The BBC's Social Affairs Correspondent, Michael Buchanan, wanted to know how often the UK government's new "red tape-busting cabinet panel, the Reducing Regulation Committee" was meeting, because he thought that it was probably "all froth and no action." (more…)
Swiss watchmaker Henri Maillardet created the "Ethiopian caterpillar" in 1820 (or thereabouts) for a wealthy Chinese collector. It's covered in gold and encrusted in jewels and peals. It was sold at Sotheby’s in 2010 for $415,215.
From the Oddment Emporium:
[via]When the automaton movement is engaged, the caterpillar crawls realistically, its body moving up and down simulating the undulations of a caterpillar by means of a set of gilt-metal knurled wheels. The automata work is composed of a barrel, cam and two levers all working together to create the crawling motion.
We’re frequently told Brits don’t care a fig-leaf for online privacy. But one London-based startup is about to test that theory — it’s just launched an anonymous search engine, called Oscobo, initially serving up search results specifically for the U.K. market. Read More
The New York Public Library just released a treasure trove of digitized public domain images, featuring epic poetry from the 11th century to photographs of used car lots in Columbus, Ohio from the 1930s. Over 180,000 manuscripts, maps, photographs, sheet music, lithographs, postcards, and other images were released online Wednesday in incredibly high resolution, and are available to download using the library's user-friendly visualization tool. It's a nostalgist's dream come true.
"No permission required, no hoops to jump through: just go forth and reuse!" writes Shana Kimball, manager of the library's public programs and outreach.
It's a dizzying display. Casual users will likely have to wade through a surplus of mundane ephemera — Y...
Netflix just announced that it's launching in 130 countries around the world today — adding countries like India, Russia, and South Korea to the service footprint. That's kind of amazing; Netflix CEO Reed Hastings straight up called it the launch of "a new global internet TV network."
And that's true, from a certain perspective: Netflix is making more and more original content than ever, so shows like Jessica Jones and Narcos will indeed be available around the world simultaneously, because Netflix owns all the rights. That's unprecedented, and pretty cool.
There's a ton of stuff on Netflix that's only licensed in various regions
But there's also a ton of stuff on Netflix that's only licensed in various regions: Better Call Saul is...
SanDisk's Connect is a USB 2.0 flash drive that offers Wi-Fi connectivity, letting you connect to the flash drive from your Android device to easily transfer content. At CES 2016, SanDisk is launching a higher-storage model in the series, offering 200GB for those looking to store and stream media on the go.
Portability is a weird problem for a lot of Google Cardboard kits. They're small and light enough to toss into a bag, but the versions made of actual cardboard are a little on the fragile side and most don't collapse down all that thin. Speck, the folks behind those brightly colored CandyShell cases so many people love, have decided what Cardboard users need is a collapsible plastic version of Google Cardboard that can fit in your pocket alongside your CandyShell-wrapped phone.
It's called Pocket VR, and if you're using a Galaxy S6 and want a case on your phone there's a good chance this could be the Cardboard rig for you.
Pocket VR is essentially three pieces of plastic and an elastic band, designed to either hold your phone or collapse down into something pocketable. When you want to use Pocket VR, you unfold the plastic sides and wedge your phone in between the plastic sides. Opening Pocket VR exposes the lenses, and the elastic band ensures your phone doesn't slide out.
Like other foldable Cardboard viewer designs, Pocket VR is missing the button mechanism you use to interact with the screen and there's not top or bottom to the design. This means Pocket VR is strictly a viewer and not really for any of the VR games that have come out so far, and won't work quite as well outdoors as the more traditional Cardboard setups.
InFocus announced its Kangaroo portable PC back in October, and now we’re getting a first look at how it works here at CES this week. It looks like a portable SSD, but inside there’s an Intel Atom chip, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage. That’s all enough to run Windows 10, and that’s exactly what the Kangaroo does.
You’re not going to be processing video or multitasking a bunch of apps on the Kangaroo, but it appears to handle the basics just fine. During my brief testing, the only concern I’d have here is graphics performance. Playing videos worked fine, but anything graphically intense is going to struggle on an Atom chip. Apart from that it’s really a functional PC that you could squeeze into a big jacket pocket.
It’s all powered...
Microsoft is ending support for Internet Explorer 8, 9, and 10 next week on January 12th, releasing a final patch encouraging users to upgrade to one of the company's more recent browsers. The end of support means that these older versions of Internet Explorer will no longer receive security updates or technical support, making anyone who uses them much more vulnerable to hackers. A recently-announced patch will deliver the last few bug fixes, as well as an "End of Life" notification telling users to upgrade to IE 11 or Microsoft Edge — the company's successor to Internet Explorer, built for Windows 10.
Internet Explorer is dying — long live Microsoft Edge
This move has a been a long time coming, with Microsoft announcing the end of...
When it comes to fitness bands, Fitbit is the name to beat. But with new smartwatches Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Pebble all touting some degree of activity tracking, the company knows the competition comes in more forms than the bracelets Misfit and Jawbone strap onto the wrists of athletic people.
Fitbit has experimented with watch-like devices for a couple years, starting with the Force, which was ultimately recalled.
Read MoreFitbit Blaze Is, Unlike The Force And The Charge, A New Fitness Smartwatch That Looks Like A Watch, Coming In March was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
AT&T is teaming up with the manufacturers of a smart glucose monitor, in an attempt to help diabetic patients better record and share their blood sugar levels. Called YOFiMeter, the monitor is an all-in-one finger prick testing kit that analyzes a patient's blood sugar count and stores that information in the cloud. And now with the help of AT&T, patients can send that info to their doctors over the company's wireless network.
For all the talk of smartwatches over the past year-plus, it’s been difficult to convince most people that it’s worth wearing one every day. Casio thinks it has a solution, though — while you definitely won’t want to wear its first smartwatch seven days a week, you might find it genuinely useful for one or two.
The Smart Outdoor Watch WSD-F10 is a gigantic, rugged Android Wear device with a specific use case: it’s the smartwatch you’ll take into the great outdoors. It’s water-resistant to 50 meters with MSL-STD-810 US military compliance, and comes with a pressure sensor along with the compass and accelerometer.
My dog is a 10-year-old whose history includes time in animal shelters, and in various homes. He has arthritis, a progressive condition that will cause him more pain as he grows older. Direct heat through my electric blanket or heating pad is clearly very comforting for him--if there's a heated throw of some kind around, he'll find it and snuggle up. But the best solution I've found for both of us is this gently heated dog bed, which warms up to your dog's body temperature when they sit down on it.
You don't have to worry about it heating up too hot, or about remembering to switch it on or off. When your pup needs it, they get warmth. When they step away, the device shifts to "off." I bought mine a few months ago, and it is the center of his world. The color is attractive, and works with the neutral tones in my modest, minimalist living space. Strongly recommended if you have a smaller, older dog, or a cat who likes extra body warmth.
From the manufacturer's specs:
• Heater uses only 6 watts and is MET Listed
• Removable cushion and removable heater make washing a breeze
• Thermostatically controlled to warm to your pet's normal body temperature when in use
• 5-inch thick bedding keeps pet comfortable
• Removable, machine washable cover for easy maintenance
• Safe plush heated pillow insert for winter warmth
• Available in 2 sizes and 2 colors; 1-year warranty
amazon: K&H Manufacturing Thermo-Snuggly Sleeper
[Editor's note: There are two sizes: a medium and a large. Both are currently on sale, but the medium's the one I bought. It's more than 30% off today, Jan. 5, 2016.]
If you ask me, the Huawei Watch is one of the classiest Android Wear devices on the market right now. The stainless steel one with the mesh band on my wrist would duel you to death if you dared to disagree with that statement, and so would everyone who has seen it in person. But that doesn't mean that Huawei is resting on its laurels or not working on churning even better looking variants of the watch.
Read MoreHuawei Announces Two New And More Feminine Variants Of Its Android Wear Watch: Jewel And Elegant was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
It wouldn't be the Consumer Electronics Show unless a tech company showed up to Las Vegas with a stupid large television. This year LG decided to fill that role with its UH9800 model, a 98-inch "super ultra-high-definition" 8K display. The set even has moving speakers for what LG describes as a "impactful" visual and audio experience. It's not the largest TV to ever make its way to this show, but it's certainly one of the largest 8K displays ever produced.
We won't likely see 8K televisions populating our living rooms anytime soon, so it's easy to consider this a display of unnecessary excess. And it is — that's what makes CES great. Tech companies pull out all the stops to produce what can only be described as a gadget lover's fantasy...
What happens to your passwords if you die? It's a tricky question, and one most security systems avoid entirely. But LastPass has a new answer, rolled out today with a redesigned 4.0 version of the password manager. It's similar to a number of "trusted friend" features already in place in other systems (most notably Google Accounts and Dashlane), but LastPass is presenting its feature as specifically designed for cases of death or incapacitation.
"We never want to leave our loved ones without access to the passwords they need," the company said in an announcement, "like being able to pay the mortgage and manage credit card bills, or carry out our final wishes."
Called "Emergency Access," the new system allows you to designate certain...
Ventev is a name you likely know for its accessories (and particularly cables), and now that USB-C is ramping up in popularity it's getting in on the game with its first two USB-C offerings. Right out of the gate, as you'd expect Ventev is going with the most popular choices — a USB-A to USB-C cable, and a USB-C to USB-C offering.
Last year Lenovo announced a new accessory design system called the ThinkPad Stack, which is a stackable and interchangeable set of peripherals like batteries, routers and hard drives. This year it's expanding the program to include a new mobile projector and a Qi wireless charging pad to complete the stack.
Several years after Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry died, his heirs found a cache of floppy disks. It's taken until now, some 20 years later, for the data to be recovered. The reason it took so long is awe-inspiring: he made his own computers, only switching to commercial products near the end of his life.
The floppy disks were used with the custom computers, but unfortunately one of those computers had been auctioned off and the other one was no longer operational. Roddenberry’s estate sent the floppies to DriveSavers, which spent three months writing software that could read the disks in the absence of any documentation or manuals for the custom-built OS.
But what did they find? They're not saying, yet!
This, of course, leaves one more question: What, exactly, is on the disks? Mike Cobb, director of engineering at DriveSavers, confirmed that they found “lots” of documents. The company will undoubtedly have a confidentially clause signed with the Roddenberry estate, which likely explains why it won’t be revealing what it found. But in a major anniversary year that will see a new Star Trek movie come to fruition, with a new Star Trek TV series premiering on CBS All Access in 2017, there could be some surprises in store.
The custom computer looks wonderful, and very focused upon its word-processing purpose. I wonder how hard it'd be to make a replica (or perhaps an homage, with a Raspberry Pi, a cap-swappable mechanical keyboard, elbow grease...)
Quality clothes last longer for the money you spend, they’re more comfortable, and they make you look and feel pretty good while you wear them. Best of all, you can find quality anywhere. It comes down to buying less mediocre stuff and using that money on a few nice things that last forever.
http://lifehacker.com/when-it-makes-...
The comfort principle is simple: spend your money where you spend most of your time. That’s why it’s a good idea to splurge on a nice mattress, comfortable desk chair, or a decent laptop computer, considering how many hours a day you sleep, work at your desk, or use that computer. Think about it, most of us wear our clothes all day long (and sometimes through the night). We wear them at work, at home, at the gym: every occasion calls for some type of clothing. It makes sense to buy clothes that earn you the most happiness out of your time, and stand up to regular use. You want work clothes that look good in the office and are comfortable. You want gym clothes that fit well and stand up to your workouts. Because you wear your clothing every day, it can be considered an experiential purchase, which is one of the ways research suggests you can actually “buy” happiness.
Clothing isn’t an investment in the traditional sense (it never gains value, and you’ll never sell an item of clothing for more than it was purchased), but it’s good to think of it like a down payment on your daily comfort, your confidence in your appearance, and the utility of your wardrobe. For example, having a couple pairs of really nice jeans that fit well, make you look good, and last forever is better than having six pairs of jeans that look “okay”, are just kind of comfy, and fall apart after a year. In the same vein, spending $100 on a single high-fashion t-shirt is a bit much, but there’s nothing wrong with spending $40 on a three-pack of nice t-shirts you know you’ll be excited to wear every day. You spend a lot of time in your clothes, so why not spring for nice items you know you’ll wear all the time?
http://lifehacker.com/5857142/the-co...
People come in all shapes and sizes, yet a lot of cheap clothing is mass produced in a “one shape fits all” manner. Low-quality dress shirts, for example, look terrible on people not shaped a specific way. If a shirt is too loose or tight in the wrong places, you feel vulnerable and uncomfortable, and it shows in your body language. If it fits you well and you’re comfortable, however, you can get a nice confidence boost. Using the same example, quality dress shirts will often come in a variety of cuts, so no matter what shape you are, you’re bound to find one that you feel good wearing. Even if you can’t, you can and should get it fitted to you (more on that later.)
Whether we like it or not, clothing is also a part of our identity. Your clothes can emphasize social status, as well as a certain level of professionalism. A few quality outfits can make you look like a go-getter that takes pride in your appearance. Spending money on quality clothes might seem frivolous if you’re a frugal person, but in some cases you can’t afford to not spend the money, especially if you’re trying to land a job or network with colleagues.
http://lifehacker.com/this-graphic-r...
Generally speaking, cheap, throwaway clothes aren’t cheap in the long run. Poorly made clothing with thin material wears out faster and requires you to spend time and money repairing or replacing it. The key isn’t to spend more on clothes across the board, it’s to spend a little more on a few nice items and not butt-loads of crappy items.
This can all be broken down into simple math. Fashion blogger Legos In My Louis recommends you use the “cost per wear” equation. It works like this:
(price of garment + maintenance) divided by the number of times you’ll wear it
Say you bought a nice (but pricey) $100 pair of jeans that will last you five years before they get threadbare and wear out:
$100 + $10 (washing, detergent, stain remover, etc.) / 780 days (roughly three days a week for five years)
That ends up being around 14 cents per wear. Say, instead, you bought a $30 pair of jeans that will last about a year and a half before they fade and wear out:
$30 + $10 (washing, detergent, stain remover, etc.) / 234 days (roughly three days a week for a year and a half)
That ends up being around 17 cents per wear, and you have to go buy a new pair every year and a half. Plus, you’ll probably be more comfortable and look better in the nicer pair. Of course, this equation is only ideal for clothing that gets worn regularly. If you’re only going to wear a swimsuit 10 times in a year, for example, the “cost per wear” equation doesn’t really justify spending hundreds of dollars on it. In that case, a cheap swimsuit will probably last just as long, and save you money that you can spend on the things you wear all the time. Also, it’s hard to know how long clothing will hold up. That’s why it’s essential you do some research before you buy.
Cheap clothing also lends itself to constant impulse buying, which can be way more dangerous for your wallet than the occasional splurge on something nice, durable, and well-made. Spending $20 here and there doesn’t feel like much when it happens, but it can add up fast. You could spend more in a year on clothing that way, and possibly end up with a bunch of stuff you’ll never actually wear.
When buying high-quality (and sometimes more expensive) clothes, however, you know you’ll be spending a little more, so you’re more inclined to research before you open your wallet. It’s better to have a wardrobe with a few versatile, durable things you love to wear than a wardrobe stuffed with crap. Marc Bain at The Atlantic explains that buying expensive, high-quality clothing forces him to truly consider each one of his purchases:
The point is to make you pause and ask yourself, “How much do I really want this?” ...it’s enough that it causes me to seriously hesitate, which is the real point. It forces me to think about just how much I want that item of clothing, how much I’ll wear it, and whether I think the value it offers is worth a significant cost… I can’t make these purchases all the time, at least not without sacrificing elsewhere or going broke. It’s an investment, rather than the cheap buzz of getting something new.
It’s always good to have a personal “should I buy this?” test for everything you purchase, but it’s especially important when it’s something you spend so much time with, whether it’s expensive or not. As Heather Levin at Money Crashers explains, having quality clothing in your wardrobe is valuable because you spent more money on it, but also because it means something to you. You devoted real thought and consideration to your purchase, and didn’t just buy because they looked cool on the mannequin when you walked by.
http://lifehacker.com/how-to-program...
The most important trademark of quality clothing is its construction. An expensive dress that is made of thin material and poorly sewn isn’t a quality item—it’s just an expensive dress. An expensive dress that fits nicely, is durable, and put together well, however, can definitely be worth the purchase if you like it enough and know you’ll wear it a lot.
If you’re not sure what high-quality looks like, Antonio Centeno from the Real Men Real Style YouTube channel suggests you start by getting a good point of reference. Go to a store you know sells high-quality clothing (even if it’s out of your price range), and look at the details of each garment. Notice how many stitches there are per inch (more is better), what the clothes are made of and how the fabric feels (comfortable but durable), and how well buttons are secured to the garment (a loose button will pop right off). And just because Centeno is talking about dress shirts in the video above doesn’t mean the same tips aren’t helpful for women’s clothing. No matter what types of garments you’re inspecting, it won’t take long for you to see what high-quality garments look and feel like.
Now you can head to a store closer to your usual price range and compare. If you’re looking for a super-quick way to check durability, Levin recommends you go right for the seams. Grip the fabric on both sides and gently pull them away to see if the thread is holding the fabric together tightly. If it gaps or starts to pull apart, it was stitched poorly. Once you know what quality clothing construction looks like, there are a few other simple rules you want to consider while you shop:
As you shop, always remember that expensive doesn’t mean quality, and that you’re not spending more, you’re just buying less. At his financial advice blog, Peter Dunn recommends you create a yearly clothing budget of 5% of your net income (including repairs and tailoring) and stick to it. It’s just enough to add some nice items to your wardrobe, but not so much you’ll break the bank.
http://lifehacker.com/five-basic-han...
Illustration by Jim Cooke.
I could tell you that the Lenovo IdeaCentre 610S home entertainment PC can be equipped with an Intel Skylake i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GTX 750Ti GPU. I could tell you that it has an unusual prismatic design. I could even tell you that its top portion is a detachable projector that actually looked pretty good in the weirdly lit room in which I saw it.
But really, what I should tell you about the IdeaCentre 610S is that it’s the cutest goshdarn PC I’ve ever seen, it’s straight out of Doctor Who and Star Wars, and I want it to be at the heart of my apartment’s entertainment setup immediately. Lenovo says the projector can beam an image up to 110 inches across onto your wall, and the PC’s chassis has controls to adjust focus...
Parrot's flashiest announcement of CES is without question its new drone, but it's shown up with one other neat — but much tamer — product, too: a self-watering pot for houseplants. The pot holds 2.2 liters of water and will automatically water your plant when it detects that the soil is too dry. It doesn't just guess at what your plant needs, either. There's a connected app that lets you choose between around 8,000 plants, letting the pot know exactly what it needs.
Cars are really complex these days. Even simple vehicle-related tasks can be can be difficult if you're not car-savvy and you need to follow the instructions in the ever-growing owner's manual.
To make life easier for its owners, Hyundai has built an augmented reality app called the Virtual Guide. It allows owners to use their phones to get more familiar with their cars and learn how to perform basic maintenance. I saw a demo of the app from Hyundai at CES and it works as advertised.
You can use the app to get an augmented reality view of the engine compartment or interior of the car, with floating digital dots illustrating different points of interest like the windshield washer bottle or the location of the air filter. Tap one of the...
The CES show floor doesn't open until Wednesday, but the conference kicked off tonight with CES Unveiled, a more intimate (aka small, dense, and noisy) event where an eclectic mixture of companies come to preview their new products. This is where you see some of the show's wackier announcements, like a self-watering pot for houseplants, an eerie robot projector, and a device that makes your chair vibrate while playing games. But it's also where you start to get the sense for what matters at CES. Here are three of the big categories that showed up:
Bluetooth devices stop working as soon as you walk away from them. But what if they didn't? What if you could control a Bluetooth speaker from any corner of your home without getting disconnected? Or what if you could open a Bluetooth door lock even when you're on vacation?
Wireless earbuds — the ones that employ a wire behind your head and connect to your phone over Bluetooth, not ones that don't actually have any wires at all — have started including more and more features like fitness tracking and hands-free calling. But JBL and parent company Harman Kardon just announced a pair here at CES called the Everest Elite 100 that offer something even newer — customizable active noise cancellation.
Features like active noise cancellation put a drain on battery life, which is already tricky when it comes to wireless earbuds. So to counteract this, JBL has added a horseshoe-shaped neck rest to the original Everest 100 earbuds. That's right: they're neckbuds.
It's not the most attractive look, but that's fine!...
Gogoro, a Taiwanese startup helmed by former HTC designer Horace Luke, makes a smartphone-connected electric scooter powered by swappable batteries available at kiosks strategically placed around a city. It looks great, the concept is novel, and we've loved it every time we've seen it. The big problem, though, is that its availability is limited by the roll-out of the battery kiosks: you can't charge the batteries without them, so until Gogoro decides to officially come to your city, you can't have the Smartscooter — and so far, the only deployed city is Taipei, with Amsterdam coming soon.
That problem might be solved with Gogoro's announcements at CES this week. First, the company is launching the GoCharger, which is basically a tiny...
Open offices (without walls and doors) are "damaging to the workers’ attention spans, productivity, creative thinking, and satisfaction," writes Maria Konnikova in her article for The New Yorker. Like me, Maria went to a school with an open design. "Distracting at best and frustrating at worst," she writes, "wide-open classrooms went, for the most part, the way of other ill-considered architectural fads of the time, like concrete domes. The biggest problem with an open design, she writes, is noise. I agree with that. Wired magazine had an open plan and the constant noise and interruptions made it impossible to do actual work there. I did all my editing at home or in the office on Sundays when no one else was there.
Image: Shutterstock
