Artist helps Arabic speakers to code without learning English
If you want to build software, it’s almost mandatory that you’ll need to know the English language since all of the tools rely upon that tongue. Unfortunately, that puts non-English speakers at a huge disadvantage when it comes to computer literacy and programming. Artist and coder Ramsey Nasser decided to remedy the problem by constructing a programming language written not in English, but in Arabic. Nasser had more than a few problems getting “Alb” to work, since Latin-based text editors couldn’t handle the script, and even GitHub struggled to accommodate the data. In the end, Nasser had to use Lisp, a language from 1958, because it doesn’t rely upon non-Arabic punctuation like semicolons and commas. “Alb” actually works, and if you fancy giving it a go, then you can test your Arabic programming skills down at the source.
Via: Animal
Source: Alb, Ramsey Nasser
Nintendo had another very bad year and it’s all the Wii U’s fault
Nintendo’s reported a staggering loss of $456 million for the past financial year. The blame is being laid squarely at its relatively young console, the Wii U. Sales have slowed significantly: Nintendo sold 2.72 million Wii Us in the last twelve months. (Running totals for the Xbox One and PS4: five and seven million, respectively). In the last quarter, only 310,000 units were sold. Meanwhile, Nintendo’s handhelds continue to sell more favorably: 12 million 3DSes were sold in the last financial year, meaning there’s now just shy of 43 million sold globally. It remains third consecutive year of losses for Nintendo, but CEO Iwata claims that this incoming financial year will see a return to operating profit ($394 million, he reckons) and millions more consoles sold. Then again, he said similar things last year.
The Wii U managed to sell close to 3 million units in its launch quarter, but despite markdowns and (perhaps too few) incredible titles, sales continue to tank. From Nintendo itself: “The Wii U hardware still has a negative impact on Nintendo’s profits, owing mainly to it’s markdown (overseas).” The beleaguered gamesmaker plans to focus on the console’s GamePad, calling it the “the most important differentiator of the Wii U” and expects both Super Smash Bros and Mario Kart to act as the main drivers for console sales — no pun intended.
Source: Nintendo
Album of inaudible animal sounds puts you inside the head of a bat
Even with fancy Hi-Fi equipment, the weak link is often our ears and their limited 20Hz-20,000Hz hearing range. As pointed out by Motherboard, artist Jane Winderen wants you to get a feeling for what it’s like to be a whale or bat with her new album, “Out of Range.” To do that, she used special equipment to record bat echolocation signals, marine vocalizing and other sub- and ultrasonic sounds from glaciers, oceans, and forests. From there, she slowed frequencies as high as 100KHz until they became audible, then mixed them with other exotic sounds that are within our hearing range. The end result (below) is hypnotic 40 minute recording of sounds that normally pass you right by.
Filed under: Science
Via: Motherboard
Source: Jane Winderen
Pegatron Reportedly Receives 15% of 4.7-Inch iPhone 6 Orders Ahead of September Launch
According to a new report from Taiwan’s Industrial and Commercial Times (Google Translate, via Mac Otakara), Apple supplier Pegatron has received 15% of the orders for Apple’s upcoming 4.7-inch iPhone 6 ahead of the device’s launch this September. The report also notes that Pegatron will produce a total of 50 million iPhones this year, which includes iPhone 6, iPhone 5c, and iPhone 4S units.
The report contrasts a story from Taiwan’s Liberty Times in January, which stated that half of all iPhone 6 orders were expected to go to Pegatron. A report last month also noted that Foxconn was preparing for iPhone 6 production in the second quarter of this year at its new Kunshan, China plant, as the company has recruited new workers in China to meet the desired number of orders. In addition to Pegatron, fellow Apple suppliers Foxconn and Hon Hai are also likely aide with production.
Last year, Apple shifted iPhone 5c production to Pegatron in order to improve supply chain risk management, allowing Apple to balance its supply chain and minimize the risk of potential supply chain disasters.
Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 6 in two different screen sizes of 4.7-inches and 5.5-inches. The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will likely ship ahead of the 5.5-inch version, as Apple attempts to solve issues with the latter’s display and battery. Aside from a larger screen, Apple’s next-generation iPhone is expected to include a thinner profile, a faster A8 processor, and an improved camera.
TuneIn tries reinventing itself as a social network for audio
What do you do to improve a service with over 50 million active users? Why, totally revamp it of course. It sounds crazy, but that’s exactly what TuneIn, an audio service that lets you listen to podcasts and radio stations from around the world, did. Before, TuneIn was more like a directory with a search engine. Now, it’s a full-blown audio network, which CEO John Donham says is the first of its kind.
“We have over a 100,000 radio stations and millions of on-demand programs, and that’s a good experience as long as you know what you’re looking for,” explains Donham to us. Unfortunately, however, discovering new content was a problem. There was no good indication as to what’s going on right now for all the stations that you were interested in, he said. The company launched a TuneIn Live feature some time last February to help amend the issue by letting you create a customized tile layout of favorite genres, but even that didn’t quite capture the ideal. “We wanted a way for all of your favorite stuff to accumulate for you all in one place.”
In the new TuneIn interface, that one place is now your “feed.” It’s sort of like a personal radio dial that you can populate with your favorite radio stations and shows. Think of it as Twitter, but for audio. The feed will update in real-time, showing you what’s playing and if there’s a new episode to a particular podcast, thus combining live and on-demand programming in a single view.
Further, just like on Twitter, each content provider can have its own TuneIn page that you can “follow” to get those updates. Some content providers, like radio stations, will list its entire repertoire of programming on their pages as well. Hundreds of brands are already on board and will have TuneIn pages ready at launch. They include ESPN Radio, NPR, the BBC, CBS Radio, The Wall Street Journal and even TV partners such as Sky News and CNN. In fact, according to Donham, TuneIn will be the only place you can listen to CNN for free.
“We know that some stations, such as KQED for example, have more listeners on TuneIn than followers on Twitter and Facebook combined,” said Kristin George, TuneIn’s VP of product. For them, she says, an audio-based network just makes more sense. To help that along, TuneIn also plans to roll out little social “Follow us on TuneIn” widgets that content providers can embed on their sites.
Aside from just following brands, you can also follow other TuneIn users. Similar to Rdio and Spotify, following your buddies helps you discover what sort of programs they’re into, and vice versa. To take it a step further, you can even send “Echos” of what you’re listening to and share it with your followers or to other social networks like Twitter and Facebook. You may also follow a music genre instead of a particular station — following the indie rock category, for example, will show all of the radio stations that have just started playing a new indie song.
Another key addition to TuneIn is a new Explore page that shows recommended shows, stations and genres. If you’re new to TuneIn, the page will just show what’s trending and popular. As you add more of them to your feed, however, the service will be smart enough to learn your behavior over time and will surface related content to the top. “We have all this popular content but we didn’t have a way to expose it to you,” said George. “Explore makes it sort of like an audio Netflix.”
The new TuneIn rolls out today to iOS, Android and the web.”This is a big change for us,” said George. “We had to completely redo everything.” Now it’s time to wait and see if the gamble was worth it.
Source: TuneIn
Listen To Google Play Music Offline Through Google Glass
So I was messing around with Google Glass today and I happened to stumble upon this neat little trick. I can listen to my Google Play All Acess Playlist completely offline on Google Glass. That’s right, I wasn’t connected to Bluetooth on my mobile device and was not on any Wifi network but I was still able to play every song I had in my pinned playlist through Glass. I thought this was something that a lot of explorers may not be aware of so I decided to share how I did it here.
Step #1: Have your Google Glass connected to the internet (wifi or bluetooth)
Step #2: Pin a playlist to your mobile device via the Google Play Music app
Step#3: Go to Google Glass and start the “Listen” app
Step#4: Either through voice or taps select the pinned playlist through Glass
Step#5: Hit play and let the first song start
Step#6: After it starts disconnect from bluetooth/wifi
Step#7: On Google Glass hit next and watch the next song start to play without any data connection whatsoever!!!
This was something that I am glad to have found because it is something I have wanted from Google Glass for so long. Safe to say I will be using Google Glass on all my hikes now. Hope my fellow explorers have fun with this little protip of mine, happy exploring :).
A couple of side notes:
I did this on the latest Glass update which at the time of this post is 16.2
If you hit “stop” while offline you will not be able to start the playlist again until you’re back online. You can however play the songs that have been played as they are pinned in your Glass timeline.
If you find anything else please let me know in the comments below, once again happy exploring!!!
Update#1:
It seems you don’t need All Access to do this, it can be done with any song you have uploaded to Google Play Music, just make sure you have it pinned on your device.
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Metal LG G3?! HTC One M8 and Galaxy S5 Prime Sound Marvelous! – ManDroid Quickie
Let’s talk a little Android my friends. The LG G3 was spotted in the wild again, this time showing us a brushed metal back which is definitely a pleasant surprise. The HTC One M8 and Galaxy S5 Prime versions are sounding quite sexy, but leave it to the OEMs to release the regular version first, then tease us with an even better version later. Enjoy the video.
News Topics
LG G3 metal
HTC One M8 Prime
Samsung Galaxy S5 Prime
Pink HTC One M8
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Boeing’s commercial spaceliner takes cues from sci-fi
Look at the image above and choose one: a.) It’s the set of a new sci-fi movie. b.) It’s the mock-up of an actual spacecraft that’s currently a work in progress. The correct answer? It’s B — but then the headline / tweet that brought you here probably spoiled that. This is the updated Star Trek-like interior of Boeing’s CST-100 — a spacecraft the company’s developing for NASA’s Commercial Crew Development program. Unlike the capsules and shuttles you see in documentaries, this design gets rid of panels and switches, adding in big windows, large screens and mood lighting instead. The airplane manufacturer likely plans to incorporate those design elements because while the vehicle’s meant to take astronauts to the ISS (like SpaceX’s manned Dragon capsule), it might also carry wealthy private citizens as passengers. In fact, this updated design can seat up to 10 people instead of seven like Boeing originally envisioned. We’ll know by August of this year whether we’ll ever see the CST-100 on a launching pad, when NASA picks one or two companies it wants to continue with the project. If it does get picked, it might ferry people to space as soon as 2017.
Via: ExtremeTech, Space
Source: Boeing
Crysis 8K resolution hack offers a peek at the next decade of gaming
Want to know what you’ll be playing on your PlayStation 5 or Xbox Two in the next decade? Take a look at K-putt’s Crysis 3 resolution hack. His tweak to the first-person shooter’s main Windows program file lets the game’s visuals run at up to a very wide 8K (specifically, 8,000 x 3,333). That’s about 13 times more pixels than you’d see in a 1080p image, folks. The results very nearly speak for themselves — screenshots look more like paintings, and even tiny objects are full of detail.
Don’t think that your hot rod gaming PC can make this playable any time soon. Even a behemoth graphics card like NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX Titan is barely good enough for running Crysis on three displays at 5,760 x 1,080; you’d need something with four times the pixel-pushing ability to keep up here. You can’t exactly find an 8K screen at the local computer store, either. Technology moves quickly, though, and we wouldn’t be shocked if both devices and displays are powerful enough to handle this kind of fidelity within a few years.
Via: ExtremeTech
Source: K-putt (Flickr), Reddit
TinkerForge brings home automation to the masses with its DIY kit
Do you have some old 433MHz home automation gear lying around and fancy making your home a little smarter? TinkerForge is releasing a new internet of things controller designed to let you run power sockets, light fittings and even electric blinds from the comfort of your smartphone. The platform markets itself as a coding-free alternative to Arduino and Raspberry Pi, so building the control scheme online promises to be entirely safe for novices. If you snag the hardware before May 24th, then it’ll only set you back €50 ($70), after which the price will go up to €65 ($90), but that’s a small price to pay to really freak out your housekeeper.
Source: TinkerForge
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