We got an early glimpse at the final customization options for Windows 8 earlier this week, showing the new patterns available for the Start Screen as thumbnails. A leaked build of Windows 8 emerged yesterday, but customization options are disabled unless the copy is fully activated. Thanks to an anonymous tipster we’ve managed to get an early look at the new Start Screen patterns in Windows 8, and it’s fair to say they’re pretty colorful.
There are 20 different patterns to choose from, ranging from floral designs all the way through to some pixel art-inspired examples. Most of the more vibrant designs don’t interact with the background of the tiles, something that Microsoft has been keen to avoid — to ensure Windows 8 users can still…
Wind Maps is a website that allows you to see the current (or past) wind patterns in the U.S. This picture doesn’t really do it justice because on the website all those little lines are moving in spirals and being all trippy. It’s something you could definitely get high and watch if you were desperate and forgot there was any other site on the internet. Alternatively, if you just want to know which way the wind’s blowing, here’s what you do: spit (NOT shit). If it comes back and hits you the winds blowing towards you. If the wind breaks right behind you, you farted. If somebody says something it probably wasn’t silent. That or it smells. Blame someone else and make a quick exit (I recommend a cape flourish/smoke bomb combo).
Wind Maps (click a day or ‘view the live map’ to see one in action) via A mesmerizing, real-time map of US wind patterns [io9]
Thanks to Jaucet and blitz, who agree you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows (just throw a handful of torn grass).
Related Posts:Microsoft announced a new Bing search featured on Wednesday.
Bing is introducing an adaptive search feature for end users to further enhance the search experience. Adaptive Search will allow Bing to learn user patterns and provide a new set of search results per user based on your previous searches. The search results work by surfacing information on what Bing thinks an end user is searching for. If a user searches for Australia then they’ll like receive results about the country and travel related content. However, if the user regularly searches for movies then Bing is more likely to provide search results for the movie Australia rather than the country.
“The differences are generally quite subtle,” says Bing Search worker Aidan Crook, in a blog post on Wednesday. “The more confidence we have about what your intent is, the more personalized the results will become,” he adds. The feature is clearly part of Microsoft’s long term strategy with Bing that sees it take a more unique and careful approach to search than its competitors. Bing enabled a Facebook like feature in its search results earlier this year, providing personalized search results based on recommendations from Facebook friends. The feature crafts search results individually to each user.
Microsoft is also continuing to progress with Bing in other areas. The company recently renewed a search deal with Twitter to include Tweets in its search results. Google, Microsoft’s main search competition, were forced to disable a similar feature after failing to sign an agreement with Twitter earlier this year. Bing’s U.S. powered searches have also risen to 29% in August, a high figure that reflects the slow but steady progress.
Bing’s Adaptive Search functionality will be rolled out in the U.S. over the next few days. Users will be able to opt out of the service if they wish to do so.
Video: Adapting Search to You
Bing introduces Adaptive Search, results based on previous user patterns originally appeared at WinRumors.com.
You wake. You eat. You work. You read a few articles on Engadget. You sleep. You attempt to repeat. Life’s not always quite so simple, but the mesmerizing image shown above does a great job of showcasing the patterns that seem to keep us all on track. This particular piece is entitled Sleep Patterns, crafted by one Laurie Frick, and was created by converting EEG traces into watercolor. There’s plenty more where this came from in the source link below, but we’d caution you not to fall into some sort of eternal loop of checking back daily — unless, of course, you’re looking to disrupt your own patterns for the sake of art.
Visualized: life’s most basic patterns displayed as color-coded charts originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 12:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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This guide describes a scenario around a fictitious company named Tailspin that has decided to include Windows Phone 7 as a client device for their existing cloud-based application. Their Windows Azure-based application named Surveys is described in detail in a previous book in this series, Developing Applications for the Cloud.
After reading this book, you will be familiar with how to design and implement applications for Windows Phone 7 that take advantage of remote services to obtain and upload data while providing a great user experience on the device.
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There are certainly more sophisticated ways of doing UI heat mapping and click tracking, but this lo-fi version is easier to relate to, and what’s more, you can do it at home! All George Kokkinidis at Design Language News did was clean the iPad’s screen carefully, use an app for a little while, and then photograph the screen in such a way that the fingerprints caught the light. Voila, instant heat map.
It’d be interesting to try this backwards: look at a fingerprint pattern and try to reconstruct the usage scenario from there.
[via Waxy]
Some infrastructure news for your Monday afternoon. Pretend this is Civlization V. TomTom has a new traffic database called TomTom Traffic Stats that makes it easier for BIG GOVERNMENT for study traffic patterns and the like. A sort of, “Hmm, maybe we should add a traffic light there, there seems to be a lot of slowing down and confusion as people approach the intersection.”
Government and other interested parties can make traffic inquiries, and within 24 hours “highly accurate and up-to-date traffic data analysis” will be at their fingertips.
The service isn’t free—TomTom has to pay the bills—but an evaluation license is available.
In case anyone from the National Transportation Safety Board reads CG!
Loom Patterns For Sweaters For The Baby, Toddler & Small Dog. There Are Adorable Booties For Babies, Super Warm Slippers For Adults, Popular Doll Clothes And More. Knifty Knitter Looms Or Any Similar In Gauge Will Do. Looney For Looms Knitting Patterns.
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