It’s the end of an era. Or more accurately, it’s effectively been the end of an era for a while and this is another part of it. In early 2013, Sony will stop producing its three remaining models of handheld cassette recorders, meaning first the Walkman and now its cousins are on their final march to death. More »
The Walkman’s retirement wasn’t quite the death of the cassette tape, but the format’s final days aren’t far off: Sony’s calling it quits on the tape recorder. Final shipments for the company’s TCM-400, TCM-410 and TCM-450 cassette recorders are due early next year, marking the end of the product line. Despite the shunning of magnetic tape from Sony’s portable line up, the company still has a slot in its heart for the old cassette, and will continue to sell boomboxes with CD / tape deck combos. Even so, rewindable media seems to be on its way out the door — maybe its time to build a better mixtape.
Source: My Navi
Normally you might consider a smokestack to be something of an eye-sore, but this “Sky Stack” Is very much the opposite. With parts of it seemingly missing, the whole thing turns into an awesome fixture. More »
The Kindle Paperwhite is Amazon’s latest ereader. After four generations of devices, Kindle users expected a slight incremental update from the previous Kindle Touch. But everything was improved in the Paperwhite, from the operating system to the display resolution. On top of that, Amazon added frontlighting. After two months of use, it remains the best reading device.
… a major improvement over the Kindle Touch. With all the attention on the Kindle Fire, ereaders could have become an afterthought for Amazon. But with this device, the company knows that it is talking to its most devoted fans and to heavy readers.
The LED frontlighting system was an expected addition, but it wasn’t the only improvement. First, Amazon chose a more traditional capacitative touch screen instead of an infrared-based screen. It is much more responsive than the slow Kindle Touch. Navigating the interface or even just turning a page is much quicker.
The display finally received a resolution bump. For years, it was stuck at the original resolution of the first Kindle released in 2007, 600×800. Text looks better on the new display.
… the avid book readers you know. The Paperwhite still shares the same DNA as previous Kindles. It has a great battery life, doesn’t cause eyestrain and is very portable.
Previous Kindle owners that have been waiting for a major change in the Kindle line can get this one. Since the Kindle 2, all models came with the “pearl” E Ink display, including the current $69 non-touch Kindle. The Paperwhite finally changed that.
Some will regret that Amazon still doesn’t provide a “next page” button on touch-based Kindles. It would certainly be a good addition, as you have to move your thumb for every page turn instead of simply pressing a button. But you forget about that quickly.
… we are now living in an always-connected world. As a writer, following the constant stream of news and keeping up with your social network feeds can be tiresome. Many share the same feeling. Stepping away from that and reading a chapter or two, at your own pace, can easily become an important part of your day.
If you want to keep wireless on all the time as I do, get the Wi-Fi version. It will be much better for battery life and it will sync the last page read without even having to think about it. I get around three weeks of battery life. If you buy the Kindle for yourself, buy it with the ads as you can always remove them later in your Amazon account.
The Kindle Paperwhite is the perfect gift for book lovers. Between smartphones and tablets, there is still room for dedicated reading devices. This year’s Kindle is certainly a good choice in this category.
Who hasn’t dreamed of having heads-up display screens directly embedded into their eyes? I guess years of playing Cyberpunk 2020 and reading science-fiction novels have made this a fixture in most settings. While it won’t make readable contact lens displays feasible any time soon, it looks like scientists have actually been able to make contact lenses with embedded LCDs.
Belgian researchers at IMEC were able to create an LCD-embedded contact lens in a working prototype. This LCD display is curved so that it fits the eye. For now, the lens can display rudimentary monochrome graphics, and their images can only be viewed by others, not by the wearer due to the eyes inability to focus on objects so close. However, there are applications where these could be useful. They could work like sunglasses by automatically darkening, as cosmetic enhancements by changing colors, or as an artificial iris.
Now, if they could only figure out the focusing issue, we could someday be walking around like human Terminators.
This week in beauty we discovered the right brows for our faces (and it was life changing), how to get Lena Dunham’s Twiggy inspired look and that Khloe Kardashian colors her scalp with eyeshadow — now that’s a first!
We’re shifting our focus to the red carpet, showcasing the best, worst and most interesting examples of hair, makeup and nails that we came across this week. Take a look, get inspired and vote for your faves!
SPECIAL FROM Next Avenue
By Peter Gerstenzang
One man is convinced he’s too cool to ask for senior discounts — until he realizes how much money he can save
Read More…
More on Planning For Retirement
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Same-sex couples in Washington state began reciting wedding vows early Sunday morning, just minutes into the first day they could marry after the state’s gay marriage law took effect.
Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples picked up their marriage licenses as early as 12:01 a.m. Thursday, but because of the state’s three-day waiting period, the earliest weddings could take place was just after midnight, early Sunday morning.
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