Pushbullet is one of the most useful apps/browser extensions i've ever installed.
Android/Windows: Pushbullet is easily one of our favorite cross-platform syncing tools, and today it gets a little better. Now the service includes universal copy and paste (if you use Android and Windows, of course.)
To enable the feature, you'll have to go to the advanced settings on each device you want to sync. Once you turn it on, copying text on one device will automatically send it to the clipboard of all the others. The developers state they're working on adding iOS and OS X support, but for now it works pretty well between (you guessed it) Android and Windows devices.
this is getting ridiculous...don't they know people are trying to draft fantasy teams?
A full 15 days have passed since hearing officer Harold Henderson concluded the hearing in connection with the appeal of Browns receiver Josh Gordon’s one-year suspension. Nearly four months have passed since word of the suspension first emerged. And there’s still no ruling. The substance-abuse policy requires that a decision be made within a “reasonable…
some non-sorts-related content from the guy who writes Uniwatch. I'll need to keep an eye out for these tags the next time i'm in the city.
We’re often told that urban streets conceal a hidden subterranean world of water mains, sewer lines, electrical wiring, and more. But the surface of the urban roadway — the blacktop that we navigate each day by car, bike, and foot — presents a complex world of its own. Where the untrained eye may see only pavement, lane markers, and crosswalks, a person who knows how to “read the street” will see painted codes and symbols, markings on manhole covers and storm drains, and small but telling records of construction work, all of which combine to form a language that tells the street’s story.
In New York, where I happen to live, that language includes a particularly intriguing element: a series of circular plastic markers embedded in the roadway, each measuring an inch and a half across. Appearing in a variety of colors and stamped with a jumble of words and numbers, they have a bit of Pop Art feel, sort of like poker chips. Once you start noticing them, you can’t stop — they appear on virtually every block. At first glance they seem to be randomly distributed, but upon closer inspection it becomes apparent that they appear only on asphalt patches — spots where the roadway has been torn up by a utility or contractor and then repaved.
These markers are called A-tags (short for asphalt tags). They’re more commonly used in other municipalities as “Call Before You Dig” warning markers, but in New York they’ve been adapted to create a recordkeeping and accountability system. When a utility or contractor is issued a permit to excavate a hole or trench in the roadway — something that happens about 280,000 times a year in New York — the asphalt patch that’s applied at the end of the job must include an embedded A-tag. Each tag has three anchor legs, which, along with a bit of epoxy, help keep the tag in place. The number at the center of the tag indicates the year of the job (“12" for 2012, “14" for 2014, etc.), each broad contracting category has its own color, and each individual contractor or utility is identified either by name or by a unique five-digit number. All of this allows city officials to identify who worked on a given patch, which comes in handy if, say, the patch is starting to sink or buckle and the contractor needs to come back and fix it, or if someone is suing the city after a street-related accident and wants to know the names of everyone who worked on a particular block in the past five years.
A-tags identified by name: NYC Water Works (left), Con Edison (right)
A-tags identified by unique five-digit number
“Before the A-tags, we used painted marks,” says Joseph Yacca, Director of Operations for the New York City Department of Transportation, who helped initiate New York’s A-tag program in 2006. “But the painted marks were just color-coded — they didn’t identify the individual user. For example, every plumber was green, so if you found a green marker, you knew you were looking for a plumber, but you didn’t know who. So we used to have to pull all the old permits and so on. Now we can pinpoint it much faster.”
Yacca says contractors like the A-tags, too. “There was initially some resistance, because they viewed it as another annoying regulation, but now they’ve seen the value of it,” he says. “Let’s say three or four contractors have been working on a new row of townhouses. There may have been violations issued to the wrong person because they were in the same area. This new system solves that problem.”
Painted green marker
Examples of street asphalt patches with green and blue A-tags
These practical considerations aside, A-tags also allow laypeople to have a greater understanding of their surroundings. Once you understand the system, you can start to fit the pieces together: “Oh, here’s where they must have put in a gas line for that new house. And this is where they connected the sewer line. And this must be from when they installed that new traffic light.” And so on.
A-tags were patented and brought to market in the late 1980s by a Minnesota-based company called Rhino Markers, which continues to sell them today. Tom Preston, a Rhino executive, describes the little markers with a mix of nonchalance and pride. “You know that little plastic thing that holds up the center of a pizza box? It’s basically a glorified version of that,” he says. “But it’s been a really good success story — we solved a problem for New York City.”
Indeed, New York’s A-tag experience has been so positive that Boston officials started a similar program for their own streets in 2011. “It started when the mayor at the time [Thomas Menino] drove over a patch that had settled, and he wanted it fixed,” says Mark Cardarelli, Supervisor of Utility Coordination and Compliance at the Boston Public Works Department. “He called our department and we couldn’t identify who had done the patch. I checked with all the utilities, and they all said, ‘It wasn’t us!’ So I went online and saw that New York City was using these color-coded tags. I gotta give them credit for coming up with that.”
Three years after the Boston program’s implementation, Cardarelli is now a full-fledged A-tag evangelist. “It’s a no-brainer!” he says. “I don’t understand why every city hasn’t done it.” That sentiment may be catching on: Tom Preston, the Rhino Markers exec, says he’s recently received A-tag inquiries from officials in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Montreal, so residents of those cities may soon be able to do some street-reading of their own.
A-tags — always under foot
You can follow Paul Lukas on Twitter at @uniwatch. Subscribe to re:form’s RSS feed, sign up to receive our stories by email, and follow the main page here.
Hockey, more than any other major sport, provides a huge canvas for uniform design. Somehow, even though the ice is white, the white unis do tend to pop more...at least in photos. I'm still undecided about in-game action. This poll smartly disregards any third-jersey shenanigans, but that does deprive it of the best uni set in the league (sorry, Rangers): http://www.totalprosports.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/minnesota-wild-third-3rd-jersey.jpg
Should NHL home teams don white or colored jerseys at home? Our Uni Watch expert has an opinion, but we leave it up to you to decide.
september is going to be quite the month for phone announcements. Apple, Samsung, and now Moto.
Motorola has sent around an invite for revelations of the new Moto 360, along with indications that it will also have news about Moto X and G smartphones, and possibly accessories including a headset at an event on September 4. The invite uses the classic paper fortune teller children’s game as the means to preview what’s going to be up for discussion, with graphics for each of… Read More
This is the kind of wide receiver the Giants have been looking for since Plaxico went away. Barden never caught on, and everyone else has been smaller. They really need a big target to emerge this year, especially since there's nothing happening at the TE position.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Newberry College in South Carolina is not a football hotbed. Corey Washington would admit that. But Washington, who's trying to make the New York Giants' roster this summer as a wide receiver, isn't the only Newberry guy in an NFL training camp this summer.
"No sir," the eminently polite Washington said in a wide-ranging group interview before Giants practice Tuesday. "We have [cornerback] Ron Parker with the Kansas City Chiefs, [tight end] Brandon Bostick with the Green Bay Packers and [cornerback] Kamaal McIlwain with the Buffalo Bills.
the new TV features look quite nice. Smartglass TV looks like it'll be way better for watching TV on my tablet/phone than the shitty Time Warner app.
Microsoft has just kicked off Gamescom 2014 by announcing a plethora of new features coming to the Xbox One -- some you may have known about, and some not. First up is a much anticipated feature: a new app will soon turn the Xbox One into a media...
That's right kids, there's a "football" game tomorrow, and the Giants are in it.
The Giants' 2014 season begins on Sunday night with a bonus game -- the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, and here are five things fans should be paying attention to when the Giants play the Buffalo Bills
And on the fourth attempt at fitting “camembert” on the tiny chalkboard, Gary calmly set down the board and chalk, threw the easel across the room, and went for a long drive.
Cohen Media will release on Blu-ray director Daniel Cohen's comedy Le Chef (2012), starring Jean Reno (Leon: The Professional), Michaël Youn, Raphaëlle Agogué, and James Gerard. The release will be available for purchase on October 21....
The Rangers backups have had some pretty cool masks over the last few years. Add this to the sweet Spider-Man mask Steve Valliquete had a couple of years ago.
On Friday night, the St. Paul Saints minor league baseball team became the Mr. Paul Aints as part of a promotion with the Minnesota Atheists, the third time they’ve partnered up.
What I didn’t realize was that the person behind the team’s Twitter account would join in on the fun:
At least there was a happy ending to the game!
Outside the stadium, though, Christians were hard at work undoing the “damage,” leaving all sorts of Jesus-y tracts on windshields. A couple of atheists scooped them up:
Not the team’s fault, of course. For what it’s worth, on Sunday, the Saints held a Faith & Family Day promotion and the tweeter was right back at it:
Well played, Aints. Well played.
Last night, I spoke with the person behind the Twitter account (who isn’t an atheist, by the way) and was told it was all in good fun and that there was no backlash from the tweets. It’s good to know Saints fans appreciate the sarcasm and humor even if they don’t necessarily agree with the theology. For that reason alone, I hope Minnesota Atheists continues the promotion again next year; this is a fun group of people to work with.
wow...just...wow. these would have been weapons-grade ugly on the ice.
Way back in the early and mid-90s, all four major sports decided that teal was just the coolest thing around. The Florida Marlins, Jacksonville Jaguars, Vancouver Grizzlies, The Anaheim Mighty Ducks of Los Angeles-Anaheim, and San Jose Sharks (and later the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks) all came into existence in the 90s and had teal or some variant as their main or secondary color. The only ones who still have it are the Jags and Sharks. Along with other intense marketing imagery, the teal explosion disappeared almost as quickly as it was thrust upon unsuspecting children of the 90s, who were unaware of the fact that they’d one day be identified by the horrible aesthetic trends. All of those unis have a certain nostalgia attached to them, but if the Flyers had gone forward with their proposed 1995 third jersey, people may have burnt Modell’s down.
The story goes, according to Icethetics, that the NHL commissioned some third jersey designs and Ken Loh (who designed the Patriots logo we know today) was on the project:
“Ken’s talents caught the eye of Pats fan and Boston native Scott Mednick — principal of The Mednick Group, another California design agency.
‘He hired me partially due to the Patriots work,” Ken said, “but also because his firm was interested in pursuing more sports work for various leagues. He had contacts at the NHL, so that’s when my work with the NHL started.’”
After designing the bearded fella over here, Loh moved on to the next team on his list, the Flyers:
“In 1995, Ken and The Mednick Group focused their talents on the Philadelphia Flyers — one of a handful of teams set to debut an alternate jersey during the 1995-96 season.
Fueling the NHL’s desire for unorthodox new sweaters was an advance in manufacturing technology which provided for the use of color gradients and oversized graphics. Hockey jerseys would never be the same again. Or would they?”
Loh designed the jerseys above and this secondary logo:
Loh told Icethetics:
“The idea was to break the mold and be less traditional with the designs. The league … wanted us to push the envelope, which is probably why there were some pretty garish patterns and gradients being used for other third jerseys around the league. Personally, I was never a fan of that approach so I tended to stick with solid colors in my designs.
While the brief was to redesign the jersey, we were encouraged to come up with new, alternate treatments for secondary logos and wordmarks. There wasn’t really any expectation that any of the artwork we designed would replace any of the existing team logos or identities at that time.
I don’t really remember any specifics around the use of teal, but as I noted, we were encouraged to experiment with ‘bold’ statements so I imagine that was part of where that came from.”
Loh went on to say that he was not part of any discussion with the team about the logo and jersey, so he’s “not sure how the Flyers felt about the design or the specific reason it was rejected.” Taking the obsession with teal at the time into account, I don’t know why it was rejected either, but oh man thank the gods above that it was. Teal was meant for Muggsy Bogues and Mark Brunell only.
[Editor's note: We're throwing it back, back, back today. Also, I bet the Flyers' new third jerseys are the Winter Classic jerseys from 2012.]
That collar bugs me...the lack of a tie is unsettling. But I suppose that's the point.
“Am I a good man?”
The BBC released the first official trailer for the new season for Doctor Who, which includes Scottish actor Peter Capaldi's first time travels as the Doctor.
Not mentioned here, but perhaps the most surprising: the McDonald's overlooking the amusement park can't serve you a bagel with cream cheese...they only have butter.
"On the other hand, these movies are ridiculous — they’re gleeful odes to excess that never pretend to be anything else than the cinematic equivalent of a double hamburger topped with bacon sandwiched between two grilled cheeses instead of buns."
Sold. Pretty sure Jack will enjoy this, too.
The latest installment in Michael Bay’s mega-franchise is enough to make you question your own taste. So that’s what we did.
Mark Wahlberg with Lockdown in Transformers: Age of Extinction
Industrial Light & Magic/Paramount
Transformers: Age of Extinction, which opens this Friday in 4,000 theaters, is one of the biggest, noisiest, most stupid, and, yes, most dazzling movies ever made. It manages to be extremely complicated and full of nothingness at the same time. It's a feature based on an '80s Hasbro toy line that makes use of the most cutting edge filmmaking and special effects technology available. It has product placement so blatant and shameless, it's kind of awesome. It has dinosaur robots and nanobot ones, as well as a Transformer voiced by John Goodman who's basically just John Goodman in the form of a giant metal dude who can turn into a military truck. And he has a robot beard, raising so many questions about Transformer facial hair that — spoilers! — remain unanswered.
Director Michael Bay, Hollywood's über-bro and a legitimate virtuoso when it comes to pure spectacle, has overseen all four of the films in this franchise (soon to be five), and watching them for me has become a deeply conflicting experience. On one hand, these movies are ridiculous — incoherent, overlong, containing insanely terrible instances of dialogue, character development, and story twists. On the other hand, these movies are ridiculous — they're gleeful odes to excess that never pretend to be anything else than the cinematic equivalent of a double hamburger topped with bacon sandwiched between two grilled cheeses instead of buns.
With Transformers: Age of Extinction opening this week, here's my conversation with myself over how I feel about the movie. In keeping with the spirit of the franchise, I've labeled my pro side "Autobot" and the con "Decepticon."
i still can't find an Android Wear device with a form factor that i'm personally excited about, but this is pretty amazing nonetheless.
A popular topic from Google I/O has been Android Wear. Or maybe a bit more specific -- the three watches that were announced and shown off. These include the LG G Watch, Samsung Gear Live and the Moto 360. The first two watches are already available for pre-order from the Play Store, but those looking toward the Moto 360 still have some time to wait.
Motorola has been showing the Moto 360 during Google I/O. We even spent a bit of hands-on time with the watch. But it seems Motorola doesn't want to leave all the hands-on Moto 360 coverage to the press. Motorola has recently shared a 2 minute and 15 second video dubbed the Official Moto 360 Demo at Google I/O.
The Motorola video shows much of what we've already been seeing, however we suspect there are more than a few looking to see more of the circular Android Wear smartwatch. Anyway, the video offers details on the materials that make up the watch, and runs through the feature set. They also showed several of the available watchfaces, and mentioned how there would be more watchfaces coming this summer when the watch is released.
As to that last point, the video also goes with the "later this summer" timeline in terms of a release for the Moto 360. The LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live are selling for $229 and $199 respectively, but so far, Motorola hasn't offered anything in terms of Moto 360 pricing. Now seems to be the big decision -- go with one of the currently (available for pre-order models) -- or wait for the circular 360 to come available.
i love that they're continuing to do this for the 3rd straight year. the "Atheist Game 2014" logo looks like a new addition this time around.
For a couple of years now, the Minnesota Atheists have been running a promotion in which they team up with a local minor league baseball team for a day. And they’re doing it again this year, too.
That may sound strange until you consider how the promotion works.
The logos on the field will have the “S” covered up (as the picture below from last year shows), and the players will have new uniforms, too:
The player worn jerseys will be auctioned off during the game from which a portion of the proceeds will go to the Family Place Shelter in St. Paul where volunteers from the Minnesota Atheists regularly prepare and serve dinners to families without permanent housing.
“Baseball and atheism have nothing in common,” said Eric Jayne, president of Minnesota Atheists. “Except that both offer happiness and satisfaction once they’re better understood.”
Love that line
This sort of promotion is nothing new, by the way. “Faith Nights” have been taking place at baseball stadiums (including major league ones) for several years now — and very often, I might add. Just keep that in mind for when someone on the Christian Right complains about the radical agenda of the Saints’ ownership.
We’ve received a large number of requests to add a bookmarklet feature to The Old Reader. Today we are excited to be launching this functionality for our premium users. We will likely roll this functionality out to all users at some point in the future, but do not currently have a timeline in place.
The bookmarklet is quickly and easily added to your browser bookmarks and allows you to send a copy of any web page to your TOR account. Those pages are saved in the new bookmarklets section and are also searchable and sharable.
We know a lot of our users will be excited to see this new functionality and we look forward to your feedback. Thanks for using The Old Reader!
Motorola has sent around an invite for revelations of the new Moto 360, along with indications that it will also have news about Moto X and G smartphones, and possibly accessories including a headset at an event on September 4. The invite uses the classic paper fortune teller children’s game as the means to preview what’s going to be up for discussion, with graphics for each of… 
Microsoft has just kicked off Gamescom 2014 by announcing a plethora of new features coming to the Xbox One -- some you may have known about, and some not. First up is a much anticipated feature: a new app will soon turn the Xbox One into a media...
