tphb - Slashdot User

Samsung Unveils the First Monitor That Can Wirelessly Charge Your Phone 89

Posted by samzenpus on Monday July 27, 2015 @03:18PM from the watch-or-charge dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Samsung wants to reduce the number of cords in your house and has unveiled a new monitor that can wirelessly charge your smartphones. Called the SE370, Samsung says the monitor is the first of its kind to have this capability. The monitor comes in 23.6-inch and 27-inch sizes. According to Samsung : The SE370 "declutters work areas by doing away with unnecessary cables and ports needed to charge mobile devices. Along with superior picture quality, enhanced visual performance and thoughtful design, the monitor seamlessly integrates advanced technologies that offer both professionals and consumers an optimal viewing and usability experience."

Google Is Dropping Its Google+ Requirement Across All Products Including YouTube 172

Posted by samzenpus on Monday July 27, 2015 @02:35PM from the what's-in-a-name? dept.

An anonymous reader writes: After years of plugging Google+ into all of its services, today Google announced that your Google+ profile will no longer be your identity in all its products. The company says it will take a few months for all the changes to happen, but the first product to be uncoupled will be YouTube. Bradley Horowitz, Google's vice president of streams, photos, and sharing, says the changes are a response to user feedback: "We've also heard that it doesn't make sense for your Google+ profile to be your identity in all the other Google products you use."

For the Love of the Analytics of the Game: Before Beane, There Was AVM Systems 16

Posted by samzenpus on Monday July 27, 2015 @08:13AM from the run-the-numbers dept.

theodp writes: Those of you slugging your way through EdX's (free) Sabermetrics 101: Introduction to Baseball Analytics MOOC course might want to take a break from your R and SQL coding to check out Grantland's Before Beane, in which Ben Lindbergh tells the story of AVM Systems, the little-known company that jump-started sabermetrics and made Moneyball possible. Ken Mauriello, whose love-for-the-analytics-of-the-game led him to ditch a trading career to co-found AVM in the mid-90's, said of the early days, "Back in the day we weren't doing presentations [to skeptical MLB teams] with laptops. We were carrying around two enormous boxes with an enormous monitor and an enormous tower. It was like Planes, Trains & Automobiles traveling around with that stuff. Watching a great big Gateway box with your monitor come tumbling out upside down, and you pick it up and it's rattling. ... So we're in the hotel, saying, 'Please lord, let this thing work.'"

LinkedIn (Temporarily) Backs Down After Uproar At Contact Export Removal 42

Posted by samzenpus on Monday July 27, 2015 @07:27AM from the on-second-thought dept.

Mark Wilson writes: LinkedIn caused a storm a couple of days ago when it removed the option to instantly download contacts. Many users of the professional social network were more than a little irked to discover that while contact exporting was still available, a wait of up to three days had been put in place. Unsurprisingly, users revolted, having been particularly upset by the fact the change was implemented with no warning or announcement. But the company has managed to turn things around by quickly backtracking on its decision after listening to a stream of complaints on Twitter.

Smithsonian Increases Goal For Spacesuit Crowdfunding Effort 106

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday July 26, 2015 @11:26PM from the give-us-your-money dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The recently launched Kickstarter campaign by the Smithsonian to preserve Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 spacesuit has surpassed its goal. As of Saturday, the campaign raised about $525,000, and now The National Air and Space Museum has increased its goal to $700,000 in order to save Alan Shepard's Mercury spacesuit.

Submission + - Smithsonian increases goal for spacesuit crowdfunding effort

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 26, 2015 @09:21PM

An anonymous reader writes: The recently launched Kickstarter campaign by the Smithsonian to preserve Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 spacesuit has surpassed it's goal. As of Saturday, the campaign raised about $525,000 and now The National Air and Space Museum has increased its goal to $700,000 in order to save Alan Shepard's Mercury spacesuit.

Google Studies How Bad Interstitials Are On Mobile 259

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday July 26, 2015 @08:15PM from the end-of-the-line dept.

An anonymous reader writes: A Google study of their own Google+ site and app found that 69% of visitors abandoned the page when presented with the app interstitial. Google said it was getting rid of them and asked others to do the same. TechCrunch reports: "It's worth noting that Google's study was small scale, since the company was only looking at how an interstitial promoting the Google+ social service native app performed (and we don't know how many people it surveyed). It may very well be the case that visitors really didn't want the Google+ app specifically — and that Google+ itself is skewing the data. (Sadly Google is not offering comparative stats with, say, the Gmail app interstitial, so we can but speculate.)"

Submission + - China Lifts Ban On Video Game Consoles

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 26, 2015 @08:13PM

An anonymous reader writes: The Chinese government has decided to end its 15-year ban on video game consoles. In the year 2000 China imposed a blanket ban on video game consoles but started to allow them to be sold in the experimental free trade zone in Shanghai last year. The Independent reports: "It's good news for the companies that will now be able to operate in the country, where the gaming market is estimated to be worth $22.2 billion this year. China is second only to the gaming-crazy nation of Japan when it comes to gaming in Asia."

Gmail Messages Can Now Self-Destruct 204

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday July 26, 2015 @07:09PM from the in-10-seconds dept.

New submitter Amarjeet Singh writes: Dmail is a Chrome extension developed by the people behind Delicious, the social bookmarking app/extension. This extension allows you to set a self-destruct timer on your emails. You can use Dmail to send emails from Gmail as usual, but you will now have a button which can set an self destruct timer of an hour, a day or a week. Dmail claims it will also unlock a feature that won't allow forwarding, meaning only the person you sent your message to will be able to see it.

Intel Core I7-5775C Desktop Broadwell With Iris Pro 6200 Graphics Tested 75

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday July 26, 2015 @06:06PM from the running-the-numbers dept.

bigwophh writes: 14nm Broadwell processors weren't originally destined for the channel, but Intel ultimately changed course and launched a handful of 5th Generation Core processors based on the microarchitecture recently, the most powerful of which is the Core i7-5775C. Unlike all of the mobile Broadwell processors that came before it, the Core i7-5775C is a socketed, LGA processor for desktops, just like 4th Generation Core processors based on Haswell. In fact, it'll work in the very same 9-Series chipset motherboards currently available (after a BIOS update). The Core i7-5775C, however, features a 128MB eDRAM cache and integrated Iris Pro 6200 series graphics, which can boost graphics performance significantly. Testing shows that the Core i7-5775C's lower CPU core clocks limit its performance versus Haswell, but its Iris Pro graphics engine is clearly more powerful.

Submission + - Google Studies How Bad Interstitials Are On Mobile

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 26, 2015 @05:35PM

An anonymous reader writes: A Google study of their own Google+ site and app found that 69% of visitors abandoned the page when presented with the app interstitial. Google said it was getting rid of them and asked others to do the same. Techcrunch reports: "t’s worth noting that Google’s study was small scale, since the company was only looking at how an interstitial promoting the Google+ social service native app performed (and we don’t know how many people it surveyed). It may very well be the case that visitors really didn’t want the Google+ app specifically — and that Google+ itself is skewing the data. (Sadly Google is not offering comparative stats with, say, the Gmail app interstitial, so we can but speculate.)"

Tortoise Gets a new 3D Printed Shell After Forest Fire 57

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday July 26, 2015 @05:00PM from the we-can-build-it-stronger dept.

ErnieKey writes: Fred, a Red-Footed Tortoise in Santos, São Paulo, Brazil, was unfortunately caught up in a recent forest fire that deteriorated the majority of his shell. He needed a new shell in order to survive, so veterinarians in Santos teamed up with a dentist and a graphical designer to create a new 3D printed shell for Fred that was ultimately surgically placed on the tortoise. From the 3dPrint story: "Fred unfortunately came down with a terrible case of pneumonia post-surgery, which prevented him from eating for about a month and a half, but in the end survived and is now doing very well with his new 3D printed shell. The shell, which was printed with the same PLA material that is found on most desktop 3D printers, has been holding up very well, although researchers are not exactly sure how long it will hold up for or if Fred will be able to be released into the wild."

Windows 10's Automatic Updates For NVidia Drivers Causing Trouble 317

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday July 26, 2015 @04:03PM from the thats-no-good dept.

Mark Wilson writes: One of the features that has been removed from Windows 10 — at least for home users — is the ability to pick and choose when updates are installed. Microsoft has taken Windows Update out of the hands of users so the process is, for the most part, completely automated. In theory, this sounds great — no more worrying about having the latest patches installed, no more concerns that a machine that hasn't been updated will cause problems for others — but an issue with NVidia drivers shows that there is potential for things to go wrong. Irate owners of NVidia graphics cards have taken to support forums to complain that automatically-installed drivers installed have broken their computers.

Winklevoss Twins Get Closer To Launching Their Bitcoin Exchange 93

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday July 26, 2015 @03:05PM from the just-the-beginning dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Reuters has an update on the Winklevoss twins plan to launch a regulated Bitcoin exchange called Gemini. The two have filed a New York trust application necessary for them to launch their Gemini bitcoin exchange. If approved, the exchange would be able to accept deposits, and issue loans. The twins say they want to make digital currency mainstream in the United States.

How Amazon Could Drive Blended Reality Into The Living Room 16

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday July 26, 2015 @02:08PM from the more-real-than-real dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Here's an interesting story on TechCrunch joining the dots on Amazon's interest in computer vision and its connected speaker-plus-virtual assistant in-home device, the Amazon Echo. The author speculates that if Amazon adds a camera to the Echo the device could be used for augmented reality-powered virtual try-ons of products such as clothes, streaming the results to the user's phone or TV. From the article: "The product development process for Microsoft's Kinect sensor took around four to five years from conception to shipping a consumer product. The computer vision field has clearly gained from a lot of research since then, and Woodford reckons Amazon could ship an Echo sensor in an even shorter timeframe — say, in the next two years — provided the business was entirely behind the idea and doing everything it could to get such a product to market."

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