Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Top Stories of the Day // April 30, 2013

TechCrunch

Disrupt NY begins today and you can catch all of the action happening live at the Manhattan Center: here! The conference runs Monday-Wednesday and check out the agenda so you won't miss a thing. Watch Now

Today's Top Stories // Apr 30, 2013

Microsoft Launches Preview Of Skype For Outlook.com

Microsoft has announced that it is launching a preview of Skype for Outlook.com starting in the UK. The service will be made available in the U.S. and Germany... read more

Games Company Releases Version For Pirates That Forces Them To Fail Constantly, Irony Lost On Pirates

This is a fascinating little blip that popped up this morning and bears a mention. Games company GreenHeart released an $8 game called Game Dev Tycoon. The... read more

Twitter Is Testing Out Its Official Google Glass App In The Wild

read more

Fred Wilson On Pitching A VC: Leave The Backstory At Home

read more

Facebook's Graph Search Supremo Lars Rasmussen On Relocating To London, Building A New Team, And The Challenges Of Natural Language

Lars Rasmussen, one of the two engineering directors who led in the creation of Facebook's new Graph Search and helps run its development, is leaving Menlo Park... read more

Jawbone Acquires BodyMedia For Over $100 Million To Give It An Edge In Wearable Health Tracking

It was just about two months ago that Jawbone snapped up mobile health startup Massive Health, and now the company has acquired an even more prominent player in... read more

On Track For $250M In 2013 Sales, Fab Pivots Again, Buys Custom Furniture Shop Massivkonzept And Opens Retail Storefront

Design-focused retail site Fab has announced its new pivot, along with an acquisition and much more.... read more

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins Says Tablets "Not A Good Business Model," Evidently Forgetting About iPad

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins seems to be among the most transparent executives in tech in terms of showing his hand regarding future product plans, which may... read more

Jawbone UP Becomes A Platform With New Partners, Open API Coming Soon

Jawbone is doing something a lot of developers will probably be interested in, by opening up the UP fitness tracking wristband as a platform play, with an open... read more

ClickTale Raises $17M For Its In-Page Analytics

ClickTale, a company that helps businesses understand what visitors are actually doing on their websites, just announced that it has raised $17 million in... read more

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Smashing Newsletter #83: Galaxies, Chairs and Free Fonts

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The Smashing Email Newsletter

Issue #83 | Tuesday, April 30th 2013 | 141,533 subscribers | Previous issues

Dear Friends,

You know how it feels when somebody makes you do stuff that you don't really want to do. Well, the same thing happens in the browser when your patient visitors realize that clicking on a harmless link has just prompted their browser to download a 50 MB PDF file on their limited and shaky EDGE connection. Of course, what we as designers should do in these situations is to indicate that the link is a PDF download and provide instructions on how users can download the file if they want to — "Right click and save as," that is. But is it really an optimal solution? Can we do better than this?

Right click and save as

Yes, Jonathan Svärdén has a better solution. We can use the HTML5 download attribute to make it clear to the browser that the file shouldn't be displayed, but should instead only be downloaded:

<a href="9fd-f32ff322.pdf" download="snell-invoice-may13">Download file</a>

In fact, if you're serving up a dynamically generated file with a randomly generated filenames like 9fd-f32ff322.pdf, the markup will tell the browser to name the file appropriately, i.e. snell-invoice-may13.pdf.

The support for the download attribute is still quite limited — with Chrome and Firefox 20+ supporting it, and Jonathan provides a couple of fixes and workarounds for this. However, since the feature is an add-on for capable browsers and doesn't have any drawbacks, we can and should start using it right away. Your users might really appreciate it!

— Vitaly

Table of Contents

01. Learn How Things Might Work
02. With The Warp Speed Through Space: CSS3 Galaxy
03. The Stars Among The Chairs
04. Aleo: Sleek Free Font With Personality
05. The Grid Bookmarklet For Vertical Rhythm
06. The Perfect Shade Of Color
07. Going Back In Time: With Retro Vector Goodies
08. It Takes Only Five Words
09. Smashing Highlights (From Archives)
10. New on Smashing Job Board
11. Recent Articles On Smashing Magazine


1. Learn How Things Might Work

Have you ever wondered how the devices that you use every day work? Such as your everyday companion, your mobile phone, the coffee cup that provides you with the fresh goodness of caffeine throughout the day or the toaster that delivers your favorite breakfast foundation in the morning? Jing Zhang has put together some nice Imaginary Factory infographics that explain how things might be made, with some interesting insights into your everyday products.

Learn How Things Might Work

A similar idea came to Matt Stephens, who has a passion for both type and automotive manuals. Stephens took apart the pieces of his favorite typefaces and displayed them like furniture in a construction manual. They even include drill holes and screws. See how your favorite letter would be constructed in the Exploded Alphabet and what material it would be made of. (ml)


2. With The Warp Speed Through Space: CSS3 Galaxy

You know the drill: when it comes to CSS3, there is some really good practical stuff out there, as well as some pretty nifty eye-candy demos which are hardly useful in practice at all. Still, sometimes these demos challenge what we can do with CSS today, and by pushing the boundaries they prompt us to take a different perspective on what we usually do with our humble stylesheets.

With The Warp Speed Through Space: CSS3 Galaxy

Noah Blon has put together a Hyperspace CSS3 demo, an infinite exploration of space, implemented using a background image, a couple of transforms, perspective origins and animations. The visual effect is astonishing, and works pretty well with CSS gradients as well. Now, this must have taken quite some time and experimentation. If you're looking for more CSS experiments, make sure to check Blon's other demos as well. Now, what about your next experiment in CSS? (vf)


3. The Stars Among The Chairs

Doesn't every designer's home or workplace need at least one special piece of furniture? Even if you are not a designer — fine furniture makes fine people… So, how about a new chair? Need some inspiration? Iconic Furniture lets you look at some of the most iconic furniture pieces of the past century. Imagine having some of these at home or in the office! Wouldn't it be fancy to offer your client a seat in the coconut chair?

The Stars Among The Chairs

The coconut chair got its name from its distinctive shape resembling a coconut cut into eight pieces. It was designed by George Nelson and George Mulhauser — two of the most important designers of the last century.

Iconic Furniture is worth a visit, but not only for the pieces it showcases. The elegant way in which the website lets you scroll from one chair to the next makes this guide a beautiful masterpiece in itself. (ea)


4. Aleo: Sleek Free Font With Personality

Alessio Laio has designed a wonderful and versatile free font: Aleo Font Family. This contemporary typeface comes with a sleek overall look, giving it an unobtrusive yet strong personality. It's distinguished by its semi-rounded details. Does Aleo look familiar to you? Could be. It was designed as the slab serif partner to Łukasz Dziedzic's Lato font (which is freely available as well). Aleo comes in three weights (light, regular and bold), each accompanied by corresponding true italics. Ligatures ensure an improved reading flow and diacritics support multi-language use.

Aleo: Sleek Free Font With Personality

As Aleo is released unter the SIL Open Font License, it is free for both personal and commercial use. If you want to show your appreciation for this well-crafted typeface, you can make a donation to the designer. So, do you already have in mind what you could use Aleo for? (cm)


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5. The Grid Bookmarklet For Vertical Rhythm

If you tend to develop your websites in the browser, it's often handy to have a grid overlay that can inform your design decisions as you iterate your designs. And in fact, there are quite a few tools out there, but only a few of them allow you to adjust vertical spacing and offset on the fly, as you code.

The Grid Bookmarklet For Vertical Rhythm

Gridwax is a browser bookmarklet that you can drag into your bookmarks toolbar and activate to overlay the current page. To adjust vertical spacing, just press Shift + DownArrow/UpArrow, and for the offset Shift + LeftArrow/RightArrow. Easy. Another helpful tool to make the design process in the browser just a tiny bit easier! (vf)

6. The Perfect Shade Of Color

You found almost the perfect hex color value for your design, but you want the shade to be a tad lighter or darker? So what do you usually do? Probably open Photoshop and start dragging the color picker until you have found your desired tone. Web designer and developer Dennis Leblanc has created a much more convenient way to do this: HexColorTool.

The Perfect Shade Of Color

All you have to do is enter the six-digit hex value of your color and choose whether the tool should find lighter or darker hues of it. HexColorTool lets you select a percentage range between 0 and 20%. And the best thing: you don't have to install anything, as you can access the tool from any browser. It is even responsive. Alternatively you can use the good old Color Blender by Eric Meyer. Time to improve your workflow! (cm)


7. Going Back In Time: With Retro Vector Goodies

Remember the '80s, when commercials were crazy and cell phones gigantic? People spent their Saturday afternoons in the arcade or in front of their home gaming systems. The '80s were like living in the future, and so were the designs of the time. If you're into graphic design elements from this or other past eras, you must check out Retro Vectors, a great source of vintage vector goodies from the good ol' times — 1880s to the 1980s.

Going Back In Time: With Retro Vector Goodies

Besides futuristic gaming and computer design, you'll find Gothic-style ornaments from the Victorian era, as well as small ad clipart from the '50s and '60s — the golden age of advertising. Original materials that have fallen out of copyright have been scanned at the highest resolution possible. The content includes graphics from 100-year-old newspapers and other printed materials such as shop catalogs, calling cards and posters. All files are free to use for commercial or personal work. (ea)


8. It Takes Only Five Words

Every once in a while we need some words of motivation to keep us going, to lift our mood or simply to provide us with some inspiration. Often it takes just a little quote to put a smile on our faces. On their website Five Words, Australian design duo Skye Dwyer and Melissa Lee provide a new inspiring message every day, each one nicely packed into a unique typographic work of art. What's special about the more than 700 designs is that they all consist of exactly five words — no more no less.

It Takes Only Five Words

Clicking through the pages feels like sitting in front of a pile of fortune cookies, slowly cracking one at a time, always wondering what comes next. A wonderful place to forget time. For typography aficionados and word lovers alike. (cm)


9. Smashing Highlights (From Archives)

  • Useful Typography Tips For Adobe Illustrator
    Typography is not only an all-important aspect of design, it is also an art form in and of itself. Choosing the right font, the perfect spacing and even the correct shape of text can be an important factor as to whether a project fails or succeeds.

  • Five Useful Interactive CSS/jQuery Techniques Deconstructed
    With the wide variety of CSS3 and JavaScript techniques available today, it's easier than ever to create unique interactive websites that delight visitors and provide a more engaging user experience. In this article, we'll walk through five interactive techniques that you can start using right now.

  • Elements Of A Viral Launch Page
    In this article, we'll outline some best practices and examples of successful viral launch pages. Let's define a viral launch page not only as a "Coming soon" landing page, but also as a usable beta page or even in some cases a finished product page.


10. New on Smashing Job Board

Here are the job openings published recently at our very own Smashing Job Board:

  • Front End Web Developer/Designer at Sifteo, Inc. (San Francisco, CA)
    Sifteo, a venture-backed start-up creating a next-generation game system for families (Sifteo Cubes), is seeking a visual designer with front-end web development chops to join our small-but-mighty marketing team. We like generalists here at Sifteo, and this position is no exception. This is a "do both" role.

  • Interaction Designer at oDesk (Redwood City, CA)
    oDesk is looking for a thoughtful Interaction Designer to join our quirky, fun-loving UX team. You'll be a valued collaborator in our work to research, envision, design and help build a kick-ass user experience for our global user community. You're an excellent communicator with a strong design sense, a technical background, and the ability to effectively present and advocate for your ideas.

  • Web & Mobile Designer at Clarimont (Brisbane, Australia)
    We're now looking to add a new member to our team that is passionate about creating cutting edge user experiences. While this is initially a contract role, we would be looking to transition the suitable candidate to a full time position.


11. Recent Articles On Smashing Magazine


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The authors are: Melanie Lang (ml), Esther Arends (ea), Cosima Mielke (cm), Iris Lješnjanin (il), Vitaly Friedman (vf), Sven Lennartz (sl), Christiane Rosenberger (research), Elja Friedman (tools), Clarissa Peterson (proofreading).

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Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “The World's First Website Gets Its Original Web Address Back”

Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “The World's First Website Gets Its Original Web Address Back”


The World's First Website Gets Its Original Web Address Back

Posted: 30 Apr 2013 04:13 AM PDT

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The folks at CERN, the organization responsible for devising the fundamental web standards, are celebrating World Wide Web's 20th birthday by bringing back the first ever website to its original URL

Although the first website was launched in 1991, it was on April 30, 1993 when CERN made the WWW technology available on a royalty-free basis.

The website, obviously very scarce by today's standards, contains only text explaining some of the basics of the World Wide Web. It was originally available at this address — http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html — but for many years that URL has been redirecting to http://info.cern.ch. Read more...

More about Url, Cern, Tech, and Apps Software

No-Wash Shirt Doesn't Stink After 100 Days

Posted: 30 Apr 2013 03:18 AM PDT

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A New York City startup is saying it can produce a men’s button-down shirt from wool that’s super-soft, doesn’t need ironing and won’t smell even after being worn for 100 days straight without washing. And the company’s founder apparently did just that.

The clothing company, called Wool&Prince, was started several months ago by Portland, Oregon native Mac Bishop two of his friends. Their button-down shirt prototype was made from wool put through a special process to make it soft, wrinkle-resistant and odor-free. While they don’t reveal what techniques are used to achieve this, Bishop documented wearing one of the shirts for 100 days in a row here. (Hat tip to Gizmodo.) Read more...

More about Clothing, Kickstarter, Startups, Lifestyle, and Travel Leisure

Huge Robots Fend Off Aliens in New 'Pacific Rim' Trailer

Posted: 30 Apr 2013 01:21 AM PDT

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Guillermo del Toro's dark, apocalyptic vision of the future is filled with monstrous beings from the deep. Earth's only chance? Giant robots, of course

In "Pacific Rim," each robot is operated by two humans via a neural link, but we already saw that in the first trailer for the movie. This one — originally intended only for WonderCon — focuses on one thing only: epicness

Simply put, everything in this movie is huge. One example: a monster near the end of the trailer is beating on a robot with a tanker as it were a baseball bat. To some, it might be over the top, but to us, it screams "IMAX." Read more...

More about Trailer, Entertainment, Film, and Pacific Rim

13 Million Facebook Users Haven't Touched Their Privacy Settings

Posted: 30 Apr 2013 01:03 AM PDT

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As Facebook prepares Graph Search for wide release, some have concerns about the privacy issues the new feature raises

How can you be sure only your friends will see your name during searches? After all, more than a quarter of Facebook users share information with an audience much wider than their social circle. And 13 million users haven't even touched their privacy settings

To see how Graph Search will affect you, as well as a few helpful tips for customizing your privacy settings, check out this infographic, courtesy of Marketo Read more...

More about Facebook, Social Media, Features, Privacy, and Infographics

Skype Now Lets You Make Calls Directly From Outlook.com Inbox

Posted: 30 Apr 2013 12:03 AM PDT

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Skype audio- and video-calling will roll out to Outlook.com inboxes across the UK starting Monday, and to the U.S. and Germany in the coming weeks, the VoIP service announced.

"We all face those situation where it's easier to jump on a call to talk something through. Sometimes that quick call can accomplish more than a long email reply," Simon Longbottom, Skype's senior director of product marketing, said Monday in a blog post

The add-on is a preview version of Skype for Outlook.com, Microsoft's email service, Longbottom added. UK customers can access the preview beginning Monday, while the U.S. and Germany will see it in "the coming weeks." Worldwide availability will begin this summer Read more...

More about Skype, Video Chat, Tech, Apps Software, and Outlook.Com

'Oblivion' App Flaunts 3D Art That Inspired Tom Cruise's Sci-Fi Movie

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 11:34 PM PDT

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Sci-fi flick Oblivion roared into theaters this month, quickly securing the top spot on the box office charts with a $38.2 million debut. The post-apocalyptic world in which Tom Cruise's character explores on the big screen began years ago as artwork

Now, the art that inspired director Joseph Kosinski's film is getting time in the limelight thanks to a new app from Radical Studios, the company Kosinski approached five years ago to help develop the imagery and story used to pitch the movie to major film studios.

Described as an interactive reading experience, the "Oblivion: Radical Studios" app [iTunes link] gives users a glimpse at the still-unpublished graphic novel that served as the basis for the Oblivion movie. The app lets users read the first chapter and interact with 3D versions of the artwork, buy tickets via Fandango and watch the film's trailer. Read more...

More about Films, Entertainment, Apps, Movies, and Art

'Fast and Furious 6' Trailer Debuts Online

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 11:09 PM PDT

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An action-packed trailer for Fast and Furious 6, the sixth installment of the street-racing film series, has debuted online.

The latest movie brings back long-time Fast and the Furious regulars, including Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster. Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham also star in the film.

As expected, 6's trailer showcases plenty of fast cars, big explosions and piercing stares.

Fast and Furious 6 is slated for release on May 24. Do you plan to watch it? Let us know in the comments, below.

Screenshot image courtesy of YouTube, fastandfuriousmovie Read more...

More about Films, Movies, Entertainment, Film, and Fast And Furious

Apparent Teaser for 'Call of Duty: Ghosts' Debuts on Official Site

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 10:20 PM PDT

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An apparent teaser for the upcoming Call of Duty: Ghosts video game has shown up on the franchise's official website.

Visitors to CallofDuty.com are automatically redirected to "CallofDuty.com/______," which shows an image comprising tiny individual thumbnails of users who shared messages with the hashtag #CallofDuty via Twitter or Facebook. The tiles seem to be forming the mask of Simon "Ghost" Riley, a British special-forces operator who appeared in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and wears a skull-patterned balaclava

One user on gaming forum NeoGaf found the complete image in the website's source code Read more...

More about Games, Gaming, Call Of Duty, Entertainment, and Call Of Duty Ghosts

Cops Pose as iPhone Thieves to Thwart Black Market

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 08:57 PM PDT

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In tech hub San Francisco, Calif., police say that nearly half of all the city's robberies last year involved smartphones. But instead of focusing on the stolen supply, the city's police department is going after the demand: middlemen who might buy stolen iPhones from thieves and then resell them on the black market.

The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) is reportedly using a number of undercover cops to pose as resellers of stolen iPhones, as further explained in the video above. That's because the stolen iPhone black market is reportedly pretty lucrativeAccording to the original report from The Huffington Post, stolen mobile devices that end up in various markets could resell for up to $1,000 in places like Hong Kong or Rio de Janeiro. Read more...

More about Iphone, San Francisco San Jose, Theft, Police, and Stolen

Evernote Food Updates its Android App, Adds Recipe Exploration

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 08:00 PM PDT

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Evernote updated its Evernote Food app for Android, which helps users remember the food and restaurants they love, and discover new cuisine.

On Monday, version 2.0 added the ability for users to explore recipes from popular food sites within the app, as well as save them in a "My Cookbook" section, making them easier to find later on.

A "Restaurants" section displays location-specific lists of eateries around a given user. There's the option to create a list of restaurants to try, and a list of already visited places that can serve as a reference, later on.

For those who like to take photos of their food, a "My Meals" section lets users go on a visual journey of all their previous dining adventures. Read more...

More about Android, Evernote, App, Tech, and Apps Software

Add Audio to Your iPhone Pics With SpeakingPhoto

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 07:31 PM PDT

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A picture’s worth a thousand words, but sometimes our pictures — no matter how fabulous they are — still need a few words of explanation to go along with them.

Enter SpeakingPhoto, a new iPhone app that lets you add sound to any photo, allowing you tell a story along with the image before you share it with friends on Facebook or via email. Finished photo/videos can also be shared on YouTube.

“SpeakingPhoto grew out of a desire to capture the sweet and fleeting sound of children’s voices –- something home videos tend to diminish,” explains Dawn Davis Founding Partner and CEO of SpeakingPhoto. Read more...

More about Iphone, App, Tech, Apps Software, and Mobile

iOS-Inspired OS X 10.9 Expected to Launch At WWDC

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 06:59 PM PDT

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Rumor has it that Apple will be releasing OS X 10.9 later this year. Code-named “Cabernet,” the operating system will integrate several core features from Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS, as well as add a number of “power-user” enhancements, 9to5 Mac reports

Among the updates expected in the OS:

  • Finder is expected to get an upgrade, adding tags and tabbed browsing modes.

  • Apps will be able to be run full-screen on one monitor, while a second monitor displays the desktop.

  • Safari will see some updates, making it faster and more efficient.

OS X 10.9 is also rumored to integrate Siri functionality, as well as app-switching capabilities from iOS devices so users can quickly switch between apps. Read more...

More about Apple, Mac, Os X, Tech, and Apps Software

The Remixed Love Story of Downton Abbey's Mary and Matthew

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 06:30 PM PDT

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Who says high society has no passionate love affairs?

Matthew and Mary Crawley, of the British period drama Downton Abbey, are the Romeo and Juliet (or Ross and Rachel, for our modern readers) of British TV. Their love story is one of the greatest joys for viewers, transcending the usual uptightness of the aristocratic Crawley family

Relive the highs and lows of the duo's romance from the past three seasons in this love duet, remixed by YouTuber Edgar Camago. Prepare to cry — we're willing to bet even the Dowager Countess of Grantham would shed a (very small) tear while watching this montage Read more...

More about Viral Videos, Remix, Autotune, Tv, and Watercooler

ESPN Reporter's Anti-Gay Comments Stir Controversy Online

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 06:04 PM PDT

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ESPN reporter Chris Broussard sure poked the ol' hornets' nest on the show Outside the Lines Monday afternoon by spouting off some less-than-welcoming views on homosexuality following a historic day for gay athletes

NBA veteran Jason Collins revealed he's gay on Monday morning, making him the first male athlete in a major American pro sport to come out while still an active playerSupport poured in from celebrities online, and the overall reaction on Twitter was overwhelmingly positive. Collins later took to Twitter himself to thank fans for the "truly inspirational" show of support

Broussard, however, took a different view, saying on Outside the Lines that homosexuality is "an open rebellion to God." Here's video of some of Broussard's comments, along with a response from openly gay ESPN columnist LZ Granderson: Read more...

More about Espn, Nba, Entertainment, Tv, and Sports

Track Flight Delays 3 Days in Advance With New Early-Alert System

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 05:31 PM PDT

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Most of us have experienced the agony of a flight delay, or worse: a cancellation. While you might not have to worry about flight changes caused by FAA furloughs for now, Mother Nature can always throw a wrench into your plans.

A new service brings travelers a "weather early-alert system" that predicts whether your flight will be delayed or cancelled because of weather — up to three days in advance. It all works by two companies working in collaboration: If you use Traxo for your travel plans (it's a digital organizer that keeps all your travel plans from multiple sites in one place), your itinerary will be sent to KnowDelay. It then figures out a prediction by analyzing how weather might affect airport operations. Read more...

More about Travel, Weather, Airports, Flights, and Air Travel

6 Coffee Apps to Help You Savor Every Sip

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 04:53 PM PDT

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Coffee is just a means to an end for some; it's a way to wake up and stay that way. But to others, coffee is a way of life, an art form, a drink to be savored with each sip. Here are six of our favorite apps for coffee making and drinking.

Although coffee and technology haven't always been a great match (think pourover coffee fanatics who do everything by hand), at April’s Specialty Coffee Association of America Expo in Boston, a new piece of tech was what generated the most buzz. The Modbar could transform the modern coffee bar. The laboratory-like system hides all but the coffee, milk and water taps under the counter. The system is both modular and customizable and uses a touchscreen to control all of the elements. Read more...

More about Apps, Cooking, Coffee, Lifestyle, and Home

Jason Collins Thanks Fans on Twitter After Coming Out

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 04:15 PM PDT

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Jason Collins was the talk of Twitter on Monday after coming out and becoming the first openly gay active athlete in a major American sport

He dominated Twitter's list of worldwide trends. He received messages of support from fans and celebrities alike. He was lauded by many as a hero. Then, finally, after hours of dominating the online conversation, Collins chimed in with some thoughts of his own

Here's what he had to say — or, more specifically, tweet — late on Monday afternoon:

All the support I have received today is truly inspirational. I knew that I was choosing the road less traveled but I'm not walking it alone

— Jason Collins (@jasoncollins34) April 29, 2013 Read more...

More about Nba, Entertainment, and Sports

TLC Reunion Sparks Rumors of 'Left Eye' Hologram

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 03:57 PM PDT

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Female R&B group TLC will perform for the first time in 10 years on North American soil this summer during the second annual Mixtape Festival in Pennsylvania. TLC's performance is being dubbed a reunion, but the question on many people's minds is how the late Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes will be incorporated in the performance.

Left Eye died in a car accident 2002. Details of the reunion are sparse, so whether Left Eye appears onstage via clips on big screens or as a hologram — like deceased rapper Tupac Shakur did at Coachella in 2012 — remains unknown

Fellow member Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins addressed the hologram rumors in a recent HuffPost Live interview, discussing the emotional toll of seeing her in digital form: Read more...

More about Music, Entertainment, Tlc, Hologram, and Festivals

Yahoo Introduces 2 New Ad Formats

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 03:34 PM PDT

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Yahoo unveiled two new advertising formats Monday as the company continues to battle quarterly declines in ad revenue.

One, called "Stream Ads," are ad units that appear in-line with — and in the same format as — stories in Yahoo's news feed. The ads run across desktop, tablet and mobile. The aim, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said in a blog post, is to provide advertising that is both "unobtrusive" and "enhance[s] content discovery in a seamless and effective manner." Advertisements are tailored to various users, à la Yahoo's general news feed, which allows users to customize their stream according to the topics they're most interested in. Read more...

More about Yahoo, Advertising, Marissa Mayer, Business, and Marketing

Google Bans Self-Updating Android Apps

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 03:23 PM PDT

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Updating Android apps is usually very simple: Click on the Google Play Store app, My Apps and "Update all." You can even set apps to update automatically. This process is simple for the end user, but creates a time-consuming middleman for app creators.

Some apps tried to circumvent this process by including automatic updaters right in the app, but Google has put a stop to this process: As of now, all Google Play Store app updates will come via the Play Store or not at all.

This ban on auto-updaters only applies to software acquired through the Play Store. Users can still install third-party apps from stores such as Amazon or Tencent, or even directly from the web, by allowing app installation from "unknown sources" in a phone or tablet's settings. Read more...

More about Google, Apps, Android Apps, Tech, and Apps Software

Seinfeld's 57 TV Girlfriends Morphed Into One Image

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 02:48 PM PDT

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This a composite of all of Jerry Sienfeld's girlfriends. There were 57 over the course of the show.Two Palms Press twitter.com/RichardPrince4…

— Richard Prince (@RichardPrince4) April 26, 2013

What's the deal with TV girlfriends?

Artist and photographer Richard Prince gathered photographs of Jerry Seinfeld's 57 girlfriends from his popular sitcom and morphed them into one hot Mulva. (The resemblance to actress Laura Linney is real and it's fabulous.)

On his website, Prince explains that after a bit of Google-fu, he printed 8"x10" photos of all 57 ladies and delivered the pics to Two Palms Press for the morphing process. Prince describes the resulting image as both "generic" and "unintentionally dreamy." Read more...

More about Tv, Photography, Seinfeld, Watercooler, and Pics

March Madness Hero Kevin Ware Says He's Done With Twitter

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 02:34 PM PDT

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Kevin Ware became an inspirational hero online this month after suffering one of the most gruesome injuries ever seen in a televised sports event

Now he says he's done with Twitter

If years of Internet abuse has ripped your memory to shreds, here's Ware's backstory: He pretty much snapped his right leg in half during his Louisville squad's March Madness quarterfinal win over Duke. Teammates sobbed on the court and the horrific video became a viral spectacle. But as Ware recovered from the brutal injury, his Twitter following ballooned to more than 175,000 followers as he posted upbeat messages, thanked fans for their support and interacted with scores of celebrity well-wishers Read more...

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This Is Saturn's Behemoth Hurricane

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 02:24 PM PDT

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NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured what the agency calls a "behemoth" hurricane on Saturn that has been churning for years. With a 1,250-mile-wide eye, the hurricane is 20 times larger than those we see on Earth

This first color image, acquired on Nov. 27, 2012, shows the hurricane at Saturn's north pole, which was previously hidden when Cassini arrived in 2004 during the planet's winter. Scientists combined images with red, green and blue spectral filters to create a view that looks natural to the human eye. Cassini was about 261,000 miles away from the storm

NASA also released a "false color" view of the same spot. The images filtered at 728 nanometers are projected as green, and images filtered at 752 nanometers are projected as red. Read more...

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Cat Friend vs. Dog Friend: Your Furry BFFs in Human Form

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 02:02 PM PDT

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Fido and Fluffy might seem like the perfect buddies, but we advise you to never wish that your furry friends transform into humans.

While they're certainly loving and loyal, they're also neurotic and terrified of anything that makes loud noises. Not to mention that whole pooping in a box or on the neighbor's lawn thingYouTube channel fatawesomefilms imagines what dogs and cats would be like in human form for the second installment of Cat-Friend vs. Dog-Friend.

Side note: What cat wears a striped v-neck?

Read more...

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Proposal Would Require Internet Companies to Comply With Wiretaps

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 01:40 PM PDT

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Government officials are working on legislation that would financially penalize email, social media, Internet phone and online chat companies that refuse to comply with court wiretap orders, according to a report.

The proposal would allow courts to levy fines "starting at tens of thousands of dollars" upon such uncooperative companies, according to the Washington Post citing "persons who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations." The fines would then increase on an exponential scale after three months of noncompliance

Companies targeted by the proposal, such as Facebook and Google, would be tasked with developing their own procedures for handing over the requested data — perhaps email exchanges, chat records or IP addresses — to law enforcement Read more...

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In Britain, You May No Longer Own Your Instagram Photos

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 01:21 PM PDT

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If you live Britain, your Facebook and Instagram photos may now be free for the taking

The U.K.’s Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act passed parliament and last week received Royal Assent to become a law, according to The Register.

“The Act,” explains The Register’s Andrew Orlowski, “contains changes to U.K. copyright law which permit the commercial exploitation of images where information identifying the owner is missing, so-called ‘orphan works,’ by placing the work into what's known as ‘extended collective licensing" schemes.’”

Since the overwhelming majority of photos online do not have that identifying information, being neither marked nor retaining metadata in most cases, a company or individual can claim it as an orphan, after making a cursory search (technically a “diligent search”) to match the photo to an owner. They will subsequently be able to sublicense it. Read more...

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Gymnast's Shocking Routine Will Blow You Away

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 01:04 PM PDT

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This gymnast's eye-popping routine has gone viral for good reason, and must be seen to be believed

The incredible sports sequence involves a ball, some major contortions and a whole lot of grace. We're not quite sure where this young lady comes from or who she is, but we do know this much: her amazing video has become popular enough to hit the front page of YouTube with more than 3.7 million views since being uploaded on Saturday

Check it out for yourself and let us know what you think in the comments

Image via iStockphoto, atoma Read more...

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Barry Diller Says Buying 'Newsweek' Was a Mistake

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 12:50 PM PDT

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IAC Chairman Barry Diller says that merging Newsweek with The Daily Beast in November 2010 was "a mistake," and that he does not have great expectations for its future.

In an interview with Bloomberg (above), Diller said that printing a single magazine — particularly a newsweekly — is a "fool's errand" in the current news environment.

"There are some one-off magazines that have no competition essentially in their field, luxury magazines, advertisers must advertise in them," Diller said. "But for a news magazine — which is a bit of an odd phrase these days, newsweekly, we have news instantly — it was not possible to print it any longer. So we said, OK, we'll offer a digital product, we've got a very, very, very solid newsroom, and we'll see." Read more...

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5 Ways to Find a Lead Developer for Your Startup

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 12:45 PM PDT

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Hiring a lead developer for your startup is a "make-it-or-break-it-moment." This is the person whose creative vision and technical know-how will determine the success of your product. This is the leader who will guide the engineers you hire down the line, accessing each of their strengths to maximize potential for innovation. And this is the person who will determine, through ability and ambition, whether your product is a standout or just another bit of noise in a tech scene full of loud voices.

But you probably already know that. You're probably wondering how you'll ever find the right person to serve as your startup's lead developer, when the person who excels in interviews and jumps out on paper may not necessarily live up to your expectations Read more...

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Jason Collins Is the Toast of Twitter After Coming Out

Posted: 29 Apr 2013 12:30 PM PDT

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Jason Collins made history on Monday morning by becoming the first male athlete in a major American sport to come out as gay while still an active player. Since then, he's dominated the online conversation — in the sports world and beyond

Collins, a 12-year NBA veteran and current free agent, made the big announcement in a first-person Sports Illustrated piece that'll hit newsstands in the magazine's May 6 issue.

Collins has spent hours on Twitter's list of worldwide trends, while a number of celebrities and public figures have tweeted him supportive messages since the bombshell SI article hit. Sure, there have been some unfortunate statements and plenty of trolling, too, but the overall social media reaction to his coming out has been overwhelmingly positive Read more...

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