Walyou |  |
- Hashkey: the 1-key keyboard for hashtags
- Facebook’s simplified data policy can finally be understood
- Keyboard light hack lets users play Snake
- Hollywood Launches ‘Where to Watch’ In Effort to Fight Piracy
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 MDP Brings 64-bit Computing to Android
| Hashkey: the 1-key keyboard for hashtags Posted: 25 Nov 2014 10:07 AM PST  It’s unbelievable how popular the hashtag got since the advent of Twitter, considering it’s not so easily accessible on our keyboards. Hashkey aims to change that. As evidenced by its wide usage, most of us would imagine social media is easy, no matter who you are… then, thanksgiving or any other holiday comes around, you talk with Nana, and realize how different and non-representative your bubble is from the rest of the world. Turns out a lot of people can’t even figure out where the hashtag key is, because there’s none, and you have to use shift to do it. The Hashkey team key wants to go around this by providing the first one-key keyboard ever, dedicated solely to the hashtag. Hashkey is a one-key USB keyboard that focuses solely on the hashtag, and does nothing else: it’s not a product for the geek that already knows everything about social media, but for the uninitiated who needs an extra hand making it easier. It’s currently in crowd-funding stage at Kickstarter, where a pledge of £17 (around $27 USD) can land you the basic standard HashKey, in plastic. There’s this incredible version in aluminum, though, that might be totally worth it, so be sure to check it out. Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories at Keyboard light hack lets users play Snake and Logitech K480 Is a Keyboard that Works with Smartphones, PCs and Tablets. |
| Facebook’s simplified data policy can finally be understood Posted: 25 Nov 2014 09:15 AM PST  Facebook has made the transition from legal jargon to simple, easy English regular people can understand in their data policy. Your days of having to go to law school to understand what Facebook expects of you, or can do with your data are over. As everything that deals with human interactions and expectations, Facebook’s data policy used to be an unreadable mess. After becoming aware that most users never even bothered to read it, and those who did had a hard time grasping anything from it, the Facebook team worked on a new data policy, which according to the Wall Street Journal is 70 percent shorter than it used to be. Furthermore, the layout was improved and separated into chapters for ease of access which is a major hit. At the same time, their terms of service are down 79 per cent too, from 11,195 words in 2012. This move comes in the eve of their experimental buy button launch, in an attempt to be both simple and transparent with the users. Put simply? Facebook wants your location information easily accessible to display relevant offers. Or, in their words:
These new policies aren’t into full effect yet, and Facebook has invited their users to provide feedback until November 20th, when they expect to launch them. Via Venture Beat Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories at RIP Words, Facebook Rolls Out Stickers in Comments and Facebook Improves Targeting with New Local Awareness Tool. |
| Keyboard light hack lets users play Snake Posted: 25 Nov 2014 06:00 AM PST  Gadgets, phones and technology have evolved so much that we don’t even need screens anymore to play classics such as snake, as this hack evidences. Snake might be one of the ultimate time wasters, timeless as it’s simple yet addictive. That is why Hackaday user [Sprite_TM] chose to revamp the classic to work without screens, computers, or anything except a lighted keyboard. This keyboard’s only particularity is that it has individually addressable LEDs, one of the current fads amongst makers, bur other than that it’s just a regular keyboard with a few specialized functions. When [Sprite_TM] took it to work, a colleague joked, saying 'you've had this keyboard for 24 hours now, and it has a bunch of LEDs and some arrow keys. I'm disappointed you haven't got Snake running on it yet’, which sounded a lot like a challenge to him. The keyboard itself is the Coolermaster Quickfire Rapid-I, a board with a small ARM Cortex CPU and 32k of RAM. which was plenty for this project.Using an executable file that overrode the updater, [Sprite] made a back-up of the defaults, and started programming on it. And note, even though playing Snake is the part we found the most amusing to make a story about, there’s plenty users can do with a hacked keyboard like this, so check the original post at Hackaday for more ideas and information about the project. Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories at Tech Enthusiast Creates Playable Tetris T-shirt and DIY Miscroscope Costs Less Than $1 USD. |
| Hollywood Launches ‘Where to Watch’ In Effort to Fight Piracy Posted: 25 Nov 2014 04:00 AM PST  As piracy issues plague the movie and TV industry more than ever, Where to Watch is the latest initiative out of Hollywood to fight unlawful media viewing.
While the Internet helps the movie and TV industry get the word out about their content (as well as make money through licensed avenues like Netflix and Hulu) it also provides them with a giant headache. Namely, piracy. As broadband speeds get faster and people are more in-tune with technology, many people are finding illegal ways to watch the TV shows and movies that they love. Through means of torrenting or streaming, people are circumventing legal avenues of viewership instead of just tuning in or paying for movie tickets. Throughout the years, Hollywood has gone to great measures to prevent this including DMCA (copyright) notices to take down files and the lobbying of copyright laws that have led to several high profile arrests. None of it has been particularly effective though which is why companies have banded together to launch ‘Where to Watch’. Where to Watch (helpfully located at WhereToWatch.com) is a search engine that tells you where to watch whichever TV or movie that you’ve typed into it. Free to use, Where to Watch will tell you where to watch that TV show or movie online, with some content sources including Netflix, iTunes and Xbox Video. Furthermore, when streaming options aren’t available, the site will suggest physical alternatives. For example, it will suggest DVD/Blu-ray purchases or rentals for older content and for new releases it will recommend local show-times if you enter your ZIP code too. One massive oversight is it doesn’t tell you ‘Where to Watch’ the movie or TV show on your actual television. So if your favourite holiday movie is showing on ABC Family (per their annual 25 Days of Christmas promotion), the Where to Watch site will still direct you to Netflix etc. instead. Furthermore, Hollywood’s plan is inherently flawed because they clearly don’t understand that people aren’t just pirating because they don’t know where to watch these things, but many people pirate media because they can’t afford it. So directing them to places where you have to pay to watch those things legally isn’t going to solve any problems. Alas, it is a step towards combatting piracy that isn’t ‘throw everyone in jail’ so perhaps this can be considered as ‘progress’. Source: Where to Watch Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories, Apple and Bono Working on 'Secret Project' to Fight Music Piracy, Game of Thrones Season Premiere Breaks Piracy Records |
| Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 MDP Brings 64-bit Computing to Android Posted: 24 Nov 2014 12:39 PM PST  Qualcomm does not intend to compete against other manufacturers of Android devices with their newly launched smartphone. Instead, this is meant as a platform developers and device manufacturers can work on without any hardware limitations. The Qualcomm smartphone is any Android software or hardware developer’s dream, as it has some extreme features. That being said, it’s rather unusual for a chipset manufacturer to launch a full-fledged device in order to showcase the capabilities of a mobile CPU. The MDP (Mobile Development Platform) smartphone features the newly-developed 64-bit octa-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, an Adreno 430 GPU and 32GB of internal storage. The 4K capable 13MP rear camera is accompanied by a 4MP camera in the front. “The Mobile Development Platform Smartphone (MDP/S) is an early development platform for developers. This next-generation smartphone provides application developers and device manufacturers with early access to a high-performance platform for development, testing and optimization of Android applications. This development device is based on Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 810 Ultra HD processor, which includes a 64-bit octo-core CPU, Qualcomm Adreno™ 430 GPU and the newest Qualcomm Hexagon™ DSP, along with the latest available Android OS.” In terms of sensors, the MDP packs the usual suspects, along with UV and Mobeam sensors, which should find their way into our smartphones in the not-so-distant future. Other unusual features are the 8 microphones and the ultrasound emitter. As far as security is concerned, users authenticate themselves using the fingerprint reader found on the back of the device. After the CPU, the second star of the show must be the 6.17" QHD (2560×1600) 490ppi multi-touch capacitative screen, something that I’d love to see… cough, Apple try. Given these extraordinary specs, it should take long until device manufacturers launch one or a few models based on the Qualcomm MDP. In fact, we might see some similarly specced devices as early as February, when the MWC 2015 takes place in Barcelona. Of course, manufacturers will only present prototypes at that point, with launch dates schedule sometime during the summer or fall. The 3,020 mAh will be easy to fill up, due to the QuickCharge 2.0 technology. That’s yet another thing I’d like to see in more devices, but it’s up to the other manufacturers to pick up this design and make their own based on it. Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 MDP is available on the Intrinsyc website for $799. Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the 2,400 patents HP sold to Qualcomm, or the Qualcomm Toq smartwatch. |
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