New exhibit showcases art in the digital surveillance era
It’s safe to say that surveillance technology had a profound effect on American culture, even before Edward Snowden’s leaks arrived — there’s a sense that you can never really escape the government’s eye. If you’ve ever shared that feeling, you’ll be glad to hear that there’s finally an art exhibition devoted to exploring high-tech monitoring. The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art’s newly opened Covert Operations is full of projects that not only protest data collection, but sometimes use it to drive their points home. Jenny Holzer’s Ribs (above) streams real US government documents on its LED displays. Hasan Elahi’s Tracking Transience, meanwhile, uses selections from an online collection of 70,000-plus photos and location info as a sort of challenge; he wants you to mimic an FBI agent trying to piece together his life. If you’re interested in seeing any of these projects first-hand, you’ll want to swing by the Arizona-based museum no later than January 11th.
[Image credit: Richard-Max Tremblay / Jenny Holzer]
Filed under: Misc, Internet, Alt
Via: The Daily Beast
Source: Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
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Need a new charging cable, try the FRiEQ
I don’t know about you, but I’ve started to consider a quality charging cable a must buy accessory. Whenever I unbox a new smartphone it seems that the cable is shorter, thinner and more fragile. This has forced me and I’m sure many of you, to look for other options. A quality cable offers many advantages, but mostly ensures that you can reliably charge your beloved smartphone. Because honestly, the world would come to a screeching halt if you woke up in the morning to a dead battery.
In my search for a new Micro USB cable I came across the FRiEQ Hi-Speed cable. I have to admit, it was the colors that drew me in, but it was the blend of specs and value that convinced me to spend my money. The FRiEQ Micro USB cable is six feet long, covered in tangle-free, braided nylon and has gold connectors at either end. Best of all, FRiEQ claimed that this cable would cut down on the amount of time it took to charge my phone. All of this for only $7.99, I was sold!
When I opened the package and inspected the cable, I was impressed right away. The cable is thicker than most others I’ve used and the braided nylon keeps knots away. The connectors are easy to manipulate and fit perfectly. I tested the FRiEQ cable against, a stock LG cable and an Amazon Basics cable I’ve had for about a year. I can verify that the FRiEQ cable definitely charged my LG G3 faster than the other cables by a good margin.
I’ve been using the FRiEQ Hi-Speed cable for about two months now and it has held up great. It looks just as good now as the day I got it, but more importantly, it performs just as well as the day it came out of the package. If you’re looking for a new charging cable, you cannot go wrong with the FRiEQ Hi-Speed.
Via Amazon
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One of the greatest pinball tables ever is going digital with your help
Ask pinball fans about classic tables and they’ll probably mention The Addams Family. It was widely available, well-designed and full of technological firsts, such as computer-controlled flippers. However, it hasn’t been recreated in software in its 22-year history — something FarSight Studios hopes to fix with a crowdfunding project to reproduce the table in Pinball Arcade. So long as the developer reaches its funding goal, you’ll get to play the Addams Family almost as if you’d stepped into an arcade circa 1992. The smart flippers, actors’ voices and Thing’s creepy animatronic hand should all remain intact.
Thankfully, it doesn’t cost much to contribute and (hopefully) keep this vintage machine alive. Pledging $7 will get you access to the table on one of the platforms Pinball Arcade supports, including most mobile devices, consoles and PCs. It only costs more if you want more platforms or special access, including the behind-the-scenes menu (if you pay $15) or the coveted Special Collectors Gold Edition ($100). The digital Addams Family won’t arrive until February if all goes according to plan, but that’s a trivial wait if you’ve spent ages yearning for a version of the table that you can afford to take home.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1067367405/pinball-arcade-the-addams-family/widget/video.html
Filed under: Gaming
Source: Kickstarter
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Sound off! How would you make a killer smartwatch?
It looks like the smartwatch is here to stay, and now that Apple has shown off their own attempt at creating some svelte looking electronic wrist candy, you can guarantee more people will be wearing them in the near future. But are smartwatches really useful? Besides showing off your latest notifications, what do they need to become an essential part of our lives? Head over to the Engadget forums and share your thoughts!
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New Oculus Rift, the Blackberry Passport and other stories you might’ve missed
It’s the weekend, ya’ll. So while you sit back and relax, check out our news highlights from the last seven days — we took the new Oculus Rift for a spin, went hands-on with the Blackberry Passport, made an Ello account, and more. Oh, and be sure to subscribe to our Flipboard magazine!
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Vine now lets you use your Android phone’s existing video clips
Not too long ago Vine blessed iOS users with the ability to import pre-existing videos into the app, and now Google fans can get in on the action. Any clips in your Android camera roll are viable subjects to be trimmed down to six seconds or shorter now, and you can activate your device’s flashlight to work as a flash in low-light situations. There are a few other features too, and you can check those out on the app’s Google Play page. Now all that’s separating your from internet stardom is, well… you.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
Via: Android Central
Source: Google Play
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Secret’s developers launch Ping, a simple app that keeps you up to date
The creators of controversial app Secret have just launched a new product, but this time, it has nothing to do with airing your dirty laundry anonymously. They call their new application Ping, a simple software that displays a list of topics (such as movies and new Twittter trends) right on your lock screen. Like its name implies, it pings you whenever it detects new results for the topics listed on your display, which you can then access by dragging the circle on the top right corner. Ping starts with a bare-bones list as you can see in the video after the break, but more topics get added to your screen the more you use the app and the more it gets to know you. Similar to Secret, you don’t even need to sign up or have a username to be able to use it, as it was a product of a company hackathon “where the goal was an exercise in simplicity.” In an interview with Re/Code, Secret co-founder David Byttow says that Ping has nothing to do with the company’s previous product. You can download the app right now if you’re on iOS, but if it follows in the footsteps of its older sibling, it should be available for Android in no time.
Filed under: Mobile
Via: Recode
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AT&T’s latest promo doubles your data on shared phone plans
Given the avalanche of new smartphones this fall, there’s a good chance that your data use is about spike as you put that fresh hardware through its paces. If so, AT&T might just have you covered. It’s running a promo between September 28th and October 31st that doubles the amount of data you get with its Mobile Share Value plans, whether or not you’re a new customer. Signing up for the special rates nets you up to a hefty 100GB per month of shared data at the high end. However, the starter offer is arguably the best — $130 per month (plus line fees) gets you 30GB to play with, which should hopefully accommodate your family’s Netflix viewing habits. AT&T’s deal isn’t necessarily as sweet as what you’ll get with Sprint or T-Mobile, which start at a respective $100 and $140 per month for roughly the same service. However, it’s competitive enough that it could keep you on Big Blue’s network for a little while longer.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, AT&T
Source: AT&T
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Google changes Google Search app name in Google Play Store
Google have finally updated the Play Store listing for the Google Search app to match the app drawer labelling and new launcher icon.
The Play Store listing now lists the app as just ‘Google’ along with the refreshed icon. Order is restored in the unity of the Android operating system.
Small change, but notable nonetheless.
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Google wants its presence felt even more on smartphones
It seems that Google is realizing more that Android is big, and that their apps are therefore big. With this in mind, they have updated their MADA (Mobile Application Distribution Agreement) for 2014, the agreement that manufacturers such as Samsung or Motorola sign in order to add Google’s suite of apps to their phones.
New requirements include things such as having 20 pre-installed Google apps in a folder on the home screen labeled “Google”, a Google search bar at the top of the home screen, making “OK Google” a hotword to wake the device for interaction (assuming the phone has this capability), making Google Search accessible by swiping up from the home button, and during boot-up the screen should display either a Google trademark or mention that the phone runs Android.
This may seem extreme, particularly considering Android is supposed to be “open”. There’s a distinction that needs to be made though: getting Android on a phone, and getting Android on a phone with Google’s suite of apps. Manufacturers could still place Android on their phones if they desired, just without Google Play or other Google apps (similarly to how Amazon uses Android).
What do you think? Should Google rein it in? Or do they have the right to ask as much from manufacturers, considering the above requirements arguable provide a better Android experience?
via Droid-Life
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AIVAnet 