GoPro camera patent a dead ringer for the Polaroid Cube

boxyWait a second, those of you familiar with the Polaroid Cube might be saying, isn’t that the miniature shooter we know so well? Not really, says GoPro, this is a new camera with new abilities – it just… maybe looks… similar. Not similar enough to warrant a mass breakdown, of course – and probably not similar enough to sue. But … Continue reading

Dyson Pure Cool is a swanky option for purifying your home’s air

DysonDyson recently introduced a new home purifying unit that will be arriving in the United States in the near future, and it is bid as a way to make your home’s air clean and as breathable as possible. Coupled with the filtering technology is a swanky design that blends in well with modern decor, not readily giving away that it … Continue reading

Patent reveals GoPro's working on a 'square profile' camera design

GoPro doesn’t make square, cube-like cameras, but if it did, the picture (after the break) is probably what they’d look like. The image comes from a patent granted to GoPro today. The protection covers a “Camera housing for a square-profile camera,” …

Flickr gives you the choice to put photos in the public domain

Flickr has long had ways to let others use and tweak your photos, but if you want to give up your copyright altogether? You can now do just that. In the wake of Elon Musk releasing SpaceX’s photos to public domain, Flickr has added options for public…

The Carabiner Grappling Hook – never leave home without one

Grappling hook

When you walk out your front door, you never know what you’re going to face that day. Maybe the zombie apocalypse will finally happen, or you have to save a kitten from a tree, or stop a flaming bus full of orphans from careening off the road and shepard the children to safety, becoming the town hero. It may be far-fetched, but it’s not impossible.

If you think fate might put you in one of these situations, you need to be prepared for all the ifs and what-ifs that could ever if. This is a totally pointless endeavor, and will have you stuffing a laundry bag-sized backpack full of random items, but it will bring you mental comfort knowing you have a zombie survival grab bag and answers for the inevitable questions you may ask about how it all came to this. Of course, if you really want to be ready for whatever life can throw at you, why not get a Grappling Hook?

This is a steel Grappling Hook that can take about 800 pounds of weight in one go. The price tag only being at $52, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this is made of plain ole steel with no emphasis on being stainless, meaning it will likely rust over time. However, it will help you scale walls and pull down limbs with relative ease. If you’re buying it for the zombie apocalypse, this may be your only way to safety, or a weapon with murderous intent.

Available for purchase on Amazon, found via thisiswhyimbroke
[ The Carabiner Grappling Hook – never leave home without one copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Han Solo Carbonite Coffin Coffee Table: Only from IKEA Cloud City

The latest collectible from Awe Me’s Super Fan Builds is a coffee table based on Han Solo’s carbonite block. Because the metallic block could’ve been Han’s coffin if he wasn’t reanimated, Super Fan Builds built the table using an actual wooden coffin as its base.

han_solo_carbonite_coffin_coffee_table_super_fan_builds_1zoom in

Super Fan Builds built the morbid table for Ray Choi. Ray is a member of the 501st Legion, the world famous group of Star Wars cosplayers that use their talents and costumes to participate in charitable events. As the icing on this cold death cake, Super Fan Builds put Ray’s face on Han’s frozen body and gave him a Han Solo costume.

This is one of the few presents that’s equally appropriate for someone you love and someone you hate.

[via Gizmodo]

Apple Reportedly Trying To Steal Top Tier Artists From Jay Z’s Streaming Service

jay-z-tidal

The music streaming service already has some big players trying to become the leader and then there are new services that want a piece of the pie as well. Music mogul Jay Z recently purchased and relaunched Tidal. Aiding him in this attempt were some of the biggest names in music. According to a report Apple is trying to steal some of those top tier artists presumably because it too is coming up with a new music streaming service soon.

Rumors about Apple’s new music streaming service have been circulating for a while now. It is believed that Apple will sunset Beats Music and use its technology for a new offering.

The report says that Apple executive Jimmy Iovine has been reaching out to these top artists and trying to poach them from Tidal by paying them “more money upfront.”

For those who are unaware Iovine was previously involved in Beats Music and then came over to Apple when Cupertino acquired the company.

Given the sheer star power behind Tidal one can expect that the new kid on the block is going to bring in subscribers through deals and exclusives.

This could hurt Apple’s new offering which some believe wanted to do the same, which is why it makes sense for Iovine to try and steal some of the biggest artists away from a competitor.

Apple Reportedly Trying To Steal Top Tier Artists From Jay Z’s Streaming Service

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Galaxy S6 Clones Are Already Here

chinese-galaxy-s6-clone-1

Samsung hasn’t even released the Galaxy S6 yet but already there are companies in China creating cheaper alternatives for people who want a device that looks like the Galaxy S6 but doesn’t work like it. We know that many Chinese companies are involved in making clones of some of the best selling devices on the market. Each year we see many different clones of the iPhone and some even arrive before the new iPhone is even released. Something similar has happened this time around with Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone.

chinese-galaxy-s6-clone-2

The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge will not be released globally until April 10th. It is possible though that Chinese manufacturer No.1 will have its clone out in the market before that.

No.1’s Galaxy S6 clone actually looks quite similar to the real device. It nails the metal frame as well as the layouts for grills and buttons. From a distance the clone can easily fool someone.

chinese-galaxy-s6-clone-3

However the difference will be obvious when someone holds the device. It wouldn’t have the same feel as Samsung’s flagship plus the software will be different as well.

Obviously the internal hardware package will be different too. No.1’s clone is expected to run on a MediaTek processor with up to 2GB RAM. Aside from 16GB and 32GB onboard storage the device will have support for 3G.

No.1 aims to release its Galaxy S6 clone in April, presumably before the Galaxy S6 officially arrives. Price hasn’t been revealed yet but it will surely be a lot less than the real deal.

Galaxy S6 Clones Are Already Here

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Shaking the Faith

We continue to be traumatized by the unspeakably horrible tragedy of the Germanwings plane hurtling at 400 miles per hour into a mountain in the French Alps, blowing all 150 passengers instantly into bits, all because a crazed young co-pilot achieved his mission of fame or whatever by this act of mass murder.

The question arises, with increasing intensity, as a series of terrible human tragedies take place, one after another, as to how, if there is a God, such events could be permitted to happen.

I evoked this dilemma of a God indifferent to human suffering in a conversation with a priest during a seminar at Harvard shortly after 9/11. The essence of his reply was the following: “You have to think in terms of two kinds of God – one interventionist, the other not. Personally I believe in the second one.”

The priest’s reply is not a wholly satisfactory one, for the question remains as to how God, if he exists, and even though he doesn’t guide the course of the world by his providence, how can he in goodwill, permit such atrocities such as the willing destruction of an airline last Tuesday, to take place?

Whatever the case, the majority of believers seem to rely on the assumption that there is a God of providence who intervenes in the affairs of the world. From Andrew Jackson to George W. Bush, the majority of American presidents – including the most notable such as Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt – seem to have had the conviction, in various degrees, that there actions were guided by the hand of God. Some even gave to understand that they had a personal relationship with God, as when George W. Bush asserted that God had urged him to invade Iraq.

Though there is no proof that an impenetrable God cares about the vicissitudes of our lives, our wishes and our prayers, the beliefs continue to exist, though less than in earlier times, as tragedies continue to afflict those who, an instant before, seemed to have been blessed by God.

Yemen Crisis Points Up Danger of Our Close Ties To An Increasingly Irrational Middle East

So we have yet another crisis in a little-known place to worry about. The difference is that, with this one, it’s not hard at all to see how it could trigger a regional conflagration.

Yemen isn’t obscure. It’s the back of beyond. Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world. Like all but a few Americans, I’ve never been there. I never considered going there on my grad student tour of the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Soviet and Chinese peripheries. More recently, it would have been nuts.

But it is now the place where, at the instigation of Saudi Arabia, which is next door to Yemen, Sunni Muslim Arab nations have decided to draw a literal line in the sand in what has been a long mostly cold war against Shiite Muslims, especially those aligned with Iran.

What this means is that dynamics within the Middle East are now dominated by four principal actors, governments and post-governmental tendencies largely dominated now by religious fundamentalists of one stripe or another. Which is to say, the Khomeini successor mullahs of Iran. The petrodollar-drenched Wahhabi medievalists of Saudi Arabia. The radical jihadists of Isis and Al Qaeda. And the Jewish fundamentalists and neoconservatives of Israel, who, lest we forget, urged on the disastrous U.S. invasion of Iraq and stand against a Palestinian state.

In this, the Middle East is much like the Middle Ages, when religious-based conflict was the order of an exceedingly long and dark day.

In the midst of a welter of supra-rational claims for legitimacy of action, it’s easy for the U.S. and its real world secular interests to be swamped by irreconcilable demands.

The irony is that Yemen was, not long ago, a “stable partner.” Which in the parlance means an Arab or Islamic nation publicly or privately aligned with the U.S. and/or Israel. Which in translation means a nation somewhere on the spectrum from autocratic to out-and-out dictatorship.

Longtime Yemeni strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh was a reliable ally in the GWOT (Global War on Terror), allowing his country to be used for a host of operations, including now ubiquitous drone strikes, against jihadists, especially the offshoot of the original Al Qaeda which had taken root in Yemen, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. But the Arab Spring demonstrations, of incipient democratic forces, ultimately forced Saleh from power. Saleh, incidentally, is Shia, which didn’t both the Saudis much then.

Now Saleh and his allies are trying to return to power, or at least a share of power, working with the Iranian-backed Houthis who have seized the capital Sana’a along with reportedly valuable U.S. global anti-terrorism files, clearly a major a U.S. counter-intelligence failure, sending American special forces operators fleeing from Yemen in the process. The remnant official Yemeni government has been pushed to the Red Sea port of Aden.

If Saudi Arabia didn’t care much about a a Shiite Muslim running Yemen before, why care so much now?

Because Iran is involved, of course.

Like Israel under Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, the Saudis under King Abdullah and now King Salman have reportedly pushed the U.S. to attack Iran in order to destroy its nuclear program. (Iran’s stubborn behavior in the face of massive sanctions of course makes the most sense only if it intends to create its own nuclear weapons at some point, as I believe it does.)

A Yemen openly aligned with Iran doesn’t so much create problems for Saudi Arabia as it could add greatly to them.

The potential to control access to the Red Sea and beyond via the chokepoint of Bab-el-Mandeb is a not insignificant factor. That’s why, for example, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, at the beginning of the Six-Day War in 1967, rated the capture of the port of Sharm el-Sheikh as a higher priority than securing Jerusalem.

But it’s not nearly as important for the oil trade and other aspects of maritime commerce as the Strait of Hormuz, which can provide access to alternate routes.

The deeper problems for Saudi Arabia concern its own internal contradictions. A pro-Iranian regime next door in Yemen might make it easier to foment discord among Shiite workers in and around the Saudi oil fields. And a pro-Iranian Yemeni regime could end the longstanding American pressure on Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, enabling it to use Yemen as a safe haven to refocus efforts on Saudi Arabia itself.

The Saudis rely in part on Shiite oil workers — Shiites actually predominate in the portion of the Kingdom containing most of the oil production — who sometimes complain of exploitation and discrimination. Indeed, it was restiveness in another neighboring Gulf kingdom which led the Saudis to send troops across the causeway to put down Arab Spring demonstrations among Shiite workers complaining of exploitation in Bahrain, home of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

Worrisome as that prospect has to be for the Saudis, the thing that could lead to the oft prophesied fall of the House of Saud is Saudi jihadists turning their attention back to their home.

Although much of the 9/11 investigative report concerning Saudi Arabia remains classified, despite the efforts of former Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Bob Graham and other critics, it’s well-known that 15 of the 19 Al Qaeda attackers on 9/11 were citizens of Saudi Arabia. Osama bin Laden of course was a prominent member of one of Saudi Arabia’s richest and most powerful families. Funding from Saudis did much to establish Al Qaeda and point it in our direction.

The fundamentalist version of Sunni Islam taught in Saudi Arabia has produced many candidates for jihad, coming of age in a society in which super-rich elites can easily appear hypocritical.

I got to know the late chief U.S. attorney for Saudi Arabia, Fred Dutton (dubbed “Fred of Arabia”), as he wrapped up his Pat Brown-appointed 12-year term on the University of California Board of Regents in the late 1970s. This was while he formed the Saudi lobby in the U.S. and forged what has proved to be a tight Saudi/American alliance.

Dutton, a former chief Pat Brown aide and Robert Kennedy for President campaign manager, predicted that that the alliance would last. He also predicted that the greatest danger to it would come from within the Kingdom.

American troops on Saudi territory could be very problematic. And the massive wealth transfer from the West to Saudi Arabia as a result of our continued oil addiction was bound to lead to elite lifestyles out of sync with religious doctrine. Today I keep running into Saudi tourists in California who — even when they are not drunkenly brawling outside nightspots — do not appear to be following the austere dictates of Wahhabi doctrine that are the order of the day back home.

A time-honored way to distract from domestic discord is to pursue conflict with a well-defined enemy. And so, even as the Saudis have assembled a coalition of Sunni Arab states to follow their lead in air strikes inside Yemen, they led the charge over the weekend at an Arab League meeting in Cairo to form a pan-Arab army which would be headquartered either in the Egyptian capital or in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

The express goal, naturally, is to resist Iran, which is a Persian and not Arab nation. But plenty of the folks in those Arab nations are Shiites, too, like the Iranians. And the Houthis who now have the upper hand in Yemen.

So the notion of a pan-Arab/pan-Sunni military force can run up against some very big obstacles, perhaps even fomenting more internal discord across the Arab world in the process. Just as a fellow named T.E. Lawrence learned when he first dreamed up the idea a hundred years ago.

Yet more headaches for President Barack Obama.

Facebook comments are closed on this article.

William Bradley Archive