XYDO.COM: Photography

Read Exactly What Was Carried Inside SpaceX's History-Making Journey [Space]

We made a lot of hoopla over the recent SpaceX launch—and for good reason. A private company has done for the first time what previously took the efforts of enormous governments. It put cargo in space! But what exactly? More »

Kodak Image Sharing and Storage is Dead: 5 Alternatives

As part of Eastman Kodak’s efforts to be a much slimmer business, the imaging and photography company is restructuring, selling its online sharing and storing site, Kodak Gallery, to Shutterfly for $23.8 million in March. Kodak Gallery will close on July 2, and each user’s account will automatically transfer to Shutterfly. Users that do not want to make the transition to Shutterfly can opt out, but they can only do so before the May 28 deadline. In the transition from Kodak Gallery to Shutterfly, users’ personal photos will be moved to Shutterfly’s website free, but all previous projects such as photo books and calendars need to be completed and purchased by noon on July 2. According to Kodak Gallery’s announcement page, Kodak has not yet determined if shared albums, group albums and sharing sites will be accessible after the site closes, but it will keep its customers updated. Note that if you are a Kodak Gallery Europe customer, these changes will not affect your account. How to Opt Out If you wish to opt out of Kodak’s transfer to Shutterfly, follow these simple steps: Download all of your photos from Kodak Gallery and save them to your computer. Finish any products and purchase them as soon as possible. To complete the opt out process, go to the announcement page and click the link that says “Click here to opt out.” Photo Sharing and Storing Alternatives If you decide Shutterfly isn’t for you, check out the gallery below for 5 alternatives: 1. Picasa Google's Picasa has been around for a while, but the latest version (3.9) is integrated with Google+, so uploading and sharing your photos have never been easier. Cost: FreeClick here to view this gallery. More About: features, Kodak, photography, Shutterfly

This Is What It Looks Like When Fighters Fly Directly At You in Anger [Image Cache]

For much of the world, the Falklands War seems like a historical blip—but not if you were part of this insanely daring (or insane) attack against the HMS Broadsword, where two A-4 Skyhawks made a shockingly low run. The bombing raid was ultimately unsuccessful—one of the jets missed its target, and the other dropped a dud that bounced off the ship. But it's absolutely nuts that one of the Brits onboard had the guts to stand and snap this photograph of the two planes that could have easily killed him and his crewmates. The photo was taken 30 years ago this weekend, but I'm sure it's never seemed any less vivid to the photographer. [Aviationist] Photo: UK Ministry of Defense / Royal Navy

These are the apps that should be in your iPhoneography ‘camera bag’

We’ve already given you a list of tips and tricks to get the most out of your smartphone photography, recommended cool accessories that will enhance your shots, but what we haven’t done is given you a little bit of insight into the apps we think every iPhoneographer should have, new old, or otherwise. If you want to get serious about your mobile photography, the following list of apps are must-haves for your virtual camera bag. While there are, of course, a ton of options out there, these are the ones that we’ve found ourselves using on a daily basis and they come highly recommended. So in no particular order, here they are: Shooting When it comes to shooting photos, the native iPhone camera has one main merit to its name – you can easily access it from the locked home screen and it loads relatively fast – so it’s a great option when you’re in the street and want to get a shot fast. It gets the job done. Camera+: If you have the leisure of taking a little bit more time to get the perfect shot, we’d recommend Camera+ as a more robust option. There’s a reason this (currently) $0.99 app has over 6 million users, and sells a copy of every 3 seconds. So what is it about this app that makes it the perfect companion for anyone who’s serious about their iPhoneography? Besides having the run-of-the-mill options you would expect of any decent smartphone camera app, these are a few of its standout features that we can’t live without: VolumeSnap: You can shoot a photo using the volume buttons (a feature most of its competitors, with the exception of the native iPhone app lack) You can choose between a Classic and Shoot & Share workflow. This means you can choose between going back to the viewfinder or the image you just took, after snapping a shot. You have total control over focus and exposure. While it has a ton of great post-processing features, we’re huge fans of the scene mode ‘clarity’, which brightens up the darkest picture, salvaging photos you would have otherwise deleted, and the one-click crop options (including a ‘square’ crop to get your images ready for Instagram). This might not be a specific feature per se, but Camera+ has a dedicated team behind the app, rolling out impressive updates on a constant basis, so it’s the camera app that just keeps on giving. DMD Panorama: There’s a fair share of options in the iTunes App Store when it comes to shooting panoramas, but none as easy to use as $0.99 DMD Panorama. Not only does the app make it easy to take a gorgeous panorama shot in a matter of seconds, the results are near flawless. Want to see what the app can do for yourself? Check out its user gallery. It’s no surprise that the app crossed the 200,000 download mark in its first 2 weeks, and has since gone on to secure a whopping 3 million downloads. Hipstamatic: Needing no introduction, Hipstamatic, is a great option if you want a little bit of flair to your photos. What we love about Hipstamatic is the endless options. You’ll get dizzy with all the different lens, film and flash options, making it easier than ever to find a distinct style for your iPhoneography photos. In addition to the free options that come with the app, constant updates bring new and fresh choices to its users. A ‘HipstaPak’ consisting of a lens, one or two types of film and a flash costs $0.99. Confused by all the different options available? Be sure to check out the Hipstamatic Field Guide, with examples, suggested combinations and more. And as if that weren’t enough to convince you, the app is temporarily on sale, down from $1.99 to $0.99, and all of the Hipstamatic Paks that were previously retired are temporarily available for purchase for Memorial Weekend. Editing Snapseed: For heavy-duty editing we would recommend the $4.99 app Snapseed. We reviewed the iPad version here, but you’ll find that the features are identical. So why Snapseed in particular? The app has an incredibly intuitive interface, is easy to use, and comes packed with all the features you could possibly need when it comes to mobile photo editing. From the basics of adjusting brightness, contrast and saturation, the app also has some pretty impressive selling points. These are a few of our favourite features: Selective Adjust allows you to choose a focal point in your image, and then adjust the rest of the image based on your personal selection. Impressive set of textures, which complement your photos rather than dilute them. Post-processing features brings it as close as we’ve seen to an all-in-one option for iPhone photo editing. Noir Photo: If you’re particularly drawn to black and white photography, the $2.99 Noir Photo is a must have. Not only does it convert images to black and white, it puts Photoshop’s ‘Lighting Effects’ feature in the palm of your hand. Applying vignettes, spotlights and colour tints, make it easy to enhance your photos in a way that will make them even more striking. With a just few simple settings, you can instantly add mood and atmosphere to your photos. Want to see an example of Noir Photo in action? Check out the before and after photos below: Color Splash: Looking for an easy way to get some selective color in your photos? Try the $0.99 app Color Splash, making it easy to selectively desaturate your images, leaving a burst of colour only where you want it. Framing Depending on what kind of framing you prefer, there are two options we would highly recommend. Fuzel: The first, Fuzel (which we’ve reviewed here) is great if you want to create custom layouts when it comes to creating a collage of your images. In addition to the preset layouts, you can go wild creating any kind of layout you want, while also being able adjust the width of the outlines, the colour, and add an interesting frame, complete with a caption. Photo Frame & FX: The one feature we’ve found to be lacking in Fuzel is rounded corners, so for that we’ve turned to Photo Frame & FX. In addition to adding rounded corners to your images, PhotoFrame offers 48 different layouts (but you do have to pay $0.99 to unlock them all), as well as a variety of colours and patterns. We think it’s worth it because you’ll get a few interesting options to play around with, like this (grey outline added to indicate where the actual frame ends): Sharing Instagram: An obvious choice, but no iPhoneography list would be complete without Instagram. Along with offering users a set of impressive filters, Instagram is the ideal place to share your iPhoneography creations. With an extremely active community, it is the best place to keep up with what’s going on in the iPhoneography world, and even get a little bit of feedback on your work. Bump: While almost all of the apps listed above (Camera+, DMD Panorama, Snapseed, Photo Frame, Fuzel, Hipstamatic) feature social media integration, making it easy to share your image to Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook and more, we would recommend one more app when it comes to sharing your images. If you want to get your photos from your iPhone to your iPad, or to a friend’s iOS device, we’d recommend Bump. That way, if you’d prefer to use apps like Snapseed and Noir Photo on the comfort of a larger screen, you can shoot the photo with your iPhone, and edit it with your iPad. Not only can you easily transfer photos between iOS devices, you can also “bump” your photos to your desktop computer with the free app. What do you think are must-have apps for someone who’s serious about iPhoneography? Let us know in the comments.

Frontrow has arrived to let you take and share photos from YouTube livestreams

YouTube's been beefing up the tools for its users lately, adding an audio editor, stabilization and color correction tools, and even ways for live-streaming productions to empty our wallets. Now, an outfit from the land of Oz has created an application that uses YouTube's live-streaming capabilities to allow those watching to grab pictures of live-stream and share them. Called Frontrow, it'll make its debut streaming the Vivid LIVE music festival currently going on at the Sydney Opera House. The app doesn't just let you take simple snapshots, either, users can zoom in and out and apply image filters to grab that perfect image of Florence + the Machine while watching them via WiFi a world away. Hit the more coverage link and check the video after the break for more.Continue reading Frontrow has arrived to let you take and share photos from YouTube livestreamsFrontrow has arrived to let you take and share photos from YouTube livestreams originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 May 2012 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | The Official YouTube Blog | Email this | Comments

Magic Corn

Photo diary of Patrick Tsai, an American photographer living in Tokyo. Advertise with DYT! - Join us on Facebook - Follow on Twitter - On Pinterest - Subscribe by Email

[Freebie] Silent Beauty Wallpaper

Long used to deliver messages of love, apologies, friendship and get-well-soons, flowers have always been the best gift for all occasions, big and small. Despite a short lifespan, or maybe because of it, a gift of flowers has always been appreciated by the receiver, simply because in every exising form, it carries the hidden message that somebody cares. Even when one takes away one of its defining characteristics – its colors – flowers can never fail to make you appreciate the best of nature. Have a monochromatic dew-bearing flower image on your screen to serve as a gentle reminder that some things can be in only black and white, and still look beautiful. Download Wallpaper in: 2560×1440 1920×1200 1680×1050 1440×900 1280×1024 1280×800 1024×768 1024×1024 (iPad) 640×960 (iPhone) All About the author This wallpaper is courtesy of Rishabh Agarwal, an avid photographer from India. He has a website dedicated to his love of photography at Rish Photography [http://rishabhagarwal.com]. If you are interested in his photographs, please contact him at his website. Contact us If you would like to see your own beautiful artwork or photographs turned into wallpapers and shared amongst our readers like what we are doing here, drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do. Related posts:[Freebie] “Left Behind” Wallpaper [Freebie] Splash of Lemon Wallpaper [Freebie] Mehandi Art Wallpaper [Freebie] Book Of Love Wallpaper

The High-Speed Amphibious All-Terrain Vehicle That Would Make Even Master Chief Jealous [Video]

The Warthog might be Master Chief's vehicle of choice in the Halo games, but once he sees the amphibious Scamander, we suspect he'll be putting in an official requisition for a new ride. More »

Mount Everest, Nepal

This Month in Photo of the Day: Adventure and Exploration Photos A Sherpa carries luggage in the vicinity of the Tengboche Monastery, Nepal. (This photo and caption were submitted to My Shot.) See more of Your Nepal Trekking pictures » Go behind the scenes of a Sherpa school » See pictures of historic Everest climbs »

The High-Speed Amphibious All-Terrain Vehicle That Would Make Even Master Chief Jealous [Video]

The Warthog might be Master Chief's vehicle of choice in the Halo games, but once he sees the amphibious Scamander, we suspect he'll be putting in an official requisition for a new ride. More »

Scientists Discover Sperm-Crippling Gene That Could Lead to Non-Hormonal Male Contraceptives [Science]

Boffins in Edinburgh, Scotland have discovered that a single mutated gene in male mice can inhibit the last stages of sperm development, thus inducing infertility. As a result, we are that much closer to hormone-free, reversible, and surgery-free male contraception. More »

Over-Dramatic Mannequin Promises To Make Computer Animation Easy [Video]

If you reached the limits of your artistic capabilities with crude flipbooks in your high school textbooks, but dream of being an animator, the Qumarion will make up for at least a little lack of talent. More »

What Could Be Classier Than Completely Covering Your Car in Actual Diamonds? [Overkill]

Gemballa, a renown German Porche tuner, has recently announced the ultimate way to ugly up your luxury vehicle. It's created a sparkling paint finish made from actual crushed diamonds. Not metal flakes, not glass fragments, but nature's most precious gemstone. More »

There Needs To Be an Adult Version of This Transforming Seesaw Bench [Wish You Were Here]

We completely disagree with the notion that one day everybody has to grow up. We will never get tired of enjoying playground equipment, and quite frankly, are a little sad that this transforming seesaw bench was only designed with tiny tots in mind. More »

Specially Sculpted Pot Creates a Whirlpool When Cooking So You Never Have to Stir [Wish You Were Here]

A Japanese dentist, of all people, has invented a sculpted pot that will automatically stir its contents as they heat up. It promises to completely revolutionize cooking, at least for the world's laziest chefs. More »

The Best BBQ Grill [Bestmodo]

A summer isn't a summer without a good grill to fire up. But you don't have to settle for good. The Wirecutter's Seamus Bellamy pinned down the cream of the charcoal crop. More »

Facebook Camera App: This Week in Social Media

Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up-to-date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.What’s New This Week?Facebook Releases Camera: The new Camera Facebook app has similar features to Instagram which was recently purchased by Facebook for $1 billion.The new Camera app enables you to "share photos on Facebook faster than ever, and see all your friends' latest shots in one place."Play Games Directly in Your Facebook News Feed: Facebook is launching “the ability for people to try games directly in news feed. Feed gaming enables developers to share a playable version of their game within news feed and timeline stories, reaching new users through some of our main distribution channels.”You will be able to play games in one click, try games out and convert trials into new installs right from your Facebook news feed.Discussion From Our Networking Clubs: Thousands of social media marketers and small business owners are asking questions and helping others in our free Networking Clubs. Here are a few interesting discussions worth highlighting:How do you create passive streams of income?Is a Facebook page necessary?Advice on choosing a WordPress themeYouTube Turns Seven: YouTube was launched in May 2005. And today, 72 hours of video are uploaded to the site every minute. YouTube users are watching longer videos and spending more time on the site.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLQDPH0ulCgYouTube Opens Merch Store to All Partners: Last year, YouTube launched the Merch Store. Now other YouTube partners in good standing can offer their fans products they have on Amazon, iTunes, Topspin, Songkick, Google Play and CafePress.The YouTube Merch Store is now open to all YouTube Partners. This enables them to have a Store tab on their YouTube channel.Android Phones Get a New Google+ App: “The update includes lots of highly requested features—like the ability to start a hangout on the go, and to edit posts inline—as well as a stream that celebrates the rich content shared across Google+. ”You can start start a hangout directly from your mobile device.Facebook Gives Open Graph Developers More User Data: Facebook now gives developers the information they need to understand how people are using their Open Graph apps.Facebook app developers can consult the Installs dashboard to see the number of unique user views, acceptances and the associated conversion rate.Twitter Supports “Do Not Track”: The Do Not Track feature allows users to tell websites that they would like to opt out of being tracked by third parties. It’s “like a gentlemen’s agreement between sites and their users,” and Twitter has opted in.The Federal Trade Commission’s CTO, Ed Felten, just mentioned Twitter now supports Do Not Track. We applaud the FTC’s leadership on DNT.— Twitter (@twitter) May 17, 2012Facebook Adds Option of Liking Brand Pages Directly From Posts: AllFacebook reports that “some Facebook users are seeing the option of liking a brand page directly from a post due to the addition of a new Like button near the top, next to the name of the page.”Facebook Provides Reach Data Directly on Timeline Posts: “Some Facebook page owners can now view certain post metrics directly from their Timeline, including the percentage of fans that saw a given post and the percentage of those who saw the post as a result of paid promotion.”Facebook Launches Promoted Posts: Facebook has started rolling out Promoted posts for some Pages in the US. “This means Pages can now pay to “promote” a post from their Timeline so that it will reach a greater percentage of their fans on Facebook.”Here’s a useful social media tool worth noting:SpotOn: A new social media loyalty card to help small businesses drive traffic and create happy, loyal customers. .What social media news caught your interest this week? Please share your comments below. Tweet

A Video Game Designed to Help Doctors to Recognize Drug Abuse [Drugs]

At Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the doctors are training themselves with technology to better recognize the signs of addiction. A video game has been designed based on the research of Dr. Michael M. Fleming of Northwestern University Feingberg School of Medicine that utilizes the same technology used by to train FBI agents in interrogation tactics: a combination of self-disclosure (a family history of drug-abuse, say) and non-verbal cues (fidgeting, nervous finger drumming, broken eye-contact, etc.). Still in its final stage of testing, the game uses an actors voice to simulate a hypothetical conversation with a patient seeking, for example, pain relievers. The program generates responses based on the doctor's questions, and the doctor must identify indicators of possible addiction or abuse, based on the simulated patient appearing on the screen before them. The dialog used in this simulated dialogs comes directly from Dr. Fleming's research, for which he spoke with about 1,000 opioid users. Primary care and family doctors, who often feel ill-prepared to make judgment calls of this nature, are the intended market for the Web-based interactive video game. The game's software was developed by Dale E. Olsen, a former professor of engineering at Johns Hopkins University. He is the founder and president of Simmersion, a company that has created simulation training programs for the F.B.I. The game's development was financed by a $1 million grant from the Small Business Administration and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dr. Olsen, who has a Ph.D. in statistics, said the game would cost users about $50 an hour. It is designed to be used for 10 sessions of 15 to 20 minutes each. He said customers would most likely include medical schools, as well as private and government health care providers. The game is soon to be made available online for free to medical schools and health care providers, reports the New York Times. Not only will this new technology help patients receive the best need-based care from their doctors, but it will help doctors to better interact and engage with their patients, an oft over-looked side of the relationship. [NYT - Image via Trif/Shutterstock]

A Video Game Designed to Help Doctors to Recognize Drug Abuse [Drugs]

Good Dishes, Bad Food

A series of photos entitled “Floating” by Zhao Huasen. See more at Faith is Torment Advertise with DYT! - Join us on Facebook - Follow on Twitter - On Pinterest - Subscribe by Email

Facebook Has Another Porn Problem [Nsfw]

Facebook has lost yet another porn-related law suit. Really, you'd think they were actually at risk of folding, they way they've been going out after parody-named porn sites demanding that they shut it down. The latest, Faceporn, is a Norwegian website that describes itself as "the number one socializing porn and sex network." (Side note: Faceporn is actually a sort of dumb name. I mean, faceporn? Nobody actually wants to watch face porn. Not face-only porn, anyway.) Facebook had demanded that the Norwegian network turn over its name AND pay their attorney fees—come on, guys, you're all millionaires at this point—but U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White ruled ruled that the court had no jurisdiction, as Facebook had failed to show that the owner of website Faceporn had targeted residents of the state of California (where the suit was filed). Moreover, the court was unconvinced that Faceporn was competing for Facebook's own users, despite both sites being billed as "social networks." Facebook's problems aren't only porn-based, though. They're practically trolling for law suits to file, going after any company using "face" or book" in its name, as well as carefully keeping watch over the use of the word "Wall." There is still the possibility that Facebook pursue the same case in a Norwegian court, though it's unlikely that it would turn around a different ruling from the one they were given here. Facebook v Faceporn CopyClick to view [PaidContent]

RIP My Hard Drive, 2008-2012 [Rant]

This morning, I woke up to find my MacBook barely functioning, frozen, and plagued by a near-constant spinning rainbow of death. Long, painful story much shorter: my hard drive crashed and I can either have a new one installed, tomorrow at the earliest (I'm writing tonight from the completely empty office!), or I can buy a new computer since mine is pretty old anyway (2008). The worst part? I'd sort of seen this coming for weeks, if not months, now. Simple functions had been taking double-long and basic gestures would freeze the whole system up for sometimes a full 15 minutes at a time. It was sick and I knew it and I should have prepared. I should have backed up everything. I should have done something to make the big day easier. Isn't it a little like a death, the loss of a hard drive? None of my affairs are in order; I never even got to say goodbye. Sitting at the Genius Bar, listening as my options were laid out by the Genius who'd diagnosed the dead drive, I realized how dependent I had become on my computer. How dependent we all are. I had this image of myself curled up inside my MacBook, as though I lived there—because I basically do—and then of it vanishing. Gone. And with it all my stuff gone, too. So much intangible important stuff. "Files." "Documents." Ugh. I'm not trying to moralize our umbilical connection to the technology in our life—really, we're mostly better off for it. I don't think it's bad or dangerous. It's a sign of the times, yes, but not of anything particularly ill-boding. I don't have any answers; I don't think it's that kind of thing. It's just a little amazing how much the loss of little piece of machinery the size of a slice of bread messed up my day, my mood, and my work flow. Have you ever had one of those moments?

Airplanes Are Getting Wider Aisle Seats That Will Cost You More Money [Airplanes]

Airbus is in talks with US airlines to make planes with aisle seats that are extra wide, "almost as wide as a first class seat." That sounds comfortable but it comes with some tradeoffs, the middle and window seat would have to shrink and the aisle seat is going to get more expensive. These wider seats will likely be implemented in the Airbus A320 (the single aisle plane) and will turn the aisle seats to 20-inches wide. Currently, all three seats are 18-inches wide. If this change is put into place, we'll have the 20-inch room on the aisle and 17-inch seats for the middle and window. Airbus estimates that airlines will charge a $10 fee for the extra room in the aisle seats. Which isn't exactly offensive but just another instance of airline nickel and diming. I'm sure tall people, fat people, people who appreciate comfort and people who use the restroom a lot will spring for the aisle seats. [Business Week, Image Credit StudioSmart/Shutterstock]

This Terrible Thief Used a Stolen iPhone to Take Pictures That Synced Back to the Owner's Computer [Crime]

That's Nelson above. That's Nelson partying. That's Nelson with his girlfriend. All those pictures were taken with an iPhone he stole. Pictures that were automatically sent to the phone's original owner, Katy McCaffrey, through Photostream. McCaffrey posted a hilarious Facebook photo album detailing Nelson's various adventures with her stolen phone. More »

Use Facebook to Throw a Party Facebook Without Making Everyone Hate You [User Manual]

BBQ season is about to unleash its smokey, greasy, beer-y vibes all over you. Are you ready for a summer of meat and day drinking? Good—but first, here's how to get everyone together online without offending anyone. More »

Facebook Camera Could Backfire and Get All Of FB’s Apps Buried In A Folder

Not everyone loves Facebook enough to give it three, four, or five spots on their homescreen. So yesterday’s launch of Facebook’s third consumer iOS app Facebook Camera, could actually end up reducing usage of Facebook’s main app, Messenger, and others by compelling people to consolidate them into a folder. Facebook Camera has shot to the top of the iOS free charts, so lots of people are making the decision of where to put it right now. This issue isn’t one just for Facebook but for any developer looking to break out specific features of a cluttered omni-app into streamlined standalone apps. Is a lightweight feel worth the risk of app overload? Facebook’s attempt to cram its entire full-featured web-based social network into a single mobile app hasn’t quite worked out. Many people complain the app feels slow and requires too many clicks to get to core services. Honestly, I think the click friction concerns are blown out of proportion. It takes one click to start uploading a photo and two to reach your messages. It is slow, though, as it has to load a ton of extra features you don’t always use. Standalone apps don’t have to load anything unnecessary, so at first it makes sense that Facebook would release Messenger and now Camera, its new Instagram-style photo filtering and sharing app. But where are you going to put them? If you’re not willing to give Facebook three home screen spots, some of them are going to get relegated to your back pages. There could be another terrible fate in store for the apps, though. You might drag their icons on top of each other and create a Facebook app folder. Suddenly it takes an extra click to get to any of them. Without that big blue F icon reminding me to check my news feed and notifications, I could become a lot less likely to open my main Facebook app so often. Facebook for iOS app had around 57.5 million daily users growing at 2.5 million per month when Facebook stopped reporting these numbers at the start of 2012, at that rate it would have around 70 million DAU now. Being banished to a folder could stunt this growth. And what if Facebook doesn’t stop? What if it releases another standalone app for accessing third-party apps on its mobile platform? Or apps for Events or its location service Places? Not to mention Facebook Camera is already competing with Instagram which Facebook has acquired (though the deal still has to close), and it recently launched a separate app for admins to manage their Pages. They could all get buried in the folder too. Facebook is reaching standalone app overload — a growing pain of the move to mobile, a medium it wasn’t originally built for. But the root of the problem is the sluggish main app. Facebook can’t keep cutting off limbs to make it more lightweight, and it can’t just trim the fat of lesser-used features. It needs to convert fat to muscle so its main app stays the same size, but feels better, faster, stronger.

Microsoft To Offer 80-Inch Windows 8 Tablets for Offices

Nate Lanxon / Wired.co.uk:Microsoft to offer 80-inch Windows 8 tablets for offices — “Steve Ballmer has an 80-inch Windows 8 tablet in his office. He's got rid of his phone, he's got rid of his note paper. It's touch-enabled and it's hung on his wall.” — This description of the Microsoft CEO's workspace …

Watch Space X Dragon Make Its Historic ISS Dock Live (Updating) [Space]

Space X and NASA are moments away from making history. The Dragon capsule is making its final approach toward docking with the International Space Station, marking a new chapter both for NASA and privatized space exploration. It's currently projected to dock at 10:02am EDT. You can watch it all right here: More »

Web Semantics: Chinese hacker glossary circa 2007

“Caibopengke.” I wonder how many self-declared “caibopengke” guys there were in China’s billion-strong population — before the whole thing became governmentalized and/or criminalized. Two, maybe? Five? 赛博朋克 Caibo Pengke Cyber Punk http://www.thedarkvisitor.com/hacker-glossary/ Hacker Glossary Published by Heike Hacker/Internet Terminology http://hackbase.com/hacker/safety/2005070812361.html 2005-7-8 Source China Network Management Union Hacker/Internet Terminology http://hackbase.com/hacker/safety/2005070812361.html 2005-7-8 Source China Network Management Union 1) 攻击 Gongji Attack 2) 黑名 Heiming Blacklist 3) 冲击波 Chongjibo Blaster (Worm) 3) 攻破 Gongpo Breach 4) 可破密的 Kepomide Breakable 5) 基于CGI攻击 Jiyu CGI Gongji CGI-based attack 6) 闯入 Chuangru Crack 7) 赛博朋克 Caibo Pengke Cyber Punk 数据驱动攻击 Shuju Qudong Gongji Data-Driven Attack 9) 字典式攻击 Zidianshi Gongji Dictionary Attack 10) 拒绝服务 Jujue Fuwu Denial of Service 11) 分布式拒绝服務 Fenbushi Jujue Fuwu Distributed Denial of Service 12) 域名服务器 Yuming Fuwuqi DNS spoofing 电子欺骗 Dianzi Qipian 13) 窃听 Qieting Eavesdropping 14) 淹没 Yanmo Flooding 15) 黑客 Heike Hacker 16) 砍客 KanKe Hacker 17) 劫持终端 Jiechi Zhongduan High Jacking 18) 伪装攻击 Weizhuang Gongji Impersonation Attack 19) 入侵者 Ruqinzhe Intruder 20) IP欺骗 Qipian IP spoofing 21) 逻辑炸弹 Loji Zhadan Logic Bomb 22) 黑客帝国 Heike Diguo Matrix (movie title) 23) 带外攻击 Daiwai Gongji Out-of-Band Attack 24) 指控制电话 Zhi Kongzhi Dianhua Phreaking 系统的过程 Xitong De Guocheng 25) 掃描 Saomiao Scan 26) 安全漏洞 Anquan Security Loophole 27) 嗅探器 Xiutanqi Sniffer 28) 探听 Tanting Snooping 29) 垃圾邮件 Laji Youjian Spam 30) 电子欺骗 Dianzi Qipian Spoofing 31) 时间炸弹 Shijian Zhadan Time Bomb 32) 泰坦雨 Taitan Yu Titan Rain (FBI probe into Chinese hacking) 33) 骤雨 ZouYu Titan Rain 34) 特洛伊木马 Teluoyi Muma Trojan Horse 35) 木马 MuMa Trojan Horse 36) 攻击向量 Gongji Xiangliang Vector of Attack 37) 病毒 Bingdu Virus 38) 脆弱性 Cuiruoxing Vulnerability 39) 弱口令 Ruo Kouling Weak Password 40) 蠕虫 Ruchong Worm 41) 菜鸟 Cainiao Novice Hacker 42) 网络钓鱼 Wangluo Diaoyu Phishing 43) 域欺骗 Yu Qipian Pharming 44) 模糊 Mohu Fuzzing 1) 访问控制列表 Fangwen Kongzhi Access Control List（ACL） Liebiao 2) 访问令牌 Fangwen Lingpai Access Token 3) 帐号封锁 Zhanghao Fengsuo Account Lockout 4) 记帐策略 Jizhang Celue Account Policies 5) 帐号 Zhanghao Accounts 6) 适配器 Shipeiqi Adapter 7) 地址解析协议 Dizhi Jiexi Xieyi Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) 管理员帐号 Guanliyuan Administrator Account Zhanghao 9) 算法 Suanfa Algorithm 10) 别名 Bieming Alias 11) 应用层 Yingyongceng Allocation Layer 12) 应用程序 Yingyong Chengxu Applications 13) 阿帕网 Apawang ARPANET 14) 异步传递模式 Yibu Chuandi Moshi Asynchronous Transfer Mode 15) 认证 Renzheng Authentication 16) 授权 Shouquan Authorization 17) 后端 Houduan Back-End 18) 公司的一种 Gongsi De Yi Zhong Back Office Microsoft 软件包 Ruanjianbao 19) 备份 Beifen Backup 20) 基线 Jixian Baseline 21) 备份域控制器 Beifenyu Kongzhiqi BDC (Backup Domain Controller) 22) 引导网关协议 Yindao Wangguan BGP (Border Gateway Xieyi Protocol) 23) 基本输入/输出 Jiben Shuru/Shuchu BIOS (Basic Input/Output 系统 Xitong System) 23) 引导协议 Yindao Xieyi BOOTP (Bootstrap Protocol) 24) 瓶径 Pingjing Bottleneck 25) 网桥 Wangqiao Bridge 26) 浏览器 Liulanqi Browser 27) 浏览 Liulan Browsing 28) 只读型光盘 Zhiduxing Guangpan CD-ROM 29) 校验和 Jiaoyanhe Checksum 30) 密码 Mima Cipher 31) 密文 Miwen Cipher Text 32) A类域 A Leiyu Class A Domain 33) B类域 B Leiyu Class B Domain 34) C类域 C Leiyu Class C Domain 35) 无类地址分配 Wulei Dizhi Fenpei Classless Addressing 36) 客户服务器 Kehu Fuwuqi Client Server 37) 代码 Daima Code 38) 组件 Zujian Component 39) COM口 COM Kou COM port 40) 计算机名 Jisuanji Ming Computer Name 41) 密码分析　 Mima Fenxi Cryptanalysis 42) 数据链路 Shuju Lianlu Data-link 43) 数据链路控制 Shuju Lianlu Kongzhi Data-Link Control 44) 数据库 Shujuku Database 45) 数据报 Shujubao Datagram 46) 解密 Jiemi Decryption 47) 缺省文档 Queshang Wendang Default Document 48) 缺省路由 Quesheng Luyou Default Route 49) 缺省共享 Quesheng Gongxiang Default Share 50) 数字键控系统 Shuzi Jiankong Digital Key System Xitong 51) 目录 Mulu Directory 52) 目录复制 Mulu Fuzhi Directory Replication 53) 磁盘镜像 Cipan Jingxiang Disc Mirroring 54) 分布式文件 Fenbushi Wenjian Distributed File System 系统 Xitong 55) 域 Yu Domain 56) 域名控制器 Yuming Kongzhiqi Domain Controller 57) 域名 Yuming Domain Name 58) 域名服务器 Yuming Fuwuqi Domain Name Server 59) 动态数据交换 Dongtai Shuju Dynamic Data Exchange Jiaohuan 60) 加密通道 Jiami Tongdao Encrypted Tunnel 61) 加密 Jianmi Encryption

This Is the First Video From Google's Glasses [Video]

We've seen pictures taken using Google's new glasses and, while some were ropey, others were fairly impressive. Now, Google has released the first video footage recorded using the device. More »

Oracle v. Google Juror: 'Wanted Steak. Got Parsley' [Block Quote]

Jury duty! The worst. Civic duty? Oh please. And since we can't avoid serving, it better be good. One unnamed juror from the high-profile Oracle v. Google case was described by Jury Foreman Greg Thompson, 52, as dissatisfied with Oracle uber-lawyer David Boies's attempts to prove Google had infringed on both its patents and its copyrights in building the Android mobile OS. More »

For Those Who Fear Needles, an Air-Jet Alternative [Video]

Needle-less technology for injecting medicine is nothing new. But, until now, it's relied on compressed air or gas cartridges to breach the skin and deliver the dosage. More »

Hack Politician and Son Arrested for Political Hack [Hackers]

55-year-old Mayor of West New York, Nj, Felix Roque and his son Joseph, 22, were arrested today for allegedly hacking the website www.recallroque.com that was set up to rally support to recall the politician. Mayor Roque, a Cuban-American doctor and Army colonel, and a Democrat who has a close relationship to the large-gutted Republican Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie, has had his one year in office described by some as rampant mismanagement. Last spring there was an uproar over Roque decision to bring a convicted sex offender to join the staff of his medical practice. Joseph Roque, encourage by his father, successfully gained access to the GoDaddy-hosted website and took it offline. The father and son duo then learned the identities of the site's creators—several local public official and media personalities—whom the threatened to "punish" by way of Roque's political power. The New York Times reports that Roque told one of the creators, "Everyone would pay." He threatened to expose another to the IRS for audit. Sources told the Times that Roque believed he was powerful enough to avoid being caught for the hack. According to the complaint, a government official in Hudson County set up the recall Web site on Feb. 4 and through Facebook encouraged people to send information anonymously about alleged mismanagement in the Roque administration. Two nights later, Joseph Roque e-mailed the creator to say that he had good leads, the complaint charged, and tried to learn the creator's identity, insisting he had documents to hand over in person. The creator suggested he scan them into a computer and then e-mail them. In between constant phone calls to his father, Joseph Roque figured out how to take control of the creator's e-mail address and use it to tell the host of the recall Web site, GoDaddy, to shut the site down, according to the complaint. Prosecutors said that at one point Joseph Roque even did Internet searches for "how to hack." The day that GoDaddy was allegedly instructed to shut the site down, a West New York resident who had contributed information to the recall site found that it did not work. Eleven minutes later, Mayor Roque called the resident and left a threatening message, the complaint said. In a later e-mail, he warned, "Remember that I am in the Army with many friends," concluding: "Don't let me down. Your friend, Dr. Roque." Shackled at the ankles and wrists, father and son appeared in a Newark federal court today, where they were told by a judge that they face up to 11 years in prison and $600,000 in fines. They were officially charged with gaining unauthorized access to computers in furtherance of causing damage to protected computers; causing damage to protected computers; and conspiracy to commit those crimes. Both were released on $100,000 bond each. [NYT, NJ.com]

Facebook Camera App: This Is Why Instagram was Worth $1 Billion

Instagram’s jaw-dropping $1 billion price tag became a lot more understandable on Thursday with the release of Facebook Camera for iOS. The app — which was in development before the social network made its offer to buy Instagram about six weeks ago — gives us a glimpse at how Facebook was planning to compete against the young mobile-first startup. It also showcases just how important Instagram is to Facebook’s future. Instagram’s Success Was Not a Fluke When Facebook purchased Instagram back in April, I believed the service was worth every penny (even while pleading with Facebook not to ruin the Instagram experience). After the release of Facebook Camera, I’m even more convinced that Instagram could be Facebook’s YouTube — in other words, an acquisition that becomes monumentally important to it future, and helps it solve a problem it couldn’t solve on its own (like Google Video before Google bought YouTube.) Facebook Camera isn’t a bad application — it just isn’t good enough to compete with Instagram. After installing Facebook Camera [iTunes link] and using it for a few minutes, I couldn’t help but think “Facebook was going to fight Instagram with this?” Elements of the user interface are reminiscent of Path, the last iteration of Gowalla (before it’s founders left for Facebook and the app was shutdown) and even the latest Google+ iPhone update. It’s not unattractive. Having said that, the app is an Instagram clone — and a second-rate one at that. The user controls for taking photos and applying filters could use some serious love. Facebook’s filters are awful. Instagram can be criticized for over-reliance on the toy camera aesthetic, but at least its filters actually make your photograph look demonstrably different. The filters in Facebook Camera are really more like white-balance settings, and poor ones at that. It’s unlikely that Facebook Camera could have taken much momentum away from Instagram. It’s true that the Camera app is infinitely better than the photo functionality built into Facebook for iOS — but that’s not saying much. Facebook Needs Strong Mobile Leadership In it S-1 filings and during its IPO roadshow, Facebook continued to reiterate the role that mobile plays in the company’s future roadmap. As soon as the dust from the IPO settles, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has vowed to focus on fixing its mobiles apps. Facebook is not a small company. It employs thousands of talented engineers and product managers. From the outside, it looks like the company could benefit from some strong oversight on its various mobile initiatives. If Facebook is going to achieve mobile dominance, it needs to have a Steve Jobs-like clear vision. That means recognizing whether or not it makes sense to release an also-ran photo app when you just spent $1 billion buying the competition. Some argue that the hard work that went into Facebook Camera necessitates its release. I disagree. If Facebook is concerned about losing ground in the mobile photo space, releasing a knock-off standalone app isn’t going to do it any favors. If anything, the company would have been better off simply integrating the truly excellent photo-only browse mode into the main Facebook app — in other words, improving the main show first. Facebook’s Mobile Photo Potential is Vast Despite my kvetching, and the seemingly unfocused mobile strategy taking place at Facebook HQ, I still believe that mobile photos can be a big opportunity for the service. The one feature of Facebook Camera I like is the ability to browse through a photo-only feed from my friends. For me, the best part of Instagram has been using the app to catch up on what my friends are doing, and to see their lives in a more interesting context. Facebook Camera brings that same functionality, but it focuses on the Facebook network. Even better, because the app pulls in photos posted using the Facebook Social Graph API, it’s not just Facebook photos that appear in the stream — it’s photos posted to Facebook from other apps. That means I see photos from Foodspotting, Camera+ — and more often than not, Instagram — within the Facebook Camera app. This type of broad integration was something that Instagram was in the process of adding. In March, it opened up its publish-to API to other app developers. But Facebook already has APIs locked and loaded. Now, just imagine what would happen if Instagram users had the option to view the entire photo feed of their Facebook friends (or just those that they follow on Instagram) inside the best photo sharing app for mobile. Rather than trying to create a clone of an existing product, Facebook should focus on how to bring its core strengths — namely the size of its network and app developer base — to its existing products. What do you make of the Camera app? Was it worth finishing it, or should its features have been folded into the main Facebook app? Let us know in the comments. More About: Facebook, instagram, Opinion

Facebook Releases Instagram Clone

Less than two months after announcing its plans to acquire photo app company Instagram for $1 billion, Facebook has released an iOS app that looks and functions almost identically to Instagram’s. Facebook Camera, which is now available in the App Store for free, sincerely improves upon the photo capabilities offered by Facebook’s primary app for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Like Instagram, your friends’ latest photos are displayed in a single scrolling feed. You can also now simultaneously upload multiple photos to Facebook; Facebook’s main app only allows you to upload photos one at a time. And like Instagram, the app allows you to crop, rotate and apply filters to your photos. Interestingly, none of the app’s 15 filters were developed by the Instagram team, Facebook product manager Dirk Stoop told The New York Times. The app, the Times suggests, has been in development for much longer. The Camera App is the second mobile app dedicated to one of Facebook’s key features. The first, a dedicated messaging app, was released last April. These apps, we feel, are smart ideas: Facebook simply has too many features and tools to bundle into a single mobile app. It’s likely more such apps will be released this year. In an address to 200 investors leading up to Facebook’s IPO earlier this month, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that mobile is Facebook’s number-one priority. More About: camera app, Facebook, instagram, iphone app, trendingFor more Tech coverage:Follow Mashable Tech on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Tech channelDownload our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Introducing Facebook Camera

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FB Launches Facebook Camera – An Instagram-Style Photo Filtering, Sharing, Viewing iOS App

Facebook is dead serious about mobile. Today it begins rolling out Facebook Camera for iOS to English-speaking countries, a standalone photos app where you can shoot, filter, and share single or sets of photos and scroll through a feed of photos uploaded to Facebook by your friends. Developed by Facebook’s photos team without the help of Instagram because the acquisition deal hasn’t closed yet, Facebook Camera looks a lot like the app TechCrunch leaked images of a year ago, and is designed for quicker publishing than Facebook’s multi-featured primary mobile app. Facebook Camera lets you rapidly pick one or more photos, apply filters, tag friends and locations, add a description, and post. While its 14 filters, batch uploads, and streamlined interface are a big step up from Facebook for iOS, the design isn’t as beautiful as Instagram and neither are the photos you’ll see in it. When asked if Facebook Camera would become a direct competitor to the photo sharing network it bought last month, a spokesman told me “As Mark asserted, we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently, so I anticipate some healthy competition.” Though for now Facebook Camera is just for iOS in English-speaking countries, it will roll out internationally over the next few weeks as Facebook gets it translated. As for versions for Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone, I’m told “While we don’t comment on future products we are carefuly looking at what might make for agood Facebook photos experience across other platforms.” How It’s Better Than Instagram The best feature of Facebook Camera and its one real selling point over Instagram is multi-photo uploads. This helps you tell a story or share the best photos from a day’s outing in a single post. It’s great for if you can’t decide which shot is best and don’t want to go through the sharing flow over and over. Browsing multi-photo stories is smooth too, as they appear as one story in the feed showing the first photo, but you can swipe side to side to view the rest of the set. Rather than having to wait for a photo to load when you browse by like on Instagram, it appears as a blurry placeholder at first and then sharpens up, which is nice. Facebook Camera’s 14 filters are also more sensibly named with title that describe how they change photos, such as Cool, Light, and Copper, rather than Instagram’s less indicative Hudson, Sutro, and Brannan, though Instagram does have 17 filters plus light adjustment and tilt-shift that Facebook’s new app lack. How It’s Worse Unfortunately, there’s several flaws in the current version of Facebook Camera that seem especially glaring compared to Instagram. Like and comment icons and counts are overlaid on the photos, disturbing their appearance. When you click to view existing comments on a photo they take a few seconds to load, which can fool you into thinking they aren’t there. But the first thing you might notice is the photos are decidedly less beautiful than what you’ll see on Instagram. Most weren’t uploaded with Facebook Camera but rather through Facebook’s web interface or primary app, so they’re unfiltered, and weren’t necessarily taken with artistry in mind. While Facebook may be late to the standalone photo app scene, you have to remember that while Instagram has hit 50 million downloads, Facebook has over 500 million mobile users, and somewhere around 220 million on iOS and Android. Facebook Camera may not be perfect, but for those who don’t want to start a whole new social network for photosharing on Instagram, and want an app that sucks in photos shared by their Facebook friends from anywhere, including Instagram and Path, Facebook Camera could find a spot on the homescreen.

Ugh, The New Yorker Is Going to Tweet An Entire 8,500-Word Story [The Worst]

News many will be quickly thrilled by: Brooklyn author Jennifer Egan has composed a short story revolving around a character from her 2011 Pulitzer winner A Visit From the Goon Squad. News many may be instantly worried about/fearful of/angered by: This story, an 8,500-word piece, will debut on The New Yorker's More »

Bump Now Lets You Transfer Photos From Your Smartphone to Your Computer

The popular mobile app Bump — that shares contacts and photos between two phones when they’re tapped together — is now headed to your computer. The service announced Thursday an update that lets you bump your phone on your computer’s spacebar to transfer photos to your computer and share them places like Facebook and Twitter. Bump has been particularly useful for sharing photos. In the past two years, Bump has been used to transfer more than 630 million pictures from device to device. “One of the comments we always hear is ‘I wish my computer worked just as well. I wish there was Bump on my computer’ so we decided to build that,” Dave Lieb, co-founder and CEO of Bump told Mashable. The update allows you to easily transfer photos from your iPhone or Android to your home computer. “Talking to normal people, that’s still what they want to do. They want to save their photos on their hard drive,” says Lieb. “They don’t want to deal with these cloud services and having accounts and all that.” Transferring pictures is exceptionally easy and is done using a new Bump web interface along with the bump app on your mobile phone. To transfer pictures, you select the photos you’d like to move from within the app and tap your phone on your computer’s spacebar while you have the Bump web interface loaded. Photos are uploaded to Bump’s website rather than your computer itself. Once they’re on the site you can opt to drag and drop the pictures onto your computer, share photos on Facebook or Twitter, or create a link to your photos that you can share with friends and family. When you provide the URL for a group of photos to friends they can choose to download the pictures or share them as well. Bump will host as many pictures as you’d like, with no limit on the amount you can store on the site. If you don’t create a URL for a group of photos, then they will no longer be accessible on the site, and you’ll have to bump them to your computer again if you want to download them to your computer or share them with friends. A feature that’s fantastic for keeping your pictures private, but could get pretty obnoxious over time if you want to access photos you’ve already bumped once again. Photos also aren’t bumped at their full resolution (they’re web-optimized instead). So, while the service is a quick and easy to way to share pictures with friends, if you’re looking to print those photos or do any photo editing you might still want to transfer your pics the old-fashioned way. Despite those few limitations, the app still shines as a quick and easy way to transfer specific pictures you want to upload to Facebook or share with others without having to whip out data cables. How do you transfer photos from your smartphone to your computer now? Can you see yourself using Bump in the future? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. More About: android, App, bump, iphone

Bump Now Lets You Transfer Photos From Your Smartphone to Your Computer

Yahoo Manages to Leak Private Security Key With New Chrome Extension [Yahoo]

Yahoo has just released its Axis extension—a visual search tool that links across desktop and mobile devices—but sadly, there's a hitch. During the release, Yahoo managed to leak a private security key in its Chrome version, that could allow anyone to create malicious plugins masquerading as official software. Oops. More »

The Navy Is Kitting Its Ships Out With 4G Networks [Military]

Bandwidth on Navy ships is a scarce, expensive commodity. For sailors using non-essential systems, like recreational computers? Dial-up speeds - if they're lucky. But by the end of the year, for the first time, the Navy will put a 4G LTE wireless network aboard some of its ships, giving a whole new communications tool to sailors and Marines: their smartphones. By the end of 2012, the Navy confirms, three ships will receive a brand-new microwave-based wireless wide area network (WWAN): the amphibious assault ship U.S.S. Kearsarge, the amphibious transport dock U.S.S. San Antonio and the dock landing ship U.S.S. Whidbey Island. The ships' communications systems won't operate on the network - their connectivity will continue to come from satellites. Instead, Android smartphones operated by individual sailors would run on the network, something currently impossible out at sea. But the mobile devices won't be aboard ships so sailors can play Words With Friends (or won't just be aboard for that purpose). The idea is to allow sailors and Marines with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit to take part in what the Navy calls the network's first at-sea "planning vignette" - that is, boarding an ersatz vessel hijacked by "pirates" to send real-time data - including videos - back to the mothership. "What we've collectively developed is a ruggedized, ocean-going LTE network similar to what you'd find with telecom providers like Verizon or AT&T," says Phillip Cramer, a vice president at Indiana-based BATS Wireless, which built the network for the Navy along with partner companies Oceus and Cambium. "The biggest difference being that it can expand, contract, and move seamlessly; delivering critical data and communications to the soldiers who need it most." Right now, the Navy's communications infrastructure at sea is reliant on satellites to provide connectivity. That's a necessity for keeping in contact across vast oceans. But it's also a scarce resource, especially as the Navy nets fill up with data from shipboard drones, and adding bandwidth is expensive. For their part, the Marines are experimenting with a new satellite network to increase their communications to a range of 250 nautical miles. The WWAN won't supplant the ships' satellite connections. It'll supplement it. And it couldn't replace satellite comms if the Navy wanted it to: It works from distances of up to 20 nautical miles. That's not useful for keeping the fleet connected. But it's very useful for keeping a naval task force connected, or a Marine expeditionary team, or an aircraft carrier battle group. And there's a fair amount of throughput for data over the network. BATS says its network will be able to provide 300 megabits per second's worth of data. Depending on the number of users, that should be enough to share video files as well as text and voice. "From a speed standpoint, our aggregate throughput of 300Mb is much greater when within line of sight than the existing satellite communications," says Doug Abbotts, a spokesman for the Navy's Naval Air Systems Command, which has been working on the WWAN since 2009. This is a big shift for the Navy. Last year, the outgoing chief of naval operations, Adm. Gary Roughead, told Danger Room that the Navy simply lacked the onboard infrastructure to follow the Army's strides into mobile communications. It also gets the Navy into the smartphone and tablet market for the first time. According to BATS, the Navy is going to purchase the devices off the shelf and work with the National Security Agency to secure them for transferring classified information. Like the Army, the Navy likes Android devices: Among other things, they're comparatively cheap. It's unclear what the impending arrival of the WWAN network onto ships will mean for any broader Navy embrace of wireless networks or mobile tech. Being on a ship isn't like being out on foot patrol: A ship always has a communications infrastructure aboard; and mobile devices seem less necessary. Still, it's hard not to imagine the Navy not seeing this initial deployment as a test case. And the more the Navy adopts off-the-shelf wireless networking tools, the more satellite bandwidth will be freed up. And for the Navy's new giant, overarching initiative to play Ricky Bobby to the Air Force's Cal Naughton Jr. - known as AirSea Battle - it might not be so long before imagery from, say, an Air Force RQ-170 stealth drone hits a Navy destroyer via satellite and a sailor aboard pings it to his buddy's secured Galaxy Nexus on a different ship via a WWAN. Abbots says that the sea trial will be a test case for the first-ever Navy wireless network. "There are several agencies interested in the evaluation of the system in a Maritime environment," he tells Danger Room. For now, though, chances are the Navy's new shipboard wireless networks will at least mean YouTube is about to see an influx of faux-pirate blooper reels. Image by US Navy Wired.com has been expanding the hive mind with technology, science and geek culture news since 1995.

What Is This? [What Is This]

Oakland-based artist Annie Vought carves paper-and-ink notes of correspondence into intricate sheets of lace-like lettering. More »

A Google-a-Day Puzzle for May 24

Our good friends at Google run a daily puzzle challenge and asked us to help get them out to the geeky masses. Each day’s puzzle will task your googling skills a little more, leading you to Google mastery. Each morning at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time you’ll see a new puzzle, and the previous day’s answer (in invisitext) posted here. .answer {color:#fff;} .answer:hover {color:#333;} SPOILER WARNING: We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer. As such, if you want to figure it out all by yourself, DON’T READ THE COMMENTS! Also, with the knowledge that because others may publish their answers before you do, if you want to be able to search for information without accidentally seeing the answer somewhere, you can use the Google-a-Day site’s search tool, which will automatically filter out published answers, to give you a spoiler-free experience. And now, without further ado, we give you… TODAY’S PUZZLE: How much was your personal fortune worth if you wore ruffles in the New England colony settled in 1630? YESTERDAY’S ANSWER (mouseover to see): Search [most widely grown crop in America]. Find that this is corn. Searching for [corn moon] will show many articles on the Corn Moon or the Harvest Moon. Searching for [month of Corn Moon] will show that September is considered the month of the Corn Moon. Homepage photo: ursli/Flickr

The Private Rocker is a Perfect Place to Escape the Office [Chairs]

Anyone who works in an open office, one without cubicles or private spaces of any sort, knows that having a place to escape to, if even for a few minutes, is invaluable. But bathroom stalls aren't exactly tranquil, and faking a phone call is more work than it's worth. The Private Rocker, designed by Cranbrook Academy of Art student Kyle Fleet in collaboration with Herman Miller, is perfect solution to this privacy problem. This wood, leather, and wool rocker was one of six designs to be prototyped from Herman Miller's joint research project Rest and Concentration in the Workplace. Its deep seat and high back and sides, comfortably upholstered in a soft felted wool, afford "visual and acoustic privacy for a variety of restful postures." The only problem with the concept, in theory, is that fighting for a turn in the chair will likely cause quite a commotion. [Inhabitat]

Cellphones on Planes Are Not a Safety Threat

People don’t really want to talk on airplanes; they just want to be connected. It’s the way it should have been all along. Portable electronic devices (PEDs) are not threats and everyone knows it. Now Virgin Atlantic has announced thatit will allow passengers to make calls with their cellphones during flights between London and New York. Last month, I was on a Delta Air Lines flight (1063) that struck birds during take-off from JFK in New York. I recorded the take-off for my oldest daughter with whom I often share aspects of my travels. During those 16 seconds, I caught on video a flock of black birds being sucked into the rotor blades of the 757 jet I was on. Shortly after the media frenzy that ensued around this event, I received a stern letter of warning from the FAA that I would be put on some sort of record and that this would remain on file for two years. It also said that a civil penalty was pending consideration. However, the FAA did not do a full investigation of my situation because they didn’t even check if my iPad was or wasn’t on airplane mode. They made no attempt to call or get in contact with me to clarify the circumstances surrounding this. Everything they knew was received via a broadcast on CNN. The agency needs to fully embrace the era of transparency we are living in — not exist in a state of ignorance and fear. The FAA needs to provide up-to-date evidence on why there is actual reason for concern. The FAA’s letter says, “Your failure to comply with flight attendant instructions during a critical phase of flight and an aircraft emergency could have affected the safe outcome of the flight.” Every day, 450 million people are on one of 29 million aircrafts. I can guarantee that all of these people do not have their electronics turned off. Between the people who think their PEDs are turned off and really aren’t and those that are texting and playing games, there are not 450 million PEDs turned off during flight. We need to be provided with accurate information by the government agencies that regulate PEDs. The airlines need to up their game to become more than buses that provide basic transportation in skies throttled by outdated rules and regulations. If it truly is a danger for “the safe outcome of the flight,” the FAA has a duty to collect all electronics at check-in and return them to the passengers after the flight. Or, they need to ban all electronic devices from the aircraft. Don’t get me wrong, I am not for increasing the number of regulations already imposed. Any flyer knows we have enough rules at our airports and on flights since 9/11. Virgin’s announcement is telling; the service is being offered on a British airline and not a company that is U.S.-based. The airlines need to up their game to become more than buses that provide basic transportation in skies throttled by outdated rules and regulations. They would be well served to take a page from Silicon Valley and get in the game of innovation. Few would deny that most airlines need to recreate their brands to deliver a level of value that trumps price. Southwest has already cornered the market as a low-price leader, leaving the legacy airlines to rely on a cycle of boom and bust. Practically every domestic flight that I have flown on (I flew 3 million miles in 2011) have been an average experience. In fact, U.S. airlines offer a product that has become a commodified service. I select an airline now for convenience, first and price, second — same considerations used for filling up my car. Any considerations about using a phone on a packed airplane should be focused on whether it will bother your fellow passenger — not because talking on a cellphone will bring the plane down.

Skinny Jeans Are Damaging Your Health [Clothes]

They might be a staple of the well-dressed geek's wardrobe, but skinny jeans aren't doing you any favors. In fact, they might be causing you real, physical damage. More »

Shaker’s 3D Meetup Spot To Rock North America At June 8th Launch With Live Nation, BandPage

Shaker won TechCrunch Disrupt SF last year with its 3-D virtual nightclub built on top of Facebook, and June 8th it will finally launch in North America with the help of the music industry’s Live Nation and BandPage. Until then you can sign up for Shaker, and when you do, you’ll get a classic album cover of Bob Marley, The Clash, or another legend remixed with your Facebook photos and data. The partnerships, promotion, and landing page all point to a big focus on music as a social lubricant for hanging out with people on Shaker. It’s been a wild eight months since Shaker won Disrupt. It raised a $15 million Series A led by Menlo Ventures, and joined by CrunchFund, Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors, Lady Gaga’s manager Troy Carter, Justin Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun, and Israel’s Pitango Venture Capital. It also scored some more money from Motorola Mobility (now owned by Google), threw some online parties for New Year’s Eve and the NBA All-Star Game, and hosted a peace conference featuring Hillary Clinton. Shaker’s racked up tens of thousands of requests from people wanting to set up their own place to gather online with friends, fellow activists, and sexy strangers. Many of them will get their first chance to party or mingle on June 8th at 7:53pm PST when Shaker launches its first public meeting place. A concert may be in store for Shaker’s launch since it’s work working with Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster and one of the world’s biggest musician management firms, and BandPage, who became the de facto musician profile app on Facebook. But Shaker isn’t trying to be Turntable.fm. Instead of everyone just staring at the DJ, music is what will break the ice so Shaker users can meet each other or have something to talk about. That’s good news for the Internet, where those things can get awkward fast. It’s actually kind of absurd that when we think of “social” online, we think of feeds of text and photos. If you’ve ever jumped on Facebook or Twitter on a Friday night, it can be a little depressing — just a bunch of updates of people doing fun things without you. Video chat services like Google Hangouts are good for small groups, but they devolve into chaos and lag once you get too many people on at once. Shaker could seem like a gimmick to some, and it’s too silly or filled with gamification, that’s all it might end up being. But if its team can make Shaker feel like a real, natural virtualization of ourselves, it could make it cool to sit home alone on your computer. Because you won’t really be alone.

How to Destroy the Internet [Internet]

Remember when Anonymous threatened to destroy the entire internet? We laughed, and ultimately their words were just hacker hubris. But it got us thinking—could someone actually destroy the Internet? More »

The Beginner’s Guide to LinkedIn

LinkedIn is considered the non-sexy, sleeping giant of social networks. It keeps a low profile, perhaps due to the professional nature of its users. Nonetheless, LinkedIn continues to exert a powerful influence on connected job seekers, brands, recruiters and industries. Founded by Reid Hoffman in 2002, LinkedIn has grown to 161 million members in over 200 countries, making it the world’s largest professional network on the Internet (by comparison, Twitter has 500 million registered users, and Facebook has 900 million). Currently available in 17 languages, LinkedIn remains a relevant platform the world over. That being said, we doubt you spend 20 minutes on LinkedIn per day, like Facebook’s power users do. So, if you need a crash course on what LinkedIn has to offer, browse the network’s most prominent features below. Or send this to your recent grad as he or she prepares to enter today’s daunting job market. SEE ALSO: The Beginner’s Guide to Facebook Have you used LinkedIn to find a job, network with professionals or research hot topics in your industry? Please share your own tips in the comments below. 1. Profile Like most social networks, LinkedIn hosts your personal profile, a page on which you may list information like job experience and professional skills. However, unlike many other social networks, it’s important to complete your profile to the best of your ability — especially if you’re using LinkedIn for the job hunt. LinkedIn measures your “profile completeness” from 0-100%. The higher your profile completeness, the more likely you are to appear in search results. For instance, when you list skills like “Final Cut Pro” and “Photoshop,” potential employers may come across your profile when they perform an advanced search based on those keywords. Handy. To ensure that your profile is 100% complete, LinkedIn recommends including the following information. Industry and postal code A current position with description Two more positions Education At least five skills Profile photo At least 50 connections A summary For more information about optimizing your LinkedIn profile, see these additional resources: 6 Things on Your LinkedIn Profile That Shouldn’t Be on Your Resume 8 Job Search Tips From the Co-Founder of LinkedIn The 10 Most Overused LinkedIn Profile Buzzwords of 2011 2. Connections Of course, to get those “50 connections” mentioned above, you’ll have to expand your network on LinkedIn. Don’t worry — LinkedIn’s algorithms and data mining make it pretty easy. I recommend first performing a series of basic searches to find people you know by name. (See the search box at the top of each LinkedIn page.) Click the “Connect” button next to people’s names to add them to your network. You may send a custom message along with that invitation to make the connection more personalized. Once you have made several connections, head to the “People You May Know” page. LinkedIn’s algorithm will likely have begun determining additional suggestions based on your connections’ networks. LinkedIn labels these connections by degree. People you’re already connected to are “1st degree” connections. People you’re not yet connected to, but who are linked to your 1st degree connections, are 2nd degree connections. And so on. You’ll see a blue icon that says “1st,” “2nd” or “3rd” next to their names. You may also choose to connect your email’s contact list to LinkedIn for the purpose of finding additional connections. Head to “Import Contacts” and allow access your contacts to pull up a list of potentials. Be aware, however, that this may generate a huge list of people, especially if email services like Gmail tend to save every address you’ve ever contacted. 3. Groups LinkedIn groups are spaces in which professionals and experts can share content, ask advice, post or search for jobs and network with others. Groups are tailored to brands, associations and societies, support groups, causes, publications and industries in general. That can mean anything from “On Startups – The Community for Entrepreneurs” to “Cal Alumni Association | UC Berkeley.” On the other hand, don’t confuse LinkedIn “groups” with “companies.” Coca-Cola has a “Coca-Cola Current & Former Employees” group, but its business lives on “The Coca-Cola Company” company page. More on that later. With over 1.3 million groups to choose from, you’re likely to find at few that fit your field and interests. Keep in mind that many groups require authentication before the manager permits you to join. However, nearly one-third of groups don’t require review, and are labeled “open.” Once you’re familiar with group functions, you may choose to create your own group. That means you’re the group owner, but you may also appoint a group manager and moderator, who are responsible for supervising discussions, subgroups, settings, etc. To get the most out of your LinkedIn group, take a look at the following features: LinkedIn Rolls Out Polling for Groups LinkedIn Unveils Dashboard for Groups Statistics 4. Companies Just as you have a personal profile page, many companies choose to represent themselves on LinkedIn, too. Like Facebook brand pages, you may choose to follow the activity and updates of companies on LinkedIn. Company pages contain general information, such as a business overview, list of employees and press mentions. Many companies also choose to list job openings on their pages, and some even encourage applicants to apply through LinkedIn, a very handy tool of the network. Once you follow a company, you’ll see its updates appear on your LinkedIn homepage alongside those of your connections. Mashable, for instance, tends to post business-related articles on LinkedIn, since that seems to be the content most pertinent to the network’s audience. Businesses also use LinkedIn to post company announcements, such as acquisitions, new hires or updated policies. LinkedIn warns against update spam, however: “Businesses that post updates excessively are subject to review by LinkedIn and could risk having their page deleted.” If you’re interested in adding your own company to the network, LinkedIn advises you take the following steps. You’re a current company employee and your position is on your profile. A company email address (e.g. john@companyname.com) is one of the confirmed email addresses on your LinkedIn account. You associate your profile with the right company. You must click on a name from our company name dropdown list when you edit or add a position on your profile. Your company’s email domain is unique to the company. Your profile must be more than 50% complete. You must have several connections. If you’re interested in learning more about how companies can use LinkedIn, see the following resources: 9 Ways to Add LinkedIn to Your Company Website 5 Ways to Market Your Brand on LinkedIn Why Your Non-Profit Needs to Stop Ignoring LinkedIn 5. Jobs Job search and recruitment tools are among LinkedIn’s most valuable features. More and more companies are encouraging candidates to apply for jobs via LinkedIn, due to the social network’s credibility and ease-of-use. Head to the “Jobs” tab, where you’ll find options for applicants. Perform an advanced search for available jobs by keyword, title, location, company, salary and industry. (A search for “developer” within 50 miles of Manhattan turned up 488 results.) Save jobs to review later, and even save searches to check back later for updated results. As an employer, you may post an available job to LinkedIn for $295 for a 30-day period. (Bulk packages are available for better deals.) Once posted, these jobs will not only appear in search results, but also in the “Careers” tab on your company page. Finally, recruiters may “find talent” on LinkedIn, but they must upgrade to a premium subscription plan to search for potential hires. 6. Updates Unlike content shared on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn updates tend to be industry- and professionally-focused. Keep that in mind if you’re attempting to increase engagement. You can share updates from a number of different places, both on LinkedIn.com and from outside web properties. Post a status update from the LinkedIn homepage, and it will be shared as well as posted to your profile under the activity feed. Also, when you engage in discussions in LinkedIn groups, that activity counts as an update. Post updates from sites like The New York Times by clicking the LinkedIn social share button next to an article. Or add the LinkedIn sharing bookmarklet to your browser toolbar to quickly share most sites as an update. Finally, you may also connect your Twitter account to LinkedIn. This not only expands your network, but allows you to post tweets on LinkedIn as if they were status updates. Once tweets post to LinkedIn, users can interact with them as if from Twitter.com, by retweeting, replying and favoriting. Like updates, tweets post to the homepage and live in the activity feed on your profile. Just as LinkedIn advises brands to cool it on excessive updates, you should practice the same self-control. Users appreciate information, not excessive traffic on their feeds. That being said, you can mute certain connections, if you choose. Hover over a user’s update on the homepage and click the “hide” button to stop receiving updates from that user. 7. Applications Applications allow LinkedIn users to customize their profiles and share content in different ways. For example, you may choose to add the WordPress app so that your latest WordPress blog posts share with your LinkedIn network. Do the same for SlideShare presentations you or your company have created. Keep in mind that most apps require permissions to access some of your basic profile information, such as your name or job title. However, all applications must abide by LinkedIn’s privacy policy, which means they’re not allowed to reach any private information not easily accessible by browsing the site. Learn about some of the top LinkedIn apps here: 5 Essential LinkedIn Apps for Sales Teams 8. Mobile LinkedIn has mobile applications for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and Palm devices. The app is useful for posting status updates and checking group updates on-the-go, but its inherent advantages lie in networking. Pull up the mobile app to find LinkedIn connections and exchange information at events. After meeting someone, you may choose to email that person a link to your profile, so he or she may connect with you later — no business cards needed. Or search for that person on your LinkedIn mobile app and add him as a connection then and there. You may also choose to download LinkedIn connections to your smartphone’s address book for later contact. For more information on LinkedIn’s mobile presence, see below: 5 Tips for Using LinkedIn’s Mobile Site LinkedIn Launches iPad App, Takes New Direction 9. Upgraded Account Once you’ve explored LinkedIn Free, you may choose to upgrade to a LinkedIn account with more features. Starting at $15.95 per month, LinkedIn has premium subscription plans for businesses, job seekers, recruiters and more. One of the distinguishing features of most upgraded accounts is the ability to send InMail to anyone. InMail is an internal LinkedIn message sent to a person with whom you are not connected. You can message people you are already connected with free-of-charge, but you can’t message non-connections; you must InMail them — and those InMails are limited. The Basic business premium account allows you three InMails per month, while the Business Plus plan allows 10, and the Executive 25 per month. So, choose your InMails wisely. Upgraded accounts also have access to more search results, which can be a huge bonus for LinkedIn recruiters. You also have access to additional tools for saving and organizing profiles, and you can view the full list of people who have viewed your LinkedIn profile. Image courtesy of Flickr, Coletivo Mambembe. More About: Business, features, jobs, linkedin, Social Media