Hasta La Gadget!

Looking for a one of a kind Breaking Bad collectible? How about this incredibly realistic Walter White mask that was once worn by Bryan Cranston? This mask first showed up when Bryan Cranston wore it at the 2013 Comic-Con and walked among the unsuspecting crowd. He then revealed the disguise on stage at the Breaking Bad panel.

Then later it showed up on all of the talk shows, even Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where Fallon wore the mask and interviewed Bryan Cranston as Walter White. At one point musician/actor Common put on the mask too. The mask was signed by Cranston and returned to the artist after that. Now you can own one and do whatever you want with it.

It’s great for Halloween, making your own fan movies, scaring people, or just staring in the mirror telling yourself that you are the one who knocks. The eBay auction ends tonight and right now it is at a whopping $41,300.00(USD).

Big data is big money, so when the power goes out and data centers go offline, companies like eBay stand to hemorrhage revenue. Which is why the mega auction e-tailer’s been hard at work setting up a “greener” data center in South Jordan, Utah to avoid costly and unpredictable blackouts. The now operational site incorporates thirty fuel cells developed by Bloom Energy, a company with roots in NASA’s Mars program, that turn natural gas into electricity via an electro-chemical process. What’s more, eBay, using recovered energy generation technology provided by Ormat, is also attempting to offset its carbon footprint by harvesting the “heat waste” generated from natural gas pipelines and turning that into energy for its Utah site. Barring any unforeseen power failures, the company’s green data center won’t ever have to rely on the local grid. And that independence should ensure eBay users keep bidding and buying and filling the company’s coffers.

Filed under: Science

Comments

Source: Wired, GigaOm

Love to eBay, but not a fan of waiting? Then Devin Wenig — the auction site’s president — has some good news for you today. At a London press conference, he’s just announced the firm is launching “click and connect,” a service that (as you might have guessed) lets you purchase from large high-street retailers, and pick your item up in-store in the UK. For those merchants that don’t have a physical presence, a collaboration with British store Argos will mean they can deliver items through the chain’s infrastructure, offering another delivery channel. Initially Wenig advises that 150 Argos stores will have an “eBay collection point” with more locations likely to follow. There’s no word so far on costs to the seller (or buyer), but when you simply just gotta have it…

Update: Oh, and just like that, if collect in store wasn’t convenient enough, Wenig has just announced that eBay now, its one hour delivery service will be coming to Europe, starting in London early next year.

Filed under: Internet

Comments

Even if you don’t feel like coughing up the cash for either the iPhone 5c or iPhone 5s, those eligible for an update (that’s if you own an iPhone 4 or up, or an iPad 2 onward) can at least console themselves with iOS 7, which debuts today. Gone is the skeuomorphic design of the Forstall era, and in its place is a flatter interface that promises an entirely new experience for iOS devotees. As such, developers everywhere have been scrambling to get their apps redesigned to match the new mobile OS out of Cupertino. While we can’t possibly cover every update, we’ve compiled a quick list after the break of the more substantial app revamps that have come our way.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Apple

Comments

Source: Evernote, Flipboard, Foursquare, Shazam, Vimeo, Mailbox, Twitter, OpenTable, Simplenote, about.me

PayPal’s commerce system wasn’t built for crowdfunding, and that has created problems for some startups — the company recently (if briefly) froze $45,000 of Mailpile’s assets, for example. The PayPal team is determined to set things right, however, and just announced that it’s reworking its policies to better accommodate crowdfunding projects. The firm isn’t yet saying what those changes entail, but it’s requiring that its Risk Management group review any potential freezes on crowdfunding campaigns until there’s a permanent solution in place. While we’d prefer that PayPal devote the same kind of care to all frozen funds, it’s good to know that fewer entrepreneurs will have their dreams dashed by someone else’s mistake.

Filed under: Internet

Comments

Source: PayPal (1), (2)