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Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Take a Stunning Five Day Cruise in Just Five Minutes [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5820559/take-a-stunning-five-day-cruise-in-just-five-minutes

It takes the Norwegian Coastal Express 134 hours to get from Bergen to Kirkenes, a journey that's filled with lush islands, plush sunrises, and hushed twilights. With this remarkable time-lapse video, it'll take you five minutes.

The shot is the (extremely) compressed version of a marathon live broadcast by Norwegian Public Service broadcaster NRK. It's the fastest way to go 2600km asea, no Dramamine required. [livejamie via The Daily What]

Above France for iPad: It's Like the Tour de France Without Any of the Sweaty Cycling or Crashes [App Of The Day]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5820599/above-france-for-ipad-its-the-tour-de-france-without-any-of-the-cycling

Making fun of France is as American as apple pie but it doesn't mean we don't think it's a beautiful country (what? there's more than Paris?). Above France is an app from National Geographic Traveler and Fotopedia that shows off the beauty of the rest of the country. It's a series of jaw dropping photographs that were taken on a helicopter tour around France.

What's it do?

Like their previous collaborative effort, Dreams of Burma, National Geographic Traveler and Fotopedia have teamed up to show users of the app a fresh take of a world unseen. Of course, France isn't as mysterious as Burma but by photographing the countryside from the view of an helicopter, you sort of get the feeling that you're flying around with them, doing something that normal people don't get to. There's castles, mountains, villages, rivers, beaches, lakes, waterfalls and more, all from an angle you've probably never seen and probably would never see again.

Why do we like it?

Because you get to see a different side of France (the side we never make fun of)! More seriously, it's photography at its very best. It sort of lets you capture the same feeling of seeing it in person. Yes, it's only a smidgen of that same emotion but the pictures collected by Frank Mulliez are absolutely spectacular. It's like Google Maps on steroids. Discovery Channel at its finest. Traveling without walking. Touring France without biking. Etcetera. On top of that, you can build a "virtual tour" with the app's Trip Builder to semi-organize and role play the helicopter ride.

GIF Shop

Download this app for:

iPad, $3

The Best

Gorgeous pictures!

The Worst

Needs decent Internet speed

Your Android Tablet Just Got Better: What's New in Android 3.2 [Android]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5820527/your-android-tablet-just-got-better-whats-new-in-android-32

Android 3.2 is an unexpected little update, especially with Ice Cream Sandwich coming later this year. But good on Google for making its less-than-amazing Android tablets a little bit better all the time until that major new hotness happens.

So! Here's what's new and better in Android 3.2, which is already rolling out to Motorola Xooms—other tablets will probably follow suit pretty shortlyish.

Zooming In

Android phones apps have, up to now, tended to squash and stretch themselves out to take advantage of all the disparate screen layouts you'll find on tablets. It's been a mess. With 3.2, that problem will be sort of rectified with the new zoom feature. Your Android Tablet Just Got Better: What's New in Android 3.2

Think of how iPhone apps behaved on the iPad when it was first released. You had the option of choosing a 2x mode that scaled the app up the iPad's screen. Low-res and none too attractive, but functional. It's the same here. Apps that are known to struggle will, by default, have a button in the system bar that will allow users to toggle between "Stretch to fill screen," which is the same stretching business the app would have normally done, and "Zoom to fill screen," which will scale what you're looking at to your screen.

It Brings Everyone to the Party

Android 3.2 will finally go where no Honeycomb's gone before: seven-inch tablets. Where you once had an interface designed for 4-inch screens, now you have one that's actually designed for tablets. A blessing for everybody with an HTC View 4G, for example. It also supports new Qualcomm chips that'll be powering Android tablets in the near future—which means more tablets from more folks.

It's Just Better

In addition to all that goodness, Android 3.2's also got a ton of bug fixes and crowd-pleasers like improved hardware acceleration—faster faster kill kill—and proper SD Card support. Plus, updates to Movie Studio, Movies, Music and widgets to make them better.

[Android Developer Blog, This Is My Next]

Social x-ray glasses can decode emotions, make your blind dates less awkward

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/12/social-x-ray-glasses-can-decode-emotions-make-your-blind-dates/

You may consider yourself a world-class liar, but a new pair of "social x-ray" glasses could soon expose you for the fraud you really are. Originally designed for people suffering from autism, these specs use a rice grain-sized camera to pick up on a person's 24 "feature points" -- facial expressions that convey feelings of confusion, agreement and concentration, among others. Once recognized, these signals are analyzed by software, compared against a database of known expressions and then relayed to users via an attached headphone. If their date starts to feel uncomfortable, a blinking red light lets them know that it's time to shut up. Rosalina Picard, an electrical engineer who developed the prototype with Rana el Kaliouby, acknowledged that her algorithm still needs some fine tuning, but told New Scientist that the glasses have already proved popular with autistic users, who often have difficulty deciphering others' body language. No word yet on when these social specs could hit the market, but they'll probably make us even more anti-social once they do.

Social x-ray glasses can decode emotions, make your blind dates less awkward originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 04:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tokyoflash's Kisai Kaidoku LCD watch arrives 12 years too late for Neo, Trinity

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/12/tokyoflashs-kisai-kaidoku-lcd-watch-arrives-12-years-too-late-f/

There's something to be said about someone who'd rather strap an LCD full of words on their wrist instead of a tried-and-true pointer-based timepiece. Comically enough, that description is likely to flow across the LCD of Tokyoflash's new Kisai Kaidoku. This limited run watch is available with a black or white strap, and shockingly enough, was designed by a 15-year old by the name of Tynan Mayhew. The whole thing's water resistant, and the EL backlight enables nighttime viewing; unfortunately, it's hard to know just how long that CR2016 battery will last, but those who'd rather not think about such trivial matters can snag one now for $139.

Continue reading Tokyoflash's Kisai Kaidoku LCD watch arrives 12 years too late for Neo, Trinity

Tokyoflash's Kisai Kaidoku LCD watch arrives 12 years too late for Neo, Trinity originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 06:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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