Flickr adopting Aviary for photo edits, waves goodbye to Picnik

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/05/flickr-adopting-aviary-photo-editor/

With Google set to close the Picnik shop on April 19th, it was obvious that Flickr had to go out and seek a fresh replacement. Today, the Yahoo-owned service is announcing Aviary (a Jeff Bezos-backed startup) as the new photo editing tool on its site. Along with promising to be simpler and speedier than its soon-to-be deceased predecessor, Aviary brings expected features like cropping, rotating, sharpening, red-eye reduction and cosmetic whitening, just to mention a few. Of note, Aviary is written in HTML5, opening the doors to become useful on a handful of slates and handsets. Flickr is set to commence the rollout later today, though it may take a few days until you can check out the changes.

Flickr adopting Aviary for photo edits, waves goodbye to Picnik originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Do You Care How Ugly the Google Glasses Are? [Qotd]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5899190/do-you-care-how-ugly-the-google-glasses-are

The internet, it is divided! Some people are disgusted by the Google Glass look—it is pretty goddamn nerdy. On the other hand, if it actually works as well as that snazzy demo video, does it even matter?

Yes and no! Presumably, Google's computer glasses will have to look at least not-stupid enough for you to wear them without feeling enough shame to immediately take them off. But they're a device, right? So they should be judged on the merits of how well they work? On how well they can augment that ol' reality? A bit of an android chicken and the cybernetic egg it was e-hatched from, we think.

But tell us what you think. Do looks matter?

Do you care how the Google Glasses look, even if they WORK amazingly well?

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Self-sculpting 'smart sand' can assume any shape, create instant prototypes (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/04/self-sculpting-smart-sand/

A new algorithm developed by the Distributed Robotics Laboratory at MIT's Computer Science could lead to an exciting fast prototyping tool, being dubbed "smart sand." Immerse an object in the sand, tiny cubes that send simple proximity messages to each other, which relay through the swarm and determine which blocks are adjacent to the object to be modeled, and those that aren't. Using this data, it's possible to create a map of the subject to be replicated. Initial tests were performed using 2D models, but has also been shown to work reliably with 3D shapes also. While true smart sand would need "grains" much smaller than currently possible, it's said that this isn't an "insurmountable obstacle." The paper will be presented at the IEEE conference in May, or keep going past the break for the explanatory video.

Continue reading Self-sculpting 'smart sand' can assume any shape, create instant prototypes (video)

Self-sculpting 'smart sand' can assume any shape, create instant prototypes (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Researchers create incredibly thin solar cells flexible enough to wrap around a human hair

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/04/thin-flexible-solar-cells/

You've probably heard that the sun is strong enough to power our planet many times over, but without a practical method of harnessing that energy, there's no way to take full advantage. An incredibly thin and light solar cell could go a long way to accomplishing that on a smaller scale, however, making the latest device from researchers from the University of Austria and the University of Tokyo a fairly significant discovery. Scientists were able to create an ultra-thin solar cell that measures just 1.9 micrometers thick -- roughly one-tenth the size of the next device. Not only is the sample slim -- composed of electrodes mounted on plastic foil, rather than glass -- it's also incredibly flexible, able to be wrapped around a single strand of human hair (which, believe it or not, is nearly 20 times thicker). The scalable cell could replace batteries in lighting, display and medical applications, and may be ready to be put to use in as few as five years. There's a bounty of physical measurement and efficiency data at the source link below, so grab those reading glasses and click on past the break.

Researchers create incredibly thin solar cells flexible enough to wrap around a human hair originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung's AdHub Market advertising platform set to debut this year

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/04/samsung-adhub-market-advertising-platform/

Would it be such a bad idea if Sammy were to try squeezing more revenue out of those five million (and counting) Notes? Not by any means. According to The Wall Street Journal, Samsung, in partnership with OpenX Technologies, is planning to launch an advertising platform of its own at some point during the second half of this year. Dubbed AdHub Market, the service will be able to run on the company's handsets and slates, following a model similar to that of Apple's iAds. The AdHub Market would essentially allow advertisers to shell out cash in exchange for real estate within apps running on most of Samsung's devices. What's not clear, however, is how Google will react to the news...

Samsung's AdHub Market advertising platform set to debut this year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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