Thursday, January 31, 2013

Free Font - Courier Prime

quoteunquoteapps reports: [edited]

Since the beginning, screenplays have been written in Courier. Its uniformity allows filmmakers to make handy comparisons and estimates, such as 1 page = 1 minute of screen time. But there’s no reason Courier has to look terrible. We set out to make the best Courier ever. We call it Courier Prime.
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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Moves

Tech Crunch reports: [edited]

For those of you who don’t have the disposable income or the obsessiveness of a Quantified Self devotee to try every single smart pedometer out there like the Fuelband, Fitbit or Jawbone Up, there’s an App for you.

Called Moves, the free iOS App can track the number of steps you’ve taken per day, and where and when you’ve driven or cycled. I’ve used it for the past few weeks, and for me, it’s probably going to be a keeper.

I can scroll back day-by-day or week-by-week to see where I’ve been or how far I’ve walked. It runs in the background and hasn’t eroded my battery life.
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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

LaCie XtremKey USB 3 Flash Drive

ResExcellence reports: [edited]

This is probably the toughest USB flash drive on the market today, with a metal alloy enclosure, and a screw-on cap which seals the key against dirt and moisture. The metal enclosure has a smooth finish with a tapered design.

XtremKey is offered in capacities from 8 to 64GB and comes with a three year warranty.
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Monday, January 28, 2013

ChargeDr USB Charge Booster

Digital Innovations reports: [edited]

Significantly reduce the charging time by connecting ChargeDr to your computer USB port or wall adapter. When connected to the USB port of a computer ChargeDr will allow you to charge tablets up to 4x faster, phones up to 2x faster and when connected to a USB wall adapter, ChargeDr can reduce the charging time by up to 20%.

Available March 2013, expected price $29.99.
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Friday, January 25, 2013

Zigg.be

Zigg.be reports: [edited]

Let's say you wanted to give a link to the best video game this year to your dad over the phone.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005Q47M56/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&tag=item0488d-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B005Q47M56

Other link shorteners give you something like http://amzn.to/nRJlI5, which is also terrible to pronounce, and hard to type on a mobile phone.

Give it to us, and we'll give you something like this:

http://zigg.be/tub

Simple.

Thanks to Brook Jordan for the link.
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Thursday, January 24, 2013

Chargecard USB Cables

CHARGE CARD is a USB 'cable' the size of a credit card.

Available for pre-order, it comes in 3 flavours (Micro USB, iPhone 4 and iPhone 5) for $25 each, with free shipping worldwide if you order two cards or more.
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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

NEC Medias W N-05E

The Verge reports: [edited]

The Medias W has two 4.3-inch screens that, when unfolded, combine to create a roughly square 5.6-inch display. The phone runs Android 4.1, and when navigating the OS you have two options for what to do with the extra pixels — double your home screen real estate, or use the second screen as a browser, photo gallery, or app switcher.

The browser works really well across both screens, loading the full desktop versions of websites as well as you'd expect from a tablet, and two-screen Google Maps is another killer feature — how many times have you wanted more screen space when zooming in and out of narrow city streets on your phone?

We also found it a lot easier to type on than most phones, with the keyboard comfortably spanning both screens. All of this is handled well enough by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, though there was some occasional lag when switching between display configurations.
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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Barack Obama's Second Term Inauguration Speech

The Huffington Post reports:

President Barack Obama marked the start of his second term with an inaugural speech at the U.S. Capitol.

Obama weighed in on "what makes us exceptional" as Americans during his address. His speech took place just after his public swearing-in, which was administered by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

Below, the full text of Obama's remarks as prepared for delivery:

Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, Members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:
Each time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy. We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional – what makes us American – is our allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Today we continue a never-ending journey, to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.

For more than two hundred years, we have.

Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.

Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce; schools and colleges to train our workers.

Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.

Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.

Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise; our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, are constants in our character.

But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people.

This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it – so long as we seize it together.

For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it. We believe that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class. We know that America thrives when every person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labor liberate families from the brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own.

We understand that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time. We must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, and reach higher. But while the means will change, our purpose endures: a nation that rewards the effort and determination of every single American. That is what this moment requires. That is what will give real meaning to our creed.

We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty, and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn. We do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at any time, may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other – through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security – these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great.

We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries – we must claim its promise. That is how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure – our forests and waterways; our croplands and snowcapped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.

We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war. Our brave men and women in uniform, tempered by the flames of battle, are unmatched in skill and courage. Our citizens, seared by the memory of those we have lost, know too well the price that is paid for liberty. The knowledge of their sacrifice will keep us forever vigilant against those who would do us harm. But we are also heirs to those who won the peace and not just the war, who turned sworn enemies into the surest of friends, and we must carry those lessons into this time as well.

We will defend our people and uphold our values through strength of arms and rule of law. We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully – not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear. America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe; and we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad, for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most powerful nation. We will support democracy from Asia to Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom. And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice – not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity; human dignity and justice.

We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.

It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.

That is our generation’s task – to make these words, these rights, these values – of Life, and Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – real for every American. Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life; it does not mean we will all define liberty in exactly the same way, or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time – but it does require us to act in our time.

For now decisions are upon us, and we cannot afford delay. We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate. We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect. We must act, knowing that today’s victories will be only partial, and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years, and forty years, and four hundred years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall.

My fellow Americans, the oath I have sworn before you today, like the one recited by others who serve in this Capitol, was an oath to God and country, not party or faction – and we must faithfully execute that pledge during the duration of our service. But the words I spoke today are not so different from the oath that is taken each time a soldier signs up for duty, or an immigrant realizes her dream. My oath is not so different from the pledge we all make to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride.

They are the words of citizens, and they represent our greatest hope.

You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course.

You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time – not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals.

Let each of us now embrace, with solemn duty and awesome joy, what is our lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history, and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.

Thank you, God Bless you, and may He forever bless these United States of America.
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Thursday, January 17, 2013

Google Nexus 4

The Register has published a review of Google's competitively-priced (starts at £239) Android 4.2 smartphone.

Their verdict [edited]:

"Today, little else comes close to the Nexus 4’s quality/price ratio, but the limited storage options, poor battery life, potential fragility and the fact you can’t actually buy the thing direct from Google at the time of writing may make you look elsewhere."

"If you are after an unlocked, SIM-free handset then the Nexus 4 is a very attractive option. If, on the other hand, you are buying on contract, you’ll be able to find something better for less - the Samsung Galaxy S III, for instance. Then again, the ‘pure’ Android UI on the Nexus 4, free of phone vendor and operator add-ons, may raise the Nexus 4’s appeal to you."
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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Canon PowerShot N

PetaPixel reports: [edited]

As smartphones have risen to supremacy, slowly killing the point-and-shoot market, every company has tried one thing or another to somehow save the compact. Now, it’s Canon’s turn.

The result is the new PowerShot N, a compact camera that has no top, bottom, left or right — it’s a thin square with a center-mounted lens and articulating screen you can use however you see fit.

Spec-wise, the new pocket-sized point-and-shoot sports an 8x 28mm f/3-5.9 lens, 12MP CMOS sensor and DIGIC 5 processor capable of an ISO range between 80-6400, all packed into just 1.1 inches of thinness. On the back you’ll find a 2.8-inch, 461k-dot articulating touchscreen that articulates only one way, but that shouldn’t be a problem, since you can just turn the whole thing upside down (or right side up?) if the occasion calls for it.

Controlling the camera is done using the two rings around the lens: one for zoom, the other shutter release. And, of course, just like any good point-and-shoot, the PowerShot N can also shoot video — 1080p and 720p at 24 and 32fps, respectively.

Other noteworthy features include an Eco mode for conserving battery, an ‘Intelligent Scene Analysis’ mode that will crop and enhance your photos for you without altering the original and WiFi connectivity.

The N is set to ship in April at an MSRP of $300, alongside a set of accessories that will use the camera’s small size and unique shape to their advantage.
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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Free Font - Foglihten

Geo­met­ri­cal, serif font fam­ily: Reg­u­lar, small caps, frames, outline and black versions available here.
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Monday, January 14, 2013

Sharp 8K screen

Stuff reports: [edited]

Sharp is showing off its next-generation technology at CES. The 85 inch screen has a resolution of 7680 x 4320 pixels, 16 times the resolution of HD (1920x1080).
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Friday, January 11, 2013

Justin

Wired's Dan Cossins reports: [edited]

This is Justin, a humanoid robot that can be controlled in space by a human on Earth.

In 1993, Hirzinger was in charge of the ROTEX experiment, involving the first remotely controlled robot in space. "For seven years the joints on Justin were outside the International Space Station, where they worked perfectly," says Hirzinger. "I'm confident Justin could work on the Moon."

Justin can be controlled from 40,000km away, with only a 600-millisecond time delay. He has two dextrous hands on arms that mimic the motion of an exoskeleton-like diver's suit and provide force feedback, so the operator can feel what the robot feels.

Hirzinger says robots are already useful: "We do not need to wait until they are fully intelligent to send them into space - we're at the stage where we can control their movement from the ground."
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Thursday, January 10, 2013

'Ophelia'

The Register reports: [edited]

Dell’s Wyse subsidiary - the thin-client computing pioneer the PC giant acquired in April 2012 - will today show off ‘Project Ophelia’ at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas/ Ophelia is a tiny Android machine that plugs into a monitor or TV to provide “instant” access to its owner’s cloud content, the web and apps running on remote systems.

Ophelia lacks a battery - power comes through its MHL connector, a Micro USB-style jack that also feeds out video signals. MHL supports 1080p video and HDCP content protection.

This being a Wyse device, the gadget is ready to run as a thin-client to tap into applications hosted on servers and desktops running Citrix, Microsoft or VMware.

Dell’s notion is that office drones on the road and folk away from home will want to access their files remotely but don’t necessarily have access to carry a laptop or a tablet around, or need to make use of a large display. Users will need to find a Bluetooth mouse at the very least to be able to operate the gadget.

Ophelia - the go-to-market name is TBD - will be out sometime before July, Dell said. Or you can get something similar from a dozen or so Chinese suppliers for 40 quid via eBay.
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Wednesday, January 09, 2013

GravityLight

Venture Beat reports: [edited]

Two designers in London have built functioning prototypes of GravityLight, a cheap way for people in developing countries to light homes, recharge batteries, or power a radio. And they just exceeded their Indiegogo fundraising goal by more than 500 percent with 21 days left in their campaign, so they’ll have the resources to mass-produce the light for less than $5 a unit.

Using the GravityLight simply requires removing the small white lamp from its bag, hanging it up, filling the bag with about 20 pounds of dirt or rocks, and attaching the bag to bottom of the device. Gravity powers a generator, light fills your room, and every 30 minutes, you hoist the bag back up.

The goal is to provide clean, efficient light for the 1.5 billion human beings on this planet who still do not have reliable access to electricity and use kerosene-powered lamps.

According to Riddiford and Reeves, the use of kerosene results in vastly higher cancer rates due to smoke inhalation, and 2.5 million burn victims due to dropped or jostled lamps every year in India alone. Not to mention the cost: 10 percent to 20 percent of a household’s income in the developing world can go to fuel for lighting.
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Monday, January 07, 2013

QLOCKTWO W

Biegert&Funk reports: [edited]

In a square there is a grid of 110 letters. When the stainless steel button is pressed, words that describe the time light up. The high-quality brushed stainless steel case measures 35x35mm and comes with a 24mm leather strap. QLOCKTWO W can also display the date and seconds.

Price: €550
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Friday, January 04, 2013

PSB M4U 2 Noise-cancelling Headphones

Sound and Vision Magazine reports: [edited]

The M4U 2’s earpads are some of the most luscious we’ve encountered. The earcups swivel slightly to assure a good fit. Two detachable cables are provided, one with an inline control/microphone. A semi-hardshell case is included, along with one extra set of earpads. The noise-canceling has three modes: passive, active (internal amps on/NC off), and NC on.

It’s hard to describe the M4U 2’s sound because it’s so close to flawless and so free of an identifiable character. The bass sounds extremely smooth and tight, the mids are exceptionally clear, and the highs are rich and detailed. We were also shocked to hear how little difference there was in the sound when we switched among the passive, active, and NC modes.

Not only does the M4U 2 sound like a really great speaker, it sounds like a great speaker in a great listening room. The M4U 2 is competitive even with the best set of headphones I had on hand, HiFiMan’s $699 HE-500.

Price: £269
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Thursday, January 03, 2013

Sports Illustrated 100 All Time Greatest Photos

Unsurprisingly US-centric, but worth a browse.

via kottke
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TATA 'Flatpack' House

treehugger reports: [edited]

TATA, which famously brought a $2500 car to India, is now is taking orders for a 215 square foot house for 32,000 rupees ($720). That's $3.34 per square foot.

The kit includes doors, windows and roof, and is made of coconut or jute fibre, and can be assembled in a week. It also comes in a 30 square-metre model, which I believe is the plan shown above. It comes with an optional veranda and solar energy system.
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