Dec 04
Are you color blind? Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t—but have you ever put that question to an actual test? You can, and it’s very simple. More »
Dec 04
This week one Google executive is confirming that the company had indeed looked into creating their own wireless network for smartphones as if the news were no big deal at all. Of course the possibility of Google creating a wireless network would be as big – or bigger – news than their already initiated Google Fiber service that’s rolling out in Kansas City as we speak, but therein lies the catch. As it were, Google’s wireless network that could-have-been was just as nearly a reality right at the same time as Google Fiber took hold.
The man letting all this information be known is none other than Vice President of Google Access Services Milo Medin. This is the same fellow you may have seen presenting bits and pieces of Google Fiber earlier this year – he’s saying now that a VoIP service could very well have been a reality already for Google if it weren’t for regulations that block them from entering the market.
“We looked at doing that. The cost of actually delivering telephone services is almost nothing. However, in the United States, there are all of these special rules that apply.” – Medin
This quote was made this Monday at the CityAge Summit on the New American City at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts where a two-day event was attended by more than 50 cities from across the United States. Both business leaders and officials spoke about services that might be coming to their area and Google Fiber was certainly one of them.
With Google Fiber currently rolling out in Kansas City, Mo. and Kansas City, Kan, but it appears that for the moment they’ll be keeping their doors closed to the activation of any wireless bands of their own. Alyson Reletz of BizJournals made it clear that Medin, sitting on a four-person technology panel at the event, said that Google, would have had to devote a “fair amount of work on billing systems” because of the tax calculations involved in setting up such a service in Missouri and Kansas.
Google confirms once-nixed phone services is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Dec 04
Back in the olden days, before the kids had their smartphones and their Nintendo tapes and their Tivo, families used to get together in a room, open a paper box, and remove a set of boards and pieces. By following a set of rules, families could play these “board games” together and have loads of fun until the candles burned out and someone died of dysentery.
You can relive those halcyon nights with these exciting boardgames that are great for the whole family (we play them all) and one that’s more fun at parties where adult beverages are being served. These are almost all play-tested by my family and peers and we all had a hoot.
Labyrinth – The best game for younger kids who can’t read good. To play, you put down a set of corridor tiles and draw “prize” cards. You move your piece – a wizard – along open corridors towards your prize. You can change the corridors by sliding a card into place to move things left, right, up, or down or even knock other wizards off the board. The winner collects the most prizes. It’s quite a bit of fun and quite inexpensive at $22.
Small World – This game is a bit more complex and requires more strategy, but there is little reading involved. You play a race of monsters or men trying to take control of a small world. You can destroy other pieces on the board by overrunning them and sometimes your race is destroyed and you have to pick a new one. Be warned: there are lots of small pieces and setup takes a while but it’s definitely worth it. Great for kids six and older and some adults. It’s available for $35 and is one of our family favorites.
Forbidden Island – This is a four-player cooperative game that pits you and your team against a collapsing island. In the game you hop from one of 24 island sections to the next and as the game progresses parts of the island “sink” and are uninhabitable. You play characters – a diver who can swim, a pilot who will eventually get you all off the island, a navigator who can move other players, and an explorer who can move diagonally. The goal is to grab four treasures and drag them to the landing where the pilot will get them off the island.
It seems a bit difficult at first, but with a bit of practice you can have a nice spot of cooperative fun. It’s also quite cheap at $13 and good for quiet gatherings or wakes.
Cards Against Humanity – What do you get when you put 550 horrible jokes in a box and make a bunch of people tell them to each other? About two hours of amazing fun. This board game is a lot like Apples and Oranges or Bubble Talk but the responses are just terrible. One player picks a card and offers up a phrase (“But before I kill you, Mr. Bond, I must show you ____”). The other players pick from a hand of responses that are too inappropriate to recount here. The game now costs a mere $25 (I paid over $60 a few months ago) and it’s a blast.
Dec 04
You’ve probably been waiting on this one for a while—Google has just now updated its YouTube app for the iPad and the iPhone 5’s larger screen. More »
Dec 04
If you’re all about keeping your applications up to date, especially if you’ve got a giant presentation at a board meeting at the end of the week and use Apple’s suite of iWork tools, you’ll want to pay attention to this wave of upgrades. It’s time first of all for iWork to be updated to version 9.3, this allowing iWork for Mac to support iWork for iOS 1.7 apps. In addition to this, you’ve got Keynote, Numbers, and Pages to update this afternoon as well.
If you’ve made your purchase of any of the following apps via a software box, you’ll be getting this update via your Software Update feature inside of OS X – up in the left-hand corner there under the Apple. If you’ve purchase them through the App Store for Mac, that’s where you’ll be going to grab these updates. The result is the same either way, but the means are certainly different in getting this all to go through and forward.
With Pages 1.7 you’ll be getting a collection of new features including the ability to add reflections to shapes and to lock and unlock objects – simple stuff, game-changing for some. You’ll be able to use Change Tracking to see which bits of body text have been modified in your project, you can accept and reject individual changes just as you would review a document, and you can preserve calculation in tables when you’re importing them from and exporting them to Pages for Mac – hot stuff. You can now preserve tracked changes in documents exported in Microsoft Word or Pages formats, and perhaps most importantly: you can now import Pages and Microsoft Word documents with change tracking (important if you’re going to preserve it) and continue to track these changes to body text.
In Numbers 1.7 you’ll have new compatibility with Numbers for Mac and Microsoft Excel, this beginning with the ability import and export Number for Mac spreadsheets with filters and to turn filters off and on. This update brings in the ability to preserve rich text in tablets when importing and exporting, add reflections to shapes, and lock and unlock objects. You can also now hide and unhide rows and columns.
Keynote 1.7 allows you to work in a newly compatible way with Microsoft PowerPoint and Keynote for Mac with the ability to import and export all Microsoft PowerPoint and Keynote for Mac slide sizes as well as presentation themes, master slides and present styles included. You can now play back all Keynote action builds, add new slide transitions including Shimmer and Sparkle, and preserve calculations in tablet when you’re importing from and exporting to Keynote for Mac. This update adds reflections to shapes, of course, and the ability to lock and unlock objects. Finally it allows new print layout options like printing with presenter notes, with builds, and without backgrounds.
Grab it all from your respective Appstore, be it mobile or desktop, right this minute! Have a peek at our gigantic Apple portal as well for the big jump into the Apple-only news universe.
Apple updates iWork suite for mobile/desktop compatibility is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Dec 04
Legendary Lego builder Paweł “Sariel” Kmiec is back with a remote control Technic Tumbler that will have Dark Knight fans begging the company to turn it into a real set. If crime has become an issue in your minifig town, justice has arrived. More »
Dec 04
You can now stream YouTube video via Apple’s own AirPlay technology thanks to the newest update to the YouTube app for iOS, that being version 1.1.0.4136, aka the iPad and iPhone 5 update. This upgrade to the newest version has a little bit of user interface magic to it with a simple tap on the YouTube logo allowing you access to your Guide of channels while the aesthetics now seem eerily similar to what we’re working with in the new Gmail for iOS – coincidence? We think not.
This version of YouTube once again solidifies Google’s presence in the iPhone and iPad, with it’s own logo and everything, too! Where for the first few years you were working with a build-in app for YouTube on your iPhone or iPad back when they came out, you’ve now got an app that’s entirely Google’s own. You’ll find that this version of the app takes what was originally launched back in September and boosts it up to a powerful new solidity – and what with 400 million devices working with the app as a potential, it’s more than past it’s due!
This app is available today globally wherever you can download and use YouTube regularly and will be working on your iDevice imminently if not instantly. This is by no means the final version of YouTube for iOS, instead acting as the new hero, with Google asking you, the user, to continue suggesting features they might implement in the future. You’re going to be able to now work with each of the screen sizes offered on iPad, iPhone, and everything in-between, and it’ll be perfect for your iPad mini – if you were wondering, that is.
This update will work as either an update or a new download if you’re in a position for one or the other, and will also continue to work with your Google profile for personalization. You can also pick up a brand new Gmail 2.0 download today as Google continues their rain down upon us with new versions of apps for Apple products.
YouTube for iOS updated for iPhone 5, iPad, and AirPlay is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Dec 04
Instant Collection: 1,950-Piece ‘Star Wars’ Action Figures up for Auction on eBay
Posted in: Today's ChiliHere’s a heads-up for Star Wars fans who have yet to check out the most awesome thing to hit eBay since the beginning of time: a listing for 1,950 action figures featuring the rich slew of characters from the hit franchise that George Lucas built.
This massive auction was set up to benefit Rancho Obi-Wan, which is a non-profit museum that’s dedicated to collecting Star Wars-related memorabilia.
The impressive lot was collected over a period of over 30 years, and includes numerous vintage Jedi, Sith, droids, and ewoks among other things. More than a handful of modern action figures from early 2011 are also included.
44 bids have already been placed so far to bring the current price of the lot to $8,000(USD). Even at that hefty price, this is still a pretty good deal for the serious collector.
Interested? Place your bid for this impressive collection here by December 9th at 11:00AM PST.
[via CNET]
Dec 04
How awesome is the Sprocket Clock? It’s just whimsical and makes a happy little ticker that looks like it was swiped straight from Willy Wonka’s factory. More »
Dec 04
Japan’s Eco Cycle Stows Bikes in a Quake-Proof Underground Storage Cylinder
Posted in: Today's Chili
Roughly 90 percent of Tokyo’s 13.1 million residents commute to work each day by rail, with a third of those riding their bikes on the “last mile” to and from the train station. The result: as many as 3.5 million bikes left illegally parked on city streets every day, crowding already packed sidewalks and exposing the bikes to weather and thievery. More »
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