Perfect for Kids and Parties)

Source: http://lifehacker.com/cut-a-watermelon-into-sticks-perfect-for-kids-and-part-1603562078

Cut a Watermelon into Sticks (Perfect for Kids and Parties)

Summer's beloved fruit, the watermelon, can get pretty messy to eat. Instead of serving the melon in traditional wedges, cut it into sticks—easy finger foods.

This is great for little kids or for serving a crowd and you need smaller portions. I did this the other day and found another benefit: The sticks stack up much better in a container, so you don't have to do that Tetris-like watermelon wedges cramming to save space.

A Thrifty Mom has a tutorial for cutting the watermelon. Basically you'll first cut it into three pieces, then the intersecting 1-2" slices. If you have an apple corer, you can make watermelon cylinders, but with this method you only need a sharp knife.

Watermelon Slices - Perfect for Little Hands | A Thrify Mom

Chromebooks can get cheaper thanks to new support for a low-end chip

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/12/chromebooks-can-get-cheaper/

Chromebook

You can pick up a Chromebook for a dirt-cheap $200, if you know where to shop. However, there are now signs that these Google-powered portables could get even cheaper. MediaTek has contributed code to Chromium OS (the base for Chrome OS) for a test device with an entry-level ARM Cortex-A7 processor -- a big step down from the relatively inexpensive Cortex-A15/A7 hybrid that Samsung uses, not to mention the Intel Celeron chips in other Chrome devices. Theoretically, this leads to Chromebooks and Chromeboxes that cost significantly less than $200, albeit after a big speed hit. Just as with phones and tablets, a Cortex-A7 system is likely to be pretty sluggish.

MediaTek hasn't discussed what it's doing with the code, and it could be a while (if ever) before there's hardware you can buy. However, it's not hard to see why the semiconductor firm would want to support Chrome gear. The company's chips are seemingly omnipresent in the basic smartphones seen across developing markets like China and India. Support for a starter Cortex-A7 processor could have a similar effect in the PC world, bringing Chrome OS systems to people who might not otherwise get a computer at all.

Filed under: Laptops, Internet, Google

Via: Francois Beaufort (Google+)

Source: Google Source

This Fitness Watch Doesn't Have A Lot Of Bells And Whistles But It Works Extremely Well

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/lifetrak-zone-c410-2014-7

LifeTrack C410

Salutron's LifeTrak Zone C410 is a simple fitness-tracking watch.

It doesn't have any bells and whistles. It simply tracks your steps, sleep, distance traveled, calories, heart rate, and it tells the time. All for a very affordable $99.

The best part about it? You can forget about adding another charger to your collection: The C410 runs off a regular battery and you won't have to replace it more than once a year.

The Design

The watch has a pretty basic design. There are two buttons on the side that allow you to do things like scroll through menu items, start and stop the tracking, light up the display, and sync the watch to your phone (more on that later).

There's also a button underneath the display that allows you to scroll through all the various tracking modes. When you hold it down, it tracks your heart rate. It even tells you the percentage of your maximum heart rate, which is an added bonus.

The watch and band are waterproof up to 90 feet. The band is reversible (blue and black), but you can buy different watch bands for around $14 from LifeTrak's site. It fits securely on the wrist and overall looks pretty unassuming.

The Watch

You can set goals on the watch, like how many steps you'd like to take per day. This is pretty straightforward; you scroll through your options with the top-right button. It also has an iOS and Android app that allows you to change the settings.

There's a bar at the top on the watch face that shows you how close you are to reaching your daily goals.

The coolest feature is the automatic sleep mode. I've used fitness bands in the past that required you to put it in sleep mode before it would t! rack how much shut eye you're getting. But it's hard to remember to press a button when you're halfway to dreamland.

But luckily, the C410 senses it automatically. Once the device hasn't moved for a little bit, it goes into sleep mode and starts tracking your Zzzzs.

The problem is, it works a little too well. The watch would sometimes go into sleep mode even when I just took it off for a little while, like before a shower. But overall, that didn't seem to overly affect the overall sleep it thought I was getting.

The watch can also sync with third-party health-tracking apps like as MapMyFitness. Syncing is easy; you just press and hold the bottom-right button, and all your information is pulled into the app via Bluetooth.

Conclusion

The C410 is a basic fitness watch that performs well. It even offers more features than some of the competition.

All the information you need is right there on the watch. You don't have to take out your phone or use an app, if you don't want to.

It doesn't vibrate. You can't track your food calories. It doesn't even have an alarm function.

But for $99, you get a straightforward fitness tracker, with the added bonus of a heart-rate monitor and automatic sleep detection. And it's super accurate.

In a world of Galaxy Gears and Pebbles, it's nice to have an option on the opposite end of the spectrum. And the Zone C410 performs exactly as advertised, with very little fuss.

SEE ALSO: I tried out a standing desk for all the health benefits — here's why I quit

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Demand For Light Beer Is Collapsing

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/demand-for-light-beer-is-collapsing-2014-7

bud light

American beer drinkers are becoming more discerning.

Thanks to the booming popularity of the craft beer business, light beer sales will hit a 10-year low in 2015, writes Devin Leonard at Bloomberg Businessweek.

Sales of once-popular staples like Bud Light, Coors Light, and Miller Lite are on the decline, Leonard writes.

Craft beer has become so popular that there's now a black market for rare brews.

Anheuser-Busch executives told Businessweek that it was pushing light beer sales through flavored beverages such as the Bud Light Lime Straw-Ber-Rita.

The cocktail-beer hybrid appeals to women who don't want to drink heavy craft beer.

Sales of the so-called 'Ritas hit $462 million last year, according to IRI, a research company in Chicago.

Bud Light is also working to develop seasonal flavors, such as apple for the fall, writes Venessa Wong the magazine.

The brand is also expected to step up marketing in the near future, executives told Businessweek.

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 29 Most American Foods Of All Time

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âBreach is a completely modular, hackable and open source web browser

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/12/breach-is-a-completely-modular-hackable-and-open-source-web-br/

When it comes to surfing the web, our options are limited: the market is dominated by three or four mainstream web browsers, all of which share major similarities in design and function. Unless you want to build your own browsing program, you're stuck with their modern browsing paradigms. For San Francisco programmer Stanislas Polu, that wasn't good enough, so, he created Breach -- an open source modular web browser designed to allow anybody to tweak and modify it on a whim.

Breach wants to be a different kind of web browser, one that's not only a tool for browsing the internet, but one that is built of the technologies that power it. Using the Chromium Content API as a base layer, Polu built a browser with a UI coded entirely in JavaScript and HTML5 -- each element of the experience existing as its own individual webapp with access to Breach's deeper API. In fact, when the browser first boots up, it doesn't even have the ability to navigate the internet. "You don't have any modules running yet," it warns. "Let's add 'mod_strip', a module that provides a basic tab strip and URL box support." Install a module, and your browser suddenly has features. Neglect to, and it won't be able to do much at all.

The new browser only launched its public Alpha release this week, and doesn't have many modules to call its own. The basic strip and data components are active, but an official bookmarks module and other functions aren't yet done. Still, that's not the point: Breach is designed so any user with an idea for any feature can create it themselves in JavaScript or CSS. It's a barebones experience now, but one that's created so you can add any meat you fancy. We can't say it's likely to replace Chrome or Firefox in our hearts yet, but it's a neat take on an old technology we all use every single day. Check it out at the source link below.

Filed under: Internet

Via: Aaron Draczynski (Twitter)

Source: Breach

Dropbox Stays Ahead Of Amazon With Big File-Syncing Upgrade

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/dropbox-file-transfer-speed-boost-2014-7

Drew Houston Dropbox’s seamless file-sync technology is perhaps what keeps the fledgling startup alive in the increasingly competitive cloud storage market.

In fact, some people think Dropbox's file-syncing technology is exactly what will prevent Amazon from destroying the company with its own streaming service.

Today Dropbox just made their file-sync speed even faster.

Dropbox rolled out a new service called Streaming Sync, which, according to the company, will speed up the sync time by as much as 2X. With Streaming Sync, users no longer have to wait for the entire file to be uploaded before accessing it, because it now “streams” data simultaneously from its servers to user devices. The service only works on files over 16MB, so large-file transfers will benefit the most from it.

Following Thursday’s launch of Zocalo, Amazon’s own file-sharing and collaboration service, Dropbox is in position to find a way to further distinguish itself from other competitors. Streaming Sync could be one of the features that make users want to stick to Dropbox’s service.

You can download the latest Dropbox desktop client here.

Here’s the how the sync times break down:

Dropbox_SteamingSync

SEE ALSO: Amazon just launched a Box and Dropbox killer

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Friday, July 11, 2014

Mix beats and loop vocals with Propellerhead's Take for iOS

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/11/propellerhead-take/

If you saw Reggie Watts' musical set at Engadget Expand (don't worry, there's video after the break), then you probably noticed the table full of gear he needs to construct his loops. Propellerhead -- the Swedish software company behind Reason, not the electronica duo -- is hoping to lighten this load with Take, a creative vocal loop recorder that's being given away free to iPhone users. The interface is reasonably simple, offering you a wide variety of pre-made backing loops as well as three tracks that you can rap, sing or otherwise make noise on. It's tremendously easy to use, but it won't compensate for your lack of musical talent, which is why we won't be sharing our ham-fisted efforts with you.

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio/Video, Software, Apple

Source: Take (App Store)

âAcer upgrades its C720 Chromebook with more power... and a higher price

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/10/acer-upgrades-c720/

Looking for a more powerful Acer Chromebook? It'll cost you -- the company announced today that its C720 Chromebook is getting a processor bump and a new price tag. $350 buys a notebook with a 4th generation Intel Core i3-4005U CPU clocked at 1.7GHz with a 32GB SSD, a modest bump from the 1.4GHz Celeron CPU, 16GB SSD and $200 starting price of the current model. Acer says the new CPU will give the machine a noticeable performance boost without affecting the 8.5 hour runtime consumers have come to expect from the laptop. Little else about the Chromeboook seems to have changed; its still available with 2GB or 4GB (in a $380 model) of RAM. Still, if you want to save some money with Acer's cheaper, slower laptop, buy now: the new models hit store shelves later this month.

Filed under: Laptops, Acer

Source: PRWeb

These high-tech headphones will livestream your next gig

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/10/soundsight-headphones-omg/

Let's face it, most headphones pack a pretty short features list, and the majority of us are just fine with that. There's wired and wireless, on-ear and over-ear, with all of them coming at a range of prices and catering to varying sonic sensibilities. We've seen social-minded cans pop up as of late, and now, a new offering looks to pack even more into a set of headphones. SoundSight packed in a 1080p camera, six microphones, voice control and an accelerometer into its wireless set. Not only does the audio add-on capture video from the wearer's point of view, but it also offers livestreaming capabilities from the stage or studio.

Thanks to the companion app for Android and iOS, you can wrangle edits before broadcasting on social networks of your choosing. The smartphone-based toolbox enables adding music to clips when you need to swap out the audio, futzing with filters and sorting recording controls. If you're concerned about having to hold your head just so to get a good angle, don't be: the camera portion is mounted to the outside of the earcups, rotating 270 degrees so allow for proper adjustments. In addition to the requisite 3.5mm cable, a USB option is also included to those who favor that connection.

Remember we mentioned these are wireless? Won't all of that extra stuff drastically cut into the battery life? Well, the company claims that with all of those features activated, you can expect around four hours of action from the 800mAh cell, getting bumped up to 18 hours when only the active noise cancellation is switched on. That may not be enough to broadcast your entire day, but it should certainly last for an entire set. The 1080p camera can capture 720p video at 30 fps, with Bluetooth streaming clocking in with 640p at 24 fps. If having all of that tech in one place sounds too good to pass up, SoundSight goes up for limited pre-order tomorrow at $349, with an official launch coming in next spring at the full $499 retail price.

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video

Source: SoundSight Headphones

drag2share: Amazon Just Launched A Box And Dropbox Killer â And It Really Needs One

source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/uGESIVHuVuw/amazon-zocalo-2014-7

bezos final 0404_web

Amazon launched on Wednesday a challenger to Box and Dropbox: an enterprise cloud file storage service called Zocalo.

Zocalo allows you to access and share files on any type of device, Amazon says.

The service costs just $5 per user per month and comes with 200GB of storage and no other software requirements.

Companies that use Amazon WorkSpaces get free storage up to 50GB, or can elect to pay $2 a month per user for the entire 200GB. Amazon WorkSpaces gives employees access to Windows 7 in the cloud, which can be accessed on any device.

While Amazon is already popular with enterprises for its cloud-computing storage offerings, those are used mostly by IT professionals. Amazon hasn't exactly been a major player when it comes to enterprise apps used by ordinary workers. But Zocalo is a move in that direction.

As Janakiram MSV, principal analyst at Janakiram & Associates, says, "Zocalo is an indication of Amazon's ambitious plan to become the one-stop shop for enterprise IT."

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Thursday, July 10, 2014

Elon Musk pledges $1 million to help build Nikola Tesla Museum

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/10/elon-musk-tesla-museum/

Nikola Tesla just scored a very generous birthday present. The "father or electricity" was born 158 years ago today, and several fans are trying to preserve his legacy with a museum, to be built on the site of his final laboratory in Shoreham, New York. A 2012 Indiegogo campaign helped raise more than enough to cover purchasing the land, but nowhere near the $8 million that's needed to refurbish the property and actually build a museum. Fortunately, Elon Musk, the father of the modern day Tesla, has pledged $1 million and has promised to install a supercharger in the parking lot. That's still not enough to complete the project, but you can help out my making your own contribution here.

[Image credit: Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe]

Filed under: Household

Source: The Oatmeal

Microsoft CEO Is Betting On A New Product You've Probably Never Heard Of: Delve

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/nadella-bets-heavily-on-delve-2014-7

satya nadella microsoft ceo

Microsoft is about to release a new kind of search tool that it's been working on for years: Delve.

Delve is centeral to CEO Satya Nadella's new vision to turn Microsoft into a "productivity and platform company."

That means less focus on devices, more focus on what people do with the devices.

He describes a world where your phone/tablet/PC/TV knows you, understands you, and caters to your needs even before you issue a command. (We're reminded of that scene in the movie "Her" where Samantha, the smart operating system, organizes Theodore's email and later submits a collection of his work to a book publisher, unbeknownst to him.)

Nadella named a number of Microsoft technologies that will bring this vision to life. Here's what he said in his memo:

As a result, people will meet and collaborate more easily and effectively. They will express ideas in new ways. They will experience the magic of ambient intelligence with Delve and Cortana. They will ask questions naturally and have them answered with insight from Power Q&A. They will conquer language barriers and change the world with Skype translator.

Cortana is Microsoft's answer to Siri and is part of the latest version of Windows Phone.

Skype translator is a real-time translation tool for Skype users expected to be available before the end of the year. Speak and it will translate.

Power Q&A is an add-on cloud service for Office 365 customers, the version of Microsoft Office that runs in the cloud. It's a data analysis tool. You type in a question and it searches through corporate documents stored in SharePoint and Excel and gives you an answer, maybe complete with chart. (This kind of natural language analysis is the next-generation tech for "business intelligence" software, the kind of software used to predict things like quarterly sales, etc.)

But Delve could be one of the most interesting of all. Delve, previously code-named Oslo, is Microsoft's version of Google search. The company has been working on it for years. It doesn't search the Web, it searches your emails, social networks, and corporate documents stored in Office 365.

Delve uses "machine learning" and artificial intelligence to show you the documents, messages, and people you don't know you need to see. Microsoft describes it as:

Delve highlights key information of interest to you, based on what you are working on and the actions of people in your network.

It's like Google Now or Cortana, but for your work life.

Although Microsoft has been showing Delve off since March, it will be formally announced at Microsoft's 2014 Worldwide Partner Conference next week in Washington, D.C., and available to Office 365 customers later this year, Microsoft says.

If Delve proves a hit with businesses users! , organi zing people's work lives, it will go a long way toward validating Nadella's vision.

Here's a glance at a Delve search page:

Microsoft Delve

Here's the full demo of Delve that Microsoft did in March. Skip to 4:05 to go straight to the demo.

SEE ALSO: 22 of the most powerful women engineers in the world

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