Nov 18
Earlier this year, we got a peek at Parrot’s svelte new Bebop drone. And earlier today, I got to fly it. I crashed it immediately—you probably will too—but that’s totally fine. It’ll survive, and flying it is still a blast.
Nov 18
If you’re a cyclist, you know the anxiety that comes with running out of water in the middle of a bike ride — the last thing you want is dehydration when you’re miles away from home. Design student Kristof Retezàr may just set your mind at ease,…
Nov 18
By now, there’s no question that Uber exec Emil Michael said some seriously concerning things about the potential merit of digging up dirt on journalists critical of the company at a private party in front of reporters and celebrities. For the…
Nov 18
The holiday season is one that is full of fun and adventure, as different family members get together for a celebration, as well as having the presence of good friends to add to the overall mirth of the home. With good food and great company all around, surely conversations alone are not enough as the booze starts to flow freely – perhaps it is time for one to actually take stock of the situation and have a little bit of music, throwing in a dash of singing to add an even more festive mood? The Singing Machine, North America’s leader in consumer karaoke entertainment systems, intends to make that a reality in your home by announcing the availability of the SML388 under their at-home entertainment range.
You do not need to hunt high and low for the Singing Machine SML388, since it will be made available over at the likes of Toys “R” Us and Sam’s Club stores around the country. The SML388 will bring your karaoke performance to life thanks to a synchronized light show which will rely on LED lights that pulse in tandem to your music as you belt out your favorite tunes, hit after hit, after hit.
Even better yet is the fact that the Singing Machine SML388 would enable party hosts and guests alike to pick their own playlist. All that you need to do would be to download your favorite karaoke songs from the Singing Machine Download Store over to a flash drive, insert it into the karaoke machine’s USB slot, and hook up the SML388 to your TV or monitor with the included cable, and voila! You will be able to enjoy scrolling lyrics on the screen for easy viewing, allowing you to sing to your heart’s content without going through the awkward moment when you forget the lyrics to the tune. Don’t laugh, it does happen sometimes!
Press Release
[ Singing Machine SML388 lightens up your home this holiday season copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Nov 18
Last week the sequel to Just Cause 2 was officially confirmed. Swedish developer Avalanche Studios revealed that it was indeed working on Just Cause 3 and has said that this title will be released at some point in 2015. New details have surfaced about this videogame. It will not be possible to enjoy the game in multiplayer at launch because Just Cause 3 won’t have a multiplayer mode from the get go.
This does come as a surprise because the multiplayer mod, albeit fan-made, was greatly appreciated by the Just Cause 2 community. Many would have expected the developer to take a cue from that and include one in Just Cause 3.
Avalanche Studios tells Game Informer that they really do appreciate the fan-made mod for Just Cause 3, they call it “absolutely fantastic,” while saying that they don’t expect fans to come up with a similar mod for Just Cause 3.
The developers say that they have made the choice to focus on the sandbox experience, to ensure that they can deliver a “grea Just Cause 3 experience,” which is why they’re not diverting any time and resources towards the multiplayer mode at this point in time.
Those Avalanche’s COO and co-founder Christofer Sundberg didn’t rule it out for the future. He says that maybe sometime down the line they’ll take Rico, the protagonist, “into the modern world of multiplaying.”
Just Cause 3 is destined to be released in 2015. It will be available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and the PC.
Just Cause 3 Multiplayer Won’t Be Available At Launch , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Nov 18
It was confirmed earlier this year that HBO Go will be landing on the Xbox One. Even though the announcement was made the app has yet to be released for Microsoft’s latest console. Today there’s renewed reason to believe that HBO Go Xbox One release may just be around the corner. Many users spotted a tile on the Xbox dashboard which indicated that this app is “Now on Xbox One.”
The tile was showing up in the console’s dashboard but the app wasn’t available in the Xbox Store. Those who saw the title and then proceeded to the Xbox Store in order to download it found that searching for “HBO” in the store yielded no results.
Meanwhile representatives for the cable giant maintain that this application will be released for both Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 in 2014, but don’t provide an exact release date. An official ad for HBO GO on Xbox One went live on YouTube earlier today but the video was made private a short while later.
In a statement provided to Polygon, a representative for Microsoft confirmed that HBO GO app will be coming soon to Xbox One but when asked about a specific release date, only replied that “we do not have anything to announce at this time.”
Who knows when the app is going to arrive, but by the looks of it, we might not have to wait that long.
HBO Go Xbox One Release Expected Soon , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Nov 18
The last few weeks have been thumbs down for Jose Canseco’s dismembered middle finger. Now he’s trying to turn his misfortune into a small fortune.
The controversial former baseball star was cleaning a gun Oct. 28 when he accidentally shot himself in the left hand and ended up losing part of his middle finger.
Although doctors attempted to reattach the 50-year-old ex-slugger’s finger, it fell off Nov. 13 during a Las Vegas poker tournament.
Ok well I might as well tell you .I was playing in a poker tournament last night and my finger fell off .someone took a video of it.
— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) November 14, 2014
My finger should have been amputated from the beginning. It was very loose with no bone to connect it.it was also smelling really bad.
— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) November 14, 2014
Canseco is now trying to make as much money as he can from his middle finger.
Joe Melendez, Canseco’s manager, says his client has the video of the finger falling off and may sell it to media outlets for the right price, CNN reports.
Canseco also claims he’s planning to auction both the fallen finger tip and the gun that shot it off to the highest bidder.
This is the 45 caliber Remington that shot my finger off. It is for sale if anyone wants to buy it pic.twitter.com/r4Q0X7MUHl
— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) November 17, 2014
The eBay ad will read slightly used middle finger with 462 home runs could be used as a stirring straw for drinks
— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) November 17, 2014
The 45 caliber Remington has a chrome mirror finish with custom grips with crystals and gold plating in the grips pic.twitter.com/QvUhX2nBZl
— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) November 18, 2014
maybe I will make it a package the chrome 45 caliber Remington with the finger both for sale a package deal
— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) November 18, 2014
Canseco is swinging for the fences, but he might strike out with his plan to auction off the finger on eBay.
As DeadSpin points out, eBay doesn’t permit the sale of firearms and only allows the selling of human remains if they are “items containing human scalp hair, and skulls and skeletons intended for medical use.”
Other auction places don’t seem interested in helping Canseco sell the finger, either.
A Sotheby’s rep said the company doesn’t sell body parts, and Bobby Livingston of RR Auction said Canseco’s alleged auction attempt is just “a publicity stunt.”
“The thought of selling the finger is abhorrent to us,” Livingston told HuffPost.
He added, “Plus it would have to be authenticated,” at which point he started cackling.
It’s possible that a private party might contact Canseco directly to make an offer, but he shouldn’t expect a windfall, according to sports memorabilia expert Josh Board of Autograph magazine.
“The problem is baseball collectors like things that aren’t, well, body parts. They want the baseball so-and-so hit a home run to break a record,” Board told HuffPost by email.
“Now, Canseco was sleeping with Madonna at one point. Had he lost his finger after a night with her, perhaps you have something. If he lost it during a game, it would be valuable. It would be the only time in baseball history that a well known player lost a body part in a game.
“As it is now, just a fingertip from a player that used to be a big name and now is relegated to reality shows, he’d be lucky if they got $1,000 for it, maybe $1,500 with the gun,” Board said.
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Nov 18
This goes out to anyone who’s ever rolled their eyes at a Kickstarter video, A.K.A, basically everyone.
In a spot-on crowdfunding parody written and directed by “Daily Show” writer Jena Friedman, “Workharder” advertises a special kind of service — one that won’t result in any funding whatsoever.
Instead of getting people to donate money to your half-baked idea or “talent,” Workharder uses “public shaming tools” to make sure your friends and family give you the encouragement you need to make your dream come without mooching off of others.
Watch the video and check out Friedman’s Benefit For West Africa Relief in New York City on Wednesday; 100 percent of the profits will go toward Doctors Without Borders‘s fight against Ebola.
Nov 18
4 College Students Share Their Big Ideas in TEDxPenn's "What Lies Ahead" Screening Session
Posted in: Today's ChiliHosting TEDx talks are a powerful way to share ideas and inspire people to take action. Yet there are an abundance of ideas out there that it’s hard to give everyone the opportunity to share their big idea. At an institution like the University of Pennsylvania, there are countless of students out there constantly working on their ideas, and chasing the dream.
With a desire to highlight these ideas and get students to learn more about the TED ethos, the TEDxPenn team has recently decided to hold “talent search” and screening sessions every month leading up to the actual TEDxPenn event in Spring 2015. In these mini-events, Penn students get the opportunity to share their big idea to the rest of the Penn community in talks that last between 5 to 7 minutes.
‘Ask what if questions’
The first speaker Rajat Bhageria, a freshman at the School of Engineering and founder of ThirdEye, started out by explaining the Google Glass application his team created that helps blind people be able to see again. This application was inspired by Rajat’s teammate Joe, who had a grandfather who was blind. With a desire to help his grandfather live a normal life again, the ThirdEye image recognition application was born.
He then highlighted how this only just the start, and went on to talk about the importance of asking “what if” questions and exploring the possibilities of technology. Bhageria went on to challenge the crowd to take advantage of all the open platforms we have today. He said, “Google didn’t make this application. We did. Three college freshmen did. We saw things that others didn’t see. We were able to ask the “what if” questions that Google wasn’t able to ask.”
Bhageria ended by saying, “Quite honestly, only the power of our computer vision algorithm limits us. So as our algorithms mature, this technology will just keep on advancing.”
‘Live a simpler life and focus on things that matter’
The second speaker Yagil Burowski, a sophomore in the School of Engineering and founder of the BlackV Club, talked about his experience wanting to expand his application Notice. He expressed how last summer, he realized that we have so many small decisions to make everyday like choosing what food to eat, and what clothes to wear that takes up so much of our time. He asked the audience to think about how many hours a day, they spend thinking about these small decisions instead of doing what we really want and have to do.
With all the choices we have today when it comes to clothes and food, it becomes very hard to make decisions. So Burowski decided to take matters into his own hands, went to Zara, and bought 5 Black V-necks. And this was the start of the BlackV Club. This quickly picked up steam on social media and ended up getting featured on Forbes, ABC News, Daily Mail and much more.
Burowski concluded by talking about why the likes of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg choose to wear the same thing everyday. “When you make fewer decisions, you are able to focus on the things that matter.”
‘Explore new places, understand the people, and make an impact’
Molly Liu, a Junior at the Wharton School of Business and founder of fashion startup Black Box Denim, started out by talking about her all-time favorite college class, “Anthropology 086: Desire and Demand” where the professor takes his/her students to different places in Philadelphia.
This class challenged her to get out of the bubble she lived in. And why is this so important? Molly stressed how a lot of us college students live in a bubble, or here at Penn, “we’re all Penntrified, overwhelmed by our classes and work” that we become separated from the real world. She stressed how there’s so that much we don’t know, so much that we haven’t seen and so much that we haven’t learned.
She then talked about how her startup Black Box Denim forced her to travel around China, visit different factories, talk to different workers, and see what went behind the denim jeans we wear everyday. She mentioned how “every single person involved in every single step of the process behind them.”
Molly ended her talk by highlighting the importance of exploring, and how every person she has met, and how every place she has been to helped shape her vision of the world, and what she wants to do with her life. She ended her talk saying, “You can’t build the second floor of house, without building the first. And you can’t impact the world if you don’t even understand the world you live in.”
‘Don’t be afraid to face the uncertainty of what lies ahead’
Yash Kothari, a Senior at the Wharton School of Business and founder of Prayas Analytics, started out by telling the audience to look back to their childhood dreams when we all said that we wanted to become astronauts or superheroes. He then asked everyone why they aren’t chasing these audacious dreams. His analysis: we’re afraid of uncertainty, we’re scared of facing the unknown.
He then analyzed this by talking about this fear of uncertainty in the context of his choice to pursue his own startup. Last year, he, along with his cofounder, was unsure whether to get a job in consulting or banking, or work on his startup in the summer. Given the fact that startups more often than not fail, they had a huge opportunity cost of not going to consulting or banking.
After speaking with friends, family and mentors, Kothari and his cofounder Pranshu Maheshwari decided to just take that leap of faith. According to Kothari, “It’s really freaking scary but if we really want to chase our dreams, we should become comfortable with this fear of uncertainty.”
Even right now, he admitted that they aren’t sure how they’re going to pay themselves or what lies ahead. But he ended by saying that this uncertainty is okay and challenged the audience to, “Think about the decisions you’re making right now. And if you’re in a position where things feel very comfortable, spend a second and think about it. Think about whether you’re achieving your childhood dreams, and whether you’re achieving your full potential.”
‘What Lies Ahead’
TEDxPenn hopes to continue these mini-events and screening initiatives leading up to the main event in Spring 2015. For more information on TEDxPenn and our different initiatives, visit our website: www.tedxpenn.com and like our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/tedxupenn.
Nov 18
Don't Put All Your Eggs (Frozen or Not) in This Basket: Speak Up and Lead the Conversation About Diverse Workplace Alternatives
Posted in: Today's ChiliBeginning in January 2015, Apple will join Facebook in giving women employees the opportunity to have their eggs frozen — so they can put off motherhood until their careers get fully launched. This is an added perk for some women, and it’s a boon for these companies.
Indeed, by allowing women to focus on work through much of their childbearing years, this step may help stem the exit of women who choose to leave technology firms when the pressures of child care and work become too great. It will also address gender imbalances in these tech giants. Only 20% of the tech jobs at Apple and 15% at Facebook are now filled by women. And both firms are committed to gender diversity.
But what if you don’t want to put all your eggs (frozen or otherwise) in this basket? What if you want to have other options for combining work and family?
Speak Up and Have Your Voice Heard
The answer in two words is to “speak up!” You’ll help your company by encouraging them to provide other workplace solutions such as better day care, better maternal benefits and more flexible work arrangements. Not only will you gain, but other moms and dads will thank you.
In my new book, Taking the Stage: How Women Can Speak Up, Stand Out, and Succeed, I discuss how to be a voice for change in your companies, in your career and in life. In my 25 years as founder and head of The Humphrey Group, I saw the remarkable results when individuals chose to speak up — and did so in a strong, thoughtful way. I particularly encourage women to put their hands up and express their views so they can achieve career goals. Here are a set of strategies you can use to have impact on decision making.
1. Begin with Courage
Courage is critical, because there are so many situations in which we women have to break through barriers, challenge traditional behaviors and redefine the way others see us.
A young woman we coached questioned her company’s commitment to diversity when she saw that senior management were all white males. She was surprised, but the men in the C-suite welcomed her views, which she expressed thoughtfully and persuasively. It began a process of change and led to her promotion. This sort of courage is especially needed for conversations about motherhood and your career. No one can advocate your case better than you can.
2. Find Your Stage
Taking the stage involves finding the right people to talk to. Make an appointment with a key decision maker, talk to HR or put yourself on the agenda of the appropriate committee. Or simply open up the conversation with your boss and get her buy-in. It’s fine to tweet and blog about these issues — and companies are growing more aware of what’s said on social media — but discussing your particular proposal with the right people in your company is still the best way to get results.
3. Share Your Vision
The best, most inspiring presenters speak with vision. You can too! So when you speak up, share that larger view with your co-workers and your boss. If your goals seem to be in-line with your company’s stated policies, emphasize that common vision — and show what needs to be done to make it a reality. Encourage companies that announce themselves as “family friendly” and “supportive of women” to take the key steps to realize those goals.
4. Make a Strong Case
Prepare exactly what you’re going to say. Make your message clear and then explain with proof points how your idea will benefit the firm (and the women within it). Never go into the meeting with unsubstantiated or random thoughts.
Do a “dry-run” with your husband, partner, or peers — even if you’re planning an informal conversation. That practice will allow you to fine-tune your script and delivery and gain valuable feedback from those around you. They, after all, will be affected by the outcome.
It’s likely that any questions they share with you will be brought up by the decision makers, so plan your responses to those questions as well.
5. Listen Carefully and Stay Calm
As you’re presenting, stay grounded. It’s easy for women to get angry or emotional when presenting an idea we are deeply committed to — particularly if others oppose what we’re saying. But remain composed and listen to other views expressed. That way, if need be, you can respond to any questions or challenges.
6. Take the Stage!
It’s often easier to stay silent for fear of failing if we speak up. But, consider this: It’s in the interest of both female employees and their companies to have women come forward with a range of solutions that work for them.
More broadly, speaking up with courage and confidence can become a way of life. Every time you speak up for something you believe, you’ll feel more and more comfortable expressing your views and being a voice for change. So, take the stage!
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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.