Monthly Archives: January 2017

Robotic Arm Beats 'I Am Not A Robot' CAPTCHA Test

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Note: Keep your volume in check, robot arm sounds like an R/C plane trying to eat gravel.

This is a short video of a googly eyed robotic arm beating an ‘I Am Not A Robot’ CAPTCHA test by clicking inside the box to prove it’s not a robot. It is a robot though, although I suspect it’s being remotely controlled and wasn’t actually programmed to make those movements. Then at the end it drops the stylus like a mic and puts on its cool-guy shades, as if to taunt us. Or at least that’s how I felt, I felt personally insulted. What’s next? *robot types ‘bang ur gf’* OH COME ON.

Keep going for the video while I stock up on electromagnetic pulse grenades for the inevitable robot war.

Source: Geekologie – Robotic Arm Beats ‘I Am Not A Robot’ CAPTCHA Test

At Least George R.R. Martin Will Publish One A Song of Ice and Fire Story This Year

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While not even George R.R. Martin himself is too sure about his prediction of a 2017 release for the long-awaited Winds of Winter, we now know at least one tale from the world of Westeros will see print this year: as part of an upcoming fantasy anthology book.

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Source: io9 – At Least George R.R. Martin Will Publish One A Song of Ice and Fire Story This Year

The Secret History of the First Cat in Space

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On October 18th, 1963, the Centre national d’études in France was set to send a small cat named Félix into space. After lagging behind its Soviet and American competitors, France was eager to stake its claim in the space race—with cats, for some reason. But on launch day, the mischievous little beast went missing—and…

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Source: Gizmodo – The Secret History of the First Cat in Space

Facebook Dumps Personalized 'Trending Topics' After Backlash

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As the company works to strengthen its reputation as a place for news and curb the spread of misinformation on the site, Facebook announced it has removed the personalized interest-based list of news topics on the right-hand side of your news feed. Now everyone in a geographic region will see the same trending topics. CNET reports: In addition to doing away with the personalized list, there are two other big changes to the trending topics section that will start rolling out today and will take place for everyone in the U.S. “in the coming weeks.” First, instead of just seeing a bare-bones topic, like “Saturn” or “X-men,” two things that had been trending for me, you’ll see a full headline from one of the news stories about that topic. That’s the headline that had always popped up when you hovered over the topic. Second, Facebook is changing the way the topics are selected. The topics had been chosen based on how many people on Facebook are engaging with it. With the new changes, Facebook will look at the number of outlets posting stories on a particular topic, and decide its inclusion based on engagement around that group of articles. “This should surface trending topics quicker, be more effective at capturing a broader range of news and events from around the world and also help ensure that topics reflect real world events being covered by multiple news outlets,” Will Cathcart, vice president of product management, said in a statement.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Facebook Dumps Personalized ‘Trending Topics’ After Backlash

This Is The Samsung Galaxy S8, Launching March 29

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Evan Blass has done it again, leaking things ahead of time and ruining another Samsung unboxing event, which is supposedly going down at the end of March in NYC. It—looks exactly like you’d expect, aside from the nearly edge-to-edge screen and lack of physical home button. It seems to me like the only real highlight and notable difference is the expansive screen; the battery capacities are typical, the camera’s resolution stayed the same, and the RAM size is still 4GB, too.



While the Android Nougat-powered phones may include different systems-on-chip depending on sales region — Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 in some and Samsung Exynos in others — all will have processors made using 10-nanometer fabrication methods. Performance-wise, this is said to make them 11 percent faster than the Galaxy S7 overall, with 23 percent faster graphics processing, but still 20 percent more energy efficient. That improved power consumption will be critical, because despite the vastly increased display sizes, battery capacity is said to be a relatively conservative 3000mAh and 3500mAh for the 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch designs, respectively. And while internally the 4GB of RAM remains unchanged from the past few models, 64GB is the new baseline when it comes to internal storage (supplemented by a 256GB-capable microSD slot). Charging is accomplished via a USB-C port, which is located on the bottom of the handsets next to — as Samsung will no doubt highlight in its presentation — an Apple-scorned 3.5-millimeter jack.

Discussion

Source: [H]ardOCP – This Is The Samsung Galaxy S8, Launching March 29

Mulan, Disney's Often-Forgotten Princess, Gets an Absolutely Perfect Tribute

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So often Mulan gets forgotten. The 1998 Disney film came out a little between the company’s golden eras. Because of that, we don’t see many t-shirts, dolls, or posters of Mulan like you do for Ariel or Belle. But Disney is about to release a tribute that almost makes up for that. Almost.

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Source: io9 – Mulan, Disney’s Often-Forgotten Princess, Gets an Absolutely Perfect Tribute

Microsoft Reportedly Working On a 'Lightweight Version of Windows' Known As 'Cloud Shell'

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Neowin: Last week, details emerged of Microsoft’s plans to develop a single, unified, ‘adaptive shell’ for Windows 10. Known as the ‘Composable Shell’, or CSHELL, the company’s efforts were said to be focused on establishing a universal Windows 10 version with a standardized framework to scale and adapt the OS to any type of device, display size or user experience, including smartphones, PCs, tablets, consoles, large touchscreens, and more. Today, Petri reported that Microsoft is working on a new shell for Windows known as ‘Cloud Shell’. According to internal documentation referred to in that report, Cloud Shell is described as a “lightweight version of Windows designed for the modern computing world.” It also hints at plans to introduce the Cloud Shell sometime in 2017 — but little else is known about the new shell besides that. Cloud Shell is said to be connected, in some way, with the Windows Store and Universal Windows Platform app framework, and the report speculates that it may also be related to Microsoft’s plans to bring the full version of Windows 10 to mobile devices with ARM-based processors, which it announced in December. However, the cloud nomenclature, and the reference to this being a ‘lightweight’ version of Windows could hint at a ‘thin client’-style approach, in which the Windows 10 shell could be streamed from Microsoft’s Azure platform to any device with an internet connection, while its cloud servers remotely handle all of the processing and storage requirements of each users’ tasks.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Microsoft Reportedly Working On a ‘Lightweight Version of Windows’ Known As ‘Cloud Shell’

Man Turns His Home Entertainment System Wires Into Art Piece

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This is a shot of an unidentified Redditor’s home entertainment system. He decided that, instead of trying to hide the wires and consoles, he’d turn them into this circuit board inspired piece of wall art. Although, after reading through the comments, apparently he used superglue to secure everything. AHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA. Man, that’s beautiful. It just goes to show, you don’t have to be a professional to get professional results. All it takes is a dream and zero hand tool skills. I just wish I could be there to see him remove it and rip a hole into the bathroom.

Thanks to carey, who agrees he should have just covered everything in silver duct tape to really give it that circuit board feel.

Source: Geekologie – Man Turns His Home Entertainment System Wires Into Art Piece

Vibesmood Has Plenty of Playlists to Pick From, Depending on Your Mood

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Web: Lots of music services have playlists based on how you’re feeling right now, but Vibesmood tries to make it as simple as possible. Click one of five vibes to match your mood, and pick a playlist that looks good to get something that’ll lift you up, comfort you, or help you get stuff done.

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Source: LifeHacker – Vibesmood Has Plenty of Playlists to Pick From, Depending on Your Mood

The Uncertain Future of HIV Treatment After the Affordable Care Act

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Before passage of the Affordable Care Act (branded ‘Obamacare’), low-income people with HIV were trapped in a heinous Catch-22. Insurance companies denied them coverage because of their status, the drugs were too expensive to buy outright, and they might only qualify for Medicaid’s partial coverage if their HIV had…

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Source: Gizmodo – The Uncertain Future of HIV Treatment After the Affordable Care Act

Comcast mobile phone service coming in 2017 with wireless/cable bundles

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(credit: Comcast)

Comcast said it plans to offer a mobile phone service this year with an emphasis on selling bundles of wireless and cable service.

Launching the wireless product is a priority in 2017, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said in an earnings call today. Comcast will be able to offer wireless service nationwide because of a reselling agreement with Verizon, but the company is expecting particularly good sales with existing customers in its cable territory.

“We plan to include wireless in our multi-product bundles in a way that is designed to add value to our customers, improve retention, and ultimately benefit lifetime customer economics for us,” Roberts said. “Our offering will give customers access to a world-class wireless network, benefiting from our Wi-Fi [hotspots], with the best mobile devices and a simple, transparent experience, all for a great value.”

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Source: Ars Technica – Comcast mobile phone service coming in 2017 with wireless/cable bundles