Leopards and Lions and... Lions?
]The Verge has a very nice video overview of Apple's newly announced Mac OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion. Many of the changes seem to be putting the iOS experience on your computer.
Notification Center: A new, blue icon will appear when new notifications have been received. Clicking the icon will open the center itself, which can pull notifications from "Calendar", "Messages" and even third-party developers.
Messages: iChat with a brand new look and better FaceTime integration.
Airplay Mirroring: View your computer screen on your Apple TV by clicking an AirPlay icon. Streaming music, watching video, etc. are all available options.
Game Kit: Multiplayer gaming between Mac, Iphone, iPad and iPod Touch will be available. With AirPlay you can use your TV to compete against a friend who’s on their iPad, while you use your computer.
Apple also has their own overview available.
Weed on a Plane
40lbs. of marijuana were found on a plane while flying through Barack Obama's airspace over Los Angeles. The president was flying from Los Angeles to a fund raiser in Corona Del Mar when a Cessna 182 aircraft began to fly closer to the White House helicopter, Marine One. The “Mary Jane” was found after the Cessna 182 was asked to land. One of the more interesting tidbits, whether the Cessna 182's pilot was high while flying, has yet to be revealed. How fun/scary would that be?
Be My Date?
Image Source: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01214/plane-cargo_1214188i.jpg
Hello everyone! I hope your year has been going well so far. Let’s jump right into it, shall we?
Chrome Phone
For you fancy kids rockin’ Google’s newly released Galaxy Nexus or another device running Android 4.0, Google has released a beta version of Google Chrome on the Android Market. In addition to incognito browsing, “Chrome for Android” allows users to sync whatever tabs they have open on their computer to sync with their device by signing in to a Google account. You can watch an introduction video HERE.
Elementary Molecules
A 10-year-old girl from Missouri, Clara Lazen, happened upon a new molecule while rearranging some atoms used to create nitroglycerin. Tetranitratoxycarbon (sound it out) is a combination of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon that does not exist in nature but can be created artificially. Her teacher, Kenneth Boehr, and a colleague realized that this was indeed a new molecule and one Professor Robert Zoellner wrote a paper on the subject, which was co-authored by Clara. In short, the atom can be used to either store energy or blow stuff up.
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Last week Facebook went public and many people received a nice chunk of change following the announcement including an artist, Dave Choe, who accepted stocks instead of money[/url] for painting Facebook’s Palo Alto location in 2005. ABC held an interview with Choe in which he discusses his newfound lack of privacy.
Dat Sh*t Cray
A Tumblr account run by a 17-year-old girl named Kate is chronicling her journey to becoming thinner. She’s currently 5’10” with a current weight of 127 and an ultimate goal of being 115 – something more in line for a woman around 4’10”. Another girl, Antonia, 16, also runs a “thinspo” blog.
“I like images that show skinny, happy girls,” she writes in an email to the Huffington Post. “They look so confident and we can see their bones through their skin. It's the most beautiful thing ever. I also like tips about food or how to ignore hunger.”’
Now there seems to be two types of “thinspo” blogs out there – those that post before and after pictures of seemingly healthy women and others that condone unhealthy dietary practices (pro-ana) to achieve a “dream body”. I don’t understand…
Vidya
Robo With a Shotgun
Image Source: http://techzoomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/google-chrome.jpg
With the most stressful time of the semester upon us, the preparation weeks for these “grade determiners” seem limited. This is the ideal time for stress and anxiety to build up and completely control the minds of college students. Never fear, these simple organizational tips will help minimize the frustration and give you a more optimistic approach when studying for finals.
- Make “to-do” lists. It helps a lot to have everything that needs to be completed written out in front of you in one place. You can organize these lists chronologically in order of due dates and specify days to get certain tasks done. Sometimes, lists can relieve the apprehensive student when they realize they don’t have as much work to do as they anticipated.
- Use a studying schedule. Plan to dedicate certain days to each class so you don’t feel compelled to do everything all in one day. If you plan ahead, you can limit yourself to 3 tasks per day so you are not overwhelmed when due dates creep closer.
- Create study outlines for classes with a lot of material that needs to be memorized; these are extremely beneficial for history and vocabulary-heavy classes. This enables you to have all of your important notes and information on separate sheets of paper and eradicates the constant note flipping and backtracking.
- Look over old tests and quizzes for cumulative exams that require you to regurgitate everything you've crammed into your brain since August. Re-writing the exams and taking them over again often triggers your memory to recall certain information. If you get questions wrong, make a separate test comprised of the questions you missed and try again until you get them right and understand them. It is a tedious process, but it can eventually lead you to understanding the material better than you did when you first learned it.
- Flash cards are best when it comes to remembering important people, events or vocabulary terms. Color code them by chapter, time period or any other organizational strategy so you can remember and relate them to other terms more easily.
- Try to study in groups of people with your same class or section. Group study indicates whether you know enough to teach the material or need to study a lot more. It also helps to hear others explanation things out loud so you can remember or understand them better for the exam.
If you follow these simple techniques and habits, studying for exams won't seem nearly as challenging. Remember to start early and prepare ahead of time to avoid stressing yourself out and procrastinating until the night before an exam. It's only one hell week that requires your full attention and commitment, so give it all you got.
Photo Source: motifake.com
Rumor In Your Rumor
Remember when people first started talking about the new iPhone before the 4S was released? About a bigger screen, new design and latte mixing capabilities? Well, according to an anonymous source who spoke with Business Insider, a redesigned iPhone is still very real but was set aside a few months before the 4S announcement. The source said he spent some time with the prototype of the new phone which included a 4 inch screen, a processor not under the constraints of a "limiter" and an integrated home button that could not be pushed.
Big Break
The Wall Street Journal did a short piece detailing the ways 3 individuals (two college grads and one high-school grad) went about getting into their current job positions. It's not super in-depth, but seems to reaffirm what I'm sure many of you've been hearing -- find an internship!
Occupy
A UC Berkeley graduate student named Alex Barnard spoke to The Daily Californian after one of his ribs broken by a police baton and being told that he had "no rights.” He was arrested along with 31 other protestors. The police where present to take down tents that the university did not allow.
One of the protestors, Celeste Langan, was actually an English professor (a grown-ass woman) who said that the police showed excessive force to an essentially non-violent gathering. "Rather than take my wrist or arm, the police grabbed me by my hair and yanked me forward to the ground, where I was told to lie on my stomach and was handcuffed. Since the tents posed no immediate threat to public safety, their haste and level of force was unwarranted."
And so, "Occupy" continues. You can catch a video of the event at the YouTubes.
It's not so funny or particularly awesome but members of Congress are apparently trading stocks with insider information. "Oh the market is about to crash? Guess it's time to sell..."
Image Source: autismgenome.org
Personality Test
The New York Times has taken it upon themselves to look at what type of creature you are - a zombie or a vampire. If you're unsure, it gives several traits of each type. For instance, it describes vampires as charismatic introverts who write bad poetry... about bad poetry. Zombies, on the other hand, are more clumsy, a little extroverted and a lot more awesome. Okay, I added that last part. The article also deems famous people and entities as one or the other (Twitter, New York and Oprah to name a few). Which are you? Choose sides, but choose wisely.
Experimental Comedy
Next up, The Times reports that comedian Louis C.K. will soon be releasing his next special. It will include material from his upcoming shows in Manhattan and will be sold exclusively on his website for only $5. C.K. said that he'd rather give his material directly to the people who want it instead of going through a cable network or online service like Netflix.
"You can be a loser and watch this thing," he said. "You can be in prison."
Unfortunately, the first thing that comes to mind is piracy. If this is available for download there isn't really any way to stop it. However, Radiohead's "In Rainbows" went down a somewhat similar route and did pretty well for itself.
Worlds Collide
Remember those Mexican cartels I wrote about a few weeks ago? Check out the Stratfor Report, this anonymous Veracruz message, anonymous member Barrett Brown's thoughts and this exposure of drug cartel collaborators abandoned.
It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
CNN.com has a story up with a list of reasons of why Mr. Rogers was the best neighbor of all time... OF ALL TIME!
Have a great week and check out these awesome watercolors!
Image Source: 944.com
Alright, keeping it short and sweet this week but there are a few things worth noting:
Internet Blacklist Bill: House Edition
A new version of the Internet Blacklist Bill was unveiled Oct. 26 which, if passed, would allow the Department of Justice to block users from accessing certain websites accused of copyright infringement.Techdirt.com is saying this could potentially end up being the "great firewall of America.” Music and video sharing sites like YouTube would surely feel the effects of such a bill if it’s passed, and wouldn't have any say in a trial before removal. Ridiculous.
Don't Hack Me Bro
Not satisfied with The Weather Channel, Chinese hackers are suspected to have tampered with U.S. satellites in 2007 and 2008 for climate control and terrain observation. The satellites in question aren’t dangerous, but the chances of giant lasers beaming down from our own satellites are probably slim to none in the near future. But it's still fun to think about. Businessweek.com cites a report by the U.S. - China Economic and Security Review Commission saying that the hackers interfered with an Earth observation satellite twice; the first time for two minutes in June and the second for nine minutes in October.
Talk Dirty to Me
"The New York Times" is reporting that a dedicated television set released by Apple will be powered, in large part, by Siri. There aren't any firm dates yet but according to the article, we could potentially see an announcement in late 2012 followed by a release in 2013. Voice communication has always been an interesting feature to include with technology, but isn't always perfect and usually becomes more of a novelty than anything else. So while I like the idea of having a siri-powered television, I'd also keep a good ol’ remote nearby.
Image Source: www.truthhunters.co.uk
Starting things off on a bit of a somber note, the Chinese child you may have heard about who was run over and did not receive any help from bystanders died a week after intensive care treatments proved ineffective. The Huffington Post posted a video from Newsy which claims many people in China are afraid of being blamed for transgressions after only trying to help. It’s a shame, really, and is hopefully something that gets better sooner rather than later.
If you’ve been wondering what Eminem’s been up to since he’s been clean, Rolling Stone posted an interview discussing his new album, his past experience with drugs and what it’s like to get into his recording studio, amongst other things. Fun fact – his current home in Detroit was owned by the former CEO of K-Mart.
Or if you’re more into politics, movie critic Roger Ebert and comedian Victoria Jackson have taken an interest in Occupy Wall Street. In his Chicago Sun-Times blog, Ebert compares the stances of the Tea Party and the OWS protestors but takes no clear side with either. In any case, it’s cool to see the movement picking up steam. SNL comedian Victoria Jackson actually interviews some of the protestors. Whether or not you actually agree with her position is an entirely different story.
A new biography titled “Steve Jobs” written by Walter Isaacson is set to be published Oct. 24 and the Associated Press reports that the book covers such topics as Jobs’ religious outlook, a string of diets Jobs undertook in order to avoid surgery and his outrage at Google’s supposed poaching of Apple’s ideas. AP reports that after Schmidt, former Google CEO, left Apple as a board member, Jobs noticed that many features present in the iPhone were being reproduced on Google’s android powered Nexus One. Jobs wasn’t happy to say the least.
"I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong," Jobs said. "I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this."
Whether you’re interested in the way Jobs “came up” or would like to get a closer glimpse at his life, the biography is bound to be interesting.
Image Source: KenRockwell.com
