Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Article: Firespotter Labs Becomes Switch, Providing A Cloud-Based Phone System For Google Apps

Unified communications has long been touted as the future, but being able to provide access to all of one's calls and messages on multiple devices is an idea that has just barely come to fruition. Now, the folks at Firespotter Labs think they've built a solution — a cloud-based platform for enter...

http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/30/switch/?ncid=rss

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Article: FreedomPop starts making its own low-cost smartphones, starting with a 7-inch phablet

FreedomPop isn't content with selling refurbished Sprint phones, so it's decided to start making its own. Or, more accurately, it's started paying a device maker to manufacture low-cost Android smartphones. Starting Wednesday, FreedomPop will begin selling the Liberty — a small tablet or extremel...

https://gigaom.com/2014/10/01/freedompop-starts-making-its-own-low-cost-smartphones-starting-with-a-7-inch-phablet/

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Cool animated technical illustrations show how animals fly

Source: http://sploid.gizmodo.com/cool-animated-drawing-show-how-animals-fly-1640968992/+caseychan

Cool animated technical illustrations show how animals fly

Science illustrator and animator Eleanor Lutz has created these cool animated technical drawings of flying animals in motion. I would love to paths the wings draw in 3D.

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Arduino's new 3D printer lets you modify just about everything

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/30/arduino-materia-101/

Arduino / Sharebot Materia 101

If you're a fan of Arduino's tinker-friendly approach to computing, you'll be glad to hear that it's now extending that open philosophy to 3D printers. The company has teamed up with Sharebot to unveil the Materia 101, a small (5.5 inches by 4 inches) printer that's built to be both friendly to beginners and very accessible. You can modify the code on the underlying Arduino Mega mini-PC, of course, but you also have access to the full schematics of the printer -- you can upgrade it or even make your own, if you have the know-how and parts. Arduino hasn't said when it plans to ship the Materia, but it'll be available both as a build-it-yourself kit (priced under $800) and fully assembled (under $1,000).

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Source: Arduino

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Pavlok needs you to shock more people into breaking bad habits

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/30/pavlok-shock-wristband/

There's no way you'd use a shock collar to train your beloved dog, but you wouldn't mind using one on yourself if it means breaking your nastiest habits, eh? If that's the case, then your day has come: Pavlok (a wearable band that can zap you with electricity) is now up on Indiegogo, with its designer hoping to raise $50,000 to develop more features and to begin mass production. In order to train yourself to stay away from bad habits or continue doing good ones, you'll need to program the Pavlok app -- for instance, you can instruct it to zap you awake if you hit snooze twice on your alarm. The good news is that you can set the electricity the wristband zaps you with from 17 to 340 volts, so you can adjust it accordingly and make sure each it's not strong enough to actually hurt.

According to the device's Indiegogo page, its creator (Maneesh Sethi, a Stanford alumnus) is working on IFTTT integration and also opening up the Pavlok platform so anyone can make an app to go along with it. It even listed some possible software tie-ups, such as instructing the wristband via IFTTT to zap you if you send a message to an ex, to beep loudly and embarrass you whenever you step into a McD's with the help of a navigation app, or to remind you to walk more when paired up with an exercise app.

When we saw Pavlok earlier this year, the prototypes cost $250 each, but now you have the opportunity to grab one for $125 via Indiegogo if you can wait until it ships out by April 2015 at the earliest. By the way, Sethi's no stranger to the idea of receiving pain to break bad habits. Back in 2012, he hired a girl off Craigslist to, erm, slap him every time he went on Facebook -- something he claims quadrupled his productivity.

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Source: Indiegogo

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