Barista's edition for Sat 07 June 2014
The definitive argument to delete your Facebook account
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There are many logical reasons why you should delete your Facebook account, from being a big waste of time to the fact that Facebook violates your Constitutional rights. But the best argument in this video-the definitive one-is the "Imagine Facebook Is Your Best Friend Argument." It goes like this:
Facebook open sources Hydrabase, a next-generation HBase
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Facebook announced in a blog post on Thursday that it has upgraded the Apache HBase database with a new open source system called HydraBase. Facebook is an avid HBase shop, using it to store data for various services, including the company's internal monitoring system, search indexing, streaming data analysis and data scraping.
A Smart Sensor That Quantifies the Soil in Your Garden
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There are plenty of ways to kill a plant without trying. Trust me. But even hardcore gardeners have a hard time knowing what's really happening underground. Jason Aramburu created Edyn, a Wi-Fi connected gardening system, with the goal of doing for gardens what wearables have done for our bodies.
Android vs. The iPhone: It's All About The Cloud
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The Platform is a regular column by mobile editor Dan Rowinski. Ubiquitous computing, ambient intelligence and pervasive networks are changing the way humans interact with everything. I finally traded in my old iPad 2 for a brand new iPad Air.
1 Million Rose Petals Shower Statue of Liberty to Honor D-Day
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Three helicopters dropped one million red rose petals over the Statue of Liberty on Friday in New York City in honor of D-Day's 70th anniversary. The nonprofit group The French Will Never Forget spent about $100,000 in preparation for the show and froze the 1,200 pounds of petals so they would stay fresh.
Declassified: CIA Has a Sense of Humor
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The Central Intelligence Agency just joined Twitter and Facebook, and, naturally, people reacted in all kinds of ways to the agency's first tweet. We'd make fun of the CIA for being so behind the times, but something tells us that officials and other government intelligence agents (*cough* NSA *cough*) know more about the Twittersphere than they let on.
The U.S. Has Finally Recovered All Jobs Lost in Recession
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The U.S. economy added 217,000 jobs in May, according to a report Friday from the Bureau of Labor. That number on its own might not seem particularly notable as it lined up pretty well with economists' estimates.
iWatch Reportedly Launching in October with iOS 8 and Curved OLED Touchscreen
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Apple's highly rumored "iWatch" smartwatch is expected to launch in October and will run a version of iOS 8, according to a new report from Japanese business newspaper Nikkei.
Tetris Turns 30 Ahead of Summer Console Launch
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Wildly popular video game Tetris launched 30 years ago today, and continues to capture the hearts of folks around the world. Topping best-of video game lists for years, the colorful block puzzle has sold an estimated 170 million copies-about 100 million of which are played on mobile devices.
Rovio gets €25 million from the European Investment Bank
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A week ahead of the launch of what the European Investment Bank (EIB) dubs a "new generation of joint financial instruments providing support to innovative companies", the EU's bank has provided entertainment company Rovio with 25 million euros in financing to boost development of its mobile gaming platform and other entertainment services.
Here's the world's 'most powerful and lightest' 13-inch gaming laptop
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Following the impressive Razer Blade we reviewed last month, Gigabyte also wants a piece of the portable gaming laptop action with its new Aorus X3 line, a sub-14-inch Windows 8.1 device that claims to be the world's "most powerful and lightest" in its class.
Cable companies bankroll fake consumer groups to end net neutrality
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Cable companies that stand to benefit the most from an end to net neutrality have been bankrolling so-called "consumer advocacy" groups that aim to kill it.
Lego Celebrates Brainy Women With Female Scientist Minifigure Set
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Lego celebrates women who love to learn with a minifigure series of female scientists and their lab tools. The Research Institute series won the Lego Ideas contest for winter 2014, and features an astronomer with a telescope, a chemist with a lab and a paleontologist with a dinosaur skeleton.
Woman charged with wiretapping for filming cops wins $57,000 payout
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A local New Hampshire police department agreed Thursday to pay a woman who was arrested and charged with wiretapping $57,000 to settle her civil rights lawsuit. The deal comes a week after a federal appeals court ruled that the public has a "First Amendment" right to film cops.
UberFacts Is Still UberWrong
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A few months ago we did a little fact-checking and found out that UberFacts is full of shit. So we wanted to give them another shot. The results? UberFacts is still spreading way too much misinformation. Below, we've looked at every UberFacts tweet from yesterday-midnight to midnight, PST.
Track down ghosts with this 'Ghostbusters' Lego Ecto-1
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Celebrate the 30-year anniversary of "Ghostbusters" with this Lego version of the Ecto-1, complete with four minifigures. If there's something weird, and it don't look good. Who ya gonna call? The answer to that question might soon be "yourself," if you pick up this new Lego kit of the Ecto-1 ghost-tracking mobile from the Ghostbusters movies.
China's annual state of the environment report is miserable
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China's government swears it is finally getting tough on pollution, cracking down on everything from factory emissions to cars in the capital city. One sign that things are changing: analysts say the clean-up is already impinging on China's economic growth. The country's newly-released "state of the environment" report (pdf, in Chinese), however, paints a much grimmer picture...
Happy 30th birthday, Tetris
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It's been 30 years since Alexey Pajitnov crafted the world's most popular game of all time, while as an employee of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in
The CIA has joined Twitter with the best first tweet possible
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The US government loves Twitter. For NASA, it's a public relations goldmine. For the State Department, it's a bizarre weapon in the fight on terrorism. For the CIA, it's a chance to revel in kitsch. The agency, which somehow did not yet have a real social media presence, has just posted its first tweet.
Orange is the New Black season 2 on Netflix now
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Netflix has stuck to its 6 June release date, and fans of the prison-based drama can stream the show's second season from today. "Orange is the New Black" season two is on Netflix from today, giving fans of the prison-based drama the chance to spend all day streaming fresh episodes.
iOS 8 can scan credit cards using the iPhone's camera
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iPhone users will soon no longer have to input credit card numbers manually, thanks to a Safari feature in iOS 8 that uses the onboard camera to read the number off a physical credit card.
Uber Raises Giant $1.2 Billion Funding Round At An $17 Billion Valuation
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On-demand ride-hailing service Uber has confirmed today that it has raised $1.2 billion in funding from a group of mutual fund managers and venture investors that values the company at $17 billion pre-money. The company said the total raise will end up being about $1.4 billion once it's completed a second close of strategic investors.
Apple iWatch wearable event tipped for October
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Apple aims to launch its first wearable device at an event in October, insiders claim, with a standalone launch for the new hardware range. Form-factor for the new device is unclear at this stage, though long-standing rumors point to an "iWatch" smartwatch with a health focus that would link into Apple's new HealthKit platform.
3D Printed Car Design Challenge winners announced
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The winners have been announced for what is being called the world's first 3D printed car design competition, with the winning car to be printed in September. The day may be fast approaching when you can download a car -- although some assembly may be required.
'Full Victory - Nothing Else': Iconic D-Day Images for Its 70th Anniversary
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On June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy in the coordinated invasion of occupied France known as D-Day. Friday marks the 70th anniversary of the largest seaborne invasion in history - more than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft were sent to infiltrate the heavily German-fortified French coastline.
It's Tetris' 30th Birthday. What are some of your memories?
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Tetris just hit a milestone and joined the "30" club. It's not a bad place to be, I begrudgingly joined it myself a few weeks ago. But enough about age and our progression towards receiving those tasteful AARP cards in the mail, let's talk blocks. As Dani
It happened: Git 2.0 is here and it's full of goodies
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This major release of has been brewing for a long time and I am excited to go on the hunt in the Changelog to find cool bits of awesomeness. As usual if you want to catch up with past git releases, I've been doing this exercise for a while, check them out: 1.8.2, 1.8.3, 1.8.4, 1.8.5, 1.9.
15 Incredible Photo Composites Match Up Normandy on D-Day and Today
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Today marks the 70th anniversary of D-Day, aka Operation Overlord, the single largest seaborne military invasion of all time. How has Normandy changed in the seven decades since? In these perfectly-matched photo composites, Getty Images photographer Peter Macdiarmid compares the quaint towns in 1944 and 2014.
Cable companies are reportedly funding fake consumer groups to attack net neutrality
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The public wants net neutrality so badly that it broke the FCC's website. But can the weighty voice of the people combat well-funded astroturfing? believes that the nation's cable companies are funding groups that pretend to represent consumers, but are actually just parroting their own stance to shout down the general public.
Apple iWatch Coming In October With Curved OLED Screen And Health Tracking, Says Nikkei
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Apple revealed a lot of news at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference this year, but it didn't discuss or show of any iWatch. Still, a new report from Japanese newspaper the Nikkei says that an iWatch is indeed on its way, with a targeted ship date of October.