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Laura Partridge's Snailonardo, Snailatello, Snailphael and Snailangelo are ready to battle crime, albeit at a snail's pace. But that really shouldn't be much slower than a turtle in action.

Link

Have you ever dropped into Facebook to check your news feed, only to be amazed how many unfamiliar names fill your screen? Lab partners from seventh grade, friends' parents; it's enough to spur another friend purge (or an exodus). As the social networking giant expands its user base, it's only natural to seek out a niche that appeals to you, instead of appealing to everyone.

We've compiled a list of 10 social platforms with huge potential. Some are expanding rapidly; others have yet to launch. Here, you'll find blogging platforms to express something more than disdain for your soggy sandwich or the most LOL-worthy cat GIF (for the record, it's this one) Read more...

More about Facebook, Social Network, Social Media, Features, and Apps Software

This is the earth cake with different colored interior layers baked inside each other by Rhiannon of Baking Adventures. And for the record, I lied in the title, the cake isn't spherical, it's a hemisphere. That was just me being sensational, and sensation, as I'm sure you're aware, sells newspapers. Just kidding, little boys in knickers and funny hats yelling 'EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT' do. Or at least they used to. Now, can anybody name the different layers represented in the cake? I'll get you started -- the outermost layer is called the crust. Then the mantle, then after that come the other layers we all learned in middle school but nobody remembers the names of. Hit the jump for a couple more shots of the crust, mantle, outer core and inner core (and they were so simple!)

artifactrix:

odditiesoflife:

Monkey Orchids

Mistakenly referred to as “Monkey Orchids,” none of the above species are in the Orchis simia family which is the genus for the monkey orchid. The above orchids are in the Dracula genus. Although they are constantly being misclassified, they still have adorable monkey faces which is good enough for me.

@tumbletower

A new bundle and a whole new bunch of indie titles. The Humble Indie Bundle is live and is host to some incredible indie games from the past year, including Hotline Miami, Awesomenauts and Thomas Was Alone.

So Shaquille O'Neal tweeted today that he partnered with AriZona Beverage Company to release a soda line. After countless hours of grunt work and delibration peppered by brief, magical moments of marketing genius, Shaq's new soda will be called Soda Shaq.

Read more...

Everything you need to know about life, you can find in your drawing notebook. Well, maybe that's an overstatement, but you might learn something about yourself.

Grant Snider of Incidental Comics made this comic soon after he became a first-time father, when he had the irresistible urge to write about life. Which drawing do you think represents your life — is it linear, does it spiral out of control or is it any shape you choose to make it?

You can purchase Snider's comics as prints through his poster shop.

Comic illustration by Grant Snider, Incidental Comics. Published with permission; all rights reserved. Read more...

More about Comic, Comics, Humor, Watercooler, and Incidental Comics

The Feminist Crusader returns with a whole new episode in her popular and controversial series on the role of women in video games. Sarkeesian's latest is ready to show that the girls can put up a fight against the boys, and she comes out swinging. 

New episodes of the cult sitcom Arrested Development were pirated over 100,000 times within 24 hours of being released on Netflix.

While this number pales in comparison to others — the recent Game of Thrones premiere was downloaded a million times in a single day — it’s still a bit higher than your average TV show.

The Hollywood Reporter points out that the new season of Arrested Development even comes with a sight gag about piracy. Whenever the latest episodes flash back to previous events, the clip is shown with a “Showstealer Pro Trial” watermark. Apparently Netflix is well aware of the show’s pirated past.

As with a lot of television series, it’s believed that people are pirating the new season of Arrested Development simply because it’s not available in their region.

The folks at paidContent explain that shows such as Mad Men and Teen Wolf are being downloaded because they aren’t available through legal websites after they air. Since the acclaimed sitcom is only available through Netflix streaming, this means many people are pirating the episodes simply because they don’t have access to the service.

Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos told Stuff.tv last month that Netflix was actually helping to curb illegal downloading. During his interview with the website, he said that piracy actually decreases as traffic to the streaming service increases.

Sarandos explained:

“One of the things is we get ISPs to publicize their connection speeds — and when we launch in a territory the Bittorrent traffic drops as the Netflix traffic grows. So I think people do want a great experience and they want access — people are mostly honest. The best way to combat piracy isn’t legislatively or criminally but by giving good options.”

Of course, only traffic through torrent sites is being currently being tracked. A lot of people still downloaded content through digital storage lockers such as 180upload. However, it will be interesting to see if Sarandos’ theory holds true as the service rolls into new markets.

What do you think about Arrested Development getting pirated over 100,000 times in 24 hours? Do you agree that a lot of piracy takes place due to a lack of availability?

‘Arrested Development’ Pirated Over 100,000 Times In 24 Hours is a post from: The Inquisitr

Apple is going to take the stage on June 10 at its Worldwide Developers Conference to announce a new version of iOS, the operating system that powers the iPhone and iPad.

This will be the first time we see an Apple event focused entirely on products since October. That's 230 days between product events, the longest gap in Apple's recent history.

The tech industry moves very quickly, and nothing proves that more than taking a look at how much has changed since Apple's last big product announcement.

On October 23, 2012, Apple revealed the iPad Mini. The stock was trading at ~$613.

Today, the stock is at ~$444, and it's been trapped between $390 and $460 since February.

Why did the stock tank? Because the world realized that Apple's growth is slowing. And people started cutting their EPS estimates.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Here is the proof

submitted by preggit [link] [4155 comments]

NEW REPUBLIC CLAIMS NRA POWER DIMINISHED, GUN OWNERSHIP DECLINING. Yes, it’s declining, just like the earth’s temperature has been rising the past 15 years, the budget is balanced, the Obama administration is the most transparent ever and Joe Biden’s a genius.

There's a growing number of startups focusing on the food market. 

That's likely because, as VC Dave McClure says, the market opportunity for food technology is huge.

Last year, investors poured in roughly $350 million into food startups, according to CB Insights.

Last month, Food Hackathon hosted its inaugural event in San Francisco with the goal of teaming up entrepreneurs, developers, and designers to create products geared toward the food ecosystem. 

And just last week, Seamless and GrubHub announced a merger, bringing even more attention to food startups. 

HealthyOut helps people find meals at local restaurants that match your diet.

Startup: HealthyOut

Founded: 2012

Location: New York, N.Y.

Founders: Jonathan Hironaga, Wendy Nguyen, Dan Myers

Concept: HealthyOut helps you find dishes at local restaurants that match your diet criteria. Once you select your diet restrictions, HealthyOut plans out your weekly meals (lunch and dinner) for you and delivers them right to your door. HealthyOut is currently available in New York, lower Manhattan to be exact.

Funding: $1.2 million from 500 Startups, Bradley Harrison Ventures, Peter Horan, Jan Brandt, Dave Kassling, Josh Knowles, and others. 

UNREAL takes the junk out of candies and eventually snacks.

Startup: UNREAL

Founded: 2012

Location: Boston, Mass.

Founders: Nicky Bronner, Michael Bronner, Adam Melonas

Concept: UNREAL offers a line of candies that are just as delicious as their mainstream counterparts, but without all the junk. 

UNREAL doesn't use any corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, artificial ingredients, genetically modified organisms, or preservatives. Instead, it uses all natural ingredients and is made with 40% less sugar than candies from major brands. 

Funding: Undisclosed amount from Khosla Ventures and Raptor Consumer Partners.

ZeroCater is aiming to make office-wide lunches easier.

Startup: ZeroCater

Founded: 2009

Location: San Francisco, Calif.

Founder: Arram Sabeti

Concept: ZeroCater aims to prevent Sad Desk Lunch by helping companies coordinate family-style catering for their employees. It turns out that half of all adults who eat at work (47%) do so at their desks, which carry 400 times more bacteria than a toilet seat, according to a study last December.

ZeroCarer only works with the best local restaurants and accommodates any dietary restrictions. ZeroCater is currently available in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City.

Funding: $1.5 million from Keith Rabois, Paul Buchheit, Yuri Milner, SV Angel, Start Fund, Stewart Alsop, Justin Kan, Emmett Shear, and others. 

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

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[link] [247 comments]

[kerrypitter/sayomg]

via

 

If you wanted to listen to North Korea’s English-language propaganda in the past, your only option was to buy a shortwave radio or listen to edited clips on the Voice of [North] Korea website

Now, according to North Korea Tech points out, you can listen to the full hourlong daily broadcast streaming on the WRN site.

Based on a Monday broadcast, the sound quality is pretty terrible. In fact, there's so much static that it’s barely comprehensible. If you want something clear, you can always watch North Korean TV. If you need something in English, though, this is one of the only options out there at this point. Read more...

More about Censorship, Propaganda, North Korea, Us World, and World

[benjaminkaufman]

Facebook is in the midst of a PR crisis as brands including Nationwide and Nissan's UK divisions pull advertising over pro-rape and domestic violence images.

See the banned images here (warning: they are disturbing) >

Following a petition launched by Women, Action, & the Media (WAM), the Everyday Sexism Project, and writer Soraya Chemaly, 15 advertisers took the open letter's advice to pull advertising until Facebook takes action against "gender-based hate speech" on the social network seriously.

Thousands of tweets later, Facebook changed its policy.

The pictures often feature meme-like phrases attempting humor such as: "Don't wrap it and tap it, Tape her and rape her."

WAM's website reads:

Facebook has long allowed content endorsing violence against women. They claim that these pages fall under the “humor” part of their guidelines, or are expressions of “free speech.” But Facebook has proven willing to crack down on other forms of hate speech, including anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and homophobic speech, without claiming such exemptions.

More than 50,00 tweets were sent out using the movements adopted hashtag #FBRape just this month, many of which are aimed at advertisers' handles.

Dove, which prides itself in promoting healthy female body images and even created a tool that lets women change Facebook ads about love handles to self-esteem boosting messages, has received a lot of backlash for not pulling its ads on the brand's own Facebook page. Dove recently tweeted that it is now "aggressively working with Facebook to resolve the issue."

Other advertisers were more dismissive of the claims. Procter & Gamble said, "We can’t control what content they [our advertising] pops up next to. Obviously it’s a shame that our ad happened to pop up next to it."

When ThinkProgress contacted Facebook about images for groups like "Fly Kicking Sluts in the Uterus" and "Violently Raping Your Friend Just for Laughs," a spokesperson said: 

As you may expect in any diverse community of more than a billion people, we occasionally see people post distasteful or disturbing content, or make crude attempts at humor... While it may be vulgar and offensive, distasteful content on its own does not violate our policies. We do require that any such page be clearly marked — so users are aware that the content may be in poor taste.

Facebook has since responded to the #FBRape campaign on its newsroom site. It removed all the offensive images activists have pointed to on Twitter, but "Over a billion people use Facebook and add millions of updates and photos every day to our service." Facebook encouraged users to keep on flagging offensive photos.

We collected some of the images that triggered the campaign. Warning: some of them are graphic and disturbing.

Ads from major advertisers like Dove and Amazon were randomly placed next to images encouraging violence against women.

Here's an ad for Sky (lower right corner).

Hugo Boss, Magnum ice cream and Iams appeared next to this.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Please follow Advertising on Twitter and Facebook.

I just can’t seem to get to it.

This is most irritating.

So close, yet so far…

Sigh.

Discovered by Carol W. See more of little genius Io here.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: dogs

Have you ever dreamed of owning a personal robot servant to pour your beers for you? The idea is now one step closer to reality. Researchers at Cornell University have programmed a robot that can predict what you’re about to ...

What has Reading Rainbow’s LeVar Burton been up to these days? Apparently the reading activist and Star Trek star is now promoting a new app available on Kindle Fire.

The app, which has been up at Amazon since February currently has a four out of five star rating from people that have already reviewed it. However, if you need someone to review a reading app, it seems like LeVar Burton would be the go-to guy for this.

In the new video that hit the internet, LeVar Burton advertises the Reading Rainbow app, which was launched in 2012. In the ad LeVar shares screen time with a cartoon boy named Austin, and together they explain just how the app works. The advert is very similar to the PBS program LeVar helped launch in 1983. The two interact with one another, and explore new literature for children within the app.

In the app ad Burton and Austin go on to explain just how much this app gives children: “New video field trips just like we had on Reading Rainbow television series. We designed our experience to include themed islands, that allow your children to discover what they find interesting and exciting. ”

Burton has been helping children to read since the early 80s through a PBS children’s show called Reading Rainbow. The show, which ended its series run in 2006, featured Burton exposing children to illustrated readings and age-appropriate literature. The Reading Rainbow app was introduced in 2012 after five years of Reading Rainbow being off the air. The app was deemed successful amongst its demographic and went on to become the number one educational app in the Apple store.

This app seems to veer drastically from the variety of mind numbing games geared towards children on different tablets such as iPods, iPhones, and Kindles. This is definitely a step in the right direction. Kudos to LeVar Burton for growing with the times.

Check out the Reading Rainbow app below:

LeVar Burton Introduces Kindle Fire’s ‘The Reading Rainbow’ App is a post from: The Inquisitr

Hidden in countless hours of C-SPAN footage of Senators and Congress members droning on and on are these snapshots of their visual aids. Thankfully, a C-SPAN producer named Bill Gray has compiled the most ridiculous ones on his Tumblr blog Floor Charts.

Your tax dollars at work: Link - via Co.DESIGN

View more over at Floor Charts

A new billboard promoting a kettle at J.C. Penney has received a series of bizarre complaints from customers, who have stated that it looks like Adolf Hitler.

The product is exclusively available in its stores, and in order to promote it a huge billboard has been placed above the 405 Interstate Highway in southern California.

However, it hasn’t had the desired effect, as commuters who drive along the route near Culver City have find that the kettle bares on uncanny resemblance to the leader of the Nazi’s in Germany in the 1930s.

The huge sign, which measures around 10 feet tall and 36 foot wide, manages to look like Hitler as its handle mimics his hair and fringe, whilst the teapot lid, due to its thin centre and thick top, resembles his moustache.

All of this is then compounded by the spout which, because of a misplaced bell above it, looks like Hitler raising his hand to give the Nazi salut.

Various travellers have taken to Twitter to complain register the resemblance, with @scplanetable tweeting: “Every time I see that JC Penny billboard with the teapot, I keep seeing Hitler. Seriously, the thing looks exactly like Hitler. 405 S, man.” Whilst @benarilee remarked, “Uh, no thanks, JC Penny. I don’t think I want your HITLER teapot.”

Recently the company released an advert apologising for the changes to the store. The voice over for the advert states, “It’s no secret, recently J.C. Penney changed. Some changes you liked and some you didn’t, but what matters from mistakes is what we learn. We learned a very simple thing, to listen to you. To hear what you need, to make your life more beautiful. Come back to J.C. Penney, we heard you. Now, we’d love to see you.”

The Hitler kettle is worth $45, and be purchased from your nearest J.C. Penney store. Do you think that the kettle looks like Adolf Hitler?

[J.C. Penney photo courtesy Sam Howzit via Flickr and Creative Commons]

J.C. Penney Billboard Looks Just Like Adolf Hitler is a post from: The Inquisitr