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iOS, Android: Stargazing is fun even when you have no idea what you’re looking at. Star Chart is a free app that makes the experience more informative, though. It tells you exactly what you’re seeing based on your location.

It’s a pretty incredible tool—all you have to do is point your phone to the sky and explore. Star Chart tells you what stars, constellations, planets, and other celestial objects are right in front of you. Click on any item and the app will also give you a full, detailed description of it. Here’s how they put it:

Using state of the art GPS technology, an accurate 3D simulation of the visible universe, and a great deal of technical wizardry, Star Chart calculates – in real time - the current location of every star, planet and moon visible from Earth and shows you precisely where they are; even in broad daylight!...

Want to know what that bright star is called? Point your device* at it – you might just find out it’s a planet!

Want to know what the night sky looks like to people on the other side of the earth? Well just point your device down!

Want to know where your star sign is in the sky? Star Chart will tell you all this and more.

No need to register to use the app, but you obviously have to allow it to access your location in order to work. It’s free and you can pay for access to additional features, like comet and satellite tracking. All in all, it’s a really interesting app to augment your stargazing experience. Check it out for yourself at the links below.

Star Chart | Apple Store

Star Chart | Google Play

 Wireless speaker system maker Sonos announced two software partnerships today with Spotify and Amazon. The Spotify integration allows users to control their Sonos speakers via the Spotify app, essentially turning each Sonos speaker – or all of them – into a Spotify Connect system. The Sonos/Amazon partnership is a bit more interesting. Your Sonos speakers will be able to work… Read More

It’s not always easy to judge an article by its headline. Sometimes articles, especially length articles, can touch on additional points you wouldn’t expect, making them well worth the read. If you want to get the gist of a lengthy online article, ExplainToMe sums it up for you.

The site is easy to use: just enter the URL of the article you want to summarize, tell the tool how many sentences to deliver, and it uses an automatic text summarizer to break down the article’s most important points. The site explains:

ExplainToMe is an automatic text summarizer that utilizes TextRank, a graph based ranking model for text processing and article summarization.

TextRank relies on the semantic relationships between words and phrases to decide relative importance of a sentence within a document.

The methodology is in likeness to the way search engines generate relevant web pages from a user’s search query.

While we hate the idea of encouraging readers to skim, this is an interesting tool that can be used for good, too. If you want to make sure an article is worth your time and not just full of points you already know, for example, you can plug it into the tool and see if it’s worth further reading. It can show you what you should be prepared to learn from an article, too.

Check it out for yourself at the link below.

Explain To Me

http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/grimm-cancelled-season-6-nbc-1201846891/

The show was created by Mutant Enemy alum David Greenwalt (Buffy, Angel) and Jim Kouf (Angel).

Another day, another A/B test has come our way at Android Police. This time, Google is testing out a new Inbox search UI, replacing the dropdown search menu that's been ever-present since Inbox launched.

The UI shows three categories: contacts, businesses, and refinements. Contacts and businesses show people or companies that you regularly contact, while refinements highlights other options you may be likely to search for, such as 'sent emails from last week,' or 'attachments.' These are side-scrolling, with what looks like six options in each row, although it could be more.

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Google is testing a new Inbox search UI, may be first indication of "virtual assistant" was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

 Parrot CEO Henri Seydoux held a press conference in Paris to unveil two new minidrones. In addition to the usual quadcopter update, Parrot also unveiled a new kind of drone that wants to mix the best of both worlds — quadcopters and fixed-wing drones. The Parrot Swing takes off vertically and translates from one place to another. But if you push the joystick forward, the drone will… Read More

Baidu plans to swap the modified BMW 3-series that its been using since the start of its self-driving tests for a modified Chery EQ, a small four-door hatchback manufactured in China.

The fully-electric car has already entered the fleet, according to a Baidu spokesperson speaking to Business Insider. Not much else is known about the agreement and modifications, if any, that Baidu has made.

See Also: Hyundai joins start line at Willow Run self-driving test track

The Chery EQ has a range of 120 miles and costs 59,800 RMB ($9,000), cheap enough for Baidu to order thousands for its fleet. In photos, the Chery EQ has a new Baidu coat of paint and a sensor tower on the roof.

Baidu wants to have a shuttle service online in China by 2018. The Chery EQ could be the perfect vehicle for this type of driverless shuttle, since its small, silent, and can last for a few journeys before needing a refill.

The Chinese search giant, often called the “Google of China,” has been working on self-driving for a few years now. The project ramped up in the past 12 months, with Baidu opening R&D centers in the United States and announcing plans to have driverless cars on the road in 2018.

That timeframe collides with nuTonomy, a shuttle service in Singapore that wants to launch in 2018. Uber has also signalled plans to start adding driverless cars into its Pittsburgh fleet.

Baidu a key China market player

Shuttle and ride-hailing services could be the future of the automotive industry, as I’ve wrote previously, and Baidu is going to be a key player in the Chinese market. Didi Chuxing will most likely be Baidu’s main competitor.

Didi is a formidable opponent, it is backed by Baidu’s two main internet competitors, Alibaba and Tencent, and recently acquired Uber China. It has the ride-hailing market locked down in China, with 95 percent (including Uber China) of rides processed by its services.

Baidu invested $1 billion into Uber earlier this year, but that investment has soured with the acquisition of Uber China by Didi. Baidu now finds itself alone against a giant that can seemingly raise billions whenever it needs cash, and its shuttle service isn’t even online.

It could turn the tide with an early launch of its shuttle service, before Didi has its own self-driving cars on the road. The question is whether Chinese consumers will adopt Baidu’s platform, or if they will wait for a few years to figure out the safety of self-driving.

The post Baidu unveils its own all-electric self-driving car appeared first on ReadWrite.

As the niche category of electric skateboards has taken off, the ones from Boosted have consistently been the best. Sure, there are boards that are smaller, or cheaper, or both. Others offer more range than Boosted’s paltry 6–8 miles. But those other boards come with big tradeoffs in size or ease of use. In that light, it’s almost a good thing that electric skateboards are stuck at or above the $1,000 price point, because no company has totally nailed the top-to-bottom experience quite yet.

Boosted comes closest, though. There’s a reason its funky shape and orange wheels have become synonymous with electric skateboards in general — a feat that shouldn’t go underappreciated considering the company got its start on Kickstarter. Now with...

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Apple CEO Tim Cook has published an open letter to customers in Europe, after the European Commission ruled that Ireland gave preferential tax treatment to the tech company. Earlier Tuesday, the Commission ordered Ireland to collect up to $14.5 billion in unpaid taxes from Apple, ruling that the Irish government's tax deals gave the company "a significant advantage" over other businesses, in violation of EU law.

In the letter, published on Apple's website, Cook described the Commission's decision as "unprecedented," adding that it will have a "profound and harmful effect" on investment and jobs in Europe. Apple and Ireland have already said that they plan to appeal the decision.

Read Cook's full letter below.

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A woman has been arrested in Jerusalem for lighting a man's car on fire at a gas pump after he denied her request to give him a cigarette.

From NBC News:

The woman was arrested after the incident Tuesday and denied having set the blaze intentionally, Micky Rosenfeld, foreign spokesman for Israel's police forces, said in a statement.

Man at a gas station refuses to give woman a cigarette, so she sets his car on fire.

 A new Google application called Crowdsource has quietly appeared on Google Play, asking users to perform brief tasks that will help improve the quality of Google services like Maps, translation, image transcription, and more. The app, surprisingly, doesn’t offer any sort of rewards or micropayments in exchange for users’ work, however – which means it won’t be much of… Read More

Here are two lines from T-Mobile’s latest "Uncarrier" missive, in which the company proclaims that it has "listened to customers" and is changing its new T-Mobile One plans less than two weeks after announcing them.

The first line:

Everyone gets unlimited talk, unlimited text and unlimited high-speed 4G LTE smartphone data on the fastest LTE network in America.

The second line:

With T-Mobile ONE, even video is unlimited at standard definition so you can stream all you want.

At this point it appears that T-Mobile is operating with definitions of "unlimited" and "data" that are are only tangentially related to reality. For example, most people understand the word "unlimited" to mean "without any limits or restrictions," but...

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Legendary actor and comedian Gene Wilder has died, according to reports from multiple outlets. According to Variety, the actor died from complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 83.

Born Jerome Silberman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1933, Wilder became enamored with theater at an early age, and after graduating from the University of Iowa studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England. Wilder was drafted into the army in 1956, and later opted for a post in New York so he could continue studying his craft. A disciple of method acting, Wilder made his Broadway debut in 1961, and soon became acquainted with writer-director Mel Brooks. He eventually made a splash on the big screen with a role in Bonnie and Clyde. It was his...

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We’ve mentioned before that sleeping in the nude has all sorts of benefits, including deeper, better sleep and helping you stay cool while you rest, but this video from DNews wraps up all of those benefits nicely, and adds some more we haven’t discussed.

http://lifehacker.com/sleep-in-light…

Sleeping naked definitely keeps your body cooler than sleeping in clothes, obviously, but it’s that slight temperature difference that can lead to deeper, more restful, and uninterrupted sleep. It’s not the only benefit to sleeping naked though—as the video explains, sleeping naked can be especially good for reproductive health as well, and minimizing the chance of yeast infections for ladies, and helping men keep their testicles cool and avoid low sperm count. Of course, sleeping naked has other benefits, especially if you have a partner, as skin-to-skin contact is not only therapeutic, but a great form of medicine for both your mind and your body. Touching helps you build a stronger emotional bond with your partner, and kicks off the release of oxytocin in your brain, which helps regulate mood.

The video goes into a little more detail about each of these, so hit play above to check out the full thing, or hit the link below to read more about it—and some related articles—at YouTube.

Why Everyone Should Sleep Naked | DNews (YouTube)

Mercifully there is yet to be footage of slugs devouring baby birds, but the fact that it happens has been confirmed after years of suspicion.

“The actual moment of slugs predating on nestlings isn’t easy to observe,” says Katarzyna Turzańska at the University of Wroclaw in Poland. “You are more likely to come across the traces of the ‘tragedy’: dead or alive nestlings with heavy injuries, covered in slime – and often slugs’ droppings found nearby.”

She and Justyna Chachulska, a colleague at the University of Zielona Góra in Poland, were studying common whitethroat birds near Wroclaw, in Poland, when they spotted a slug of the Arion genus in a nest with newly hatched chicks. The next day, the slug was gone, and the chicks were dead with severe injuries on their bodies that hinted at the slug as the culprit.

They were gobsmacked. “We couldn’t believe that the slug had killed the nestlings,” says Turzańska. “We talked to many experienced ornithologists, but none of them had observed slug predatory behaviour towards birds before.”

For your enjoyment, the Trailer to Slugs (1988).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3QEjMq6e68

Everyone knows that shaving razors are a ripoff, with vastly overpriced blade systems being all one can easily find in stores. Malcolm Harris writes that the practice is not only sleazy, but a direct betrayal of the industry's founder, King Camp Gillette.

Gillette was a starry-­eyed utopian socialist. In 1894, he published “The Human Drift,” a book that, among other things, envisioned most of the population of North America living in a huge metropolis powered by Niagara Falls. ... His blade was a model socialist innovation: Gillette replaced toilsome sharpening labor with the smallest, most easily produced part imaginable. The very existence of the Gillette Fusion is an insult to his memory.

You don't have to even pay a dollar for a shave. Get a Merkur Safety Razor for twenty bucks (though first learn about the options) and 100 blades for $10 and you're sorted for at least a year. Once you've found a blade you like, you can order a box of 1000 and remain the best-shaven motorcycle bandit a full decade into the post-Trump apocalypse.

Last Wednesday, Amy Sharp, 18, on the run after escaping a Sydney, Australia correction center, requested on Facebook that police replace a posted photo of her with a different one that she preferred (below). They nabbed her on Friday.

(The Guardian)

Dance your cares away!

I just love the Doozers.

 HBO has what looks like an expansive new epic TV series on the way, only this time it’s swapping fantasy, swords and castles for androids, AI and western duds. Westworld is a new sci-fi series coming to the cable network beginning in October, based on the Michael Crichton film from 1973. In the original, a high-tech theme park with western, medieval and ancient Roman-themed sections… Read More

 Sony announced an update to the curious-looking FES Watch with a new design. The FES Watch U features an e-ink display and pairs with your phone. But the surprising part is that the band is also a flexible e-ink display, opening a brand new world of design possibilities — what an exciting time to be alive. Sony is using the FES brand name for this watch as the company wants to emphasize… Read More

Two years ago we launched Google Cast, an extension for Chrome that allowed you to show content from your favorite websites on the best screen in your home — your TV — using Chromecast. Whether watching your favorite show on Netflix, or sharing a photo slideshow at a family gathering, Google Cast makes it easy to extend the web to the big screen.

Since we launched Chromecast, we’ve been working to make casting even better. We've launched new Cast devices like Chromecast Audio and partnered with other manufacturers to make Cast-enabled TVs and speakers. We’ve also made significant improvements in quality, with the vast majority of casting sessions now in HD.

Casting from Chrome has become incredibly popular: In the past month alone, people have casted more than 38 million times from Chrome, watching and listening to more than 50 million hours of content.

Today we’re happy to announce that Google Cast is now built fully into Chrome, and anyone can now Cast without having to install or configure anything. When you’re on websites that are integrated with Cast, you’ll see the Cast icon appear when you’re on the same network as a Cast device — and with a couple of clicks you can view your content on your TV or listen to music on your speakers:

You can also view websites that are not integrated with Cast on your TV by selecting the “Cast…” menu item from the Chrome menu:

And you can now cast to even more places — including sharing with participants on a video call in Google Hangouts and the Cast for Education app, which we announced recently. Now you can share your presentation with your coworkers during a Hangout or to your peers in the classroom.

With Google Cast and Chrome, you can share what you love to watch with those around you. We’re excited to make this available to everyone. To get the new built-in Cast functionality all you need to do is make sure you have the latest version of Chrome.

Stephen Konig, Product Manager and House of Cards Binge-Watcher

Apple will hold its next big event on September 7th, when it's expected to unveil new iPhones and updated Apple Watches. Invitations to the event were sent out this morning, with Apple simply saying "See you on the 7th."

This'll be the fifth year straight that Apple has held an early September event to announce new products. As usual, one of those should be the next iPhone. This new generation is believed to be extremely similar to last year's model, with only minor visual differences — such as fewer antenna lines — and one big drawback: the removal of its headphone jack. On the plus side, the new models are expected to be more water resistant, with the larger phone reported to have a dual camera system for taking better photos. Apple...

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Migrating from one mobile platform to another is complicated and annoying. With Android Nougat, however,Google’s making it easier to come on board from an iPhone.

http://lifehacker.com/skip-the-line-…

That is, it’s easier than before. Though it’s still not terribly easy. Before, Google had a standalone guide that you could hunt down on your own. Now, when you first set up a new Android device on Nougat, you’ll be asked if you want to bring your data from an iPhone or iPad. Then, Google will walk you through the steps.

Those steps are still long and complicated. If you want to bring over your contacts, you need to export your data from iCloud into a vCard file and import it into Gmail. Photos and music still require a big upload to Google’s services. Still, if you’re new to Android, this should help make things a little easier for you to figure out.

Android 7.0 Nougat’s setup process allows for importing data from iOS devices | Android Police

The starting line is just ahead of us, and the guy behind the wheel of this 650-horsepower muscle car is showing off for the crowd. We're spinning the tires, doing burnout after burnout. Ostensibly it's warming them for a quick blast up the 1.16-mile hillclimb, but really it's to show off. This is what the Goodwood Festival of Speed is about.

It's glorious. And I think I can safely say that the this event, held every year in the south of England, is the greatest car show in the world. I've been to a lot of car shows, and none of them are like this.

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Roku is likely to move away from its longtime numerical naming scheme (Roku 1, Roku 2, Roku 3, Roku 4) when the company next updates its product lineup sometime this fall. Instead, according to Zatz Not Funny, the lineup will switch over to names like "Roku Express" and "Roku Premiere" with the next hardware refresh. You can expect to see five models in all, if these new vendor authorizations are accurate.

The Roku 1 will be replaced by the Roku Express and Roku Express Plus, though it's not yet clear what the difference between these two boxes will be. One could offer a slightly faster processor or better remote. The Roku Premiere and Roku Premiere Plus will succeed the existing Roku 2 and Roku 3 models, and both are expected to...

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Windows/Mac/Linux: Instagram is made to be experienced on your phone, but sometimes you’ll want to take a look from you computer. Ramme does just that, offering up your Instagram feed where you can like or comment on posts.

Ramme does not support photo uploads, which is likely because of Instagram’s limitations on its API. Instead, it’s just a simple way to view your feed. Ramme doesn’t add any features, allow for high quality uploads, or anything else, though it is resizable so you can get a closer look. Still, that one little feature is enough to make it worth a look, especially if you don’t like pulling out your phone all the time.

Ramme (Free) | GitHub

 Opera, which recently agreed to sell its browser business in a Chinese consortium, has reset user passwords for one of its services after it servers were breached by hackers. Read More

Do you fancy yourself a designer? Well, you might be able to get your art included in an upcoming collection of Android Wear watch faces. Google is working with Paper Magazine to get design ideas from the internet. Interested? You've only got a few weeks to get your submission in.

This is mainly a design contest (hence the tie-in with Paper), so you don't have to submit a finished watch face app. Five designs will be chosen to be turned into watch faces in Google's fall fashion collection.

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Google will crowdsource Android Wear watch face designs from the internet was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

 Twitter’s “Trends” are often confusing. Why is #MPBMS or #TechMunch trending? You had to click through and figure it out for yourself. When Facebook copied Twitter’s trends in 2014, it vastly improved them by adding human-written descriptions right below so you knew if you cared or not. Today Facebook is removing those descriptions, and claims it’s to increase… Read More

Spotify might be punishing artists who decide to make their albums exclusives on other streaming services when they first drop. According to a new report from Bloomberg, Spotify is making these artists' music more difficult to find on their service by burying them in search results and refusing to put their tracks on featured playlists. A Spotify spokesperson, however, told The Verge, "This is unequivocally false."

Either way, it's not clear that the tactic would actually had any adverse effect on the streaming numbers of artists like Drake, whose album Views was an Apple Music exclusive for two weeks after its release. If you search "Drake" on Spotify, the first thing you see will still be — obviously — Drake. And I doubt Drake is...

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