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Walyou

Jon Snow’s Longclaw Brought To Life
Sprint Exclusive HTC One M8 is the Phone for Audiophiles
The Definitive Cookbook: Sharpens Knives, Seasons Steak
Google Targets Yelp with Its Recent Acquisition of Appetas
New Patent Suggests that Microsoft Might Enter Smartwatch Market

Posted: 08 May 2014 09:50 AM PDT

We’re just past the mid-season of Game of Thrones, and the productions the show spawns just keep getting better, such as this recreation of one of the most iconic swords.

Gritty, realistic Game of Thrones is made with a lot of care and attention to detail, and that goes even for the swords. Master smith Man at Arms has created a video where he depicts the process that led to the creation of Jon Snow’s valyrian sword, Longclaw. Although a long process, it paid off as it came out quite faithful to both the books and the TV version. Being a valyrian sword, it does have the ripples, while the handle with a wolf’s head was taken straight from the TV.

Source: Geekologie

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Sprint Exclusive HTC One M8 is the Phone for Audiophiles

Posted: 08 May 2014 06:00 AM PDT

HTC has quickly established themeselves as a clear leader when it comes to smartphone audio, but this new HTC One M8 has more than just Boomsound.

HTC has become the well seated leader when it comes to premium smartphone design and build quality. Its past three flagship phones, the HTC One X, the HTC One, and the HTC One M8 have all received (nearly) universal praise from much of the internet, with all three also receiving multiple awards, most recently the HTC One was awarded the Smartphone of the Year award for 2013 at Mobile World Congress (nearly a full year after its initial launch).

Unfortunately, the praise and awards haven’t all translated into sales. Apple is by far and away the worlds most recognizable brand and Samsung is up there, not to mention its $1 billion marketing budget, it’s hard for HTC to catch a break, despite the fact that it manufactures–what many people would argue is–a superior product to its competitors.

Some of HTCs earliest success came with some exclusive devices for Sprint, most notably, the HTC EVO 4G, which was the first 4G (WIMAX) phone, and–at the time–the best all around Android phone. As HTC struck out to better establish its brand, it started to shy away from carrier exclusive devices and now launches nearly identical devices on all carriers, much like Samsung and Apple; however, that doesn’t mean HTC is above partnering with Sprint once again.

Sprint and HTC recently announced an exclusive version of the HTC One M8 that takes advantage of HTC’s Boomsound feature and includes some additional audio improvements and branding from HTCs partners for the project, Harman/Kardon. Harman Kardon is a premier audio equipment manufacturer that provided its Clari-Fi software, which restores most of the audio details typically lost during the compression that occurs with most streaming media.

To compliment the Clari-Fi audio from Harman/Kardon, this exclusive version of the HTC One M8 comes with a free six month trial to Spotify, followed by discounted monthly rates for the streaming service, depending on the number of lines on the Sprint account. The phone will also come as an exclusive black/champagne colored variant and will include a set of Harman/Kardon AE-S Premium in-ear headphones (currently discounted from $179.95 to $72.39 on Amazon).

HTCs partnership with Harman/Kardon comes at an intersting time, considering HTC just recently sold its majority stake in Beats Audio and the past two generations of the HTC One lineup included Beats branding. While Beats tended to modify sounds by boosting bass and other attributes, Harman/Kardon takes a very different stance on audio manipulation, stating on its website that Harman/Kardon, applies “thorough and precise scientific methods to accurately reproduce crystal clear sound – as close to the original recording as possible.”

While Beats Audio may have more brand recognition than Harman/Kardon, many audiophiles will appreciate this new partnership more than the previous one. Unfortunately, there will likely not be many of these units flying off the shelf, considering the phone is an exclusive to Sprint, and unavailable on several larger carriers in the US or other countries.

Source: CNET

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The Definitive Cookbook: Sharpens Knives, Seasons Steak

Posted: 08 May 2014 05:00 AM PDT

Nothing says “South America” like awesome steak, and knowing their strengths, a Brazilian company did something about that when creating this cookbook.

Your Kindle can’t do this: Creative studio JWT Brazil created this cookbook for Tramontina that provides the required tools to prepare the best BBQ in the world. The book is called “Biblia Definitiva Do Churrasco” (“The Definitive Bible of Barbecue”), and in it, actual pages are removed from the book in order to complete the dishes described in it. Some sheets are made of charcoal that readers are supposed to light up with a fire starter page, while others can be used for sharpening your knives, or create an apron.

The wood cover are used as both the cutting board and placemat, and to portray the table just like in the pictures. Now, this is the epitome of a special edition, but there’s a regular version that will be released shortly after, in case readers just don’t want to part ways with the text. You can see more about it in the video below these lines.

Source: Engadget

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Google Targets Yelp with Its Recent Acquisition of Appetas

Posted: 07 May 2014 01:45 PM PDT

It definitely looks like everybody has a bone to pick with Yelp lately. Foursquare announced that it will rebrand its app to focus on reviews of local businesses, while Google bought Appetas, a restaurant website builder.

Appetas was a website building service specialized in restaurants that enabled businesses to create their online presence in seconds. The integration of such services as grubHub, OpenTable, Foursquare and InstaGift made Appetas’ restaurant websites even more appealing. To prove that it means to have a strong relationship with local businesses from anywhere in the world, Google acquired Appetas and stated that it will assimilate its services in one form or another.

Today, Seattle-based Appetas detailed on its blog the acquisition by Google: “We are excited to announce that the Appetas team is joining Google. Google shares Appetas’ vision for bringing incredibly simple experiences to merchants that strengthen their business. We’re very excited to use what we’ve learned with Appetas to create something even better at Google.”

The company also mentioned that its service will be discontinued and integrated with other Google products: “To focus on our new endeavors, we’ll be shutting down the Appetas service and working with our customers to transition their websites over to alternative platforms. We’ll be reaching out to each customer individually to ensure a smooth transition.”

Co-founders Curtis Fonger and Keller Smith surely seemed excited about Google’s move, especially since themselves and their team will join the search giant in making local businesses even better. At the end of their post, the two co-founders thanked everyone who was part of their journey: “Thanks to all of our customers and partners who used the service, gave us feedback, and helped make Appetas what it is today. In addition, we wouldn’t be here without the guidance and support we received from our families, friends, mentors, and investors. This has been an incredible experience and we can’t wait to discover what the future holds!”

This move is firm proof that Google wants to extend its tentacles in as many directions as possible, and that can only be good for the world. If more companies had the same philosophy in what regards acquisitions, the entire world would progress faster, as acquiring knowledge is one of the good ways of moving forward.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Foursquare Swarm app that includes check-ins and displays nearby friends, and Google’s acquisition of drone maker Titan Aerospace.

New Patent Suggests that Microsoft Might Enter Smartwatch Market

Posted: 07 May 2014 01:14 PM PDT

It was about time the Redmond giant made its move in the wearable tech market. Google already proved that it’s aiming high with Android Wear, and an Apple smartwatch has been in talks for quite a while, so it would be great if Microsoft joined the party, as well.

Last week, Microsoft was awarded a patent that hints at the possibility of making a fitness tracking smartwatch. While it has become customary for companies to patent technologies so that others don’t get to use them without paying a hefty license fee, chances are the Redmond tech company might actually enter this market and launch a wearable before you know it.

Judging by this patent, Microsoft’s wearable will accomplish more functions than a simple smartwatch or a run-of-the-mill fitness tracker. In fact, the device would be able to handle text messaging, phone calls and music controls, which would make it anything but ordinary. The big question is whether it will run on its own these smartphone functions, or maybe it will act as a smartphone companion. I must admit, the latter option would be a bit disappointing, since most current smartwatches work like that.

The Microsoft wearable is supposed to come with a docking station that also acts as an alarm clock. Speak of covering multiple fields, eh? On top of that, the wristband’s displayed is designed to be detachable, so in theory it could be paired with other exercise equipment. I’m thinking exercise or regular bikes, treadmills and other such things.

Assuming that it will have a decent price, a device with so many functions should sell like hot cakes. The only drawback would be the operating system, since Microsoft would most probably opt for its own Windows Phone OS, which as you know, doesn’t benefit from the greatest app ecosystem in the world. A viable option would be to run some sort of an Android emulator on its WP devices. After all, that’s how a rumor sounded back in February, when some claimed that Microsoft might bring Android apps to Windows 8 and WP8. On another hand, Microsoft might take Samsung’s route and develop an entirely new OS for its wearables. Time will tell, as currently there’s no certainty that Microsoft will ever do anything with this patent.

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