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Great stuff. […]

LA Weekly: Like many people, Petrick had come to rely on his cellphone. He wasn’t as good as he used to be about memorizing phone numbers. Excitedly, he recalled one person’s cell number and dialed it. His elation, however, quickly … Continued

No wonder they can copy Apple’s products so fast.

Matt Burns at TechCrunch examine’s Honeywell’s patents, which it says Nest Labs is infringing upon with its learning thermostat.

New York Times: But unlike other big-ticket corporations, it doesn’t have an inventory of widgets or gadgets, cars or phones. Facebook’s inventory consists of personal data — yours and mine. Facebook makes money by selling ad space to companies that … Continued

Ryan Cash interviewed me about The Loop and posted it today.

[caption id="attachment_19778" align="alignnone" width="470" caption="A Swarm of Nano Quadrotors"][/caption] Pennsylvania’s General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (Grasp) laboratory shows how a massive groups of quadrocopters can work together in large formations. In the video, 20 of the whirring drones fly in unison, transitioning between formations and avoiding collisions.

I, for one, welcome our new nano robotic overlords.

[caption id="attachment_19764" align="alignnone" width="470" caption="Queen Elizabeth II"][/caption] Huffington Post:

Queen Elizabeth II marked her Diamond Jubilee on Monday with a message thanking all those who had supported her over her 60-year reign and reaffirming her dedication to serving the British people.The 85-year-old monarch ascended the throne when her father, George VI, died on Feb. 6, 1952. She is the longest-serving monarch after Queen Victoria, who reigned for more than 63 years.

It’s remarkable to be in any job for that long let alone one with as much pressure as this one. Congratulations, Mum!

BGR:

42-inch 1080 LED display; Runs iOS; App Store functionality; iCloud for access to all your music, TV shows, movies, photos, and videos; iPhone and iPad as a remote control with AirPlay to push content from your devices to the TV; Built-in FaceTime camera and microphone (we’d imagine Siri, as well); Netflix, YouTube, Flickr support; and $1,499 price.

I have a hard time buying this, unless Apple is a lot further along than we thought it was.

TechCrunch: Conglomerate Honeywell, which develops thermostats, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Nest Labs, the developer of the innovative smart thermostat. The lawsuit, which was filed United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, alleges infringement of seven … Continued

[caption id="attachment_19723" align="alignnone" width="401" caption="Super Deli Bowl"][/caption]

Westword:

Holy Super Bowl! Someone in the football universe obviously takes his deli platter damn seriously, as evidenced by this snap, a dazzling stadium display of cold cuts, crudites, chips and cheese squares.

Some of the “stadiums” are insanely complex looking. Thanks to Lessien for the heads up via Twitter.

CBS Sports:

This is your regular beer-league hockey game and the small rink gets filled with a rabid fan base complete with body paint, thundersticks and banners. The looks on the players’ faces is priceless.

This video will touch the hearts of every beer league player out there. It’s a shame it will only be shown in Canada during the game.

iTunes:

Trouble is brewing in Westeros. For the inhabitants of this world, control of the Iron Throne holds the lure of great power. But in a land where seasons can last a lifetime, winter is coming…and beyond the Great Wall that protects them, a forgotten evil has returned.

If you are a fan of the “Game of Thrones” series, these free behind the scenes videos might tide you over until the show comes back to HBO in April.

PC World:

Super Bowl XLVI kicks off on February 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, and no matter where you’ll be that Sunday, you have plenty of ways to stream the big game to your PC, tablet, or smartphone so you can watch the Giants and the Patriots struggle for supremacy on your preferred device.

Best to test out your streaming options beforehand in case your provider or country doesn’t allow you easy access. Even better, go to your local pub and watch it with friends and strangers!

Disinformation:

Host Adam Savage of Mythbusters tells how Visa, Mastercard, and Discover had the Discovery Channel put the kibosh on an episode that would have revealed just how “trackable and hackable” the RFID chips found in many credit cards are. It’s a telling example of how corporate advertisers serve as the gatekeepers of mainstream media/entertainment.

The video with the story has Mythbusters host (and fellow Mac user!) Adam Savage explaining how their investigation was shut down by The Discovery Channel.

That is MG Siegler’s response to news that RIM Offering Free PlayBook Tablets to Woo Android Developers.

How about a bit of humor on a Friday. Personally, I like the “drunken radiator.” […]

Reuters:

Japan’s Panasonic Corp warned of a record annual $10.2 billion net loss, joining beleaguered rivals Sony and Sharp in a sea of red ink as they struggle to fix their broken TV businesses and show they have not lost their way.

I think it’s clear they have lost their way.

One of the ways to make your Super Bowl party even more fun is to play and place a bunch of prop bets.

A “proposition bet” usually means a side bet often made in conjunction with a sporting event but one that does not directly depend on the game’s final outcome. So for example, you can make these bets whether you are a Giants or a Patriots fan and still cheer for your team to win.

The Canada based online gambling site Bovada has some bets you can make with family and friends. You can make the bets on their web site but it’s probably less illegal if you just do it among the people at your party.

Bovada has obvious bets like “Who will be named Super Bowl MVP?” and “Who will win the coin toss?” but they also have some fun bets like “Which team will get into the Red Zone first?” and weird bets like “How many times will Andrew Luck be mentioned on TV during the game?”

Prop bets are a fun way to keep people involved in the game while they wait for the commercials to play.

[caption id="attachment_19620" align="alignnone" width="420" caption="This is either sad or exciting to you..."][/caption] Splice Today:

Recently, Wizards of the Coast, the company that now owns Dungeons & Dragons, announced a fifth edition was in development. The reaction, despite mentions in media outlets like the New York Times and Forbes, has seemed muted.Does D&D still have a place in the world, or has it been replaced by new technology?

My three Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books ― the Monster Manual, the Player’s Handbook, and the Dungeon Masters Guide – were prized possessions in high school and college.

Violet Blue describing the “saddest booth babe in the world” at Macworld: […]

Mashable:

The Super Bowl isn’t just the biggest day in American football. It’s also the advertising world’s shining moment.Brands and agencies pull out all the stops to make an impression on the game’s captive audience. Most frequently, they turn to the bizarre and the offbeat, seeking to burn messages into viewers’ brains with humor.And the ads had better be funny; commercial slots are going for a whopping $3.5 million a pop this year.

Any list that includes the “Wassup!” ads but doesn’t include the Budweiser frogs can’t possibly be the ten funniest.

TIME:

A Yale lecture capped at 270 students? And no wireless Internet available? Dial up the anger on the New Haven, Conn., campus.After Alexander Nemerov moved his popular “Introduction to the History of Art: Renaissance to the Present” from the Yale Law School auditorium that easily fit about 450 students to the more cramped Yale Art Gallery auditorium, he not only upset some students and alumni by capping the class size at 270 because of the smaller venue, but also shocked some students that walked into a room void of wi-fi or cell service.

Before you scream, “Luddite!”, read the article. The professor seems to have good reasoning for his decision.

I usually just lay under the Heineken tap in my house, but I suppose if you have to use a glass. […]

[caption id="attachment_19542" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Helix Nebula, NGC 7293"][/caption] Gizmodo:

In a few billion years, our dear Sun will look like this, a beautiful glowing eye of spent starstuff trash in the shape of Sauron’s Eye. And no ring is going to save us from this one.It’s the Helix Nebula, NGC 7293, 700 light-years away from Earth. Once upon a time it was a star like ours.

I’m going to be so bummed when that happens.

New York Times:

In a sharp answer to Amazon and its expanding publishing efforts, Barnes & Noble said on Tuesday that it would not sell books released by Amazon Publishing in its bookstores.The ban includes books released by New Harvest, a new imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt that recently struck a deal to publish and distribute books released by Amazon Publishing’s unit based in New York.It also seemed unlikely that many of the 1,900 independent bookstores in the United States would be willing to stock Amazon books.

To be clear, the B&N ban only applies to books from the publishing arm of Amazon – not all books sold through Amazon.com.

In 1970, at the height of his career, Cash needed a personal limousine. He turned to Rolls-Royce where he acquired a long-wheelbase Silver Shadow Saloon. At the time the Crewe factory did not produce a limousine, so Cash turned to a local Nashville coachbuilder, gave them his specifications and this is the final product. Cash used this limousine up through 1977 when it was sold to another private owner prior to coming to the Burdick collection.