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Showing posts from April, 2016

The Weekend Edition

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Reasons Why #Agile Transformations Fail #ux The Lean-In Industry Apple stock plunges, Billionaire Icahn Exits Apple Stake After Three Years Ray Super Remote the only remote you'll need ConvNet-Based “End to End Learning for Self-Driving Cars” " The Scrumban [R]Evolution " #agile #Kanban #scrum Managing Creative Emergencies #agile #kanban

Tech #parenting, we just got a #Koalasafe wifi router to review

KoalaSafe review pending #parenting @tech A video posted by Adolfo Foronda (@nerdstalker) on Apr 28, 2016 at 7:51am PDT Hey tech #parents we just got #Koalasafe wifi router to review. Manage and protect your kids online.https://koalasafe.com/

First Look - Ninjago at Legoland

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WIRED Goes Behind-the-Scenes of LEGOLAND's New Section - NINJAGO What the heck is Ninjago and why are they masters of Spinjitzu? Ninjago, produced by Wil Films ,  is an  animated TV series based on a popular Lego series that centers on the adventures of six  ninja : Lloyd, Kai, Cole, Jay, Zane, and Nya. They are coming to Legoland soon and our friends at  WIRED (and Conde Nast Entertainment) just put up a video on  WIRED’s channel on  THE SCENE , the video platform from Condé Nast Entertainment and  were given an exclusive first look at the brand new Ninjago section of Legoland’s California park. OK, what is Spinjitzu?  It features a two player spinner game, where you spin give your character a spinner, and a one of its three weapons. You spin your characters at each other while saying "NINJAGO!". The first character to fall be knocked of its spinner and/or lose its weapon loses. The first to obtain all of his/her opponents weapons wins. Got it?  Check out the br

SNOWDEN - Official Trailer

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Academy Award®-winning director Oliver Stone, who brought Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Wall Street and JFK to the big screen, tackles the most important and fascinating true story of the 21st century. Snowden, the politically-charged, pulse-pounding thriller starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley, reveals the incredible untold personal story of Edward Snowden, the polarizing figure who exposed shocking illegal surveillance activities by the NSA and became one of the most wanted men in the world. He is considered a hero by some, and a traitor by others. No matter which you believe, the epic story of why he did it, who he left behind, and how he pulled it off makes for one of the most compelling films of the year.

Dyson Supersonic dryer quietly blows your hair (and cash)

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Dyson Supersonic dryer quietly blows your hair (and cash) Around The Home James Dyson has turned his hand to hair dryers, applying the lessons learned in Dyson's vacuum cleaners, fans and hand dryers to create a faster, more balanced dryer that stops your luscious locks losing their sheen.

IdeaSpace - open source content management system for the virtual reality web #cms #vr

IdeaSpace IdeaSpace - open source content management system for the virtual reality web

Have Software Developers Given Up?

Have Software Developers Given Up? Note: I'm a software developer. I create bugs. I once switched a production SQL database to Simple recovery mode and Truncated an important table causing a ton of work for my colleagues. The content of this post is aimed as much at me and the company I work for as the companies listed here.

Alien hunters claim Venus has buildings

Alien hunters claim Venus has buildings Space might very well be considered the "final frontier," but according to alien hunters, intelligent life on Venus includes cities for its inhabitants. A 20-minute Spanish-language video posted to YouTube by mundodesconocido magnifies and examines images of the planet taken by NASA's Magellan probe.

Open365 Is An Open Source Alternative to Microsoft Office 365

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Open365 Is An Open Source Alternative to Microsoft Office 365 Windows/Mac/Linux/Android: One of Microsoft's Office 365 program chief advantages over open source alternatives is the ability to sync documents via the cloud so you can edit them everywhere. Open365 has stepped up to finally match this feature set. Open365 works a lot like Office 365 does.

The Weekend Edition

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UFO home concept floats off-grid ocean living Hilarious "Enter Your Phone Number" UI/UX Fails Bubble Beehive: A colony for the urban development of our favorite pollinators Current Startup Market Emotional Biases Who thinks Waze is Dangerous? How Do Schools Affect Autodidacticism? Hack Education Weekly News #edu Perceived value in user interfaces #ux Why Bots Aren't Ready to Replace Mobile Apps Factors In Selecting A Mobile Prototyping Tool #ux

"Magnus" Director Benjamin Rhee on his documentary about the #1 ranked chess player in the world, Magnus Carlsen

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Tribeca Film Festival 2016 Premieres 'Magnus' For more than a millennia, the game of chess has engaged and seized the greatest minds in the world. The game moves beyond the 16 pieces and the 64-square board, much of it a mental battle taking place within-and picking up many victims along the way.

CoWatch An affordable smartwatch that integrates Amazon's Alexa

CoWatch by iMCO Chinese company iMCO's new CoWatch has everything a smartwatch these days needs to offer: activity-tracking sensors (including heart rate), smart-home integration, compatible with iOS and Android, 1GB memory and 8GB storage, and an impressive battery life (purportedly 32 hours with normal use).

These futuristic driverless pods will run on Singapore's roads by end of the year

These futuristic driverless pods will run on Singapore's roads by end of the year SINGAPORE - Before the year is up, Singaporeans could be hopping on these driverless pod vehicles to get to school and work. The pods run on electricity, and are able to travel autonomously on smaller roads, such as those within a gated community or school campus.

11 Apps, Products, and Websites for Earth Day

Earth Day Guide Fish oil, obviously. But also your phone's screen. Clean off the smudges with Sprucies from Plus, Netted readers get 20% off any purchase through Sunday, May 1, with code Spruce & Co. These eco-friendly screen wipes are vegan, plant-based, and safe for you (the sanitizing agent is derived from coconut).

Thrifty bank's $10 routers lead to $81 million heist

Thrifty bank's $10 routers lead to $81 million heist This past February, some clever hackers pulled off a daring bank heist that was aided by a Bangladeshi bank's decision to buy cheap second-hand $10 routers. In fact, the cheap routers let hackers get away with $81 million by giving them access to the secure computers that handle SWIFT monetary transactions and helping them hide their tracks.

The Gimmick Economy: how central banks pretend software isn't eating the world

The Gimmick Economy: how central banks pretend software isn't eating the world Mathematician/economist Eric R Weinstein is managing director of Thiel Capital, but that doesn't mean that he thinks capitalism has a future. In a short, but wide-ranging essay in Edge's Annual Question series (this year's question is "What do you consider the most interesting recent [scientific] news?

The Real Story of How Amazon Built the Echo

The Real Story of How Amazon Built the Echo Telling Jeff Bezos he's wrong is always a frightening proposition. In the fall of 2014, though, a small group of the men and women building Amazon's new voice-controlled speaker felt they needed to confront the CEO. The release of the speaker was looming, and for the most part, things were falling into place.

Microsoft Just Struck a Major #Blockchain Deal With World's Leading Banks

Microsoft Just Struck a Major Blockchain Deal With World's Leading Banks While the financial world has largely dismissed the digital currency bitcoin, it has looked with interest on the technology behind it: blockchain (see infographic below). Now, tech companies are teaming up with financial and other industries to integrate blockchain into the latter's systems. And one tech giant may just have gotten a leg up over others.

This Segway-Based Robot Inventories an Entire Store in Less Than an Hour #jobs

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This Segway-Based Robot Inventories an Entire Store in Less Than an Hour Stock-taking is one of those awful jobs that robots are primed to take. A Toronto-based company is working hard to make that happen, with a Segway-based robot that rolls down the aisles, scanning as it moves. The "Space Genius" looks like a marginally less threatening Dalek, as it rolls down the aisles of a store, using 3D cameras to scan aisles and record stock.

Magic Leap releases new Demo Video #VR

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"Welcome to a new way to start your day. Shot directly through Magic Leap technology on April 8, 2016 without use of special effects or compositing." - Magic Leap

The Weekend Edition

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"Mixpanel: Introducing JQL, a query language to analyze and learn from data" “MOB PROGRAMMING CONFERENCE” Seven #UX principles to include in your content that will hook readers Frame.io meets Premiere Pro Lyft gaining on Uber as it spends big on growth ‘Guardians’ is a crazy Russian superhero movie starring a machine gun toting bear Google has started a video series on machine learning and I can understand it Articulating Design Decisions #ux 3D Stickers are the new Snapchat feature all your friends will be talking about

Dan Hon-An Internet for Humans Too #iot

Video of the Week: Dan Hon-An Internet for Humans Too - Web Directions One of our most popular presentations at any event ever was Dan Hon's "An Internet for Humans Too" at Web Directions 2014. A deep and rich meditation on many things, Dan argues that designing an internet of things that's for humans means understanding what the empathy gap is.

Drone racing to hit ESPN this year

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Drone racing to hit ESPN this year With a number of semi-professional leagues popping up around the world, drone racing has teetered on the edge of mainstream sport for a little while now. And a new broadcast deal certainly won't do its popularity any harm, with a series of race events to be showcased on ESPN later in the year.

Disney Parks Break Ground on 'Star Wars' Land

Disney Parks Break Ground on 'Star Wars' Land That galaxy far, far away just got a little closer. Disney announced Thursday that construction teams in Orlando and Anaheim have officially broken ground on the Star Wars lands at Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

Seven #UX principles to include in your content that will hook readers

7 UX Principles to Include in Your Content That Will Hook Readers | @contentmrktrapp I recently read an article on this blog by Jason Amunwa where he talks about treating your content like a startup. This is something I've always been sure to do, and intend on doing it for my new book too. But that's a product I intend to sell.

Goals in Google Calendar

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Goals are hard work. Whether you want to read more books, learn a new language or work out regularly, it's getting harder and harder to find the time even when your goal really matters to you. So today we're introducing Goals in Google Calendar. You add a personal goal—like “run 3 times a week”—and Calendar will schedule time automatically and then help you actually stick to it.

Man creates heavy metal version of iconic iPhone ringtone

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Man creates heavy metal version of iconic iPhone ringtone In a scenario that has undoubtedly played out countless times in offices, at parties, in dorms, houses, or basically anywhere there's a mass of people, individuals will hear the iPhone's default ringtone blaring and will instinctively reach for their pockets to see if their phone is the culprit.

Watch the first teaser trailer for Marvel's 'Doctor Strange'

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Watch the first teaser trailer for Marvel's 'Doctor Strange' A new Marvel superhero is getting his own movie this year, Doctor Strange . Played by Benedict Cumberbatch, neurosurgeon Stephen Vincent Strange becomes a person with special powers after he embarks on a multi-dimensional quest to fix his injured hands from a previous accident.

Steven Hawking, Mark Zuckerberg and Russian Billionaire to send tiny 'nanocraft' space probes to Alpha Centauri

Steven Hawking wants to send tiny 'nanocraft' space probes to Alpha Centauri "Today, we commit to this next great leap into the cosmos," Stephen Hawking said today in New York. "Because we are human, and our nature is to fly." The famed physicist was speaking at a press conference to launch Breakthrough Starshot, a new space initiative that promises to apply Silicon Valley thinking to space exploration.

The Steady UX Diet Versus the Magical #UX Pill

The Steady UX Diet Versus the Magical UX Pill By Dashiel Neimark "Is the team in a panic and scrambling for a magic UX pill? Or does a consistent intake of UX nutrients support the team's process?" No, this headline isn't a joke about the increasing popularity of the term Lean UX.

The Digital Canvas Is Here

The Digital Canvas Is Here I always loved the idea of the digital picture frame. It was the perfect solution to the problem so many of us face in the digital photography age: How can I get more of these pictures off my phone or digital camera, and into my life? Odd how they missed Artkick .

Blinded by the Light: A Connected Device for Smart Window Blinds #smarthome

Blinded by the Light: A Connected Device for Smart Window Blinds As I draft this article, I'm sitting at my desk with the sun beating down on me from a nearby window. It's hot. I am uncomfortable. Sure, I could get up, walk over to the window and close the blinds - but shouldn't they just do that for me? Automagically?

Right in our blind spot #ux

Right in our blind spot | iA https://ia.net/We make your clients happy. Work with iA to discover new business potential, plan your digital strategy and build efficient products and services. We run offices in Zurich, Tokyo and Berlin.

Singapore hails driverless taxis #jobs

Singapore hails driverless taxis Automotive Autonomous car software designer nuTonomy is looking to bring driverless taxis to the streets of Singapore. Following successful obstacle course tests, the company is in the process of seeking government approval to test its driverless technology on roads in the OneNorth business district, with plans to eventually offer the service at a cost comparable with public transport.

No Distractions Just Calls and Text Nicely Designed Phone

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Punkt's Retro-Function MP 01 Cell Phone Your American correspondent noticed something astonishing in Nuremberg. Each night after Holz-Handwerk I'd repair to a local café or restaurant, all of which were crowded at that hour. Among all of the patrons, not a single one was staring into their phone or photographing their food. They were all actually

Why we need a new kind of design discipline for on-demand platforms

Why we need a new kind of design discipline for on-demand platforms Over at Medium's WTF? Future of Work publication, our pal Marina Gorbis, exec director of Institute for the Future, and IFTF's Devin Fidler write about why we need new design principles for on-demand work platforms. Their creators have mastered the discipline of interaction design and brought it to new heights...

Robots work in sync at Amazon warehouses, a sign of things to come and #jobs to leave

Hands, heads and robots work in sync at Amazon warehouses Amazon's DuPont fulfillment center is a sort of laboratory for how the company is using robots to do much of its heavy lifting. But it also shows how the human workforce is not only necessary but superior in some respects.

The Weekend Edition

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Laid-Off Tech Journalist Joins A Start-Up, Finds It's Part Frat, Part Cult Losing Money Heavy metal T-shirts for inoffensive pop stars Facebook paying media companies to use Live Video, sources say New York Times, BuzzFeed, Huffington Post are some of those companies Solar Manufacturing Oversupply: Likely Exacerbating [pdf] The Pentagon Has No Idea Who to Call if There's a Cyber Attack Scholarship Search Tool and College Scholarship Finder App Scholly The 11-minute guide to a bulletproof #UX strategy Tech Giants Support Clean Power Sources to Reduce Carbon Emissions How to encrypt iPhone and Android, and why you should do it now Job Opening for CEO at Pied Piper Inspirational websites of the week

A fleet of autonomous trucks drove hundreds of miles across Europe, uh oh #jobs

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A fleet of autonomous trucks drove hundreds of miles across Europe for a week We can't purchase our very own self-driving cars just yet. Regulatory hurdles are still in the way and car makers aren't done testing autonomous vehicles to ensure that they're safe enough to mingle with regular traffic. However, truck manufacturers seem to be farther along, at least in Europe, where fleets of trucks drove themselves across the continent.

What sound does this animal make? Google just got better at answering that.

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What sound does this animal make? Google just got better at answering that. Do a Google search for 'animal noises.' You should see a field up at the top of your search results that shows images of various animals, and audio samples of a noise each of them makes. That list just got bigger, and includes more sounds: everything from raccoons to ducks to whales.

The #Blockchain for Education: An Introduction

The Blockchain for Education: An Introduction Is blockchain poised to be "the next big thing" in education? This has become a question I hear with increasing frequency about a technology that, up until quite recently, was primarily associated with the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. The subtext to the question, I suppose: do educators need to pay attention to the blockchain?

4 Tips for Designing Apple Watch Apps #ux

4 Tips for Designing Apple Watch Apps The global wearable technology marketplace is growing at a staggering rate, estimated to increase from $7.1 billion in 2015 to $12.6 billion by 2018. One of the hottest segments in that market is smartwatches. In the past year alone, smartwatch shipments have increased from 7.4 million units in 2014 to nearly 25 million units in 2015.

The Birth Of Midcentury Modernism, As Photographed By Its Architects

The Birth Of Midcentury Modernism, As Photographed By Its Architects Architectural photographers can make us fall in love with buildings -and today, smartphones and Instagram have given the medium new life, letting us act like spatial tourists, peering into structures that might not be accessible. But what about iconic buildings from the past, that may not be open to the public today?

Ikea has already found a great use for virtual reality

Ikea has already found a great use for virtual reality Virtual reality is here and products such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Samsung's Gear VR are ready to offer various types of VR experiences. And VR content doesn't have to be only about games, as Ikea will tell you. In fact, the Swedish furniture giant already has the right idea about using VR in unique, creative ways.

T-Mobile adds new Binge On and Music Freedom partners; launches tablet bundle offer

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T-Mobile adds new Binge On and Music Freedom partners; launches tablet bundle offer In March, T-Mobile added a handful of new partners to Binge On, which allows subscribers to stream content from select video providers without impacting their monthly high-speed data allotment. Now the magenta carrier is back with new additions to Binge On as well as Music Freedom, the music-specific streaming feature.

Heavy metal T-shirts for inoffensive pop stars

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Heavy metal T-shirts for inoffensive pop stars Rampant misspellings can't prevent this genius idea from resonating-heavy metal T-shirts for decidedly non-heavy-metal pop personalities, like Barbra Streisand (not "Barbera"), Phil Collins, Tom Jones, Celine Dion, and Justin Bieber (not "Beiber"). These designs have been bouncing around for a couple of years. If only they were actually for sale!

Driving Evolutionary Change with the #Kanban Method

Driving Evolutionary Change with the Kanban Method Posted on April 04, 2016 by David Anderson This is part 4 of my series looking at Kanban, organizational maturity and evolutionary change.

This infographic shows which jobs are most likely to become extinct due to robots

This infographic shows which jobs are most likely to become extinct due to robots In last week's Chart of the Week, we noted that 1.3 million industrial robots would be installed between 2015 and 2018, and this would more than double the stock of active robots around the world. While many of those robots will be used in the automotive and electronics sectors, there are many other roles that robots will be filling in the future.

The 'Uber moment' for banks is coming - and more than a million people could lose their jobs

CITI: The 'Uber moment' for banks is coming - and more than a million people could lose their jobs "Specifically, it will mean the shift to mobile distribution being the main channel of interaction between customers and the bank," the report reads. The Citi analysts predict a 40% to 50% staff reduction from pre-crisis highs.

The Weekend Edition

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The #UX of the Food Experience Design Team MIT presents tech that lets Wi-Fi point locate users to within centimeters, allowing room detection, geofencing Airbnb open-sources Caravel: data exploration and visualization platform The #UX of the Food Experience Design Team How Minecraft Is Helping Microsoft Advance AI Patterns of #Kanban Maturity Kuzzle: Open-source back end, self-hostable and ready to use Kasia - What did you forget to turn off today? How libraries can save the Internet of Things from the Web's centralized fate The EmDrive Finally Will Undergo Peer Review Surviving the Dying Career of Technical Writing

New trends in Chinese mobile UIs for 2016 #ux

New trends in Chinese mobile UIs for 2016 Dan Grover has updated his excellent annual survey of UI trends in Chinese mobile apps with a new installment that covers the t-shirt icon, the happy shopping bag, the moving SEND button, the rise of data-management apps and chatbots, and more.

THE SHOOTING TARGET – VALUE #KANBAN BOARD #agile

The Shooting Target - Value kanban board What is the best way to visualize value? That question has been bugging me since I finished reading "The Nature of Software Development" by Ron Jeffries. I first started to think about numbers. That 9 is more than 3, and thereby represents a "higher value". Instinctually I came to think of a shooting target.

How Asian test-prep companies quickly penetrated the new SAT

How Asian test-prep companies quickly penetrated the new SAT 中文 (Chinese translation) On the morning of Saturday, March 5, students gathered at test centers around the United States to take the SAT, the all-important college entrance exam. The day was momentous - not simply for the test-takers but also for the College Board, the not-for-profit that owns the exam.