 |
By now, I’m sure you’ve heard the news about Angelina Jolie testing positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation and the decision to remove her breasts. This decision has been touted as a brave and reasonable choice, considering the assumed high risk for breast cancer. But… |
Blog
-
Conventional medicine openly admits to confusion over BRCA1 gene
-
Society has flipped upside down: Toothpaste, Nazis and normalcy long lost
Earlier in the week, a tipster brought to my attention that an article I wrote reviewing a natural toothpaste product had been ripped off and pasted on some sort of Nazi website (without my permission or knowledge, of course). ”I guess Nazis want healthy teeth, too… -
Parents bully youth over fracking presentation at Colorado middle school
Fracking has turned into an explosive topic at a Colorado school where several staff members may be forced to resign over an informational student presentation. Two young members of the environmental group Earth Guardians educated students at Evergreen Middle School… -
Chiropractic advocacy: Do chiropractors have a professional responsibility to help those less fortunate?
With almost 50 million uninsured Americans in today’s world and roughly three million living below the poverty level, healthcare providers have an obligation and duty to help patients of all ages, economical status levels, with and without insurance; but how many providers… -
Economic insanity: Obama spends $11 million to create each ‘green’ job
There has been nothing you could call “successful” about President Obama’s so-called “green energy” initiatives, but the worst thing of all is the billions in taxpayer dollars he has utterly wasted on failed companies who were trying to push unproven, and ultimately… -
IRS demanded Facebook posts, book titles, names of donors during politically-motivated targeting of non-profits
The scandal surrounding the Internal Revenue Service’s illicit, politically-motivated scrutiny of conservative, patriot, Tea Party and pro-Israel groups continues to expand daily, as more information is learned about its depth, breadth and scope. In addition to delaying… -
Eric Holder: idiot zen master
(NaturalNews)In his recent testimony before Congress, US Attorney General Eric Holder, the so-called highest law-enforcement officer in the land, responded to questions about the AP scandal. Holder’s Justice Dept. had secretly subpoenaed and seized the phone records of Associated…
-
Hops compounds have potential to treat diabetes, cancer: research
Okay beer drinkers, drink to your health! Only kidding. Research over the last few decades has determined a compound from hops used to brew beer, humulone, has a wide array of potential health benefits, from curing viral infections and reversing diabetes to curing certain… -
Google makes Android easier to use for visually-impaired users with TalkBack and BrailleBack.
Google has made some great enhancements to the Android platform with the goal of making their devices more user friendly to people with blindness or low-visibility. Google engineers have simplified the process for developers to augment their code to let Android use its accessibility features for these users. These accessibility features utilize either TalkBack (a spoken feedback system), or enable connected devices which give a blind person a legible description of the display to read using BrailleBack (a Braille emulator). TalkBack is already implemented in Android, while BrailleBack is available in the Play Store.These features were put on display at an “Enabling Blind and Low-Vision Accessibility on Android” presentation at Google I/O. Developers were explained how to optimize their applications to take advantage of Android’s accessibility tools.
Mobile Accessibility by a Spanish company called Codefactory has already been assisting blind users for a while by using a simplified audio-based user interface. Their developers say that Android’s new enhancements will allow the company to work on new features for the service.
It’s really great to see support being improved for the visually-impaired community. There’s no reason everyone shouldn’t be able to experience how great Android is.
Source: Phone Arena
Come comment on this article: Google makes Android easier to use for visually-impaired users with TalkBack and BrailleBack.
Visit TalkAndroid for Android news, Android guides, and much more! -
TalkAndroid Daily Dose for May 17, 2013
With hectic schedules, it can be hard to keep track of everything in your news feed. That’s why we created the TalkAndroid Daily Dose. This is where we recap the day’s hottest stories so you can get yourself up to speed in quick fashion. Happy reading!!
Guides
Best Android music playing applications [May 2013]
Accessories
Samsung TecTiles 2 Now available to purchase
Apps
Fitbit adds Bluetooth 4.0 sync support for Samsung Galaxy S 4 in new update
Classic Sonic the Hedgehog by Sega launched to Google Play for $2.99
Carriers
AT&T blocking Google Hangout video chats on mobile networks
Gaming Hardware
NVIDIA to begin accepting SHIELD handheld gaming device pre-orders from today
Google Glass
Google Glass successfully unlocked, boots up with Ubuntu at I/O
Phones
HTC One $100 trade up program ends this Sunday, no extensions planned
Google to debut Android 4.3 on white Nexus 4 June 10th
Panasonic launches P51 in Indian markets, packed with 5-inch screen and stylus
Samsung Galaxy S 4 to reach 10 million sales by next week, Note III to have 5.9-inch OLED display
Is success of Samsung Galaxy S 4 pushing company to look outside for components?
Tablets
Nexus 7 refresh expected in July, same price with updated specs
Photo and details leak of 8-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 3
Archos officially announces 80 Xenon tablet, set for June launch at $199 asking price
Updates
HTC sales increase for One and Butterfly, Butterfly to receive Sense 5.0 update
Miscellaneous
Samsung grabs 95% of global Android smartphone profits in Q1 2013
Come comment on this article: TalkAndroid Daily Dose for May 17, 2013
Visit TalkAndroid for Android news, Android guides, and much more! -
Samsung TecTiles 2 Now available to purchase
Do you remember last month when we told you of the sad news that Samsung’s old TecTiles didn’t work with the new Galaxy S 4. Well cheer up my friends because Samsung TecTiles 2 are now available for you to purchase. For those of you that don’t know what a Samsung TecTile is, let me give you a quick refresher. They are smart NFC tags that can be programmed by the Samsung TecTile app to do many things. You can set TecTiles to change settings in the phone, call a specific number, or send a predefined text. As an example, you can place a tag at the office, and when you scan the it, it can set your smartphone to silent or it could bring up your work calendar. You choose what you want the tag to do when it is scanned, making the little tasks that much easier.
For those that have a Galaxy S 4 and want more info, check out the source.
Source: Samsung
Come comment on this article: Samsung TecTiles 2 Now available to purchase
Visit TalkAndroid for Android news, Android guides, and much more! -
HTC One $100 trade up program ends this Sunday, no extensions planned
If you’re thinking that HTC will extend their $100 trade-in promotion for the HTC One, then think again. Earlier in the month they extended it to purchases made by May 19th, which is this Sunday. HTC is reminding everyone that this is your final chance to get in on it, which means they don’t plan on extending it. Of course we never say never in this business, but if you’re thinking of grabbing the One with this deal, you might want to pick it up this weekend. Because there is always the possibility that you might want to return your shiny new phone, HTC is giving you until June 19 to get your paperwork in. Hit the source link and use code US001UVORE.
source: HTC Trade Up
Come comment on this article: HTC One $100 trade up program ends this Sunday, no extensions planned
Visit TalkAndroid for Android news, Android guides, and much more! -
How the mighty have fallen: Nokia’s struggles, put in perspective
-
HTC Pledges To Pump Up ‘One’ Production While Samsung’s New Flagship Ships Like Crazy
Oh HTC. You’ve produced one of the finest Android smartphones ever (seriously, just look at all these reviews), but you’ve faced more than your share of challenges when it came to actually pumping your top-tier One smartphone. As it happens, that may all soon change.
FocusTaiwan reported earlier today that HTC is preparing to pump out more of its wonderful Ones in short order — Jack Tong, the company’s North Asia president, noted that this month’s production capacity for the flagship device is twice that of April, and that surge will only continue into June.
Sounds pretty yawn-worthy, right? Normally I would spend too much time dwelling on the finer points of production capacity, but here’s a device that was launched to widespread praise by an underdog smartphone company some people have written off, and HTC has basically been getting screwed thanks to part shortages for the One’s Ultrapixel camera and a brief injunction due to the HDR microphone it uses. It’s like a perfect storm of headaches for a company that really, really doesn’t need it — one look at its Q1 financials and it’s clear that HTC needed this launch to go as smoothly as possible. It didn’t.
For what it’s worth, HTC hasn’t disclosed how many Ones it’s shipped since it launched earlier this year. Meanwhile, rival Samsung’s Galaxy S4 has become the Korean electronics giant’s fastest moving smartphone — Samsung shipped 6 million units in just over two weeks, and it hopes to cross the 10 million unit threshold by the end of this month. Oh, and let’s not forget the fact that Google’s Hugo Barra showed off a version of the S4 at the company’s I/O developer conference that runs a version of Android that’s unfettered by the software bloat that many a reviewer took umbrage at. Company representatives were careful not to call it a Nexus — even though it seems to harbor many of the advantages inherent to the Nexus line like a clean Android build and access to frequent software updates.
As I noted towards the end of my HTC One review, the wireless industry isn’t a meritocracy — the well-executed device doesn’t always wind up saving the day. Hopefully now that some of these production woes have been ironed out we’ll see HTC live to fight another day, but that’s still far from a given.
-
Verizon cuts prepaid plan prices, piles on more data
-
Report: Yahoo eager to close $1.1 billion cash deal for Tumblr by Sunday evening
Tumblr’s fate could be decided Sunday by Yahoo’s board of directors. AllThingsD reported late Friday that Yahoo is closing in on a $1.1 billion deal for the site, moving quickly to cement what would be the biggest deal of CEO Marissa Mayer’s tenure at the venerable but lackluster internet pioneer.
After reporting Thursday that Yahoo was considering a number of options for Tumblr, including partnerships or strategic investments, ATD reported Friday that Mayer had decided to go all in. Om reported Thursday that Yahoo was worried about counteroffers from Facebook, much how Facebook stole Instagram from Twitter after Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s courtship of the photo-sharing site. Now the board plans to meet Sunday to consider giving final approval to the offer.
Tumblr’s backers will likely be pleased with a $1.1 billion price tag, especially if, as reported, it involves cash However, it’s far from certain that such an outlay would do anything to revive Yahoo’s fortunes. Mayer certainly has been trying to bring new blood into the company of late, snapping up a number of smaller mobile startups before focusing on Tumblr over the last month.
Yahoo has scheduled a press event for Monday evening in New York to discuss “something special,” but it wouldn’t hint at anything else. We’ll be there to cover the event, but in the meantime, here’s Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp’s appearance at our paidContent Live conference in April, discussing his company’s fortunes:
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.- Facebook’s IPO filing: ideas and implications
- The state of cross-platform media measurement
- Social third-quarter 2012: analysis and outlook
-
Leak suggests Nokia ‘EOS’ will feature 4.5-inch 720p display, 41-megapixel camera
-
New networking features make hybrid clouds possible on Google Compute Engine
Toward the tail end of Google I/O on Friday, Sunil James, a Google product manager (on left in picture), and John Cormie, a software engineer focusing on networking for Google Compute Engine (GCE), showed off new network capabilities for GCE that can enable hybrid clouds running between GCE deployments and on-premise data centers.
GCE customers are now able to do things like establish virtual private Layer 3 networks and assign static public IP addresses to instances, James said. Connecting networks will also become possible. And a load-balancing service is on the way “as part of the native fabric for Google Compute Engine,” James said.
Developers interested in trying out GCE load balancing can fill out a form to do so. Developers can also sign up for early access to all emerging Google Cloud Platform features.
The load balancing and routing services are the sorts of things that could help more businesses make the decision to try real projects on the newly publicly available Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) piece of the Google Cloud Platform.
And the new capabilities move Google a few steps closer campaign to becoming a top, widely used IaaS provider — if not one day bigger than Amazon Web Services then at least No. 2. That position is already feasible for Google as it is.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.- Takeaways from the second quarter in cloud and data
- The promise of SDNs in the enterprise
- A near-term outlook for big data
-
Redbox Instant is coming to Google TV soon, Roku up next
Redbox Instant by Verizon is going to bring its streaming service to Google TV devices soon: The company demonstrated a prototype of its app at Google I/O Friday, and a representative told me that the app will launch in earnest within the next few weeks. After that, the company is going to launch a channel on Roku media streamers.
Check out a photo of the app UI below:
Redbox Instant by Verizon’s prototype app was on display on an LG Google TV that ran the next version of Google TV that is based on Android 4.2.2 aka Jelly Bean. That version will come to Google TV devices in the third quarter of this year, but I was told that the Redbox Instant app will be available before that, and that is going to work just fine with the current version of Google TV. However, the service won’t be available on Google TV devices using an Intel processor, which means that owners of the Logitech Revue and other first-generation devices won’t be able to use it.
Redbox Instant first launched on select Samsung TVs and Blu-ray players as well as PCs and mobile devices in March. The joint-venture between Redbox and Verizon has since added support for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 as well as select LG Smart TVs. I was told by a representative Friday that the company is looking to add support for Roku players soon after rolling out the Google TV app.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.- OTT technologies and strategies for broadcasters
- What the shift to the cloud means for the future EPG
- Who and what to watch in the new era of the living room
-
Your weekend reading: The case against empathy, gorgeous photos from the NatGeo contest
If you can only digest six awesome pieces of Internet content this week (plus one congrats), look no further. Here’s a round-up of the best stories on the webs this week.
Paul Bloom: The origins of pleasureTED speaker Paul Bloom makes a compelling case against empathy, arguing that empathy alone is not sufficient to uphold morality — and may even work against it. [The New Yorker]
42 truly stunning photos from the 2013 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest. [The Atlantic]
Would you be friends with Humbert Humbert? Authors weigh in on whether fictional characters ought to be likable. [New Yorker blog]
Damon Horowitz: Philosophy in prisonThe most popular way to spend time at Beaumont Juvenile Correctional Center in Virginia is … reading Tolstoy? [The Washington Post] Watch a talk on philosophy in prisons »
Scientists show an electronic jolt to the brain can improve mental arithmetic skills in the long-term, and without negative side-effects. [New Scientist]
Chris Hadfield alights from space with another social media masterpiece, a cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” along with a full-length music video. Shot in the International Space Station. [YouTube] Watch a TED Blog playlist we published to welcome him home »
Raghava KK: My 5 lives as an artistAnd a brief congrats to TED speaker Raghava KK, who was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer this week, and TED Fellows Skylar Tibbits and Marc Fornes, who were both awarded the 2013 Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers.
