Kyle's Bloggg

Wi-Fi Certified Passpoint standard to provide automatic hotspot login | The Verge

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:00:06 +0000

Wi-Fi Certified Passpoint standard to provide automatic hotspot login | The Verge:

Sam Byford, reporting for The Verge:

While [Wi-Fi] theoretically saves battery life, speeds up downloads, and eases network congestion, it’s often too much of a hassle to find an access point and log in — especially when you’re on the move. The Wi-Fi Certified Passpoint standard is aiming to solve that …

This is a great solution to a very obvious problem. In the UK, many phone carriers offer free unlimited Wi-Fi with their contracts, but I’ve yet to see this feature being taken advantage of. As the article points out, it’s a hassle to connect to these Wi-Fi hotspots and if this standards takes off, it would make things so much easier.

BBC Nature - Ants remember their enemy's scent

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:40:28 +0000

BBC Nature - Ants remember their enemy's scent:

Victoria Gill, reporting for BBC Nature:

Ant colonies - one of nature’s most ancient and efficient societies - are able to form a “collective memory” of their enemies, say scientists.

When one ant fights with an intruder from another colony it retains that enemy’s odour: passing it on to the rest of the colony.

Ants fascinate me.

Patents: Apple wins over Motorola in...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:04:00 +0000

Patents: Apple wins over Motorola in ‘slide-to-unlock’ ruling

Apple has won a patent dispute against Motorola Mobility regarding a “slide-to-unlock” feature on smartphones.

(via BBC News - Patents: Apple wins over Motorola in ‘slide-to-unlock’ ruling)

"One Ram to rule them all, One Genius to find them, One Unibody to bring them all and on the..."

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:18:22 +0000

“One Ram to rule them all, One Genius to find them, One Unibody to bring them all and on the motherboard bind them.”

- @Mitchinator

Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion preview: Notification Center, iMessage, AirPlay and more | The Verge

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:47:21 +0000

Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion preview: Notification Center, iMessage, AirPlay and more | The Verge:

Nilay Patel, reporting for The Verge:

It’s only been seven months since Apple launched Mac OS 10.7 Lion, but the company isn’t sitting still: it just announced the developer preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, a tweaked and enhanced new version of the operating system that includes major new features like Notification Center, AirPlay mirroring, and iMessage. Yes, those are all headline iOS features as well; Mountain Lion continues Apple’s cycle of using the iPhone and iPad to influence Mac development and vice versa.

RAWR.

"The phone is too big. You will look stupid talking on it, people will laugh at you, and you’ll be..."

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:04:09 +0000

“The phone is too big. You will look stupid talking on it, people will laugh at you, and you’ll be unhappy if you buy it.”

- Jonathan S. Geller - Samsung’s Galaxy Note is the most useless phone I’ve used (via @Gruber)

Heroku makes sharing SQL data as easy as URL — Cloud Computing News

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:00:05 +0000

Heroku makes sharing SQL data as easy as URL — Cloud Computing News:

Derrick Harris, reporting for GigaOm:

Cloud Platform-as-a-Service provider Herokuhas added a new feature to its PostgreSQL database service that lets users share the results of an SQL query simply by sending a URL. The feature, called Data Clips, is in beta mode and is the first new feature of likely many since the company launched Heroku Postgres in November.

According to Heroku Postgres Product Manager Matthew Soldo, the new feature came about because Heroku employees often found themselves sharing SQL data in less-than-ideal manners. One popular technique, he told me, was to paste the results of a database query into Gist and share as a text file. But that process involved extraneous steps and, often, the data got outdated rather quickly.

Heroku once again release an awesome new feature.

Electronic Security a Worry in an Age of Digital Espionage - NYTimes.com

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:02:06 +0000

Electronic Security a Worry in an Age of Digital Espionage - NYTimes.com:

Nicole Perlroth, reporting for NYT:

[Kenneth G. Lieberthal] leaves his cellphone and laptop at home and instead brings “loaner” devices, which he erases before he leaves the United States and wipes clean the minute he returns. In China, he disables Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, never lets his phone out of his sight and, in meetings, not only turns off his phone but also removes the battery, for fear his microphone could be turned on remotely. He connects to the Internet only through an encrypted, password-protected channel, and copies and pastes his password from a USB thumb drive. He never types in a password directly, because, he said, “the Chinese are very good at installing key-logging software on your laptop.”

brotherbrain: True Love by Brother Brain. Super Mario World...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:37:46 +0000

brotherbrain:

True Love by Brother Brain.
Super Mario World (SNES) Nintendo 1991.

BBC News - Apple stock price surpasses $500 for first time

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:38:01 +0000

BBC News - Apple stock price surpasses $500 for first time:

BBC:

Shares in technology giant Apple have crossed $500 (£317) a share for the first time.

It caps a remarkable turnaround for the iPhone maker, whose shares were once worth as little as $3.19 in 1997, when it faced the possibility of bankruptcy.

Apple is now worth $460bn.

Incredible to see the stock price rise so sharply in the past few months.

(via @IonDigital)

thisistheverge: Introducing the 8-Bitty controller Well, here’s...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:00:05 +0000

thisistheverge:

Introducing the 8-Bitty controller

Well, here’s the perfect gift. Need this now.

I really hope the list of games that support the 8-Bitty grows, cause this is one accessory I wouldn’t mind spending my money on!

Event: Aberdeen TechMeetup no. 26 ~ Wednesday 15th February, 2012 (via @Scharlau)

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:00:05 +0000

Event: Aberdeen TechMeetup no. 26 ~ Wednesday 15th February, 2012 (via @Scharlau):

Bruce Scharlau, writting for TechMeetup:

The next TechMeetup Aberdeen talk is on Wednesday, 15th February at 6:30pm in the foyer of the North entrance to the Meston Building.

ASP.NET MVC 3 with a touch of Entity Framework 4.1..

An introduction to the current MVC offering from Microsoft. Getting you started with a simple application highlighting some of niceties provided by the frameworks and Visual Studio 2010 (Express Edition - keeping it free*).

Warning: we will be looking at actual code (maybe even writing some ;-)

*Requires appropriate windows licence

As always, come for the talk and to meet people who share a passion for tech.

Another TechMeetup awaits us this week, same time and location as usual. Come along for some pizza, beers, and good old tech talking plus the standard networking!

(via @Scharlau)

stoweboyd: Infographic that shows the number of new inhabitants...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:08:12 +0000

stoweboyd:

Infographic that shows the number of new inhabitants of cities per hour.

Apple 'one of the best' at monitoring factory staff, says Chinese activist (Wired UK)

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:00:06 +0000

Apple 'one of the best' at monitoring factory staff, says Chinese activist (Wired UK):

Duncan Geere, reporting for Wired UK:

The founder of a Chinese activist group called China Labor Watch has come out in defence of much-criticised technology giant Apple, saying it’s “one of the best” at monitoring its factories.

Li Qiang told Laptop Magazine through a translator: “Although I know that the iPhone 4 is made at sweatshop factories in China, I still think that this is the only choice, because Apple is actually one of the best. Actually before I made a decision, I compared Apple with other cell phone companies, such as Nokia, and the conditions in those factories are worse than the ones of Apple.”

Bankrupt Kodak to stop making cameras in 2012 (Wired UK)

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:00:05 +0000

Bankrupt Kodak to stop making cameras in 2012 (Wired UK):

Mark Brown, reporting for Wired UK:

In a drastic bid to cut costs, bankrupted Eastman Kodak Co plans to stop making cameras in the first half of 2012.

It’s always sad to see stories like this surface, but Kodak can’t blame anyone else for this.

Sonic Notify: the inaudible QR codes only an app can hear (Wired UK)

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:00:06 +0000

Sonic Notify: the inaudible QR codes only an app can hear (Wired UK):

Duncan Geere, for Wired UK:

A startup called Sonic Notify is working on a product that embeds inaudibly high-pitched signals into music and audio, which can be detected by your smartphone.

When a compatible app hears the signal, it could be triggered to take an action — linking you to a website, displaying text or an image, or bringing up a location on a map. That yields all sorts of possibilities — you could vote on your favourite song of a performance, or be directed to a secret aftershow party, for example.

I think this is awesome. Just imagine walking into a restaurant, launching a global menu application and the app would auto-load the specific menu for the restaurant you’re in… I can think of a bunch of scenarios where this could come in useful, and I really hope this takes off.

iPad 3 launch event coming in first week of March, according to All Things D | The Verge

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:40:00 +0000

iPad 3 launch event coming in first week of March, according to All Things D | The Verge:

Vlad Savov, reporting for The Verge:

Apple’s going to host a launch event for the iPad 3 in the first week of March, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans, as reported by All Things D. San Francisco is the location of the event, but there’s no date yet for when the upgraded tablet will be available to buy.

Social Media Explained

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:05:04 +0000

Social Media Explained

iBooks Author 1.01 out with updated EULA

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:12:13 +0000

iBooks Author 1.01 out with updated EULA:

parislemon:

Notes Megan Lavey-Heaton for TUAW:

The change is an important one though, clarifying that Apple has rights over the format a book is in, not the content.

And we have yet another bit of controversy to file away under: Apple Is Not Fucking Stupid.

I haven’t weighed in on the EULA hubbub for this exact reason. If Apple was actually trying to suggest that they own the content of all iBooks published via iBooks Author, then yes, obviously that’s bad. But get this: Apple is neither the devil nor are they fucking stupid — as we’ve seen before.

Drewbot: The Huffington Post Streaming Video Network is Doomed

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:00:06 +0000

Drewbot: The Huffington Post Streaming Video Network is Doomed:

dbreunig:

The NYT’s Brian Stelter reports on AOL/The Huffington Post’s live streaming video network announcement:

AOL and The Huffington Post are readying a live video network that will have 12 hours of programming every weekday when it starts this summer…

Roy Sekoff, a founding editor of The…