Albener Pessoa

Something about this picture suggests a certain lack of confidence in that stove.

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Circle of life!

Me after eating a lot on Christmas on New Year’s Eve😱

Pac-man Street Art

More aliens.

Cadê a mamãe? Cadê a mamãe? Não filho, essa é a galinha pintadinha…

 

O post Mentirinhas #561 apareceu primeiro em Mentirinhas.

Archive

Há algum tempo, uma reportagem – não um trabalho científico – publicada na revista Science causou furor ao mostrar que mais da metade dos mais de 300 periódicos de ciência que adotam o modelo de negócio de cobrar dos pesquisadores para publicar seus artigos aceitaram veicular um estudo que apresentava sinais claros de ser fraudulento. A implicação sugerida foi a de que, ao cobrar para publicar, esses periódicos cedem à tentação de privilegiar a quantidade e a fazer vista grossa à qualidade. (Leia mais em minha coluna no site da Revista Galileu)

Imagine a nation controlled by a vast, multibillion-dollar poetry bureaucracy. That's a country I'd like to be a part of.

You can order a poster at my shop.

The Snow Wolf almost looks like a good idea at first glance. Until you realize the shovel is made of plastic, which means it’ll break when you hit ice or a bump in the pavement (several reviewers have noted this.) The wheel is not pre-assembled, which means you have to put the wheel together by hand, including the process of pushing a long strip of rubber into an uneven plastic rim. There are 97 pieces in all you have to assemble, in fact. It costs $144.

For the love of all that is holy, don’t sit in first class!!!

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Como todo ano sai a pesquisa de qual série foi mais pirateada nas interwebs, e quase como sempre, a campeã é da HBO. Em 2013 foi Game of Thrones, com 5,9 milhões de downloads de seu último episódio. Só que também, como sempre, não é tão simples assim.

Veja a tabela publicada pela Variety,com dados do Torrent Freak:

Há uma semelhança entre a 1ª e a 10ª séries, ambas são de canais a cabo com audiência restrita. Tanto a HBO quando a CW estão longe de ser “mídia de massa”, mas são canais com profundo apelo ao público geek. Por outro lado séries mais populares, como Breaking Bad e Walking Dead tem uma audiência televisiva muito significativa.

Big Bang Theory virou alvo de ódio entre geeks antenados hipsters que entendem muito mais do que você sobre televisão, então mesmo estando em 4º lugar, sua representatividade junto a espectadores convencionais é muito maior.

Note que há uma ausência significativa. House of Cards. A série da Netflix teve uma repercussão imensa, ganhou prêmios pra tudo que é lado e virou uma paródia sensacional no Jantar dos Correspondentes de Imprensa da Casa Branca, com participação de figurões de ambos os partidos:

COOOOOOMO algo assim não surge entre os seriados mais baixados?

Simples: do mesmo jeito que o Chrome não aparece entre os browsers mais pirateados.

A Netflix quebrou o paradigma na porrada, montou seu modelo de negócios, começou a produzir conteúdo próprio e obrou e andou pras métricas da velha mídia. Ela está se lixando pro número de telespectadores de House of Cards comparado ao número de espectadores de séries de emissoras convencionais.

Interessa o quanto os usuários acessem House of Cards, a fidelização que isso gere, e comparado aos programas requentados de sempre (eu sempre digo, sem NENHUM pingo de crítica, que a Netflix não é o cinema do shopping, é a locadora do bairro) o buzz que a série gera.

Portanto House of Cards NÃO aparecer entre os programas mais pirateados indica que o modelo da Netflix funciona e que quem quer assistir House of Cards, assiste… pela Netflix.

O resto, tipo Homeland, que tem mais gente assistindo online do que pelo canal convencional, ainda não percebeu que regular a distribuição não é bom para ninguém, e que quando o espectador quer realmente um conteúdo, ele vai atrás. Se for conveniente, cômodo e com carinho, como a Netflix, ele vai assinar. Se não for, vai na locadora do Paulo Coelho, mas ficar sem assistir, ele não vai, por mais que o Hulu adore enfiar aquele filtro babaca dizendo “esse streaming não é acessível fora dos EUA”.

Fonte: PL.

The post As 10 séries mais pirateadas de 2013 appeared first on Meio Bit.

Chicken. It’s what’s for dinner.

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Feliz 2014! Que o ano seja monstruoso.

 

O post Mentirinhas #556 apareceu primeiro em Mentirinhas.

Here’s more time travel.

Here are more xenomorphs.

Here are more ocean adventures.

More PROD3000.

 

Esse simpático e gosmento bichinho, chamado de caravela-portuguesa, é muito confundido com uma água-viva, mas na verdade pertence a família dos sifonóforos.

A característica mais famosa dos sifonóforo é que esse indivíduo não é um único ser, e sim, uma colônia de outros seres, é difícil de entender isso mas são pequenos organismos que se juntam para fazer um maior, estão ligados e são dependentes um dos outros.

 

 

 Na caravela-portuguesa temos quatro membros da colônia:

• Um pneumatóforo transformado numa vesícula cheia de ar;
• Os domonoctozoóides que formam os tentáculos;
• Os gastrozoóides que formam os “estômagos” da colónia; e
• Os gonozoóides que produzem os gâmetas para a reprodução.

Resolvi procurar mais desse peculiar animal e vi que sua família é bem curiosa e fascinante:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve spent a lot of time watching my three- and five-year-old daughters explore, play and read on an iPad. While touch-screen devices are wonderful in many ways, they do a really lousy job in one particular area: deeply engaging kids in narrative. Interactivity is stopping children from falling in love with stories. This, I fear, will have long-term consequences, depriving children of one of the most important benefits of reading for pleasure, the essential inner work of imagination and empathy.

The trouble with tablets

More children now read on electronic devices than read physical books according to a recent survey of nearly 35,000 8- to 16-year-olds conducted by the UK’s National Literacy Trust. But screens don’t seem to be improving their experience of reading. Children who read only on-screen are three times less likely to enjoy reading (12% vs. 51%) and a third less likely to have a favorite book (59% vs. 77%). Other key findings:

• 15.5% of kids who read daily, but only on-screen, are above average readers.
• 26% of those who read daily in print, or both in print and on-screen, read at an above average level.

So why don’t tablets enhance the experience of reading? Most children will not fall in love with reading as quickly as they will get hooked on an interactive game. A touch-screen device makes it all too easy for a child to dismiss reading as boring or “flat” in comparison with the instant gratification of games and apps. There are simply too many distractions just a click away. Children are most likely to engage with stories in the right environment and context, and that means away from a screen.

How interactivity is killing narrative

Interactive stories are designed for young children who may still need guided reading, but that interactivity often creates more of a game experience than a reading experience. Instead of being the focus, the story becomes merely a background.

Best-selling children’s author Julia Donaldson, whose picture books dominate top 10 lists, explains why she vetoed an e-book version of her most famous title, The Gruffalo, in a 2011 article in the Guardian. “The publishers showed me an e-book of Alice in Wonderland,” Donaldson said. “They said, ‘Look, you can press buttons and do this and that,’ and they showed me the page where Alice’s neck gets longer,” said Donaldson. “There’s a button the child can press to make the neck stretch, and I thought, well, if the child’s doing that, they are not going to be listening or reading.”

The typical argument for interactive stories goes like this: Soon enough, children will only read on screens, and where readers are going, publishers must follow. Kate Wilson, the founder of children’s publisher Nosy Crow argues that publishers must create reading experiences for touch-screen devices so that children will continue to read. “We shouldn’t go a little way down the digital path or do it half-heartedly and with reluctance,” she writes. “We should, I think, go to where our readers are going, and make sure that they read along the way.”

Nosy Crow’s apps are favorites of my daughters, but they still fall short when it comes to engaging kids’ imaginations and immersing them in a narrative. Most apps for kids are crammed with interactive inanities, interactivity with no objective apart from getting kids to tap on the screen. This is especially aggravating in storybook apps. The stream of sound and movement signifying nothing does not allow the cognitive and emotional space required to deeply engage with a story in the way that an old-fashioned book does. When we’re engaged in a story, we’re actually feeling the story, imagining how the characters feel and how we would feel in the same situation. That experience is hindered when children are busy trying to figure out what happens next when you tap on the screen.

On books and bonding

Bedtime reading is, sadly, declining and there is some early evidence to suggest that screens are partly to blame. The tablet has become the pacifier of choice in the modern family and both parents and children see using a tablet as a solitary experience rather than a shared activity. A recent poll showed that only 13% of parents read to their kids every night. Interactive stories will never be a substitute for reading a book with a young child. Physical books offer a parent and a child a unique opportunity to bond. During a bedtime story, the only stimuli are the adult’s voice and intonation and the book’s pictures. The best stories require interpretation and stimulate discussion between parent and child.

The reading diet

Reading for pleasure is not instinctual. Unlike the instantly alluring tablet, engaging with stories is an acquired skill that takes time and effort. Parents should encourage a balanced “diet” of online and offline reading—both for older kids reading by themselves and for toddlers who need guided reading—to provide them with the necessary mental space to engage with a story in a deeper way.

The window of opportunity for children to fall in love with reading is shorter than ever. As the author Neil Gaiman recently said: “Fiction can show you a different world. It can take you somewhere you’ve never been. Once you’ve visited other worlds, like those who ate fairy fruit, you can never be entirely content with the world that you grew up in. Discontent is a good thing: discontented people can modify and improve their worlds, leave them better, leave them different.” We don’t want to lose that.

We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com. 

Kolibree has introduced the world's first connected electric toothbrush at CES this year, designed to track brushing habits and encourage better dental care. Kolibree analyzes brushing habits and then displays them on a mobile dashboard, which can be accessed via an iOS app.

The Kolibree uses Bluetooth to connect to an iPhone, automatically synchronizing data each time the toothbrush is used. A built-in sensor measures the amount of time that a user spends brushing and whether hard to reach areas were properly cleaned.

The toothbrush itself features switchable heads, allowing multiple users to use one toothbrush base, but the company suggests that sharing could complicate the data gathering process and recommends an individual brush for each person. The Kolibree toothbrush has vibration speeds and brushing patterns ranging from 4000 to 12500 RPM, and the battery lasts for approximately one week before needing to be recharged.


Kolibree's app works with up to five different brushes in order to make family management of dental hygiene a simpler task. Kids and adults who need motivation to brush can earn badges and track their brushing progress via a graph.

While Kolibree does not proclaim to solve periodontal disease or suggest that it can keep cavities or gingivitis at bay, the better you take care of your teeth, the more likely it is that you can and will avoid serious problems. Before Kolibree, the issue is that there has been no easy and quick way to monitor whether you're doing an A+ job or a C- one when you brush, so how can you improve on a habit you don't have any data about? Kolibree solves that problem.

Kolibree plans to launch a Kickstarter in the summer to accept pre-orders for the device, which will range in price from $99 to $200. The product is expected to ship during the third quarter of 2014.

Pebble today announced its next-generation Pebble Smart Watch, the Pebble Steel, which features a stainless steel body with a leather or steel band and a face covered with the ultra durable and scratch resistant Gorilla Glass used in Apple's own products.

Along with a new metal or leather band, a deviation from the plastic band of the first-generation Pebble, the Pebble Steel features smaller side and top bezels for a slimmer, lighter profile. The Pebble Steel weighs 45 grams, two grams less than the original Pebble.


According to Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky, who spoke to CNET, the Pebble Steel is designed to be a more formal version of the original Pebble.

CEO Eric Migicovsky describes Steel as a more formal version of Pebble: "I'm going out for dinner, I'm wearing a suit, I've got a position that doesn't allow me to wear a plastic watch on my wrist. How do I benefit from a smartwatch? How do I get notifications and run all the apps that Pebble offers without having to put something that I don’t prefer on my wrist. We took that as an industrial design problem. It wasn't really a software problem…We just had to build an aesthetically different Pebble."

The band is available in both brushed stainless steel and a matte black steel, along with black leather. Pebble Steel lasts for up to a week on a single charge and includes an LED indicator that displays battery life. Like the original Pebble, it is waterproof.


Along with the Steel, Pebble has announced that its app store will be available to users later in January. The company is also partnering with new companies to introduce a playback control app for Pandora, ESPN sports stats and box scores, and a car stats monitoring app from Mercedes.

Pebble Steel will begin shipping on January 28 for $249, a $100 premium over the existing Pebble watch. Pre-orders can be placed today on the Pebble website.

Orbotix, the company behind the smartphone-controlled robotic ball Sphero, today announced its next-generation toy, the Sphero 2B. Unlike the original Sphero, which was spherical in shape, the Sphero 2B features a rugged, tubular two-wheel design.

According to Orbotix, the Sphero 2B is able to move up to 14 feet a second, making it twice as fast as the Sphero 2.0, which debuted in August 2013. At 14 feet a second, the Sphero 2B can travel a mile in just over six minutes. Like the first Sphero, the Sphero 2B will connect to an iOS device via Bluetooth LE, and is controlled with an iOS app.


The Sphero 2B will offer customizable tires and accessories for a personalized driving experience, and along with an array of multiplayer games, the 2B is fully programmable.

Thanks to its design, it is also able to make quick turns, pull off tricks, and tumble over uneven terrain. Much like the Sphero, developers will be able to create a variety of apps and games that will interact with the Sphero 2B.

Sphero 2B will be available in the fall of 2014 for $100.

Ion Audio has introduced a Bluetooth-enabled cassette tape adapter that allows older stereos to stream music wirelessly from mobile devices.

The device is rechargeable via USB and lasts up to six hours on a charge, turning on and off automatically when inserted and ejected from the cassette deck and somewhat supports hands-free calling by routing incoming call audio through the car's speakers -- though a speakerphone will still be needed to talk.

With Cassette Adapter Bluetooth from ION, your car’s cassette player instantly becomes a wireless Bluetooth receiver. Just like that, you can stream music from any Bluetooth music player or phone. No complicated installation. No cables. No tangled or snagged tape. Just pop it in and it automatically turns on. Cassette Adapter Bluetooth contains a long-lasting rechargeable battery for even the longest road trips. Plus, you now have a hands-free solution for phone calls.

Now, you can use your car's speakers to hear phone calls and music without having to buy a new stereo head-unit. Both of your hands stay safe on the wheel while your audio source stays in your pocket. Cassette Adapter Bluetooth is the last cassette you’ll ever need and the first —and only—step to bring your favorite music, podcasts, and audiobooks into your car.

Pricing and availability information have not yet been released. The last U.S.-sold automobile to offer a factory-installed cassette deck was the 2010 Lexus SC430.

Thanks Eli!

theodp writes "While vacationing aboard a cruise ship in the Galapagos Islands, where the State Department warns the quality of medical facilities and services are 'generally well below U.S. standards', Gawker reports that Jeff Bezos was rescued by the Ecuadorian Navy so he could receive treatment for a kidney stone attack on New Year's Day. The Ecuadorian Navy confirmed Bezos' rescue, which involved taking Bezos by Navy helicopter from Academy Bay in Santa Cruz Island to his private jet stationed on Baltra Island."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.