Tour Mythbuster Adam Savage’s collection of collections with Street View
When Adam Savage isn’t busy blowing stuff up while filming Mythbusters, he’s often found tinkering about in his San Francisco workshop. It’s in this “cave” that Savage films his popular YouTube series for Tested, but it’s also home to an incredible number of gadgets and sci-fi memorabilia that his Mythbuster cash has funded over the years. Fortunately, this treasure-filled studio is now open for virtual tours, courtesy of Google’s indoor Street View cameras, letting you go behind-the-scenes and see for yourself where all the magic happens. If you prefer something more personal, Savage has also conducted a video tour of his man-cave, which we’ve included below.
Filed under: Google
Source: Google Maps
Researchers get record broadband speeds out of old-school copper wire
While telecoms companies around the world are investing millions into the development of fiber-optic networks, the aging copper telephone line may still have some life in it yet. Experts at Alcatel Lucent’s Bell Labs research division are claiming a new world record by achieving super-fast speeds through the aging technology. Researchers were able to achieve 10Gbps speeds with the same cables you’d find under many residential streets.
The goal here isn’t just to push boundaries, but to give telecoms companies the chance to use their existing infrastructure to deliver internet speeds capable of rivalling fiber networks. While the speed is certainly impactful, Alcatel’s prototype technology is currently limited by its transmission range. Bell Labs achieved 10Gbps speeds over a distance of 30 meters and simultaneous upload and download speeds of 1 Gbps over 70 meters, meaning companies would have to work a lot harder to make this work from the exchange to your home. Those providers are only now trialing the standard on which Bell Labs’ new technology expands upon, meaning you’ll likely have to wait a couple of years to see those ridiculous internet speeds. That’s if they don’t decide fiber is the better option.
Filed under: Household, Internet
Source: Alcatel Lucent
Recreate Marcel Duchamp’s lost chess set with your 3D printer
Conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp was known for his “readymades,” which declared everyday objects to be works of art — most notably “Fountain,” a public urinal on a pedestal. Duchamp was also something of a chess obsessive and created both an ornate tabletop set and a travel version, the latter of which he wanted to mass-produce. The first of the pair, however, was thought to have been lost to a private collector, so no-one would ever again be able to play with it at least, until now.
Scott Kildall and Bryan Cera teamed up to recreate Duchamp’s tabletop chess set from stills the artist took when he sculpted it in 1918. The pair went so far as to use algorithms to extrapolate the necessary geometry from the stills, which helped get an accurate representation of the ornate knight. Even better, is that the pair have now offered up the designs to Thingverse, enabling anyone with a Makerbot to 3D-print their very own version of the set. It may not have been the set that Duchamp wanted to mass-produce, but 96 years after it was sculpted, now everyone can have a chess set made by one of the 20th century’s most prominent artists.
[Image credit: Marcel Duchamp, 2008, ADAGP/París, AUTVIS/San Pablo]
Filed under: Misc
Via: Fast Company
Source: Greg.org, Thingverse
Fleksy Keyboard introduces 15 new languages in beta
If you don’t know about Fleksy keyboard yet, you probably should. It’s one of the most rapidly growing keyboards for Android, and for good reason. They recently set a world record for fast typing, and launched a new keyboard on the Samsung Gear 2 smartwatch. They’re about to expand again with the introduction of 15 new supported languages in beta!
The company is launching Norwegian, Catalan, Hebrew, Croatian and Romanian, amongst other widely requested languages. What’s more, is that they’re also adding languages variants like English (UK), Brazilian Portuguese, French Canadian and Latin American Spanish. Not all keyboards have support for language variants, especially this many. And for a relatively young keyboard, they’re making huge strides in advancing their technology.
Kosta Eleftheriou, founder and CEO of Fleksy, explains the company’s future plans to expand.
“Today’s update represents a major, cross-platform engineering milestone for us. We are excited to confirm that are on schedule to support a total of over 40 languages, for both Android and iOS, out of beta by this fall.”
It’s certainly not easy building support for 15 new languages, so kudos to Fleksy for working hard on this. If you haven’t yet tried this keyboard, head to the Play Store to try it out today!
The post Fleksy Keyboard introduces 15 new languages in beta appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Get This Look: Boot up your Android device with your favorite comic book heroes and villains
You don’t see it often unless you reboot your device all the time, but the boot animation is another place that you can make your Android device your own, especially if your smartphone or tablet is rooted.
This boot animation features all your favorite superheroes and villains, including Batman, Spiderman, Captain America, Ironman, War Machine, Flash, Gambit, Magneto, Red Skull, Dr. Doom and many more. It comes from theme maker +BrianRoberts, who made it into a boot animation and it was made into a flashable zip thanks to +RonaldValdes. The original artist of the different images in the original GIF is UK-based motion graphic designer Christian Tailor.
If you have a rooted device, either download the marvelboot.zip file and flash it your recovery such as CWM or TWRP or use a file manager, like Root Explorer, to copy and paste the bootanimation.zip into system/media folder, replacing the original bootanimation.zip file. To get the bootanimation.zip file, extract marvelboot.zip and the .zip you’re looking for is located at marvelboot >> system >> media.
Download the flashable zip from Mega here or from Dropbox here.
VIA +BrianRoberts, +RonaldValdes
The post Get This Look: Boot up your Android device with your favorite comic book heroes and villains appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Watch or cast Amazon Instant Video from your device, other Flash content too
We all know how great Amazon Prime is with its free two-day shipping, Prime Music and unlimited Prime Instant Video steaming. The only problem with subscribing to the service is that unless you want to always use your desktop or laptop or have a Kindle Fire, iOS device, set-top box or gaming system to steam it on, you’re out of luck getting the most out of the service officially from Amazon. Amazon still hasn’t released an app for Android to steam its video service.
Although that’s true, there’s still a way to watch Amazon Instant Video on any Android device and now to cast it to your Chromecast. This can be done with Adobe Flash and Dolphin Browser. Adobe may have stopped supporting Flash for Android, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still work and on Android 4.4 KitKat too!
Here’s how to get Amazon Instant Video as well as any Flash video working on your Android device:
- Go to “Settings” >> “Security” >> make sure to allow “Unknown sources”
- Download the modified KitKat.Adobe.Flash.Player.11.1.apk on your device and install
- From the Google Play Store app, download Dolphin Browser
- Open Dolphin Browser and make sure “Dolphin Jetpack” is switched on
- Go to “Customize” >> “User Agent” and select “Desktop”
- Go to “Web Content” >> “Flash Player” and select “Always on”
- In the address bar (still in Dolphin Browser) navigate to Amazon and login to your account as you normally would
- Once in the Instant Video section, go into settings and change the video playback from “Silverlight” to “Flash”
- Select a move or TV show and enjoy Amazon Instant Video!
- Activate Android display mirroring by going to “Android Settings” >> “Display” >> “Cast Screen” if it’s not in your Quick Settings yet
Please note that Google just flipped the switch to allow Android devices to be mirrored to a Chromecast. If you have a supported device, see here for more info, you can mirror your screen and with this, watch Amazon Instant Video on your big screen along with sound as well! If you don’t have mirroring available yet, it may be coming to your device soon as Google rolls out the feature that’s currently in beta.
There you have it… a way to watch Flash content, specifically Amazon Instant Video, on your Android device or on your TV with your Chromecast.
The post Watch or cast Amazon Instant Video from your device, other Flash content too appeared first on AndroidGuys.
TSMC Now Shipping A-Series Processors to Apple for Future iOS Devices
Chip manufacturing company TSMC started shipping processors to Apple in Q2 2014, reports the Wall Street Journal. After exclusively sourcing its processors from Samsung, Apple last year struck a deal with TSMC that would see the manufacturer begin supplying A-series chips for Apple’s iOS devices.
Apple’s deal with TSMC is a win-win situation for both companies with Apple reducing its reliance on Samsung for iOS device components and TSMC receiving a boost financially from Apple’s hardware orders.
The development means Apple doesn’t have to rely solely on Samsung for microprocessors, a critical component that controls applications running in smartphones and tablets. By securing an additional supplier, Apple will have more leverage when it comes to price negotiations with its chip suppliers in the future. Through the deal, TSMC adds a high-profile customer that could help support expensive research investments the manufacturer needs to move to advanced technology and will likely boost its overall revenue this year, analysts said.
In line with previous reports, TSMC allegedly began mass producing chips for Apple using its 20-nanometer process earlier this year and is working with the company on future 16-nanometer designs. Apple also is rumored to be working with Samsung on next year’s A9 processor which could use a 14-nanometer design.
India plans to build the world’s largest floating solar farm
Solar farms need three things: sunlight, photovoltaic panels and a huge expanse of land. It’s the third in that list that’s hampering green efforts in countries like India, where space is scarce and therefore very expensive. That’s why India is copying Japan’s (pictured) idea of building floating solar farms out on the water, saving a fortune in land costs and helping to prevent evaporation in the hottest months. A partnership between India’s national hydroelectric company and Kolkata’s college of renewable energy plans to build a 50 megawatt floating solar farm — one of the world’s largest — at some point in the future. Before that, however, a small pilot project will be constructed in a lake in Kerala in south-west India later this year which is expected to generate around 12 kilowatts of power. While we can’t cover all of the world’s oceans with solar panels, it does seem like a clever fix while scientists continue to work on the supercritical steam issue.
Filed under: Science
Via: Gizmodo, Cleantechnica
Source: The Economic Times
Sonos now streams SoundCloud music collections
Sonos owners looking for more off-beat tracks than Spotify or Google Play Music offer can now access a SoundCloud beta program. SoundCloud likens itself to an audio version of Vimeo or Flickr: a platform for new artists, established acts like Macklemore, comedians and others to share tracks. Users can listen to unlimited music for free, download up to a hundred songs, join groups and even comment on specific parts of a song. If you’ve got a Sonos device like the Play:1, you’ll be able to access SoundCloud by heading to the “add music services” section in the latest Sonos iOS or Android controller app. From there, you’ve got a stupefying array of choices — 12 hours of music is loaded to the site every minute.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet
Source: Sonos
FreedomPop plans to bring freemium mobile data to Europe and beyond
FreedomPop — a freemium wireless carrier startup — has been trying to upend the way people pay for phone service in the US for what seems like ages now. Turns out the US was only part of the plan. The company confirmed today that it’s setting its sights abroad with a free data plan currently being tested in Belgium, with launches in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and parts of Asia expected to follow. Not quite familiar with FreedomPop? The long and short of its raison d’etre is to give you free wireless data (500MB a month) in hopes that you pay extra for bolt-on features. Those new users in Europe and Asia should be able to nab that same deal, though FreedomPop notes in a statement that the particulars could “change slightly by market”. At the very least, they’ll be able to use a FreedomPop companion app to make voice calls and fire off messages on the fly — Whatsapp and its ilk probably aren’t too worried, but maybe they should be. The potential rub for those far-flung users is that they can’t actually buy phones from FreedomPop like one can in the States. Still, with unlocked devices prevalent in seemingly every country but the US, that shouldn’t be too much of a setback.
Source: FreedomPop
AIVAnet 