Sometimes ingenuity, craftsmanship and imagination have the capacity to produce some amazing things. Case in point; this four-wheel steering, V8 powered, full custom chassis hooligan that’s simply called, “ULTRA BOUNCER”. It’s the bull in the china shop, the smoker in the school parking lot, and the bouncer at the club all rolled into one and it’s frickin’ glorious. Plus, the fact that it can climb over anything doesn’t hurt either. Check it out after the jump.
Source: Youtube.com
File backup solutions are abandoned by more and more users these days in favor of off-site storage locations provided by cloud services.
On the other hand, the operating system is the one that needs a safety net against malfunctions (both software and hardware) or malware infections.
Relying on disk imaging technology, a new generation of backu… (read more)
For your weekend reading, here’s a recap of five noteworthy stories that appeared on Data Center Knowledge this past week.
With Ubiquity, Sears is Turning Shuttered Stores into Data Centers – Will blinking blue lights of servers soon fill the aisles that previously offered the Blue Light Special? Sears Holdings has formed a new unit to market space from former Sears and Kmart retail stores as a home for data centers, disaster recovery space and wireless towers.
Should Data Centers Be Regulated as Utilities? Industry Experts Weigh In – Is the data center industry a candidate for regulation as a utility, as suggested last week by the New York Times? We reached out to experts who were familiar with both data centers and utilities to get their take.
The Robot-Driven Data Center of Tomorrow – Robotics are beginning to be integrated into data center management, creating the potential for a robot-driven, fully automated “lights out” data center environment. Bill Kleyman explores the possibilities.
Microsoft Will Back Xbox One With 300,000 Servers – With this week’s unveiling of the new Xbox One gaming system, Microsoft says it will beef up its Xbox Live platform with 300,000 servers, a huge jump from the 15,000 servers currently supporting the platform.
NSA Utah Data Center Facing Unexpected Energy Taxes – The National Security Agency (NSA) finds itself facing millions of dollars in taxes on the electricity usage in its Utah data center as a result of a new law passed by state legislators, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Stay current on Data Center Knowledge’s data center news by subscribing to our RSS feed and daily e-mail updates, or by following us on Twitter or Facebook or join our LinkedIn Group – Data Center Knowledge.
Small slate shoppers have a new option to choose this week: Hisense debuted a tablet that looks like a Nexus 7. The Sera 7 Pro tablet uses the same basic hardware as Google’s own tablet –with a few improvements, even — but costs $50 less. WalMart is the exclusive retailer for the Android 4.2 slate, which is priced at $149.
Most of the base components are the same between the two tablets: An Nvidia Tegra 3 chip, IPS display with 1280 x 800 resolution, 1 GB of memory, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and NFC.
The Hisense model only comes with half of the storage capacity as the Nexus 7 — 8 GB vs 16 GB — but does include a microSD card slot for storage expansion. Both devices have front facing cameras while the Hisense model adds a rear, 5 megapixel camera. It also supports mini HDMI out for external displays while the Nexus 7 doesn’t.
I’m planning to check out the Sero 7 Pro at my local WalMart and compare the build quality to a Nexus 7. Assuming it’s comparable, I could see many people picking up one of these tablets at this price.
My other concern would be software updates going forward. Since Hisense isn’t known for Android devices, I’m wondering how quickly the tablet will see Android upgrades in the future. You definitely some piece of mind with this for the Nexus 7 since Google provides the updates directly and quickly.
That same question comes to mind when talking about “Google Edition” phones. Samsung has already announced a $649 version of its Galaxy S 4 that will run stock Android without Samsung’s customizations. Now sources suggest that an HTC One handset will be offered in a “Google Edition” as well. Since Google is selling such devices in the Google Play Store, my guess is that Google itself will push future updates. That hasn’t been made clear, however.
Regardless, many who like the HTC One hardware but don’t like HTC Sense software may have the best of both worlds available soon. We’ll find out this coming week, when HTC is expected to announce an HTC One “Google Edition” smartphone.
With Samsung, and possibly HTC, offering “pure” Android devices, Google’s Nexus line will be interesting to watch. I have a feeling the new Nexus devices will be kept at lower prices with fewer cutting edge features and components if these “Google Edition” phones sell well.
All Android devices saw the Chrome beta browser get a substantial update this week. Note that the beta version is different from the generally available version of Chrome and both can co-exist on your Android smartphone. The beta edition gained full-screen browsing, a new graph showing bandwidth savings when using Google’s data compression feature and automatic language translation when browsing pages in non-native languages.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.
In this week’s address, President Obama commemorates Memorial Day by paying tribute to the men and women in uniform who have given their lives in service to our country.
At a town hall meeting today on school safety at the Classical Magnet School in Hartford, I got to hear firsthand how Connecticut is leading the nation in adopting common-sense solutions to reduce gun violence and improve school safety.
In the aftermath of the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School last December, the courage and resilience of teachers, parents, children, and communities in the Newtown area has been nothing short of remarkable.
From Governor Dannel Malloy to state lawmakers to the members of the Sandy Hook Promise, the entire state worked together to pass comprehensive legislation to reduce gun violence.
Unlike here in Washington, Connecticut’s lawmakers didn’t defend the status quo or shrink from tackling difficult questions. With bipartisan support, they enacted a comprehensive law to help curb gun violence and mass shootings that does not infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves and hunt.
Connecticut’s leaders have set an example of political courage that can teach a lot to Congress and the rest of the nation. At today’s town hall meeting, Governor Malloy talked about how he decided to press ahead for new gun violence prevention measures, despite fierce attacks from the NRA.
By contrast, in Washington, Congress has so far failed to take the sensible step of expanding the background check system to close loopholes that allow criminals and the mentally ill to buy guns.
Watching curator Chris Anderson in speaker rehearsals before a TED conference feels like witnessing the zen of a longtime coach who knows his sport both inside out and backwards. Whenever a trial run of a talk feels just a little askew, a few simple sentences are whispered. Magically, the next time the talk is given publicly, it is mesmerizing — and without a hint that it was ever anything but.
In a new essay in The Harvard Business Review’s June issue, Anderson shares his fine-tuned advice for delivering a powerful talk. A few choice tidbits:
“We all know that humans are wired to listen to stories, and metaphors abound for the narrative structures that work best to engage people. When I think about compelling presentations, I think about taking an audience on a journey.”
“Many of our best and most popular TED Talks have been memorized word for word … Most people go through what I call the ‘valley of awkwardness,’ where they haven’t quite memorized the talk. If they give the talk while stuck in that valley, the audience will sense it … Getting past this point is simple, fortunately. It’s just a matter of rehearsing enough times that the flow of words becomes second nature.”
“Perhaps the most important physical act onstage is making eye contact. Find five or six friendly-looking people in different parts of the audience and look them in the eye as you speak. Think of them as friends you haven’t seen in a year, whom you’re bringing up to date on your work.“
Read the rest of the extensive article »
This past Tuesday Microsoft did its long-awaited Xbox reveal, though the company did not unveil every bit of information that customers were waiting for. For instance, we still do not know pricing or release date. However, the biggest urban legend in circulation — that of used games — is under attack from the console maker.
On the day of the big reveal, Larry Hryb took to his blog to assure users “While there have been many potential scenarios discussed, today we have only confirmed that we designed Xbox One to enable our customers to trade in and resell games at retail”.
These rumors came to head after Adam Orth of Microsoft Studios committed career suicide on Twitter while discussing the possibility of an always-connected console. The spectre of this addition to the next-generation gaming device raises the issue of users no longer being able to play used games, or even game while their internet connection is down.
Now Hryb goes further to reassure customers with an official statement from his company. “The ability to trade in and resell games is important to gamers and to Xbox. Xbox One is designed to support the trade in and resale of games. Reports about our policies for trade in and resale are inaccurate and incomplete. We will disclose more information in the near future”, the statement reads.
It is not a ringing endorsement, but it is, at least, promising. We will learn more during the time before the retail release, but potential customers should be able to breath a collective sigh of relief for the moment.
Following a cease and desist letter sent by Google little over a week ago, today, Microsoft reaches out to me and announces a new update for its homebrew YouTube Windows Phone 8 app. You might want to contain that burning desire to hit the “Update” button though.
“Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube’s API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks”, says the Redmond, Wash.-based corporation. This comes two days after the passing of the deadline to remove the app from the Windows Phone Store.
The deadline was imposed by Google alongside the cease and desist letter, and says that the app must also restrict the ability to download content and enforce playback restrictions “on certain platforms”. The former requirement is already fulfilled in the update released two ago.
I asked Microsoft if the upcoming version will also comply with Google’s remaining grievance, but the software giant refused to comment: “Nothing more to add at this point, sorry”.
Now here’s the bad news. “Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time”, says the Redmond, Wash.-based corporation. Ouch! The software giant tells me that the version in question is the dreadful pre-May 8 build which was basically the mobile YouTube website dressed as an app.
At the time of writing this article, Microsoft pulled the non-compliant YouTube for Windows Phone 8 app from the Store and has yet to replace it with the old, but complaint, version. The latter, however, does not show ads which is a tad ironic considering Google’s grievances.
Today, Microsoft and Google prove that working together is entirely possible, however this only appears to be the case when one company negatively affects the other. Let’s hope that this rekindled relationship can smooth the bumps in the road towards Google-branded apps on Windows Phone 8 and more Microsoft-developed software on Android.
The takeaway is that, in order to gain Google’s approval, Microsoft must offer an inferior YouTube experience on the tiled operating system. The Windows Phone 8 app no longer offers any advantages over its Android and iOS counterparts. But, hopefully, Google will allow YouTube for Windows Phone 8 to upload content to the popular video-sharing website.
Photo Credit: Cory Thoman/Shutterstock
On Thursday evening, former child actress Amanda Bynes was arrested after creating a disturbance at her Manhattan apartment. Bynes was allegedly smoking marijuana in the lobby of her building, causing the doorman to call police. When police arrived, Bynes allegedly fled to her apartment and flung a bong out of a window. She was arrested, taken to Roosevelt Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, and then booked on charges of reckless endangerment, tampering with evidence, and possession of marijuana.
Since that time, Bynes has had a preliminary hearing on the charges. The actress faced a judge while wearing the disheveled blonde wig she has been showing off on Twitter for months. Bynes’ lawyer stated during the hearing that the actress denies ever throwing anything out of her window.
The former Nickelodeon actress was released without bail and is scheduled to appear in court again in July. Bynes is already on probation for driving on a suspended license in California.
TMZ has also been able to obtain a mugshot (http://www.tmz.com/2013/05/24/amanda-bynes-mug-shot-shaved-head-arrest-bong/) for Bynes, which shows how short her hair is without her extravagant wigs.
Julianne Moore never realized that she was having a wardrobe malfunction while walking the red carpet at Cannes until she got home and saw the pictures online.
Due to a busy night and a long dress, Moore never noticed that her toes were popping out the sides of her heels.
“I didn’t feel a thing — not a thing,” she said in a recent interview. “I felt fine! I was just walking along, like, ‘Hiiiii, I’m at Cannes’ and my toes are hanging off [my shoes]!”
The embarrassing moment led to her declaration that she had no option for avoiding another incident in the future but to cut her toes off.
“I did what every reasonable person would do,” she told Jimmy Fallon. “I needed to prevent this from happening again, so I cut my toes off.”
So far this year, the film festival has been fairly drama-free (off-screen, that is). Other than audience members booing Ryan Gosling’s movie, “Only God Forgives”, the incident being labeled “Toemageddon” is perhaps the most talked-about happening.
Image: David Silpa
Google announced that it would shut down Google Checkout in favor of Google Wallet back in 2011. This week, the company announced that in six months Google checkout will be officially dead to merchants.
With that, the company has shared an “office hours” video dealing with the change, so if you had any questions about it, give it a watch, and see if they get answered:
Developers for Google Play the Chrome Web Store and Offers Marketplace will continue to be supported, and will automatically transition to the Google Wallet Merchant Center in the coming weeks. Shoppers will simply be able to use Google Wallet to make purchases on merchant apps and sites, as well as on Google properties.
We’ve already ascertained that the Oculus Rift is pretty awesome. The virtual reality headset has transported a grandmother to the Tuscan countryside in one demo while another has given people a taste of the French Revolution. Now it’s freaking out an “Irish mammy” with a roller coaster simulator.
It’s apparent once again that virtual reality has finally reached the point to where it actually feels pretty real. Now we might not be so far away from a Lawnmower Man-like future.
[h/t: lleti via Reddit]