In this video posted by StudioSinga, a group of munchkin kittens are bit unsure about a spider robot who just wants to play with them. Boasting a camera that allows for close up kitty pictures along with dangle toys and flying discs, the robot has everything a kitty could want and eventually, following an older cat’s lead, the kittens warmed up to their playful friend and a fun time was had by all.
You can watch the daily antics of these adorable kittens on the Lion Eye website.
The show ended because Showtime decided they did not want to be the gay network anymore, removing it from the website, despite still keeping Queer as Folk intact.
Link (Thanks, Alex)
Google is launching a new versionof its Sheets spreadsheet site today that it says is faster, more powerful, and can work offline. With the addition of offline mode, Google now has a much more formidable competitor against productivity giants like Microsoft Office. Its three main tools — Docs, Slides, and Sheets — all work offline now, allowing travelers to rely on Google's sites to have their files ready and editable whenever they're needed.
Alongside adding in offline mode, Google says that the new Sheets has been rebuilt from the ground up to make it much faster. It removes size and complexity limits on columns, cells, and formulas, and it tries to make using those formulas a bit easier by displaying examples of them as you begin to enter one. The new version of Sheets won't be replacing the old one immediately, but Google says that anyone who wants to try it will be able to just by turning it on in the site's settings menu.
firehoseno god only shiba
A grumpy Shiba Inu reluctantly gives up his bone at his owner’s command in this 2010 video. The well-behaved dog’s self control pays off, since his owner gives the yummy snack right back.
video via mamasukoburubin
firehoseGreg Gopman, and his company, AngelHack, offer no apparent utility or value to our planet. It's a startup that begets other startups, a hackathon for hackathons, an engorged, vomiting ouroboros in reverse. His pride orbits around organizing the "largest hackathons" in history—and given that a hackathon doesn't mean much of anything, that's about as weighty as telling the world's longest knock knock joke, or blowing a trillion soap bubbles.
But Gopman thinks he's earned some sort of high social spot, from which he can type out horrid Facebook updates like this one:
"Just got back to SF. I've traveled around the world and I gotta say there is nothing more grotesque than walking down market st in San Francisco. Why the heart of our city has to be overrun by crazy, homeless, drug dealers, dropouts, and trash I have no clue. Each time I pass it my love affair with SF dies a little."
He's very slightly right, in that large portions of San Francisco are full of people who need help. But help doesn't come in the form of ugly Facebook remarks—it comes in the form of help. To make it absolutely clear that he's condemning these people and not lamenting their situation, he writes further:
"The difference is in other cosmopolitan cities, the lower part of society keep to themselves. They sell small trinkets, beg coyly, stay quiet, and generally stay out of your way. They realize it's a privilege to be in the civilized part of town and view themselves as guests. And that's okay.
In downtown SF the degenerates gather like hyenas, spit, urinate, taunt you, sell drugs, get rowdy, they act like they own the center of the city. Like it's their place of leisure... In actuality it's the business district for one of the wealthiest cities in the USA. It a disgrace. I don't even feel safe walking down the sidewalk without planning out my walking path.
You can preach compassion, equality, and be the biggest lover in the world, but there is an area of town for degenerates and an area of town for the working class. There is nothing positive gained from having them so close to us. It's a burden and a liability having them so close to us. Believe me, if they added the smallest iota of value I'd consider thinking different, but the crazy toothless lady who kicks everyone that gets too close to her cardboard box hasn't made anyone's life better in a while."
Dear Santa,
I am a ten-month-old baby and I write because my mother has been sending out my “Christmas List” to people, and her list does not in any way represent the things I really want. I could give two s#*ts about receiving stacking cups.
And I know you’re ready to make the joke about ten month-old babies and how all we want is the wrapping paper and the boxes. Touché, Santa. Touché. We do, of course, want those things. But I have a number of additional things I want very badly.
My list is enclosed below. Have a lovely holiday.
-Ten Month-Old Baby
* * *
Dearest Santa: For Christmas, I would like the following:
* * *
I want this laptop cord more than I have ever wanted anything. Please. I also want the power strip with the orange on/off button and the white label on the other cord pictured (the one not connected to the laptop). I would be ok with just a bunch of electrical cords in general, but I would really love these specific ones that are located behind my mother’s desk next to the air-conditioner (whose cord I also want).
* * *
I have no idea why my mother does not want me to play with this thing, as it is obviously a child’s toy. I would like one for my room.
* * *
I would love a set of house keys. To eat, obviously. Only metal house keys will do. Please do not buy me plastic ones. I am not an idiot. I know that plastic house keys are not real keys.
* * *
I pull these off the face of every person I meet, only to have them pried from my fingers and reclaimed by their original owners. I would love a pair of my own. Again, these are going to be for eating.
* * *
I would love for the contents of this thing to be emptied out onto the floor– particularly things like used, wet cotton balls and discarded pieces of floss. If you would like to just take the contents of this bin and transfer it directly into my stocking, that would also be fine.
* * *
This stuff is the best. I keep trying to pull it off but she moves frequently, making collection difficult. My favorite thing to do with it is put it in my mouth and then immediately realize that I didn’t want it in my mouth.
* * *
Such a strange existential dilemma. I spend hours looking at this hole and poking at it with my fingers. I know that I cannot “have” a hole, as a hole is not a thing that can be had. A hole is an absence. And yet this is supposed to be a list of the things I want, and I want this hole in the hardwood floor the way Gandhi wanted peace. The way the dog wants to lick my face. The way my mother wants me to stop pulling off her eyeglasses.
* * *
I have no idea what this stuff is. All I know is that I want it in my hands and no sooner have I grasped its sweet, delicate softness than my mother comes running over yelling something like, “STOP TOUCHING THAT– HOW OFTEN DO I HAVE TO F*#%ING VACUUM THE G*#@&MN HALLWAY?”
* * *
Every time I get close to this, someone pulls me away. If they don’t want me to eat it, why is it on the floor?
* * *
No idea what these do, but it’s clearly a lot of fun, given that my mother never stops looking at it.
* * *
These are my favorite! If I had a nickel for every bobby pin I found on the floor I’d have double the number of little metal things I could put in my mouth because, go figure, I also totally love nickels.
Amazon is finally launching AmazonFresh, its $299-a-year grocery service, in select zip codes of San Francisco. It is now the third city to enjoy the program, as the service was previously limited to Seattle and Los Angeles.
Amazon Prime for Vegetables
The confirmation follows whispers last week that Amazon was readying for the launch. Numerous sightings of the AmazonFresh signature green trucks were noted throughout the city, and a source at AllThingsD stated that the launch would come early this week. Today, six months after the program launched in Los Angeles, SF residents can sign up for same- or next-day grocery delivery with a Prime Fresh account after a 30-day free trial.
This launch likely won't be the last for six-year-old service. Reuters reported earlier this year that AmazonFresh may expand into 20 new markets — including some outside the US — in 2014.
firehosethanks, Gandy
Last week, when I did my public service in passing on to you the smokin' deal they are offering at new wood fired N Williams pizza joint Life of Pie (a $5, 11" margherita plus $3 beers and wines daily 11 am-6 pm until they decide to stop, AKA go now before it's too late), it caught the attention of the powers that be, and guess who ended up at the Monday night press preview?
So now I write again, having sampled more than half of the pies on the menu, along with the contrastingly bright and refreshing kale and arugula salad (punched up with honey, lemon, and parmesan), and one arancini—the risotto croquette appetizer that, I'm told, gets most of its creaminess from starches rather than butter and cheese, though you wouldn't know it by how decadent it tastes atop its shallow pool of simple and flawless marinara sauce.
As for the main event: pizza. I put the following in my mouth (despite being 90% vegetarian 90% of the time): the margherita in question (so good I couldn't pace myself; I ate two slices even though I knew there were more varieties on the way. Super thin crust, only lightly charred, and another point of proof that house-made mozzarella makes all the difference); seasonal mushrooms with shaved pecorino romano and truffle oil (a white pie with satisfying mushroom dankness, though I preferred the mellow bites that evaded truffle drizzling, simply because it is so strong that it crowds everything else); bacon, goat cheese, and roasted leeks (not bad at all, though much subtler than those ingredients prepped me for, and not as interesting as some of the other combos); fennel sausage and Mama Lil's peppers (our favorite, with zesty chunks of fresh sausage sharing the stage with local pickled peppers that walk a perfect line between spicy and sweet); and salami, those great peppers again, goat cheese, and honey (chef Jason Kallingal made us one special since I was so curious, and the balance works amazingly well. It might be a bit intense for an entire serving, but if you are taking the wise route of sharing several pies among friends, don't miss this adventurous signature).
Hit the break for a couple more shots of the space, including the legendary, huge oven that Kallingal says still retains 450 degrees when he gets to work in the morning.
Many people know David Lynch as the film director behind dense, alternatively plotted art movies like Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire. But he is more. He is also a teacher of transcendental meditation, an advocate for cow-based movie marketing, and a weatherman. He is also a musician with two full-length albums to his credit. His latest, The Big Dream, came out this past July.
A special edition of The Big Dream will be available for download later this month, and will sport two new tracks and a couple of remixes. One of those remixes, of Lynch's song We Roll Together by Swedish producer Björn Yttling, is now available online. It features a heavily distorted Lynch intoning mysterious portents like 'Smokestack barking' and 'Went down to the ice cream store' over a minimalist backing track. It's actually pretty effective in an eerie, hypnotic way, not unlike most of Lynch's work.
If we want to remain faithful to Mandela's legacy, we should thus forget about celebratory crocodile tears and focus on the unfulfilled promises his leadership gave rise to. We can safely surmise that, on account of his doubtless moral and political greatness, he was at the end of his life also a bitter old man, well aware how his very political triumph and his elevation into a universal hero was the mask of a bitter defeat. His universal glory is also a sign that he really didn't disturb the global order of power.
firehose"As ever, channel owners can easily dispute Content ID claims if they believe those claims are invalid," added the spokesperson.
Google has responded to widespread outrage at its recent crackdown on game videos on YouTube.
In recent days the company has sent out thousands of copyright infringement notices to video producers of game walk-throughs and Let's Plays. These notices deprive producers of advertising revenues. The notices are generated by an automatic system called Content ID.
"We recently enabled Content ID scanning on channels identified as affiliates of MCNs [Multi Channel Networks]," a Google spokesperson told Polygon. "This has resulted in new copyright claims for some users, based on policies set by the relevant content owners."
Some games companies including Ubisoft, Capcom, Blizzard and Deep Silver have stated that they have made no copyright claims, and have urged video producers to contest claims.
"As ever, channel owners can easily dispute Content ID claims if they believe those claims are invalid," added the spokesperson.
Polygon will have more on this story in the days ahead.
Martin Freeman: Talented actor, serial middle-finger flipper, and awesome interviewee answered a few questions for Showbiz 411, and his answers may surprise you. Unless, of course, you already know that Martin Freeman answers most interview questions as ridiculously as possible.
    
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firehose"Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition is being cancelled not for technical reasons, but that Activison -- the game's publisher -- won't allow for the title to be released on Linux."
firehose'The City of Austin is considering a rules change that would allow Google to pay AT&T to use its utility poles, but AT&T isn't happy about it.'
all carriers suck forever
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
For Wearable Futures’ Futures 10 exhibition, I made a CCTV surveillance detector. Watch the video below or on Vimeo to find out more.
The spaulder is a traditional component of medieval plate armour, designed to protect the wearer from unexpected and unseen blows from above. The Surveillance Spaulder continues this tradition into the present day – and the electromagnetic spectrum – alerting the wearer to the violence of ubiquitous surveillance.
The spaulder contains a CCTV detector, based on a design by anonymous security researcher Puking Monkey. The detector filters the light it collects through a 730nm bandpass filter to isolate the infrared lighting used in most commonly-deployed CCTV cameras. When it receives a signal, it pulses electric current through a pair of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) pads attached to the wearer’s shoulder, causing them to twitch sharply.
The spaulder is an inversion of the more common operation of wearable technology, wherein information is gathered and emitted to the environment and the network, quantifying and identifying the user. Instead, it focuses information on the body and draws the wearer’s attention to the external systems trained upon them.
More critically, the spaulder physicalises the policeman in the mind, providing tactile feedback, akin to a tap on the shoulder, every time one comes under the gaze of power, and turning the gentle caress of the surveillance state into a sharp reminder that we inhabit a world of overlapping, unequal and often conflicting information flows.
Video at Vimeo, with thanks to Asylum Films / More photos at Flickr
* Disclaimer: This is one of those much – and often fairly – maligned design fictions. The spaulder is not currently a functioning device, due to component shortages and electrical ineptness, hence the over-acting in the above video. Nevertheless, given the correct components and power supply, such a device is more than possible. For more information, including circuit diagrams, see this excellent presentation by Puking Monkey on locational privacy, ALPR/ANPR, EZ-Pass and much more. (The site appears to be a little flakey, but there is a full description of the presentation below, and you can read more about the EZ-Pass hack here and elsewhere.)
firehoselearn 2 gaben
Valve's Newell promotes 'Hour of Code' learning campaign, EA gives games to participants originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 11 Dec 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
firehosemy dream
Oscar the Boston Terrier lounges around in a bed full of Milk Bone treats in this video by zoechick72.
Even after I gave him one of the treats and my chihuahua Sadie stole one from the pile, he wanted to stay where he was. He could have gotten up at any time and he was actually falling asleep a few times!
image via Oscar the Boston Terrier
via Cute Overload
firehoseall carriers suck forever; everything is always watching
AT&T's "GigaPower" all-fiber network has launched in parts of Austin, Texas, with a price of $70 per month for download speeds of 300Mbps (which will be upgraded to a gigabit at no extra cost in 2014).
The $70 price is only available if you agree to see targeted ads from AT&T and its partners, however. Interestingly, AT&T labels the Internet service with targeted ads as its "premier" service while calling the service without targeted ads "standard."
Not only is the price of the premier service (with ads) only $70 a month, but it comes with a waiver of equipment, installation, and activation fees. The standard service without ads is $99 a month, and there's no mention of a waiver in AT&T's announcement. "The waiver is part of the Premier package, so is not available with the standard service at this time," AT&T told Ars.
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firehosedude's name is Marvey'o Otey
IRL martians y'all
You've never seen this happen.
firehoseCIBO MATTO BEAT; Reggie Watts beat
firehose'And besides, I don't know that the current Doctor Who guys have given us any reason to believe they'll be any worse at writing female characters than anyone else. Amy Pond, River Song and Clara have all been pretty good. Sure, the show has other writing problems, but I've never considered the female characters to be one of them.'
by: Rob Bricken
Look, before we get started, let me assure you all that I know the character is called The Doctor, and not Doctor Who. But you can't just have an article headline, even on io9, that only mentions the Doctor, because many people won't realize you're referring to Doctor Who. The same is true in my time, but inevitably some Who-ligan will correct me. The show hasn't aired in 30 years, but these people feel it is super-fucking-important to make sure you know he's only called "The Doctor." It's like, we live in the post-apocalypse, people. Why don't we try to invent running water again before we stress about Doctor Who nomenclature.
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