Monday, March 17, 2014

drag2share: This Treacherous Hanging Staircase Doubles As Shelving and a Desk

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-treachorous-hanging-staircase-doubles-as-shelving-1545728028

This Treacherous Hanging Staircase Doubles As Shelving and a Desk

Here's a great space-saving idea for anyone living in a small home with multiple floors who also happen to be incredibly sure-footed. Mieke Meijer's designed this completely unorthodox staircase called the Object Élevé for a home in the Netherlands to maximize space, functionality, and wow factor.

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

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Posted by Augustine at 6:48 PM

drag2share: Amazon's streaming device is reportedly a dongle with gaming support in tow

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/17/amazon-streaming-gaming-dongle/

We've been hearing rumblings about Amazon's set top box plans for quite a while now, and according to the folks over at TechCrunch, that gadget more closely resembles Google's Chromecast. The possibility of a USB-style product should come as no surprise given the popularity of the aforementioned $35 option and Roku's recent release. In addition to the dongle form factor, the report also suggests that the device will feature support for streaming PC games in order to compete with the likes of Xbox, PlayStation and Steam for all types of living room content consumption. The gaming aspect is said to closely resemble a service like OnLive, which allows cloud-based streaming. Details are scare in terms of titles, but the library has been tipped to include "top-tier games" beamed from Amazon at 30fps. This reported union of the online retailer's set top and console plans comes just days after a controller broke from cover and weeks out from a report that gaming plans were alive and well.

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Source: TechCrunch

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

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Posted by Augustine at 6:47 PM

drag2share: Seiki's U-Vision HDMI cable arrives today to transform your HD video into 4K

source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/17/seiki-uvision-hdmi-cable/?utm_source=Feed_Classic_Full&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget&?ncid=rss_full

SONY DSC

We saw a brief demo of Seiki's U-Vision HDMI cable back in January at CES, and now the $50 cable is officially on the market. When connected to your fancy 4K TV, the chord promises to up-convert HD content from your cable box or Blu-ray player to Technicolor-certified 4K Ultra HD. It's also capable of transforming 720p content to 1080p, all while using adaptive sharpening and noise reduction to keep the picture looking its best. The demo we saw at CES was pretty clean, but the reel didn't give us the opportunity to really put it through the paces -- something we'll definitely be looking to do now that it's available. If you want to give it a try, you can pick one up today at Amazon, Newegg and Fred Meyers stores.

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Posted by Augustine at 5:38 PM

drag2share: How An LA Times Reporter Got An Algorithm To Write Articles For Him

source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/uHgdgI3OLOg/quakebot-robot-la-times-2014-3

robot robotic stiff work

Whenever there is an earthquake in southern California, a system called Quakebot analyzes notifications from the US Geological Survey and automatically creates a blog post for the Los Angeles Times. 

We first noticed this in a post titled "Earthquake aftershock: 2.7 quake strikes near Westwood" in the LA Times today via Gizmodo's Adam Clark Estes.

At the bottom of the post it reads, "This information comes from the USGS Earthquake Notification Service and this post was created by an algorithm written by the author."

That author is Ken Schwencke, a journalist and web developer who lives in Los Angeles. 

Schwencke created the Quakebot system about three years ago, but it has been functional for about two, Schwencke tells Business Insider. 

Quakebot is an automated system that lives on the Los Angeles Times's servers. The system receives emails from the US Geological Survey, runs through a checklist of where it is, and then determines if it's newsworthy based on the magnitude.

It then parses out content from the email and inputs it into the LA Times's content management service. The post is structured on a formula based on previous posts. 

"It saves everyone the initial rush to write something," Schwencke says. 

If there's a 6.0 quake in Los Angeles, Quakebot automatically set a post live. But if it's anything smaller than 6.0, Schwen

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Posted by Augustine at 3:07 PM

drag2share: The other thing Holland has legalized: carrier-free SIM cards

source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/17/holland-legalizes-carrier-free-sim-cards/?utm_source=Feed_Classic_Full&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget&?ncid=rss_full

When it comes to tolerating things that other countries deem illegal, Holland's got previous experience, but this time the nation has approved something that doesn't just benefit glaucoma sufferers. The country has ratified the use of blank SIM cards that aren't tied to a carrier, and can instead be tweaked use whatever network is best for you. The idea is that since you're not tied to an operator, you can switch between providers when your needs change -- allowing you to swerve roaming charges when you're out and about. The move also boosts "internet of things" makers, who can connect devices to cellular networks without signing a long, expensive deal. Of course, the longer-term implication is that smartphone companies like Apple and Samsung could bulk-buy voice and data services and cut out the middle man -- a prospect that would even send John Legere into a cold sweat.

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Posted by Augustine at 12:34 PM

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