Hasta La Gadget!

Ah, to come up with an invisibility cloak – this is definitely something that is worth looking into, especially when one is involved knee deep in covert operations and the ilk. Such a cloak was specially developed at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), where it claims to be able to hide just about any object which is capable of fitting into a one-inch diameter cylinder. The cloaking device would be one of the first to rely on common materials such as polymers and acrylic paint, which would eventually make it all the more accessible to the masses, and could be applied in practical demonstrations of cloaking technology, quite unlike other invisibility cloak attempts in the past.

Needless to say, coming up with a practical invisibility cloak is far from an easy affair, but the principle remains simple. One will need to locate a method to let in light rays through one side of the cloak, while guiding them smoothly around the object so that the object will remain hidden, before restoring their original direction in order to do away with any suspicion that they were initially diverted.

This cloak has been designed in a clever way, where the average time required for light to travel through the polymer block will remain consistent with the time that is required to travel through the cloak, which ends up with the object within the cloak remaining invisible from sight. [Press Release]

New Invisibility Cloak Developed , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

We have seen press renders of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Active leaked, but here we are with word that the upcoming hardy and tough handset will be able to deliver beauty through its QHD display, helping the handset remain on par with the very best of them out there. This year’s Samsung Galaxy S6 launched sans any kind of protection from dust and water, which translates to a viable platform for the Samsung Galaxy S6 Active to debut.

So far, there has been no official announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Active, but there are other ways to confirm the existence of an unannounced handset. One of the ways would be to make use of a User Agent profile in order to confirm the model number of the phone (SM-G890A), not to mention the fact that this particular device will sport a 1440 x 2560 resolution display.

Other hardware specifications, however, remain up in the air, such as a 5.1” Super AMOLED display, an Exynos 7420 SoC with an octa-core 2.1 GHz CPU mated to a Mali-T760 MP8 GPU, 3GB RAM with a beefier 3,500 mAh removable battery, a 16MP shooter at the back and a 5MP selfie camera, all of those accompanied by an IP67 rating that allows the Galaxy S6 Active to be submerged up to 3.28 feet of water for a period of 30 minutes. Patience will revea more.

User Agent Profile Confirms Samsung Galaxy S6 Active Will Have QHD Display , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

It does look as though nothing is sacred anymore these days when it comes to keeping secrets, either that or companies are more interested in accidental leaks in order to drum up hype about upcoming devices. Having said that, there was a rumor that went around earlier this month, citing how the Meizu M1 Note 2 (or M2 Note) is all set for a reveal this June 2. It seems that there is an event scheduled for that date, and hence, the M1 Note might receive its official successor in due time.

The Meizu M1 Note 2 has carried rumors for the longest time that it will come with a fingerprint sensor in order to keep up with the times, where the shape of its physical Home button does offer something in a similar direction. However, based on the software that is found on this leaked prototype, this does not seem to add up as there is no indication of any fingerprint scanner.

Ah well, it would then be easier to explain that the new Home button happens to be a design change, without any kind of new functionality built or included. It ought to run on Meizu’s Flyme OS that is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop when it arrives.

Meizu M1 Note 2 Leaked Prior To Unveiling , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Barbecue is one of those foods that’s fiercely regional. In Texas, it’s all about the beef; in Carolina, the focus is pork; and so on. Thankfully, there are great barbecue restaurants all across the country with multiple locations that are spreading the barbecue gospel far and wide. We surveyed nearly 10,000 folks from across the country, and these are the 25 chains that received the most votes.

Click Here to see America’s 25 Best Barbecue Chains

Chains tend to get bad raps, because (for the most part) they rely on production lines and cost-cutting measures to deliver food that’s as inexpensive and quickly-made as possible (think pizza chains versus an actual pizzeria). But when it comes to barbecue, there’s really no way to cut corners. Because if you cut corners with barbecue — by using low-grade meat, for example, or employing artificial means to give it smoky flavor — people will know. And not only will they know, they’ll get angry. You can screw around with burgers or pizza, but you can’t screw around with ‘cue.

All the owners of the restaurants on our list keep this fact close to heart, and it comes through in the food they serve. In order to assemble our ranking, we created a survey with 67 chain barbecue joints and asked the public to weigh in and vote for their favorites. Nine thousand, six hundred, and seventeen votes later, there was a clear champion.

Choosing a favorite type of barbecue is a subjective matter, but I think we can all agree that when done right, there’s nothing on earth that’s more delicious. And while some of these chains specialize in Texas-style barbecue and others focus on St. Louis, we should be mighty thankful that they’ve decided to expand and grace parts of the country that might otherwise not have access to great barbecue. So loosen your belt and read on to learn which 25 barbecue chains are America’s best.

#25 Dickey’s BBQ Pit

Photo Credit: Dickey’s

With more than 470 locations in 42 states, Dickey’s, founded by Travis Dickey more than 70 years ago, is the world’s largest barbecue franchise. Each location pit-smokes its meat on the premises, and free kids’ meals are still offered every Sunday. While it’s certainly old-fashioned, that’s more the result of an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy. Meats are served by the pound, and include Southern-style pulled pork, hickory-smoked brisket, honey ham, spicy Cheddar and Polish sausages, pork ribs, chicken, and turkey breast. There are no frills at Dickey’s, just solid, honest-to-goodness barbecue.

#24 City Barbeque

Photo Credit: City Barbeque

With six Ohio locations, two in Kentucky, and one each in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Indianapolis, City Barbeque has been dishing up award-winning craft barbecue since 1999. Meats are smoked upwards of 18 hours, and while the owners don’t claim to hew to any particular region’s style, they’re really representing the best of all worlds — and doing it well. Brisket, pulled pork, pulled pork with slaw, turkey, pulled chicken with Alabama white sauce, and smoked sausage are sold on a bun, on their own, or by the pound, and St. Louis-cut ribs come slathered in their classic barbecue sauce. Sides and desserts are scratch-made daily; don’t miss the gumbo, hush puppies, or banana pudding.

Click Here to see the Original Story on The Daily Meal

Dan Myers,The Daily Meal

More Content from The Daily Meal:
The Dos and Don’ts of Outdoor Entertaining
Between-Season Centerpieces
50 Best Burger Recipes
America’s Favorite Pizza Chains
Want to Throw the Perfect Outdoor Party?

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Last week, General Motors acknowledged that the death toll on its defective ignition switch hit 100. Sadly, the final count will likely be higher as a total of 4,300 claims have been filed against General Motors for the defect so far.

As Americans, we continue to be appalled by these incidents of sub-par engineering and cover-ups. We expect that cars sold here meet or exceed the absolute highest safety standards. We demand that when lives are lost because companies failed to ensure their vehicles were safe those companies are held accountable. And, as evidenced by the General Motors case, they are.

But the standards we hold automakers to here in the U.S. are not the same in many third-world countries. And while those companies tell us they value safety here, that value isn’t carried over to many other places where the do business.

That’s a dangerous double standard — not just to the people driving the cars, but to the companies that make them.

I have traveled extensively in South America, Africa and Asia, and each time I climb into a car on foreign soil, I am struck by how grossly different vehicle safety standards are across the globe — particularly in third world countries.

Cars manufactured for third world countries offer little or no safety equipment. Automakers treat safety as a local compliance issue and only 28 countries have adequate laws addressing safety.

Isn’t it time to hold automakers accountable to everyone who drives or rides in their cars, regardless of where those cars are sold and how much people paid for them?

From a brand perspective, customers expect products to be safe everywhere. The promise of safety is an attribute of the brand and it should know no borders. Most American consumers renting a car anywhere in the world expects that car to be just as safe as what they drive at home.

Yet the seatbelts, airbags and other basic safety features that we consider standard here are absent in the vehicles these automakers ship to many other countries. Manufacturers claim they can’t afford to those features into the cars because they won’t be price competitively in those markets.

But consider this: According to the World Health Organization, 1.24 million people die of road traffic related injuries worldwide each year. That’s one person killed every 25 seconds. How many of those deaths could have been prevented if the same safety standards we enjoy were afforded to consumers of cars all across the globe?

How can Ford, G.M. and Toyota justify a double standard on safety? Don’t they see that in doing so they are operating with two opposing sets of values?

Global companies must have a single set of values that are consistent across all markets. Most manufacturers claim that safety is a core corporate value they don’t back up their principles with action.

These companies can’t only value safety in the United States, E.U. and other countries where regulation demands safety standards. It’s a standard that they must apply everywhere because the safety of everyone’s children and loved ones is a universal tenet regardless of culture or income.

Having global safety standards is not altruistic. It’s simply the right thing to do. It’s telling your customers that their lives matter, no matter where they are and who is watching.

From a marketing perspective, the manufacturer that leads in adopting global safety standards could actually gain a competitive advantage.

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