TechnologyIQ

A Tiny Robot Family via Hack A Day Back in the late 80s and early 90s, a lot of young electronics hobbyists cut their teeth with BEAM robots – small robots made with logic chips and recycled walkmans that tore a page from papers on neural nets and the AI renaissance of the 80s. Twenty years later, a second AI renaissance never happened because a generation of genius programmers decided the best use of their mental faculties was to sell ads on the Internet. We got the Arduino, though, and the tiny robot family is a more than sufficient spiritual successor to the digital life of the old BEAM bots. Read More "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

Apple will no longer develop Aperture or iPhoto, OS X Yosemite Photos app to serve as replacement via AppleInsider   Apple on Friday revealed that development on Aperture, its professional-grade photo editing application, has ceased, leaving Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro as its only remaining flagship pro-oriented Mac apps. Read More "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

Moodies Emotions Analytics     iOS   I am always interesting in investigating the more esoteric uses for my iPhone and other technology. Moodies is an app that claims to divine your mood using only your voice. I have only played around with it a bit, but it does seem to reflect my mood at the time, but I need to test it it out with other people and see what they think of the analysis. I know, for myself, that I am not always the most observant of my own moods. I can be caught up in them and not notice I am anxious or stressed until someone points it out. Moodies might be interesting to help me be aware of my moods more often.   From the iTunes App Store... Your mood in 20 seconds. Just press a button and talk. Intrigued by emotions? Want to know how sentiment look like? Curious to understand how you and your colleagues feel as you speak, right now? Moodies is providing the answer - all with a press of a button. Based on 18 year of research into the science of emotions, M...

VoxyPAD: Clever iOS tool for real-time sharing of photos and docs via TAUW VoxyPAD (free) is an innovative and easy to use app for sharing and annotating documents, photos and web pages with others while talking about those shared items in real time.  Read More "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

US Supreme Court To Cops: 'Get A Warrant' To Search Cellphones via Business Insider The Supreme Court unanimously ruled Wednesday that police generally may not search cellphones of arrested individuals without first obtaining a search warrant. Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the opinion of the court. Roberts wrote that cellphones are powerful tools that are able to store a "digital record of nearly every aspect" of people's lives. Consequently, they are different from almost anything police find on a person upon arrest. A search of a person's cellphone is far more invasive to one's privacy, Roberts said, than a search of the person's wallet or purse. "It is no exaggeration to say that many of the more than 90% of American adults who own a cellphone keep on their person a digital record of nearly every aspect of their lives — from the mundane to the intimate," Roberts wrote. Read More  "Noted" items are particularly good f...

littleBits – open source maker kit promises a world of delight for wannabe nerds of any age via The Red Ferret Making machines and projects out of various different objects is a pasttime that never gets old. But your creations generally don’t come with a huge selection of electronic components to choose from, nor do they snap together as easily as LEGO kits do. Until now. littleBits is an open source library of electronics modules designed for children, young and old, who love making things. All kinds of things. Each adorably small circuit board has a pre-programed purpose which can include light, sound, buttons, motors, etc. The pieces cleverly use magnets to stay together, which means no soldering or wiring required. It’s all snap-on plug and play. Read More "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

Google’s Chromecast to get Android mirroring, ‘Backdrop’ slideshows and casting from nearby devices via The Next Web Later this year, Google will update Chromecast so that anyone can choose and control the content being streamed on the device – even if they’re not on the same Wi-Fi network as the tiny dongle. Essentially, Chromecast owners will be able to authenticate users in the nearby area. This means that if they’re on a cellular network – either because they can’t be bothered to type in a Wi-Fi password, or because you just don’t trust them with it – they can still access the Chromecast. Read More Get your own Chromecast * A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

Heavens-Above - Satellite and Space Station Tracking and Viewing Did you ever wonder just what was sweeping by above your head as you sit sipping your iced tea on a summer night? Heavens Above is the place to find out. Once you select your position on the globe, this web site will show you what satellites and space stations might be passing overhead. Using the detailed charts, you can even watch for them as they pass by. You can also get information on the more traditional star gazing targets, including a map of the sky at your current location and time.

Halfbrick giving away its iOS games for a limited time, even Fruit Ninja from TAUW The game developers at Halfbrick have created a large catalog of fun, quirky iOS games over the last four years that span a wide range of genres and tastes. You want to kill waves of zombies in adorable fashion? Age of Zombies is right there for you. Fantasize about destroying fruit like a martial arts master? Fruit Ninja turns your fingers into swords. Maybe you're a casual gamer who just wants to help jumping fish fight against an ever-changing climate? Fish Out of Water! is ready to fill that need. And now, for a limited time, you can fill those needs for free.  Read More "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

Introducing the New LinkedIn Job Search App for iPhone via Linkedin   Did you know that applicants who apply to job opportunities on the first day they’re posted are 10% more likely to land the job? That means that if you are an active job seeker, your job search can’t stop just because you’ve stepped away from your desk. Launching today, the new LinkedIn Job Search app for iPhone provides a one-stop shop for your job seeking needs. Whether you are actively on the hunt for a new gig or just keeping an eye out, the new app comes packed with the core LinkedIn features you’ve come to rely on to help manage your job search, including: A streamlined end-to-end experience: Landing your dream job can feel like a full-time job. So we wanted to make it easier to find, research, and apply for your next opportunity by maximizing your “in between” moments. The next time you’re in a line for coffee or stuck waiting for a delayed flight, why not jump start your job search from your phone. Custo...

Originally published a part of the End of the Day series on My Word with Douglas E. Welch Through the years I have always been thankful to not have addictive traits or personality. Sure, I can get focused on things sometimes, but nothing that even comes close to clinical OCD. That said, today I seemed to be flirting with it. A small technical issue with my computer has occupied my mind for hours and I just can't escape it. Thankfully, I actually noticed what was happening and was able to force myself to step away from it for a while. Even then, though, it drew me back in a few hours later. Now, one of the best traits of an troubleshooter, regardless of what they are troubleshooting, the ability to be tenacious when faced with an issue. Over the years, I have face some very difficult issues, with only a few beating me. Unfortunately, there have also been times when I "went down the rabbit hole" on a problem and made myself rather miserable. It is always a danger when y...

Swarm by Foursquare     iOS  |  Android   Swarm is the next evolution of the Foursquare check-in app and system and will eventually replace the original Foursquare app. The company is attempting to make it easier to see which friends are near you and what they are doing, so you can arrange face-to-face meet ups. Swarm also includes a "Plans" feature where you can announce your intentions to your friends so that they might join you.   From the iTunes App Store... Swarm, the new app from Foursquare, is the fastest way to keep up and meet up with your friends. With Swarm, you can easily see who’s out nearby and who wants to hang out later. - Want to meet up with friends? Quickly open up the app to see who is out nearby. - Want to share what you’re doing? Checking in is faster and more fun than ever. - Got an idea for something fun to do? Easily message all of your nearby friends.   Previously in "On my iPhone/Android…": FlightView Free - Real-Time Fl...

Charging portable electronics will be super-fast, widely accessible via Kurzweil Accelerating Intelligence Two innovations for on-the-go mobile-device users seeking a quick charge are in the works: Starbucks plans to install wireless charging devices in all of its stores; and a new battery design could enable rapid charging of lithium-ion batteries in ten minutes. Starbucks stores will have “Powermat Spots” — designated areas on tables and counters where customers can place their compatible device and charge them wirelessly. The system uses inductive coupling, which can charge nearby devices. Read More "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

The Ultimate Guide to set up and start using Siri via iPhone Hacks One of the coolest things about your new iOS device is that you can do so many things with it using just your voice, thanks to Siri. As a voice command-controlled personal assistant, Siri can quickly phone your contacts, send a text, tweet or email, search the web, tell you about the weather, launch your favorite apps, set alarms and organize your calendar, play music and even read you a book — and all you have to do is ask. Read More "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

Noted: Powerful worm on Twitter unleashes torrent of out-of-control tweets via Ars Technica Twitter on Wednesday was briefly overrun by a powerful computer worm that caused tens of thousands of users to tweet a message that contained self-propagating code exploiting a bug in the TweetDeck app. Read More "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

Monitor the Activity of Your Installed Chrome Apps and Extensions via LifeHacker Want to know what your installed Chrome apps and extensions are really up to? Google's Chrome App and Extensions Developer Tool will help you audit the activity behind those apps and extensions. Read More "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

HearthStone I am not a big gamer, but Joseph introduced me to this card game when it became available for the iPad. It was nice to have something to clear the mind between projects, so I started playing it there. Now there is a version for the Mac, so I can also play it here in the office when I wish. HearthStone uses the standard Battle.net servers, so any progress I make on one platform is also reflected when I play on any other platform. Hearthstone is easy to start, but there is also a lot of strategic depth to be learned as you level up. Once you unlock all the champions you can start playing against human opponents, too, not just the AI. From the HearthStone web site... Sheathe your sword, draw your deck, and get ready for Hearthstone - the fast paced strategy card game that's easy to learn and massively fun. Start a free game on Battle.net and play your cards to sling spells, summon creatures, and command the heroes of Warcraft in duels of epic strategy. Previously ...

Raspberry Pi Offers Resources for Educators At Maker Faire Bay Area 2014, Clive Beale, director of educational development at The Raspberry Pi Foundation, spoke to Make: about its roots as an educational platform and how their audience at Maker Faire has evolved. The team has recently launched a new section of their website to support teachers, learners, and makers with free resources. “We really want to support any teachers, any educators, who want to pick up a Raspberry Pi and use it to teach young people programming,” said Clive. “We are here to support that; that’s really our reason for being here.” Read More and Watch the Video "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

FlightView Free - Real-Time Flight Tracker and Airport Delay Status     iOS | Android   My wife has been flying a lot on business lately, and Flightview has been very useful in tracking her progress. It is easy to track and receive notification for each separate leg of the journey, automatically send notifications for delayed flights and tracks the flight progress in both graphical and text form. I used it a few weeks ago and it was great to be able to passively track her progress without having to constantly check the app or my email.   From the iTunes App Store... Free Flight tracking app from the leaders in real-time flight information. Track upcoming and in-air flights, and receive status alerts via push notification. Check gate assignments, delays and cancellations and use the attractive flight map to see a flight's progress. Forward your itinerary confirmation emails and FlightView will automatically load them into your Trips. See your Trips across mobile devices...

Agora Creates Custom Spaces to Easily Compare Products - Lifehacker Chrome: Comparison shopping is always kind of a pain and it's even worse if you're trying to do something more complicated like put together a PC (or just an outfit). Agora is a Chrome extension that makes that process a little easier by giving you a place to organize your shopping where it's easy to compare everything. Read More "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

(Originally posted to My Word with Douglas E. Welch as part of the End of the Day series -- Douglas) About 2 years ago, we finally decided to turn off our cable television account, return our cable boxes and rely on over-the-air broadcasts again. While the thought of living with "rabbit ears" didn't really thrill me, we were only watching about 5 shows from broadcast TV. Joseph had long outgrown NickJr and Nickelodeon -- his major viewing. We didn't subscribe to any pay channels and looking over the all the channels we COULD watch, we only really would ever watch about 10 of them. So, once the cable bill topped over $100 it was time to turn it off. First, we needed a decent antenna to receive the HD over-the-air (OTA) digital broadcasts. Too many people think that when we turned off the analog broadcasting system a few years ago it turned off ALL over-the-air broadcasts. In fact, there is more content to be found, for free, over-the-air than ever before. Looking ab...

Instagram Lets You Make Filters More Subtle, Adds New Editing Options from LIfehacker iOS/Android: Instagram is releasing a major update today, allowing you to adjust how much of a filter you apply to a photo, along with other editing tools.P Read More "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

Apple's Swift is a new programming language with a focus on speed and ease of use from Engadget Apple's used Objective-C as its programming language of choice for right around 20 years now, but it's brought something new to its yearly developer conference: Swift, a new tongue of its own making. Apple describes its new lingua franca as "Objective-C without the C," but it keeps (and improves on) the speed of its progenitors. Even if you don't know what those terms mean, it's easy to pick up that apps iOS and OS X developers build with Swift should run even smoother and faster than counterparts made with the Objective-C language they've been using. According to the folks from Cupertino, Swift can be used to craft anything from social networking apps to 3D games. Read More "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

OS X Yosemite will be available for free this fall from Engadget Apple just announced that its latest desktop operating system, OS X Yosemite, will be available as a free upgrade to Mac users later this fall. Developers, meanwhile, will have access to it starting today. In addition to this, Apple revealed that, through its public beta program, some non-developer folks can start playing with the new version of OS X in the summer. Yosemite brings a completely redesigned user interface and deep integration with iOS, to highlight a couple of things. We'll likely hear more about Apple's OS X Yosemite in the days to come; for now, stay tuned to our WWDC liveblog to get more Apple-related coverage. Read More "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

HardReset Has Reset Instructions for Virtually Any Smartphone from Lifehacker If you get a used phone, need to troubleshoot yours, or want to wipe one before selling it, you'll need to do a hard reset. HardReset.info is a simple site with one purpose: Give you detailed instructions on how to do a hard reset on that phone, whatever model it may be. P  Read more "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

** Humin is only registering for beta testers at the moment, but you can submit your email address for future notification when they go live -- Douglas First Look at Humin, the App That Wants to Take Over Your Phone from Mashable Many of the most popular iOS apps are ones that replace Apple's stock apps: Calendar, email and messaging clients are all consistently at the top of the charts in iTunes. But there's one app that comes on every iPhone that doesn't get much attention from third parties — the actual phone app. But a new app wants to do for the phone app what WhatsApp did for messaging, or what Mailbox did for email. In short, Humin wants to be your new phone Read more "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here

Google is building 180 satellites to spread internet access worldwide from Engadget Google's plans for satellite-based internet access just got a little more concrete. The Wall Street Journal hears that the search firm is preparing to build 180 "small, high capacity" satellites (not pictured here) that will go into low orbit and provide internet connections to underserved areas. While details aren't forthcoming about the machines, there may be more on the way; reportedly, the company could "double" its vehicle count if all goes well. A spokeswoman didn't confirm or deny the efforts, but did note that having an internet link "significantly improves people's lives." Read more   "Noted" items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.     Find more Noted items here