Category: News

One interesting element of Google I/O this year were the sensors laid out everywhere around Moscone tracking environmental data throughout the event. Those types of sensors are now all around us, including in our phones and in various smart home devices, and now a new Kickstarter project from ManyLabs wants to help kids get familiar with them very early on.

The project is called Sensors for Students, and it wants to build a sensor collection kit that includes a plate for an open-source Arduino board and Grove shield combo, along with one of a variety of parts for a number of different types of sensors, including accelerometers, electromagnetic field detectors, a color sensor, a plant watering kit (similar to one component of the Bitponics automated hydroponic garden), and many more.

The team behind ManyLabs consists of Peter Sand and Elliot Dicus, who formed the nonprofit with the ultimate intent of spreading low-cost hands-on tools for teaching science and math to the classroom. Sand has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from MIT, and has focused his work and research on computer vision, robotics and education.

Sand and Dicus wanted to make it possible to get kids learning data literacy and experimenting with open source hardware early on in life. Their goals sound similar to those of Adafruit, the NY-based hardware company that’s also trying to make people more comfortable with concepts around electrical engineering and DIY maker culture, beginning early on in life.

ManyLabs isn’t just supplying hardware, though, it’s also very clearly marketing a curriculum, with lessons and content being offered alongside each type of kit available to backers, along with online resources that will be made available on a yearly subscription basis. There’s no soldering required in the kits that are on offer, so these are suitable for a range of ages and skill levels, and ManyLabs hopes to put them in the hands of backers as soon as August this year, with kits beginning at $40. The most expensive individual kit is $75, and while ManyLabs requires you to supply your own Arduino, it’s still very affordable, a key value add for educational markets.

On Wednesday, cloud storage provider MediaFire, which now boasts 30 million users, launched support for native music playback and video streaming in its Android, iOS and web apps. The new feature is available through an update that is rolling out today.

MediaFire currently offers three plans — basic (free), Pro and Business — which come with 50GB, 100GB and 1TB of cloud storage, respectively. However, users who do not wish to shell out for a premium plan (either Pro or Business) are stuck with a 200 MB limit for uploaded files, which suggests that they are not able to take full advantage of both music playback and video streaming support.

While music files fall well below the 200 MB limit in most cases, high-definition videos (the norm these days) that folks might want to stream, like movies, well exceed this small size.

MediaFire is obviously aware of this, as the company now offers a 50 percent discount for its paid yearly plans. Both Pro and Business allow users to upload files up to 10GB in size, which is (unsurprisingly) enough to stream large 1080p videos.

What’s that saying? Oh, yes, “Pay to play”.

Photo Credit: olly/Shutterstock

Whether you are just graduating with a Bachelor’s, MBA, or some other graduate degree, you have probably heard how hard it is to find a job. But before you to take any opportunity that comes your way, stop and think: Far worse than continuing to look for a while longer is having a job with a bad boss, who won’t just make you miserable in the short term. In fact, a poor manager can have a seriously negative impact on your career. This is particularly true for your first job after graduation. Without a sense of what your abilities are, a bad boss can make you feel trapped in self-doubt and erode your self-confidence.

So when job-hunting, don’t just look at title and salary; pay a lot of attention to the person you will report to. One newly minted MBA I know left ten thousand dollars in salary on the table in order to work with a CEO he (and his industry) respected. The CEO told him in the interview, “I can’t meet your salary requirements yet, but if you work for me, I’ll teach you all I know.” That decision was such a good one, the MBA is now an executive himself.

It’s not all that difficult to determine whether someone will make a good boss or not. Two approaches work: observing what a person does and asking questions. You should use both.

Observe what the person does during the whole hiring process, but especially the interview. Is she excited and energetic? Happy to meet you and explain what the company is looking for? Does he listen attentively to what you are saying? Does she interrupt or ignore you? After every interaction with your potential new manager, stop judging your own performance and think back to what the manager did. Can you see yourself working for this person? Was the communication between the two of you comfortable and easy? Is this a person you respect? Someone who would respect you?

Every candidate is expected to ask questions both in the interview and during the hiring process. Your questions should not have easy “yes” or “no” answers. You want to use questions that elicit information that will help you make the decision to accept the job if it is offered to you. Here are a few examples.

1. Is this a new position, or did someone leave? What are they doing now? The answer to these questions can help you understand if there is advancement from this job and if the department is growing.
2. Is there someone you think has been a real star in this job? What made them good at it? Compare the qualities of the star to your own strengths. Are you likely to be a star here? Also, this answer will tell you what qualities the manager values.
3. What are the key priorities of this department, and how can the person in this role help achieve them? This answer will show the attitude of the manager to the department and the open job, as well as what the most important tasks of the job are.
4. How will the person you hire learn to do this job well? Does the manager have a plan or process for bringing new people on? A manager with a plan, however simple, values the people reporting to him.
5. Tell me about the other people on the team. Get a read on the manager’s attitude to team members. Is she insightful? Complimentary? Proud?

Steer clear of asking about benefits or salary. That’s a question for your human resources representative. The hiring manager wants a candidate who is interested in the work itself. Benefits are secondary. Similarly, don’t ask about promotions. Your potential boss prefers that you want the job that is open now. She doesn’t want people who are thinking about how soon they can leave it.

Your questions during the hiring process say a lot about you, too. Good managers want people who can think — after all that’s why you went to college or grad school, right? If hiring managers don’t want candidates who ask good questions, they are not likely to be good managers. They aren’t likely to be the kind of first manager who will help you become the best you can be.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – IER Policy Associate Alex Fitzsimmons published an op-ed in the Daily Caller yesterday titled, Big Wind’s trail of wings. In the piece, Fitzsimmons explains how, in addition to subsides and other financial incentives, the Obama administration …

 

Hot of the heels of its unique Hydro smartphone, Sprint has announced the brand-new Hydro Edge for the general public. Developed by Kyocera, this new Jelly Bean-powered toy features a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon chip, a 4-inch impact resistant display and a 5 megapixel camera . Additionally, this new device will be fully waterproof and have a Smart Sonic Receiver unit.

And now for the news prospective customers have been waiting on: the Hydro Rise will land in Sprint and Boost Mobile stores sometime this summer. Unfortunately, Sprint hasn’t come out with the exact release date or the pricing just yet, but we should expect to receive further information on the Hydro Edge as we get closer to whenever it is the phone’s release date will be.

source: Sprint

Come comment on this article: Sprint announces the Kyocera Hydro Rise smartphone

HTC has had it woes over the last couple of years and the hope is that the beginning of the end will be the HTC One. That could be the case, but it seems that either HTC is cleaning themselves of some employees or they are leaving on their own.  Chief Product Officer Kouji Kodera, communications chief Jason Gordon, global retail marketing manager Rebecca Rowland, director of digital marketing John Starkweather, and product strategy manager Eric Lin have all recently departed. In the case of Eric Lin, he tweeted, “To all my friends still at @HTC – just quit. leave now. it’s tough to do, but you’ll be so much happier, I swear.”

Is HTC finally hitting bottom? Unfortunately until they figure out that consumers buy products based on features, not quality, things won’t change too much. HTC has been making great phones, and yours truly bought one, but unfortunately I’m not the demographic. Mainstream consumers are and HTC needs to take care of them in order to succeed.

sources: AllThingsD, @ericL

Come comment on this article: HTC’s Chief Product Officer departs and former Product Strategy Manager tells everyone to quit

Brad Pitt is still madly in love with Angelina Jolie, and apparently he shows it by refusing to simulate knocking boots in his films.

Pitt’s friend Frank Pollaro is quoted in the new issue of Esquire Magazine as saying, “Once I walked in and Angie was standing there and [Brange’s eight-year-old daughter] Zahara walked up and said, ‘Daddy, you’re not going to start making out with Mommy again, are you?’ And it’s like that. This is a guy who has tried not to do any sexy scenes with other women since he’s met Angelina. He’s crazy about her, and she’s the same way about him.”

Indeed, Pitt talked about his family life and says he’s happiest when he’s home, surrounded by the sounds of his children and the loving arms of his lady.

“I have very few friends. I have a handful of close friends and I have my family and I haven’t known life to be any happier,” he said. “I’m making things. I just haven’t known life to be any happier…I always thought that if I wanted to do a family, I wanted to do it big. I wanted there to be chaos in the house… there’s constant chatter in our house, whether it’s giggling or screaming or crying or banging. I love it. I love it. I love it. I hate it when they’re gone. I hate it. Maybe it’s nice to be in a hotel room for a day – ‘Oh, nice, I can finally read a paper.’ But then, by the next day, I miss that cacophony, all that life.”

Pitt made headlines this week after the issue came out and speculation began about a quote from the interview, in which he talked about his past…ten years ago. When he just happened to be with ex Jennifer Aniston.

“I’d get so far and then want to do something else. I mean, I’m two credits short of graduating college. Two credits. All I had to do was write a paper. What kind of guy is that? That guy scares me – the guy who always leaves a little on his plate. For a long time I thought I did too much damage – drug damage. I was a bit of a drifter. A guy who felt he grew up in something of a vacuum and wanted to see things, wanted to be inspired. I followed that other thing. I spent years f–king off. But then I got burnt out and felt that I was wasting my opportunity. It was a conscious change. This was about a decade ago. It was an epiphany – a decision not to squander my opportunities. It was a feeling of get up. Because otherwise, what’s the point?”

50 Shades of Grey, which started out as Twilight-inspired fan fiction, raised a few copyright questions that didn’t stop it from selling millions and millions of copies. But when a work is more directly based on another author’s creation — using the same characters and setting, for instance — the legal hurdles can be greater.

That doesn’t stop readers from writing their own spinoffs anyway: The largest fan fiction site, FanFiction.net, hosts millions of free stories. And in works like these — and the passionate readers who create them — Amazon sees the potential for profit.

On Wednesday, Amazon Publishing announced Kindle Worlds, “the first commercial publishing platform that will enable any writer to create fan fiction based on a range of original stories and characters and earn royalties for doing so.” The company is making this work by securing licenses from existing entertainment properties and by paying royalties to both the original author and the fan fiction author.

So far, Kindle Worlds has licenses for three Alloy Entertainment properties: Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars and Vampire Diaries. Writers can publish “authorized stories” inspired by these properties and sell them in the Kindle Store; Amazon says it will add more licenses soon, in areas like “books, games, TV, movies and music.”

The fan fiction authors get a royalty of 35 percent for works of at least 10,000 words, and a royalty of 20 percent on works between 5,000 and 10,000 words. Amazon is also paying royalties to the original authors of the properties, but would not disclose that royalty rate.

Kindle Worlds is not a self-publishing platform like KDP. First of all, any works published through Kindle Worlds are published by Amazon Publishing — they’re not self-published, so the author doesn’t retain print or digital rights and doesn’t set the work’s price. The website notes that “Amazon Publishing will acquire all rights to your new stories, including global publication rights, for the term of copyright.” Second, Kindle Worlds won’t publish all of the works submitted to it; it will only accept some (though the company says it aims to accept as many as possible, as long as they adhere to content guidelines). Finally, “Amazon Publishing will set the price for Kindle Worlds stories. Most will be priced from $0.99 through $3.99.”

Kindle Worlds will officially launch in June with “over 50 commissioned works” from authors like Barbara Freethy, John Everson and Colleen Thompson. At that time, readers can also start submitting works to Kindle Worlds.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• How to deliver the next-generation web experience
• What to watch in mobile in 2013
• How consumer media will change in 2013

You know the Van Halen song “Eruption” – that two-minute blister of a track where Eddie Van Halen just shreds. Yeah, you know it.

Well, this 14-year-old girl named Tina knows it. She knows it well. And she’s so much better at guitar than you are. How does that make you feel, guy-playing-Wonderwall-at-the-party? Huh?

Best YouTube comment: Typical 14 year old girl. Doing something awesome, looks bored while doing it.

See how they compare below. I think she does more than admirably.

Some would argue that yesterday’s Xbox One reveal was a little underwhelming. Some thought it was pretty great. Either way, you can’t deny that Microsoft may have emphasized one part of its conference a little too much.

YouTube user Darkbeatdk has condensed the hour long Xbox One unveiling into a minute and a half video that emphasizes what’s really important about Microsoft’s new console – TV.

There are bound to be a number of abridged parody videos of the Xbox One unveiling, but it’s going to be hard to top this one. Sometimes the truth is funnier than any parody.

[h/t: Kotaku]

When it comes to U.S. carriers, just about everyone dreads the thought of having to call customer service to resolve an issue. Some carriers are certainly worse than others, of course, and the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index survey found that Verizon Wireless once again was ranked highest in customer service quality by subscribers. The company scored 73 points out of a possible 100, up 3 points from 2012. Sprint was flat in the No.2 spot with 71 points while AT&T gained a point to hit 70. T-Mobile remained the lowest-ranked major carrier as its score slid to 68 in 2013 from 69 last year. The full press release follows below.

Continue reading…

Want to know what happens when you pit one of the lightest, most aggressive little sports cars, against a German super bike and a 600 hp French rally cross car in the rain?

Awesome, that’s what happens. Nothing but awesome!

Source: Autocar.com

After the SARS outbreak in 2002, medical professionals around the world are on the lookout for respiratory diseases that could potentially spread. Earlier this year, health officials in the U.K. identified a new type of coronavirus that could cause coughing, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties. The first patient diagnosed with the virus died from a severe respiratory infection.

Now, the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are warning the public about unknown respiratory illnesses that have popped up in southeast Alabama.

Two people have already died after being admitted to hospitals with a cough, shortness of breath, and a fever. Five others exhibited the same symptoms but survived.

The ADPH has stated that laboratory samples have been taken from all of the patients, which the ADPH’s Bureau of Clinical Laboratories and the CDC’s Respiratory Laboratory are now testing.

The ADPH is now recommending that hospitals use respiratory precautions such as masks when dealing with respiratory patients. It is also recommended that people experiencing respiratory symptoms of cough, shortness of breath, and fever seek out medical care for evaluation.

According to police, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was robbed over the weekend.

Reports indicate that Rice’s home was burglarized some time between the hours of 8:30 pm Friday and 12:50 am Saturday. In the end, $2000 and two guns were reported stolen.

Rice wasn’t at home during the robbery – he was out of town. But a friend was staying at the house and reported the crime. Police say that the burglar made his way into Rice’s home through a back window.

Luckily for Rice and police, it appears that the whole thing was caught on surveillance video.

“My family and I are fine, which is the most important thing,” Rice said in statement. “This is an unfortunate incident that I am dealing with through the proper channels.”

Rice, a prolific Twitter and Facebook users, isn’t using social media to discuss the crime. Instead, he used Facebook on Monday to send his condolences to those affected by the Oklahoma tornado.

So you already own the Galaxy S 4, but want a wireless charging solution. Samsung still hasn’t released their version yet, but Mobile Fun in the UK has a solution for you that is available for pre-order now. The charging pad goes for $53.99 and is already available now. It will actually work out of the box with other Qi compatible phones such as the Nexus 4 and the DROID DNA.

If you own a Galaxy S 4, you will need to also buy their wireless charging cover that will replace your current back battery cover. This goes for $37.99 and is available in both black and white. The good news is that these covers will work with any Qi charging pad, so if you already own one, you will only need to buy a cover. Unfortunately they aren’t in stock yet, but if you pre-order now, it should arrive at your doorstep in about 4 to 6 weeks. Hit the break for a short demo video and links to get your order in.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Charging Pad // Charging Cover – Black / Charging Cover – White

Come comment on this article: Qi wireless charging solution for Samsung Galaxy S 4 now available for pre-order

At Google I/O last week, Google announced that it was bringing conversational search to the desktop. Voice search features available to mobile users are coming to the desktop via Chrome.

You’re supposed to be able to just talk to Google without clicking any buttons, and ask it questions, and otherwise perform searches. You’ve been able to use Voice Search from the desktop by clicking the microphone icon for some time, but now you shouldn’t have to click.

Unfortunately, that functionality isn’t quite available, but the Chrome update that is supposed to bring it to users has gone live, along with the makings of said functionality.

When you update to version 27.0.1453.93, you can click the microphone icon, and it will ask you if you want Google to start listening, so you shouldn’t have to click any longer. The problem is that Google is not responding to queries after that, unless you click the mic icon as usual. It does at least speak answers back to you now. You can also continue the “conversation” in a natural way (at least on some queries), and Google will understand that you’re still talking about the same subject.

Danny Sullivan uses the example of asking, “How tall is Barack Obama?” then asking, “How tall is he?” Google delivers without missing a step. It understands that “he” is Barack Obama. But you still have to click the mic icon.

In the demo at Google I/O, Google illustrated that you would be able to say, “Okay, Google,” and conduct your search from there (not unlike the famous “Okay, Glass” command).

Right now, Google may be listening to what you’re saying, but it’s not quite up to the Star Trek experience just yet.

The feature is also a bit buggy, as people are seeing “no internet connection” sometimes even when they have internet connections:

[via 9to5Google]

You can buy plastic guns designed to add a touch of realism to first person shoot-em-ups on the iPhone. Just slide in your device, and use the screen to view the action and pull the gun trigger to fire. The Inteliscope is kind of like that, but instead of letting you attach your iPhone to a plastic gun, it’s designed to be used on real tactical firearms.

To clarify, it isn’t a game, rather it’s a “combination of a tactical rail mount for an iPhone or iPod and an app that brings critical ballistics and environmental insight to the shooter in real time”. Among the features on offer is the ability to “shoot around corners with no head exposure”. Handy.

The device, designed and assembled in Sandpoint, Idaho, apparently attaches to any firearm with a Picatinny (Mil-STD-1913) or Weaver tactical rail and features a portable quick-release protective cover for your iPhone.

The app’s on-screen HUD is packed with features including:

• Intuitive User Interface
• Custom Crosshairs
• 5X Digital Zoom
• Video Recording from the Shooter’s Perspective
• Ballistics and Firearm Data
• Built-in Compass
• GPS Position
• Local Prevailing Winds
• Shot Timer
• Flashlight and Strobe using Built-in LED

The Inteliscope is scheduled to launch in June and is available for preorder now, priced at $69.99. There are versions for the iPhone 5, iPhone 4/4S and iPod touch.

No word on an Android release, yet.

Nearly 600 photos have been released related to the 2011 Arizona shooting, which killed six people and severely wounded then-Rep. Gabby Giffords.

Police say that most of the pictures of the victims have not been included. Instead, they show shooter Jared Lee Loughner’s motel room, cell phones, and the guns and ammunition he used in the attack. He was found to have two magazines that held up to 31 bullets, two 15-round magazines, and a 4-inch knife among other things on his person.

In November, Loughner was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences plus 140 years after he pleaded guilty to the federal charges against him. The photos, plus thousands of pages of reports, were released due to his sentencing. Also released were photos of the crime scene directly after police arrived, which show bullet fragments found on the ground and a police cruiser which was turned into a makeshift whiteboard so officers could scrawl notes on it.

Loughner showed up at a grocery store in Tucson that day and opened fire into the crowd that had gathered for a meet-and-greet with Giffords. She was shot in the head and suffered severe injuries which took months to recover from; as of today, she’s had no comment on the release of the photos.

 

Samsung— already one of the world’s largest manufacturers— has further exerted its powerful influence in the tech world buy purchasing a 10% stake in Chinese manufacturer Pantech. The deal which is expected to be finalized by sometime in June, allows Samsung to purchase 53 billion won (approximately $48 million USD) worth of shares and helps Sammy better finance its operations and attract more investor interest going forward. Additionally, Pantech previously sourced many of its components and parts for its devices from Samsung, so the deal helps Sammy and Pantech’s relationship since Pantech buys chips and LCD units from Samsung.

Now all that’s left to do is to play the waiting game to see the imminent outcome of this deal.

source: Fox News

Come comment on this article: Samsung buys 10% share of Pantech worth $48 million

Months of dancing and training all led up to one final episode of Dancing With the Stars. Now, Kellie Pickler has been crowned the latest champion of ABC’s network TV ballroom dancing competition.

Pickler won the final round of Dancing With the Stars by out-dancing Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman and actress Zendaya Coleman. Along the way she also survived the competition while stars such as Wynonna Judd, D.L. Hughley, Dorothy Hamill, and Andy Dick. Pickler’s dancing partner on the show was Derek Hough, a four-time winner of the competition and the brother of two-time Dancing With the Stars winner Julianne Hough.

This is not the first experience Pickler has had with reality TV. The country singer first gained fame in 2006 as a contestant on Fox’s American Idol karaoke competition. Since that time, Pickler has gone on to produce several hit country songs, including “Red High Heels” and “I Wonder.” She has also appeared in the pages of Maxim magazine, stripping down in tribute to U.S. soldiers in the magazine’s “Salute to the Military” special issue in 2012.

Pickler was elated with her victory, jumping up and screaming at the announcement. The singer has already taken to Twitter to thank her fans for voting: