Microsoft chairman Bill Gates took to Reddit today for an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session. After describing Windows 8 as a “huge advance,” Gates also revealed he has “tried all of Apple [sic] products.” According to Gates he’s currently using a Surface Pro and an 80-inch Windows 8 display, the same used by CEO Steve Ballmer. In fact, he even used the device to reply to Reddit comments.
Other highlights include Gates describing WinFS, a file system that was supposed to debut in Vista, as a program or product that he wished had made it to market. “We had a rich database as the client/cloud store that was part of a Windows release that was before its time,” said Gates. “This is an idea that will remerge since your cloud store will be rich…
In “let’s stop and think this through for a minute” news, a Harvard professor is looking for an “adventurous” female to give birth to a neanderthal baby using artificial DNA. If successful, the neanderthal child will grow up to be the most made fun of kid in the history of made fun of kids.
Professor Church of Harvard Medical School is one of the world’s leading geneticists and believes his Neanderthal bone-sample analysis is now complete enough to reconstruct their DNA.
Professor Church’s plan is to create artificial Neanderthal DNA based on the genetic code found in bone samples, then put this DNA into stem cells.
These cells would then be injected into a human embryo in the early stages of life, and would be strong enough to steer the embryo’s development along Neanderthal lines rather than Sapien.
After a few days growing in a laboratory the ‘neo-Neanderthal’ embryo would be implanted into the womb of the surrogate mother.
Listen: I can’t even BEGIN to imagine everything that’s going to go wrong with this plan, and that’s really saying something because I have a VERY active imagination. I seriously just spent the last fifteen minutes with a Cheez-Its box over my head playing space ranger and I felt like I was actually IN space. I’m going back as soon as I’m done with this post. But let’s say by some longshot this does work out — what about that poor neanderthal? He’ll be the only one of his kind. Will he live in a laboratory? A zoo? SOCIETY? Do you think he’ll need a drinking buddy? Because I’m kind of low on friends right now and he could make a good ice breaker with the ladies. Plus if they choose him over me I’ll know it’s time to give up on this life. Oh well — back to space!
Thanks to neolardo and Thac0, who agree we should probably reverse engineer dinosaurs first.
It’s not that often we see the worlds of baking and technology mix, but when Johan von Konow went about making a traditional gingerbread house for the holidays, he added a laser to the recipe. The engineer and tinkerer first went about designing an accurate, miniature 3D representation of his summer house in a CAD program, with the help of his wife. He then printed outlines of the necessary building blocks onto sheets of baked gingerbread, and used a 50-watt laser engraver to cut them out and score icing guides for the final touches later on. Burnt edges rendered the confectionary inedible, but as its final destination was no longer stomachs, raw lasagna sheets were added for structural support, and hot glue used to bind it all together. If you’ve got all the kit and are feeling inspired by the picture above, the design layout and project walkthrough are available at the source link below. Hansel and Gretel needn’t be worried this time around — the tech used creating this particular gingerbread house has attracted a different kind of aged tenant.
Filed under: Misc, Household, Alt
Via: Hack a Day
Source: Johan von Konow
Related Posts:With hundreds of thousands of mobile apps out there, it’s easy to think they materialize out of thin air. The reality is a different story: App developers spend time and money researching operating systems before creating and testing apps. Then they often have to wait for an app store to approve the apps.
[ See post to watch video ]
Given these obstacles, you would think it’s nearly impossible for average people to design a personal app.
Yet this week, I tested a tool that helps people make apps for events such as PTA meetings, church activities, fantasy football leagues or weddings. It requires next to no technical knowledge, no app-store approval and it’s free. It’s called Yapp — a mashup of “your” and “app.”
To use it, you open Yapp’s website, Yapp.us, in a computer browser, select an app design from about three dozen themes and enter whatever information you want to appear in the app, like text and photos. Pressing Publish generates a link or QR code to send to friends, family and colleagues for downloading the app. (Customized Web links, where you select the URL’s text, cost $ 5 each; the rest are randomly selected and free.)
But things get tricky the first time you try to download a finished app, which is also called a Yapp. When you receive an email with the Yapp link and click on it, you are sent to Apple’s App Store or the Google Play store to download YappBox, a free app that serves as an inbox for all of the Yapps a person might receive, much like Apple’s Newsstand on iPads and iPhones. Once you open YappBox, the new Yapp is there for you to use. This process is initially confusing and will intimidate some people. After that, the process of receiving apps made by friends is much smoother.
Yapp Inc., the New York start-up behind the Web site, takes advantage of a method Apple has used for years: Combining user-friendly software with beautiful design yields elegant results that look far more difficult to create than they actually are. Other app-making services either involve higher fees, or focus on certain events, like Appy Couple, which creates wedding apps.
For special events like a holiday party, users can create Yapps for guests that include Invitation and Gallery pages.
It took me as little as five minutes to make a simple Yapp. I went on to make seven, including one for my church’s holiday greens sale, one for a family ping-pong tournament and one for a holiday party. Though the functionality of these Yapps is relatively basic, they look polished and professional. And they include links that interact with other features on a mobile device, so selecting a street address links out to Google Maps or selecting an email address opens the compose email screen.
Preloaded pages in each Yapp include Invitation, Schedule, News Feed (where Twitter feeds can be imported) and Gallery (for photos). Extra pages can be added, as well as pages for People and Simple Text.
I found a theme called Underground, which had playful fonts and a loud red and brown design on its front page, to match the Yapp I made for my family ping-pong tournament. I uploaded a photo of ping-pong paddles for the Yapp’s front image. Its Invitation page included location and start time, and the Schedule page included times for three rounds of play. The News Feed included a Twitter feed and messages posted by family members using the app; the Gallery page showed family photos; and a People page listed players, titles, emails and phone numbers.
Each time I made changes to a Yapp, I pressed Publish to send updates to other users, and these people had to hit an OK button to implement these updates. This process is relatively simple and lets people keep adding features to their Yapps.
The Yapps can broadcast push notifications to other users, and these work the same way text messages appear on most devices. This is a big plus in situations like when a birthday party gets moved at the last minute because of rain or it’s the last day for wedding guests to book a hotel room. These notifications can be text-only or can include photos, and they get listed in the Yapp’s News Feed.
There are a few drawbacks, starting with the occasional sluggishness of apps. It’s missing a few features I wish it had, like the ability to add end times to events and let guests RSVP. And there aren’t many design templates to choose from.
I also wish I could collaborate with other people on a Yapp, but there’s currently only one administrator allowed per Yapp. Maria Seidman, Yapp’s CEO and co-founder, said these features and the ability to have more than one administrator are in the works.
Yapp users are asked to sign in using Facebook Connect, but Yapp never posts to Facebook on your behalf. Though signing into Yapp with Facebook credentials might be nerve-racking for people worried about privacy, I found it offered a quick way to log into Yapp via iPhone, Android phones or Web browsers.
Eight of the Yapp themes use designs that have matching stationery from popular stationery site Wedding Paper Divas, which is a nice touch if you want your wedding-app design to match your wedding invitation, program and thank-you notes.
If you’re looking for a fun way to coordinate with friends or family members, Yapp will do the trick. It has some growing up to do, but it puts app creation in the hands of real people, which is an exciting step.
Email katie.boehret@wsj.com.
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Hawken Beta 2 is here and the good news is I get onto a server every time, this is the game at 1024 by 768 with would you believe ultra detail on textures and high detail on the environment all running from just an Intel HD3000 powered i7 Lenovo X220 T running Windows 8 of an msata ssd… Today we go hunting with the Sharpshooter. Notice how it comes into its own when exploiting elevation .. watch out though you make clearer target for your enemies too when perched on your sniping platform. Now if i could jam radar whilst doing this or cloak…now there`s an idea. I played using the ST1080 hmd and the Cinemizer OLED .. and it`s pretty awesome wait till head tracking comes along …Beta 2 is running a little slower than Beta 1 for me although I can get in a game every time which is to be applauded..more to follow Video Rating: 5 / 5
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~2 hours. Kinda neat, woke up early and couldn’t go back to sleep so I setup my tablet to record this. Was only going to record about half an hour but I went back inside and of course then I fell asleep. Lol.. I need to edit it though and speed it up by about 2 or 3x.
Related Posts:Question by Marcus: Make my ANDROID Motorola XOOM a hotspot using wifi? Plz Read!!!!!? I have a XOOM WIFI edition. I wanted to know if there is way for me to hotspot off my own internet modem. Kind of like a second access point in the house?
Best answer:
Answer by Steve O ©you have to “root” your android operating system and install “wireless tethering” app from Market.
Add your own answer in the comments!
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Please visit www.windowsphonedevelopments.com. I have managed to create a Tiled(TMX) Map Loader on the XNA Content Pipeline for Windows Phone 7. At the moment, it transfer all the information from the XML file, through to the different stages of the content pipeline (importer, processor, writer, reader). There are a few extra bits I need to do before I share the code. Please be patient and visit my website www.windowsphonedevelopments.com for the latest post and up-to-date information.
Related Posts:Question by The_Writer_with_the_Blood_Inked_Quill: How can I take screenshots of profiles on instagram using an android phone? Every time I ask this on instagram, they always give me the iPhone instructions. I don’t have an iPhone, I have an android.
Best answer:
Answer by Ljh22go to the Google play (Android) store and get a screenshot app
Give your answer to this question below!
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In light of the recent controversy over Apple’s new Maps, The Atlantic has taken a closer look at how competitor Nokia crafted a mapping service of its own, revealing the company’s use of FedEx data combined with other processes. While Google uses Street View cars and Apple utilizes data licensed from TomTom and OpenStreetMap, Nokia not only gets its information from commercial delivery vehicles, but also consumers using navigation apps. Like Google, Nokia also relies on drivers using cars equipped with about $ 200,000 of equipment to gather invaluable data that keeps the mapping database up-to-date.
But according to Nokia’s VP of location, Cliff Fox, creating a map “the first time is relatively the smaller task compared to maintaining…
