Month: October 2013

Business Cloud Culture

IBM Is Not A Cloud King

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As reported on TechCrunch. IBM reported its third quarter financials this past week that showed a company struggling with its legacy hardware business and the problems that come with a confused cloud services strategy. Revenues were down $1 billion with hardware sales declining 17 percent. Overall revenues for the nine-month period totaled $72.1 billion, a decrease of 4 percent, compared with $75.2 billion for the nine months of 2012. The software division is not having tremendous success, either. This last…

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History Tech

Time Machines: A PC pioneer

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As reported on Engadget. By Jon Turi Welcome to Time Machines, where we offer up a selection of mechanical oddities, milestone gadgets, and unique inventions to test out your tech-history skills. This digital device was released in 1971, just prior to the announcement of the first commercially available microprocessor. It offered a personal computing experience at a relatively affordable price and, in 1986, it was selected as the winner in the Computer Museum’s “Earliest PC Contest.” Head past…

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Microsoft Tablet

Microsoft Surface 2 review: a second chance for Windows RT?

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As reported on Engadget. By Dana Wollman We get the sense Microsoft wants to distance itself from the original Surface RT. After taking a $900 million hit on unsold inventory, the company held a press eventwhere it saved the Surface 2 for last and billed it as a major redesign. “Surface 2 is not subtle, but a revamp,” Surface GM Panos Panay said that day. “It is not the simple changes that everybody wants, but it’s the changes people need.” Those changes include…

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Photography

The Amazing Classic Cars in These Vintage Shots Aren’t What You Think

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As reported on Wired. BY DAMON LAVRINC View as gallery   They’re scenes pulled straight out of a 1950s traveling brochure. Classic cars, trucks, buses, and trains set in period-specific backdrops of vintage Americana. But it’s not what you think. It’s a world of scale models and forced perspectives, all created with a cheap point-and-shoot and just the slightest touch of Photoshop. Michael Paul Smith is the first to admit he isn’t a professional photographer. “I…

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Government Internet

The story behind the company contracted to make the buggy Healthcare.gov website

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As reported on The Verge. By Dante D’Orazio  It’s no secret that the Healthcare.gov website — which is home to Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges — hasn’t had a smooth launch. The company that won the $93.7 million contract to construct the site is CGI Federal, a subsidary of a Canadian firm called CGI Group. Blame for the botched launch has largely settled on the company, the contractors it hired to complete the job, and the bureaucratic system that awards…

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Google

Face value: digging through Google’s clumsy new terms of service

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As reported on The Verge. By Russell Brandom Users raised hell when Instagram made a similar move, so why didn’t Google learn its lesson? On Friday, anyone signed into a Google account was greeted with a banner across the top of the page announcing the company’s terms of service had changed. Google was clearing the path for Facebook-style advertising, announcing any “shared endorsement” would be fair game to be used in promoted content. It’s a familiar playbook,…

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Business Cloud Culture Entertainment

40% Of YouTube Traffic Now Mobile, Up From 25% In 2012, 6% In 2011

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As reported on TechCrunch. by Josh Constine It’s hard to get people to concentrate long on anything on their phones and tablets, yet YouTube seems to be the exception. The video service is quickly going mobile, with small screens making up 40% of its traffic now compared to 25% last year, Google said on its earnings call today. In 2011, just 6% of YouTube traffic came from mobile. Google’s not the only one rapidly shifting a 1…

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Application

Yahoo Screen for iOS now supports AirPlay and live video broadcasts

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As reported on Engadget. By Edgar Alvarez The Yahoo Screen application is still a relatively young one, but it’s never too early to start adding more features to it. With this in mind, Yahoo revealed today that it’s bringing AirPlay compatibility to the app, making it easy for viewers to stream content on their television set — all while being able to use the iOS device to browse other videos and select what to play next. The refreshed…

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Photography

Giant X-Rays Reveal the Bare Bones of Planes, Cars, and M16 Machine Guns

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As reported on Wired. BY JAKOB SCHILLER Mini. Boeing 777. Tommy Gun. M16. Anschutz. Walther PPK. Spas-12. Walking robot. Robot face on. Robot crucifixion. Veasey’s studio. The outside of Veasey’s studio. View as gallery The best photographs work on multiple levels, capturing what’s happening on the surface while transcending two-dimensions to invite viewers to dig into whatever’s pictured. That’s literally the idea behind Nick Veasey’s x-ray photographs. He uses five x-ray machines to take probing photos that provide…

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Entertainment

Walter White and Jesse Pinkman could show up in ‘Better Call Saul’

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As reported on The Verge. By Jacob Kastrenakes We may not have seen the last of Walter White. As Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan prepares for the spinoff series Better Call Saul, he tells The Hollywood Reporterthat both Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, who played Jesse, have expressed an interest in coming onto the new show in a cameo. “The sky is the limit with a prequel,” Gilligan tells the Reporter. “You never know who might turn up or when or where.” The…

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