The founder of audio firm Bose, Dr Amar Bose, has died aged 83. He wasn’t simply the boss of a high-priced equipment manufacturer, but a major player in acoustical engineering.
He studied electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and, after a spell in India, taught at MIT for 45 years, including a class on acoustics.
Bose began working on producing audio equipment after noting that expensive speakers didn’t accurately recreate the experience of live music. His big breakthrough was realizing that the acoustic set-up in concert halls and theaters could be mirrored in home audio.
While an estimated 80 percent of the sound in a concert hall reaches the listener by bouncing off a wall or ceiling, home audio equipment at the time largely worked by simply beaming the sound directly at the listener. Bose developed speaker units that housed a series of multiple small speakers pointing in different directions to get a mix of direct and reflected sound.
The set-up of the resulting business was also unusual. Deciding against accepting offers for the patents, Bose took $10,000 from an MIT professor, YW Lee, to set up the firm. (It proved a smart investment as Bose later bought Lee out for $260,000.)
Despite the company’s success, grossing a reported $2.28 billion in 2011, Bose opted to keep the company in private hands. He argued this allowed him to do a better job of developing new ideas without the need to meet the “artificial” timetable of bringing good news to investors with annual and quarterly reports. Upon retiring in 2011, he gave a majority of the company’s shares to MIT; the set-up means the institute gets an annual dividend, but can’t vote or sell the shares.
Later Bose creations included noise-cancelling headphones and software that could simulate the listening experience in individual seats of a concert venue even before it was constructed.
From accelerometers to compasses, you probably won't really use most of your phone's boring features all that often. Still, a few apps really leverage some of the stranger things your phone can do. Here are a few of our favorites.
Android: The HTC One and Galaxy S4 Google Editions ship with a new and improved Camera app that adds features like PhotoSphere and an improved settings menu. Thanks to some enterprising users, that APK is in the wild and available to anyone who wants to give it a whirl.
To kick-off our series of Ultimate Guides about what WordPress can do, we will start by showing you how to build a blog the easiest way possible. From hosting to writing your very first post! This tutorial is meant for people who have zero experience building websites, now you know!
People blog for many reasons, among these reasons are to express what they feel, share what they know, or maybe just to keep an online journal available for public viewing. Sounds neat, yes?
Don’t know how to build a blog?
Don’t know where to start?
Let us help you with this Ultimate Guide on how to Build a Blog. The only guide that you will ever need.
No coding necessary. Just you and a tiny bit of your time.
A few reminders regarding self-hosted and free blogs:
self-hosted blogs cost money, either monthly or yearly
self-hosted blogs, in every sense, are more professional
self-hosted blogs give you total control over features and scalability
free blogs are, well, free and you won’t have to setup anything
free blogs are the way to go if you’re just thinking of having an online journal, nothing serious
free blogs have a set of fixed features – with this you won’t have to touch a single line of code
Self-hosted means you’ll have a domain name of www.yourname.com, while a free blog will give you yourname.blogspot.com. In any case, we will focus on self-hosted blogs in this guide.
Here’s a quick video on how to host your own blog and install WordPress:
Note on Free WordPress themes: there are shady free WordPress themes out there that have hidden spam links in their codes, and you won’t notice them until it’s too late (or you won’t notice them at all). These can hijack your WordPress blog or even be a risk to your data. So, always download from reputable sources. The two free WordPress themes I’ve listed below are clean and well-made. I highly recommend them.
Sidebar tabs for latest and popular posts, including random posts and tags.
41 available fonts.
Advertisement support.
How to Install a Theme
Installing a WordPress theme is easy, all you need to do is login to your dashboard and hover your cursor on “Appearance” and a window will slide out, click on “Themes”.
After clicking on “Themes” a new page will appear. By default you will see two themes for the fresh installation. In order to install a new WordPress theme, you need to click on “Install Themes”.
Now you have two options:
Install via upload
Install via search
To install by uploading, of course you will need to download the WordPress theme files. After doing so, simply click on Upload.
The next steps will be pretty straightforward:
after clicking upload, a new page will appear
click on “choose file” and select your WordPress .zip file
click “install now”
followed by “Activate”
Your new WordPress theme is now ready!
Recommended Plugins
For the setup of each plugin, it would be impractical to write a step-by-step guide for each of them since the authors of these plugins have written a guide themselves. All you need to do is follow the links and read the guides – in-depth and to the point!
The most recommended caching plugin for WordPress. What it does is it speeds up your blog, making your website a more desirable experience for every user. It can also save you bandwidth, as it minimizes the downloads and requests made by the user from your server.
Bandwidth is the amount of data your server can accommodate. The more people downloads or requests your website gets, the more bandwidth you are using. When you reach your maximum bandwidth, your website will run very slow and might even go offline.
You can find an in-depth installation guide for W3 Total Cache on the download page itself. It’s tedious, but the time you spend making it work will benefit you in the long run.
The best SEO plugin for WordPress to boost your website’s traffic from search engines. This is how people find your website based on your content and based on their searches. Based on your text content and keywords that you use, people will find you easier.
Everything from your first sentence, focus keyword, title, and page URL will help bolster your ranks on search engines. The plugin will straight up tell you what you need to do, especially under the Page Analysis tab. All you need to do is follow the instructions given.
The example above is a simplistic approach to things just to give you an idea of how it works. In reality, if you want to dominate search engines with your blog you will need to do keyword research and find the perfect keyword for you.
Social media buttons are a necessity today for websites to increase promotion across social media sites. How will people like or tweet or pin your blog post if you don’t have this cool floating bar right beside your blog post? It’s non-obtrusive and won’t make your blog run slow. I use it for my blogs!
LinkWithin is useful for blogs with tens to hundreds of posts to boast, as it shows thumbnails of related posts at the end of each blog post. This will help your readers discover more of your blog’s content!
Let’s admit it, the default WordPress commenting system is bland. With Disqus, you can encourage more discussions by activating numerous rewarding features, both for you and for the commenters.
How to Install a Plugin
Pretty much the same as you do with WordPress themes, you just need to hover on Plugins then click on “Add New”.
To upload a .zip file, just click on “Upload”.
Followed by choosing the file and installing it. After this, all you need to do is click “install now” and “activate”.
To install using the built-in search page, simply click on “Search” and type what you are looking for.
In my case I searched for “All in One SEO”.
So, from here on it’s simple to follow. Just click on “Install Now” and you’re all set!
You can’t be certain what will happen to your website, so backing up your database and files on a separate location other than your server is highly recommended. It’s free and automatic!
2. How to Create a Favicon
What is a Favicon? Check your browser’s tab for 1stwebdesigner.com and you will see a small icon. You want to have one too? Sure!
Resources:
Faviconer - this is where you will create your favicon, or you can design it using Photoshop or Gimp, just be sure to keep a 16×16 or 32×32 size.
FileZilla - an FTP client so we can install FileZilla. WARNING: don’t fiddle around here too much since you will be dealing with your website’s files directly. Any changes will affect your live website.
Steps:
Prepare your favicon (and don’t forget to name it favicon.ico).
Using FileZilla, login to your FTP.
Host: ftp.yourname.com (just change it with your own domain, prefixed by ftp).
Username: you can find this under FTP of your Bluehost dashboard.
Password: the password you used to login on your dashboard.
Port: usually it’s port 21
Once logged in, you will see a list of folders to your right. Click on public_html.
Upload your favicon.ico here, replacing the default one.
Wait for the file to propagate!
Profit!
Find your FTP details here:
This is how FileZilla looks. Click on public_html to find your Favicon.ico.
Easy, right? Just be sure to not tell anyone what your password is! This is basically the brain of your blog!
Next is to fill up all the necessary fields and check/uncheck what you deem necessary.
After setting it all up, click on Get Code. A window will popup and you’ll just need to copy the code.
Hey, don’t judge. I’m lazy, so I just usually use the Iframe version. With HTML5 and the rest I’ll have to insert the code in two different locations, but with the Iframe version I’ll just have to paste it as a widget in my sidebar.
That’s it! You’ll soon see your Facebook like box on your sidebar.
What’s a Blog Anyway?
A blog is more of a general feel than a specific category. It can be used as a means of sharing your ideas and interests – be it personal or for a cause. There are people who blog for money, there are those who blog about their daily lives. It depends on how you want to use a blog.
A few types of Blogs:
Personal – it speaks for itself. A blog where people share whatever is in their heads.
Niche – a blog focused on a specific category, or a range of it such as 1stwebdesigner with the web design and web development categories.
Micro-niche – micro-niche blogs are similar to niche blogs, only the topic is very specific. Example categories are: weight loss, TV reviews, power tools, meditation, and many more.
For the last two, people often leverage the traffic they receive and convert them into revenue via advertisements or affiliate sales.
Note on Recommendations
All of the items I have recommended here, save for the paid WordPress themes, have been personally used and tested by me. From the hosting provider Bluehost down to the free WordPress plugins and tips. I know that they work really well, and I hope you’ll find the same thing true!
Questions about your setup?
If you have questions about your setup don’t forget to comment below! I will try my best to help you!
If you have additional tips, feel free to post them below!
While visiting an estate in Ontario's Niagara Falls two years ago, a film enthusiast stumbled upon a rare World War I Richard Verascope stereo camera previously owned by the French Army. Here's what he found inside.
Game developer Tom Davies created a first-person shooter Pac-Man game called, well, “FPS-Man,” and if you wanted to take a creepy ride on this magic carpet, you can play it for FREE on Kongregate!
The <canvas> element has been a revelation for the visual experts among our ranks. Canvas provides the means for incredible and efficient animations with the added bonus of no Flash; these developers can flash their awesome JavaScript skills instead. Here are nine unbelievable canvas demos that will make your jaw drop!
1. Zen Photon Garden
The Zen Photon Garden demo is the epitome of mind-blowing. This epic canvas demo allows for drawing on the canvas with reactive light streams, allowing the user to see the end product of their new line will be. Even better, this demo allows you to save and load output.
The Tear-able Cloth demo has set the web alight over the past few months and for good reason. This demo is the smoothest you’ll see and considering the task it accomplishes and the how little code is involved, it will take your breath away. There’s more to it than simple pulling and physics — the animation and needing to account for pulling hard enough to elegantly animate a tear makes this demo even more amazing. A perfect illustration of canvas’ capabilities.
It’s hard describe this demo outside of “ftw”. This demo animates color, position, connection lines, and opacity, all the while animating smooth as a baby’s….it’s really smooth. Marvel at this beast.
I wish I could describe how this effect is done but I can’t. I see that each letter is comprised of different image data, but that’s about it. What I can say is this animation is absolutely mind-blowing, as letters animate into place and the aspect at which you see the text depends on your mouse position. Shocking.
As if the first wasn’t impressive enough, the second MGT demo is one worthy of a Pulitzer Prize. I’d give up my second, third, and eighth-born to be this clever. Not only does the text animate but there’s an incredible colored blur that’s part of the animation. This demo is truly a sight to behold.
Now only did this demo blow my mind, but it also blew my CPU. This exercise uses your device’s camera and microphone to move a cube of data based on gestures. If you have a MacBook Pro, you shouldn’t die before trying this out. Start the demo and flail your arms about — you’ll se the demo content move about and then start believing in spirits.
You can’t cover the awesomeness of canvas without including at least one game. Canvas is arguably the future of HTML5 gaming, as Firefox OS will soon demonstrate. This brilliant but simple bike game shows that canvas is ready for prime time!
The 30k Particles demo incorporates some really awesome stuff: circular shapes (radius), animated exploding and returning particles, and mouse listeners to allow the user to control the explosions. An excellent example of interactivity and logic.
I must pay homage to one of the first truly eye-catching canvas demos I saw — an explodable canvas video. You click the video and pieces explode, yet the video keeps playing its segment/position during the explosion while it returns to its original position. An inspiring demo to to all of us.
Android (Rooted): If your battery won't make it through the day, Greenify is a handy utility that will automatically hibernate battery hogging apps that linger in the background after you're finished using them. We tried it out, and it works like a charm.
Having trouble trying to mount the Google Nexus 4 on Ubuntu 12.04 or 12.10? Judging by our post-bag over the last few months you wouldn’t be alone.
Like all Nexus models, the Nexus 4 doesn’t come with any form of inbuilt expandable storage. everything saves directly to the flash memory inside.
This might make things quicker to access on your phone, but makes it a little troublesome to access them from within Ubuntu!
Linux being Linux there are, of course, a stack of solutions addressing this, letting you access and transfer files between your computer and your Nexus handset with relative ease.
It’s aimed specifically at Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and 12.10, and requires the installation of a backported version of the GVFS – the GNOME Virtual File System – that supports the newer MTP protocol used on Nexus devices.
Using Ubuntu 13.04? The good news is that required packages are already available, so you don’t need to follow this step.
Open a terminal and issue the following two commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:langdalepl/gvfs-mtp
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
After installing I’d recommend giving your system a reboot just to make sure everything takes effect. If all has gone well the next time you connect your Nexus you should be able to access it directly in Nautilus.
Manish’s Method
If the steps above don’t work then all is not lost – reader Manish A. S. mailed us with a comprehensive guide to his preferred solution, telling us:
“I have tried many different methods to mount my Nexus 4 on Ubuntu and none have ever truly worked. Finally after much surfing I found the following to work (thanks to XDA Developers).”
He’s prepped a 9-step guide, available to download by hitting the button below:
Up until now, we've only seen scattered images of Hollywood's whitewashed vision for Akira. But with the movie adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's Manga dead in the water the internet has become a dumping ground of Akira concept art. Including this completely insane first look at Tetsuo's big climax. We have no idea how they could have pulled this scene off. Check it out.
Over the weekend, author Iain M. Banks died of cancer — just two months after announcing that he had less than a year to live. He left behind some of the greatest works of science fiction ever written. Here are eleven Banksian rules of good SF writing, that we would do well to remember long into the future.
What kind of military would you need to wage a war in space? You've got your Napoleonic space navies, which can lay waste to one another in empty sections of space. You've got space marines, who are armored up and ready to kill anything that moves. And finally, you've got the fighter jocks, who run interference and find those vulnerable, womp rat-sized holes to exploit. But are these representations actually realistic?
Curata Rader offers a clean and simple news reading experience and imports directly from the soon-to-be defunct Google Reader. However, underneath its minimal exterior you'll find customizable filters to help you create the perfect news feed.
Love Minus Eighty is a dystopian novel of manners set in a social media-saturated world. It's also about a future where one company has the power to cryogenically freeze beautiful women who die young — and rich men can revive them briefly for "dates," or long-term binding marriage contracts. We've got an excerpt.
One of the neat shout-outs in Star Trek Into Darkness is a set of models on Admiral Marcus' desk, depicting the entire history of flight, from the Wright Brothers up to the U.S.S. Kelvin. And those models are available for sale from Quantum Mechanix, and we've got the exclusive high-res photos.
Iain M. Banks has had two astoundingly great careers — with the middle initial, he's one of the most influential and brilliant science fiction authors of the past 25 years. Without it, he's a great literary author. And some people believe he did the science fiction to subsidize his literary work. If anything, it's the reverse.
