A huge pyramid in the middle of nowhere tracking the end of the world on radar. An abstract geometric shape beneath the sky without a human being in sight. It could be the opening scene of an apocalyptic science fiction film, but it’s just the U.S. military going about its business, building vast and other-worldly architectural structures that the civilian world only rarely sees.
The Federal Aviation Administration has filed an appeal in the case against "commercial drone" pilot Raphael Pirker, accused of reckless operation of what’s basically an R/C aircraft near the University of Virginia campus in 2011. Um, does this look reckless to you?
The world’s second largest social network has decided to display pop-up notifications on its website when someone interacts with a user’s tweets. Twitter hopes that this will make it easier for users to stay connected to what’s relevant. Whenever someone engages with a user’s tweets, they will receive real-time pop-up notifications on Twitter.com, provided that they are logged in and someone has replied, favorited or retweeted one of their tweets.
Twitter.com Gets Real-Time Pop-up Notifications original content from Ubergizmo.
One of the hottest smartphones of 2014 has been available for over two weeks now. Some customers just don’t think the stock experience offers what they need, luckily there are a host of customization options on Android provided that the relevant tools are available to unleash that power. The Team Win Recovery Project or TWRP can come in handy when flashing custom ROMs. It has already been available for the AT&T and Sprint HTC One M8. Now TWRP recovery for HTC One M8 on Verizon has finally been released.
TWRP Recovery For HTC One M8 On Verizon Released original content from Ubergizmo.
It has been just over a week since Amazon unveiled and released the Fire TV, its set-top box and undeniably an Apple TV rival. The Fire TV can do so much more than Apple’s set-top box, which might compel customers waiting on the fences for a new set-top box to pick one up. At $99 a pop, its not exactly that expensive. As it stands, Amazon’s online store is now sold out of Fire TV units, the company says its due to unprecedented high demand, and not because of bottlenecks in the supply chain.
Fire TV Sells Out Due To High Demand, Unit Sales Figures Not Disclosed original content from Ubergizmo.
Last year we saw a robot cane for visually impaired people that warns its user of obstacles with an audible alert. The Virtual Aid for the Visually Impaired or VAVI by grade 10 student Roman Kozak is an even more convenient prototype for a high tech cane. It lets the user search Google Maps and be guided towards his or her destination by voice prompts.
VAVI is not actually a cane but just a short cylinder; instead of direct contact it uses an ultrasonic sensor to detect objects in the user’s path. A vibration motor and a buzzer alerts the user if there’s an obstacle in his way. As for the location search, Roman wrote an Android app that taps into Google Maps. When the app is open, the user can order it to search for a location by saying “go to _____.” The app will look for the destination and will then provide voice prompts to guide the user as he walks.
The app also accepts voice commands for placing a phone call, sending the user’s current location to someone else and for finding VAVI. For that last feature, the app will reach out to VAVI through Bluetooth and activate its motor and buzzer to make it easier to find. Roman also made it so VAVI can be charged wirelessly via induction so the user won’t have to bother finding an adapter and an outlet.
For all its capabilities, Roman estimates that VAVI only costs about $70(USD) to produce. Check out Roman’s website for more on his invention.
[via Hack A Day]
Earlier this week Dropbox announced that former United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice has been appointed to its board. Her career in the government hasn’t been short on controversy, so one can understand why some people might not be too happy about her presence on the board of a cloud storage company, which users trust with their data. A petition surfaced online demanding that she be dropped from the board, but Dropbox CEO has publicly backed her appointment while also reiterating the company’s commitment to privacy.
Dropbox CEO Backs Condoleezza Rice’s Board Appointment original content from Ubergizmo.
Bearing in mind that CNN is the same network that suggested Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 might have flown into a black hole
Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we’re using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment.
Before you send in your angry emails, comments and tweets…
The second Apple vs Samsung trial is well underway. In its defence the first witness Samsung called was Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google vice president of Android. The Korean juggernaut argues that many of the features that Apple alleges them of copying were first developed by Google. Taking jurors through the early development of Mountain View’s mobile operating system, Lockheimer said that engineers actually tried making Android very different from iOS,
Google Executive Says No iPhone Features Were Copied For Android original content from Ubergizmo.
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