Transit Times in NYC, Visualized

Source: http://gizmodo.com/transit-times-in-nyc-visualized-752731586

As cities grow and populations expand, people move further and further away from the center. That's definitely happened in New York—and this visualization shows how the shift to more distant neighbourhoods affects travel time.

The interactive maps lets you click on a location and then gives a color-coded insight into transit times across the entire city. It's a little like Trulia's Google Maps mash up—in fact it almost certainly shares some data sources with it—though it collapses data down instead of giving results by transport type. And it looks prettier, too. [WNYC via Flowing Data]

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LG's 55- and 65-inch 4K TVs go on sale in the US for $5,999 and $7,999

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/11/lgs-55-and-65-inch-4k-tvs-go-on-sale-in-the-us-for-5-999-and/

Thought Samsung had the US market for 65-inch Ultra HD televisions cornered? Think again. Hot on the heels of its competitor, LG has announced that its 55- and 65-inch UHD sets will sell for $5,999 and $7,999, respectively. They also pack a new feature -- a powered 4.1 channel speaker bar that appears / disappears beneath the front lip of the TV. The prices aren't chump change by any stretch of the imagination, but they're certainly more affordable than LG's last UHD TV: an 84-inch monster that sold for a staggering $19,999. Still, getting your hands on one isn't easy -- like its 84-inch set, LG's latest screens are making their debut exclusively in southern California, and will eventually roll out to stores nationwide. Sure, driving out to Santa Monica to pick up a new TV might not be convenient, but at least it's closer than South Korea -- if you're not in the US, the company expects to roll them out in the UK, Russia and Australia soon. Check out the company's official announcement after the break.

Filed under: HD, LG

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Google's Alfred service shutting down on July 19th

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/11/google-alfred-closing/

Google's not done shuttering wares this month, apparently, as the local recommendation service Alfred is headed for the digital cemetery on July 19th. The app issued a warning to its users, spotted by TechCrunch, announcing its impending death and warning users to request data through the feedback tool should they wish to use it post-July 19th.

Mountain View purchased Clever Sense, the company that created Alfred, back in late 2011. The team responsible has since moved on, internally, to other projects (CEO Babak Pahlavan, for instance, is now part of Google's Analytics division). Apparently their baby couldn't escape Google's ever-looming axe, and it joins Latitude in the most recent round of service cuts.

Filed under: Software, Mobile, Google

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Source: TechCrunch

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drag2share: How Nokia's Radical New Zoom Tech Works

source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/vip/~3/UNXkxl3gZz0/how-nokias-radical-new-zoom-tech-works-744505287

Nokia's new Lumia 1020 comes with a host of features you might not be used to on a humble smartphone. And one of the most intriguing is the Lumia's radical new approach to zoom. Here's how it works.

Because the Lumia 1020 shoots so many pixels on the 41MP sensor, it doesn't have to lose any actual "pixels" when it zooms in. It can go to 6x zoom by just cropping down on the original image taken (sort of like how the D4's 1080p crop mode works).

The way to think of it is that the full, unzoomed images actually throw out a bunch of data. You know how Apple's retina method sends four pixels to populate what used to be one pixel? The PureView sensor, more or less, does the same thing, so it's sending that "retina" packet to a non-retina screen. But that data's all there, and so you can "zoom" in and access the data that would have been lost otherwise. The 1020 saves the "oversampled," smaller image (which has lost some data), but also saves the full file so you can zoom all around the image and zoom wherever you want later on.

Here's a quick look at how that "dual-capture" method—the 5MP oversampled image and the full file—breaks down in action:

What's it all going to mean for your photos? More control, mostly. A chance to frame your shot just right after you've already taken it, without losing all the important sharpness and detail that you want. It's a handy innovation, and one that might just win you over to Windows Phone once and for all.!

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ATLAS: Probably the Most Advanced Humanoid Yet, Definitely Terrifying

Source: http://gizmodo.com/atlas-probably-the-most-advanced-humanoid-yet-definit-745900003

As impressed by we all were by Petman, DARPA and Boston Dynamics' remarkably agile and nimble humanoid, it's about to get upstaged by the company's latest and greatest robot creation: ATLAS. Designed to compete in DARPA's upcoming Robotics Challenge, we actually already got a glimpse of ATLAS' impressive skills back when it was just a prototype, but as it nears completion we're now seeing just how damn impressive it really is.

Not only does it keep its balance and remain standing after being hit by a 20-pound wrecking ball, ATLAS also tackles a treadmill with ease, staying on two feet while two-by-fours and other obstacles are tossed in its path. Is it time to be really impressed, or really scared?

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