After running Daniel Miller's long, excellent features about the many ways in which Disney has manipulated the local politics of Anaheim (home of Disneyland) to extract huge subsidies from the cash-strapped city, the company retaliated by barring its film critic from future press screenings of its films, a move that the company confirmed, calling the coverage "unfair." (more…)
Acorn woodpeckers create acorn granaries that hold tens of thousands of acorns. Scientists are especially interested in their living arrangements, once described by Cold War ornithologists as communism. (more…)
Ken Hermann went to the flower market in Kolkata, where he snapped these cool portraits of flower sellers with their wares. (more…)
Teun van der Zalm developed an algorithm for creating nebulae in games, VR, and film. This showcase of the results, set to a lovely free track by Lee Rosevere, hints at the beauty that emerges from math. (more…)
Stormchaser Mike Olbinski chased massive storms across the American southwest to create the latest installment of his Monsoon series. (more…)
Hurry! There are only five balls of sterling silver yarn available from Tiffany's ($9,000 each). It's part of their "Everyday Objects" line which also includes a $10,000 silver bird's nest with (Tiffany) blue eggs, a $1500 18k gold paperclip bookmark, and a $1500 silver coffee can.
It’s been spoken about thousands of times in the past half-decade but the 2012 raid on Kim Dotcom’s home in New Zealand was extraordinary by any standard.
At the behest of the US Government, 72 police officers – including some from the elite heavily armed Special Tactics Group (STG) – descended on Dotcom’s Coatesville mansion. Two helicopters were used during the raid, footage from which was later released to the public as the scale and nature of the operation became clear.
To be clear, no one in the Dotcom residence had any history of violence. Nevertheless, considerable force was used to attack rooms in the building, all of it aimed at detaining the founder of what was then the world’s most famous file-hosting site. The FBI, it seems, would stop at nothing in pursuit of the man they claimed was the planet’s most notorious copyright infringer.
As the dust settled, it became clear that the overwhelming use of force was not only unprecedented but also completely unnecessary, a point Dotcom himself became intent on pressing home.
The entrepreneur was particularly angry at the treatment received by former wife Mona, who was seven months pregnant with twins at the time. So, in response, the Megaupload founder and his wife sued the police, hoping to hold the authorities to account for their actions.
The case has dragged on for years but this morning came news of a breakthrough. According to information released by Kim Dotcom, the lawsuit has been resolved after a settlement was reached with the police.
“Today, Mona and I are glad to reach a confidential settlement of our case against the New Zealand Police. We have respect for the Police in this country. They work hard and have, with this one exception, treated me and my family with courtesy and respect,” Dotcom said.
“We were shocked at the uncharacteristic handling of my arrest for a non-violent Internet copyright infringement charge brought by the United States, which is not even a crime in New Zealand.”
Dotcom said police could have simply asked to be let in, at which point he could have been arrested. Instead, under pressure from US authorities and “special interests in Hollywood”, they turned the whole event into a massive publicity stunt aimed at pleasing the US.
“The New Zealand Police we know do not carry guns. They try to resolve matters in a non-violent manner, unlike what we see from the United States. We are sad that our officers, good people simply doing their job, were tainted by US priorities and arrogance,” Dotcom said.
“We sued the Police because we believed their military-style raid on a family with children in a non-violent case went far beyond what a civilised community should expect from its police force. New Zealanders deserve and should expect better.”
Kim Dotcom has developed a reputation for fighting back across all aspects of his long-running case, and this particular action was no different. He’d planned to take the case all the way to the High Court but in the end decided that doing so wouldn’t be in the best interests of his family.
Noting that New Zealand has a new government “for the better”, Dotcom said that raking up the past would only serve to further disrupt his family.
“Our children are now settled and integrated safely here into their community and they love it. We do not want to relive past events. We do not want to disrupt our children’s new lives. We do not want to revictimise them. We want them to grow up happy,” he said.
“That is why we chose New Zealand to be our family home in the first place. We are fortunate to live here. Under the totality of the circumstances, we thought settlement was best for our children.”
According to NZ Herald, the Dotcoms aren’t the only ones to have made peace with the police. Other people arrested in 2012, including Dotcom associates Bram van der Kolk and Mathias Ortmann, were paid six-figure sums to settle. The publication speculates that as the main target of the raid, Dotcom’s settlment amount would’ve been more.
But while this matter is now closed, others remain. It was previously determined that Kiwi spy agency the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) unlawfully spied on the Dotcoms over an extended period. Ron Mansfield, New Zealand counsel for the Dotcoms, says that case will continue.
“The GCSB refuses to disclose what it did or the actual private communications it stole. The Dotcoms understandably believe that they are entitled to know this. That action is pending appeal in the Court of Appeal,” he says.
Also before the Court of Appeal is the case to extradite Dotcom and his associates to the United States. That hearing is set for February 2018 but whatever the outcome, a further appeal to the Supreme Court is likely, meaning that Dotcom will remain in New Zealand until 2020, at least.
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
Outlook on Android was already a solid mail client, but it has gotten even more powerful with the addition of add-in support .
Microsoft has steadily been improving the Outlook app that is available on Android devices. Recently, they added support for add-ins which allow users to perform tasks without having to jump into a different app.
In addition to support for add-ins that were already available in other versions of Outlook such as Evernote and Trello, Microsoft has also brought support for Wrike, JIRA, MeisterTask, Gfycat, and MojiLaLa.
Add-ins are free to use and work with the already existing Outlook app on Android. They're only available for Outlook.com and Office 365 commercial accounts but Gmail support is on the way. Here's our thoughts on Outlook's latest... addition.
The best thing about add-ins is that they just work. They're easy to setup, easy to use, and in our testing worked consistently and quickly. A personal favorite is Gfycat, as there isn't much I ever say that can't be said in a GIF.
To setup add-ins you open the settings icon and then scroll down to add-ins and pick the ones you want to use. Within emails there is a box icon that opens up a menu with all the different add-ins you've enabled.
Add-ins are aimed to skip the process of having to open another app and to that end they serve their purpose. For example, using the Trello add-in extracts information from an email and enters it into the details for a card.
Another handy add-in is Microsoft Translate, which can translate an entire email at once without having to copy and paste text into a new app.
As is the case with apps, having more options is always better. The add-ins that are already supported within Outlook on Android are very nice but over time we need to see the library of supported add-ins grow for it to be a viable part of Outlook for mobile. There are plenty more add-ins available for the desktop versions of Outlook, so hopefully developers will take the initiative to build adapt those add-ins for the Outlook's mobile apps.
Until then, add-ins are a useful but limited addition to Outlook on Android. But if you use any of the services that are currently supported, add-in support is a big boost to productivity.
Overall, add-ins work well and are a natural addition to the Outlook experience on Android that's been available on other devices for a while.
Hopefully, Microsoft sees similar support from developers for add-ins optimize for mobile to what they've seen for other versions of Outlook.
Wherein we set out to answer a simple question: Which $49 smart speaker sounds better — Google Home Mini, or the Amazon Echo Dot?
Two speakers, both alike in dignity. And price. And, for the most part, size. Google Home Mini and Amazon Echo Dot.
For a good many folks, these will be the gateway drugs to a more connected life. The answer to "What's all the fuss about?" when it comes to these commercials. Asking everyday questions. Getting everyday answers. Setting reminders and timers and — well, how about that — making what the old folks refer to as "phone calls," though there need not be a phone in sight. And, yes, these little speakers can control all the things.
See Google Home Mini See Echo Dot at Amazon
Let us first consider the form.
Google Home Mini is a doughnut of a device. Or a squished pillow, if you will, clad in Google's favorite new texture — fabric. It measures 3.86 inches in diameter, and 1.65 inches high. Inside you'll find "360 sound" (though, again, some of us old folks would say sound transits more dimensions than that) from a 40mm driver.
Birdi CTO Justin Alvey cracked open a Google Home Mini and Amazon Echo Dot in this excellent Medium post.
Amazon Echo Dot is, by conventional wisdom, a hockey puck. It's a little smaller, at 3.3 inches in diameter, and 1.3 inches tall. It's less shapely, with its vertical sides and decidedly plastic finish. Amazon lists the speaker as 15.24mm.
That discrepancy — 40mm for Google's speaker compared to 15.24 for Amazon's — almost sounds like a typo. But when you take a look inside the dough and the puck — as Justin Alvey of Birdi did in a great Medium post, you can clearly see the difference. Google's looks like a traditional speaker, just tiny. And Amazon's looks like ... a piece of plastic that apparently can emit sound.
Not that it matters, though — you'll never see either one unless you bite into the doughnut or crack open the puck.
No, back to our original question. How do they sound? The answer for both is "not great."
That's not surprising at all, of course. These are tiny speakers. They're not going to sound great. They were never going to sound great. You'll get better audio out of a lot of phones than you will the pillow or the puck, especially if you're thinking about listening to music. No, if you want to go that route, connect to a real speaker via Bluetooth, or the Echo Dot's 3.5mm audio jack.
But, OK. Back to our original question. Which one sounds better?
The specs don't lie. Google Home Mini has a larger, more traditional speaker. And it simply sounds better than the Amazon Echo Dot. That's true for speech, which has a more rich tone overall, according to my ear holes. (Your auditory perception may vary depending on how many years you spent in front of a Marshall half-stack.)
And it's also true for music. Echo Dot has a more consistent sound on that front — that is, it's universally not great. There's more range in Google Home Mini, though, and it shows — erm, sounds. I can easily tell which one I'd want to listen to tunes through (if forced), and Google wins, hands down.
This stunning line of geologically-inspired jigsaw puzzles, named Geode, is the creation of Massachusetts-based generative design studio and retailer Nervous System.
As described in their blog:
Geode is a jigsaw puzzle inspired by the formation of agate, a colorful banded stone. Each puzzle is unique, emerging from a computer simulation that creates natural variations in the shape, pieces, and image. Hundreds of lasercut plywood pieces intertwine to form a challenging, maze-like puzzle. Each geode is a slice of an algorithmic rock.
The puzzles are intricately cut in birch plywood, completely unique from each other, and available in two sizes (approx. 180 pieces for $60 and 370 pieces for $95).
https://vimeo.com/239518266
(My Modern Met)
Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox band teamed up with Wayne Brady (Whose Line Is It Anyway?) to bring us this 1930s jazz style cover of Michael Jackson's 1983 hit "Thriller," complete with zombie tap dancers.
The band is currently on a worldwide tour.
For nostalgia's sake, here's the music video for the original:
https://youtu.be/sOnqjkJTMaA
Personalize your Echo Dot with these unique cases and stands!
For all its great features and portability, the Amazon Echo Dot is rather uninspired when it comes to looks. The $50 smart speaker comes in two colors: black and white. It's a short, relatively small puck with four buttons, a tiny speaker system, microphones, and an LED light ring. Depending on your decor (and where you choose to place it), the Echo Dot may blend in… or it may stick out like a sore thumb (I'm still not entirely certain sore thumbs stick out, but please pardon the digression). Whether you want to turn your Echo Dot into more of a statement piece or have it blend in seamlessly with your particular style, you're going to need a case or stand to provide the proper camouflage. Without further ado, here are 7 unique Echo Dot cases and stands that'll help you achieve your interior design goals!
Amazon's Echo Dot cases don't necessarily fit the "unique" criteria because there's a chance many, many other people have picked up a few of these. That said, the $10 to $20 sleeve comes in six varieties — odds are you're going to find something that matches your style.
Designed and sold by Amazon, the case is a perfect fit for your Dot. You simply slide your Dot down into the sleeve, plug it in, and you're ready to go. The sleeve comes in three fabric styles ($10 apiece) — sandstone (a grayish white), charcoal (a dark gray), and indigo (a denim blue) — and three leather styles ($20 apiece) — merlot (a deep red), midnight (a deep black), and saddle tan (a medium brown).
With so many options to choose from, you could have a perfectly matching Echo Dot for every room of your house!
This bamboo Echo Dot case is not only a nice, natural look for your home, but it also serves as a light feature of sorts. Thanks to the fact that the Echo Dot sits down inside of the case, the Dot's light ring beautifully lights up the edges of the bamboo.
You can get this bamboo Echo Dot case for the same price as Amazon's fabric cases: $10. It's lightweight, it's simple, and it's shaped perfectly to hold your Echo in place — it's even got a hole in the back for plugging everything in.
If you want a splash of light brown, textured bamboo to accompany your Echo Dot, this case is the perfect choice!
You can step things up a notch from a simple bamboo case to this cleverly crafted, bamboo Echo Dot stand!
The unique design lets you nestle your Dot in the top of the stand, leaving loads of space inside for the Dot's small speaker system to resonate and grow louder. You can even position the hole on the front of the stand to direct the sound depending on where you are in your home. It's designed to precisely hold your Dot in the top portion of the stand — you can route your cables through a hole in the back.
If you're looking to pump up the power of your Echo Dot's small speaker system while adding the natural, beautiful look of bamboo to your home, this $16 stand is for you!
I must confess: I am absolutely in love with this contraption. The $20 Dot Genie Flush Mount won't add to your home decor, instead it serves to hide your Amazon Echo away while still giving you easy access to Alexa's voice commands.
So how does it work? Well, it's a rounded puck that's meant to sit flush against a wall or ceiling. You cut out a hole in your drywall, stick the mount into the hole, feed in the Amazon Echo Dot, and wire everything up (it comes with wiring, too). After it's installed, you can use your Dot the same way you normally would. This is a great way to get your Dot up off the counter or table and into a place that's free from furniture and other objects that might obstruct your voice. Plus, if you're a little self conscious about having a bunch of fu7ur3 73ch in your home, this'll hide it away!
If your idea of a smart speaker and in-home assistant is a disembodied voice that seems to communicate from the heavens (mine sure is), then you've got to pick up this flush mount. Oh, I should also mention it won't muffle your Dot's built in speakers — the mount features a unique design that channels the audio out into the room.
If you struggled with the numerous case options from Amazon, you're going to be stuck clicking between these sleeves from Fintie for the next couple hours. For about $12, Fintie offers a protective case that's made with a synthetic leather exterior and microfiber interior.
To put on the sleeve, you slide your Echo Dot into the pocket of the sleeve and fasten it with a small metal snap on the side. The case has cutouts for the ports on the back of your Echo, cutouts for the four buttons atop the device, and space for your speakers and mics to output sound and listen for your commands. The best part (or worst part if you have trouble making decisions) is the wide variety of colors and patterns available. From simple colors like black and blue to complex patterns like illustrated trees and stained glass, you're likely to find something that works for your home decor.
Whether you'd like to really make your Echo Dot stand out or just need something to add a bit of you to your Dot, Fintie's sleeves are a great choice!
Talk. About. Adorable! These Echo Dot statues from NewRice would look right at home in just about any home. Instead of buying a glass vase and filling it with those little wicker and twine balls or fake cherries, buy one of these statues! You'll be getting an interesting bit of home decor and a place to tuck away your Dot.
NewRice is offering both an owl and an elephant statue that retail for about $20 and $24, respectively. Much like the bamboo stand we mentioned before, these statues let you nestle your Dot into the top of the vessel. There's a hole on the back for routing your cables. It even features a non-slip coating on the bottom of the statue to keep you from knocking over your new decoration.
If you'd like to add a little statement piece to your home and hide away your Echo Dot, you've got to take a look at these NewRice statues. If you look closely, you can see the owl staring longingly at you, asking you to let it come hang out.
Like the flush mount, the "This Dottie" mount is for those who feel the Dot is incompatible with their home decor. For about $20, you can get this mount in either white or black — whichever works better for your home and the color of your Dot.
The all-in-one design of the "This Dottie" mount makes it simple to keep your Echo Dot — and its cord — up and out of the way of your counters and tables. You connect your Dot, slide it into the mount, and plug it in! The mount works in two configurations: up and down, meaning you'll be able to choose the best option based on where your wall outlets are positioned.
If you want to get your Echo Dot out of the way and more out of sight, the "This Dottie" will help with that. I love the all-in-one design that eliminates the need for an unsightly wire hanging down and snaking across your countertops.
What do you think, are any of our choices calling out to you? Do you have a different case or stand that you absolutely adore? Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments and over on Twitter!
Get to know your Google Home!
Google Home works as a hub for making your life easier. From listening to music to getting the news, to using Google Home to stream videos through Chromecast, there is plenty that it can do. With so much going on it can be intimidating at first, so we've put together this handy guide to help you get acquainted.
Keep reading for all the details!
Announced at Google's hardware event in October 2016, Google Home is a smart speaker that hooks into Google Assistant. You're able to ask Home to do pretty much anything, from answering questions about sports and news, to finding a song from Play Music or Spotify.
The speaker sounds good -- better than the Amazon Echo -- and thanks to a growing ecosystem of skills, it's getting smarter all the time!
Google Home makes it easy to keep track of your busy life and enjoy some music when you're relaxing at home. When you're ready for some music or you want to check up on the news, though, you'll want to be sure that the default apps are the ones that you want to use.
How to change the default apps on Google Home
Google Home makes it easy to control your connected home. So what do you do when multiple people in the house all want to use your Google Home at the same time? Well, you pick up a second — or third! Even better, the Google Home Mini can be used to expand your Google Home network for much less money! Having multiple Google Homes only increases your benefits, and we have the details for you here!
Do I need more than one Google Home?
Google Home brings you a hub that lets you control your connected home, listen to music, and plenty more. Hidden inside of the menu in the Google Home app, you'll also find a tab called "Offers" filled with special deals that can let you enjoy everything this accessory has to offer at a discount. These include Play Movie rentals for just $0.99 or discounts on a SmartThings lighting kit and more.
How to take advantage of Google Home offers
Google Home has been helping out Americans with scheduling, playing music, and bringing their connected home together since November of 2016. While this accessory started out in the States, it's been slowly rolling out across the world. The United Kingdom and Canada are the two newest additions, but there are definitely more to come.
What countries support Google Home?
Google Home aims to make your life easier, but you will need a few things in order to use it. Don't worry though, chances are you already have access to the three integral parts of using Google Home.
What you need to use Google Home
It seems as though every year our lives get even busier than they were the year before. Between your commute, working, hitting doctor's appointments, making it to the gym, and ensuring everything gets done on time, it can be hard to figure out the best time to run out to the store. That's where Google Home wants to make things a bit easier for you.
You can set up voice purchasing and even reorder items that you've ordered previously. It only takes a few minutes to set up voice purchasing, and we have the details on how to do it right here!
How to buy things with Google Home
Google Home works by recognizing your voice, letting you listen to music, add items to your shopping list and even check the day's news. With multi-user support, that goes a step further allowing up to six different accounts to link to a single Google Home. This means that every account can receive personalized responses from Google Home to help them on their day.
How to set up Google Home with multiple users
Google Home makes it easy to control your connected home and linked accounts all with the power of your voice. While multiple accounts can use Google Home at the same time, the time may come when a roommate moves out and you need to remove their access. Have no fear.
We've got the details on how to add or remove a linked account from Google Home, and it only takes a few short minutes!
How to manage users on Google Home
Google Home has a great set of speakers, making it fully capable of filling the room with music. The speakers on the Google Home Mini aren't quite as good, but still sufficient. All you need to do is link up a music account, and you'll be good to go. With options like Pandora, Spotify, YouTube Music and Google Play Music, you'll always be able to listen to the music you're craving, and all you have to do is ask Google Home to play what you want to hear.
How to listen to music with Google Home
Finding it hard to fall asleep with the blaring summer heat? Google Home is good for more than turning off the lights or playing back your favorite podcast. You can use it as a noise machine of sorts for when the current environment just isn't your vibe. If you're in the U.S., you can use these quick tricks to get the Assistant-enabled speaker to drown out the noise of the trains, planes, and automobiles outside your window and instead transport you to a serene nature scene — or whatever else you need to be to fall asleep.
How to get Google Home to lull you to sleep
Google first introduced Google Home to the world back in May at Google I/O 2016, later revealing the final product alongside the Pixel in October. From everything we've seen, Google Home seems primed to eventually link up with any smart device in your home and allow you to control everything with just the sound of your voice.
Google Home works with many smart home devices, including Nest, Phillips Hue, Samsung SmartThings, Honeywell, Logitech Harmony and more. Of course, Google Home also works with Google's Cast ecosystem. Continue to check back to this article in the coming months, as we'll surely be updating this list as more products and services are added. We've broken things down into two categories — home automation products and supported services.
These products and services work with Google Home
Google Home has tons of great features that allow you to keep better track of things. If you aren't sure what it's really capable of, or how to use it, then it can be hard to get started. That's why we collected the six great commands you may not know about. These include listening to music, checking your schedule, controlling your home, and more.
6 Awesome Google Home commands you may not know about
Google Home is now available in Canada, and it's the first voice assistant-powered speaker to make the trip north (despite years of secret Amazon Echo smuggling). Available for $179, the diminutive speaker is terrifically cute and extremely useful, but there are a few differences between it and the U.S. or international versions that you'll want to know about. Additionally, Google Home Mini is also available in Canada for $80.
Top 8 things to know about Google Home in Canada
Using Google Home is fun. That's not unique to just Google Home — telling any computer, no matter what size or shape, to do stuff by talking is fun. And the more you talk to your Google Home the more things you'll find out about what it does and what it doesn't do.
Top 10 tips and tricks for Google Home
A year after announcing the standard size, Google unveiled the Google Home Mini. Everything you love about the Google Home is now available in a smaller, less expensive size. The only real downgrade is in speaker quality, since the Mini doesn't have as much room to push sound. But all voice commands work the same and all smart home accessories are also compatible with the Mini.
More: Google Home vs. Google Home Mini: Which should you buy?
Updated November 2017: Added references to the Google Home Mini and additional products and services that work with the Google Home ecosystem.
Today Razer has announced its new Android device: the aptly named Razer Phone. It has the world's first 120Hz "Ultramotion" display, the first use of Qualcomm's QuickCharge 4+, and a great set of specs like 8GB of RAM, 64GB of storage (further expandable via microSD), and a 4,000 mAh battery. It will cost $699 and pre-orders will be live as soon as today, with general availability for North America and Europe on November 17th.
Read MoreThe Razer Phone is official—120Hz 'Ultramotion' display, Snapdragon 835, 8GB RAM, $699 was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
In the vacuum of space, there's no way for sound to travel. But that doesn't mean space is silent. Spacecraft capture radio emissions that can be converted into sound we can hear. Indeed, NASA recently posted a fantastic collection of space audio on Soundcloud and it's wonderfully haunting:
Here are descriptions of some of the recordings:
• Juno Captures the 'Roar' of Jupiter: NASA's Juno spacecraft has crossed the boundary of Jupiter's immense magnetic field. Juno's Waves instrument recorded the encounter with the bow shock over the course of about two hours on June 24, 2016.
• Plasma Waves: Plasma waves, like the roaring ocean surf, create a rhythmic cacophony that — with the EMFISIS instrument aboard NASA’s Van Allen Probes — we can hear across space.
• Saturn's Radio Emissions: Saturn is a source of intense radio emissions, which were monitored by the Cassini spacecraft. The radio waves are closely related to the auroras near the poles of the planet. These auroras are similar to Earth's northern and southern lights. More of Saturn's eerie-sounding radio emissions.
• Sounds of Jupiter: Scientists sometimes translate radio signals into sound to better understand the signals. This approach is called "data sonification". On June 27, 1996, the Galileo spacecraft made the first flyby of Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede, and this audio track represents data from Galileo's Plasma Wave Experiment instrument.
• Sounds of a Comet Encounter: During its Feb. 14, 2011, flyby of comet Tempel 1, an instrument on the protective shield on NASA's Stardust spacecraft was pelted by dust particles and small rocks, as can be heard in this audio track.
Austrian photography Stefan Draschan sits patiently in museums around Europe until he notices that someone viewing an artwork appears to match the art in some way. The delightful series of photos is titled "People Matching Artworks."
https://youtu.be/8HUVuycpaiY
Reuleaux Triangle Intermittent Pins Mechanism https://youtu.be/Le-PVXUCl0M
Geneva Mechanism https://youtu.be/QxmV71ykN6E
Reuleaux triangle intermittent mechanism https://youtu.be/VbSL5W8Ua6M
Walking Robot Mechanism https://youtu.be/jsxroTt9IhY
[Fake] Perpetual Motion Mechanisms
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android games that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous week or so.
Looking for the previous roundup editions? Find them here.
Android Police coverage: Death Road to Canada just made a pit stop on the Play Store on its way to the Great White North
Death Road to Canada is like a twisted version of Oregon Trail where you can bash zombies left and right once you are out of your vehicle.
Read More34 new and notable Android games from the last week (10/25/17 - 10/31/17) was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
A drone, spotted over Gatwick Airport, led to an abundance of caution among air traffic controllers. The result: a growing armada of inbound flights redirected into increasingly-chaotic epicycles over southern England, a crap solar system of annoyed travelers. [via]
Unicorns' conservation status puts them beyond the reach of most hunters, but you too can display the dismembered head of Satan's second-most beloved creation thanks to the Toscano Alicorn Unicorn Trophy Wall Sculpture ($25, Amazon). Offered in "antique stone," which is to say resin-bound plaster dust, it's about a foot square yet weighs only three pounds.
"Majestic," reports verified purchaser Danielle Summer. "For some reason when I was reading the product description I thought it said five inches. It is definitely larger than five inches."
"Far too pointy," writes Hunkulees in a review that 15 people found helpful. "Weirdest rectal thermometer I ever bought. Would buy again."
Douglas M. Taylor, however, deducted a star because a rainbow was not included: "Would have given it 5 stars if it came with a rainbow."
Here's a cool domino spiral of candy corn that seems impossible to pull off. How can these lightweight triangular pieces of candy perfectly knock each other down without leaving one kernel standing? Explained by YouTuber FlippyCat: "After trying a few techniques, I ended up free standing the candy corn on top of mini black dominoes, which blend into the black floor. The entire 221 pieces of candy corn fell without stopping!" Aha! So it's a trick, and a pretty sweet one at that.
Digital Vegetables is an installation by by PARTY that was part of the 2017 Tokyo Midtown Design Touch event. (more…)
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous week or so.
Looking for the previous roundup editions? Find them here.
Today's roundup is presented by Bitcoin Price IQ - Crypto Price Alerts & News from Handy Apps.
Read More17 new and notable Android apps from the last week (10/24/17 - 10/30/17) was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
If your dog looks like a mop, you can clean up at Halloween contests. Covington, Kentucky's Mainstrasse Paw-Rade had many worthy entries, but Keki the Hungarian Puli getting pushed around in a mop bucket was the crowd favorite. (more…)
A beautiful exchange between returning starman Major Tim and a presumably tired and unprepared interviewer.
What happens when you tap on a screen pretending to be a shark aquarium with signs that say "Touch at your risk"? For one bold gentleman, who decided to take a risk and tapped away at the screen, the fake shark attack at the International Spy Museum in Washington D.C. gave him such a shock he flew back, landed on his butt, grabbed his chest, and opened his mouth as if he were about to scream. According to Huffington Post:
The display is part of a museum exhibit called “Earth Redesigned.” The show includes the vision of fictional character Karl Stromberg of the James Bond book and film “The Spy Who Loved Me,” and his ideas about a post-apocalyptic war world beneath the sea.
“What would Stromberg’s world be like?” the museum asks on the display’s webpage. “Find out as you experience the residents in our virtual shark tank ... but be careful — you never know when one might attack!”
