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Submission + - How to make IOS's Find My Friends to use Google Maps rather than Apple Maps?

Submitted by xmas2003
xmas2003 writes: Find My Friends is a very useful app on the iPhone but has a major weakness when one is snow skiing ... all you see is relative locations on National Forest Land. This is because Apple Maps does NOT show the location of the ski lifts ... whereas Google Maps has had this for ~4 years ... which allows you to easily see where you are relative to your friends.

While ideally Apple Maps would add ski lift mapping information (hint, hint to any Apple'ers reading this), does anyone know of a workaround to get IOS's Find My Friends on the iPhone to use Google Maps instead of Apple Maps?

Submission + - Internet of Things - Controllable Christmas Lights

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: For over a decade, Alek's Controllable Christmas Lights have been a festive online holiday tradition for millions of Internet users world-wide, so it was sadly the end of an era last year, when the Griswold wanna-be hung up his Santa Hat in 2014. But with the "Internet of Things" being the rage these days, it didn't take long for another Griswold to emerge from the North Pole, or at least pretty darn close to it. Ken Woods from Fairbanks, Alaska has his house online 24 hours a day with a dozen ON/OFF buttons that Internet users can use to toggle his lights with a click of a mouse. Here's a video of it in action and he uses Amazon EC2 to power it online. While that all looks real, low-UID /.'ers will remember that Alek did a simulation from 2002-2004 using Perl code to switch between a series of images. Looks like the prankster dusted off that code for the Control Christmas Lights.com website

I, for one, welcome our new Griswold Overlords with a big HO-HO-HO

Comment SEC Filing where it was disclosed and more info (Score 4, Interesting) 54

by xmas2003 (#50280009) Attached to: Tech Firm Ubiquiti Suffers $46M Cyberheist
Here's the SEC Filing that got the ball rolling on this unfortunate situation.
There's also some info in the WSJ writeup.

Their CFO had left in April and their Chief Accounting Officer just resigned ... unknown how those relate to what happened.

Bummer to see this happen to Ubiquiti as they seem like a good company.

Comment Would completely change eye industry ... (Score 2) 70

by xmas2003 (#50186315) Attached to: Eye Drops Could Dissolve Cataracts
Currently, cataract surgery is the most commonly performed operation - millions every year in the United States alone. This sounds a bit too good to be true ... but if it actually worked, it would have a HUGE impact on the eye industry.

The real holy grail would be if it also restored the flexibility of the lens so you would get your accommodation back.

Submission + - Internet Controllable Halloween Decorations still going strong

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Controllable Halloween Decorations for Celiac Disease have allowed Internet Users to view and control (for real!) Alek Komarnitsky's house for a decade.

While the Halloween decorations have evolved over the years (every house should have an 8 foot inflatable Homer Simpson — D'OH!), the website is still Web0.0 complete with Javascript pop-ups and flashing GIF's — although it is W3C compliant. But the underlying Perl code (can you find the Camel book in the Haunted Office?) running on Linux/Apache continues to provide entertainment for the Internet masses plus raise over $80,000 for charity.

Surf on by this evening (MDT) to view three live webcams and use X10 controls to turn 10,000 lights ON & OFF plus inflate/deflate the giant Frankenstein, Pumpkins, Grim Reaper, Skull, Headless Horseman, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Homer Simpson. It's a high-tech trick-or-treat!

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