Hardware

The making of Apple’s 1.24.14 film

Written by

This is a behind the scenes video that tells the story of the making of Apple’s beautiful film, a film celebrating 30 years of Macintosh and 30 years of people doing amazing things with Apple technology.

How to use a multimeter

Written by

I use a multimeter all the time. Between building and testing circuits and fixing things around the house and car, I find my multimeter to be an indispensable tool. The video in the post walks you through the basics, but is worth a watch even if you already know how to use one.

Major League Baseball rolling out thousands of iBeacons for opening day

Written by

For baseball fans, the long cold winter is almost over. Pitchers and catchers start reporting for spring training this Thursday (Feb 6th).

While the teams limber up in their spring training homes, the Major League Parks are making some major new additions, deploying thousands of iBeacons (20 parks participating, 100 Qualcomm iBeacons each).

Padcaster video accessories frame for iPad

Written by

Yesterday, I mentioned Sony’s new tablet mount for their QX series of lens-based cameras. Loop reader Pat Fauquet pointed me to another, related product, the Padcaster.

The Padcaster has been around for a while now. It’s a frame for your iPad designed to hold accessories, like video lights, microphones, video lenses, and audio interfaces. Most importantly, it allows your iPad to be mounted on a video tripod, giving you everything you need to use your iPad for video production.

Nintendo President digs in heels, teases health strategy

Written by

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata had a pre-scheduled strategy briefing to announce the companies planned direction. As expected, Iwata stuck to his guns, saying that Nintendo would continue on its path to make console and hand-held consoles and games. He did address the issue of porting hits like Zelda and Super Mario to mobile devices.

Sony to launch tablet mount for its lens-style camera

Written by

I like the idea of Sony’s “mostly lens” camera system. The QX10 and QX100 are lenses that contain all the smarts and communicate with your smart phone via WiFi. 3.6x optical zoom, 5472 x 3648 image size, and Carl Zeiss f/1.8 lens. But the available mounting bracket is limited to 75mm, big enough for a smart phone but not big enough for a tablet.

This new SPA-TA1 tablet attachment will solve that problem, catering for devices between 85mm and 190mm in width.

World’s first multi-material, multi-color 3D printer

Written by

Up until now, a 3D print run was based on a single material of a single color. You could print different parts in different colors for later assembly, but the Stratasys Object500 Connex3 printer makes it possible to use multiple materials in a single run.

Anyone who has watched the inkjet printer emerge and evolve could have seen this coming, but this is an important step nonetheless.

Google Chrome allows malicious sites to eavesdrop via your computer mic

Written by

I have always been a little paranoid about my computer’s web cam and microphone. Here’s yet another reason why.

A user visits a site, that uses speech recognition to offer some cool new functionality. The site asks the user for permission to use his mic, the user accepts, and can now control the site with his voice. Chrome shows a clear indication in the browser that speech recognition is on, and once the user turns it off, or leaves that site, Chrome stops listening. So far, so good.

But what if that site is run by someone with malicious intentions?

Most sites using Speech Recognition, choose to use secure HTTPS connections. This doesn’t mean the site is safe, just that the owner bought a $5 security certificate. When you grant an HTTPS site permission to use your mic, Chrome will remember your choice, and allow the site to start listening in the future, without asking for permission again. This is perfectly fine, as long as Chrome gives you clear indication that you are being listened to, and that the site can’t start listening to you in background windows that are hidden to you.

When you click the button to start or stop the speech recognition on the site, what you won’t notice is that the site may have also opened another hidden popunder window. This window can wait until the main site is closed, and then start listening in without asking for permission. This can be done in a window that you never saw, never interacted with, and probably didn’t even know was there.

To make matters worse, even if you do notice that window (which can be disguised as a common banner), Chrome does not show any visual indication that Speech Recognition is turned on in such windows – only in regular Chrome tabs.

This is scary.

Nomad ChargeKey, a lightning adapter that fits on your keyring

Written by

I’d definitely like to take one of these for a spin. There have been a number of times when I was on the road and my iPhone was running low on charge and I didn’t have the right cable on hand.

My only concern is durability. Both ends of the cable are open to the elements and the cable will be riding around in your pocket, picking up all manner of little gunky bits and debris. Still, a terrific idea.

The inner workings of mechanical keyboards

Written by

Ever wonder what the difference was between mechanical and soft keyboards, other than the feel of the keys? This article contains everything you could ever want to know about the mechanics behind the mechanical keyboard. I love the animated GIFs that show the different types of switches in action. [via TidBits]

Apple execs on the Mac at 30

Written by

MacWorld’s Jason Snell spoke with Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Bud Tribble, vice president of software technology, and Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering, about the Mac’s thirty years of evolution.

iPhone 5s users consuming significantly more data than their predecessors

Written by

Users of flagship smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone 5s and Samsung’s Galaxy S4 are continuing to suck down more data than their tablet-wielding counterparts, according to a large-scale survey of mobile data consumption in 2013 conducted by JDSU (which last year bought mobile data analytics company Arieso, the company that previously ran the annual survey).

Is there something about the evolution of the architecture of mobile phones that makes later models consume more data? Is there a correlation to the adoption rate of the most recent OS rev? In other words, the latest model of a phone enables faster transmission speeds and typically runs the latest OS. Or is there something more complex at work here?

Chinese internet traffic redirected to small Wyoming house

Written by

On Tuesday, most of China’s 500 million Internet users were unable to load websites for up to eight hours. Nearly every Chinese user and Internet company, including major services like Baidu and Sina.com, was affected.

Google Glass, movie theaters, and journalism

Written by

Where do the ethical obligations of journalism kick in? If you are a blogger, does that make you a journalist? Do you have an obligation to double-check your sources to verify the accuracy of everything you post?

Julie Strietelmeier, a self-professed “tech geek writer” got an email from a reader, telling a story that started when a friend wore his Google Glass into a movie theater (they were prescription lenses) and detailed his detainment by homeland security. Follow the headline link and read the story. It’s worth it.

Hard drive failure rates

Written by

Backup service Backblaze answers the question, “Which hard drive should I buy?”

Nintendo heads for third consecutive annual loss as Wii U flops

Written by

To me, it all comes down to this:

Pressure will likely mount on the architect of the Wii success in 2006 to step aside or shift course to focus on making money from “Super Mario” and other software titles. Nintendo so far has refused to allow its games to be played on machines built by competitors or on tablets or other mobile devices that are used by gamers.

The pressure is building. Nintendo needs to either reinvent themselves entirely, shrink to focus on their handheld success, and/or start licensing franchise brands like Zelda and Mario to Microsoft or Sony.