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There's a certain baseline weight you expect when you pick up a laptop. Lenovo's LaVie Z exists so far below that baseline you feel like it just has to be hollow. And it doesn't sacrifice an ounce of performance. It's nuts.

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Bookstore | Dayton, OH, USA

(A woman approaches me at the counter, looking over her shoulder as if she is looking out for someone.)

Me: “Can I… help you, ma’am?”

Woman: “Yes, um, I was wondering if you had any books about…” *drops her voice to an urgent whisper* “… the ‘F’ word.”

Me: “Well, um, we have the ‘Kama Sutra’ in our world cultures section and our romance novel and erotica are—”

Woman: “No, no! The other ‘F’-word.”

Me: *thoroughly confused* “I’m afraid I’m not following ,ma’am…”

Woman: “The ‘F’-word, you know!”

Me: “Really, ma’am, I don’t. Would you like to write it down for me to—”

Woman: “FOR CHRIST’S SAKE! FEMINISM! I’m looking for a book on feminism! Now the whole store knows my business! THANK YOU!”

(She proceeds to quickly flee the store, apologizing to other patrons as she leaves.)

Next Customer: “Is she going to be all right?”

Me: “I certainly hope so.”

(Photo: US National Archives)

It's Treasury Warrant #927. With it, the United States government purchased Alaska from the Tsar of Russia on March 30, 1867. The document instructs the Treasury to give Edouard de Stoeckl, the Tsar's representative, $7.2 million. This payment, according to the treaty, was to be made in gold.

At about 2 cents per acre, it was a spectacular land deal. But, as we've previously noted, not all economists think that it was actually worth the cost.

-via TYWKIWDBI

Megan Smith, the White House chief technology officer, faces a daunting challenge: moving the federal government into 2015, technology-wise.

It's a task that's easier said than done. According to the New York Times, which published a profile of Smith over the weekend, the Obama administration relies on a lot of outdated technology: Smith, a former Google executive whose division oversaw the creation of Google Glass, now uses a BlackBerry and a 2013 Dell laptop.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration is partially run on floppy disks.

Despite using technology that would be considered outdated and clunky in Silicon Valley, Smith is optimistic: “We’re on it,” she told the Times, of trying to bring the federal government into the year 2015, technology-wise. “This is the administration that’s working to upgrade that and fix it.”

If you buy a new laptop today, it probably won't have a port for floppy disks. That's because floppy disk technology is extinct. There are so many more efficient ways of storing files than on a plastic square — USBs, external hard drives, and cloud storage, for example. 

It's difficult to even purchase floppy disks today. If you do a cursory search on Amazon for floppy disks, you'll see some results, but most of those disks for sale have since been discontinued by their manufacturer. Even floppydisk.com has rebranded itself to offer CDs in addition to floppy disks.

None of this is necessarily new news. The US government is known for its outdated technology. Last year, the US government came under fire during its nightmarish rollout of federal health insurance website healthcare.gov. 
And in December 2013, the New York Times pointed out that the Federal Register, which acts as the daily newspaper of the federal government, still relied heavily on the use of floppy disks.

The Times explained that the secure email system used by the US government "is expensive, and some government agencies have not yet upgraded to it. As a result, some agencies still scan documents on to a computer and save them on floppy disks. The disks are then sent by courier to the register."

The problem with the role of CTO is that even though she directly advises the president, Smith lacks a budget and authority over other federal agencies, according to Clay Johnson, the co-founder of the Department of Better Technology, which ran Obama's online campaign in the 2008 election cycle. This makes it hard for Smith to be able to enact change — and consequently to get rid of outdated technology, like floppy disks.

SEE ALSO: This Former Google Executive Is Trying To Upgrade The US Government's Clunky Technology

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This pug takes matters into his own paws when his comfy bed gets taken over by a tiny human.

[afvkids]

In yet another example of companies seemingly unaware that using a culture/religion’s symbols to peddle a product is likely to cause controversy whether the intentions were ill or not, a United States brewery is busy apologizing to anyone offended by a Gandhi robot on its beer labels.

New England Brewing Company responded to a petition filed in an Indian court saying the “Gandhi-Bot” India Pale Ale label, featuring the pacifist leader of the resistance against British rule in his country as some kind of android, is “insulting,” reports the BBC.

While the company’s site touts the beer as an “ideal aid for self-purification and the seeking of truth and love,” the petition claimed that the brew insulted the leader, who didn’t drink any alcohol whatsoever.

“We do apologize if the good people of India find our Gandhi-Bot label offensive. Our intent is not to offend anyone but rather pay homage and celebrate a great man who we respect greatly,” Matt Westfall, head brewer and partner at the Connecticut-based company said in a Facebook post on the brewery’s page.

He didn’t say the beer would be pulled from sale, but that he hoped it would inspire people “to learn more about Mahatma Gandhi and his non-violent methods of civil disobedience. So many Indian people here in American love our tribute to the great man.”

“We hope that you understand our true intent and respect the method and the freedom we have to show our reverence for Gandhi,” he said, adding that Gandhi’s “granddaughter and grandson have seen the label and have expressed their admiration.”

Who those relatives are, no one appears to know.

Brewery apology over Gandhi beer can [BBC News]

[Whatta I hafta DO to get this CAT outta MY bed? Call a tow truck?]

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: BFFs, kitteh, MASSIVE Impending Doom Tag, puppeh

Perhaps you should just stop f*cking entirely. Saying it, thinking it, doing it. Stop it all. Just a thought.

Virginia

The post F The F Word appeared first on People Of Walmart.

Up until now, the vast majority of 3D printers on the market have been designed to produce plastic models, and if there’s functionality, it’s pretty primitive – like rotating gears. But Voxel8 aims to change that, with their upcoming 3D printer that can not only print plastic, but also circuitry.

Using highly conductive ink, the printer with work with Autodesk developed software called Project Wire to allow for design of both the object and its circuitry in a single application.

Specifications for the Voxel8 printer are as follows:

• Build Envelope: 10 x15 x 10cm
• Printing Technology: FFF, Pneumatic Direct Write
• Layer Resolution: 200 microns
• Filament Compatibility: 1.75mm
• Conductive Trace Width: 250 microns
• Supported Files: AMF, STL, PLY, OBJ, OFF
• Resistivity: 5.0 × 10^-7 Ω-m
• Silver Ink Cure Time: 5 minutes

You’ll still need to add some elements, such as integrated circuits or motors, but a single object can contain both thermoplastic and conductive elements, which should enable some truly interesting builds. In addition, the machine will allow you to insert components in the middle of a print without losing its place.

Voxel8 is accepting pre-orders for their printer now, and expects to start shipping at the end of 2015. The printer will sell for $8499(USD), so it’s definitely not for weekend hackers, unless you happen to have deep pockets.

[via Pocket-Lint]

In a perfect world every stain and spill would come out of your clothes after just a single wash. But the same way a dish washer works best after you've scraped the plates clean, pre-treating your clothes is the only way to help guarantee a stain comes out. And for homes that are lacking a sink in the laundry room, Samsung's gone and built one right in to its new activewash washing machine.

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Last year, both Samsung and LG trotted out bendable (flexible?) UHD TVs that morph from curved to flat with the push of a button. This year, LG plans to bring a 77-inch model to market , which is nice! But a little meek next to Samsung's 105-inch display model. It'll probably never be more than a mythical trade show apparition, but damn, it's beautiful.

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Samsung doesn't think your plain old UHDTV will cut it anymore. You know, like the models it debuted last year. Now what's the newest in new? SUHD, with the outfit saying it reserves the "S" designation for its top-tier models we're about to describe...

A fantastic, descriptive name wasn’t enough to save Bottom Dollar Food, a discount grocery chain with stores in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. The company announced that it will close all of its stores on January 15th. However, fans of discount food may not need to despair: there’s a deal in progress to sell all of the locations and store leases to a competing discount grocery chain, Aldi.

That deal was announced last November, so the store closings don’t come as a surprise to anyone. However, the $15 million deal hasn’t closed yet, and the closings will leave more than 2,000 people without jobs. The company announced that it will pay severance to store employees, and they will be fine candidates when the new Aldi stores open. That may not be for a while, and Aldi also may not choose to re-open all of the stores it acquires as Aldi locations, especially if they already have a store nearby.

Bottom Dollar is currently part of Delhaize, a company based in Belgium which is also the owner of supermarket chains Food Lion and Hannaford. Aldi, a familiar brand to frugal Consumerists, is based in Germany.

Bottom Dollar employees to receive severance as stores close [Supermarket News]
Pittsburgh-area Bottom Dollar stores set to close Jan. 15 [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

[Source: James Chapman]

The post The International Guide to Shutting People Up [Comic] appeared first on Geeks are Sexy Technology News.

Guitar designer Frank Pasquale (left) and musician Drew Creal (right) perform an impressive Slayer medley on a child-sized guitar and drum set.

[frank pasquale/via robbie green]

The Tekken team is testing a new camera feature for the next game in the series, Tekken 7, that will introduce a seemingly small but important feature: Regardless of whether you're player one or player two, you can fight on the left-hand side of the screen. (Or the right. Your choice.)

Tekken 7 director and chief producer of the series Katsuhiro Harada showed off the new feature on Twitter today. In two-screen arcade setups for Tekken 7, players will be able to choose which side of the screen they prefer to fight on.

In most fighting games, player one defaults to the left-hand position in competitive play and in training modes. The option to choose your side could give players used to that experience a perceived advantage, or at least...

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Despite being the go-to agency for internet issues, the FCC’s website has not exactly got a reputation for user-friendliness. Quite the opposite, in fact. But this week the commission behind the broadband is hoping to change all that with a major site revamp that makes it easier for consumers where to go when they need help.

The FCC announced the new Consumer Help Center today. The new site is intended vastly to improve the ability for regular consumers to find answers to their “is this allowed” questions and to make it easier to lodge complaints.

The new site uses big, clear, friendly icons to help users navigate to a problem to their solution, first guiding users to choose the tech they’re having trouble with: — phone, TV, radio, internet, access, or emergency services. From there, consumers can access FAQ guides about common problems or new, streamlined complaint forms for reporting a problem to the FCC.

The FCC’s web presence has not previously been known for its user-friendliness or reliability. Their web services basically work the same now as they did in the 90s, kind of the internet version of buying a house in 2015 that still has its original electric wiring from 1930. IT’s easy to overload and, since federal bureaucracies aren’t always intuitively organized, has been arcane to try to navigate from the outside.

The FCC blog explains that the new complaint system isn’t just meant to be easier to use and to navigatae, but also will be more integrated with the commission’s other processes. The data collected by the complaint system will be “smoothly integrated with [the FCC’s] policymaking and enforcement processes,” which should ideally make those processes themselves go more smoothly, and ensure that the FCC spends its time and money on fixing the problems that consumers identify.

Consumer advocates from Consumers Union (the advocacy arm of Consumerist’s parent company, Consumer Reports), who helped provide input for the new design, applauded the move. Delara Derakhashani, policy counsel for Consumers Union, said, “This site will make it easier for people to file and track complaints about problems like annoying robocalls and fraudulent charges, and it will help the FCC spot emerging trends in the marketplace. This is a one-stop shop for consumers, and it’s a real improvement over the old system where forms and information were spread out and hard to find. We’re pleased that more of this complaint data is going to be available to the public, which will help root out problems and raise the bar for companies.”