One byproduct of the economic recession is that companies are afraid to make money. That’s not to say they’ve given up on maximizing profits, just that they’re trying to minimize the public perception of that profit, and keep any increase in fees as low profile as possible. Recent examples of this include the Netflix pricing model changes, Bank of America’s $5 debit card fee and Verizon’s $2 bill pay fee. In each case, the company raised the amount that it charges customers, received a wave of negative feedback from those customers (often through social media)…
Selected by coryobrien
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Most Topular Stories
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Pricing: It’s All About Trust
The Future of Ads6 Feb 2012 | 8:00 am -
Throw Away the Maps
chrisbrogan.com6 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amPeople judge us by the path they’ve seen us walk before. They can’t anticipate our future steps. We, ourselves, look to how things have been, what seems to be the lay of the land, without realizing that the maps are not the territory. Want to succeed at work? Then don’t try to do your job. Instead, work towards something larger, more meaningful, and something that blends your convictions internally with your best ability to help others externally. Want to create something new? Then throw away the old, or maybe join two disparate old things together into something new. The… -
A Look at Steve Jobs' FBI File
ReadWriteWeb9 Feb 2012 | 8:16 amYes, it's true. The FBI had a file on Steve Jobs. It's not what you might think, though. The FBI performed a "level III" background investigation on Jobs as a potential presidential appointee in 1991. He was described by most witnesses as an "individual of good character and integrity" that would be suitable for a "position of trust and confidence with the Government." Jobs also had a brush with the FBI when Apple received a bomb threat in 1985. Sponsor According to one of the filings, Jobs was being considered for an appointment to the President's Export Council in early 1991. This was while… -
DARPA AlphaDog Robot Steps Lively With 400 Lbs on its Back [VIDEO]
Mashable!9 Feb 2012 | 8:14 amThe typical soldier can only carry about 100 lbs. worth of gear, but not indefinitely. DARPA’s (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) new robotic mule, however, can carry 400 lbs. of gear and never get tired — and it can do it with a surprising degree of agility. Physical overburden of soldiers is one of the top five biggest challenges for the U.S. army, according to DARPA, and a semi-autonomous legged robot, officially named the Legged Squad Support System (LS3), might be one way of fixing that problem. In the video above, the LS3 prototype (original developer Boston… -
Lytro Light Field Camera's guts get spilled on the FCC's dancefloor
Engadget9 Feb 2012 | 7:35 amThere's a scene in Robocop 2, where our eponymous hero is set-to with an angle grinder and dumped in pieces outside the Detroit Police station. Now replace the cybernetic Alex Murphy with the Lytro Light Field camera and you'll know what was found on the sidewalk opposite from the FCC's concrete bunker this morning. Interesting tidbits revealed in the government-sponsored autopsy included a questionably small Zoran imaging chip and Marvell Avastar W8787 wireless SoC -- but the company's already swiftly denied it'll have WiFi capability. Still, the infinite-focus device is certainly on for…
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The Future of Ads
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Pricing: It’s All About Trust
6 Feb 2012 | 8:00 amOne byproduct of the economic recession is that companies are afraid to make money. That’s not to say they’ve given up on maximizing profits, just that they’re trying to minimize the public perception of that profit, and keep any increase in fees as low profile as possible. Recent examples of this include the Netflix pricing model changes, Bank of America’s $5 debit card fee and Verizon’s $2 bill pay fee. In each case, the company raised the amount that it charges customers, received a wave of negative feedback from those customers (often through social media)… -
Kia Gives YouTube Five Hours of Adriana Lima
3 Feb 2012 | 9:15 amOf all the things I’ve seen companies do to hype their Super Bowl commercial this year, I think Kia’s is the most interesting. While the spot itself is great, and features the entertaining mix of Adriana Lima, Chuck Liddell and Motley Crue: It’s actually the video that appeared in the YouTube sidebar while I was watching this spot that caught me by surprise: What you’re looking at is a video titled “5 Hours of Adriana Lima” that just features a five hour long loop of slow motion b-roll footage of Adriana Lima waving a checkered flag. While a video like this… -
Shazam Could Replace The QR Code
27 Dec 2011 | 8:12 amAdmit it: The QR Code is never going to catch on with mainstream users. (Hell, it’s barely getting used by advertisers, and we’ll try anything once.) Asking people to download and use a 3rd party app so they can scan a code to get mysterious content related to an ad is a bit much, and until Apple decides to include a QR code scanning app with every iPhone, they’re just not going to get used by more than a fringe minority of the mobile audience. That said, the reason advertisers want QR codes to take off is clear: We live in an increasingly mobile world, and with campaigns… -
Acceptable Ads Are Good For Everyone
15 Dec 2011 | 1:58 pmThere’s a war being waged in the world of online advertising: On one side, advertisers desperately trying to get their product in front of as many readers as possible; on the other, readers desperately trying to ignore ads and get to the content they’re looking for. In this war, the readers have many weapons: Instapaper and Read It Later strip out a site’s content and present it in an easy to read way, free from ads. Apple’s Safari browser includes a new feature called Reader, which lets you view content “in a clean, uncluttered space free from blinking, annoying… -
Lay’s Potato Chip Vending Machine
21 Nov 2011 | 8:13 amLay’s Potato Chips contain just three ingredients: potatoes, vegetable oil, and salt. However, in a world where ingredient lists frequently cover half a product’s packaging, and ingredients themselves are 20 character contractions that even scientists struggles to understand, it’s safe to say that most people assume a snack food like potato chips must contain a smorgasbord of unnatural ingredients and chemical byproducts in order to taste so good. To prove them wrong, Castro, an agency out of Argentina, developed a special vending machine the turns raw potatoes into bags of…
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chrisbrogan.com
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Throw Away the Maps
6 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amPeople judge us by the path they’ve seen us walk before. They can’t anticipate our future steps. We, ourselves, look to how things have been, what seems to be the lay of the land, without realizing that the maps are not the territory. Want to succeed at work? Then don’t try to do your job. Instead, work towards something larger, more meaningful, and something that blends your convictions internally with your best ability to help others externally. Want to create something new? Then throw away the old, or maybe join two disparate old things together into something new. The… -
The Next Social Networks
5 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amThe rage in social networks right now is Pinterest, partly because it’s probably the first social network that has a much higher adoption rate by females than males, and partly because it’s an interesting concept: somewhere between visual social bookmarking and scrapbooking. What also might not be immediately obvious is that it’s just “easier” to interact there. In that way, Pinterest has something in common with Instagram, which is community around photos. What I’m interested in, though, is Gentlemint, which I keep calling “Pinterest for… -
Learn From Adele – Build Your Platform
3 Feb 2012 | 1:30 amJacq and I just watched Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall (amazon affiliate link), and though every song was just wonderfully done, I found myself fascinated by what Adele was doing in between each song. Because even though most people would be interested in hearing her belt out her amazing repertoire of hits, what I took away from the performance was Adele’s real magical ability: the ability to resonate with her audience. What Adele Could Teach You About Impact I’m writing something about this right now for my upcoming book with Julien Smith, but I had to share some of the… -
Rob Gokee is a Musical Wizard
2 Feb 2012 | 8:05 amI had such a great experience working with award winning musical composer Rob Gokee. We did some musical work together, and the process was so amazing. Rob helped me create my theme song for Shhh! The Secret Show. So anyhow, he and I sat down to do an interview, and it’s a bit long, but it’s totally worth it. We talk about what collaboration feels like at a distance, what it takes to get music like this made for your own show, and a lot more. Rob’s a hero to me, and has been part of the community for a while. I was so fortunate to have worked with him. Can’t see the… -
Build Your Platform – Start
30 Jan 2012 | 1:30 amThe following is part ONE of a series called Build Your Platform. If you find it interesting, please consider subscribing for free to get the rest of the series. This post is long. You might want to bookmark it for later. The age of social media oversaturation is upon us. People are declaring Twitter bankruptcy to go along with their email bankruptcy. They cite not wanting to start on yet another social network as their reason for not getting more involved with Google+. And just as soon as you start getting into Pinterest, you hear about Path, but wait: there’s Gentlemint, which is…
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ReadWriteWeb
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A Look at Steve Jobs' FBI File
9 Feb 2012 | 8:16 amYes, it's true. The FBI had a file on Steve Jobs. It's not what you might think, though. The FBI performed a "level III" background investigation on Jobs as a potential presidential appointee in 1991. He was described by most witnesses as an "individual of good character and integrity" that would be suitable for a "position of trust and confidence with the Government." Jobs also had a brush with the FBI when Apple received a bomb threat in 1985. Sponsor According to one of the filings, Jobs was being considered for an appointment to the President's Export Council in early 1991. This was while… -
Oracle Claims Taleo's Cloud-based Talent Management Jackpot
9 Feb 2012 | 8:00 amIn the 20th century, corporations recruited talented professionals but then nurtured them and integrated them into their organizations. Talent was part of their business foundations. In the more intricate economy of the 21st, talent is something perceived to be possessed by individuals. Corporations recruit these people, and then undertake what's called compensation management in an effort to retain them as long as possible, and to let go of talent that doesn't perform up to scale. The value of a single, global database for evaluating the dollar value of individual talent on a real-time scale… -
Big Question (Answered): "Do You Have Too Many Facebook Friends?"
9 Feb 2012 | 7:04 amEvery day I jump onto Facebook for my work, but honestly, I never use it as it was intended. If you send me a message or like my status, I might engage, but I never reach out to folks. My stream is full of interesting content about people I don't know enough to care about. I know that sounds rude, but there's really only so much room in your life for connections. I have a little over 700 friends and I think that's about 500 too many. I've been considering paring down for some time, not because I think my connections aren't cool, but because I'm missing out on things like my family's birthday… -
Appcelerator Acquires Cocoafish to Implement Mobile Cloud Services in Titanium
9 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amMobile development company Appcelerator announced today that it is buying "backend-as-a-service" startup Cocoafish to implement cloud services and functionality to its Titanium Platform. Acquiring Cocoafish is an astute move by Appcelerator, which focuses on tools for developers to create native and mobile Web apps. The company realized in its latest mobile developer report that 84% of developers using Titanium were utilizing some type of cloud service. With Cocoafish, Appcelerator attempts to keep all the necessary mobile development tools on its own platform. Appcelerator admits that with… -
Three Ways To Use Linked In If You're NOT Looking For A Job
9 Feb 2012 | 5:00 amA post last week on pimping your LinkedIn profile drew a big response, as well as a divide in comments about whether or not people should be using LinkedIn. One of the bigger misconceptions in comments in emails was that LinkedIn is primarily a job-hunting site. But there are reasons to use LinkedIn even if you have a job you love, aside from the obvious benefits of keeping up on your industry and making connections with potential business partners. Sponsor Among them: LinkedIn is a great contact manager. Not all of your contacts will have their phone numbers in their LinkedIn profile (and if…
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Mashable!
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DARPA AlphaDog Robot Steps Lively With 400 Lbs on its Back [VIDEO]
9 Feb 2012 | 8:14 amThe typical soldier can only carry about 100 lbs. worth of gear, but not indefinitely. DARPA’s (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) new robotic mule, however, can carry 400 lbs. of gear and never get tired — and it can do it with a surprising degree of agility. Physical overburden of soldiers is one of the top five biggest challenges for the U.S. army, according to DARPA, and a semi-autonomous legged robot, officially named the Legged Squad Support System (LS3), might be one way of fixing that problem. In the video above, the LS3 prototype (original developer Boston… -
FBI Investigated Steve Jobs When First Bush Administration Wanted to Hire Him
9 Feb 2012 | 7:58 amThe Federal Bureau of Investigation has released a 191-page background check on late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs that was done in 1991, when Jobs was considered for a post in the George H.W. Bush administration. The report doesn’t delineate what kind of post Jobs was being considered for. The report, which the FBI posted on its website, includes feedback based on interviews with friends and colleagues of Jobs that should be familiar to readers of Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs bio, including: “Several individuals questioned Mr. Jobs’s honesty, stating that Mr. Jobs will… -
Apple to Unveil iPad 3 in March and It Could Look Like This [RUMOR]
9 Feb 2012 | 7:52 amThe tech world awoke today to a new batch of rumors about the iPad 3. First various sites reported on an alleged leak of some of the components of the tablet, then another chimed in to announce that Apple is planning a March unveiling for its new tablet. Yesterday Repair Labs posted a picture of what it says is the back housing for the iPad 3, supposedly from “industry insiders” in China. Comparing the component to the iPad 2, it reveals some differences, specifically that there will be more room for a larger battery, a different camera and a new LCD screen. The sources also said… -
Texts Now Popular Ammo for Divorce Battles [VIDEO]
9 Feb 2012 | 7:39 amNew technological and social media tools have a way of messing up relationships — and they can also be used for evidence when those relationships fail and end up in divorce court. A study of divorce attorneys released this week shows an increase in smartphones being used as evidence. Ninety-two percent of the attorneys surveyed in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers study said they’ve seen an increase in the past few years in the number of cases that use evidence from smartphones; 94% said they’ve seen a rise in the use of texts as evidence in the past three years. -
Photo Finish: Kodak to Stop Selling Digital Cameras
9 Feb 2012 | 7:28 amIn a cost-cutting move and a signal of the company’s poor financial situation, Eastman Kodak on Thursday announced it plans to stop selling digital cameras. The company, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month, will instead focus on online and retail-based photo printing as well as desktop inkjet printing. Kodak plans to phase out all digital camera sales within the first half of this year. The move is expected to save Kodak $100 million. Kodak expects to incur charges of $30 million for exiting the business. “For some time, Kodak’s strategy has been to improve margins in…
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Engadget
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Lytro Light Field Camera's guts get spilled on the FCC's dancefloor
9 Feb 2012 | 7:35 amThere's a scene in Robocop 2, where our eponymous hero is set-to with an angle grinder and dumped in pieces outside the Detroit Police station. Now replace the cybernetic Alex Murphy with the Lytro Light Field camera and you'll know what was found on the sidewalk opposite from the FCC's concrete bunker this morning. Interesting tidbits revealed in the government-sponsored autopsy included a questionably small Zoran imaging chip and Marvell Avastar W8787 wireless SoC -- but the company's already swiftly denied it'll have WiFi capability. Still, the infinite-focus device is certainly on for… -
Super Bowl internet debut breaks records, disappoints some viewers
9 Feb 2012 | 7:11 amNot sure what this says about the state of streaming video online, but while the first live internet stream of the Super Bowl was watched by a record 2.1 million unique viewers, it didn't receive glowing reviews. The best indicator, though, is that the engagement for the three (plus) hour event was only 39 minutes. We think the folks over at Streaming Media got it right when they called it the Super Bowl Streaming Fail. It was bad enough that only Verizon Wireless customers could watch it on anything other than a laptop, but even those who could see it were left searching for a TV once they… -
Intel teaches Haswell the core values of teamwork, optimism
9 Feb 2012 | 6:43 amSure you can make wild, individualistic boasts about having a 22nm fabrication process and three different GPUs, but that stuff counts for nothing without the magic of cooperation. The Amish know that and so does Intel, which is why its forthcoming Haswell cores will support Transactional Synchronization Extensions (TSX) -- a new instruction set designed to allow cores to work together more closely without hammering each others' fingers. TSX takes greater responsibility for the division of labor between cores at the hardware level, relieving the software programmer of some of this burdensome… -
Canon EOS-1D X and Nikon D4 ISO 204,800 shooting hands-on (video)
9 Feb 2012 | 6:10 amWith mirrorless cameras offering high-resolution APS-C sensors and consecutive shooting speeds of up to 10 frames-per-second, what's left to make a $6,000 full-frame DSLR a compelling purchase, especially for amateur photographers? Low-light performance, for one -- the Canon EOS-1D X and Nikon D4 are both capable of capturing images at up to ISO 204,800, letting you snap sharp photos in even the dimmest of lighting conditions. The benefits of a top sensitivity of ISO 204,800 are significant -- jumping from one ISO to the next doubles your shutter speed. So an exposure of f/2.8 at 1/2 second… -
Kodak to shutter digital camera production this year
9 Feb 2012 | 5:48 amThis year has not been a kind one for Kodak. Last month, the photography pioneer announced that it was filing for bankruptcy (and suing Samsung, incidentally), and now the company has let it be known that it will be dropping out of the digital camera business -- and then some -- marking an end to its line of digital point-and-shoots, pocket camcorders and digital photo frames. Production will end the first half of this year. The future for the company will hold printers, brand licensing, enterprise services and photo labs. Kodak will, however, continue to honor warranties on existing…
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Gizmodo
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Four Surprises from the Steve Jobs FBI File [Steve Jobs]
9 Feb 2012 | 8:30 amMore » -
These Linked Telescopes Are the Voltron of Astronomy [Monster Machines]
9 Feb 2012 | 8:30 am -
Ben Franklin's Ghost Teaches You Photographer's Rights [Video]
9 Feb 2012 | 8:00 amIt's easier than ever to capture images of public goings-on with all our fancy camera gadgets. If you find yourself in the middle of some contentious event—particularly when the police are involved—you should know your rights. And who better to tell you than the singing cartoon ghost of Benjamin Franklin? More » -
Fear the Deer—Nature's Unstoppable Killing Machines [Book Excerpts]
9 Feb 2012 | 7:40 am -
Broke Kodak Will Halt All Camera Production [Kodak]
9 Feb 2012 | 7:03 am
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TechCrunch
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Fab.com Rolls Out New Mobile Apps With Browse By Color & “Fab Shops”
9 Feb 2012 | 8:05 amAfter hitting 2 million members at the end of last month, design shopping startup Fab.com is today rolling out new iOS applications that offer a number of new features and improvements. In addition to an updated layout, search and navigational elements, one of the apps’ biggest new features is the inclusion of the recently launched new storefronts called “Fab Shops.” These Fab Shops went live late January, allowing Fab.com members to visually browse through products via dedicated online storefronts that were organized around product categories, as opposed to by designers. -
YouTube’s Latest Original Programming: Olympic-Style Lightsaber Relays
9 Feb 2012 | 8:00 amHere’s a fun example of the original programming that YouTube is supposed to be investing in these days — a relay from Santa Monica to San Diego. With lightsabers. Geek celebrity Chris Hardwick is announcing the event, dubbed Course of the Force, on the YouTube blog. Hardwick hosts the popular Nerdist podcast, and he plans to launch a Nerdist YouTube channel in April,which he says will include “Neil Patrick Harris, Rob Zombie, Awkward Family Videos, The Dudesons and The Kids in the Hall,” plus more programming that covers “gaming, science, tech and cosplay.” As… -
Kodak Shutters Digital Camera Business In Favor Of Licensing, Photo Printing
9 Feb 2012 | 7:47 amConsider today the end of an era for one of the most iconic brands in the imaging industry. While their bankruptcy protection filing from last month signaled the need for some drastic action, it’s still a bit of a shock to see Kodak announce that they are putting all of their digital cameras, camcorders, and picture frames out to pasture. When all is said and done, Kodak expects annual operating savings of around $100 million, but the bigger loss is going to be that of a cultural icon. Kodak will still exist, sure, but primarily as a purveyor of desktop printers as well as online and retail… -
Shopzilla Founder Launches Cheers: The “Like Button” For The World Around You
9 Feb 2012 | 7:40 amThe “toast” is an age-old, time-honored tradition, where we raise a glass to pay tribute to — and express our goodwill towards — friends, loved ones, and sometimes even our fellow man. They are even known to be meaningfully punctuated with by a good drinking song or two. And now, thanks to BizRate.com and Shopzilla Founder Farhad Mohit, there is, as they say, an app for that expression of goodwill. Yes, “cheers” is no longer simply a word that accompanies toasts — or the place where everyone knows your name — it’s also the… -
Nielsen: Cord Cutting And Internet TV Viewing On The Rise
9 Feb 2012 | 7:24 amAccording to a new report from Nielsen, the number of U.S. homes that have broadband Internet, but only free, broadcast TV, is on the rise. Although representing less than 5% of TV households, the number has grown 22.8% over the past year. In addition, the behaviors within these homes are unique. These broadband/broadcast-only households stream video twice as much as the general population, says Nielsen, and they watch half as much TV. Nielsen hesitates to dump all these households in the “cord cutters” bucket, though, saying that while perhaps some are cord cutters (the term that…
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Geekologie - Gadgets, Gizmos, and Awesome
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Collapsing 2nd Story Floor By Filling Room With Water
9 Feb 2012 | 8:00 amInb4 that is NOT how you run a bath. This is a video of a house in Norway that's set to be demolished. But, instead of standing in the basement and swinging sledgehammers at load bearing walls like they would in Poland, two guys decide to fill the second story bathroom with water until the floor collapses. This is a video of that happening. It was kind of upsetting to watch because, shit, I would've lived there. Sure it's not the nicest looking house, but it did have a bathroom. UPSTAIRS. That's like a mansion where I come from (I come from the streets). Just sayin', I've been living in a… -
Fork Me, I'm Hungry: Spider Man Bust Cake
9 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amThis is a cake of Spider Man's bust made by Cake Central member Arielatl (who may or may not be a mermaid in Atlanta). As you can see, she's pretty good at making lines with icing. Me? I'm terrible at it. One time I was supposed to spell 'Happy Birthday Jason" on a cake and it ended up reading "Choke and die, dickhead!" To my credit though, it was a cheap icing bag. For those who would like to know :) I started with a dummy head, and used fondant to build it out to look like his face, then covered it with fondant, cut the eyes out of fondant, covered it in webbing, and let it dry for a few… -
The Lightsaber Hilts From Star Wars: The Old Republic
9 Feb 2012 | 6:00 amNote: The larger version you're looking for is right HERE. Are these all the options for lightsaber hilts in the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic? I have no clue, I'm not playing it. They all do look pretty cool though. They also all look like dildos, so take that for what you will. "I'll take it as you think dildos look pretty cool." I'm fine with that. Preview your SWTOR Lightsaber's Hilts here [swtor] via Lightsaber Lineup [nerdapproved] Thanks to bb, who doesn't believe in dildos. Oh they're real alright! I've seen one. (I thought it was vibrating lipstick!) -
OMG AR-15 Unicorn With Attached Chainsaw
8 Feb 2012 | 2:00 pmThis is an AR-15 assault rifle with attached battery-driven chainsaw and decked out with a unicorn motif. I love rainbows and stickers! I'm not sure if it's FOR hunting unicorns or what, but I did just buy one and make my roommate run around the apartment with a party hat on his forehead while I shot him in the ass. "YOU DID WHAT?!" Haha, it was kinda loud for a BB gun. "AR-15's AREN'T BB GUNS!" Sooooooooo -- he's not faking? Hit the jump for a couple more shots and a video demo of the last thing the last unicorn ever saw coming. -
I Smell A Boycott (Or Is It A Giant Pretzel?): Customer Attracting Humanoid Store Display In Japanese Mall
8 Feb 2012 | 1:00 pmThis is a video of a humanoid robot in the window of a Japanese department store designed to interact with customers and attract more business. Oooooooor get fondled by perverts. Japanese department store Takashimiya installed an eerily lifelike interactive robot for its Valentine's window display. The retailer called on robotics guru Hiroshi Ishiguro to provide the humanoid dummy, which can not only wink and yawn as people approach, but also display a range of emotions...While this was just part of the store's seasonal promotion, it might be a hint at where visual merchandise is going. Oh,…
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Uncrate
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Proof
9 Feb 2012 | 7:52 amWe suppose it was bound to happen sometime. Proof (Free) is — ahem — proof that social drinking games can elegantly make the transition from card table to tablet. Optimized...Visit Uncrate for the full post. -
Logitech M600 Touch Mouse
8 Feb 2012 | 11:04 amAre you a Windows user that's secretly wished for a PC-centric Magic Mouse to help you through the day? The Logitech M600 Touch Mouse ($70) might just be what you're...Visit Uncrate for the full post. -
Tumi Tegra-Lite Luggage
8 Feb 2012 | 10:27 amSay hello to the latest hard-sided travel collection from the best four-lettered luggage maker around. Tumi Tegra-Lite Luggage ($600-$800) is made from Tegris, a unique polypropylene thermoplastic composite material that...Visit Uncrate for the full post. -
Olympus OM-D E-M5 Camera
8 Feb 2012 | 9:01 am'70s style lines meet modern capabilities in the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Camera ($1,000). Arriving with a rather stealthy black or silver body, the E-M5 packs a 16 megapixel Micro Four...Visit Uncrate for the full post. -
iCade Jr.
8 Feb 2012 | 7:30 amRemember the iCade, the arcade cabinet for your iPad? Well, it's now got a little sibling, and if you guessed it was for the iPhone and iPod touch, you'd be...Visit Uncrate for the full post.
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Boing Boing » Gadgets
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Reading lamps made from drilled-out books
7 Feb 2012 | 11:05 amTypewriter Boneyard does a sweet line of reading lamps made from drilled-out old books, fitted with replica Edison bulbs. Hardback Book Lamps (via Neatorama) -
Circus Galop: the bonkers, non-human-playable anthem used to stress-test automatic pianos
3 Feb 2012 | 7:42 amHere's a video of a mechanical piano performing Circus Galop (sic), a composition created to test the performance of automatic pianos and other instruments. It apparently can't be played by humans. a single, two-handed human. Circus Galop is a piece for player piano written by Marc-André Hamelin. It was composed between 1991 and 1994 and it is dedicated to Beatrix and Jürgen Hocker, piano roll makers. Its duration is approximately 4–5 minutes.[1] Scores of this piece are available through the Sorabji Archive.[1] Piano rolls of this piece are available from Wolfgang Heisig and Jürgen… -
Test-tube chandeliers, named for Marie Curie
3 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amNamed for Marie Curie, this line of Maria S.C. chandeliers from Poland's Gangdesign uses test-tubes as pendants that can be planted with sprigs or flowers. Here's the sell-copy, Google Translated from Polish to English: This chandelier is made of tubes. It consists of two modules of different sizes, which can occur together or separately. Shape refers to the traditional forms of Art Deco, and the name is an allusion to the person of Maria Sklodowska Curie. "Maria" gives a wide field for the visual experiment. Version of the reel allows free lowering "Maria" to change the arrangement. Maria… -
Mechanical Elephants in America
3 Feb 2012 | 6:00 amHere's a fascinating history of Frank Stuart's Mechanical Elephants, a line of life-sized, rideable elephant automata that were sold to department stores and amusement parks in America in the 1950s. "Cybernetic animal and early robot" historian Reuben Hoggett has collected early print mentions of the Stuart elephants and traced their destiny through the rest of the century. The Billboard 21 Jan 1956 WORKLOAD STILL HEAVY FOR SEARCHLIGHT FIRM NEW YORK. Jan 14.- The huge mechanical elephant owned by Publicity Searchlight Company will earn a raft of publicity for the firm during the next two… -
Toy-sized quadrotors flying in formation
1 Feb 2012 | 11:00 amResearchers from GRASP Lab at the University of Pennsylvania developed software to allow toy-sized nano quadrotors to fly in tight, precise and eerie formation. Gmoke sez, "William Gibson dreams of a mass of these things comprising a flying skyscraper. I imagine them as surveillance and policing drones ready to stop the OWS action or Arab Spring before it can start." A Swarm of Nano Quadrotors (Thanks, Gmoke!)
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Lifehacker
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Maximize Kitchen Drawer Space by Storing Utensils Diagonally [Storage]
9 Feb 2012 | 8:30 amMore » -
How to Be an Audiophile on the Cheap [Stereo]
9 Feb 2012 | 8:00 amMore » -
Approximate the Weight of Any Item Using a Clothes Hanger [Macgyver Tips]
9 Feb 2012 | 7:30 amMore » -
Make Frozen Dough Rise Quickly with an Electric Heating Pad [Food Hacks]
9 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amMore » -
Boost Your Working Memory to Make Time Fly [Mind Hacks]
9 Feb 2012 | 6:30 amMore »
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The Art of Manliness
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Dim & Dash: Parking
8 Feb 2012 | 6:44 pmRelated Photos -
The Importance of Roughhousing With Your Kids
7 Feb 2012 | 3:26 pmRoughhousing. Horseplay. Wrastling. Whatever you call it, it’s one of the best things about being a dad. I love chasing my one-year-old son, Gus, around the house or pretending that the living room is a lucha libre ring and wrestling with him. No matter how stressed out I’m feeling, hearing one of his big, belly laughs erupt as I swing him around like a monkey makes all my cares go away. Gus-Dad Throwdown Unfortunately, in recent years, horseplay has gotten a bad rap. Parents, concerned about safety and preventing ADHD, limit the amount of rambunctious play their kids take part… -
How to Back Up a Trailer…Like a Man!
6 Feb 2012 | 3:20 pmEditor’s note: This is a guest post from Colin Braun. So, you borrowed your father-in-law’s boat for your weekend at the cabin, or you bought a RV to take the family camping for this year’s vacation. You got to where you were going and realized you now had to back up to get that trailer where you needed it. Maybe you hadn’t anticipated this (but really, how did you expect to get that boat in the water?), or maybe you didn’t think it would be a problem. How hard could it be? It’s not like you need a special license to do it, and you’ve seen other guys at the boat launch do… -
Look ‘Em in the Eye: Part I -The Importance of Eye Contact
5 Feb 2012 | 3:12 pmHow often have you talked with another guy who never looked you in the eye during the entire length of the conversation? Or perhaps he did meet your gaze a few times, but then his eyes shifted back to his shoes or to some point off in the distance. I’d like to say that the ability to make good eye contact is one of the social skills a lot of young men seem to be struggling with these days, which would be true, but I’ve encountered enough gaze-averting middle-aged men to know that it’s a multi-generational problem. And actually, it’s probably something men have always struggled… -
The Art of Manliness Podcast #39: Eugen Sandow, Victorian Strongman with David Waller
2 Feb 2012 | 4:36 pmBefore Arnold Schwarzenegger, even before Charles Atlas, there was Eugen Sandow. Rising from obscurity in Prussia, Sandow became an international celebrity during the Golden Age of the Strongman in the late 19th century for his amazing feats of strength and his well-sculpted physique. While Sandow wowed crowds in the United Kingdom and United States, he also preached a new gospel of physical fitness and well-being. Our podcast guest today has recently published a biography of Sandow and his times. His name is David Waller, and his book is The Perfect Man: The Muscular Life and Times of Eugen…
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Smashing Magazine Feed
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Smashing Special: WordPress Theme Trends For 2012
9 Feb 2012 | 5:25 amThis special is the first in our series of Smashing Specials — extended articles and studies dedicated to a specific topic. The special features current WordPress theme trends for 2012, covering past trends, new developments in theme design and trends in the theme development. 2011 was a great year for WordPress, with some excellent new updates that saw the introduction of a drag-and-drop uploader, distraction-free writing, the HTML5 Twenty Eleven theme, and movement towards a fully responsive dashboard. As well as changes to WordPress core, theme development continued to… -
A Craft Of Consequences: Reader, Writer And Emotional Design
8 Feb 2012 | 8:06 amBefore the very first page of a book has been read, you’ve already analyzed it in countless ways without even noticing. The paper stock, the thickness of the binding, the aroma, the color of the type and even the texture of the cover; the very character of the book is being dissected by the hand and eye at every moment. In this brief second there is a dialogue between the reader and the object. This conversation is subtle and complex, but for most people it is entirely subconscious. This is because we rarely think about these things — we feel them… -
Collaging: Getting Answers To The Questions You Don’t Know To Ask
6 Feb 2012 | 7:02 amWhen conducting user research, we all know that asking the right questions is just as important as how you ask them, but how do you know exactly what questions to ask? What if the discussion topic is very personal? How do you get a complete stranger to open up? There is a better way to conduct an in-depth interview, and it doesn’t involve a clipboard. Just imagine what you could discover if the participant’s answers weren’t limited to a predetermined set of questions. This is where collaging can help. Collaging is a projective technique by which participants select images… -
How To Use Custom Post Types To Organize Online Marketing Campaigns
3 Feb 2012 | 7:04 amCustom post types add a level of flexibility to WordPress that makes this open-source Web development platform more useful on many levels. Whenever I have been faced with a Web-based task, especially one that involves organizing information, the first thing I do is examine WordPress to determine if it can handle the job. It usually can. Image Source As an Internet marketer and analyst, I need to be able to organize online marketing campaigns in a way that is trackable in Google Analytics. This is the perfect task for WordPress custom post types. In this article, we’ll explain… -
Freebie: St. Valentine’s Day Icon Set (10 PNG/PSD Icons)
2 Feb 2012 | 7:38 amEvery now and then, we release useful freebies for all of our highly valued readers. Today, it is our pleasure to present to you Cuberto‘s fantastic St. Valentine’s icon set — exclusively designed for Smashing Magazine and its loyal readers. The icons presented are available in transparent PNGs as well as Photoshop PSDs (128×128 px) and are perfect for any projects you have coming up for St. Valentine’s Day. Enjoy! Download the Set for free! This icon set is completely free to use for commercial or personal applications without any…
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Facebook Blog
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Introducing New Apps for Timeline
18 Jan 2012 | 5:26 pmNew timeline apps are now available from Foodspotting, Foodily, Ticketmaster, Pinterest, Rotten Tomatoes, Pose, Kobo, Gogobot, TripAdvisor, and others. You can now enhance your timeline with apps that help you tell your story, whether you love to cook, eat, travel, run, or review movies.Apps bring your timeline to lifeOnce you've added an app, you can begin updating your timeline with your activities as they happen. For example, if you love design, shopping or fashion, you can add the Pinterest or Pose apps to make your favorite items part of your timeline.If you love to cook, you can add… -
Listen to Music With Your Friends
12 Jan 2012 | 10:00 amMusic is one of the most powerful and fun ways to connect. Whether it's at a concert with a bunch of people or on a long car ride with your best buddy, we love listening to music with our friends. But what if you could listen to music with your friends when you're alone, like at work, at home or on the go?Today, with music services on Facebook, there's a new way to listen with friends. This feature lets you listen along with any of your friends who are currently listening to music. You can also listen together in a group while one of your friends plays DJ. You can listen to the same song,… -
Timeline: Now Available on Mobile
15 Dec 2011 | 10:00 amUPDATE on Sunday, December 18th 2011: We're excited to announce that timeline is now available on Facebook for iOS version 4.1, for iPhone and iPod Touch devices.Originally Published on Thursday, December 15, 2011: Timeline gives you an easy way to see the things you've shared, and collect all your best moments in a single place. In addition to making timeline available on the web, today we're also launching timeline on Android and m.facebook.com.Mobile timeline starts with your unique cover photo. As you scroll down, you'll see your posts, photos and life events as they happened, back to the… -
Timeline: Now Available Worldwide
15 Dec 2011 | 4:30 amUPDATE on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012: Last year we introduced timeline, a new kind of profile that lets you highlight the photos, posts and life events that help you tell your story. Over the next few weeks, everyone will get timeline. When you get timeline, you'll have 7 days to preview what's there now. This gives you a chance to add or hide whatever you want before anyone else sees it. You can learn more about these new features by taking the quick tour available at the top of your timeline. If you want to get timeline now, go to the Introducing Timeline page and click "Get… -
A Faster Facebook for Android
7 Dec 2011 | 11:30 amToday we're launching an updated Facebook app for Android. It's now quicker and easier to view photos, get messages and navigate around the app.Photos get betterPhotos and albums are up to two times faster than the previous Android app. It's also easier to share photos, view comments and edit captions on the go.View photos with tags, comments and likes Messages on top Your messages and notifications are now at the top of your screen. You can respond to friends and stay updated without leaving the page you're on.Get notifications and messages at the top of every screenMenu on the side You can…
