I said to myself, “Surely there is an app for that.”  Well, if there is, I haven’t found one.  Anyway if you’re running a Mac, here’s what you do to make it nice and simple:

1) If you don’t already have it, download and install MacPorts

2) If you don’t already have ImageMagickinstalled, open a terminal and run this:    sudo port install ImageMagick

3) Make sure you have all of the .png files of the iPad-ified screenshots you want to crop in a directory by themselves.

4) Open a terminal command line in that directory and run this:   mogrify -crop 320×480+223+271 *.png

You’re welcome

Note: Yes, I know I could just take my screen shots on an iPhone to avoid all this.

Techcrunch notes that Apple has removed online dating service Match.com’s iOS app from the App Store over violations of the company’s in-app subscription requirements. The Match.com app had allowed users to sign up for subscriptions to the service through an external link in the app, a mechanism that is no longer permitted by Apple as it has sought to drive usage of its in-app subscription services that sees Apple taking a 30% cut of revenues.

Apple has removed Match.com‘s iOS app because it allowed the lonely to pay for Match subscriptions with a credit card through an external link rather than using the in-app purchases system. That meant Apple wasn’t getting its 30% cut. In June Apple revised its policy to state that “Apps can read or play approved content that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app, as long as there is no button or external link in the app to purchase the approved content.” Apple and Match.com are now negotiating how the app must change before their relationship can be rekindled and they can have an earth-shattering makeup revenue split.

Match.com can satisfy Apple’s requirements either by offering an in-app option via Apple, which would result in Apple taking its 30% cut, or by simply omitting any links to external payment mechanisms. Under the latter scenario, users would have to know to visit the full Match.com site to sign up for a subscription, an extra step for users which may reduce the number of new subscribers but one that would enable Match.com to avoid having Apple skim off 30% of subscription revenue from the app.

Their award for Best phone for the 8th Annual Gadgets Awards goes to the Samsung Galaxy S II, beating out other phones like the Apple iPhone 4S, HTC Sensation, Nokia Lumia 800 and the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray.

The award-selection process involved shortlisting five devices for the category and then choosing the best out of them based on the opinion of panel of “elite judges” including members of British newspapers, leading websites and television channels. Besides this, they took input from around 100 journalists and, of course, readers of their website.

Read the full release here

The popularity of applications like Instagram, Hipstamatic and Magic Hour, shows that many smart phone owners love transforming their photos into grainy, vintage snaps. So if you’re a fan of retro images, then try this new lens filter kit from Holga Direct.

The kit (or case, really) slots over both an iPhone 4 or 4s and then it allows you to play around with nine filters without the need for an app. Some of the effects include triple image lens, empty hole and red filter…

Available from Holga Direct for $24.99 in red, white, blue and black.

via popgadget.net

With IconSettings, users can choose which specific aspects of the iOS Settings application they want quick access to. Options include general use features like Bluetooth, Airplane Mode and Personal Hotspot, while highly specific aspects of the Settings application including options for the Keyboard, Date and Time, Accessibility and Software Update are also available.

Users must simply visit the IconSettings website on their iOS device and visit the link that applies to the setting they want to add. Click the “Cancel” dialog, then add a bookmark link to the home screen, and the quick link will appear complete with a custom-built icon graphic.

The functionality, which is only available on iOS 5.0 and up, takes advantage of a feature within the iOS Safari Web browser. Tapping on the bookmarked icon on the homepage actually launches a new page in Safari before immediately opening the appropriate section of the native Settings application.

By adding an Airplane Mode link to the home screen, tapping the icon will immediately place the iOS device in Airplane Mode (no wireless data connections) without the need to launch the Settings application and select the appropriate option.

Unlike with Airplane Mode, a Bluetooth link added to the home screen will not automatically toggle Bluetooth on or off, but it does immediately bring users to the Bluetooth setting option. Previously, users had to select the Settings application, choose General, and then Bluetooth to access this page.

For years, some users have been jailbreaking their iPhone or other iOS devices to gain quick access to features like enabling or disabling Bluetooth, in order to conserve battery life. But with IconSettings, users can access this functionality without going through the jailbreak process, which voids Apple’s warranty for iOS devices.

via appleinsider.com

Maggie Richardson from the 1012Corridor magazine interviewed us a while ago on the “state of apps” in Baton Rouge.  And while most of our customers are from out of state, we were happy to give our two cents.  Maggie did a great job with the article!  Read it here.

“China’s growth is astronomical,” writes Flurry’s Peter Farago. “While the top 100 countries are averaging session growth of over 200 percent, China is delivering more than four times this growth rate, spurred by a massive population voraciously adopting applications.

“We knew there were a lot of people in China, and that they’ve skipped over fixed wire to wireless technology adoption (as do most emerging economies), but we didn’t expect adoption of more premium iOS and Android handsets, and therefore apps, this quickly.”

What’s the reason for for this “hyper-growth”? Flurry credits falling prices for older iPhones and increasingly capable low- and mid-range Android handsets now available in emerging markets.

That trend of smartphone conversion within the overall mobile base is borne out by official Ministry Of Industry figures. It says the number of Chinese registered with a mobile app store grew from 100 million to 150 million this Q3 alone, even though mobile ownership grew only 2.5 percent to 1.25 billion.

In China, several telcos and handset makers have adopted forked versions of Android that bear little reference to Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and which operate entirely different app stores. In fact, the most popular app stores are not always the ones that ship together with handsets; there is a thriving market of competing app stores.

Overseas app adoption means the U.S. is no longer responsible for the majority of global app sessions, as it was in January, though it remains the world’s largest single app market, according to Flurry. China in July overtook the UK to become the country which plays host to the second largest number of app sessions per month.

In the U.S., the share of adult cell phone owners who have downloaded an app has risen to 38 percent in August 2011, up from 22 percent in September 2009, according to new Pew Research Center research.

China had 100 million 3G users in Q3 and 40 million users of the TD-SCDMA standard, an Asian rival to 3G,according to its Ministry Of Industry. China is busy pitching its TD-LTE 4G standard to global operators; Japan’s Softbank has committed to adopt it.

» Methodology: Flurry’s analytics are recorded by more than 12,000 apps, which the company reckons make up a third of all daily downloads. Total mobile app sessions recorded by Flurry grew from 10 billion in January to 20 billion in October.

via moconews.net

Awesome.  They have an iPhone app too.

http://copypastecharacter.com/

Check it out here: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/science-tattoo-emporium/

With Ice Cream Sandwich, Google got rid of the tablet/phone separation, and Android 4.0 is aimed at revolutionizing the user experience on both phones and tablets running Android. The interface is Honeycomb-based but includes many improvements over the previous versions of Android.

Here’s a quick recap of some of the most important features in Ice Cream Sandwich:

• Flexible Widgets & Folders: Being only a small part of the interface revamp, these two features were among the most anticipated. Dragging apps and contacts onto each other will now create folders, and all widgets are resizable, so they can fit different screens and still look good.
• Face Unlock: Allows device unlock using only face recognition.
• Screenshots: Finally, a built-in ability to take screenshots.
• Camera Features: Among the new features you’ll find image stabilization, face detection, single-motion panorama, zoom while shooting video and much more.
• Android Beam: Sync contacts, websites, files and more with anyone close by. Works only with NFC-enables devices.
• People App: A new way to browse contacts which also integrates with social networks.

This is only a taste of all that’s new in Ice Cream Sandwich. Check out this video for a summary of the new features and an introduction to Galaxy Nexus.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Read it here: http://www.dotnetcurry.com/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=767

If you’d rather not buy entire bags of pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars, and green clovers, pluck out the yummy marshmallows yourself, with Tom Lombardi’s ingenious 3D printed gadget.

See it here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:12772

If history serves us right we can expect some changes to iOS 5. Specifically with the apps shown on the invite. (see below)

Apple’s stock continued to rise Monday closing at an all-time high of US$411.63. The company is now worth almost as much as Microsoft and Google combined.

“Questions about [Steve] Job’s continued role at Apple clearly were creating a drag on the stock the last six to nine months,” one long-time Apple investor told “Business Insider” (http://macte.ch/DLHN2). “While in the past, Apple did not handle questions regarding Steve’s health very well, this time they did and a question that had been keeping many from investing in the stock has been cleared away.”

The stock increase also reflects the financial community’s faith and comfort in the executive leadership that Jobs has put in place over the past few years, the article adds.

Also, Apple’s $380 billion market cap makes it the most valuable company in the world, “head and shoulders above Exxon,” “Business Insider” Jay Yarow says (http://macte.ch/UNoG3). But it also does something even more impressive: it puts Apple in position to become as valuable as Microsoft and Google combined, notes MG Siegler on his blog, parislemon (http://macte.ch/U5tjE). Right now Apple’s market cap is $20 billion away from matching their value, he notes.

via macnews.com

Our friends over at Think Tap Work have just updated their iPhone app entitled “No Babies”.  It lets you get (or give) an insider’s view at what it’s like to have a baby.

Here’s the iTunes description:

Thinking about having a baby? Then you need the important reminders included in this app. Already have babies? You’ll want to remind your friends of what your life is like.

Whenever you think it’s time to have a baby just fire up this app and you’ll get a timely reminder. Not enough to destroy that baby-loving feeling, just swipe for more reminders.

Need more discouragement? Add the Pro Upgrade and you can create your very own no babies reminders and share them with your friends through email, Twitter, and Facebook. Just pick the photo, add your joke, even record a sound. Simple and effective.

Warning: Like real babies, No Babies features loud, annoying sounds. But isn’t that the point?

It’s free in iTunes.  If you want to create your own fake baby reminders, that’ll cost you 99 cents.

Given how low the sales figures have been for Windows Phone-based devices up to now, it’s hard to believe that purchasing intent can be enough to turn things around. But if you believe the news from the analysts at NPD, that could give Microsoft just the boost it needs—that, and some marketing so that more users start to realize that it exists at all.

Figures out today from The NPD Group’s Connected Intelligence service, which surveys U.S. consumers, largely confirm what other analysts have been telling us: Android is bringing home the bacon when it comes to smartphone purchases, accounting for at least half of all smartphone purchases in the last three quarters.

Android also scores as the most “preferred operating system” among current smartphone owners and those who intend to buy a smartphone. And NPD says it generates the most interest among consumers, both from those already using Android devices and those on other platforms. Example: one-third of current BlackBerry owners say they want Android devices the next time around.

In all, some 50 percent of respondents said they were going to purchase a smartphone next, once again underscoring how much smartphones have come along compared to feature phones.

But here’s a curious fact: when all mobile users who either owned a smartphone or intended to purchase one were asked about what kinds of devices they want to buy next, 44 percent also said that they were considering Windows Phone 7 devices—meaning that the door is open for significantly more sales of Windows Phone 7 devices, if Microsoft and OEMs (and specifically its newest and biggest OEM, Nokia) get their acts together.

That is no mean feat: Android and iOS are covered tons in the media, and Windows Phone—surprisingly for a Microsoft product—seems to have missed the boat on brand awareness. An embarrassing 45 percent of consumers surveyed by NPD said they were unaware of Windows Phone 7.

And among the 50 percent of consumers who said they will be buying a smartphone, but didn’t want to buy a Windows Phone, the biggest reason, accounting for 46 percent of respondents, was because they didn’t know enough about the Windows Phone OS.

NPD notes that the second-most used reason was OS lock-in—too much time or money invested in the current OS. (And that’s one more reason why it’s so important to have app stores—even if they don’t make much money for the OEMs hosting them.)

According to figures from Gartner, Microsoft’s mobile platforms (mainly Windows Phone devices) took just 1.6 percent of all sales of smartphones worldwide in Q2 2011; Android was well in the lead, accounting for 43.4 percent of all sales.

via moconews.net

Click here to view the embedded video.

Enter Webeiu. It is a free online hosting comparison service, which lets you instantly compare hosting plans from different companies on one page. You simply indicate your maximum monthly price, minimum RAM & storage, minimum monthly transfer and click Search.

You will only see the results that match your given requirements. Click “See Plan Details” to the right of every result to go to the provider’s website to get more information.

Indicate your hosting requirements and click Search.

Features:

• Search and compare hosting plans from different hosting providers.
• Filter results based on your hosting requirements – max monthly price, minimum RAM & storage, minimum monthly transfer rate.
• Search is supported only for Linux VPS (virtual private server) plans.
• Free, no registration.
• Similar tools: HostingReviews and HostMonk.

Check out Webieu @ www.webieu.com

Impressions from Android devices jumped 15 percent from June to July, with Android making up 61 percent of the smartphones on Millennial’s network. Apple’s iOS was 21 percent, and RIM held on to its 14 percent share. While Windows Phone 7 grew 71 percent month over month, it still only makes up 2 percent of the market.

As far as smartphone manufacturers go, Apple was still in the lead with 26.45 percent of impressions, though Samsung saw significant growth in the number two spot, growing 28 percent and settling at 19.11 percent of the market. Motorola, who will be purchased by Google, held on to the fifth most popular manufacturer slot, with 10.26 percent of impressions, and had 3 of the top 11 smartphones on Millenial’s network.

The most important and welcome addition seems to be the ability to add a PIN number to protect your Google Checkout account – this seems like a great improvement compared to before, when your kid could have just picked up your phone and brought a $9.99 app that you don’t need.  Another change now is the ability to add “+1″ as a rating to any app (like on Google+), which should help users narrow down an app with a specific functionality based on its popularity – this one was already present on the web version of the Market but having it on the device-based app makes more sense, since most users end up downloading apps from the device than the web.  Another great feature is that it now shows you the date that an app was last updated.  Nice.

However, if you’re looking to spruce up that 1990′s-looking clipart-sportin’ logo, here’s a decent list of tips on how to go about it.  The basic ideas are: Simplify, simplify, simplify.  And get rid of the clipart.

Link

In a move that is as mystifying as it is infuriating, Google has poked another stick in the eye of Android developers everywhere, and that includes us.  They have decided to shut down the developer support forums we can convene with other developers to discuss issues with the Android market or application development. The site has been home to huge discussions and complaints from market developers with massive threads usually spawning when developers are seeing diminished returns due to Android market bugs, errors or what have you.

Now, Google says they’re going to focus on supporting developers one-on-one, handling issues only when developers directly contact them.  Our reaction is, “wha?  Why do they hate us?”

Developers can continue to contact Google independently for each issue as they always have. The problem with that is, more often than not, developers are met with canned responses. And in some rare instances, they are met with no response at all.

If you do get that canned response, you probably won’t get a status update on whatever fix you’re concerned with. I imagine a lot of isolated issues are handled in a timely manner, but the widespread issues that have popped up in recent months have taken Google forever to fix, with some not even having a resolution in sight.

Many would say that Google’s taking the easy way out  by shutting the developer support forums down. As one Reddit user put it, their customer service and support were already rock bottom with the forums, and to take away the avenue developers use to discuss issues in hopes to fix a problems Google drags their feet with is doing nothing at all to help. [Google]

From August 22 on, this Android Market forum will be dedicated to user issues and discussion. Because of the nature of developer issues, we feel that one-on-one support is best for the types of threads that have historically been posted to this forum by app developers.

Moving forward, threads regarding developer-facing issues will be closed, and we ask that developers report Android Market issues here so we can address your concerns in a timely manner:

https://www.google.com/support/androidmarket/developer/bin/answer.py?answer=136601&hl=en

In addition to addressing concerns sent in via these “Contact us” fields, we’ll maintain the developer known issues page with up-to-date information on widespread issues:

http://www.google.com/support/androidmarket/developer/bin/static.py?page=known_issues.cs

Thanks for your understanding and cooperation in helping us get your issues and concerns resolved in the most efficient way.

My personal favorite response upon reading this news was given by user “155″, “Really? I mean really?”

Android dominated the U.S. smartphone market last quarter according to research firm NPD.

The test measured load times on broadband connections and it was undertaken from the perspective of regular users. No less than 1.86 billion individual measurements have been collected on over 200 websites during a month period. The tested browsers were Chrome 10, 11 and 12, Mozilla Firefox 3, 4 and 5, Safari 4 and 5 and Internet Explorer 7, 8 and 9.   The results are far from being surprising: the winner is Google Chrome 12, the fastest browser in the world.

According to the test, Google Chrome load time was the lowest, namely 3.433 seconds. On the other end, ranked as the slowest browser according to load time is Apple’s Safari 4, with 6.149 seconds, almost twice the amount of time, and IE7, 6.006 seconds.

A second measurement referred to the amount of time it takes for the visible parts of a website to load in the browser.  Apparently, this time Chrome 12 ranked second, with 2,374 seconds, but it came at a short distance from the fastest one, Mozilla Firefox 5, whose first image appeared after 2,18 seconds. IE and Safari are again the slowest browsers.

What makes the measurements reliable is the fact that the tests haven’t been carried out in a lab, but in a real world, measuring how the population actually experiences web browsing.

via geekwithlaptop.com

Read the whole article here: http://www.infoworld.com/print/169665

HP announced today that they will discontinue operations for WebOS. HP Also stated they will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward. This means that now there is only 4 major players in the smartphone software market now, Apple, Android, Blackberry and WP.

Thanks to our friends at Hunch, we now know that Android users are 10% more likely to be men. We know that iOS users are 50% more likely to have been on the internet before 1992. We know who is more likely to prefer General Tso’s Chicken over Pad Thai. It may not be the most important demographic data, but it’s definitely interesting.

Click image to enlarge.

I am what people call an “Apple Fanboy”. I’m not a fanatic, but a fanboy nonetheless. Like many fanboys before me, people come to me for their apple purchases, you know “When does the new iPhone come out?”, “What does 3G mean?”.

Needless to say I have several people waiting for the next iPhone, which I was expecting to have come out by late July, like it has for the first 4 years. But now apple is just making me look like a hack.

My theory, the iPhone 5 is going to be awesome. So awesome that apple is testing it for a longer period than usual. Another factor adding to the awesomeness that is surely to come, has to be the fact that android phones are looking better and better everyday. Apple wants the market share that android has. I’m not sure that things will ever change with regards to that, being that android has so many companies and cell carriers using their software.

What does apple need to do? NFC(replace my credit cards). Bigger screen? (why not?). Pico projector? (probably not). Awesome voice control via Siri and Nuance? (android has it… Apples will be better). Better camera? (apple has shown how important this is with great new quick access to the camera via the home screen in iOS 5). Totally redesigned? (thinner and lighter, a fix for that antenna problem). A battery that lasts way longer? (quit making the phone thinner and just make the battery bigger, or put a solar panel behind the screen). maybe the front facing camera will be behind the screen in the center??? (they have the patent)….

I have no inside scoop but …Apple please do something great for my sake, and your own.

IPad 3 will not be coming out this year. No way. So quit talking about it.

You can see them here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And lest we forget, this next video is NOT a parody.  It was a cultishly earnest “Windows 7 Launch Party” video put out a couple of years ago.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A Little About The Game

If you enjoy crossword puzzles, word finds, and anagram games, you’re going to love 7 Little Words. Each bite-size puzzle consists of 7 clues, 7 mystery words, and 20 letter groups. Find the mystery words by deciphering the clues and combining the letter groups. 7 Little Words is FUN, CHALLENGING, and EASY TO LEARN.

Download 7 Little Words Today – It’s Free!

Nokia’s smartphone share decline since the iPhone launch has been steady, as first phones that run Apple’s operating system, and more recently, Google’s Android platform have enjoyed sales growth faster than the overall smartphone market. Nokia believed its Symbian operating system paired with excellent hardware would be enough to compete, but the company threw in the towel earlier this year. As announced this February, Nokia has decided to use Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 software for smartphones going forward, with the first such handsets expected later this year. Meanwhile, Samsung embraced Android early, which has paid off, and made the following wise decisions to position itself as the new top dog in smartphones:

• One super phone for all. Samsung wasn’t the first to the high-end Android handset game, but its initial effort was a huge hit. The Samsung Galaxy S took an Apple-like approach with a single design, but with the added tweaks for different carriers. One main design allowed the company to gain a larger return on the research and development — a very different approach than that of Nokia which offers dozens of different phones. The Galaxy S was released in June of 2010 and reportedly sold more than 10 million units last year worldwide.
• We’ll bring the chips, thank you. Unlike Nokia, Samsung designs its own smartphone processors, just as Apple began to do with the A4 chip it brought to the iPhone 3GS. As a licensee of ARM, Samsung can take generic chip designs and tweak them to add or improve features in ways Nokia, HTC, LG, Research In Motion and other smartphone makers can’t. This also means Samsung is less likely to face supply constraints for chips and other smartphone components that could impact handset production. In addition to building the processors that power its phones, Samsung is also among the leading suppliers of flash memory used in its handsets, as well as those of competitors.
• Want some Bada on the side? While Samsung is growing its smartphone share mainly through Android handsets, the company has a nice little side project for future growth called Bada. I initially questioned the sense of Samsung creating its own handset platform, but sales figures are proving me wrong: Research firm Canalys estimates Samsung shipped 3.5 million Bada phones in the first quarter of 2011, which is a million more sales than Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 saw.
• Now playing: music, books and movies. Taking another cue from Apple, Samsung quietly started to build its own media ecosystem in September of last year. The company offers books, magazines, video rentals and purchases, plus a full-featured music store in three different “hubs” that work with its devices. This helps make the Samsung smartphone line more attractive as it provides one-stop shopping and a solid user experience for media content. In turn,these hubs can put Samsung’s iPod touch competitors, the Galaxy Players, on fairly equal footing with Apple’s products. That could provide a halo effect of sorts: Media purchases or rentals on a Samsung Galaxy Player could be enjoyed on a Samsung smartphone, which could help boost sales further.
• Return of the king. Samsung is well positioned for 2011 thanks to the successor to the Galaxy S. Known as the Galaxy S 2, the handset uses Samsung’s superb Super AMOLED Plus screen, a dual-core processor and 1080p video recording in an 8.49-millimeter-thin package. Last month,Samsung announced 1 million sales of the handset in Korea alone, with only 70 days of sales needed to surpass the milestone.

After pointing out Apple’s influence on Samsung as the company is about to take the smartphone lead, I’d be remiss if I overlooked two related points. First, Apple itself is also poised to overtake Nokia this quarter, according to Nomura, as the no. 2 smartphone maker. With an annual refresh of just one handset model available globally, that’s nothing short of impressive. Given the new features and enhancements in the new iOS 5 software, which will presumably arrive with new hardware in a few months, there’s no reason to think Apple’s growth will slow.

Second, the Apple similarities may yet come back to hurt Samsung as Apple has filed suit, claiming that Samsung has copied the iPhone design. There’s no question that the Galaxy S, as well as Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface, bear more than a passing resemblance to the iPhone and iOS. Depending on the outcome of the lawsuit, Apple could financially gain from the lawsuit, but it’s unlikely Samsung would be forced to cease selling their devices. Copycat strategy or not, it doesn’t look like Apple is going to unseat the new king of smartphones any time soon.

Yahoo Media web player, which has just launched in beta version, is one of the hottest new distinctive web players to emerge from yahoo and is available now. In order to use the Yahoo Media web player whether one is a blogger, developer, or user, all which is required is a simple strip of .js code implemented into your theme file directly above the closing tag within your footer.php file ( usually ).

The Yahoo Media web player provides support for various types of video and audio formats and is enriched by HTML and Java Script. Generally most users are aware of yahoo’s media player which is already empowering user’s web pagesand providing them with a fully enriched user music experience. Yahoo web player is another new discovery and the next generation media player prior to yahoo audio player and contains so many features.

Features

The Yahoo Media web player supports all type of media files such as mp3, wav,YouTube, Yahoo videos etc. It is not like any other Jquery media player, it comes along with another revolutionary technique termed “Detection Mode“ , whereas the Yahoo web player detects the related media.

After adding the ( script ) or web player to your theme file, the player scans for the videos available and adds a play button next to playable items, once the play button is pressed a sleek and visually stunning media player appears with unique sliding effects which commence playing the media either in audio player or in video player mode.

Yahoo Web Player can call any page’s video into its playlist so that the user can remain on the same page while enjoying all videos without having to venture off the given page.

Yahoo is about to provide more specific API for the Yahoo Media web player which will assist users to be more programmatic within their given tasks in creation of mashups, media play lists, categories and much more , so stay tuned for updates regarding this wonderful video player which is bound to knock out the competition !
Users Can Download Yahoo Web Player From Here

via skytechgeek.com

I don’t know about you but I hate 3d movies I have only honestly enjoyed 1 in my life. For me the image never really clears up until an hour into the movie. From what I have read, nobody really seems to like it except for the movie industry, or really all of media and product development in general. The experience though is not good. Ever used a 3ds? As amazing as it is to see their included ar card gameplay, about 15 minutes in you will have a headache.

But I read an article and then saw a video, from two different sources mind you, that talked about and then demonstrated the beauty of 3d sound.

As the story goes… This professor of applied sciences crashes a meeting of the Audio Engineering Society “Within a few weeks, I read pretty much every paper in the field,” Choueiri said. What he has accomplished is supposedly amazing, but only a handful of people have heard his demo. More about him and his demo here

The day after I read that article I see this video and realize the potential. I know that this is not the same demo from the above linked article but just listen to this and you will get the sense of what is possible with a 3d that is good, that we can actually benefit from and enjoy.

Mitra 3D Mic Pro from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.

Bill Gates has got more money to spend (after selling some of his assets) than the US government. Let me reiterate: a person now has more money to spend than the most powerful democracy in the world.

From Business Insider:

The Federal government now has only $54 billion in cash in the bank.

That’s $2 billion less than the net worth of Bill Gates, as frequent BI commenter @ComfortablySmug points out on Twitter.

Ouch.

People had been writing that the US’s cash balance had gotten so bad that it was less than some companies. Now it’s so bad that it’s less than some people.

Terrible, terrible. It just goes to show that Congress needs to get its act together now and raise the debt ceiling.

Next up, Google will be “richer than the government”.

I have to sign a lot of paperwork and most of it is sent to me via PDF.  It’s always been a little bit of a pain to sign it and send it back and I’ve often wondered if there was a better way than printing, signing, scanning and sending.

Enter OSX Lion, specifically the Preview app therein.  Preview now lets you digitally sign a PDF document. You might think this happens with your finger and trackpad, but you’d be wrong—that wouldn’t include everybody. Instead, you sign a piece of paper and hold it up to your iSight/Facetime camera while Preview snaps a photo. It’ll then detect the signature and allow you to add it to your document. To do this, just open the PDF document you want to sign, click “Annotate” in the toolbar (if the annotations bar isn’t already showing), and then click the Signature drop-down menu. That will display two options. The first will let you take a photo of your signature with your Mac’s built-in camera and the second will allow you to manage the signatures you’ve already saved using this process. Pretty awesome.

This feature ALONE makes the upgrade to Lion worth it for me, despite the initial reindexing slowness.  Thank you, Apple

The New York City high line is a train line that has not been used since the mid 70′s. Up until a few years ago the city planed on destroying it. (It was an eyesore to say the least.) But a couple of residents, that heard about the planed demolishing, decided to see if they could convince the city to do something with the high line and not destroy it. Their plan? Turn it into a park. A park some 50 or so feet off the ground. A park that is so unique that it frames people and the city’s skyline, instead of advertisements. A park that puts greenery in the sky as opposed to the ground.
The idea, as it became, was that doing something with the space, that hardly anyone even noticed, would increase property value, and therefore increase revenue to the city via property taxes.
The city saw trash, but two citizens saw beauty that wasn’t there yet, what could have been and what now is. It shows our ability as humans to see something, not for what it is but for what it can become. Our unique ability for counterfactual thought.

For more info you can visit their website The High Line