Apple seeks to sue bankrupt Kodak for patent infringement

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Joel Rosenblatt for Bloomberg Business: Apple Inc. asked a bankruptcy judge for permission to sue Eastman Kodak Co. over allegations it’s infringing patents that Apple says cover technologies used in printers, digital cameras and digital picture frames. Kodak is looking … Continued

iOS apps and the address book: who has your data, and how they’re getting it

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The Verge:

Over the course of the past week, a firestorm has erupted in the world of iOS apps, thanks to the discovery that Path was uploading data from your iPhone’s address book without asking for explicit permission.Stated simply: any iOS app has complete access to a large amount of data stored on your iPhone, including your address book and calendar.Over the course of the past day, we have been using the method explained by Arun Thampi (who discovered Path’s privacy violation) to investigate several dozen popular iOS apps. Our findings should bring both comfort and concern to any iPhone user.

42 Saint Bernards!

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[caption id="attachment_20248" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="42 Lasquite Saint Bernards"][/caption] Lasquite Saint Bernards:

Video of us out for a walk with our 42 Saint Bernards.

That’s a lot of drool…

Fascinating Matchbook Art

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Dark Roasted Blend:

Matchbooks were at their peak in the 1940’s and 50’s, when they were popular souvenir items, but they have made something of a comeback recently due to the public interest in retro advertising.The collecting of matchboxes, matchbooks, match labels and other match-related items is called phillumeny.

Art is where you find it and sometimes, you find it in odd places.

The 6 best performances on the 2012 Grammy Awards

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[caption id="attachment_20197" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Jennifer Hudson"][/caption] The Week:

Sunday night’s Grammy Awards was all about two women: Adele and Whitney Houston. The former was the night’s big winner, emerging victorious in all six of the categories she competed in, including the Big Three: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year. And Houston’s death on Saturday permeated the event’s entire proceedings.Here are six of the performances from Grammy night that critics are buzzing about.

Mooresville School District, a laptop success story

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New York Times:

“This is not about the technology,” Mark Edwards, superintendent of Mooresville Graded School District, would tell the visitors later over lunch. “It’s not about the box. It’s about changing the culture of instruction — preparing students for their future, not our past.”As debate continues over whether schools invest wisely in technology — and whether it measurably improves student achievement — Mooresville, a modest community about 20 miles north of Charlotte best known as home to several Nascar teams and drivers, has quietly emerged as the de facto national model of the digital school.

The American Experience – Bill Clinton

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PBS:

Premiering February 20th and 21st, a biography of a president who rose from a broken childhood in Arkansas to become one of the most successful politicians in modern American history, and one of the most complex and conflicted characters to ever stride across the public stage.

PBS announced it was offering the first hour of the four hour documentary exclusively through its PBS iOS app – a full week before it airs on television.

12 creative business cards

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Mental Floss:

Forget putting QR codes on your business card in order to stand out from the competition. Check out these 12 very cool, creative approaches.

Gyroscopic self-leveling pool table on a cruise ship

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[caption id="attachment_20126" align="alignnone" width="325" caption="Gyroscopic self-leveling pool table"][/caption] As the ship moves, the pool table adjusts so the balls don’t move at all, even in rough weather. If you look closely you can see the balls remain still as the table moves, enabling you to play in almost any conditions.

Compact slide-through toaster works in 90 seconds

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Gizmodo:

Conveyor belt toasters help restaurants keep up with the breakfast demand, but the compact QuikServe from WestBend is instead designed for home use using a motorized system to pull your bread through, toasting it in a mere 90 seconds.

There’s not much “cool” about toasters but this idea is clever. Just don’t buy it for your significant other for Valentines Day. Gizmodo says the list price is $60 but you can get it on Amazon.com for only $40.

Louis vs. Rick

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It’s the “story of a man who taught his cat to use instant messaging.” Funniest thing you’ll read today…..Thanks to Sian Meades and Jared Earle for the heads up.

Shamrock shakes are back!

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Gothamist:

It’s Shamrock Shake season, and the green stuff is already ready to be slung at your local McDonald’s, and this year all of America will be able to indulge in the seasonal treat. The chain announced today that the shake will go national this year, for the first time in its 42-year-long existence.According to the McDonald’s spokeswoman, Ashlee Yingling, the minty shake “is currently available at every one of McDonald’s 14,000 U.S. restaurants,” and will be available through March 25th.

Anyone else embarrassed to admit how much they look forward to these things each year?

100,000 Scovilles Naga Chili vodka

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[caption id="attachment_20090" align="alignnone" width="173" caption="100,000 Scovilles Naga Chilli Vodka"][/caption] Master of Malt:

We filled a carboy with vodka, and into it we poured so many Naga Jolokia chillies that there was nothing but darkness in that carboy, nothing but darkness. We left the chillies to infuse and impart their flavour, colour and deathly fire into the vodka, and we’ve bottled the result. We are sorry. We are truly sorry.This stuff smells like pure evil, like the very blood of Satan himself. Such a pungent nose of chilli, it makes your eyes water just sniffing it.

Not a fan of spicy food but if you are, why would you want to ingest something that can cause you this kind of pain?

What you need to know about Pinterest

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TIME:

Though Facebook’s SEC filings are dominating headlines, social neophyte Pinterest is gaining traction and plenty of buzz as the newest social media darling.According to comScore, Pinterest was the fastest growing independent site to hit 10 million monthly unique visits in the U.S., while a new report claims it drives more referral traffic to online retailers than Google+, YouTube, Reddit and LinkedIn combined.But is Pinterest just a digital arts and crafts bulletin board piggybacking off of a social phenomenon, or is there value in joining?

Secretive SEALs moonlight as movie stars

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[caption id="attachment_20069" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Act of Valor"][/caption]

Wired’s Danger Room:

SEALs are supposed to be secretive, stealthy killers. The public will probably never know the identities of the SEAL Team Six members who killed Osama bin Laden. But the Navy and the Pentagon had no problem letting the producers of a forthcoming action movie put active-duty SEALs on camera. Their faces are on screen and their names — first names, at least — are in the credits, along with their rank.“There were many precautions taken with the project to make sure our advantages on the battlefield would not be compromised to the enemy,” explains Amanda Greenberg, a Navy spokeswoman. Well, that and the fact that Act of Valor — in theaters next Friday! — is one giant, explicit recruiting pitch.

Not expecting great acting or dialog but am expecting things to blow up real good!