Rexfeng

 Yelp wants as many inroads and reminders for its service around the web as possible, so today it upped the limit on its API for pulling nearby places, ratings, and photos from 100 calls a day to 25,000 without the need for pre-approval. By freeing up usage of its API, Yelp becomes more appealing to developers looking to help people discover local businesses, and could persuade them to use… Read More

45 years ago today—on July 16, 1969—astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins launched to the Moon on top of the mightiest spaceship ever built. These amazing photos from NASA's vaults show how they built and launched that spaceship—I look at them in awe and admiration.

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An art installation that plans to be the world's largest picnic blanket is currently checkerboarding its way through the green rolling hills of Switzerland. This summer, about 1,500 picnickers have ventured to the site, which is adorably named BIGNIK. And it's only going to get bigger.

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The Senate has approved a bill (which already passed in the House) that makes it legal for you to unlock the phones you own so you can choose which carrier you use. Read the rest

Ever needed to send a message to a friend from the boonies? A company called goTenna has just launched a device that connects to your phone via Bluetooth and turns it into a low-frequency radio with a range of several miles (up to 50 miles). Using an...

 Free Nike gear sitting in the middle of a public place? This will either go down in the books as a damned clever marketing move or a great way to cause a panic. Nike just hid a vending machine in NYC. But there’s a twist! This vending machine only dishes out Nike gear… and it doesn’t accept cash. To get something out of the machine, you’ll need to cough up some points from… Read More

Sun Noodle makes the ramen noodles for a host of the top ramen shops in NYC, LA, and elsewhere (Ivan, Momofuku, etc.)...here's a look at how the noodles are made in their New Jersey factory:

See also how to make hand-pulled noodles and Sun Noodle's fresh ramen kits are available for retail (via devour)

Tags: food   ramen   video

 Google has launched an official Google Analytics app for iPhone, providing the same data you’re used to from your web dashboard on your mobile device, including visits, sources, page views and user behavior insights. The app also offers Real Time reports, which provides monitoring of site activity as it unfolds. The Real Time analytics may be a killer feature for this mobile app, as it… Read More

 Much-buzzed-about startup Product Hunt has another trick up its sleeve — it turns out the startup is in the current Y Combinator batch. As a reminder, Product Hunt is a community-powered news website for tech product launches. It’s a website where you can submit, upvote and comment on today’s new tech products. And it has quickly become the center of the conversations for… Read More

MagSafe is really wonderful tech, the MacBook's most underrated feature . Wouldn't it be great on the iPhone too? That's what the Kickstarter for a charger and battery pack called "Cabin" is shooting for. And even if it never actually happens, it's a nice fantasy.

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Vivendi, Activision's controlling shareholder in 2013, wanted to fire CEO Bobby Kotick, as revealed in emails that are part of a lawsuit filed by Activision investors (via Bloomberg). During negotiations for Activision to buy the majority of its own...

Google's Street View cars have a checkered history; they carry some truly incredible technology, but have also landed the company in hot water. But a few of Google's cars have taken on an additional task while logging miles across the US. Instead of sniffing for Wi-Fi networks, they're sniffing for gas leaks. Three Street View cars equipped with specialized sensors capable of detecting methane were dispatched in Staten Island, Boston, and Indianapolis.

They took 15 million readings in all across those locations, which were chosen because of aging pipelines and other infrastructure issues that make leaks more likely. And the hunches proved correct; Google's cars measured one gas leak for every mile they traversed in the city of Boston,...

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Marvel is making big changes this year. In a special announcement made on the Colbert Report this evening, the comics giant will this fall have Steve Rogers pass his star-spangled shield on to Sam Wilson, making Wilson (otherwise known as the Falcon) the first black man to take on the official role of Captain America. This shift comes only a day after Marvel revealed plans to give the role of yet another founding Avenger, Thor, to a woman this fall, and follows with Marvel's overall push for more diversity in its biggest titles.

That Colbert got to announce the change is altogether fitting; Cap's shield has been on display on the show since early 2007, ever since Marvel "bequeathed" the shield to the host after Steve Rogers' assumed...

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1GB here, 50GB there—the bonus cloud storage space you can pick up by buying a Chromebook, connecting a Samsung tablet or subscribing to Office 365 can soon start to add up. The trouble is, many of these tempting deals are time-limited, which can leave you in quite a pickle when the expiration date passes.

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The pointy ears, the sharp nose, the formidable jaw…Batman's got one of the most iconic silhouettes in all of comics. But, like all superheroes, it changed a lot over his lifetime. Take a look at almost all of the ways the Dark Knight's looked since he debuted in 1939.

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July 20th marks the 45th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing. To commemorate the occasion, GE partnered with Los Angeles-based boutique shoe company Android Homme and JackThreads to release high-top sneakers inspired by the space boots worn by the likes of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin as they set foot on the moon that day.

100 pairs of the shoes will be available for sale online on Sunday at 4:18PM ET — the same time as the moon landing. GE, which was one of the many companies and agencies that provided designs for the original launch, is stressing the materials used in the sneakers to make them stand out. For one, each side of the shoe is comprised of super-light, heat-resistant carbon fiber. "We really wanted to about the benefits...

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Rejoice?

Sometimes controversial fast-food chain Chick-fil-A now controls 26 percent of the limited-service chicken market, wresting top honors from Colonel Sanders's brood, whose new share stands at 22 percent, according to a report published by Janney Capital Markets. The Georgia-based chain now serves sandwiches six of the week's seven days in 36 states, and 108 more locations are on the way this year alone. Its ties to anti-gay messages and groups is of course the reason the chain usually makes the news, which is why the company has undertaken a biblical-sounding image "cleaning" as it gears up for its wider coast-to-coast roll-out. [WSJ]

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Filed Under: the chain gang, chick-fil-a, expansion, kfc

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Enough caffeine to kill a man.

Starbucks Corporate was forced to grin and bear it again yesterday when it learned a Florida woman ordered a 60-shot $57.75 Frappuccino so she could risk lethal over-caffeination and, in the process, unseat Andrew Chifari, the Texas guy whose $54 Vanilla Bean Mocha Frap was previously considered Most Absurdly Expensive Frappuccino of All Time. (Which, actually, it wasn't.) Like Chifari, this customer — "Sameera" — used her Gold card and didn't pay a dime. Both had to bring in comically oversize glassware.

With the shock value of these monstrosities seemingly as durable as consumers' desire to copycat them, Starbucks clearly needs a plan to deal with the rise of Brobdingnagian-portioned Fraps. After Chifari's, it beseeched employees to please adhere to company policy, which it's now reiterating again.

"Per our existing policy," it writes, "beverages larger than Trenta size (31 oz.) cannot be made or served. This includes personal cups that exceed 31 oz (or a Trenta-sized cup). For blended beverages and espresso drinks, those cannot be made or served in sizes larger than a Venti (24 oz cold cup/20 oz hot cup)."

The problem, of course, is that rogue stores get a torrent of free publicity and pay a very small price. You aren't supposed to be able to order biscotti Frappuccinos from the "secret menu," either, but since when has that ever gotten in the way of an eager barista and the extra tip you'll shell out for your unnecessarily complicated espresso drink?

$61 Sexagintuple Frap 2.0 Breaks Starbucks Free Drink Record [Consumerist]

Read more posts by Clint Rainey

Filed Under: foaming, frappuccinos, starbucks, the chain gang

Look, I don't want a 3D Futurama movie and neither do you. But I'll be damned if this test shot doesn't give me the shivers.

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Venture capitalist Tim Draper's plan to split up California into six separate states has apparently gained enough signatures to earn itself a spot on the November 2016 ballot. A spokesperson for the "Six Californias" initiative told Reuters that the required signature threshold — approximately 808,000 — has already been crossed, and organizers will be presenting the list to officials in Sacramento tomorrow.

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In an announcement made on ABC's The View this morning, Thor, Marvel's God of Thunder, will be a woman in the comics. The news is a major shift in Marvel's continuity, since Thor is one of the oldest superheroes in the Marvel universe. The new storyline will launch this October, penned by series writer Jason Aaron.

Whoopi Goldberg, The View's moderator, didn't mince words when she talked about the announcement. The character is a god — not a goddess — and will wield Mjolnir (and even the god's name) just like her predecessor, who was deemed unworthy of its power.

.@Marvel announces that Thor is no longer worthy of Mjolnir, and now a woman will be wielding the mighty Uru Hammer! #TheView

— The View (@theviewtv) July 15, 2014

I...

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There’s plenty of social commentary in this new mural titled ‘Like a Vision‘ from Mister Thoms (previously). The piece appeared somewhere in Ferentino, Italy last week and depicts a man obsessed with the feedback from Facebook likes, rendered in Mister Thoms’ signature illustrative style. Please revel in the irony of liking anything to do with this. (via StreetArtNews, Laughing Squid)

The potato salad Kickstarter may have enjoyed its five minutes of fame , but as far as absurdity goes, its breed isn't quite as rare as you might think . Don't believe us, though—just watch as Stephen Colbert expertly tears apart one of the dumbest, non-starch-related visions the crowdfunding world has to offer.

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[All photos by Daniel Krieger]

Hit Prospect Heights ice cream shop Ample Hills Creamery opens its massive new outpost in Gowanus at noon today. This is quite possibly the biggest ice cream shop in the city, with three floors dedicated to the making and consuming of frozen treats. It has a big counter and plenty of booths on the ground floor, a party space with an ice-cream-churning bike upstairs, and a rooftop deck with Adirondack chairs and a wide open view of Brooklyn. The space also houses a big new ice cream production facility, where owner Brian Smith and the Ample Hills team will turn out a rotating selection of 24 flavors like Mexican hot chocolate, peppermint pattie, and the ever-popular salted crack caramel from scratch. Take a look around:

Ample Hills Gowanus
305 Nevins Street, Gowanus
347-725-4061
amplehills.com/
Opens Today.
· All Coverage of Ample Hills Creamery [~ENY~]

Japan already has loads of Pikachu- and Pokémon-themed products, whether that's soft drinks, candy, or even curry. But typically, those simply have a Pocket Monster slapped on the labelling. The official Pikachu Cafe is a tad different.

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Microsoft is reportedly planning its biggest job cuts for five years. Bloomberg reports that the reductions will likely affect marketing, engineering, and the former Nokia employees that make up Microsoft’s new mobile group. The cuts could be the biggest yet, after Microsoft reduced its headcount by 5,800 in 2009, and reductions are also expected to affect divisions that overlap with the Nokia phone business. Some job cuts will also reportedly hit groups like the global Xbox marketing team.

Microsoft currently has 127,104 employees as of June 5th, and previous reports from Gigaom suggest that the software maker might be planning to cut as much as 10 percent of its workforce. It’s not immediately clear when the rumored job cuts will take...

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The Bloomberg terminal's fast-paced delivery of news and financial data makes it an invaluable tool to many in the finance fields. But there's a curious thing about the terminals' general user: because of their business, they often enough have a lot of disposable income to spare. As BuzzFeed noticed, the Bloomberg terminal actually has a built in classifieds section — or what it's calling a Craigslist just for the rich — to help them take advantage of that. (Somehow, the service is even called POSH.) Looking through the listings, BuzzFeed found boats, planes, lightly used sports cars, Rolex watches, diamond rings, and even a castle going for €20 million ($27.2 million). Head over to BuzzFeed to see more of the strange and opulent...

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Next to Home Depot's enormous bags of potting soil, multi-packs of light bulbs, and other home improvement goods is something new this week: 3D printers. The chain began stocking printers made by MakerBot in its stores in three states: California, Illinois, and New York as part of what Home Depot described to Bloomberg as a "pilot." The company hopes people will buy them to print one-off parts for projects, but still come back for things that can't be printed out, as well as to restock on spools of filament.

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