The sub-$40 Raspberry Pi single-board computer has now been shown to be able to support Apple's AirPlay wireless media streaming thanks to a tweak. Read more...
Can Siri Control Your Home? [VIDEO] (Mashable)
Mashable - A small company in Arkansas is showing an unexpected side to Apple's voice-based intelligent assistant Siri. This YouTube video shows various home appliances being controlled via voice command on the iPhone 4S, from adjusting the thermostat and light dimmers to turning on Blu-Ray DVD players. Read more...
Apple wins patents apps, multi-touch, hardware
Apple has won patents on a wide range of endeavors, from an important patent covering the recognition method used by the multi-touch screens on iOS devices to a design patent covering the look of the YouTube icon in iOS. Among a total of 18 patents awarded earlier today, Apple also scored a design patent on its own brand of battery charger, as well as patents on the Photo Booth application for Macs as well as an as-yet-unreleased app tailored to fitness centers.... Read more...
Sony’s Netbox streams Netflix, YouTube and other internet stuff for $130
We can't say there's a real shortage of streaming, set-top boxes on the market, but that doesn't mean we won't welcome Sony's addition with open arms. Not to be confused with a netbook or a nettop , the Netbox streams Sony's Bravia Internet services -- YouTube, Netflix, DailyMotion, etc. -- as well as supports a "wide range" of video formats including DivX and MKV. Read more...
North Korea Joins Facebook
First YouTube , then Twitter and now Facebook — it seems North Korea is suddenly moving aggressively into social media. North Korea has been in the news for its social media antics quite often lately — it joined Twitter under the handle @uriminzok just last week, an account that was blocked yesterday by South Korea’s state-run Communications Standards Commission. According to South Korean National Security Law, tweets from that account contain “illegal information.” Said information basically amounts to Korean history, news items and links to videos found on the Uriminzokkiri YouTube page, as well as anti-Seoul and anti-U.S. statements from the Uriminzokkiri website . Now, the Twitter feed also features links to wall posts from its Facebook profile . Read more...
Viral Videos and Flickr Photos Could Help You Circumvent Censorship
A group of researchers at Georgia Tech may have an answer to the epidemic of government censorship we’ve seen marring communications in many international spheres of late: a system they’re calling “Collage” that will allow people to hide messages in user-generated content, to be disseminated via platforms like Twitter , Flickr and YouTube . That’s right, Keyboard Cat could become a harbinger of covert news. So how does this process work? Sam Burnett, one of the researchers involved in the project, described the system to us in layman’s terms: “Someone uploads pictures containing hidden messages to Flickr, then someone else comes along and downloads them and decodes the message Read more...
“The Ballad of Steven Slater” Immortalizes Rogue Flight Attendant
By now, most of us have heard the story of the jetBlue flight attendant who, shall we say, had a hard day at work and dramatically quit. On the off chance you haven’t heard, here’s the breakdown: On Tuesday, Steven Slater was working aboard a jetBlue plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport when an apparently rude passenger caused Slater to be hit in the head with her luggage. Read more...