HOUSE OF THE DAY: An Octagonal Penthouse In New York City Is Back On The Market For $100 Million

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/klar-penthouse-relisted-at-cityspire-2013-5

One of the most impressive properties in Manhattan — an 8,000-square-foot penthouse condominium in the CitySpire building on West 56th Street — has returned to market for $100 million, The Real Deal reports.

Owner Steven Klar, president of Long Island real estate developer The Klar Organization, first listed the blockbuster with a broker apartment last July.

But he pulled the listing after about six months when it failed to sell. It just reappeared on StreetEasy, and it looks like Klar is acting as his own broker, The Real Deal notes.

The penthouse is octagon-shaped and has six bedrooms and nine bathrooms.

Klar purchased the apartment in 1993 for $4.5 million as "raw space." It now spans three floors, and includes a separate guest apartment one floor below.

The entryway is reminiscent of Versailles.

Famed architect Juan Pablo Molyneux designed the apartment.

The home has an eat-in chef's kitchen with adjacent butler's pantry.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Lego Mindstorms EV3 intros three new models, ready for summer tour (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/16/lego-mindstorms-ev3-new-models/

When Lego introduced the Mindstorms EV3 earlier this year, it bundled building instructions for five "hero" models, several of which can be seen in our CES hands-on. But that complex kit of sensors, modules and bricks lends itself to endless possibilities, and Lego community members have come up with 12 more designs, three of which were unveiled today. These include a dinosaur, a guitar and a whack-a-mole-style arcade game.

From our brief hands-on, all three models seem worthy additions to the original lineup. We enjoyed the sauntering steps of the mini triceratops and the way it snaps and backs off from obstacles, the fun bloops and bleeps of the guitar, and delighted in the sheer satisfaction of bopping a popped "mole." The latter two, particularly, are decidedly whimsical implementations compared to the usual ambling robot -- and we can't wait for Lego reveal the rest of the bonus models later this year.

Filed under: Robots

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Google and NASA team up for D-Wave-powered Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/16/google-nasa-quantum-computing/

Google. NASA. Quantum computers. Seriously, everything about the new Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab at the Ames Research Center is exciting. The joint effort between Mountain View and America's space agency will put a 512 qubit machine from D-Wave at the disposal of researchers from around the globe, with the USRA (Universities Space Research Association) inviting teams of scientists and engineers to share time on the unique super computer. The goal is to study how quantum computing might be leveraged to advance machine learning, a branch of AI that has proven crucial to Google's success. The internet giant has already done some work with quantum computing before, now the goal is to see if its experimentation can translate into real world results. The idea, for Google at least, is to combine the extreme (but highly-specialized) power of the quantum bit with its oceans of traditional data centers to build more accurate models for everything from speech recognition to web search. And maybe, just maybe, with the help of quantum computers your phone will finally realize you didn't mean to say "duck."

Filed under: Misc, Alt, Google

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Via: New York Times

Source: Google Research Blog

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NHK has a theoretical fix for OLED's theoretical longevity problem

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/16/nhk-ioled/

Japan's National Broadcasting Corporation, NHK, reckons OLED displays don't last long enough. And they have a point, because OLED pixels that are exposed to the air can lose half of their brightness in just 100 days. Commercial products are of course protected from the elements, but they're not perfect. This is where iOLED comes in. NHK inverts the anode and cathode layers in traditional OLED configurations, hence the added "i", and then adds an additional protective coating above the cathode. The result is a display that retains its brightness even when not fully sealed from the environment. Hopefully, this sort of solution will make its way into OLED TVs by the time OLED TVs are actually affordable, but in the meantime we're expecting to hear more about NHK's technology (and maybe see it in action) at Display Week later this month.

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Source: NHK

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ASUS Transformer Book hybrid PC gets May 21st release date

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/16/asus-transformer-book-may-21st-release-date/

Remember ASUS' Transformer Books? All is forgiven if you don't, as we're already approaching the one-year anniversary of when they were first revealed at Computex in Taipei. You'll get your choice of Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors, and the ability to detach and use the device as a standalone 13.3-inch tablet when the devices finally arrive in the US next week. Sure, Japanese buyers might have picked one up first, but interested hybrid PC shoppers should mark May 21st into their diaries. No official word on pricing, but preorder pages from MacMall earlier this year had the Core i7 model pegged at a hefty $1,479.99.

Filed under: Laptops, ASUS

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Source: ASUS US (Facebook)

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