What do you really need to live and what do you take for granted? Jeff Kish lives in a van. He spent the summer shuttling Pacific Crest Trail through-hikers to and from towns along the route. He climbs and bikes and lives a minimalist, free life. This week he shares his thoughts on water.
Send us your best shot! We’re giving away $1000+ worth of Columbia Sportswear gear for the best hash-tagged pics starting today…
Most swing sets are found in playgrounds worldwide, but this homemade creating known as the "Swing at the End of the World" gives the illusion of falling off the edge of a cliff while swinging high in the air. It's located in Banos, Ecuador at La Casa del Arbol (The Treehouse) and is frequented by hikers at an elevation of 2,660 meters. Click here to view the first image in this week's trolling gallery. Continue reading for a viral video of a swingsuit daredevil flying through a narrow canyon.
%2C%20this%20incredible%20swing%20greets%20hikers%20at%20an%20elevation%20of%202%2C660%20meters.%20It%20invites%20anyone%20daring%20enough%20to%20ride%20it.)
Professor and scientist Robert Lanza claims the theory of biocentrism teaches that death as we know it is an illusion created by our consciousness. That's right, he says that life creates the universe, and not the other way round, meaning that space and time don't exist in the linear fashion we think it does. To illustrate his point, Lanza uses the famous double-split experiment. Continue reading for a video and more information.
Dr. Ellis Silver claims that supremely intelligent extraterrestrials put humans on Earth as recently as tens of thousands of years ago. Here are just some of the reasons: "[humans are] surprisingly unsuited and ill-equipped for Earth's environment [because they're] harmed by sunlight, [have] a strong dislike for naturally occurring foods, ridiculously high rates of chronic disease, and more." In his recent, he also says that "Neanderthals such as homo erectus were crossbred with another species, perhaps from Alpha Centauri, which is the closest star system to our solar system, some 4.37 light years away from the sun." Continue reading for a video and more information.
Meet the real-life Legolas: Lars Andersen. He's a Danish artist who can shoot 10 arrows in just 4.9 seconds, which makes him the fastest archer in the world. After spending 3 years of training, he was able to master the ancient techniques described in the books and proved that firing 3 arrows in under 1.5-seconds. Continue reading for the video and more information.
Since Jean-Claude Van Damme's Volvo ad went viral this week, many commenters have wondered whether the action star's spectacular stunt is real. The answer from Volvo: Indeed it was, though it wasn't nearly as dangerous as it looked.
A rep for the company told The Wall Street Journal that 'the stunt is real and is performed in just one take,” said Anders Vilhelmsson, public relations manager for the Volvo Trucks brand. “It’s a daring stunt but we had full control. There was never any real danger involved.”
How? Van Damme was actually connected to safety lines that you can't see in the video. Small platforms on the trucks' side mirrors also propped up Van Damme's feet Read more...
More about Advertising, Volvo, Business, and Jean Claude Van Damme
Netflix is rolling out a major update for the Netflix on TV experience on Wednesday. The new look, which Netflix dubs "the biggest update in Netflix history to our TV experience," will work not only on game consoles, but also on devices such as Roku and on Smart TV and Blu-ray players.
Netflix says that the update has been in the works for more than a year and a half, with the primary goal of making it easier for users to discover great content
"Our members collectively watch more than a billion hours of Netflix a month, most of that is on a TV," Netflix's chief product officer Neil Hunt said in a statement. That billion hours a month figure is precisely why Netflix is so focused on discoverability. Read more...
More about Netflix, Roku, Playstation 4, Gaming, and Tv
Christmas is coming a little early this year – Staples has a coupon that gets you $50 off any tablet over $149. That means you can get a solid deal on several great Android slates.
The 2013 Nexus 7 is eligible, of course. Apply the coupon coupon code 24373 to take the price down to a mere $179 for the 16GB and $219 for the 32GB. This also works with the 32GB Nexus 10 ($429 to $379) and the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 ($359 to $309).
[Deal Alert] Get $50 Off Any Tablet Priced $149 Or Higher At Staples With Coupon Code – Works On Nexus 7, Nexus 10, Galaxy Note 8.0, And More was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
    
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Not a single person is fazed by the basketball that bounces off Allie Clifton's dome during her spot, least of all the Fox Sports Ohio reporter herself.
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For me, the exclamation point really seals this. But "concussion" is too specific for hockey injuries. A more accurate sign would probably be something like "I want my sex to give you a lower body injury." Something like that.
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Head-butting a guy who isn't wearing a helmet is apparently A-OK in the safety-first NFL.
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These three dudes were right there after Andre Iguodala's buzzer-beater to beat the Thunder, and they were right there to give him a giant high five after it happened. Look at their faces. Look at the way two of them follow through after Iguodala turns and walks away. Look at how the dude to the far left just leaves his hand up there. Yes!
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Reader Andrew sends along this picture of Bulls center Joakim Noah, taken outside of Paris Club in Chicago. It's nice to see that Noah understands how important it is to keep his head warm during these cold winter months.
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As PlayStation 4 rolls out across North America, a top Xbox executive has traded some kind words with a rival executive at Sony, displaying some good sportsmanship as both are set to battle this holiday season.
Larry Hryb (@majornelson) director of Xbox programming at Microsoft, extended the olive branch to Adam Boyes, VP of publisher and developer relations at Sony Computer Entertainment America
Their exchange occurred at 12 a.m. ET on Nov. 15 as PS4 officially launched:
More about Twitter, Playstation 4, Business, Gaming, and Xbox One@majornelson @PlayStation @yosp thanks, Larry. Good luck next week!
— Adam Boyes (@amboyes) November 15, 2013 Read more...
A new version of Chrome for Android is rolling out in the Google Play Store. Officially Chrome 31, the latest build gets version number 31.0.1650.59. The update addresses a number of bugs, performance, stability, and security issues, but is most notable for the addition of the ability to print from Chrome (on devices running KitKat) and enhanced autofill for forms.
Simultaneously, Google has launched an update to Chrome Beta for Android. Pegged at version 31.0.11650.60, it addresses instances of the browser crashing as well as removes the ability to to add an application shortcut. A blog post detailing the launch says this functionality will be added back in a later build.
Head over to Google’s blog posts for the official changelogs and more details. Follow the links below to download the latest versions of Chrome to your device.
Download: Google Chrome, Google Chrome (Beta)
A lot of auto ads run a disclaimer that the stunt was performed by professionals and viewers shouldn't try this at home. You'd definitely be wise to take that advice with regards to this ad Volvo Trucks featuring action star Jean-Claude Van Damme.
In the ad, Van Damme does a stunt that is truly insane, involving an epic split between two Volvo trucks
It's not clear whether anyone will buy a Volvo after this — the ad is designed to show off the trucks' Volvo Dynamic Steering — but I for one have newfound respect for JCVD, who, by the way, is 53 years old Read more...
More about Advertising, Volvo, Business, Marketing, and Jean Claude Van Damme
Simple, authoritative and funky, the upright bass is arguably the coolest instrument in music
Complex, extremely modern and highly technical, high shutter speed video recorders are some of the coolest media gadgets
Combine the two, and the result is pure video and music magic, as proven in the YouTube clip above.
The short video, posted by YouTuber Funnalong, shows a jazzy upright bass player performing outside. But he's being recorded at high shutter speed; while the clip is captured at regular speed, each undulation of his instrument's thick strings is caught in incredible detail, almost as if shown in slow motion. Check it out for yourself — you won't be disappointed Read more...
More about Music, Videos, and Watercooler
When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963, millions of Americans were alerted to the tragedy by watching Walter Cronkite's broadcasts on CBS News.
On the 50th anniversary of the assassination, CBS News will be streaming the original news broadcasts minute-by-minute in real time, just as the broadcasts were originally delivered, this time on CBSNews.com.
The streaming will start at 1:40 p.m. ET on Nov. 22, the same time the first CBS breaking news bulletins hit airwaves in 1963. The coverage of historic newscasts will continue through the weekend, marking those famous "four days in November" that comprised the assassination through President Kennedy's funeral Read more...
More about Jfk, Cbs News, Tv, Us World, and PoliticsYesterday we told you guys about the new Google Search update that, aside from bringing new Google Now cards and conversational dialog to Search, also silently carried full Google Experience Launcher compatibility. While Google still hasn’t provided the actual launcher in the Play Store, some simple sideloading of the GoogleHome.apk we found in the Nexus 5′s factory image, along with the updated Google Search app, got everything up and running. Here’s our easy how-to on getting GEL installed and fully functional on your Android device.
First, make sure to enable the sideloading of apps by going into your device Settings > Security > and checking Unknown sources. From there download the updated Google Search and Google Home from us (linked below). Jump into your Downloads app and install both the apps you just downloaded (press the descriptions, not the check boxes), selecting “done” after every installation.
Download: Google Search 3.1
Download: Google Home (GEL)
From there, press the home button and select “Launcher” as your default homescreen — this is the new Google Experience Launcher. You’ll notice the always listening “Ok Google” command doesn’t work from the Google Experience Launcher. No worries, turning it on is easy.
For some, you’ll be able to swipe to the left and quickly access Google Search/Now, but if that’s not available, you’ll need to actually enable the new Google Search/Now app. It’s easy, just open the Google Search app (listed as “Google” in your app drawer) and click “Next” then “I’m in.” Once that’s taken care of, jump back to your homescreen. You’ll now be able to swipe to the left and access Google Now.
Once in Google Now, scroll all the way to the bottom and press the 3 dot menu to select Settings. From there, select “voice” > “offline speech recognition” (manage downloaded languages). Now, we’re going to work our way from the right tab, all the way to the left.
Select the Auto-Update tab from the top and choose one of the auto-update options (we recommend leaving it on “over WiFi-only”). After that, scoot over to the All tab and find English (US). You’ll notice it already says “pre-installed”. Don’t listen to it. Select English (US) anyway. From there, jump to the Installed tab and press “English (US)” where you’ll be asked to download the latest version (version 28 at the time of writing). Hit “Download” and the updated version will be downloaded and installed.
After it’s finished downloading, press the home button where you’ll notice “Ok Google” will now be displayed inside the Google Search widget. Simply speak that phrase whenever you’re on your homescreen to perform a Google Search or voice actions. That’s it. Was relatively painless, right?
Thanks, Justin!
We're all spending a lot on mobile data, but are we getting our money's worth? That's the question the FCC hopes to help answer with the new FCC Speed Test app. It's exclusive to Android right now and provides you (and the FCC) with data on mobile network performance.
Unlike most speed testing apps, this is not just a run-on-demand service. You can trigger a test whenever you want, but the app is configured to run occasional tests in the background to get a picture of your network speeds over time.
[New App] FCC Speed Test App Hits Google Play, Helps You Keep An Eye On Your Carrier was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
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A huge Google Search update started rolling out earlier today. It is absolutely massive on many levels:
Massive Google Search 3.1.8 Update Rolling Out, Brings Google Experience Launcher To All 4.1+ Devices, New Cards, Completely Fixes GEL On Tablets, And More [APK Download] was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
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While "football" means punt returns and passing plays to U.S. sports enthusiasts, to the rest of the world, it conjures up images of bicycle kicks and slide tackles (you know, actually using your feet).
Die-hard fans of both sports love to debate which version is true football, but many are wondering why they need to limit their enthusiasm to just one. Six Minneapolis-based designers decided to combine their talents and love of both sports in Football as Football, a project that redesigns every NFL team logo as a European-style soccer badge
More about Entertainment and Sports
The latest update to Facebook Messenger, which was first announced about two weeks ago, is now rolling out to all users. Previously only available to a limited number (presumably to catch bugs), the new version with an all-new design and features will be available for everyone to download.
Along with a new white and light blue design (that frankly looks iOS 7-inspired) and faster performance, along with new chat features like the ability to message someone with just their phone number, the latest update is worth a look. It now stands in pretty high contrast to the stand-alone Facebook app, which can be kind of jarring, but the Messenger experience is now much improved.
Grab an update to the latest version at the Play Store link above.
Via: Facebook
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Netflix and YouTube dominate over half of downstream Internet traffic in North America, according to a new report released by Canadian Internet monitoring firm Sandvine.
Downstream traffic is data that goes from a source to a computer, and Netflix's share of that is 31.6%. YouTube comes in second at about 18.7%, up 9% from the first half of this year.
See also: 6 Great Alternatives to Netflix
The increased dominance of streaming services has also lessened the impact of peer-to-peer traffic and video piracyBitTorrent accounts for around 4% of North American downstream Internet traffic, compared with 31% five years ago. Read more...
More about Youtube, Netflix, Video Streaming, Entertainment, and Video
After a bit of testing, the CyanogenMod Installer app has hit Google Play for everyone. When combined with the desktop client (and a USB cable), this becomes the fastest way to install CyanogenMod. It won't work on every phone, but it completely automates things on supported devices.
The app is basically a guide for preparing your phone to be detected and flashed by the desktop client, which does all the heavy lifting.
[New App] CyanogenMod Installer Hits Google Play To Bring A Custom ROM To The Masses [Update: Desktop Client Is Live] was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
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Nexus devices aren’t always top of the smartphone heap in terms of specs, but even so, there are a number of reasons Android evangelists prefer the Nexus series. Not only are new Nexus devices first to launch with the latest and greatest Android OS version, but older Nexus devices are also first to enjoy updates to the spiffy new builds.
That’s exactly what is happening – right now – with Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets from both the 2012 and 2013 editions, with Nexus 4 updates coming soon, too.
It’s worth noting that Google specifically mentions “Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 versions with mobile data will be getting the update soon,” so WiFi only devices should be getting the update now with cellular connected devices to follow.
There’s not a whole lot more to say at this point, but I’m sure I’ve lost most of my target audience who are now neck deep in their device settings, checking to see if the update has rolled out to them yet.
If you’ve received the update, let us know how it goes in the comments, and head on over to our Nexus 4 Forum and Nexus 7 Forum for a whole lot more. Stay tuned for more coverage as this story develops!
