An anonymous reader writes "Google's recent acquisition of Nest, the maker of smart thermostats and smoke detectors, has sparked concerns of future plans for the devices, and how Google's omnipresent thirst for information will affect them. Thus, a team of engineers at Spark sat down and roughed out a prototype for an open source version of Nest. It looks surprisingly good for such a short development cycle, and they've posted their code on Github. The article has a number of short videos illustrating the technology they used, and how they used it. Quoting: 'All in, we spent about $70 on components to put this together (including $39 for the Spark Core); the wood and acrylic were free. We started working at 10am and finished at 3am, with 3.5 engineers involved (one went to bed early), and the only work we did in advance was order the electronic components. We're not saying that you can build a $3.2 billion company in a day. But we are saying that you can build a $3.2 billion company, and it's easier now than it's ever been before.'"
Photographer Isa Leshko has captured the quiet beauty and stark elegance of elderly animals in the sepia tones of each photograph of her series simply titled “Elderly Animals“.
Many of the animals who were photographed for this project were reared on factory farms before they were placed into sanctuaries. Others were beloved pets who were well cared for since an early age. Some the animals in these images appear to be quite frail; others seem youthful despite their advanced ages…I also want my images to inspire greater empathy toward animals, particularly farm animals. It is very rare for a farm animal to actually live its full natural lifespan given that most of these animals experience brutality and death early in their lives. By depicting the beauty and dignity of these creatures in their later years, I want to encourage people to question and challenge the way farm animals are currently treated.
Bandai is celebrating the simultaneous 40th anniversaries of Hello Kitty and its Chogokin — a “super alloy” equivalent to Marvel’s adamantium — line of die-cast metal figures with a Chogokin Hello Kitty. The Hello Kitty mech has changing eyes, a cockpit with a miniature Hello Kitty pilot, and firing fists. It will be available for purchase in June 2014.
Having recently declared an end to his own celebrity, Shia LaBeouf has returned to the more quotidian pursuit of just being a regular guy—like, just the sort of regular, everyday asshole who's always starting shit and getting into drunken bar fights. Still, according to the edicts of LaBeouf’s "Metamodernism Manifesto"—which is, naturally, stolen—even these acts are plagiarized, so as to acknowledge the limitations inherent to all movement and experience and having behavioral issues.
LaBeouf’s latest work of transcendent copying involved getting into another fight at Hobgoblin, the same London pub where he had a similar altercation in 2012. Adding the slightly revised dialogue that is the hallmark of any good work of plagiarized art, this time LaBeouf confronted a fellow patron who’d apparently insulted his girlfriend’s mom. “What are you saying about my girl’s mom? Are you fucking kidding me, bro?” LaBeouf says in ...
DETROIT—Uttering an audible sigh of frustration as he noticed the franchise’s name in the classified ad, unemployed Detroit resident Chris Segel, 34, reportedly expressed disappointment Friday upon realizing the job opening he’d been con...
I'm a prof at PSU and we're working without a contract and dealing with an administration (who gives itself pay raises) who want to charge the students more and give them less. Students may very well have their classes and graduation plans altered by a strike. If this bothers you, get involved. Support faculty and tell President Wiewel to come clean about the REAL PSU budget.
this year's cornerback class also went to Hogwarts
Darqueze Dennard Loucheiz Purifoy Antone Exum Pierre Desir (from Lindenwood, obv. a wizard school)
The 2014 NFL Draft cornerback class has a little something for everyone.
More than any other position, cornerback has become one where each team has a certain preference in what it is looking for. One team will value a tall cornerback with long arms that excels in press coverage, like Justin Gilbert of Oklahoma State. Another team would prefer a cornerback with the quick feet, recognition and ball skills to play in off man coverage, like TCU's Jason Verrett.
The 2014 NFL Draft cornerback class has a little something for everyone. For every press cornerback there is one better suited to play in the slot or in a zone coverage scheme. The biggest riser in our latest rankings is Missouri cornerback E.J. Gaines. Once he got healthy in his senior season, he really picked up his play. He's better suited to play in a zone coverage scheme given his lack of size and strength.
We have a total of 30 cornerbacks ranked at this point. Here's the full list.
Angry Birds, Rovio Entertainment’s blockbuster mobile game turned multimedia sensation, will continue its global conquest of pop culture in June, when IDW Publishing launches a comics adaptation by such creators as Jeff Parker and Paul Tobin. “We’re very happy to be in business with Rovio on Angry Birds comics,” IDW Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall said in [...]
Most consoles have seen a sales bump in their second holiday season. The Wii U did not. Data source: NPD reports culled from various online reports.
Kyle Orland
NPD released its estimates of US console sales for December last night. While neither the tracking firm nor Nintendo released specific sales figures for the Wii U in that period, the information we do have indicates the Wii U's sales in its second holiday season (e.g., November and December) were at or below those for its first holiday season.
NPD didn't offer specifics, but it did note that December was the Wii U's "highest month for unit sales thus far," meaning it surpassed the 460,000 mark the system achieved last December. However, the Wii U also finished behind the Xbox One, PS4, and Xbox 360 for the month, meaning it sold fewer than the Xbox 360's reported 640,000 December sales.
Putting that range together with the previously reported November data and sales data from last year, we can figure the Wii U selling anywhere from 3,000 to 210,000 fewer units in its second holiday season in the US, compared to its first, as shown in the chart above. Historically, that puts its year-to-year performance somewhere between that of the original Xbox and Gamecube, both of which languished behind the market-dominating PlayStation 2 in their console generation.
After Nestle blocked Cadbury’s bid to trademark the color purple used for its chocolate wrappers, the U.K. confectioner has turned the tables on its Swiss rival, opposing a similar attempt by Nestle to protect the shape of its KitKat bar.
in case you were wondering where Key & Peele get their East-West football player name inspirations from, please see Ha'Sean "HaHa" Clinton-Dix and Jadeveon Clowney
Can anyone challenge Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix for the top spot in our safety rankings?
There are very few teams in the NFL who don't need help at the safety position. The 2013 NFL Draft had a loaded safety class, but it was the first one in years with enough depth to provide the NFL some talent at the position. The 2014 draft can't quite stack up to 2013, there are quite a few safeties available who could start as rookies.
Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix is likely to get pushed up draft boards as the top safety in the class. He has a combination of instincts and range that will make him a fun piece to work with on defense. Calvin Pryor has picked up buzz in recent weeks as well, but it's Northern Illinois safety Jimmie Ward who is worth watching. He has a chance to make a statement at the Senior Bowl next week, where he, Ahmad Dixon and Deone Bucannon will all be competing.
We have a total of 24 safeties ranked. Here's our full list.
Ever since my dad got an iPad last year, he sees it fit to multitask: Read an article, and text me about it. Building new connections across the Internet.
"I tweeted that venmo should pay me every time I see their shitty ad on the Bedford L"
Venmo's response: a $28 credit, one dollar for every day in February
New York-based payment startup Venmo has been getting some flack for a pretty "lame" ad campaign running in the city's subway. Unbeknownst to most, they already responded to the issue incredibly well.
The New York Times has found a replacement for David Pogue, its high-profile tech reviewer: Sources say the Times is filling his old slot with Farhad Manjoo, the Wall Street Journal columnist who recently joined that paper.
The scientific advances of the Renaissance might've propelled human understanding of the world around us forward, but much of Europe still remained deeply superstitious during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This superstition is exposed in beautiful, eerie color by TASCHEN's Book of Wonders, a collection of images that originated from the city of Augsberg in the 1550s. Collectors Weekly looks closely at the book, poring through its depictions of strange beasts, burning logs, and bouncing yellow sky-balls to understand a time of "great ambivalence" in which the Protestant populace of northern Europe was consumed by religious antipathy and a sincere belief that these strange signs showed the world was about to end.
oh no is Illustrator becoming usable now? but only in CC?
fuuuuuck
Breaking News! Illustrator CC’s “Live Corners” Are AMAZING!
Yesterday, Adobe released updates to many of their Creative Cloud applications, including Illustrator (which is now at version 17.1, if you can believe it!).For me, the absolute standout feature is “Live Corners”, which is a game changer for the design and production of transit maps. Gone are the inconsistent and unpredictable results produced by the “Round Corners” effect, and my trusty but time-consuming workaround – using a set of master curves and manually cutting-and-pasting them into the artwork – would now seem to be a thing of the past.
Using Live Corners couldn’t be easier: simply use the Direct Selection (white-tipped) arrow to select the point that you want to edit. A new little circular widget should appear next to the point. If you can’t see it, go to the View menu and select “Show Corner Widgets”.
Double-click on the widget to bring up the new “Corners” dialog box, where you can choose the type of corner you’d like: curve, reverse curve or bevel. Then, enter your required value for the radius of the curve, which is finally, finally, an actual real radius measured from the centre point of the curve.
The “Rounding” options allow you to choose between relative and absolute methods of defining the corner. Absolute gives the most accurate results, while relative values seem to give an (unacceptably) exaggerated sharpness to the curve. Click “OK” and you’re done!
In my example, I’ve used an 8 point radius for both Yellow Lines, and a 16 point radius for the Red Lines. As you can see, the resulting corner curves all have identical centre points, regardless of whether the curve is at 90 or 135 degrees! I’ve also tested with a range of other angles and results are perfect every time.
Put simply, this is a huge time-saver and will ensure consistent – but still editable – results every time. I just wish this feature had turned up before I manually added curves to 90 percent of my new US Highways/Interstate map!
Winner of Texas rhino hunt auction fears for safety The Times (subscription) A hunter who paid $350,000 for the right to hunt and kill an endangered African black rhino says he has had to hire full-time security after receiving death threats. Corey Knowlton became a figure of hate after his name was leaked on to the internet after his ...
"Now it just like the worst single serif on an italic sans serif ever."
Everyone Everywhere Ever Very
(Est. 1958) "Visa is a global digital payments network that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. […] Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products."
Design by: N/A
Opinion/Notes: Um… why? Talk about absolutely unnecessary change. Removing the yellow strand makes no sense whatsoever and it doesn't support any of the positioning malarkey. Now it just like the worst single serif on an italic sans serif ever.
Select Quote: For decades, Visa, the global digital payments network, has been driven by a set of ideals anchored in our vision of being the "best way to pay and be paid." This has expanded in recent years to include "for everyone, everywhere." By evolving our famous tagline — "It's everywhere you want to be" — the company is recommitting to these ideals and vision for consumers, merchants, governments, financial institutions and employees with a unified message tailored to each audience.
With a new tagline, as well as a refreshed brand logo, Visa is introducing a new visual identity for one of the most recognized and powerful brands in the world.
The first external expression of the new platform debuts today with a new Olympic-themed television commercial airing in the United States, and then expanding to reach key audiences through variety of other traditional and digital channels in the coming months.
Logo detail.Olympics ad.Animated evolution of the Visa logo.Visa's Chief Brand Officer explains the change and new positioning.
CBR News spoke with Matt Fraction about his upcoming Image Comics series "Ody-C," the success of "Sex Criminals" and what his future might hold at Marvel.
