"The President of the United States pardoned the national turkey yesterday, in the tradition maintained on the day before the Thanksgiving holiday. Which begs the question, What exactly is the crime the turkey
was convicted of, and how did he win such an invaluable favor from the White House?" ~ Laughzilla
Fresh Baked Goods
Laughzilla the Third (2012)
The Third Volume in the Funny Stuff Cartoon Book Collection Available Now.
Activity-tracking app Moves has always been able to automatically detect walking, running, cycling and movement by motorized transport, but a new update for the iPhone today brings with it support for more than 60 new activity types.
While users will have to manually label time spent on these activities for now, developer Protogeo plans to add automatic tracking for as many of these as it can in the future, based on the user data it receives. So, whether you’ve been gym training, paintballing, rollerblading, swimming or practically any other activity you can think of, Moves will now let you keep track of it. The development cycle of the Android version is a little behind the iOS app, so we’d expect the feature to hit Google’s platform in the not too distant future.
Activity-tracking app Moves has always been able to automatically detect walking, running, cycling and movement by motorized transport, but a new update for the iPhone today brings with it support for more than 60 new activity types.
While users will have to manually label time spent on these activities for now, developer Protogeo plans to add automatic tracking for as many of these as it can in the future, based on the user data it receives. So, whether you’ve been gym training, paintballing, rollerblading, swimming or practically any other activity you can think of, Moves will now let you keep track of it. The development cycle of the Android version is a little behind the iOS app, so we’d expect the feature to hit Google’s platform in the not too distant future.
If you use Google to quickly search for a music video, you might notice a new card format right at the top of your search results.
As reported by Search Engine Watch, Google has started showing links to YouTube videos with a large, Google Now-style card at the top of the page. You can’t actually play them within the search engine, but the transparent play button makes it look like the YouTube player and, once clicked, will redirect you to its popular video-sharing site.
Not all music videos are listed in this way, but most official uploads from VEVO and individual artists are being shown in this way. There are also some instances where videos uploaded by fans are receiving the same treatment. Google told Search Engine Watch that the new feature affects other video services such as Vimeo and Dailymotion. While this is true, all of the cards show a player that is nowhere near as large or authentic as the mock-up used for YouTube.
With music streaming services such as Spotify and Rdio on the rise, Google wants to make sure that viewers still visit YouTube to watch and listen to their favorite tracks. By showing music videos so prominently in its search results, Google can protect YouTube’s popularity and encourage newcomers to use it for all of their audiovisual needs.
If you use Google to quickly search for a music video, you might notice a new card format right at the top of your search results.
As reported by Search Engine Watch, Google has started showing links to YouTube videos with a large, Google Now-style card at the top of the page. You can’t actually play them within the search engine, but the transparent play button makes it look like the YouTube player and, once clicked, will redirect you to its popular video-sharing site.
Not all music videos are listed in this way, but most official uploads from VEVO and individual artists are being shown in this way. There are also some instances where videos uploaded by fans are receiving the same treatment. Google told Search Engine Watch that the new feature affects other video services such as Vimeo and Dailymotion. While this is true, all of the cards show a player that is nowhere near as large or authentic as the mock-up used for YouTube.
With music streaming services such as Spotify and Rdio on the rise, Google wants to make sure that viewers still visit YouTube to watch and listen to their favorite tracks. By showing music videos so prominently in its search results, Google can protect YouTube’s popularity and encourage newcomers to use it for all of their audiovisual needs.
The Internet of Things is a rather unfortunate phrase. While the potential it represents is massive, the phrase itself is a bit, well, ambiguous – often, the end result of the potential is a dry and unapproachable device that doesn’t make sense in the real world.
Step forward BleepBleeps, a UK company that wants to make the Internet of Things a whole lot more approachable and personable with its range of connected parenting devices.
The first product the company plans to launch is the ‘Sammy Screamer’, a small triangular device you can attach to practically anything (there’s a magnet inside too, so it’ll work on things like fridges) that will emit a noise when moved. It’ll also send a push message to your phone to let you know that someone has been tampering with the cookie jar. Naturally, it can be used for many things aside of extreme cookie loss prevention measures, and there’s a loop handle as well as a magnet, so it can be hung from a door handle, tied to a bag or put anywhere else you’d want to monitor movement.
The volume of the ‘scream’ can be controlled via the BleepBleeps app, which will ultimately provide control and guidance across the whole range of planned devices.
The project is currently live on Kickstarter and looking to raise $20,000 – after just one day, it’s already at around $13,500 (correct at time of writing) so looks well on the way to being successfully funded. It seems the idea of imbuing personality into household tech is one that resonates with people.
Indeed, ‘Sammy’ will soon be joined by a raft of other devices, the next of which will be the ‘Tony Tempa’ ear thermometer, which will give advice via the app as well as just monitoring temperature. Then there’s ‘Cecil G’ and Lilli Loco, GPS tracking devices for your child to wear or carry around in a bag, and the ‘David Camera’ video monitoring device – that would be the red one in the image above that looks like it’s holding a monocle.
It’s not just for people that already have children though, other planned additions to the range include devices to help you start that family in the first place, like the Master Bates male fertility tester and the Olivia P Sticks ovulation tester.
Once you’ve managed to get pregnant there’s Ultra Stan, the ultrasound pregnancy scanner that will allow parents to see their child whenever they like before it has even been born.
However, that’s all yet to come, for now the first product is the Sammy Screamer. The lowest pledge still available to bag yourself a Sammy when they ship in August this year is $60, but they’re going fast.