The oncoming collection of BWV (body worn video) cameras coming from VIEVU may remind you of Narrative Clip – aka the cameras formerly known as Memoto. But here as the VIEVU team announces a partnership with Motorola Solutions, they push forth a small form-factor, highly secure camera made for security organizations, police, and law enforcement […]
Amazon has been churning out LCD-based Kindle tablets for the past two years, and there’s no question that the company has improved from the original, BlackBerry PlayBook-style Kindle Fire. But with the Fire HDX, is there enough of an improvement to upgrade from the Kindle Fire HD?
That’s the question John Biggs and I investigate on this latest episode of Fly Or Die.
John, as a real-life Kindle fanboy, feels that this is the very best Fire that Amazon has to offer. The specs have been bumped considerably, with a 1920×1200 display at 323ppi, a 2.2-GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, and up to 64GB of internal storage under the hood.
Biggs also reported in his review that battery life is improved, while camera functionality has some strange issues.
But for me, I’m not sure that a slightly better display is worth the upgrade, considering that the Fire HD already has a hi-res screen. The form factor is nice, as the new model is thinner and lighter, but again the improvements aren’t convincing enough for me to advocate throwing down $300 on a tablet limited to Amazon content if you already have one.
Of course, Amazon is a strong competitor in the tablet market against Apple, and the HDX will most certainly sell well. Plus, at the end of the day, the decision is yours.
Do animals wish for immortality? Whether they do or not, we grant a select few the awkward honor of fame after death through taxidermy. But are these specimens accurate depictions of their former organisms or just caricatures of the species ideal?
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So this is what CrunchWeek is like without adult supervision.
Leena Rao and Colleen Taylor, the show’s two regular hosts, were both out of town this week, but there was still plenty of news for TechCrunch writers — specifically Greg Kumparak, Alex Wilhelm, and me — to talk about. We weighed in on the anticipation around Twitter’s IPO filing (and what was revealed in its S-1 filing), the shutdown of anonymous Bitcoin marketplace Silk Road, and reports that Amazon is developing its own smartphones (one of them with a whopping four cameras).
By the way, apologies for the occasional bursts of random background noise. I blame the gremlins hiding in the TCTV studio.
Do you know how to get the truth out of people? Not from some sort of movie truth serum shot or on a late night talk show or even in a conversation between two ferns, the way to pry the obscene truth is to stick them in a hot tub and feed them drinks. Life is so much clearer when everything is bubbling around you.
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Netflix last week publicly reaffirmed its steadfast desire to partner with U.S. cable companies to bundle streaming Netflix programming as an app in set-top boxes like TiVo, but so far the industry in this country has not embraced Netflix’s advances. For cable companies, the streaming video service’s 27 million American subscribers represent competition, not a […]
It’s that time of the year again – time for the Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror – a mini-episode-laden tribute to Halloween that’s been going on for 14 straight years. What we’ve got this time around (for the “Couch Gag” intro to the show, at least) is a massive three-minute-long homage to the horror genre of […]
You’re going to want to cover your ears before watching this transcendental short film because it’s going to blow your mind and that shit’s messy. Created by Sashka Ace0fredspades Tanana, "When We Were Clocks" examines how a clever minute hand, once slave to its hourly superior, wrested control of time, reality, and fate itself. Simply phenomenal.
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Want to visit North Korea? No? Well the Koryo Group—the world’s leading DPRK travel specialist—aims to change your mind with this timelapse. Is it working?
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Aly and Beth Khalifa have a vision: to “establish the new cutting edge of sustainability.” They’re doing it by creating products that can be easily broken down, repaired, or recycled and they’re starting with a simple pair of shoes. Called LYF, these odd-looking clogs are completely recyclable and can be repaired by anyone with a rudimentary grasp of fabric cutting and whittling.
These $150 shoes have one solid piece – a main connector – that holds down the outer shell and holds on the sole.
“Having worked in footwear, I have been exposed to nasty solvents like Toluene, which are used to assemble most footwear. These glues are bad for factory workers, bad for the planet, and ultimately prevent the shoes from being recycled,” said Aly. “We decided to address this head-on with a mechanical assembly and were inspired by Japanese Joinery which creates famously strong structures without glue or fasteners. Once we established the modular mechanical approach to making shoes, it allowed us to escape the centralized manufacturing model all together. In fact it allows us to make shoes in places as small and intimate as a retail shop.”
The company is based in Raleigh, North Carolina and aims to sell their shoes online and in stores. Their Kickstarter page is live now.
“Our product is made on-demand for the consumer and establishes the new cutting edge of sustainability. Our process utilizes the latest digital techniques to make truly custom footwear. Not only do we reduce our waste and carbon footprint in the way we make our product, but it is designed for disassembly so that we can keep it out of the landfill and allow them to be LYF-Cycled into new shoes,” said Aly.
If you wanted to repair these shoes you’d simply find the patterns and cut out, say, a new upper or build a new sole (eventually) on a 3D printer. While full recyclability is still a long way off, Aly sees these shoes as a way to empower small business to create, customize and maintain LYF Shoes. While I doubt these kicks will hit Air Dunk levels of popularity, it’s nice to know you can take these into the machine shop and come out with a nearly new pair.
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.
