Ark Nova: Blow-up concert hall inflates in Japan

(Credit: Lucerne Festival)

From the outside, it looks like a giant purple doughnut. And the world’s first inflatable building is sweet indeed.

British sculptor Anish Kapoor and Japanese architect Arata Isozaki recently took the wraps off the project, called Ark Nova. It has been in the works since 2011, the year Japan’s Northeastern coast was hit by a massive tsunami.

The Lucerne Festival, a summer music event in Switzerland, commissioned the project in hopes of helping the disaster-struck area heal from the calamity.

(Credit: Lucerne Festival)

The inflatable concert hall is designed to house about 500 people. It’s made up of a balloon-like material that can be easily packed up and transported to another location via truck. Seats and acoustic reflectors in the building were created using wood from cedar trees previously damaged by the tsunami. The structure has a width, length, and maximum height of 98 feet, 118 feet, and 59 feet, respectively.

The balloon-like material is attached to a trailer for ease of transportation and is inflated when in use.

(Credit: Lucerne Festival)

The venue is already being utilized by acts such as the Sendai Philharmonic and … [Read more]

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Breaking Bald: Hyper-Realistic Walter White Mask

Looking for a one of a kind Breaking Bad collectible? How about this incredibly realistic Walter White mask that was once worn by Bryan Cranston? This mask first showed up when Bryan Cranston wore it at the 2013 Comic-Con and walked among the unsuspecting crowd. He then revealed the disguise on stage at the Breaking Bad panel.

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Then later it showed up on all of the talk shows, even Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where Fallon wore the mask and interviewed Bryan Cranston as Walter White. At one point musician/actor Common put on the mask too. The mask was signed by Cranston and returned to the artist after that. Now you can own one and do whatever you want with it.

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It’s great for Halloween, making your own fan movies, scaring people, or just staring in the mirror telling yourself that you are the one who knocks. The eBay auction ends tonight and right now it is at a whopping $41,300.00(USD).

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Microsoft prototypes cloud gaming, takes on Sony’s Gaikai

Microsoft insiders have revealed that the company is developing a cloud gaming system capable of streaming a high-quality interactive experience to a range of systems. The revelation comes just three months after Sony bought Gaikai, signaling the onset of a popcorn-worthy battle of the cloud gaming Titans that should keep us entertained for years to […]

In a bid to control the internet, China tries to put the squeeze on mobile news apps

In a bid to control the internet, China tries to put the squeeze on mobile news apps

It’s like Jeff Goldblum’s neurotic, chaos theory spouting character in Jurassic Park said: “life, uh, finds a way.” Or, in this case, it’s the internet that can’t be kept down at heel. According to a Reuters report, the Chinese government’s State Internet Information Office has instituted a “crackdown” on rogue mobile news apps that purportedly transmit images of pornography and other “obscene information” to children. But what’s more likely, however, is that the apps in question serve as a workaround for citizens seeking news reports from established foreign media outlets; news that would otherwise be censored.

The move could see any offending app makers, which includes popular apps like Zaker and Chouti, effectively shut down if they fail to fall in line and sanitize their content. China’s long had a history of strangling internet access, but this development, coupled with recent news of censorship as usual for its Shanghai free trade zone, highlights just how difficult it is for the state to control the web. And with new social networks cropping up every day and promising novel means of spreading illegal information, that fight’s fast becoming a losing battle.

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Source: Reuters

iPhone 5s In-Store Pick Up Service Is Back

iPhone 5s In Store Pick Up Service Is Back

We reported last week that Apple might bring back the in-store pick up service for iPhone 5s this week. Indeed it has. Starting today, the personal pick up option is now available to customers who wish to purchase Apple’s latest smartphone. To use this service, customers must make the purchase through the App Store app for iOS devices or through the Apple online store. They’ll then be given the option to select an Apple Store closest to their location from where they can go and personally pick up their new iPhone. Its as simple as that.

When the iPhone 5s was first launched, the in-store pick up service was offered. Though Apple pulled a plug on it after merely one day. This lead many to believe that perhaps it had done that due to short supply of iPhone 5s, while some claimed that perhaps the service had gone live earlier than expected due to a glitch.Even though personal pick up is now being offered, inventory at Apple Retail Stores in the U.S. remains thin. The online store already lists an estimate ship date in October for the iPhone 5s. Searching for Apple Stores near you will further reveal if units are available there for pick up or not.

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  • iPhone 5s In-Store Pick Up Service Is Back original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    Help Pick Out the World’s Best New Architecture and Design

    Help Pick Out the World's Best New Architecture and Design

    The second annual Architizer A+ Awards are open and awaiting submissions from designers and architects around the world.

    Read more…


        



    Nokia Storyteller App Screenshot Leaked

    Nokia Storyteller App Screenshot Leaked

    Nokia is scheduled to conduct a major media event on October 22nd in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The company has already confirmed the event but hasn’t said what we can expect. As per rumors, it might release as many as six devices. A number of those devices have already been leaked or rumored, that includes but is not limited to the Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet, Lumia 1520 phablet, Asha 502 and a “Glee” smartphone which is a low end Lumia focused on music. Today, a screenshot of the Nokia Storyteller app has been leaked by the infamous @evleaks, who has been behind a number of Nokia related leaks in the past as well.

    The screenshot as well as the app’s alleged name hints at the fact that the app might allow users to organize their photos based on various themes, thus essentially creating a photo-story. The Shared tab hints at the possibility of being able to share photo-stories. The Timeline tab would probably display photos based on the date they were taken and Map would display the places the photos were taken at. The tweet also mentions Bandit and Sirius, which are codenames for Nokia’s much rumored phablet and tablet, respectively. Their mention in the tweet could indicate that this app might work on both Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 RT which the Sirius tablet is expected to run.

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  • Nokia Storyteller App Screenshot Leaked original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    Android Ecosystem Finally Putting A Dent In The iPad’s Universe, Says ABI Research

    ipadmini

    Apple is expected to refresh its iPad line-up next month, likely adding a Retina display to the iPad mini, and perhaps pushing the iPhone 5s’ Touch ID fingerprint sensor-fuelled home button into a new flagship iPad. But even as Cupertino upgrades the iPad’s capabilities, its dominance in the tablet category is coming to an end — as the sheer size of the Android ecosystem inexorably dents the iPad’s universe.

    Analyst ABI Research has flagged up what it describes as a “shift in leadership” in the tablet space, with Apple’s iPad family passing the baton to Android in three areas. Firstly in shipments: ABI notes that Android-powered tablets surpassed iOS-based slates during Q2 for the first time. Secondly, it says tablet-related hardware revenues in Android and iOS reached parity at the mid-point of the year; and third it notes that the average selling price (ASP) of the iPad is “rapidly approaching the market average.”

    Apple reported its first yearly decline in iPad sales in its Q3 results back in July, with 14.6 million iPads sold in the quarter (vs 17 million in the year-ago quarter). Apple of course competes with multiple Android OEMs — which in the tablet space includes Amazon with its Kindle Fire range; Samsung with its Galaxy Note line up; and Google’s Nexus slates. So it’s fair to say that Android-powered tablets passing iPad shipments at some point was all but inevitable, with multiple companies attacking the iPad maker.

    Amazon and Google especially have used price as the differentiator to move more tablet-shaped boxes by undercutting the iPad’s premium pricing. That it’s taken the Android ecosystem more than three years to be shipping more slates than Apple is a measure of how relatively poor Android tablets have been vs the iPad experience (it’s no coincidence that Google felt it needed to get involved directly with the tablet space with its own-branded Nexus slate to help bring up standards and push down prices).

    Overall, ABI says tablet shipments grew more than a fifth (23 percent) year-over-year in Q2, while the market declined 17 percent sequentially.

    On the revenues front, overall, ABI estimates that tablet shipments in Q2 generated revenues of $12.7 billion — with the iPad accounting for (only) 50 percent of worldwide end-user revenues. That’s notable because it’s the first time Apple’s slate has not dominated market revenues. Albeit, it still means Apple split the market in the quarter – taking the largest share for itself, while all other branded vendors shared $6.3 billion among themselves.

    A shift to smaller slates

    A dip in iPad sales and the lower-cost iPad mini go some way to explaining reduced revenues for Apple in the tablet space. But with multiple Android OEMs targeting the 7-inch small slate space before Apple did, there was a clear need for Cupertino to introduce a smaller iPad, whatever the costs on the revenue cannibalisation front. (Cannibalising itself is not, in any case, something Apple shies away from.)

    ABI’s data reinforces the importance of the small slate category, noting that circa 7-inch tablets finally became the category majority in Q2. Apple’s own small slate also dominated overall iPad shipments — and accounted for nearly half of iPad revenues. “The 7.9-inch iPad mini represented about 60% of total iPad shipments and 49% of iPad-related device revenues in the quarter,” notes ABI senior practice director Jeff Orr in a statement.

    The iPad mini, which launched just under a year ago and costs $329 vs $499 for the Retina iPad (or $399 for the iPad 2), is the main cause of a 17 percent drop in the ASP of the iPad over the past year. “The iPad drop is primarily attributed to the introduction and volume shift to the smaller iPad mini,” ABI notes.

    Yet, while the ASP of the iPad has been falling — as buyers shift their cash to Apple’s smaller, lower cost slate — the ASP of the rest of tablet market has increased 17 percent over the same period. ABI attributes that to competition heating up and iPad rivals being able to match and even best the capabilities of Apple’s hardware. “Twelve months is a long time for the peak lifecycle of a contemporary tablet. To remain a leader, Apple must continue to innovate and address real-world market needs,” adds Orr.

    AT&T Galaxy Note 3 And Galaxy Gear Will Be Released On October 4th

    AT&T Galaxy Note 3 And Galaxy Gear Will Be Released On October 4th

    AT&T has finally provided a concrete release date for the Galaxy Note 3 as well as the Galaxy Gear smartwatch. Both devices were unveiled earlier this month at the Samsung Unpacked event in Berlin. When it first started taking pre-orders for the Galaxy Note 3, AT&T only said that the release can be expected around October 1st. Through a tweet, the carrier has confirmed that both devices will be available for purchase online and through its retail stores on October 4th.

    AT&T’s release date coincides with that of Sprint and beats Verizon’s by almost one week. T-Mobile is said to begin shipping both Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Gear on October 1st. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 can be purchased from AT&T for $299 up front, coupled with a two year contract. With the AT&T Next plan, the cost comes down to $35 per month. Off contract, the phablet can be purchased for $749.99. Samsung Galaxy Gear is available from AT&T for $299, no contract plans are provided. At this point in time, only the Galaxy Note 3 has the required software support to make it compatible with the smartwatch. Samsung will release a firmware update for older devices in the coming weeks to make the Galaxy Gear compatible with them.

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  • AT&T Galaxy Note 3 And Galaxy Gear Will Be Released On October 4th original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    Moto X budget model “DVX” appears at FCC

    It is inevitable – it is Moto X’s destiny. Here we’re seeing – again – the likes of the low-cost iteration of what Motorola presented earlier this year with the Moto X. This model has appeared more than once in leaked casing photos in a variety of colors and is now – for the second […]