The software development kit for Pebble Time has been released today – 64 colors and everything. This SDK is also known as Pebble OS SDK 3.0, and it contains a number of big jumps in functionality for the operating system for the wearable collection of devices. Everything developers have created to work with SDK 2.x will run perfectly fine on … Continue reading
Following a small leak earlier this week, Audi has officially introduced its new 2016 Audi R8 ahead of its planned debut at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. The newest model takes Audi’s already beastly R8 to the next level, retaining largely the same design (though there are, of course, some changes) as the current version while trimming down its weight, … Continue reading
About three weeks ago, Verizon listed the Nexus 6 as ‘coming soon’ on their website. We assumed that meant we’d see big red with the big Nexus in days, but we’re still without a Nexus 6 via Verizon. A new report suggests the Nexus 6 for Verizon is still coming, but will hit the nation’s largest carrier after MWC. Purportedly … Continue reading
Scientists lead by Xue-Bing Wu from Peking University have spotted a quasar that dates back nearly to the beginning of time. This beast goes by the name of SDSSJ010013.021280225.8 – or if you want to be short about it, just SDSS J0100+2802. What makes this monstrous heavenly body so important is its age and its size. While it’s not the … Continue reading
Consumers are tired of shelling out relatively high figures for slow Internet speeds, and Google Fiber has long been the glimmer of light on the horizon promising better things for the digital generation. Still, its launch has been metered and to those waiting for it to come their way, every aspect of the rollout appears to be painfully slow, from … Continue reading
When it’s cold outside, your home starts being very dry. For the most part we don’t notice this sort of thing throughout the day. However, when you wake up in the morning you feel as though your mouth is about as humid as the desert. While a humidifier will help alleviate this aspect as well as helping you sleep a bit better, they are an absolute pain to clean. Over time they build up mold, and if cleaned incorrectly don’t work again right away.
If you wish cleaning out a humidifier wasn’t such a chore, then you’re quite likely to enjoy the CleanPot Humidifier. This has no tank as the diffuser floats atop the water in a bowl, meaning you’ll always be aware of whether or not you need more H2O. Not only that, but you don’t have to turn it off and bring it to the sink to fill it up. This can be disassembled and washed easily, and needs no replacement filters or pumps.
The intensity at which it spews humidity can be controlled by an external knob which is included. If you would prefer to get a pleasant smell with your humidity, you can add in a few drops of aromatic oil with your water. You’ll have the option of a “Volcano” or “Tea Kettle” shaped vapor cap which will create different plume shapes. This will cost you $139, which isn’t too bad for a 2.5 gallon humidifier that isn’t too complex, and won’t develop mold that you can’t get to after a few months. Of course, that’s with the understanding that you will need to wash this out every once in a while.
Available for purchase on Amazon
[ The CleanPot Humidifier makes the cold, dry months more tolerable copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
We touched on monitor positioning on our Office Gear Guide , and one of the best ways to elevate your monitor to the right height, utilize multiple monitors, and save space on your desk is with a monitor mount, but which one? Mount up and nominate your favorite in the comments.
There’s a never-ending debate when it comes to buying umbrellas: Do you spend a lot of money on an expensive one you’ll probably end up losing, or do you buy a cheap model that will most certainly break in a light breeze? Davek wants you to go the former route, and is now upgrading its umbrellas with Bluetooth in the hopes that you’ll never forget it again.
Last week, we put out a call for the best games for killing time with your little pocket computer, and you, the time-wasters of Kinja, delivered. Here are some of your favorites—plenty of fodder for anyone who wants to up their subway commute game beyond Threes (which, yes, is still extremely popular ).
There’s a photo of me on Facebook, smiling happily with three of my friends. I’m on the end. It’s a little blurry, somewhat grainy, and one of us may or may not be holding a glass of wine. It was posted on February 2, 2014. Superbowl Sunday.
Once a photo of you is up on Facebook, it’s up on Facebook. For all to see. And like. Comment. Form opinions about. Create imaginary scenarios. Jump to conclusions. It wasn’t my photo and I didn’t post it, but I am in it, clearly happy to be where I was at that moment: with my friends, laughing, having a good time… in the hot tub.
The light is glaringly bad as it reflects off the water in the early dark, our unfocused faces are all smiling too wide, and the hot-tubbly mist is swirling everywhere. It’s an unremarkable, not particularly special portrayal of four friends hanging out on a Sunday. It was an enjoyable afternoon of football and fun but nothing worth remembering happened (other than the Broncos lost), and there is little to mark that day out of the hundreds that came before or after.
Except for that photo.
I remember that unmemorable, out-of-focus photo because soon after Superbowl Sunday a lovely woman I peripherally know stopped me in passing.
“You’re Nicki, right?”
“Yeah…”
“You know, I think I’ve been seeing you on Facebook. Don’t you write a blog?”
Before I could reply, “And weren’t you just in a hot tub?”
I remember that conversation, and consequently the affronting photo, because the frantic butterfly wings of my heart took flight as I fleetingly worried she’d wrongly assume I led a life of happy hot-tub leisure and little more. That she’d immediately imagine a scenario of Nicki-the-Stay-at-Home-Mom doing nothing more meaningful than writing a bit of a blog, and drinking a bit of wine (not that there’s anything wrong with that) because that’s what it looked like that day, on Facebook.
I know. So what. Even if it’s true, so what.
Except it’s not true. A life of blog-writing and wine sounds definitely delightful, but is probably not true for anyone.
Scattered amongst horrific news stories of beheadings and shootings and a world gone mad, between the images of a beautiful daughter who is suddenly ill and a son who is suddenly missing, are apparently perfect portrayals of laughter and fun, parties and puppies, new homes, new cars, dream jobs… and we can’t help but feel the tendrils of envy and longing whisper against our skin.
Sharing on Facebook and other social media is how we connect. How we feel connected. Another way for us to build community, to feel part of something bigger than ourselves. It’s human nature to want and need contact with other humans, validation and support from friends. To share our happy times, our sadness, our pride, joy, love and disappointment. It’s how we feel alive. And not alone.
And sometimes it’s how we feel so alone.
“Friends are for Facebook,” my husband says when I show him glowing photographs of exotic vacation locales (and by exotic I mean anywhere else), weddings both lavish and simple, smiling families all in beautiful shades of white. He says it again when I worry out loud that an article I posted doesn’t seem to be getting much traffic, when I wish I hadn’t made that inappropriate comment on that friend’s photo.
“Friends are for Facebook,” with a wry smile and a hint of cynicism.
He is reminding me to keep perspective. Reminding me that I don’t know what chaos and imperfection occurred before that perfect photo was taken. Reminding me that the words and comments and likes and shares presented so neatly in minimalist grays and blues on the tiny screen in my hand are created by real-life people with feelings and hopes and wishes, just like me.
Friends are for Facebook. And Facebook flattens our lives. Makes our messy, rich, complicated, euphoric, depressing, wonderful and disappointing lives shallow and one-dimensional. What you see is what you get, we think. We forget what’s behind the screen. And sometimes in our attempts to feel more connected and less alone, we feel lonelier than ever.
I scroll through my Facebook feed and see those mostly smiling faces, seemingly adorable and well-behaved children, read those oh-so-positive status updates… and remember: the custody battle that might be happening for those kids, the complicated relationship behind that golden sunset, the struggles we endure every day. Everybody is struggling.
What you can’t see in that moment of misty, happy-go-lucky togetherness in the hot tub on Superbowl Sunday are the swirling sadness and deep despair that surrounded me before that day. The beautifully captured moments are definitely truthful moments, but I don’t forget what’s behind them. Nobody I know leads a life of only rainbows and butterflies, hot tubs and wine.
Friends are for Facebook. But also, friends are for Life.
This post originally appeared on Red Boots. You can follow Nicki Gilbert on Twitter and on her blog.
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.
