Ever wonder how much power your flashlight might be wasting throwing its full beam at objects that are only a few feet away? The Nitecore Sens Mini Flashlight does not...
The world was a whole lot simpler back in 1999 – the economy was doing fine, MTV played music, and the Matrix was much less ridiculous without all that weird pseudo-philosophy from the sequels. There's a new watch face that can take you back to those relaxing days each time you look at your Android Wear watch. Yes, a Matrix watch face.
When the screen is awake, you get the iconic falling code and a green clock.
When you are on a bike or motorcycle, remember that you might as well be invisible to motorists and drive defensively. This video shows the scary reality of a collision with a car.
GearJunkie contributor Jeff Kish is about to begin a through-hike of the 1,200-mile Pacific Northwest Trail to test gear and document what is regarded as the most challenging of the National Scenic Trails.
When it comes to celebrating all that summer has to offer, Austin is teeming with Texas-sized options. Cool off in a natural spring that stays 68 degrees year-round. Stop by an ice cream festival ... yes, festival. Scope out the local, ever-changing wall art
From locally treasured casual eats (Chinese BBQ tacos anyone?) to not-to-miss events (Austin knows what's up when it comes to music), Mashable rounds up next-level ways to make the most of your summer in the the Lone Star State's capital.
Grab yourself a taco, torta or salad with charcoal-grilled, locally grown chicken from this walk-up or drive-thru spot just north of Whole Foods. There might not be much seating on-location, but with Shoal Creek running just behind the brick-and-mortar taco truck of sorts, you’ll have plenty of natural seating and scenery to take in. Read more...
Less than three weeks after the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live were launched as the first Android Wear devices, the number of apps in the Google Play Store that support these watches exceeds the number of Glassware apps Google has been curating for over a year.
Measuring the success of a platform happens in many different ways, with metrics that are only usually important to specific groups of people. Sales, more specifically market share, is usually the one you hear the most about. There's another metric that is important to keep an eye on, one that means a whole lot more to users, and that's apps. When we look at a platform and decide whether or not to invest our personal money into it, the availability of apps are an increasingly significant part of that decision. This is the biggest reason that it is significant to identify a unique milestone in the Android Wear platform. Even though Google's new smartwatch platform is only a couple of weeks old, the number of apps available for it in the Google Play Store have already exceeded those available for the Mountain View company's other wearable platform.
We've already seen a short video where Android Wear is used to do simple things like toggle lamps and open a garage door, but Armando Ferreira took that concept and applied it to all the things. In this video demoing home automation with Android Wear, he toggle lights, a popcorn maker, and a PC, but doesn't stop there. He also uses his G Watch to adjust his home's thermostat, turn on the TV, and get a notification if any of the doors or windows in his house are opened.
Google updated its official Camera app with Wear support recently, but that just makes the watch into a shutter button with image review. Wear Camera Remote is a proof-of-concept app that streams the viewfinder to Android wear and works as a shutter.
When you install the app on your phone, it syncs over a Wear APK to the watch. Starting the camera app from either end will open it on the other, then your watch gets a feed from the phone instantly.
On his trip to Austin this week, President Barack Obama noshed like a local. Magnolia Cafe? Check. Fresa's tacos? Check. But one presidential pig-out created more conversation, and more photo ops, than the others: the commander-in-chief's line cutting stop at Franklin Barbecue.
While Google might not have designed Android Wear to mimic your smartphone’s interface, that hasn’t stopped developers from doing what they do best and bringing an Android app launcher directly to your wrist. Wear Mini Launcher for Android Wear allows you to swipe right from the top left side of your smartwatch to display an app drawer with all of your locally installed applications. From there you can scroll up and down as you would on your smartphone or tablet, drastically reducing the amount of time to find and open an app.
The default way to launch an app with Android Wear involves using multiple touch commands or voice commands. While the voice commands are completely hands free and easy to use, it can take can take approximately 7 seconds to launch an app versus approximately 2 seconds with this new launcher. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
If you’re rockin’ the LG G Watch or Samsung Gear Live, I recommend you give Wear Mini Launcher a try. You won’t be sorry.
We know that at some point in the future, Microsoft will bring the Start menu back to Windows. What we don't know is when, but some leaked screenshots of a future version of Windows might offer a clue.
Screenshots allegedly showing the new Start menu leaked on an Internet forum over the weekend. The menu looks similar, but not identical, to what Microsoft showed publicly at its Build developer conference in April.
The size and format of the menu is the same, but the tiles themselves are different, suggesting the image was generated by an early build of the new Windows. Read more...
While luxury airlines unveil multi-room apartments in the sky, the future of economy seating for the rest of us is looking smaller and even less comfortable.
In a recent patent filing, plane manufacturer Airbus included diagrams for new standing seats.
The design is meant to fit even more passengers on flights, specifically on short-haul trips where the added discomfort could be more tolerable, at least in Airbus' estimation. Read more...
Lionel Messi of Argentina got the Golden Ball for best player of the 2014 World Cup, which ended Sunday in Brazil. Dazzling newcomer James Rodriguez of Colombia won the Golden Boot for most goals. And Manuel Neuer of Germany got the Golden Glove for best goalkeeper (all protestations that it should have been Tim Howard aside)
But surely, given how much diving or flopping has become a part of the sport whether we like it or not, there should also be an official "Golden Dive" award handed out after the final whistle?
Now there is, kind of, courtesy of a YouTube channel that claims to belong to the Diving Is Cool Society. The group of soccer fans count down their pick of the top 5 dives of Brazil 2014 — starting with the infamous flop by Fred in Brazil's opening match against Croatia, a dive that won the host country a crucial penalty. Read more...
You may have heard that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, known to many as “drones,” have been banned in all National Parks in the United States. Visitor safety and park resources concerns prompted the policy directive.
Have something small — cash, microfilm, an SD card loaded with private videos — that you want kept safe and out-of-sight? Hide it in plain view with the Spy Bolt....
You don't need coffee for a good morning pick-me-up. All you need is a good set of markers.
Helene Meldahl — a "born doodler," as she calls herself — is a Norwegian student living in Washington D.C. Meldahl, in addition to being an intern at the Norwegian Embassy, is an actor, singer and stand-up comedian.
"I invent a little stage in the mirror," Meldahl said in an interview with Mashable. Her creative scenes include the Genie from Aladdin bursting from her phone and Meldahl dressed as a cupcake
Her mirror messages started as notes for her roommate. "Just writing silly things, and drawing little cartoons for her in the mornings, and you know little glasses, that she could put her face in. I just thought about how it would look with markers in different colors, and so I just went looking for pens to use on mirrors," said Meldahl. Read more...
The slide, with a name that means "insane" in German, was officially declared the world's tallest in April. The initial opening date was in May, but the park delayed opening it three times before Thursday.
In order to prepare for the opening, the slide needed some adjustments. The rafts, which were originally intended to hold four people, now hold three. The slope of the hill was changed to a "more gentle" 22 degrees, but was heightened by 11 feet. The structure is 168 feet tall. See the first-person view of the ride: Read more...
Chromecast makes it easy for you to enjoy your favorite entertainment on the biggest screen in the house. Starting today, you can mirror your Android phone and tablet to the TV so you can see your favorite apps, photos or anything else, exactly as you see it on your mobile device—only bigger. To start mirroring, simply select “Cast Screen” from the navigation drawer in the Chromecast app and select your Chromecast device. On Nexus devices, this feature is also available through the quick settings menu.
Now, anything on your Android device will appear on the TV. You can share photos stored on your phone with a group of friends, or scope out the scenery for your next family vacation together on the big screen using Google Earth.
I have no idea who Kevin Kiermaier is, but he hit a baseball harder than shit last night. He hit it so hard that it went straight through Eric Hosmer's damn glove.
by Jon Gugala on Fittish, shared by Tommy Craggs to Deadspin
On Wednesday, Bill Hillmann was gored while running with the bulls in Pamplona. A journalist, novelist, and former boxer, Bill and I have known each other since our time at Columbia College Chicago, where even then he was recognized for his frontline reportage, some of which has since appeared around these parts . Doped up on morphine in a Spanish hospital and his voice weak from the drugs, he's still got enough breath to tell you all about it.
Earlier today Google flipped a switch enabling the screen casting feature it unveiled at Google I/O. If you have one of the supported devices, you don't have to do a thing to try it out. Just fire up Quick Settings and hit the screen cast icon. But if this isn't discoverable enough, Google has also updated the Chromecast app to bring more attention to the feature.
What's New
A Cast Screen option is now available in the navigation sidebar.
If you thought (like me) that Update Wednesday had concluded, you thought wrong. It appears Google's also started pushing an update to Google Play Games, bringing the app up to version 2.0 with Level-up notification controls, XP rankings, and a few UI changes.
Nowadays when someone says “gadget” we think of phones, tablets, or computers, but back in the day it was the namesake of a dim-witted cyborg detective. Inspector Gadget had all the coolest gadgets at his disposal, and all he had to do to use one was simply say “Go Go Gadget _____.” Everyone wishes they could do this themselves, and now with Android Wear you can!
You may be familiar with an Easter Egg in Google Now that lets users launch apps by saying “Go Go Gadget [app name]. Since Android Wear relies heavily on Google Now for voice commands you can also do this on your smartwatch, which is a million times cooler than doing it on a phone. Simple tap or say “Ok Google” and then say, for example, “Go Go Gadget Compass.” Try it yourself!
Bum Ba Dum Ba Dum Inspector Gadget
“Go Go Gadget” is just one Google Now Easter egg that works on Android Wear. Here are a couple other ones you can impress your friends with:
What is the loneliest number?
What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?
What is the Bacon number of [random actor]?
We love the little Easter Eggs that Google hides in their products. Go up to any little kid and launch on an app on your watch with the “Go Go Gadget” command and watch their amazement. What other Easter Eggs have you found in Android Wear?
The feature not only allows users to display their Android homescreens on a Chromecast-connected TV or other device, but it also means any application can now be displayed via Google’s budget-friendly streaming dongle. Users won’t have to wait for Chromecast to be enabled on an app-by-app basis.
Upon downloading the update, users will find a “Cast Screen” option among the others listed in the Chromecast app’s navigation drawer. Nexus devices will see a toggle fro screencasting directly in the Android quick settings menu. Once enabled, the user can navigate their phone in the normal manner with a one-to-one projection appearing via Chromecast.
Screencasting is still being dubbed a beta feature, and it unfortunately will not be available to all users immediately. Google says the new capabilities will “roll out to popular Android phone [and] tablets from Samsung, HTC, LG, and others” first. The Chromecast 1.7 update should reach Google Play in the coming days.
In a new update that silently arrived for Google Maps on the web, the boys at Google have enabled a new feature we’re sure many of you have no doubt been missing since the redesign. After opening the new Google Maps in your web browser, right clicking anywhere on the map now offers the option to “Measure distance.”
Once selected, tapping anywhere in maps will show the end distance from the place you originally right clicked. What’s more is you can continue clicking on the map for added calculations, showing the total distance measured.
While this is already raring to go in the new Google Maps on the web, the feature will need to be enabled for anyone still using the classic version of Google Maps. To do this simply click on the Maps Labs link (bottom left-hand panel) and enable the “Distance Measurement Tool.” Save your changes and after returning to the classic Google Maps, click on the ruler icon (bottom left corner), then click anywhere on the map to begin measure distances.
No word on when or if this cool new feature will make its way on over to Android or iOS versions of Google Maps, but we can always hope.
The world was a whole lot simpler back in 1999 – the economy was doing fine, MTV played music, and the Matrix was much less ridiculous without all that weird pseudo-philosophy from the sequels. There's a new watch face that can take you back to those relaxing days each time you look at your Android Wear watch. Yes, a Matrix watch face.
Google updated its official Camera app with Wear support recently, but that just makes the watch into a shutter button with image review. Wear Camera Remote is a proof-of-concept app that streams the viewfinder to Android wear and works as a shutter. 
Have something small — cash, microfilm, an SD card loaded with private videos — that you want kept safe and out-of-sight? Hide it in plain view with the Spy Bolt....
Earlier today Google flipped a switch enabling the screen casting feature it unveiled at Google I/O. If you have one of the supported devices, you don't have to do a thing to try it out. Just fire up Quick Settings and hit the screen cast icon. But if this isn't discoverable enough, Google has also updated the Chromecast app to bring more attention to the feature.
