Ontiveros passed away in July 2012 at age 69 — much too early, to be sure. Yet she had an astounding career, especially in light of the limited roles available for Latino actors. So imagine my surprise when the Oscars did not include her in the “In Memoriam” segment.
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The Internet is an ethereal thing. It’s everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Sure, it’s “on” your computer (or your phone), but it came from somewhere, and this art installation shows you where. Exactly. More »
Ray Chambers was appointed today by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as the Special Envoy for Financing of the Health Related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Chambers is the first person to hold the newly created position.
MDGs were set by the UN in 2000 and reflect that body’s effort to combat disease, hunger, poverty, and child mortality; promote gender equality; and improve maternal health, among other objectives. All 193 UN members have agreed to attempt to achieve the eight goals by 2015.
Chambers, a philanthropist who co-founded the charity Malaria No More, and who is co-chair of the Board of Directors of GBCHealth, has been the UN’s Special Envoy for Malaria since 2008 (a role that the Secretary General has concurrently renewed for Chambers). In that time period, Chambers oversaw an effort that raised more than $4 billion to combat malaria, and distributed more than 400 million mosquito nets.
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Apple’s landmark $1 billion damages award over Samsung has been partially vacated by presiding judge Lucy Koh, FOSS Patents reports. The judge has orders just north of $450 million be struck from the $1 billion total, an amount which relates to 14 Samsung products involved in the case, pending a new trial to determine appropriate damages for those specific devices.
Koh said that a new trial has to be held to determine damages on those products, which include the AT&T Galaxy SII, the Galaxy Tab, Nexus 4G and others, based on the fact that the court isn’t able to make adjustments to the amounts owing based on infringement by those products for legal reasons. In the second trial, which will be decided by an entirely new jury, Apple could wind up being awarded more or less in damages based on their evaluation of the per-product cost of infringement for that group of Android smartphones and tablets.
Apple is still entitled to an award of $598,908,892 from the part of the damages decision that Koh has determined should stand, though FOSS Patents suggests that no actual money will change hands until the result of this new, second trial is decided. Apple will also be able to exercise its option to pursue additional damages based on post-judgement royalties, and pre-judgement interest, pending the new jury’s decision.
Ravi Fernando (left) with a few chums on the Stanford University campus.
(Credit: Humans of Stanford)
When you’re a Rubik’s Cube aficionado, sometimes you have to think outside the box — err, cube — to really challenge yourself.
In an amazing video, 21-year-old Ravi Fernando appears to juggle a Rubik’s Cube and two hacky sacks while simultaneously solving the complex puzzle.
The video, which lasts about a minute and a half, features the Stanford mathematics undergrad already in the process of juggling the items. As the seconds pass, it becomes obvious that each time Fernando briefly holds on to the Cube, he gives it a rapid twist and sends it back up into the air.
It doesn’t take long before all of the sides show the same color and Fernando looks at the camera with a humble smile.
Of course, the student isn’t a stranger to mental feats of strength, as … [Read more]
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When it comes to gesture based typing we often think of Android. Some of the apps for Android include Swype, TouchPal and now the default keyboard in Android 4.2. But on that note, it looks like TouchPal has recently released an app for another platform — Windows 8. The one catch, the keyboard is not yet available from the Windows Store.
You can however download TouchPal for Windows 8 directly from the TouchPal website.The keyboard is available for free and brings features including the ability to switch back and forth between swiping and typing. There is also something that you don’t get with the default keyboard — the ability to split the keyboard in two. You can get an idea of this in the video below, however it is just how it sounds with the keyboard splitting between the G and the H keys.
Those familiar with gesture based typing already have an understanding as to how this works. For those new to this concept, you basically just tap the first letter in the word and then without lifting your finger you just swipe through the remaining letters. This makes typing on a touchscreen a bit easier and in some cases a bit quicker. Plus, you can also worry a bit less about mistyping and misspellings as the app has predictions. We have not tested enough to back this up, however TouchPal is touted as being able to save about 60 percent of keystrokes.
All that said, there does appear to be some issues with the installation process at the moment. Reports coming from the xda-developers user forums note that the installer appears to be in Chinese. The good news is that if you click your way through the installation process, you will be able to adjust and set the default language back to English. Those interested can download the keyboard directly from the TouchPal website.
[via Liliputing]
TouchPal keyboard for Windows 8 brings gesture typing is written by Robert Nelson & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Samsung claimed a victory in its epic intellectual property fight against Apple on Friday when the federal judge presiding over the case slashed by 40 percent the amount of money it must pay in damages.
Adobe recently issued a security update for Flash Player which patches an exploit that gave hackers the ability to take over a vulnerable system. Not leaving things to chance, Apple is now rolling out a hotfix for Safari that blocks outdated versions of the tainted web plug-in. If your system hasn’t been patched yet, you may receive a notification when attempting to access Flash-based content. The prompt will then advise that a new software version is available. If you’re running OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) or higher and Safari is your browser of choice, you may want to nab this update from Adobe. Otherwise the next time you go online, the internet might be a far cry from what you’re used to seeing.
Filed under: Internet, Software
Source: Apple
The famous Hogwarts Castle from the Harry Potter series already has an official LEGO playset, but I’m sure that even J.K. Rowling herself would rather play with this sprawling replica made by Alice Finch. It would be notable enough for its sheer size, but what takes it to the next level is its decked out interior.
Whereas the official LEGO Hogwarts set is made of 1,920 pieces, Alice used about 400,000 bricks to build her Hogwarts. I can’t even count to 400,000. I always get lost when I get to the tens. In an interview with The Brothers Brick, Alice said she worked on the replica for a total of one year, spread out over an 18-month period. Aside from the books and movies, Alice also visited the Harry Potter studio in London to get a better idea of the school’s interior.
Alice’s Hogwarts won Best in Show and People’s Choice at last year’s BrickCon. It’s easy to see why. Seriously go check out Alice’s Flickr page for more pictures of her masterpiece. I could spend hours appreciating the details of her work and I’m not even a Harry Potter fan.
[via Geekologie & The Brothers Brick]
iPhones. iPads. Android. Windows Phone. We’ve updated all of our essential apps lists to include a few forgotten favorites, some long awaited arrivals and, as always, even more amazing apps. Check them out! More »
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
