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Friday, September 05, 2014

Create Customizable GeoMaps with Google Sheets

Source: http://lifehacker.com/create-customizable-geomaps-with-google-sheets-1630493802

Create Customizable GeoMaps with Google Sheets

If you want to display a range of data by region, you need a GeoMap. You may not have known this, but it's quite easy to create your own in Google Sheets after entering your data.

Highlight the data and go to Insert > Charts. On the charts tab of the new window you can select maps and choose which type of map you want. On the customize tab you can choose the colors and select which region you want. I created a map for the U.S., but you can choose to create a map for the world instead, or a select number of other regions.

6 Powerful Google Drive Features You're Probably Not Using | PC World

That Wonderful Sony Short Throw 4K Projector Costs as Much as Two Cars

Source: http://gizmodo.com/that-wonderful-sony-short-throw-4k-projector-costs-as-m-1630944892

That Wonderful Sony Short Throw 4K Projector Costs as Much as Two Cars

If you love short-throw projectors and hate money, you can officially purchase Sony's delightful short throw 4K projector for a grand total of $50,000 American dollars . But only if you live in the New York area.

Dell's 27-Inch 5K Monitor Is Like Filet Mignon For Your Eyeballs

Source: http://gizmodo.com/dells-27-inch-5k-monitor-is-like-filet-mignon-for-your-1630946185

Dell's 27-Inch 5K Monitor Is Like Filet Mignon For Your Eyeballs

For those who like to really spoil their eyes, Dell's new 27-inch monitor services them a whopping resolution of 5120×2880. That works out to 14.7 million pixels in total, and 218 PPI. That's just a hair shy of the 15-inch MacBook Pro's 220 PPI, on a display that's nearly twice the diagonal lenth. Wowza.

Philips' new curved TV and 4K media player run on Android

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/05/philips-new-curved-tv-and-4k-media-player-run-on-android/

Philips has just revealed a new lineup of 4K TVs, along with a way to actually play something on them. The standout model is the curved, 55-inch curved Philips 8900 that brings Smart TV features via Android. That gives you access to the Google Play Store for apps, games and content and an interface you may find ~~less miserable~~ more comfortable if you're used to Android. The set itself uses Philips' three-sided Ambilight and micro dimming to adapt the viewing experience to your room, along with a 1,000 Hz refresh rate, high-quality upscaling and a curved "ribbon" stand. Unlike Samsung and others, Philips didn't explain exactly why it thought a curved screen was a good thing, other than hyping its "striking appearance" (hey, at least they're honest).

Philips (or rather TP Vision, the awkwardly-named company that markets Philips TVs) also showed off the Philips 9100, a flat, high-end model UltraHD TV in 55- and 65-inch sizes. It also gets Smart TV functions powered by Android, and the 1,000 Hz refresh rate, upscaling, and four-sided Ambilight glow. But the model's piece de resistance is Spotify integration, letting you control music with your smartphone, without actually tying it up for streaming. Unlike the curved model, it also ships with a 50 watt subwoofer.

For the budget set, TP Vision launched the Philips 7900 UltraHD TVs in 49- and 55-inch sizes. Those models are also powered by Android, but have knocked-down specs like two-sided Ambilight only (instead of four-sided), and 600Hz refresh rates -- two features that purists won't care about anyway. Like the rest of the models, the 7900 also sports minimal bezels.

Finally, if you're tired of upscaling HD content, TP Vision also announced the Philips Media Player UHD 880, joining Samsung, Sony and a few others with such a box. It'll work with all the new Philips models as well as those from 2013 and use a new HEVC streaming format (aka H.265), the standard used by video services like Netflix. The UHD 880 will be powered by Google's upcoming Android L OS, giving users the store, apps and games that also come on the TVs. Other features include WiFi, ethernet, USB and HDMI 2.0. It'll run 249 euros when it arrives in Europe early next year, but if you bought an 8000- or 9000-series model like the first two above, Philips will throw it in for free. Meanwhile, all three new 4K model lines will arrive to Europe in Russia sometime this quarter, but there's no word yet on pricing.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

Rebecca Minkoff's smart bracelets place emphasis on style and luxury

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/05/rebecca-minkoffs-luxury-wearable/

Some fashionistas wouldn't be caught dead wearing certain smartwatches, okay? That's why you see all these fancy wearables pop up these days, including a handful of new offerings from American designer Rebecca Minkoff. Her collection's comprised of two high-tech, high-fashion bracelets like Intel's MICA, as well as a golden phone charger, made in collaboration with luxury phone casing maker Case-Mate. Each bracelet has its own function, so it wouldn't be redundant to wear them both: the $120 gold chain-linked one connects to your phone via Bluetooth and alerts you of calls and texts from chosen contacts. The $60 studded leather bracelet, on the other hand, transforms into a lightning cable that connects to a USB cable for times when you badly need to charge.

Minkoff's the latest designer to cross over to tech from the fashion industry, following in the footsteps of Diane Von Furstenberg who designed stylish frames for Google Glass, Tory Burch who teamed up with Fitbit to create a special Flex tracker, and Ralph Lauren who recently launched a smart shirt for athletes. We'll likely hear more about these bracelets when Minkoff launches them today at New York Fashion Week, though they seem pretty straightforward, so it may be best not to expect more features.

Filed under: Wearables, Mobile

Via: Stylelist

Source: Rebecca Minkoff

Thursday, September 04, 2014

How Polar Bears Will Keep the Elephants Warm at the Oregon Zoo

Source: http://gizmodo.com/how-polar-bears-will-keep-the-elephants-warm-at-the-ore-1630597939

How Polar Bears Will Keep the Elephants Warm at the Oregon Zoo

Zoos are weird places . You have fake safari next to fake tundra next to fake rainforest—all separated by a glass and concrete and a few feet of space. At the Oregon Zoo, a new energy plan manages to both subvert and perfectly embody the zoo's artificial ecology: The excess heat from the polar beat habitat will keep Asian elephants warm.

HP's Chromebook 14 Gets a Big Time Tegra K1 Boost

Source: http://gizmodo.com/hps-chromebook-14-gets-a-big-time-tegra-k1-boost-1630480447

HP's Chromebook 14 Gets a Big Time Tegra K1 Boost

HP has a few power-ups planned for the holiday that are worth getting excited about. Specifically, its newest 14-inch Chromebook will be getting a fancy Tegra K1 chip , and the Envy X2 detachable is going to get a serious powerboost from Intel's Core M Broadwell .

Panasonic's AR Make-Up Mirror Turned Me Into a Pussycat Doll

Source: http://gizmodo.com/panasonics-ar-make-up-mirror-turned-me-into-a-pussycat-1630523732

Panasonic's AR Make-Up Mirror Turned Me Into a Pussycat Doll

Stuff the tech reporting — after trying out Panasonic's augmented reality make-up mirror, I reckon I've got a glittering career awaiting me as the first male member of the Pussycat Dolls.

Garmin's Vivosmart is part fitness band, part smartwatch

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/04/garmin-vivosmart/

Considering how many damn smartwatches and fitness bands we've seen, it's incredible how few of them manage to combine aspects of both. Sure, there was the Fitbit Force, which was designed to show incoming calls for iPhones, but that was discontinued after a recall. The Samsung Gear Fit and Gear 2 have some fitness features, but you need a Samsung phone to use them, and besides, the step and heart-rate tracking aren't very accurate anyway. You might even remember the Razer Nabu, which won our People's Choice Awards at CES, and promised to display notifications for emails, among other things. But since that still hasn't come out, it's basically a moot point. All of this is to say: There's a wide-open market for fitness trackers that can also do the core job of smartwatches. Enter Garmin. The company just announced the $170 Vivosmart band, a fitness tracker that shows texts, emails, calls, calendar appointments, game notifications and music playback controls. For the time being, at least, it might just b! e the mo st versatile fitness device you're going to find.

At first glance, the Vivosmart looks like the popular Nike FuelBand: A wide plastic bracelet (available in five colors), whose built-in OLED display stays hidden most of the time. When you want to swipe through your notifications, just double-tap the display to wake it up. Like any other fitness tracker, it counts your steps, calories burned, distance covered and the amount of time you spend sleeping each night. Also similar to other models, it has a vibration motor, which you can use to set wake-up alarms. It does food logging too, but only if you connect your existing MyFitnessPal account inside the Garmin Connect app, available for Android and iOS. As you might've guessed, the band is powered by a low-energy Bluetooth Smart radio, promising a fairly typical seven days of battery life.

That about covers the basics. Now let's get to the interesting stuff. For starters, the device is waterproof up to 50 meters -- a nice bonus, considering other models (including the FuelBand) are merely water-resistant. Additionally, the Vivosmart carries over some of the features we liked best on Garmin's other fitness trackers, including the flagship Vivofit and the Forerunner 15 running watch. First, there's the "move bar," a line that appears on the screen -- and that you have to work off -- whenever you've been inactive for an hour. It's a clever feature if only because it's less intrusive than a vibration or a beep. You can ignore either of those if you happen to be in a meeting, but the move bar -- that won't go away until you get up and walk. Like other Garmin devices, too, it's compatible with heart rate monitors and bike speed sensors, though you'll of course have to buy those separately.

The Vivosmart is available for pre-order today, with shipments expected to start mid-month. It's exclusive to Best Buy for now, but starting in November, you'll be able to find it in other stores as well. There's also a version that comes with a heart rate monitor. That costs $200. Hopefully, we'll get one in to review soon. Until there's a device that can do everything a fitness tracker and smartwatch can, we'll be curious to see if the Vivosmart does a better job as a smartwatch than smartwatches have as fitness trackers.

Filed under: Wearables

Lenovo reveals the Vibe Z2, its very first 64-bit smartphone

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/04/lenovo-vibe-z2-and-x2/

Lenovo might not be known for its smartphones around these parts (Motorola's new wares should change that soon), but it's definitely no slouch where the rest of the world is concerned. To no one's surprise, the Chinese juggernaut's family of phones just got a little bigger today at IFA: the company just pulled back the curtain on a pair of devices called the Vibe Z2 (pictured above) and Vibe X2.

Its name would imply that the Vibe Z2 occupies the rung under Lenovo's flagship Vibe Z2 Pro, but this new entry is Lenovo's first 64-bit smartphone thanks to the 1.4GHz quad-core Snapdragon chipset housed within its 7.8mm thick chassis. That means it'll play rather nicely with the new (and currently unnamed) version of Android waiting in the wings, though at this point it's unclear whether it'll ship with Android L preloaded. Rounding out the package are a super-bright 5.2-inch screen running at 720p (sigh), along with 32GB of internal storage, dual SIM slots, a 3,000 mAh battery and a 13-megapixel rear camera with a backlit sensor.

Itching for something a little more stylish? That's where the Vibe X2 comes in. There's a 5-inch 1080p display and one of Mediatek's new True8Core chipsets lurking under the hood, but your eyes will dart to its three-layered design with colors stacked atop each other like paperbacks perched atop a coffee table. Striking? You bet, but we're sure it won't be everyone's cup of tea. You'll be able to choose from white, red, gold and gray options, all of which should complement the 13-megapixel camera 'round the back nicely. And in case three layers just isn't enough for you, Lenovo's got a series of accessories -- think a super-slim battery and an amped-up speaker -- to add a fourth stratum to the mix.

The Vibe Z2 and X2 will cost $429 and $399 respectively when they launch in October, and (to no one's surprise) they'll hit Lenovo's native China first. From there, they'll trickle into the rest of southeast Asia, eastern Europe and Latin America -- just don't expect them to hit US doorsteps any time soon.

Filed under: Mobile

Lenovo's ThinkPad Helix returns with a thinner design and longer battery life

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/04/lenovo-thinkpad-helix-2014/

Lenovo's ThinkPad Helix returns with a thinner design and longer battery life

Lenovo's ThinkPad Helix Windows convertible was always a promising device. Here was a tablet that could fit into its keyboard dock with the screen facing forward or backward. It had a full HD display and an active digitizer for pressure-sensitive pen input. Best of all, it used proper laptop-grade processors, ensuring you'd get performance more in line with Ultrabook than a standalone tablet. Sure, its weird cooling flap and pointy dock-guides made it cumbersome to use, but in spirit, at least, we were on board. We hoped Lenovo would try again with a refreshed design. At last, the company has done just that -- more than a year after the original first went on sale. The new Helix arrives later this fall with a thinner fanless design, not to mention slightly longer battery life.

As Lenovo tells it, the company's design team held off on refreshing the Helix until Intel's Core M processors came out. These chips, based on Intel's "Broadwell" architecture, allow for thinner, fanless Windows PCs. Not like an Atom-powered tablet, mind you, but full-fledged, laptop-grade performance inside a tablet. Just without the fans and cooling flap that annoyed us so much the first time around. The tablet alone weighs the same, at 1.8 pounds, but it now measures 0.38 inch thick, down from half an inch.

Other than that slimmer profile, the other big improvement is in battery life. The tablet now promises up to 12 hours with the keyboard dock, versus 10 on the original. As it turns out, most of the enhancements come from the tablet, not the dock: Even on its own, the slate is now rated for eight hours of runtime, up from four. The dock actually promises one less hour than it did last year.

Speaking of the keyboard dock, you actually get two options for a change. When the Helix goes on sale in October, you'll be able to buy it with a magnetic keyboard that connects via small pins at the bottom (meaning, it's not Bluetooth). Starting in January, when Intel's business-class vPro Core M chips become available, Lenovo will also start selling a "Pro" keyboard that looks similar to the one on last year's Helix, complete with a rotating hinge and the signature red TrackPoint. The Pro does still have guides that jut out from the device, though they're thankfully less pointy this time around. If we're honest, you might want to wait for this one instead of settling for the magnetic keyboard, which doesn't have a built-in battery, and which doesn't allow you to adjust the screen angle the way you can on the Pro.

As for other key specs -- 400-nit, 1080p display, dual 5MP/2MP cameras -- not much has changed since last year. Also like the original Helix, it'll be offered with a Wacom digitizer, with a slot on board to stow the pen. Hey, if you live in the US, it won't even be an "option"; it'll just come standard. Once it arrives in October, it'll start at $999 with the pen and magnetic keyboard. No word yet how much the tablet will cost with the Pro keyboard, but we're hearing around $1,200 and up. Don't take our word for that, though -- the price isn't final.

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, Lenovo

Beats co-founder returns with ROAM Ropes wireless in-ear headphones

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/04/roam-ropes-headphones/

Steven Lamar helped create the now iconic Beats by Dre brand back in 2006, and after a spat over royalties last spring, he's back with headphones of his very own. Touting the best in ergonomics, sound and "Noise Equalization," Lamar's ROAM brand is launching Ropes as its first portable audio offering. As the moniker suggests, the design allows for the earbuds to be worn around your neck when they're not in use. That "Noise Equalization" bit is proprietary tech that claims to deliver "the best sound quality on the market today." Unforunately, I've yet to get my hands on a pair, so I can't confirm or deny that declaration. If the stock tuning does suit your sonic sensibilities though, there's a ROAM EQ app for tweaking via smartphone. The in-ears will arrive in time for your Christmas shopping, and they'll carry a pricey $299 tag in either graphite/black or orange/gray (benefiting Stand Up to Cancer) color options. For comparison sake, that's $100 more wireless units from Jabra (a pulse-tracking model) and Beats, and $140 higher than the sport-themed pair from SMS Audio.

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video

Source: ROAM

LG's got an 8K OLED television and food looks delicious on it

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/04/lg-8k-tv/

As per usual, South Korean electronics giant LG is here at IFA in Berlin, Germany. Less usual? The company showing up with a 98-inch 8K OLED television. LG's saying it's "16 times full HD resolution," and while we didn't sit and count every pixel, the food porn being shown off looked mighty tasty. No pricing or availability was given, but we'd expect it to cost quite a bit of dough. The real reason it's here, however, is simply to showcase that LG can create the gorgeous, ultra high-res screen. And hey, did we mention that the food looked really pretty? Explore its depths in the gallery below.

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, HD, LG

WSJ: Apple's smartwatch will arrive in two sizes with NFC in tow

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/04/apple-iwatch-sizes-nfc-report/

By now, you've likely read at least one of the many rumors surrounding what's become known as the iWatch. Well, according to The Wall Street Journal, you can add a few more details to the fray. That outlet is reporting that whenever Apple's smartwatch arrives -- which has been tipped as no sooner than 2015 -- it will be NFC equipped. The prevailing sentiment is that inclusion of wireless connectivity that can be used to pair with other devices or sort things like mobile payments means Cupertino has more lofty expectations that just fitness and health for the gadget. Of course, the current iPhone doesn't have said feature, but rumblings indicate that it could (finally) be inside the next model. What's more, WSJ goes on to say that the so-called iWatch will come in two sizes that both have curved displays and exercise-tracking chops. With a reported 2015 arrival, we may not hear much about the wearable at next week's phone event. But who knows, Apple's been known to have a few tricks up its sleeve when it comes product-focused affairs in the past! .

Filed under: Wearables, Apple

Source: The Wall Street Journal

The Best Jobs For Every Personality Type

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/best-jobs-for-every-personality-2014-9

Does your job fit your personality?

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality test, measuring preferences like introversion and extroversion, has been part of business culture for decades. Today about 80% of the Fortune 500 and 89 of Fortune 100 companies use it to analyze the personalities of employees, in an effort to get them in the right roles and help them succeed.

To determine five of the best jobs for each of the 16 Myers-Briggs personality types, we consulted one of the most popular personality guides, "Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type," which is now in its fifth edition and has sold over a million copies, according to its publisher, Hachette Book Group.

We also talked to one of its authors, Paul Tieger. As the CEO of SpeedReading People LLC, Tieger has spent 30 years advising companies and individuals on how personality types can help teams work together.

While the list below is in no way definitive — and personality preferences can be flexible over time — it may serve as a helpful guide for understanding yourself and what sort of personalities gravitate toward certain jobs.

There are several tests you can take to determine which personality type you fit into. Tieger provides a free assessment here. Figure out which type suits you best, and then check out the chart below:

Best Jobs For Personality Infographic

SEE ALSO: How To Dress Like A Leader In Any Work Environment

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