PrettocraigInteresting.
In several European countries, filing tax returns is a near-automatic process: instead of painstakingly calculating figures yourself, the government estimates what you owe based on wage and bank account data that it already collects, and you make any necessary adjustments. Why isn't there a similar "returns-free filing" system in the US? According to a report in ProPublica, the primary culprit could be Intuit, the maker of popular returns software TurboTax.
Back in December, the MTA unveiled a new smartphone app that provided up-to-the-minute tracking for seven New York City transit lines. The backend data would also be made available to developers, MTA officials said at the time, and three months later you can now find live schedule info in Google Maps. As before, only the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 42nd Street Shuttle lines are supported — upgrading NYC's entire subway system for tracking will be a multi-year effort that demands "hundreds of millions" of dollars. But for anyone that rides these trains daily, it's an incredibly convenient addition.
In partnership with the Utah Transit Authority, Google has also added schedule data for buses and trams throughout the greater Salt Lake City...
This morning I was on the ne BC1 talk show AM/BC with Global’s Jill Krop along with another guest, Joel Schat. Joel’s been making waves lately with his Heart of Vancity timelapse video of Vancouver:
Heart of Vancity from Joel Schat on Vimeo.
In the green room Joel told me that it took him about 4 months to put this video together. Given the ever-climbing amount of views that this video is getting on Vimeo, I’d say it was definitely time well-spent.
Related Posts: Vancouver Timelapse Videos, Old Vancouver Video Collection, Vancouver Video Collection, Vancouver Timelapse Videos Part Two, GigaPixel Timelapse of Vancouver, Another Vancouver Video Collection, Port Mann Bridge Timelapse Video, Video Love Notes to Vancouver.
© 2004-2012 Rebecca Bollwitt - Miss604.com. If you are not reading this via official Miss604 channels, this content is being reproduced without permission.The post Heart of Vancity Vancouver Timelapse Video appeared first on Vancouver Blog Miss604.
We've shown you some foolproof ways to open a stuck jar lid before, but if you have a little duct tape on hand, this method is a bit faster. More » 
For almost 50 years, Diet Wiegman has created beauty from junk. Wiegman's light sculptures utilize trash, scrap metal, and other objects to cast stunning shadows. His work includes Greedy consumption, an amazing recreation of the globe using scraps of food and a silver plate; Spider, a pyramid that casts the shadow of an Arachnid on a nearby wall; and David Deformed, a 1983 re-imagining of Michaelangelo's David.
For his 2008 Michael Jackson portait, Shadow Dancing, Wiegman placed his twisted sculpture on a rotating pedestal. As the sculpture turns, the shadow sways and morphs before freezing in Jackson's iconic pose. There are images of 38 of Wiegman's light scultupres up on his personal site, along with the rest of his work.
Prettocraigand we can't download music?
Pirated software was used to make components for military radar systems, Blackhawk helicopters, Patriot missiles, and the President's transport helicopter Marine One. Defense contractor Wronald Best has been sentenced to 366 days in prison for purchasing 70 pirated industrial design applications from Chinese and Russian sources. The Department of Defense and Secret Service have been made aware of the breach of security. "We have no reason to believe his use of the cracked software affected the products in any negative way," an Assistant US Attorney told The Associated Press.
While Best was chief scientist for a defense contractor in Kentucky, he purchased $2.3 million worth of software for just over $600,000. During 2008 and 2009,...
PrettocraigThis is just a rendering, but cool idea.
Ferrucio Laviani's Good Vibrations cabinet blends traditional furniture design with a thoroughly modern "glitch" aesthetic to stunning effect. Lavini's piece looks, for the most part, like any meticulously-crafted cabinet, complete with ornate carvings that wouldn't look out of place at in a 16th-century home. What makes it special, however, is a trio of "glitches" inspired by the errors that occur when a digital image doesn't render correctly. To achieve the glitches, Laviani carved the cabinet from oak using a CNC machine.
Unfortunately, as stunning as it appears, it's not an actual product. The image below is only a render. Good Vibrations will be on display next month at a furniture show in Milan; hopefully the real-life cabinet is...
PrettocraigI feel like @andrewrose would like this.
The Vancouver Lego Games are coming up on Sunday, April 28, 2013 and will include an afternoon of games, prizes, and fun for the whole family.
Each person in attendance can participate and will be provided bricks. Those wanting to throw their hat in the ring will have 15 minutes to build a unique creation to go along with a theme provided by the organizers. Judges will then choose the winner from each age category and prizes will be awarded.
You can also bring your own creation (no exact sets) to showcase your own Lego building skills. The Vancouver Lego Games simply ask that the creation fit in a space that is 12″ x 12″ so that pieces can be displayed properly.
Stop by the Burnaby Firefighters’ Club in Metrotown (6515 Bonsor Avenue, Burnaby) from 2:00pm to 4:00pm to join in on the fun. Registration starts at 1:30pm for the Bring Your Own segment. Tickets are $10* for participants and $3* for spectators with proceeds supporting Canuck Place Children’s Hospice.
Follow the Vancouver Lego Games on Twitter for event updates and information.
*Plus ticket processing fees.
© 2004-2012 Rebecca Bollwitt - Miss604.com. If you are not reading this via official Miss604 channels, this content is being reproduced without permission.The post Vancouver Lego Games 2013 appeared first on Vancouver Blog Miss604.
Missile Command, one of the most popular arcade games from the 1980s, has a new high score. After playing for more than 56 hours, one Victor Sandberg finished his game with 81,796,035 points, surpassing the 80.3 million Victor Ali racked up way back in 1982. Ars Technica has more details on Sandberg's feat, including how he managed to keep playing for more than two days — he racked up enough extra lives that he could afford to step away for a few minutes at a time. While Sandberg's score still needs to be verified by Twin Galaxies, the "official" video game records website, it's still a feat worth noting — it's not every day a 31-year-old record is set to fall.
As CBS has been at the forefront of opposition to new TV tech like Aereo or Dish's commercial-skipping Hopper, the network has also been considering some interesting mobile and web options of its own. A CBS mobile app, launched today for iPhone and iPad, lets users stream full episodes of some shows, including CSI, How I Met Your Mother, and The Late Show with David Letterman. New episodes of daytime and late-night shows will be added within 24 hours, and prime-time shows will arrive on the eighth day after broadcast. CBS is also touting extra "second screen" features for some shows. Warner Brothers launched a similar app with one-day delays last year, but only for Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
While the app is currently...
On Wednesday night, the anonymous videographer behind the infamous "47 percent video" shot at a private Mitt Romney fundraiser in May 2012 revealed himself on MSNBC's The Ed Show. Scott Prouty was a bartender working high-end banquets in Boca Raton, Florida, including Romney's $50,000 per plate dinner. He is a registered independent who brought his Canon camera with him in case Mitt Romney wanted to meet and take photos with the staff, as Bill Clinton had after a similar event. No one had told the staff not to bring cameras or take photos. A Secret Service agent was some distance behind him. He set the camera down on the bar and pressed "record."
For many of us, Google Reader fading into oblivion means we'll need to hunt down another source for our daily news fix. For others, though, the loss is far more significant. As Quartz is today pointing out, Reader has become a critical resource for those living under oppressive regimes in recent years — particularly in Iran. Despite the stranglehold Iran has put on web access with its heavy-handed censorship tactics, Reader has continually provided its residents with uncensored news and views from the outside world. That's because the headlines, snippets, and other items in a Google Reader feed are retrieved from Google's own servers located far away from the regime's jurisdiction.
The search company's colossal influence has thus far...
PrettocraigChina is crazy. Apparently coke was trying to map an area to improve fuel efficiency and that's illegal.
The Coca-Cola Company is in hot water with Chinese authorities over allegedly using handheld GPS devices to map parts of southwestern Yunnan province, reports The Wall Street Journal. The case is one of 21 related to illegal surveying in the region. Coke claims no wrongdoing, saying it used standard "e-map and location-based customer logistics systems" to increase its fuel efficiency and provide better customer service, adding that the systems are used "across many industries in China and world-wide." The company also insists that it is in full compliance with regulations, and noted that it is cooperating with the Yunnan government to resolve the matter. The news was first reported on a Yunnan government web site.
PrettocraigI love unions - "The Apple Stores in question — including the outlet at l'Opéra in Paris — all officially close their doors at 9PM, but employees are often required to stay as late as 11PM in order to shut down and clean the facilities"
A Paris court this week banned seven French Apple Stores from forcing employees to work night shifts, in response to a complaint filed by a group of national labor unions. As the AFP reports, the court also ordered Apple to pay €10,000 in damages to the unions who filed the suit, stating that the company would face an additional fine of €50,000 for every subsequent infraction.
According to French labor laws, companies can only require employees to work between the hours of 9PM and 6AM if they prove that doing so is necessary to maintain economic activity or to provide social services. The Apple Stores in question — including the outlet at l'Opéra in Paris — all officially close their doors at 9PM, but employees are often...
Plenty of movies show spies using a set of false fingerprints to open a door — but for several doctors at a hospital in Brazil, that scene is decidedly removed from the realm of fiction. Five doctors have been suspended after being accused of using fake silicon fingers with their coworkers' fingerprints to check-in to work for the absent colleagues, reports the AFP. The scam made it appear that a number of employees were working, when only one doctor was present.
Police are told that seven doctors were in on the scam, but the town's mayor believes that there may be as many as three hundred fake hospital employees on payroll. One report alleged that the head of the emergency room's daughter had been paid for three years without ever...
Under communism, Albania was in a near perpetual state of paranoia, formally at war with neighboring Greece, and firmly under the control of dictator Enver Hoxha. Reflecting its leader's military mindset, the country constructed some 700,000 concrete bunkers — one for every four citizens — most of which still pepper the landscape today. Dutch photographer David Galjaard shows how the buildings are a constant reminder of the past in Concresco, an award-winning photo book. In an interview with Wired, Galjaard gives the story behind some of the book's most stunning images, and explains how much more there is to Albania than the little concrete domes.
Digging through the back of your fridge to find a certain ingredient is a pain. Instead, use a Lazy Susan to bring that food to you! More » 
Prettocraig@Dani - small world. They look awesome!
Brooklyn Cruiser partnered up with MoMA to create a special edition bicycle sold exclusively through MoMA. The eye-popping, cherry red unisex bike with its cream-colored tires was co-designed by Brooklyn Cruiser president Ryan Zagata and Rivendell Bicycle Works founder Grant Peterson.
Outfitted in MoMA’s signature red with a step-through style frame, leather details, and a wooden crate to hold your purchases. Best of all, it has a chain guard – meaning no more rubber bands around your ankles to contain your pant leg.
The black and blue options are not limited edition, but just as snazzy.
MoMA edition photos courtesy of MoMA Design Store.
Share This: Twitter | Facebook | Discover more great design by following Design Milk on Twitter and Facebook. © 2013 Design Milk | Posted by Caroline in Style + Fashion | Permalink | No comments
Prettocraig"The cellphone is a nervous habit. I whip this out and look as if I have something important to do. [Google Glass] takes that away."
Google's Sergey Brin made a surprise appearance at the TED conference for ten minutes this morning, showing off Google Glass before a live audience of attendees and many others watching via livestream. He confirmed that Glass would ship later this year, but also offered insight into why Google is so committed to the project.
If you’re in the mood for a couple of minutes’ worth of unsettling gaming, look no further than Auti-Sim, a game designed to illustrate auditory hypersensitivity, a common condition in autism spectrum disorders. You play a child in a sunny playground full of other noisy kids, free to move around and explore the environment. But as you approach, the playful screams turn to piercing shrieks, and the sounds of ABCs being recited become unbearable. The screen fills with static to further convey your discomfort, only subsiding when you move to a quieter corner of the playground to cool down.
Designed to 'irritate the hell out of your senses'
As reported by Ars Technica, the game was created by a three-person team as part of...
Prettocraig@dani
PrettocraigWow
Skin care company Dove has targeted airbrushers and photo manipulators with a Photoshop action in an attempt to take its "real beauty" campaign viral. The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty was launched just under a decade ago with the aim to "change the status quo and offer in its place a broader, healthier, more democratic view of beauty." After multiple ad campaigns, Dove is this time trying to send a message to the artists that manipulate photos by releasing a Photoshop action called "Beautify" that reverts images to their original state and overlays a banner proclaiming "don't manipulate our perceptions of real beauty."
Ah, the mix tape. I remember getting so excited to get a mix tape from a boyfriend or a best friend growing up. It was just about one of the best gifts one could get, especially when it introduced you to new music or every song conveyed emotion. To this day, there are songs that I associate with mix tapes I’ve received over the years. I wish I had hung on to all of them…
Well, maybe we can bring some of that nostalgia back with Milktape, a company that makes modern day mixtapes using cassette tape-shaped USBs complete with cover and plastic case, so you can make it extra personal.
Each tape holds about 15 songs and can be used with PC or Mac. You just drag and drop from your iTunes. Also included is the old school plastic case with two stickers. They cost about the same as an album, too – $15, and they’ll ship anywhere.
I know what I’ll be getting my friends this holiday season…
Share This: Twitter | Facebook | Discover more great design by following Design Milk on Twitter and Facebook. © 2013 Design Milk | Posted by Jaime Derringer in Technology | Permalink | 2 comments
Clever video mashup artists putting beloved TV characters in oddball situations is nothing new — take this re-imagining of Seinfeld as a dramatic movie trailer — but these new takes on Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead take the concept to the extreme. Breaking Bad, know for being one of the darkest and grittiest shows on TV over the last few years, gets re-cut into the opening credits of a '90s-era sitcom, complete with big smiles, shared heartfelt moments, and an incredibly cheesy (but yet appropriate) soundtrack from Foreigner. It's all the best parts of the opening credits from classics like Friends, Full House, Home Improvement, or Growing Pains, but instead of Ross and Rachel you have the wacky pairing of Walt and Aaron.
...
Stroll around any IKEA showroom and you'll find a plethora of modular furniture options that can be combined into an even greater variety of room layouts. So you could, in fact, buy an entire prefabricated room straight from IKEA, which is more or less what Marriott Hotels is doing with its newly announced Moxy Hotels chain. Set to launch across Europe in 2014, Moxy is a joint venture between Inter IKEA (a fellow member of the parent IKEA Group) and Marriott, which is pitched as an economy hotel for "the rapidly emerging millennial traveler." Moxy aims to bring in a more youthful and frugal clientele by combining IKEA's budget-savvy assembly and manufacturing methods with a few modern touches.
Prettocraig@dani.
I came across this mesmerizing sight in Southeast False Creek a couple of nights ago. The silent alarm of a yet-to-be-occupied residential building on 2nd Avenue at Cook went off for what seemed like hours watching it. In this 45 second clip I got of it you can see the security guard (bottom right) casually donning a high-vis vest getting ready to investigate what ended up being a false alarm.
That’s all.
Hard work may pay off, but there's a big difference between tackling a difficult task and putting in a lot of hours. Cal Newport, assistant professor at Georgetown University, decided to look at the work habits of talented people and found that busier wasn't better. In fact, it was much worse than limited, focused work. More » 
Ferrari's hybrid could never have been anything less: the Italian car manufacturer today unveiled the LaFerrari supercar — a 963 horsepower, limited-edition model that the company will use as a testbed for future developments in its product line. LaFerrari is the successor to Enzo, the manufacturer's previous flagship effort, which ended production in 2004. It was one of two hybrid supercars announced at the Geneva International Motor Show this week, alongside the 903 horsepower McLaren P1.
About one-sixth of the car's horsepower comes from an electric motor, and it has greater total horsepower than any other vehicle in Ferrari's lineup. If you're wondering what that means when taking the LaFerrari out for a spin: it'll do 0-to-60mph...
PrettocraigThis is amazing!
The Package Tour is a boy-band extravaganza that will be making its way to Vancouver on Wednesday, July 10th, 2013 with New Kids on the Block, 98 Degrees, and Boys II Men. These “boys” have all grown up with mature looks and lyrics but they’re bound to instill a sense of nostalgia as they play the chart-topping favourites that many of us grew up with.
Multi-platinum selling artists 98 Degrees and Grammy Award winning Boyz II Men (the best-selling R&B group of all time) will be opening for the multi-platinum selling New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) who will be releasing their new album on April 2, 2013. Their first single Remix (I Like The) came out in January.
Tickets for this blockbuster concert, at Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena, go on sale Monday, February 18, 2013 at 10:00am. Charge by phone 1-855-985-5000 or get your tickets online through Ticketmaster for $25, $45, $65, $85 (including HST, plus fees).
If you would like to beat the box office and scoop up some of these hot tickets right away, I have a pair to give away. Here’s how you can enter to win:
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013.
© 2004-2012 Rebecca Bollwitt - Miss604.com. If you are not reading this via official Miss604 channels, this content is being reproduced without permission.PrettocraigSo by the end your drinking water from your poo while sitting in a capsule of your poo. This astronaut thing does not sound as cool as it did as a kid. 'The plan calls for the astronauts to defecate into bags which would be used to line the walls of the ship (after extracting as much water as possible from the waste for reuse). At launch, the ship would be lined with bags containing food and water, and as the 501-day mission progressed they would be swapped out for bags containing solid waste.
The Inspiration Mars Foundation's audacious plan for a private manned mission to Mars has more than a few challenges to overcome before its 2018 launch date, and it turns out the solution to one problem — dangerous cosmic rays — comes in the form of feces. The current plan calls for the two astronauts aboard the 1166-cubic-foot spacecraft to defecate into bags which would be used to line the walls of the ship (after extracting as much water as possible from the waste for reuse). At launch, the ship would be lined with bags containing food and water, and as the 501-day mission progressed they would be swapped out for bags containing solid waste as resources are used up. Inspiration Mars' Taber MacCallum told New Scientist about the...