Rexfeng

Massuni, an established cabinet-maker, is taking Kickstarter pre-orders for an ingenious furniture production system that lets you choose from among a suite of basic designs, then specify your particular, exact dimensions and have custom pieces turned out that exactly meet your needs. Read the rest

"If you'd told me five years ago that I'd be delivering work in GIF format," says Robin Davey, "I'd have laughed."

As the web continues to take over the space of traditional magazines, many aspects of the publishing world have changed. Among them are the illustrations that accompany many articles — without the constraints of print, artists and designers can turn these into something more interactive. That means short animations and GIFs in addition to traditional illustrations. Davey has...

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Natalie Luder's "Fou Lard" silk scarf (a play on words; "scarf" in French is "foulard," while "fou lard" means "insane bacon") is digitally printed with photorealistic baconry, for a delicious, drapey accessory that's as lovely as it is treyfe.

Fou Lard

(via Neatorama)

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In 1891, Kennard Novelty Company, makers of the first commercial talking board, needed a name for their product, so they asked the board to name itself.

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Google has announced that its recently acquired company Skybox, known for its high-quality satellite imaging, is to begin giving away satellite images to help people do goo things. But don't worry: you'll be able to see them too.

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 Starting November 2nd, the Xbox One’s starting price will be $350. That’s $50 off the current level. Thanks, PlayStation! The $50 discount is seemingly applicable to all the system-plus-game bundles. The Kinect-free Assassin’s Creed or Sunset Overdrive bundle will cost $350, with the Call of Duty: Advance Warfare running $450. Microsoft says the lower prices will be… Read More

Just how bad is New York City's second-apartment-as-foreign-tax-shelter problem? The New York Times looked at the number of Midtown apartment owners who use the City's resident-only 17.5% tax abatement, and found that 57% percent of the units from East 57th Street to East 59th between Park and Fifth Avenue are empty for at least 10 months out of the year. From East 59th to East 63rd, 628 out of 1,261 homes are vacant most of the time, and at the Trump Tower on 721 Fifth Avenue, less than half of the units are occupied by New Yorkers. [ more › ]

 Anonymous messaging app Whisper has suspended its editor-in-chief Neetzan Zimmerman and other staff members after Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller wrote a letter summoning Whisper execs to an in-person meeting to discuss the apps privacy practices. “While Whisper provides users a unique social experience, the allegations in recent media accounts are serious and users… Read More

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Eric Slivka, reporting for MacRumors:

Earlier this week, pharmacy chain Rite Aid shut down unofficial support for the Apple Pay and Google Wallet mobile payments systems, resulting in an outcry from users who have been testing out Apple’s new system since its launch on Monday. Rite Aid was not an official Apple Pay partner, but the payments system generally works with existing near field communications (NFC) payment terminals anyway, and many users had had success using Apple Pay at Rite Aid stores early in the week.

It now appears that fellow major pharmacy chain CVS is following suit and as of today is shutting down the NFC functionality of its payment terminals entirely, a move presumably intended to thwart Apple Pay. Google Wallet services are obviously also being affected by the move.

These retailers are part of a group (Merchant Customer Exchange, “MCX”) working on an upcoming mobile payment system called CurrentC. Here’s an article about CurrentC by Debbie Simurda, writing for Mainstreet Inc., a point-of-sale provider:

CurrentC mobile payments platform by Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) is a mobile wallet being developed by a group of major retailers who want greater control of payments, their mobile brand and mobile customer experience. They want to keep more of their customer data, rather than ceding to technology companies. MCX was established in 2012 and currently consists of 59 participating retailers, many large Tier 1 merchants, across all segments. […]

[Update: Not sure why, but Mainstreet Inc. took down the original article. I’m now linking to Google’s cached version of it.]

Here’s how it’s supposed to work:

The application can be downloaded for free from the App Store and Google Play Store. Available for both iOS and Android devices, it is designed to ‘simplify and expedite the customer checkout process by applying qualifying offers and coupons, participating merchant rewards, loyalty programs and membership accounts, and offering payment options through the consumer’s selected financial account, all with a single scan.”

• Using CurrentC mobile payments the point-of-sale displays a QR code for the customer to read with their phone.

• The QR code generates the payment token on the smartphone which verifies the shopper’s presence, identity and initiates the transaction between the merchant and the bank.

• The phone connects with the cloud for authorization and sends the approval to the merchant.

CurrentC doesn’t support the contactless Near Field Communications (NFC) used by Apple Pay.

QR codes. Good luck with that. Plus, CurrentC doesn’t even work with credit cards — it only works with prepaid store cards and debit cards tied directly to your bank account. Apple Pay is built atop the credit card system; CurrentC is a (futile, I say) attempt to eliminate credit card.

What Apple gets and what no one else in the industry does is that using your mobile device for payments will only work if it’s far easier and better than using a credit card. With CurrentC, you’ll have to unlock your phone, launch their app, point your camera at a QR code, and wait. With Apple Pay, you just take out your phone and put your thumb on the Touch ID sensor.

Tim Cook was exactly right on stage last month when he introduced Apple Pay: it’s the only mobile payment solution designed around improving the customer experience. CurrentC is designed around the collection of customer data and the ability to offer coupons and other junk. Here is what a printed receipt from CVS looks like. It looks like a joke, but that’s for real. And that’s the sort of experience they want to bring to mobile payments.

If I’m reading this right, and I think I am, these retailers who are shutting down their NFC payment systems are validating that Apple Pay is actually working, that people are actually using it. And remember, it only works with the month-old iPhones 6. Think about what happens a year or two from now when a majority of iPhones in use are Apple Pay enabled.

Think about what they’re doing. They’re turning off NFC payment systems — the whole thing — only because people were actually using them with Apple Pay. Apple Pay works so well that it even works with non-partner systems. These things have been installed for years and so few people used them, apparently, that these retailers would rather block everyone than allow Apple Pay to continue working. I can’t imagine a better validation of Apple Pay’s appeal.

And the reason they don’t want to allow Apple Pay is because Apple Pay doesn’t give them any personal information about the customer. It’s not about security — Apple Pay is far more secure than any credit/debit card system in the U.S. It’s not about money — Apple’s tiny slice of the transaction comes from the banks, not the merchants. It’s about data.

They’re doing this so they can pursue a system that is less secure (third-party apps don’t have access to the secure element where Apple Pay stores your credit card data, for one thing), less convenient (QR codes?), and not private.

I don’t know that CVS and Rite Aid disabling Apple Pay out of spite is going to drive customers to switch pharmacies (Walgreens is an Apple Pay partner), but I do know that CurrentC is unlikely to ever gain any traction whatsoever.

The Apple SIM — a programmable SIM card that lets you choose carriers after you purchase an iPad — was hailed by many as the beginning of the end for the SIM card. But some US carriers are throwing a wrench into the new system, and none other than outspoken T-Mobile CEO John Legere has taken to a lengthy "tweetstorm" to try and clarify the matter.

The first and second largest carriers in the US, Verizon and AT&T, aren't playing ball with the Apple SIM. Verizon has opted to exclude itself from the system entirely, while customers who select AT&T as their carrier of choice will have to buy another SIM card if they wish to switch carriers again.

That's not the only way the Apple SIM isn't working as planned: there's also a bit of...

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Korilla BBQ is now serving up Korean inspired DIY fare to the masses

EV Grieve reports that the brick and mortar location of the popular food truck, Korilla BBQ, is now open for business. The offers customers rice bowls, salads and wraps served with a choice of protein, rice, kimchi and sauces. Take a look at the menu, here.

As an homage to the restaurant's East Village location, artist Terry Galmitz has painted murals on the walls commemorating scenes from local establishments like Stage Restaurant and McSorley's.

There's a lot of hype around Apple Pay right now, but not everyone is on board with the new mobile payments system. In fact, a significant number of merchants, including heavyweights like Walmart, Kmart, 7-Eleven, and Best Buy, are in outright competition with Apple Pay. The retailers, through a joint venture formed in 2012, are building their own mobile payment app, called CurrentC. It's expected to launch next year. In the meantime, these retailers have no intention to support Apple Pay.

ICYMI: The Verge took Apple Pay for a 'test-drive' on day of its release

Following Apple's announcement last month, both Wal-Mart and Best Buy confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that customers would not be able to use the system in their...

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Twitpic has reached its final chapter. The once-popular image sharing service announced today that it has reached an agreement to be acquired by Twitter, saving millions of photos that were set to go up in smoke later today. In a blog post, founder Noah Everett said "we have reached an agreement with Twitter to give them the Twitpic domain and photo archive, thus keeping the photos and links alive for the time being." He added, "Twitter shares our goal of protecting our users and this data."

The service was one of the first and, ultimately, most popular ways to share photos on Twitter. Until more recent years, Twitter itself didn't offer a way to upload and share photos on the social network — users were forced to host images elsewhere...

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Given what we know now about how anthropogenic climate change is contributing to rising sea levels, Miami will be one of the first major American cities to find itself completely under water in the next century.

That inevitability is fueling a fledgling secessionist movement. And it's not some crackpot grassroots effort either...the mayor and city commission of South Miami passed a resolution earlier this month that South Florida should break away and form the nation's 51st state.

Whereas, South Florida's situation is very precarious and in need of immediate attention. Many of the issues facing South Florida are not political, but are now very significant safety issues; and

Whereas, presently, in order to address the concerns of South Florida, it is necessary to travel to Tallahassee in North Florida. Often South Florida issues do not receive the support of Tallahassee. This is despite the fact that South Florida generates more than 69 percent of the state's revenue and contains 67 percent of the state's population; and

Whereas, the creation of the 51st state, South Florida, is a necessity for the very survival of the entire southern region of the current state of Florida.

Look for more of this type of thing in the years to come. The fight over fossil fuels has already shaped a great deal of the modern global political structure and the coming shifts in climate will almost certainly do the same.

Tags: global warming   Miami   politics   USA

 What if you could shoot those cool 360-degree, swivel-around photos you see on ecommerce sites or in The Matrix with just your smartphone? Then you’d be using the 3DAround camera app that launches next month from Dacuda, which gave TechCrunch an early peek. Simply hit record, revolve your camera phone or tablet around an object, and 3DAround stitches together all the photos into a 3D… Read More

A helium-filled balloon lifted Alan Eustace, a Google executive, to more than 25 miles above the earth. Fifteen minutes after he cut himself loose, he was on the ground.

Now that's an unexpected combination. And if the drawings weren't enough, artist Brandon Dayton added new pun names too for these Pokémon Presidents.

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The New York Times is offering a free mobile app for the popular Scientific 7-minute Workout and the new Advanced 7-minute Workout.

Since the 1980s, we've been dreaming about the resplendent future of virtual reality; one day, headgear like the Oculus Rift will be used to pour immersive entertainment into our brains. No part of this dream includes corporate sponsors shellacking our vision with brand messages. But now that the technology is on the cusp of the mainstream, advertising "experiences" are at the forefront of VR development.

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An endling is an individual that's the last of its species. This is Martha, the world's last passenger pigeon, who died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914.

Come for the spring rolls, stay for the threats of bodily harm.

When Yelper Ruchu Tan bemoaned the "packet of instant miso paste" and "angel hair" ramen at chef Bac Nguyen's new Cleveland restaurant Ninja City Kitchen and Bar in a one-star review last month, Nguyen sought out the customer on Facebook and confronted him about it. What proceeded was a ballistic string of Chef-times-100 messages containing threats of physical harm, insults to Tan's girlfriend, and at least one deployment of a Pusheen the Cat emoticon.

The exchange, preserved for posterity by Tan, is really something else:

In it, Nguyen indelicately explains the ins and outs of ramen, says racist things about at least two ethnicities, and promises, "If I ever see you near my restaurants again you will be in trouble. Peace f--ker." Also: "You're ugly and physically weak and your girlfriend is an ugly piece of shit." He's since apologized, but a group is now boycotting Nguyen's restaurants. It has also demanded an explanation for why Tan's name kept appearing in hashtags on Ninja City social media days after the apology, and also says Yelp is in its own ethical quandary for sending Tan a message that his review was "slander/blackmail-esque" and not effectively policing Yelp trolls still harassing Tan a month after the fact.

Not that it justifies his messages, but Nguyen says a claim in Tan's review — "Really hate to give this place such a low rating but I tell it like it is!" — is bull because they "have mutual acquaintances," so it was personal sabotage, "tantamount to you f--king with me personally." So, karma?

[Clevescene, Elite Daily]

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Filed Under: burn sauce, barbaric yelp, ninja city kitchen and bar, ohio, online reviews

How many mobile devices do you carry with you on a daily basis? A couple of smartphones, and maybe a tablet? When you get to work that makes for quite a few displays floating around, and researchers at MIT have come up with software that can let them all function as one giant touchscreen, no matter how they're arranged on a desk.

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MMO games, including MOBAs, compose 21 percent of the worldwide digital game market and are on track to generate $11 billion in revenue this year alone, SuperData Research reports. By 2017, that number is expected to rise to $13 billion. In 2014,...

This Bud's for you, scientifically speaking.

Right now, app developers George Taylor and Stephen Pond are somewhere in New Mexico, hoarding every malty bottle and hoppy can in sight for a project called the Beer Census. They're almost at 20,000, maybe halfway toward their goal of amassing every beer in America, and they swear there's more at work here than having super-hardcore RateBeer accounts — the beers are actually data for their ridiculously ambitious app, Next Glass, which will rate the chemical makeup of beers (wines, too) against your preferences, acting "kind of like Pandora for alcohol."

There's a very legit-looking lab involved where a team is currently analyzing 200 bottles a day through mass spectrometry. Taylor and Pond say this yields the beer's molecular "fingerprint," letting them get away from "relying on subjective descriptions and flowery tasting notes." Better yet, they say: "There is no discrimination in science," meaning "A small local distributor will have the same opportunity to be matched with someone's taste preferences as Sierra Nevada." Once it's done, you will, according to this promo video, simply scan bottles with your smartphone to get a magical score that can even be compared with friends' scores, to see if they'll approve.

The app will launch sometime after they finish their cross-country beer run. But just one word of caution: Maybe don't park your truck with those few thousand eclectic and rare brews at any Florida truck stops.

[Next Glass, KOAT]

Read more posts by Clint Rainey

Filed Under: beer run, apps, beer, beer census, george taylor, next glass, stephen pond

Ryan Chittum, writing for Columbia Journalism Review:

What The Guardian did was entirely ethical. Whisper told its reporters highly newsworthy facts about its own service. The information was all on the record. The Guardian reported it. It would have been a journalistic lapse for the paper not to have told readers what it had learned.

In fact, even had the sessions been off the record, or as Primack asserts, implicitly private, The Guardian would have had to give serious consideration to burning its sources if it couldn’t otherwise confirm the information. I’d argue that the right of the public to know that it is being gravely misled clearly outweighs the agreement by the paper not to publish that information.

If you want to use your car as a weapon in Manhattan, you just need to pay a $250 fine. [ more › ]

Amazon says it is opening the center to answer customer demand for cloud computing services, but it is also doing it to comply with German laws around privacy.