Living

Just hours after Acer’s CEO complained that Microsoft’s Surface tablet would generate a “negative impact” on the tablet market, Lenovo announced its own entrant to the Surface market, the ThinkPad Tablet 2. Clearly, Lenovo sees a market for a Windows 8 tablet that Acer does not. But what? Business users, most likely. “It appears the Lenovo is targeting business users and is shipping with an Intel processor,” Michael Gartenberg, a mobile analyst with Gartner, noted. “It’s also worth noting the digitizer is an extra add on.” In fact, the digitizer - the optional digital pen that Microsoft will support with Windows 8, and Lenovo has chosen to include as an option for the Tablet 2 - is just one of a number of differentiating features that separate the Tablet 2 from Microsoft’s Surface. Campbell Kan, Acer’s president for personal computer global operations, helped open the debate this week by telling the Financial Times that it is considering alternatives to Windows 8. “If Microsoft… is g...

Aug 11, 2012 8:00 PM   You may know Mr. David Liebe Hart Band from his work on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! You should also know that he has his own punk band now, and among their songs are hits like this one. Aside from being deliciously insane, "La Rent Doesn't Want Me To Look At Porn" is just plain good. You can't tell me that it isn't extremely catchy, and Hart's vibrato, while supemely strange, isn't bad and adds a really unique flavor to the song. The lyrics are, well, the lyrics. Scrub the video back to its proper beginning, and you can watch a minute long explanation of who La Rent is and why he's (it's) so against porn. You'd best watch that part and remember it; someone is bound to ask you what you're talking about when you wind up walking around singing this to yourself. [YouTube] View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when p...

As the role UAVs in the US military expands, the demands placed on these unmanned platforms grow as well. One of the most important new abilities these autonomous fliers must have is the ability to land atop a thin strip of tarmac rolling on the high seas. And that's just what the new Northrop Grumman X-47B will do. The X-47B is a tailless, demonstrator UAV developed by Northrop Grumman as part of the Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program though the X-47 project began as part of DARPA's J-UCAS initiative. The UCAS-D program aims to further remove humans, and their physiological shortcomings—like the need to sleep—from the low level drudgery of UAV missions. "It's smart enough for you to put really interesting contingencies" in the X-47B's way, Captain Jaime Engdahl, the Navy's program manager for its flying drones, told Danger Room . "It has the smarts to react to that condition." The X-47B is one of a pair...

When Gizmodo alumnus and wonderful human Mat Honan got hacked, the point of entry for the hackers was through Amazon and Apple's lax security policies. Amazon immediately admitted its fault in the situation and updated its security policy accordingly. Apple? Well, Apple still doesn't know what do yet. You see, Apple isn't pointing the finger at itself and its wafer-thin security policies but accusing a rogue customer service rep of not following standard operating procedure when it came to Honan's hack. If you remember, Honan's iCloud account was seized by the hackers when they offered up Honan's last 4 digits of his credit card as proof of their identity as Honan to Apple. But according to what Apple has been saying publicly, that isn't how Apple security policies work. Apple issued a statement saying "we found that our own internal policies were not followed completely." Basically, Apple claims Honan's hack shouldn't of happened like tha...

Jul 24, 2012 3:17 PM   Apple has just been granted a patent for 5D technology. Wait, what the hell? Has it traveled to the future and come back with something we don't know about yet? What advanced life forms are the suits in Cupertino communicating with? Turns out 5D is essentially an agressive marketing ploy for a patent that has gigantic range of applications for watching TV, gaming, and more. Like a Disneyland ride on steroids, the system Apple proposes harnesses gesture-controlled gaming in the style of Kinect or Wii, video-conferencing, and virtual reality gloves for what could be a super-immersive home entertainment experience. The gloves, as described, could change their resistances to electromagnetic forces, heat, or air, and more. The patent also covers tactile feedback technology—meaning the ability to start a futuristic car or signal a device through a handprint instead of any sort of key or button. And in Apple's version of our 5D future, touchscreens don't ...

Jul 23, 2012 1:40 PM   Who needs Venice when you have a gondola in your courtyard? This modern concrete home in Bangladesh has a serene lagoon in the atrium, making it the kind of place you'd never want to leave. The tall, temple-like structure is an airy retreat from the outside world. Living there would be like having your own tropical escape in your home. And the pool in the middle isn't just eye candy—it also helps push hot air out, cooling things off on the inside. From the minds of Shatotto Architects, the multi-level, open ceiling opens up the place for air and natural light, and the boat makes it easy to get from the living room to the pantry as fast as possible. Now you just need someone to row it for you. [HiConsumption] View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Jul 23, 2012 4:40 PM   The original Motorola Atrix was a big star of CES 2011. Despite the fact that it morphed into the world's worst laptop, the phone itself actually held its own. Now, the Atrix is back. The gimmicks are gone, and what's left is a solid, affordable phone with a sharp HD screen and a speedy OS. Is the new Atrix about to make a splash again? A $100, 4.5-inch, 720x1280 phone running Android 4.0 (ICS) on AT&T's speedy LTE network. Business users, as Motorola pitches it—but, really, anyone who wants a solid Android phone. It's plasticky and blocky, but with that cool Kevlar back that debuted with the RAZR. The buttonless navigation is more like an Android tablet than a comparable HTC or Samsung phone. Performance is surprisingly zippy throughout and the camera has virtually no shutter lag. Motorola's new MotoBLUR skin sticks close to stock Android—and Gizmodo's comparison of the major Android skins proved that that's that's a good th...

Photo: Jackie Booley Jackie Booley (right) is living out a different retirement than she planned. Ask 67-year-old Jackie Booley about life after retirement, and  within minutes her story paints an all-too familiar picture of the challenges faced by today's older workers: Widowed in 2006 after 42 years of marriage, Booley retired from her 15-year career as a call center specialist at AT&T. With a healthy $120,000 in her retirement account, she decided it was time to ride out her savings and leave her desk job behind. But a year into her newfound freedom, 2008's stock market crash turned half her savings to dust. "I was taking supplements from my 401(k), plus the Social Security my husband left me, but it wasn't quite enough (to live on)," Booley said. In the end, she wound up with only one viable option––going back to the workforce she'd left less than two years before. She's certainly not alone. Eighty-six percent of workers in their 60s say they will...