NASA installs the first mirror on the Hubble’s replacement

NASA announced on Wednesday that it had successfully installed the first of 18 mirrors on the new James Webb space telescope. The work took place at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland earlier this week.

Source: NASA

Giphy Cam finally lets you make GIFs from videos

Giphy Cam, the app that lets you become a master GIFs-man (or woman, it doesn’t discriminate) has just released its first major update. Before, users were only able to create GIFs using the native camera, either capturing 10 second full-motion clips or 5-shot bursts that are then stitched-together. Now users can import photos and videos from their camera rolls. What’s more, people are able to trim their clips, apply more than one filter to the GIF and add text, giving their creations even more personality. Giphy Cam is still only available on iOS devices with no mention of when it’ll cross platforms. In the meantime, Android users will have to rely on the Giphy bank of pre-made GIFs to express their animated points.

Source: Techcrunch

That crazy modular hybrid laptop for kids hits Indiegogo

The intriguing Infinity modular laptop from OLPC’s Australian partner, One Education, is edging closer to reality. The organization just launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo for its Infinity hybrid laptop, where it hopes to raise $50,000. To recap, the Infinity is a tough Android tablet made specifically for kids (think of it as a spin on the original OLPC XO concept) with replaceable modules for things like its CPU, camera and battery. The idea is that it can be endlessly upgraded (or at least, for as long as One Education keeps developing new modules). The base Infinity configuration includes an 8.9-inch screen, 1.4 GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage (expandable via microSD cards) and low-res cameras. But going forward, One Education is also working on modules that include faster hardware, Windows 10 support, better cameras and Gorilla Glass screens. You can nab one now for an early bird price of $250, and particularly ambitious folks (and rich schools) can get a 10-pack for $2,390. One Education expects to start shipping Infinity units out next September.

Source: Indiegogo

VW explains how it will fix its European diesel engines

Volkswagen released a short explainer video on YouTube Wednesday, outlining the measures needed to bring its line of EA 189 diesel engines back into compliance with EPA regulations. The EA 189s are the 1.6- and 2-liter diesel engines at the heart of the company’s recent emissions scandal that has seen more than 8.5 million cars recalled in Germany alone.

Via: Verge

Source: Volkswagen (YouTube)

The best deals this Black Friday

Every November, people in the US (and other parts of the world) spend millions of dollars during the biggest shopping day of the year: Black Friday. This tradition is only growing too, as retailers broaden their limited-time deals from the physical world to the internet. Whether you’re looking for an e-reader or a fancy 4K TV, you won’t have trouble finding deep discounts on Black Friday. Luckily we’re breaking down the best deals available in 2015 to help you navigate the endless sales. So get your wallets ready and bookmark the links we’re sharing with you here. And if, for whatever crazy reason, you end up lining up outside a brick-and-mortar store, be careful — it’s going to be madness.

Keep an eye out for the promos starting today, November 25th, since some online stores are beginning their sale ahead of Friday. In the meantime, dig into our list and start planning how you’re going to spend your hard-earned cash.Slideshow-342893

O2 joins the ad-blocking snowball

The virtual snowball of carriers exploring the blocking of ads continues to expand with another U.K. carrier, O2, revealing that they are in the “well advanced” stages of addressing the issue. This comes on the heels of EE announcing they were looking at blocking ads at the network level or otherwise enabling their customers to better control the delivery of ads to their mobile devices. The carriers appear to be responding to reports that 10 – 50% of wireless data is being used up on advertising. This not only negatively impacts the user experience, it is putting considerable strain on the network infrastructure.

In an interview, Robert Franks, O2’s managing director of digital commerce said,

“We are absolutely looking at [network-level ad blocking] technology. We are holding ourselves to the highest standards with our own advertising. We are looking at these technologies to see if they can help our customers with some of the bad practices and disruptive experiences that are happening.

It is not in an advertisers’ interest to spam customers or do things to create a terrible experience. If the way to raise the bar is to look at these [ad blocking] technologies, whether through a mobile network, or a combination of apps and browser extensions as Apple is doing to address some of the behaviors these [ad tech] intermediaries are executing, I think that’s fine. But I don’t see it as a polarized debate between ‘do you have advertising or don’t you have advertising’.”

One of the items that O2 is trying to address, and a sign that they have gone quite a way down the road toward actual implementation, is what to do about devices switching between the carrier’s wireless network that they control and WiFi access points outside of their control. Franks indicated this issue is pushing the carrier to look at a blended approach that combines network level controls with end-user solutions.

Another challenge for O2 and other companies is trying to balance controls on intrusive advertising with the concept of an “ad-fund internet.” Franks indicates O2 has identified three main problems with the current state of mobile advertising – poor targeting, poor creative, and data heavy ads. Improving quality in these areas may help alleviate the need for controls.

At the same time that carriers are looking at ways to minimize the impact of advertising on mobile device users, others are working to try to thwart the impact of ad blockers. Yahoo Mail recently started testing technology that prevents users from accessing the platform if they have an ad-blocker extension running in their browser.

Like EE, O2 thinks part of the benefit of the discussions is the awareness this will raise regarding advertising.

source: Business Insider

Come comment on this article: O2 joins the ad-blocking snowball