Blog

3D printer hobbyists are often impressed with machines that are able to print large objects. What’s even more amazing, however, is when a 3D printer is able to create micro and nano-scale objects.

Nanoscribe, a newly founded Germany 3D printing company, has recently shown what its latest 3D printer – the Photonic Professional GT – can do. The machine was able to create a microscale model of a spaceship in less than 50 seconds. Here’s how they did it:

This video shows a realtime recording of the 3D micro printing process by two-photon polymerization. We start with the CAD model of a Hellcat spaceship from Wing Commander Saga and use our 3D printer Photonic Professional GT to print a polymer model on the microscale. The final structure is then inspected with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Overall printing time was less than 50 seconds for the ship with dimensions 125µm x 81µm x 26.8µm (l x w x h). The length of the spaceship is approximately equal to the diameter of a human hair.

The most amazing part about this new technology is that it’s not a prototype. This printer is for sale, and is being marketed to biotechnology firms. Other biotech firms and schools that are working with 3D printing have had to build their own machines. If the price is right, Nanoscribe could be seeing a lot of business coming its way from schools and biotech firms wanting to take advantage of 3D printing.

[h/t: SingularityHub]

The tale of this backpack review is one of love and regret; I love how this backpack works and I regret that I did not take it on my last trip. In short, it’s a good pack, generally does what it is designed for and does it well. As I know a lot of you are photographers (or at least enjoy carrying around thermos-shaped objects from place to place), I thought I’d talk a bit about what this bag can do.

Here’s what I love:

Love
The Timbuk2 Espionage Camera Backpack has 5 basic compartments: a hard-sided camera compartment at the bottom, a large zipper compartment built into the camera compartment opening flap, a medium size rucksack-like area above of the camera section, a full size laptop sleeve, and a phone compartment. It also has external straps to hold a small tripod along one side and a water bottle along the other side.

The large padded camera section — which can be customized with anti-scratch, tricot walls — can hold a decent amount of camera gear. A DSLR camera body with either a standard or telephoto lens attached, flashes, additional lenses, plugs, brackets, cables — pretty much most of what you would need on a regular day of shooting. The hard sides protect the camera equipment pretty well. As good as or better than any other non-enclosed hard case bags I have used.

The zipper compartment built into the opening flap of the camera area is wide and deep enough to house an iPad. The rucksack area above the camera section is big enough to hold a small coat, and maybe a few loose odds and ends. The laptop sleeve along the back will hold up to a 17 inch laptop. I was able to fit a phone and small pair of headphones in the phone compartment. The profile is about as small as you could get while still letting you carry this amount of equipment.

Despite any protection the bag provides I would be remiss without mentioning the key, critical feature the pack sports; the bottle opener. What photographer is ever without a beverage in their hand at some point during a busy day? Indeed, this critical feature alleviates the need to carry or even pack, a bottle opener. I’m, of course, joking here about it’s importance, but trust me, it is still appreciated. It comes standard on many Timbuk2 packs.

The black, ballistic nylon outer shell seemed sturdy enough and padding along the back plus a waist strap looked helpful.

Last but not least, the name of the pack — the Espionage — is a hint as to the possible aid this pack could provide to thwart would-be camera thieves (e.g. it doesn’t look like a normal camera bag and instead looks like a regular backpack, therefore no one will think to rip you off).

I am not so sure I completely buy this approach as I assume that all would-be backpack thieves are as eager to steal a regular backpack that could contain thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment as they are to steal a camera bag that could hold thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment. But who knows, maybe it will work.

Regrets
And now to the regrets. Why oh why did I not take this pack with me to SXSW last week? I needed to shoot a bunch of pictures. I needed to write a bunch of stories. It would have been perfect for the trip. But I didn’t take the Espionage with me to give it a proper test because of fear, my friends. I was afraid. Afraid of what exactly?

Well, when I first put the pack on, I’ll be honest that it felt a little uncomfortable to me. Maybe it was the stiffness of the hard-shell protection of the camera area? Maybe it was because it doesn’t exactly form-fit to your back when you put it on? I was afraid that while toting the bag around all day at SXSW and standing in line to watch and cover speakers, I would eventually fatigue (first world problem for sure).

I also thought it might be a bit too small. Surely I couldn’t fit everything I would need for a full day of blogging and photography, and batteries and cables and silly conference schwag?

In retrospect, the backpack could not have been any more uncomfortable than the the gigantic, pack I ended up taking that was overstuffed with things I probably didn’t need. (I barely collected any schwag anyway). Plus, I couldn’t open any beer bottles. Damn it!

Super-Secret Discovery
This wasn’t advertised in the manual, but it appears that the top of the camera area will unzip and fold flat, which means that if you take out the tricot dividers, you can combine the areas of the hard-sided camera section with the rucksack top to make one larger area. When both compartments are combined, the maximum total length of the larger area appears to be a little more than 20 inches — big enough to hold books or notebooks or larger items on those days when you don’t carry your camera with you. This changed everything for me when thinking about how I could actually use this backpack on a daily basis.

The Bottom Line
In the end, I think this is a much better backpack than I initially thought. I am glad I took a little extra time to use it and think about it. In fact, the only things I can really find wrong with it are it’s previously mentioned non form-fitting nature (a consequence of its protection) and that a few of the zippers are hard to unzip. But because of the multiple ways it can be used and its slim profile, maybe the Timbuk2 Espionage Camera Backpack really is the ultimate backpack?

Price: $199

Available at Timbuk2.com

Voices.com is a London Ontario based voice talent agency that has just launched an app for BlackBerry 10. The app will help you find voice talent for any project drawing from their database of over 75000 talented voice over artists.

Shopping around for voice talent is mostly a matter of casting a performer with the right tone and delivery. The voices.com app allows you top browse through lots of talent and can have you working with that talent at record speed, sometimes in the same day.

More and more, video projects require simple narration in order to drive the point home. This app takes the guesswork out of finding talent and can have you working with the voice talent in a hurry.

Click here to download the Voices app for BlackBerry 10 from App World.

One of Clint Eastwood‘s daughters, Alison, has reportedly married reality TV star Stacy Poitras. Poitras is the star of the CMT reality show Chainsaw Gang.

According to People magazine, the couple wed in a small ceremony in Calabasas, California. Clint Eastwood and his current wife, Dina, attended the ceremony, as did Alison’s mother, Maggie Johnson. Alison’s siblings, Kyle, Scott, and Kathryn were also in attendance, as were Poitras’ brothers, Mark, Matt, and Bobby.

Poitras is a sculptor on Chainsaw Gang, and creates wooden sculptures carved with chainsaws. He grew up in Plymouth, Massachusetts and attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Poitras told People that he asked Alison’s father’s permission to marry her before proposing.

Clint Eastwood made headlines last year for a speech he gave at the Republican National Convention during which he spoke to a chair as if it an invisible President Obama were sitting on it. The event was widely ridiculed.

(Image courtesy CMT)

Last Wednesday, a plume of white smoke emerged in Vatican City, signaling that the papal conclave had chosen a new leader for the Catholic Church.

Shortly after, Argentinian cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio addressed the crowd as Pope Francis, the 266th pontiff of the church. At that time, the previously hibernating @Pontifex Twitter account sent out a simple tweet: HABEMUS PAPAM FRANCISCUM – roughly translating to “we have Pope Francis.”

A few days later, Pope Francis has sent out his first tweet.

The new Pope’s first official tweet was simple, asking his followers to continue to pray for him and thanking them for their support:

Dear friends, I thank you from my heart and I ask you to continue to pray for me.Pope Francis.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) March 17, 2013

The @Pontifex Twitter account was created late last year as the official Twitter account of the papacy, then held by Pope Benedict. Upon his resignation, the account went “sede vacante,” and all of Bendict’s 39 tweets were archived on Vatican website.

At the time, the Vatican made it clear that the Twitter account was not being shut down, only deactivated temporarily as the new pope was chosen. They said that the decision to continue to tweet or not would rest solely with the new pope.

“Obviously we leave all decisions to the new man. But we would hope that he might continue to use @pontifex, which would maintain continuity,” said Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications Paul Tighe.

And it looks like Pope Francis has decided to continue the social media outreach.

As of the writing of this article, the @Pontifex account has just topped 2 million followers.

One of the biggest challenges social entrepreneurs face is securing funding to set up their organizations and realize their ideas. Especially in the early days, it can be nearly impossible to pay the rent, give employees a decent salary, and hire the external help you need. But does helping people really need to be so expensive? Or can social entrepreneurs use the same techniques that for profit startup entrepreneurs use, and still make a big impact on a smaller budget?

In 2008, with just a few thousand dollars, Ben Munoz and I started Ben’s Friends, a network of online support sites for people with rare diseases. Five years later, the organization has become one of the largest rare disease support groups in the world and we’ve spent very little to make it happen.

Back in 2008, Ben and I knew three things. One, people with rare diseases desperately needed a place to go for support (Ben himself was recovering from a rare brain aneurysm — AVM — that nearly killed him). Two, we were swimming in business school debt and could only muster a few thousand dollars to start the organization. And three, rare disease sites don’t monetize so we couldn’t justify venture capital investment to pay the bills.

So there we were, both of us practically broke but with inboxes full of emails from patients telling us how our support sites had changed their lives. We were determined to make Ben’s Friends work, but we were going to have to do it a different way. We didn’t want to burden the organization with fixed costs. Almost everything had to be free, and the few things we paid for had to be scalable so that the unit costs would eventually approach zero. We set out to become one of the first capital efficient social impact organizations.

Here are the three principles that guided our efforts:

People make the world go round…and technology makes it go faster.

After our first few support groups were up and running, something happened. Members (aka patients) started volunteering to run them. It made sense. We started the support groups because it made us feel good to help others. Members started volunteering for the very same reason: they told us that helping others find support, information, and friendship changed their relationship with their disease. Despite the pain and discomfort, they were able to see a small silver lining in their condition. Today, there are 130+ moderators (all volunteers!) who are the heart and soul of Ben’s Friends.

We built a Moderator Only Network where all moderators could communicate and share best practices. This became a hotbed of innovation as moderators built on each other’s new ideas until a new service or procedure could be implemented. They were free to implement new ideas without our permission so it could happen immediately across the entire network. This removed the biggest bottleneck to innovation — us.

“Software development” and “hardware” are bad words.

Before business school, Ben was a software developer and I worked at a venture capital fund, so we were familiar with the miracle of cloud computing. Even though “the cloud” had not gone mainstream, we embraced it, making two key decisions. First, we would use a white label social networking service called Ning to power our sites. Second, we standardized all management coordination on a low-cost but elegantly simple project management software called Basecamp.

Ning allowed us to start a new support network in an hour. We paid a nominal subscription fee every month instead of sinking tens of thousands of dollars into developers and servers. As our support networks grew, Ning grew with them. Basecamp too was hosted software with a very small monthly subscription fee. Like Ning, it was available globally, which was perfect for our growing network of volunteers. People in Europe, Asia, and Africa were finding Ben’s Friends and joining the cause. Suddenly we had a small army of global do-gooders, and Basecamp helped us manage the whole thing.

The only failed experiments are the ones we don’t do.

From the beginning, Ben and I promised each other that we would experiment along the way. After all, the first support network, AVMSurvivors.org, was just a desperate experiment by Ben to find other people with an AVM. In 2010, Ben’s Friends got too big and costly to fund ourselves so we turned to crowdfunding. It was a relatively new phenomenon at that time and we had no idea whether it would work. But a startup organization called IndieGoGo loved our cause and gave us the special attention we needed to make our online fundraisers successful. Today, IndieGoGo gets a lot of credit for revolutionizing the film industry and consumer electronics, but they also made our organization viable.

Another experiment we tried early on was to tell our story through YouTube videos. We put together a simple video that told the Ben’s Friends story. We also asked members to explain what Ben’s Friends meant to them. Moderators like John “JC” Colyer, Elodie, and Julie led the way. Even younger members joined in.

Ben’s Friends is part of a new breed of capital efficient social impact organizations that deliver a big impact on a small budget. Whether you’re a big organization or a startup, shedding costly infrastructure and overhead can stretch your funding and help you serve your constituents better. Simple changes like embracing cloud computing, relying on crowdsourcing, and using crowdfunding to augment or even replace fundraising can pay huge dividends. The world has changed, and it’s never been easier to have an impact without expensive infrastructure.

Please join the conversation and check back for regular updates. Follow the Scaling Social Impact insight center on Twitter @ScalingSocial and give us feedback.

Scaling Social Impact
Insights from HBR and The Bridgespan Group

• Data Can Open College Doors for Disadvantaged Kids
• We Need Open Data To Change The World
• Is Collaboration the New Greenwashing?
• Give Us Feedback and Get a Free HBR Article

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask gets a bad rap. It’s one of the most controversial entries in the venerated series, and many find the game’s themes to be too dark and depressing. To those gamers, YouTuber Criken has given them a reason to give Majora’s Mask one more chance.

It’s called The Legend of Cage, and it replaces all the textures in Majora’s Mask with the visage of Reddit’s OneTrueGod Nicolas Cage. Here’s what inspired such madness:

After months of uncomfortable work, the Nicolas Cage texture pack for Majora’s Mask is finally finished. Why make this you may ask? I wish I had an answer for you. The truth is co-modder Shayne and I lost the luxury of free will as soon as we began working on this project. We had no goal, only Cage.

Criken says he will release the texture pack if and when he finds a way to properly compile it. Until then, he says that there will be plenty of Nicolas Cage/Zelda crossover goodness in subsequent gameplay videos.

[NeoGAF via Kotaku]

Critical Wave is a dual thumb controlled top-down shooter by Grannies Games. Blast though enemy waves, collect power-ups and upgrade your ship.

Critical Wave’s vector geometry art style is fantastic for a shooter that has so many enemies at once. Your nimble ship is able to steer and shoot in any direction, really handy because of just how many enemies you’ll be dealing with at all times.

The developers have really optimised the game for the BlackBerry 10 platform delivering smooth 60 frame per second gameplay at all times. They’ve also added support for the SteelSeries mobile wireless controller, a BlackBerry gaming first and a must-have peripheral if you’re playing critical wave on an external monitor.

Click here to watch the Critical Wave demo video on your BlackBerry.

Buy Critical Wave for BlackBerry 10 for $0.99 from BlackBerry World.

There’s only so much tweaking you can do from within Firefox’s own Options dialog. All the really juicy stuff is hidden away, accessible only by typing about:config into the Address bar, heeding the warning and then attempting to navigate the bewildering list of preferences from accessibility.accesskeycausesactivation to zoom.minPercent. This is fine for occasional tweaks, but if you’ve a hankering for some real deep-seated changes, you’ll want to consider a more user-friendly alternative.

If you’re a Windows user running Firefox or its performance-enhanced variant, Pale Moon, then the answer lies in installing the free Pale Moon Commander 0.6add-in. Also available for Windows, Mac and Linux, is Configuration Mania 1.6, aimed squarely at Firefox itself.

Once installed, Pale Moon Commander is accessible via the Firefox > Options menu by selecting Advanced options… You’ll see its dialog box is modeled on Firefox’s own Options dialog for familiarity purposes, with six sections recognizable by their brightly colored buttons: Graphics, Network, Performance, User Interface, Security, and Other.

Select one and its contents are further divided, again like Firefox, into tabs. From here it’s a case of ticking some options, choosing others from dropdown menus and entering figures for others. Nothing is documented, however, so you need to know what you’re doing. And remember the warning that accompanies about:config itself — these are low-level settings that can really screw up your browser.

Should things go spectacularly wrong, Pale Moon Commander 0.6 does add a Reset tab under Other, but clicking Reset All Preferences effectively returns your browser, and any installed add-ins, to their factory defaults, so use with extreme care.

Mac and Linux users looking on with a feeling of impotent jealousy can relax. There’s an alternative add-in for all flavors of Firefox called Configuration Mania 1.16. It’s a more established tool, again accessed via the Options sub-menu, but opts for a different design, sporting six tabs with sub-sections serving to further break down all the tweaks in each.

Again there’s no documentation, but you can at least right-click a setting and opt to search for its entry in the MozillaZine Knowledge Base for enlightenment. It also has a reset button, but this can be used selectively on tabs.

While there’s plenty of overlap, both add-ons have tweaks not found in the other tool, and both can happily co-exist too. Pale Moon Commander is optimized for the Pale Moon browser, but will work with Firefox, while Configuration Mania is aimed squarely at Firefox users. Just make sure you back up your Firefox configuration before you begin.

Pale Moon Commander 0.6 is a freeware download for Windows machines running Pale Moon or Firefox, while Configuration Mania 1.16 is a free open-source download for Firefox across Windows, Mac and Linux.

Twitter co-founder and Square CEO Jack Dorsey was profiled on 60 Minutes last night, in a segment titled “The Innovator.”

You can watch the full interview below, in which Dorsey talks Twitter, Square, and his desire to be the mayor of New York City someday.

Last week, Ohio Senator Rob Portman became the first senate Republican to openly support gay marriage. Though he was previously an opponent of gay marriage, the senator claims to have had a change of heart that stems from learning that one of his sons is gay. In an editorial, the senator stated that he wants his son, Will, to have the same opportunities “to pursue happiness and fulfillment as his brother and sister.”

Though Portman eloquently laid out the case for gay marriage and asserted that his new position is, in fact, in keeping with the conservative principles of personal liberty and limited government intervention, it doesn’t seem to have convinced many other Republicans to change their view on the issue. Specifically, fellow Ohio politician and Speaker of the House John Boehner this weekend spoke on ABC’s This Week, and affirmed his anti-gay-marriage position. The politician even went as far as to say that he “can’t imagine” his position would ever change, even if one of his close family members were revealed to be gay:

It’s normal to see politicians be cagey on the Sunday morning talk shows when it comes to sensitive topics, but it’s clear that the gay marriage issue is quickly becoming a loser for Republicans. Listening closely to Boehner’s statement, he doesn’t explicitly mention gay marriage, instead opting to state, twice, that his definition of marriage only included unions between men and women.

Boehner’s reasoning for his position is that it’s the belief he grew up with, and that it’s what his church teaches him. Of course, Portman had a similar Ohio upbringing, and took two years after learning his son is gay to officially change his position on the issue. Look for more politicians (though maybe not Boehner) to have Portman-like turnarounds in the coming years, as demographics shift and gay marriage becomes legal in more states.

Late last month, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said that reforming the decades old Electronic Communications Privacy Act was a priority for him in 2013. He’s making good on his word by holding a hearing on the hotly debated issue tomorrow.

The Hill reports that the House Judiciary Committee has announced who will be attending the hearing on ECPA reform tomorrow. We’ll see representatives from the Justice Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation showing up alongside Google’s Richard Salgado and George Washington University Law Professor Orin Kerr.

It should be interesting to see what Salgado brings to the debate as he is Google’s director of information security and law enforcement matters. He previously served as a federal prosecutor specializing in computer crime as well. His insight into what the ECPA currently allows and whether it should be limited will be worth paying attention to.

As for Kerr, his work in the field of Internet privacy has been largely influential for proponents of email privacy. His work was even cited numerous times in the 2008 Quon v. Arch Wireless Operating Co., Inc. ruling that said Internet users have a reasonable expectation of privacy in email. The decision was overturned by the Supreme Court, but you can bet that he’s going to be fighting for an ECPA amendment that better protects privacy tomorrow.

The two law enforcement representatives will most likely argue that ECPA’s current wording is sufficient. When ECPA reform was in the works last year, law enforcement and lawmakers sympathetic to their cause said that requiring a warrant to access emails would be detrimental to investigations.

This particular hearing, and any held after it, will have an influence on the current ECPA reform bill that was introduced in the House earlier this month. Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s Online Communications and Geolocation Protection Act would amend the ECPA and protect cell phone owners from warrantless tracking. The bill will undoubtedly be brought up by proponents of both sides at tomorrow’s hearing, and will most likely influence changes in the bill going forward.

Continue reading…

Imagine a team at a ski company that’s faced with a big problem: When skiers make sharp turns at high speeds, the edges of their skis lift from the snow, causing the skiers to sometimes lose control. The team needed to lessen the vibrations of its skis. But how? Eventually, they found a great solution in an unlikely place: the music industry. In some violins, they discovered, there’s a special layer — a metal grid — that helps to stabilize the instrument, and reduce unwanted vibrations. Problem solved. The ski company adapted the metal grid idea into its ski design.

This type of solution is called an analogous solution, and it’s more common than you may think. In fact, I’d estimate that nearly 90% of new solutions are really just adaptations from solutions that already exist — and they’re often taken from fields outside the problem solver’s expertise.

Analogous solutions are extremely beneficial to businesses because they reduce time to market, and they can get stalled projects moving again. But for a long time they weren’t easy to find. If you didn’t accidentally happen upon a solution, you were simply out of luck.

This is why I wanted to develop a system that could make accidental discoveries a more predictable and regular occurrence. Since innovative solutions are built upon what people tend to overlook (i.e., the obscure), I’ve focused my research on creating techniques to counter every known mental block to noticing the obscure. My dissertation, for example, articulated the first technique to counter functional fixedness, a classic obstacle in which people fixate on the common use of an object and overlook other possible uses. Presently, I am focusing on overcoming people’s shortcomings to noticing obscure analogies, which resulted in Analogy Finder, a program that mines the U.S. Patent Database for analogous solutions.

Here’s how it works. You start with two words that describe what you are looking for. In the case of the ski problem, the two words could be reduce vibrations. Reduce describes the change you are looking for. Vibrations describes what needs changing. From here, the program will take the two words and basically find all the patents that are relevant to the original goal — however that goal is expressed. It will then allow you to narrow and order the results in various ways. The program will even take into account what areas you are an expert in so you don’t waste time looking at solutions that you would already have thought of.

There’s other software available that looks for analogous solutions, too. IHS Goldfire uses another method to perform similar semantic searches. The Oxford Creativity Database and Creax permit some “canned” searches that return ideas already collected by experts.

There are other possible applications as well. I have been told that many companies don’t have a good way to search their own company data to see if someone has ever worked on a similar problem before. Such an analogy program could easily find the previous work, and add efficiency and speed to any task.

There are more applications to come. Wouldn’t it be great if we could search beyond patent databases to find adaptable ideas from nature? For example, excessive carbon emissions are threatening our climate. If you type “remove carbon” into an analogy program that searched biological journals and databases, you could find that the human lung has a highly efficient way of removing carbon dioxide from the bloodstream. Carbozyme Inc. adapted this idea into a highly-effective carbon filter for smokestacks. Of course, this company didn’t have such a program when they created their lung-inspired carbon filter. But software of this type could help other innovators find other adaptable ideas from nature very quickly.

Analogous-solution software can help us overcome a key mental obstacle to innovation; as a result, it will help us to innovate more quickly and regularly. But we’ve only scratched the surface. As the software expands to include new fields and databases, the possibilities will only increase, and, hopefully, our ability to innovate may start to catch up with our needs.

When Benchprep launched two years ago (and rebranded from its initial launch as Watermelon Express), it focused only on interactive test prep content. But over time, it spotted an opportunity in providing content for the classes students take before and after the SAT, ACT and other standardized tests. On Monday, the startup is taking a step beyond those basic curriculum classes (algebra, chemistry, etc.) with software training courses delivered via video.

In addition to the 40 courses on Excel, Adobe and other software tools, the Chicago-based company has rolled out video courses for about 20 other subjects, including college-level math and chemistry.

The expansion, said Benchprep co-founder Ashish Rangnekar, furthers the startup’s plan to be a one-stop shop for digital learning content for college students.

“We asked what can we offer them that goes along with their educational life cycle? One of the big things that emerged was software training,” he said.

He also added that while the company had previously included video in parts of other offerings, expanding into entirely video-based courses is another way they can keep students engaged on mobile, a platform on which they’re already extra active.

While Rangnekar acknowledged that subject matter content on Benchprep may overlap with content found on Khan Academy and skill-focused content may be similar to that on Udemy or lynda.com, he emphasized that unlike those sites Benchprep is a distributor, not producer of content. For the new software courses, for example, the startup partnered with CompuWorks and the NROC (National Repository of Online Courses). Other content partners include Pearson and O’Reilly. He also said that while other online learning sites offer classes on software like Excel and Adobe, Benchprep’s courses specifically target college students using those tools for classes, not adults hoping for professional advancement.

Students may be able to access some content from other online learning sites for free or a lower one-off charge. But Benchprep believes its value is as a central location for students to not only access courses that fill a variety of needs but get help evaluating their strengths and weaknesses, as well as recommendations on the courses that will help them progress.

To drive home that “education-as-a-service” proposition, the company last fall adopted a subscription model in which students pay $30 a month.

To date, the company has raised $6 million from investors including New Enterprise Associates and says it has 410,000 registered users, 60,000 paying customers and offers more than 200 courses.

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

• How consumer media will change in 2013
• The state of cross-platform media measurement
• Listening platforms: finding the value in social media data

Sony Mobile unveiled two phones today. We already told you about the Xperia SP, and now it’s time for the Xperia L, which is a low to mid-range device for people who put a bigger importance on the camera. It sports a 4.3-inch (854 x 480) display, a 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4, 8GB of internal storage, microSD slot,1,700mAh battery, and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Sure the specs are nothing to write home about, but those into taking pictures will be happy to know that it sports an 8-megapixel camera with an Exmor RS sensor and is able to take HDR stills and video. It even sports a dedicated camera key that will take it from sleep to snap in just over a second from a locked screen.

As with all Xperia phones, you will also get the “WALKMAN”, “Album” and “Movies” apps. You should be able to get your hands on one in Q2, but no pricing was specified. Hit the break for the full press release and overview video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sony Mobile adds two new Xperia smartphones to its Spring line up, bringing best of Sony experiences to a broader device range

Two new models added to the Xperia™ range of premium smartphones with Xperia™ SP and Xperia™ L offering unique Sony features at new price points
Xperia SP offers a high quality HD experience, LTE 4G and easy connectivity with One-touch function in a beautiful cutting-edge design

· Xperia L provides a stylish design with best in class Sony camera experience for perfect pictures and videos every time

18th March 2013, London, United Kingdom – Sony Mobile Communications (“Sony Mobile”) today announced two new Xperia smartphone models to join its 2013 line up – the Xperia SP and Xperia L. The Xperia SP delivers 4G LTE performance and an exceptional viewing experience, with a razor sharp HD screen housed in a beautiful design. The Xperia L provides class leading camera technology with HDR for both photos and videos complemented by a high quality screen.

Both the Xperia SP and Xperia L offer the best of Sony with stunning premium designs and a range of technologies including a high quality screen for the ultimate viewing experience; the latest camera features for impressive pictures and videos; NFC connectivity for One-touch function; Battery STAMINA Mode for extended battery life; and Sony’s signature media apps for enjoying photos, music, movies and games on the go.

“Xperia SP and Xperia L are ideally suited for those seeking stylish class-leading smartphones that don’t compromise on features”, said Calum MacDougall, Director of Xperia Marketing at Sony Mobile Communications. “Both of our new models benefit from Sony’s proven innovation and engineering expertise – whether you want to enjoy premium HD quality entertainment over 4G LTE on our mid-range Xperia SP or capture every moment in perfect detail with our more affordable Xperia L.”

Xperia SP – High Definition brilliance in a premium design

The Xperia SP utilises expertise from Sony’s BRAVIA® TV engineers to create its stunning 4.6″ HD Reality Display for razor sharp pictures and superior brightness. The latest Mobile BRAVIA® Engine 2 delivers an even better viewing experience by analysing your content type and adjusting the image automatically, making it one of the most intelligent smartphone screens around. The engine will make the adjustment by adding new real-time contrast optimisation to the sharpness enhancement, high-quality colour management and noise reduction.

As well as delivering brilliant experiences, the Xperia SP looks beautiful too with a precision-crafted co-moulded aluminium frame, for a seamless look that is both sleek and solid. Adding to the unique design innovation is the colour-changing ‘transparent element’ with customisable illuminations which you can personalise to alert you of incoming calls and text messages. And you can even set the illuminations to pulse to the beat of your favourite music.

Key features for Xperia SP

· Precision crafted co-moulded aluminium frame

· Super-bright 4.6″ 720p HD Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA® Engine 2

· One-touch functions with NFC to display content on your TV or to share music and photos between devices

· 4G LTE for superfast entertainment and browsing

· Unique ‘transparent element’ can be personalised to change colour when notifying you of all your incoming messages and calls. Or simply set it to pulse to the beat of your music to stand out from the crowd.

· 8MP fast-capture camera with “Exmor RS for mobile”, HDR and Superior Auto for the best photos, even at night or against a strong backlight

· Battery STAMINA Mode for optimum battery life

· Available in white, red and black colour variations

Xperia L – the perfect smartphone camera experience

The stylish and functional Xperia L features an 8 megapixel camera with Sony’s unique “Exmor RS for mobile” sensor technology for vivid colours and stunning clarity. HDR (High Dynamic Range) ensures that both your photos and videos are captured clearly, even at night or against a strong backlight. And with the dedicated camera key that goes from sleep to snap in just over a second even from a locked screen, this fast-capture camera will ensure that you’ll never miss another moment. Get the most out of your viewing experience with the high quality 4.3″ FWVGA screen that is ideally suited to enjoy all of your content.

Key features for Xperia L

· 8 megapixel fast-capture camera takes sharp pictures in any light

· Enjoy all your content on the generous 4.3″ FWVGA display

· One-touch functions with NFC to display content on your TV or to share music and photos between devices

· Fast performance with dual-core processor

· Battery STAMINA Mode for optimum battery life

· Available in white, red and black colour variations

Sony entertainment on the go

Both Xperia SP and Xperia L benefit from Sony’s media applications offering a consistent entertainment experience across the range. The “WALKMAN”, “Album” and “Movies” apps, provide online and offline content through a single access point with new ways to enjoy and share that content. The “WALKMAN” application provides access to all your downloaded music, plus Music Unlimted* with over 18 million songs to explore from, and Facebook social integration. The “Movies” application gives consumers access to over 100,000 movies and TV series from Video Unlimited* while the “Album” application enables easy access to Facebook friends’ photos as well as browsing photos by location.

One-touch functions for easy content sharing

Also featured on both models are Sony’s One-touch functions, allowing you to easily and instantly enjoy music and photos across an array of devices, such as Sony’s SRS-BTV5 speaker and latest range of NFC-enabled BRAVIA TVs, with just a single touch. It’s sharing made easy with no wires, cables, or fiddling with settings necessary.

The new Xperia SP and Xperia L from Sony Mobile will both be available worldwide from Q2 2013.

Come comment on this article: Sony unveils the Xperia L for the budget-minded who wants a best in class camera

AMC and Republic Records announced that the soundtrack to the hit television show The Walking Dead is now available for download at iTunes and Amazon.

Actually, this is only the first volume, indicating that more will be on the way. The track listing is as follows:

1. Jamie N Commons – “Lead Me Home”
2. Bear McCreary – “Main Title Theme Song” (UNKLE Remix)
3. Voxhaul Broadcast – “You Are The Wilderness”
4. Baby Bee – “Love Bug”
5. Fink – “Warm Shadow” (Dactyl Remix)
6. Of Monsters And Men – “Sinking Man”
7. Emily Kinney and Lauren Cohan (Beth & Maggie Greene)- “The Parting Glass”
8. Delta Spirit – “Running”

“Already, three incendiary tracks from the album have been released: Emily Kinney and Lauren Cohan’s powerful folk elegy ‘The Parting Glass,’ Baby Bee’s guitar-heavy zombie blues jam ‘Love Bug,’ and Jamie N Commons’ soulful ‘Lead Me Home’,” AMC says in a blog post. “The full compilation includes previously unreleased material like ‘Sinking Man’ from multiplatinum-selling Icelandic alternative folk sensation Of Monsters and Men, an UNKLE remix of composer Bear McCreary’s ‘Main Title Theme Song,’ Delta Spirit’s ‘Running’ and more. Just like the show, the soundtrack remains a dynamic powerhouse replete with unforgettable moments.”

The soundtrack will hit stores on Tuesday, March 19.

More The Walking Dead fun here.