3d illusion arts: Walyou

Walyou

Google Teams Up with Fox, Creates Online Voting Solution for American Idol
Winterfell Is Delicious: Winterfell Cake Made Out Of Chotolate & Candy
Gameboy Cosplay With Playable Games!
Boeing Black: The Self-Destructing Smartphone James Bond Would Use
Samsung Galaxy S5 is Official and Coming Soon

Google Teams Up with Fox, Creates Online Voting Solution for American Idol

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 09:00 AM PST

Google American Idol Voting Within Search

The partnership between the search giant and the TV network enables the audience of American Idol to vote their favorites within search results.

Over the years, Google Search got better and better, not only because of the improved search algorithms, but also because of the dramatic increase in the amount of information received after typing a query. We saw the inclusion of Wikipedia-like features, the integration of Google+ and Google Maps, and now, thanks to a deal that the search giant signed with Fox Broadcast Company, people watching American Idol will also get the chance to vote more easily for their favorites right in the page with the search results triggered when looking for this entertainment show.

Google’s strategy might have been inspired by Twitter, who currently is at the top of the Second Screen hierarchy, thanks to the TV partnerships it has with various networks. Facebook, who also signed a deal with American Idol, will keep track of the voting progress in real time.

Fox SVP Bill Bradford stated that “This season of American Idol is all about re-connecting fans with what they love most about the show – the journey of the contestants from hopefuls to stardom. With the help of innovators like Google and Facebook, this season, we’re deepening that connection by making it easy for fans to make a bigger impact and be a bigger part of the show than ever before.” Obviously, Google’s system found within the search results only works during the voting window. One thing is certain, you don’t hear very often about two tech companies that rival each other most of the time collaborating on such a big thing.

I admit it, I’m not a fan of American Idol, Got Talent, The Voice or any of these modern TV shows that resemble medieval circuses. Yet, it’s Google’s idea that I appreciate, and I think that an online voting system could have a lot more useful applications than that. I’m not saying that presidential or governmental elections should be organized online, or at least not yet. Considering that Google is involved in this deal, it’s safe to assume that the fraud risk is low, so why not use this system for more serious matters? Campaigns are made online, so why not move voting here, as well?

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about these 18 official and unofficial Google products and the acquisition of AI company DeepMind by Google.

Winterfell Is Delicious: Winterfell Cake Made Out Of Chotolate & Candy

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 06:00 AM PST

If you’re as obsessed with HBO’s Game of Thrones as we are, you’ll jump straight into the opportunity to create the most delicious Winterfell yet. This is Winterfell, cake edition!

Winter is coming… to the southern hemisphere, anyways. The rest of us will welcome summer and the new season with some delicious cake which you can learn how to prepare by following this link over here. Yeah, we’d definitely prefer preparing cakes over fighting the white walkers.

Source: That’s Nerdalicious

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Gameboy Cosplay With Playable Games!

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 05:00 AM PST

We know for a fact that there’s cosplayers out there ready to portray your favorite characters of all time, but what if we told you they cosplay objects too? Such is the case of the Gameboy Cosplay.

If you think that calling this ´cosplay´ is a stretch, we’ll let you know that this is indeed a costume (created by redditor Dacaris), and has more play than any cosplay we’ve seen for these games are fully playable! That’s right, you can change the cartridge on the back of the suit, pop in your favorite classic and have at it. Pokemon red? Link’s Awakening? Tetris? Super Mario Land? Your call. See the video below to see the costume in action.

Source: Technabob

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Boeing Black: The Self-Destructing Smartphone James Bond Would Use

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 04:30 AM PST

FCC documents filled by the Chicago-based aircraft manufacturer suggest that Boeing locked its target on the smartphone market, more specifically on the paranoia-ridden privacy-focused niche of that market.

As one of the two main commercial aircraft makers (the other one being Airbus), Boeing must know one thing or two about hardware, engineering and security, right? The company wants to put all that to a test in a privacy focused smartphone called Boeing Black. This color (or rather non-color, but that’s debatable), while not new to smartphone manufacturers, seems to gain a new meaning. In other words, black smartphones are the equivalent of ninja fighters in terms of stealth presence, if you will. What made me say that? The newly launched PrivatOS Blackphone, of course! Boeing’s Black smartphone will also run Android, but it is currently unknown how much the OS will be customized by the manufacturer.

Besides being secure, Boeing Black is also modular, sign that the manufacturer didn’t take only privacy in consideration, but also the productivity of whoever is going to use this device. Until we get to see Google’s Project Ara (a modular phone supposed to cost $50) hit the market, any chance to change the looks and functionality of a smartphone by adding or removing modules should be appreciated.

The FCC documents include a description of how Boeing Black destructs itself: “The Boeing Black phone is manufactured as a sealed device both with epoxy around the casing and with screws, the heads of which are covered with tamper proof covering to identify attempted disassembly. Any attempt to break open the casing of the device would trigger functions that would delete the data and software contained within the device and make the device inoperable.”

In other words, this phone discourages disassembly and triggers data deletion not only when sensing unauthorized access within the software, but also when someone attempts to alter the hardware. In my opinion, this is a much better solution than a software smartphone kill switch, despite being similar in concept.

Since NSA is not the only governmental agency that listens in to the citizens, and USA is not the only country where such things happen, it’s great to see that more and more companies are concerned about the security and privacy of people.

Check the video located here to see some of the best selling points of the Boeing Black smartphone. The availability and price of this device are yet to be announced, but the initiative is definitely worth some applause.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the smartphone kill switch that could become mandatory if the US Senate passes the law, and the PrivatOS Blackphone, another smartphone focusing on privacy.

Samsung Galaxy S5 is Official and Coming Soon

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 04:00 AM PST

It's that time of year again. Mobile World Congress comes to a close and we are in the beginning of Android flagship phone season.

Samsung is first out the gate with the announcement of the Galaxy S5, the long awaited—much rumored—flagship smartphone for Samsung. Although the device won't be available for consumers until April 11^th, many reviewers were able to get a first look at the Samsung Unpacked 5 event.

There arent many surprises with the phone this year, which is both good and bad as many of Samsung's previous phones have been packed full of surprise new "features," which many consider unnecessary and bloated, but at the same time, everyone does want to see technology leap forward when new devices are launched.

The device appears to be a design improvement, after the last two iterations have been nearly indistinguishable with a casual glance. The back cover favors a pock marked soft touch plastic over the high gloss plastic of previous models. This will go a long way to giving the device a more "premium feel" in hand. The phone is launching in Black, White, Blue, and Gold, but don't be surprised to see additional colors (and carrier exclusives) offered later this year. The edges of the phone are still wrapped by a "chromed plastic" accent, which typically doesn't look so good towards the end of a two year contract, but it will definitely be shiny out of the box.

The front of the phone doesn't vary from its predecessor much, other than being a little more squared off in the corners. It sports a 5.1" 1080P Super AMOLED display, which is nearly identical to the screen found on the S4, but any significant improvement there wouldn't be noticeable by most human eyes anyway.

Samsung has also finally brought itself more in-line with the Android guidelines by forgoing the capacitive menu button, so the front of the phone now sports a physical home button (now a calling card for the Galaxy S brand) with capacitive back and multi-tasking buttons on the right and left, respectively. The home button has a finger print scanner built in as well. Early reports suggest functionality of the scanner leaves much to be desired, but with over a month before the official device launch, any judgment should be reserved for a few weeks.

The insides are an expected step forward, with a 2.5GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM. Previous iterations have launched several models, such as the octa-core Galaxy S4 last year, but it looks like there will only be one variant this year, likely because of better LTE support in newer chipsets, so one set of hardware can support a much broader range of cellular infrastructures.

The Battery has been upgraded to a 2,800mAh battery, which will provides a little more juice than the Galaxy S4's 2,600mAh battery. Combined with software improvements, the battery promises 20% more battery life, or double battery life if the new "Ultra Power Saving Mode" is activated.

Samsung's camera technology has always been right there at the front of the pack and the Galaxy S5 keeps that trend, with a 16MP camera sensor that supports 4K video capture and real-time HDR processing to better handle varying light conditions. The camera interface is greatly scaled back and any after effects—including a new post photo selective refocusing feature—can now be applied at any time (instead of being designated strictly prior to shooting) so the new camera features should be more accessible to all owners, not just the more technically inclined.

The phone will launch with Android 4.4 KitKat with Samsung's mostly unchanged TouchWiz interface. The overly colorful and cartoony elements appear to have been flattened some and it looks a little more modern, but any rumors of a drastically scaled back version of the software were greatly exaggerated.

One new feature not seen on any other phone is a heart rate monitor built into the back of the phone next to the camera flash. This goes hand-in-hand with Samsung's S Health app and a pedometer and exercise tracker. This duplicates a lot of featuers available through current fitness trackers (including Samsung's own Gear Fit), so it remains to be seen how actively these features will be used.

All in all, the Galaxy S5 is a much more polished smartphone when compared to its predecessors, but doesn't bring much to the table that will get many people to upgrade out of their Galaxy S4. All the Galaxy S III (yes, they used to use roman numerals previous to the S4) owners just coming out of contract will be happy to upgrade to an S5, but may decide to go with an S4 pending a price announcement by Samsung.

The Galaxy S5 will be available April 11^th for most major carriers. We will be sure to keep you updated with any major new developments.

Source: BGR, CNET, The Verge

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