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Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Google Voice update adds short code support, warns you when you text 911

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/25/google-voice-short-code-support/

An update to Google Voice today brings a useful, if not earth-shattering, new feature: support for SMS short codes. If your primary phone number is the one associated with your Google Voice account, this means you'll finally be able to use these codes for online banking and other services without your message showing up as sent from your carrier number. Today's update also adds a warning message whenever you type the 911 short code -- a handy safeguard, if you ask us. Nab the Android app update via the source link below.

Filed under: Software, Mobile, Google

Via: Android Central

Source: Google Play

Set up a 3rd-gen Apple TV with a tap from your iOS 7 device

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/25/3rd-gen-apple-tv-setup-with-tap-ios7/

Have a third-gen Apple TV and an iDevice running iOS 7? If you've yet to set up Cupertino's set-top box, you can do so now by simply touching your iPhone or iPad to the Apple TV. Okay, Apple's take on Bump requires a few more steps than that; you'll first need to enable Bluetooth on your iOS 7 device, then connect to the WiFi network you'll use with the Apple TV. (Your machine also needs Apple TV software 6.0 or later.) Still, it sure beats the labor-intensive process of selecting letters on-screen with the included remote. Once you've tapped your iPhone to the set-top box, prompts should appear on both the phone and the TV screen, and you're good to go. Give it a whirl for yourself -- Apple's directions are available via the first source link below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile, Apple

Via: TUAW

Source: Apple Support (1), Apple Support (2)

UCSD engineers develop mini wide-angle lens that's ten times smaller than a regular one

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/25/ucsd-engineers-miniature-wide-angle-lens/

UCSD engineers develop mini wideangle lens that's ten times smaller than a regular one

What you see here, dear readers, is the image of a fiber-coupled monocentric lens camera that was recently developed by engineers from the University of California, San Diego. The researchers involved in the project say this particular miniature wide-angle lens is one-tenth of the size of more traditional options, such as the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L pictured above. Don't let the sheer magnitude (or lack thereof) of this glass fool you, however: UCSD gurus note that the newly developed optics can easily mimic the performance of regular-sized lenses when capturing high-resolution photos. "It can image anything between half a meter and 500 meters away (a 100x range of focus) and boasts the equivalent of 20/10 human vision (0.2-milliradian resolution)," according to engineers. As for us, well, we can't wait to see this technology become widely adopted -- don't you agree?

Filed under: Cameras

Source: UCSD Jacobs

Google+ introduces better RAW-to-JPEG conversion for over 70 cameras

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/25/google-introduces-better-raw-to-jpeg-conversion/

If you've been paying much attention to Google+, you already know that the social network is doing its damnedest to become the go-to destination for photographers. Accordingly, it's attracted a number of RAW format enthusiasts -- thanks to the ability to store full-size photos -- and to make their lives a little better, Google+ is introducing a new RAW-to-JPEG conversion method that offers noticeably better results. Over 70 cameras from Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic and Sony are supported as of today, and Google says that it'll add additional models over time. Since Google+ automatically converts RAW photos to JPEG for viewing purposes (while retaining the original), the new conversion method should be readily apparent. You can view the complete list of supported cameras after the break, and as for the improved quality of conversions, go ahead and have a look for yourself. Hopefully your eyes agree with Google's claim.

Filed under: Cameras, Internet, Mobile, Google

Source: Ronald Wotzlaw (Google+), Nik Photography (Google+)

drag2share: Mailbox for iOS Has a Huge Security Flaw (Updated)

source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/vip/~3/XMjK1gPY_cg/mailbox-for-ios-has-a-huge-security-flaw-1385847324

Mailbox for iOS Has a Huge Security Flaw (Updated)

Mailbox, the tidy iOS email app recently purchased by Dropbox, has a pretty wide-open hole that could allow bad actors to hijack your device. And unlike phishing attempts that should probably set off your sketchiness detector, this flaw involves emails that look completely innocuous.

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: Google Search adds support for hashtags, pulls related info from Google+

source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/25/google-search-hashtags-google-plus/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi

The latest way Google is working social media into its search engine is with the use of familiar hashtags, but at least for now that doesn't include direct results from competitors like Facebook and Twitter. Available initially to users in the US and Canada, searches that include hashtags (like #ExpandNY, for example) will gain a right rail display relevant Google+ posts that were either shared publicly or to you. Even if you're not an avid user of the #, since Google+ autogenerates hashtags for many posts, it should be easy to find relate! d info f or pretty much any topic. According to Zaheed Sabur, there are also links to search said hashtag on other social sites, although which ones weren't specified. Even if you're in the right area you probably won't see the new feature just yet, as it's going live "within the next few hours."

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: Ginger is a new app for creating presentations, somehow tied to Adobe

source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/25/ginger-adobe-mobile-app/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi

Ginger isn't available yet, but it is already generating buzz. Not for its marketing video, nor for its simple website, but for its potential tie to a massive company in the software world: Adobe. Ginger promises to enable users to "show your story to the world in minutes" via its upcoming mobile application -- you can create slides with audio and visual components and then push them to various social media. It sounds a lot like PowerPoint for mobile, albeit with fewer options (no mention of video, for instance) -- not exactly Adobe's first foray into mobile, but another interesting step for the company.

The Adobe tie-in pops up when signing up for Ginger's "keep me in the loop" email newsletter. A confirmation email from gingerfeedback@adobe.com arrives as confirmation, which tells us that either Adobe's involved or the company's been kind enough to Ginger to offer up free email hosting space (an unlikely scenario, we'd say). Of course, we've reached out to Adobe for furth! er detai ls and will let you know if we hear back.

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: Sony's Cyber-shot QX100 lens camera is fantastic, impractical (sample photos)

source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/25/sony-qx100-lens-camera/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi

At Sony's IFA press event, reps handed out samples of the company's $250 lens cameras to everyone in the room. We really enjoyed our time with the Cyber-shot QX10, but that model's more powerful sibling, the QX100, promised even better performance, albeit in a substantially larger package. Unfortunately, it's been a bit difficult to come by, and our loaner missed the deadline for a review. We'll examine it here instead.

At $500, the QX100 is an incredibly pricey smartphone accessory, but when you consider that the cam features the same optics as Sony's $750 RX100 Mark II, that ambitious sticker price is a bit easier to swallow. Still, for the QX's target demographic -- smartphone users looking to boost the quality of Twitpics and Instagram photos -- bigger doesn't necessarily mean better.

Both the QX10 and QX100 functio! n in muc h the same way, but internally, they're entirely unique. The base model includes a 1/2.3-inch sensor and a 10x optical zoom lens, while the more expensive version, available for twice the price, features a much larger 1-inch sensor and a higher-quality 3.6x Carl Zeiss lens. It's essentially an RX100 Mark II without the LCD, and with limited advanced control. Instead, like with the QX10, you use a connected smartphone as your viewfinder. Unlike with that flavor, however, you now have the ability to tweak the aperture (down to f/1.8). On paper, it's a much better fit for advanced photographers, and the image quality is good indeed, but ultimately this is an accessory for your smartphone. Keeping that in mind, let's see how it performs.%Gallery-slideshow98477%

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

Google+ Will Eventually Power All Comments On YouTube

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-will-eventually-power-all-comments-on-youtube-2013-9

Social Media Insights is a daily newsletter from Business Insider that collects and delivers the top social media news first thing every morning. You can sign up to receive Social Media Insights here or at the bottom of this post.

Google+ Will Eventually Power All Comments On YouTube (YouTube Blog)
YouTube is rolling out a new commenting system on channel discussions (soon to be rolled out to all videos) that is powered by Google+.

More than 100 million people like, share, or comment on YouTube every week, and now all of those social actions will be going towards building the Google+ social graph.

The strategic move is yet another attempt by Google to tie Google+ to everything you do while using Google products (search, email, video). Google+ is one of the largest social network's that very few people ever intentionally use. Read >

Twitter Leaning Towards Listing On NYSE (CNBC)
Although no official decision has been announced as of this writing, sources tell CNBC that Twitter is "leaning" towards listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Facebook and a number of other major tech companies are listed on the Nasdaq. Read >

Pinterest Launches New Pins For Publishers (Pinterest Blog)
In hopes of appealing to publishers, and not just the fashion crowd, Pinterest is rolling out an updated pin for publishers. The updated feature now includes more information about the article being pinned, such as the headline, name of author, story description, and link to the source. Read >

China To Lift Ban On Facebook and Twitter (Business Insider)
The Chinese government is lifting a ban on Facebook and Twitter in its Shanghai free-trade zone. Read >

Wendy's Taps Vine For Marketing Campaign (Mobile Marketer)
Wendy's is the latest fast-food company to experiment with Vine for marketing. The company is asking customers to upload six-second video clips showing off their sandwiches. Taco Bell has also used Vine for marketing campaigns. Read >

The Best Times To Post On Each Social Network (Fannit)

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drag2share: 3D printer duplicates paintings down to the last brush stroke (video)

source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/24/3d-art-printer/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi

We've seen 3D printers produce some pretty amazing things, but nothing quite like this. Tim Zaman, a Dutch researcher, has reportedly developed a 3D duplication technique capable of capturing incredible detail, such as brush strokes and other textures on a painting. With a captured image on hand, it's then possible to print a reproduction matching every detail, including raised brush strokes. Reproductions are created using an Oce printer that can reproduce large-format paintings at 600 ppi; the process resembles that of a dye-sub printer, with the printing head moving back and forth many times, adding a new textured layer with each pass. It's a very cool idea, but don't expect to fill your home with flawless duplicates -- you'll first need to get your hands on a priceless piece of art.

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: 86,000 square miles of Great Britain meticulously recreated in Minecraft

source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/24/uk-recreated-minecraft-virtual-universe/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi

There are those with free time, and then there's Joseph Braybrook. This fine bloke managed to recreate some 86,000 square miles of Great Britain within the Minecraft universe, and moreover, it took but a fortnight to concoct. Further justifying his work as more than goofing off, he used Ordnance Survey terrain data in the world's construction, leading Graham Dunlop, OS Innovation Lab Manager, to proclaim the following: "We think we may have created the largest Minecraft world ever built based on real-world data." The new universe contains over 22 billion Minecraft blocks, and once players have downloaded the 3.6GB file, they're free to build at will. Just don't go planting any US flags -- that's just downright rude.

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email ! contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

Amazon's Fire OS 3.0 'Mojito' arrives just in time for those new tablets

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/25/amazons-fire-os-mojito/

New hardware without a software refresh? Don't make Jeff Bezos laugh. Today's (well, tonight's) arrival of three new slates also marks the unveiling of the company's latest tablet operating system. And this time, it even has a name. See, Amazon's been using "Fire OS" internally to describe the software powering its tablet line, and now we get to use it as well, with the arrival of version 3.0. Based, as ever, on Android (Jelly Bean, this time out), Bezos and co. have been using the codename "Mojito," trading in candy names for sugary cocktails. The operating system will ship on the new HDX and HD devices. We didn't get exact confirmation that it'll roll out to older devices, but an Amazon rep we spoke with implied that there's a good likelihood of that, given update precedents from the company.

First thing's first -- still no Google Play access here. No surprise there, of course. After all, the company's in the habit of subsidizing the cost of its hardware based on future content sales, though, as ever, the company was quick to point out the speed with which its proprietary app store has grown in recent years. UI-wise, things look familiar here. Content, once again, is king, with the home screen built around a river featuring apps, games, movies, music and the like. The company did respond to customer concerns, however, by adding a more familiar grid-style layout that you can access with a swipe up, appeasing you Android users out there. Swipe from the right, and you'll see Quick Switch, which lets you switch between different recently used pieces of content.

Filed under: Tablets, Software, Amazon

9 Examples Of Real Mind-Blowing Technology That You Haven't Heard Of Yet

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/incredible-technology-2013-9

Microsoft Star Trek

We're certainly not in Star Trek's neighborhood when it comes to technological capability, but the car is packed and ready to go.

While it's easy to lose yourself in daydreams of teleportation and interplanetary travel, already we can do amazing things, like turn the ocean into a big glass of drinking water.

A cancer-killing computer chip can run wild in a patient's bloodstream and wreak havoc on cancer cells.

NASA's even putting legitimate effort towards building a Star Trek-like warp drive system. So maybe we're closer to a science fiction universe than initially suspected.

Nanofiber salt filters could be used to harvest ocean water for drinking.

Living near the ocean may one day mean your drinking water is so plentiful that it's free or cheap.

Nanofiber is a fibrous material that's incredibly thin (less than 100 nanometers). It functions very effectively as a salt filter since individual grains of salt are too big to pass through the holes in the nanofiber.

Unfortunately they're cost prohibitive to deploy right now.

A cancer-killing computer chip could live in a patient's bloodstream.

It's called a "microfluidic" chip, covered in long strands of DNA. The DNA absorbs the malicious cancer cells, and if they need to be studied later, the cancer cells can be retrieved from the chip later.

Graphene supercapacitors could lead to the electric car of your dreams.

Imagine an electric car that could drive a couple hundred miles, then fully recharge its battery in one minute.

Graphene supercapacitors are what will make this possible. A supercapacitor can hold as much power as a battery, but they charge far more quickly. Graphene has a high energy density though, which is a fancy way of saying it can hold more electrons (and therefore electric charge) than a standard battery.

As graphene is no longer cost-prohibitive to manufacture at scale, graphene supercapacitors could easily end up in our phones, laptops, and basically anything that runs on a battery.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

drag2share: 24 'Geniuses' Just Won $625,000 To Spend However They Want

source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/2-pwLslSxNM/macarthur-fellowship-2013-winners-2013-9

Karen Russell The names of 24 MacArthur Fellows were revealed at midnight on Wednesday, bestowing recipients with a gift of $625,000, paid over five years, to be spent anyway they choose.

The so-called "genius awards" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation have been handed out to around two dozen creative and talented Americans from all different fields every year since 1981.

The no-strings-attached money is intended to give recipients the freedom to pursue new ideas or move forward with their current work.

No one can apply for the awards. The fellows are chosen by an anonymous panel of experts, who inform the winners through a telephone call just a couple days before the official announcement.

This year, the fellows range in age from 32 to 60. There are several artists including a concert pianist, a playwright, and a choreographer of classical ballet. The other fellows include an organic chemist, a medieval historian, a behavioral economist, and an immigration lawyer.

You can see the full list of fellows at the MacArthur website.

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS! news it ems on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Use Google Analytics to Track Outgoing Gmail Messages

Source: http://lifehacker.com/use-google-analytics-to-track-outgoing-gmail-messages-1376730096

We've shown you before how to track your outgoing emails, but that can be costly and you might not need to track everything. With Google Analytics you can track emails on a per-message basis completely for free.

In the video above, engineer Amit Agarwal shows how to use this Google Drive spreadsheet script to set an Event tracker on an individual email. The process requires you to have a Google Analytics account (which is free, but requires a bit of set up), but once you're done it's relatively easy to add the tracker to an email, which can be handy for that one really important message you need to know has been seen.

How to Track Gmail Messages with Google Analytics | Digital Inspiration

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