Tuesday, 28 January 2014
Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 now available to pre-order in the UK for £649
BlackBerry targets developing markets with Gingerbread BBM app
El Magic Plane de WestJet, una de las libreas más impresionantes que jamás hayamos visto
Opines lo que opines de Mickey Mouse y la Disney la librea de el 737-800 C-GWSZ de WestJet es una de las más impresionantes que hayamos visto nunca, y seguro que se convierte en el objetivo de muchos spotters de los destinos a los que vuela la aerolínea canadiense.
Lleva 36 colores distintos que un equipo de 26 personas necesitó 24 días de trabajo sin parar para aplicar, proceso en el que además ingirieron al menos 150 donuts.
Los dos lados del avión son iguales salvo un pequeño detalle que WestJet no revela y que será otro motivo más para que los spotters no se pierdan detalle.
WestJet calcula que en los próximos cinco años el Magic Plane llevará a unos 400.000 pasajeros y que recorrerá la friolera de unos ocho millones de kilómetros.
(Vía AirlineRepoter).
- Aviones de todos los colores y para todos los gustos, sobre cómo van pintados los aviones.
- Time lapse del ensamblado y pintado del Boeing 737 «Florida One», otro avión muy trabajadito.
- 4.000 caras en un 777 de KLM, y este tampoco se queda corto.
via Microsiervos http://ift.tt/1hJRYTs
Samsung's Galaxy Grand Neo melds ultra-basic specs with a mid-size screen
Opportunity: diez años en Marte y contando
Autorretrato de Oppportunity en enero de 2014
Hace años que su rueda frontal derecha dejó de funcionar, por lo que desde entonces tiene que moverse por Marte marcha atrás.
Su brazo robot muestra síntomas de artritis, por lo que también hace tiempo que no se puede recoger del todo, con lo que además de rodar hacia atrás tiene que hacerlo con el brazo medio estirado.
Dos de sus detectores de minerales ya no funcionan.
Ha tenido algunos problemas de memoria.
Está cubierto de polvo, como se puede ver en la foto de ahí arriba, en especial sus paneles solares, de los que depende para obtener energía, por lo que estos distan mucho de poder operar al 100 %.
PIA07372: Opportunity Self-Portrait, Sols 322-323:Opportunity en diciembre de 2004, cuando llevaba menos de un año sobre la superficie de Marte
Pero a pesar de todo, nadie puede echarle nada en cara a Opportunity y a su equipo, pues si bien la misión estaba diseñada originalmente para durar 90 días el pasado 25 de enero de 2014 este rover celebraba, aún en funcionamiento, los diez años de su llegada a Marte.
Primeros momentos de Opportunity en Marte, aún dentro del módulo de descenso
Durante todo este tiempo Opportunity ha recorrido 38,73 kilómetros, lo que a 23 de enero de 2014 le hace poseedor del récord de distancia recorrida sobre la superficie de otro mundo, y ha llevado a cabo numerosos descubrimientos, en especial al confirmar una y otra vez que las evidencias apuntan a que Marte en el pasado fue mucho más caliente y que sobre su superficie existió abundante agua en estado líquido, aunque demasiado ácida para que en ella vivieran organismos como los que conocemos en la Tierra.
Pero en 2013 también descubrió arcillas cuya composición permitiría que en ellas vivieran algunos tipos de microbios como los que hay en la Tierra, y más recientemente encontró también pruebas de que en Marte también hubo agua con pH neutro en la que sí podría haber vivido algún tipo de organismo.
Arcillas de agua dulce
Todo esto, en cualquier caso, no quiere decir que en Marte haya habido vida en el pasado sino que en algún momento nuestro vecino fue compatible con la vida, al menos tal y como la conocemos.
Durante buena parte de su estancia en Marte, de hecho llegó allí antes que él, Oportunity estuvo acompañado por su rover gemelo, Spirit, que recorrió también un buen número de kilómetros sobre la superficie del planeta antes de quedar atrapado en un banco de arena y no poder obtener la energía suficiente para sobrevivir a su cuarto invierno en Marte; la última comunicación con Spirit tuvo lugar en 2010 y en mayo de 2011 su misión fue dada oficialmente por terminada.
Los dos, junto con el equipo de personas que los manejan, han escrito una de las más grandes historias de la exploración espacial en los últimos años, que nos ha permitido reescribir mucho de lo que sabíamos o creíamos saber sobre Marte, y que Daniel Marín resume con todo lujo de detalles en La odisea de Spirit y Opportunity, los infatigables exploradores marcianos (10 años de los MER).
Desde agosto de 2013 Opportunity vuelve a no estar solo con la llegada de Curiosity a Marte, otro rover de la NASA que con un poco de suerte durará también bastantes años.
- Roving Mars, un libro sobre la concepción y lanzamiento de la misión escrito por Steven Squyres, su investigador principal.
via Microsiervos http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/ciencia/opportunity-diez-anos-en-marte-y-contando.html
Lance Ulanoff Out As Editor Of Mashable
Lance Ulanoff, former editor-in-chief of PCMag.com, has been move to an editor-at-large and chief correspondent position at Mashable, effectively removing him from the EIC position at that title.
A source close to the move said Jim Roberts, executive editor and chief content officer, demoted him, saying “there was too much overlap in their positions.” Roberts is a New York Times veteran.
Ulanoff took the Mashable position in September 2011. Roberts left the NYT in October 2013 and began to reposition himself in the primary editor. To make room for Ulanoff, former editor-in-chief Adam Ostrow was exiled to a position of Executive Editor with few duties and virtually no one reporting to him. Ostrow has since been promoted to Chief Strategy Officer.
We’ve reached out to Ulanoff and will update.
via TechCrunch » Startups http://ift.tt/1b1F1mX
CyberpowerPC stuffs full-size graphics into a tiny gaming desktop
Line 6's Amplifi duo claims to 'reinvent' guitar amps with Bluetooth streaming and iOS controls
Science, Inc.-Backed HomeHero Launches To Help Families Find, Hire, And Manage In-Home Care For Seniors
Any family that has spent any time caring for aging parents, grandparents or those with special needs knows how stressful it can be, and how much energy is required, to manage in-home care. From keeping track of and organizing appointments, contacts and medications to finding and coordinating with the best caregivers, the process can feel like a full-time job — let alone having to worry about keeping all of that information private and secure.
That’s where HomeHero comes in. Backed by L.A.-based incubator and studio, Science, Inc., HomeHero is launching today on a mission to build a layer of trust in the senior care market and help families reduce the headache inherent to finding, hiring and managing in-home care for seniors. After struggling to find quality, affordable care for their elderly grandparents, Kyle Hill and Mike Townsend began building HomeHero last year to help alleviate some of the stress that many families experience when trying to find care for aging loved ones.
Part of the stress many families endure during this process comes from trying to find the best in-home care they can afford, while allowing aging relatives to stay in their homes — the issue around which the whole care process and discussion revolves once aging loved ones actually admit that care is needed. Over the years, it’s been the focal point for many-a-family discussion (or arguments) the world over.
After his grandfather passed away, says co-founder Kyle Hill, his family watched as his grandmother’s health deteriorated at a rate they hadn’t anticipated, and they were forced to move quickly to find caregivers as a result. But finding an experienced, vetted caregiver ended up being a much bigger headache then they expected and, once they did find one, they found it extremely difficult to manage that care at a distance.
Over the last 30 years, Hill says, the average age of elderly people leaving their home for full-time, managed care has increased from 74 to 90, and the average distance between the elderly and the closest adult child has jumped from 32 miles to 56 miles. So, when the founders began building HomeHero, they set out to develop a product that would “consolidate in-home care services into a simple platform” and one that “families could begin using right away,” without any barriers to entry.
To do so, the Santa Monica-based startup is introducing two main products at launch, beginning with HomeHero Connect, which the founders describe as a simple tool designed to help families manage independent caregivers by giving them access to timesheet tracking, daily activity summaries (with audio recording), emergency phone alerts and automated payments.
The second is HomeHero Marketplace, through which families managing care for aging loved ones can access a marketplace of hundreds of experienced and vetted caregivers, which includes high-definition video profiles, background checks, social references and customer reviews. Families can also view caregivers by location, plotted on a map, and use HomeHero’s search tool to filter caregivers by gender, number of reviews, years of experience and language.
At launch, the marketplace will focus on caregivers in Southern California, with the geographical coverage expected to expand in the coming months, Hill says, but anyone (in any location) will be able to access HomeHero Connect and the startup’s in-home care management tools.
As to how caregivers are screened, the founders say that each is subject to a “rigorous certification process,” which includes an in-person interview, entrance exam and background check. The vetting process also takes into account references from past clients, Townsend says. The rates start at $15/hour and increase from there, but the idea, the founders say, is to allow families to avoid having to rely on third-party agencies, putting the ability to discover, hire and monitor that care back into their hands without the extra cost.
In terms of its target audience, the HomeHero co-founders say that caregivers listed in their marketplace run the gamut, but most will be able to accomplish everything from basic chores and housekeeping to the most sensitive personal needs. The idea, Hill and Townsend tell us, is to provide access to caregivers that can provide round-the-clock care and daily assistance to less regular, weekly drop-ins, for example.
Furthermore, as it can feel like a big risk for families to hire caregivers when they’re half-way across the country — because it is — to ensure the safety of its customers and their loved ones, HomeHero has a $1 million insurance policy to cover both bodily injury and property damage in the event of an accident. For those who are looking for extra assurance and peace of mind, once a family is up and running on the startup’s platform, caregivers have the ability to clock-in and clock-out from any phone, landline or cell, using HomeHero to provide daily summaries and voice recordings.
While it make seem like a niche tool to those not familiar with the process of managing in-home care for elderly loved ones, the fact of the matter is that care management still lives predominantly offline and happens through a mish-mash of online and offline networks and tools. Traditionally, in-home care can be an expensive proposition, and it’s not one that families enter into lightly, which means that those who can provide easier, more affordable alternatives — and access to caregivers that are actually experienced and trustworthy — could stand to benefit from an active and loyal customer base.
While the problem remains and the demand is increasing as people live longer and the elderly stay in their homes for longer and longer, HomeHero is far from being alone in tackling this market. CareZone, the NEA-backed startup founded by former Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz, is also building out a private, secure online service, which allows people and families to better take care of their loved ones — whether aging parents, children or those with special needs.
Other startups are tackling individual pieces of the in-home and care facility pipeline, including Silver Living, which is building a “consumer reports” for senior care communities, or those like TenderTree, which focus on the caregiver marketplace side of the market. Nonetheless, there’s still plenty of green-field ahead for these players, and, albeit after some serious customer education and awareness-raising, plenty of opportunity.
via TechCrunch » Startups http://ift.tt/1b4WB6l
Cloze Launches Circulate.it For Easier Team Content Sharing
Cloze, a startup that helps users manage their messages on email and social networks, is launching a new tool today that helps teams circulate content through those channels. It’s called, appropriately enough, Circulate.it.
Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer Alex Coté said that if you’re “an executive sales guy” or a member of a sales or marketing team, you probably feel like you should be sharing interesting content, or content that reflects well on your company, but the actual process of doing so can be “very painful,” particularly when you’re trying to get the rest of your team to share.
With Circulate.it, the Cloze team is trying to make things as simple as possible. There are browser extensions for sharing content in Chrome, Safari, and Firefox, as well as a bookmarklet for mobile, but the real improvement is in what happens after someone shares content with the rest of their team. Shared content can be sent out individually or aggregated in a daily newsletter (Coté said the format was “Medium-inspired”). The newsletter comes with a big “share” button, and assuming you’ve authorized Circulate.it to post to your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn account, it only takes a couple of clicks for each person to share.
Behind the scenes, Circulate.it handles the scheduling of each post, so you don’t have to worry about spacing things out (you can also adjust the timing for things like embargoes). It also offers analytics data, so people can see whose sharing is the most effective.
Now you may be wondering if sharing an article on Facebook is all that hard, and I agree with you that it really isn’t. But again once you try to get large groups of people to share, things get complicated (another startup Addvocate has also tackled the problem) and Coté said you start dealing with people who “can barely spell Twitter,” and they certainly aren’t using more advanced tools like HootSuite.
Circulate.it offers a free plan for individuals. Its team plans start at $49 per month for 25 users.
via TechCrunch » Startups http://ift.tt/1fkjnf7
Fashion GPS Updates Radar App To Streamline Search, Style Requests
The fashion industry, one of the oldest industries in the world, has historically been resistant to technological innovation. But Fashion GPS is on a mission to change that, most recently with the introduction of the newly updated Fashion GPS Radar app.
GPS Radar, one of many apps provided by Fashion GPS, lets fashion bloggers, editors, buyers, or anyone else in the industry organize their fashion week and keep track of their favorite looks.
With the update, Fashion GPS is bringing in some features from other apps to make GPS Radar a more full-featured experience.
Now, editors, bloggers, and buyers can not only keep track of their Fashion Week, but they can browse designer looks and request samples for those looks all from the same app.
This is a big change for Fashion GPS, which has always kept its applications separate based on use cases.
The update is also bringing with it the ability to search by designer, season or agency, as well as by fabric, color or clothing type.
“The biggest challenge we will face in 2014, especially with the roll-out of products like requesting on GPS Radar or via GPS Styles, is the adaptation of the industry,” said founder and CEO Eddie Mullen. “Based on previous experience we are confident that while adoption may be slow, once brands begin to use this tool to streamline the hundreds of sample/image requests they receive and editors learn how to access samples from hundreds of brands using their Radar app, it will certainly create yet another behavioral shift in the industry.”
In 2010, Fashion GPS had around 50 percent of brands using their products, and that has since grown to around 95 percent today.
via TechCrunch » Startups http://ift.tt/1ndGyeB
Autorretratos de astronautas, esos sí son «selfies» que merecen la pena
Autorretrato de Buzz Aldrin durante la misión Gemini 12
Ya hemos dicho muchas veces que los autorretratos de astronautas son de lo mejorcito que hay por ahí, con permiso de los de los pilotos de caza.
Karen Nyberg en la Estación Espacial Internacional
En Selfies In Space! hay una galería de este tipo de fotos tomadas tanto fuera como dentro de las naves espaciales; incluso hay algún autorretrato de un robot.
via Microsiervos http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/ciencia/autorretratos-astronautas-son-selfies-que-merecen-la-pena.html
Build anything you want with Legos, in Chrome
European Carpooling Site BlaBlaCar Rides Into Russia And Ukraine Via Acquisition
The carpooling race in Europe has yet to produce a definitive winner, as Germany’s Carpooling.com and France’s BlaBlaCar continue to go head-to-head. Today, the latter is making its next move: BlaBlaCar is riding into Russia and the Ukraine — in part via an acquisition of local player, Podorozhniki. The price remains undisclosed.
It’s actually the fourth time BlaBlaCar has expanded via acquisition, although this is the first time outside of the European Union.
The company cites Podorozhniki’s early traction in the CIS market and its strong three-person team, led by founder Aleksey Lazorenko, as reasons for the purchase, and continuation of a strategy to gobble up the best local talent as a means to enter new markets. Also of note, Podorozhniki is backed by the Russian seed investor Arkady Moreynis.
Founded in 2006, BlaBlaCar taps into the collaborative consumption phenomenon — long before anybody called it that — by offering a carpooling or ridesharing marketplace that connects drivers with empty seats to paying passengers, helping to offset long distance travel costs.
Drivers can charge passengers through BlaBlaCar or directly, while there are a number of security mechanisms, such as phone number authentication and user ratings of members, resulting in trust being an important element of its platform.
In January last year, the Paris-headquartered startup raised an additional $10 million from Accel Partners, and existing investors ISAI and Cabiedes Partners, specifically for European expansion. It operates country-specific sites for the UK, France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Italy, Germany — and now Russia and the Ukraine.
Noteworthy is that rival Carpooling.com doesn’t yet have a Russian language property, so isn’t targeting the CIS region specifically. In terms of overall numbers, BlaBlaCar currently claims 6 million members, up from 3 million last April, no doubt helped by its recent acquisitions, with 1 million people make journeys using its site per-month. In contrast, Carpooling.com claims over 5 million members, with 1.3 million people carpooling each month.
via TechCrunch » Startups http://ift.tt/1b4WBDr
Issui Enomoto, Yokohama fotografiada desde un taxi
Aunque trabaje en un taxi para ganarse la vida Issui Enomoto se asegura de tener siempre una cámara a mano cuando está en el coche para poder captar lo que se va encontrando según recorre Yokohama.
Gente, árboles, edificios, otros coches, viaductos… Para él todos esos son los elementos que conforman su ciudad como si fueran un gran mar, y él los va recogiendo y poniendo en contexto mediante fotografías de exposiciones múltiples como las que se pueden ver en Taxi in the Sea .
(Vía @cazurro).
- David Bradford, Nueva York fotografiada desde un taxi, un caso parecido, pero en otra ciudad y usando otras técnicas.
via Microsiervos http://ift.tt/1gna6Gh