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HP Stream 11 $200 Windows Notebook Gives Chromebooks Some Thrills

Posted: 28 Nov 2014 08:44 AM PST

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Microsoft trimmed down Windows 8.1 so that laptop manufacturers can use the light version in their most affordable devices. HP’s stream 11 is one of the first devices to roll out with it and give Chromebook manufacturers a run for their money.

HP already has a few Chromebook models under its belt, so Microsoft’s move might be hard to understand. Maybe Redmond should have went for a notebook manufacturer that hasn’t launched any Chromebooks yet, so that there’s no internal conflict between various product lines, but nowadays it’s really hard to find such a manufacturer, as Google’s OS is getting a lot of love from everyone. Microsoft is trying to make sure that people will give the trimmed W8.1 a try by offering a $25 Windows Store gift card, along with 1TB of cloud storage on OneDrive, and a 1-year subscription to Office 365. That’s a tough deal to beat, and Google will have to be very imaginative to come up with a better offer.

In terms of design, the HP Stream 11 is quite playful, so maybe it’s not such a good idea to showcase it in a business environment. After all, this cheap Windows laptop is not gonna impress anyone with its performance, so you might want to keep it for entertainment. The keyboard is comfortable to use, but given the 11-inch 1,366 x 768 non-touch display, this should be nothing more than a backup solution for writers. Given the ports and the connectivity options, this notebook is only a Chrome OS away from a Chromebook.

Powered by a Celeron N2840 CPU and 2GB of RAM, the Stream 11 will run basic apps. At least in that department it will shine. Yet another aspect that should determine people to consider buying this notebook (or netbook, even though that format is officially dead): the respectable battery life. The Stream 11 will be up and running for 8 hours and 17 minutes, considering you’re not doing anything crazy on it, such as having the Wi-Fi connection turned on while playing videos. That doesn’t make HP’s offering the best in its class, but there are only 4 Chromebooks out there that can beat it. Either way, this should last you through an entire day at work (supposing you’d want to use it for that), and that’s really what matters.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about Acer’s Tegra K1 Chromebook 13 that blows the competition out of the water, or Project Photoshop Streaming for Chromebooks.

Sony E-ink FES Watch Could Make Wearables Last Longer

Posted: 28 Nov 2014 08:09 AM PST

Sony e-ink FES Watch

Battery life is one of the major problems wearables are confronted with, but e-ink displays could put an end to that, without affecting the functionality too much.

All the big tech players have their own version of a smartwatch, and even though Sony made a few itself, it wants to revolutionize the dumber timepieces, as well. The Japanese corporation has just taken the veil off its e-ink watch, despite the fact that the device has been seen before on crowdfunding platforms under the name FES Watch.

Sure, an e-paper display could help the wristwatch save a lot of energy, thus lasting longer, but Sony has taken things further and made the wristband out of e-paper, as well. There’s still a long way until color e-ink becomes a mainstream thing, the company behind this technology having only showcased color e-paper displays this summer, but there’s still a lot of things that can be done using only black and white. The color of the watch’s dial can change, and the same goes for the color of the wristband, depending on the wearer’s gestures.

First of all, the different patterns an accommodate a person’s fashion taste. Secondly, they could serve another purpose, but that’s for the Fashion Entertainments to decide. This subsidiary of Sony consists of a team of employees who made a purpose out of finding new uses for e-paper. Anyway, the FES watch is a great example of minimalist design, something that could have been made only in Scandinavia or Japan.

Featured on Makuaku, a Japanese crowdfunding site, the FES watch has already reached its funding goal, and even exceeded it by 39%. Now what I would like to see is other makers of wearables picking up the idea and developing it even further. There’s a great chance that Sony already holds a patent for this technology, the whole concept of using the wristband as a form of display should be used by others.

Creating a basic e-ink smartwatch that displays only notifications shouldn’t be that difficult. On the upside, think how great of a battery life such a device would have! The bottom line is that wearable manufacturers should either make basic smartwatches with a great battery life, or full-fledged devices with all the sacrifices that come with performance. Anything, just don’t get stuck in the middle like HP did with the MB Chronowing smartwatch.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Sony SmartWatch 3, available on Google Play Store for $250, or Samsung’s standalone smartwatch.

14 Perfect T-Shirts For Book Geeks

Posted: 28 Nov 2014 06:00 AM PST

Lord of the Rings

Books make an excellent subject for T-shirts, but not in the conventional way. Sometimes, taking a line from the novel and playing with it to make it cooler and more modern (if needed) or doing the same to a character makes much more of an impact when people see you wearing it.

Harry Potter

Find your inner swag.

Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit

Hemingway

Jane Eyre

Find it here.

The Picture of Dorian Gray (or the T of the guy who made the painting)

Wilde fans, go here.

Pride & Prejudice

If you want to walk around with the country estate of Fitzwilliam Darcy, go ahead.

The Great Gatsby

If you feel like partying with style, you can find this here.

The Scarlet Letter

 

For Hester Prynne fans.

Slaughterhouse Five

To Kill a Mockingbird

You can find this Atticus Finch shirt here.

Charles Dickens T

If you’re a Dickens fans, go here.

Virginia Woolf Portrait

For James Joyce Fans

Find it here.

A Room With a View

You can find it here.

Pale Fire (Vladimir Nabokov)

Find it here.

Hat Tip

For more T-shirt inspiration and perfection, check out this post and if you feel like straying from the literary subject, check out these incredible pop culture mashup ideas.

Twitter Announces ‘Offers’ to Give You In-Store Discounts

Posted: 28 Nov 2014 04:58 AM PST

Twitter Offers

As Twitter looks to make more of a profit, the social media company has now announced Twitter Offers to help them make money as consumers save it.

More of our shopping takes place online than ever before. But, although the Internet makes it easy to lay back and buy everything from an app, over 90% of commerce still takes place in-person at brick and mortar stores.

For Twitter that’s a scary stat. The company recently launched a purchase initiative which lets people buy products directly via tweets just by clicking on a ‘Buy’ button. The idea that plenty of people would still rather walk into a store and buy a product than buy it through a tweet is obviously of concern to them.

Twitter may have found a good way to appeal to brick and mortar shoppers though, having now announced Twitter Offers. According to the company, it’s a brand new way for us to get discounts and for brands to drum up business and customer loyalty.

How Twitter Offers works is that when a advertiser tweets an offer, we can claim it by connecting our credit or debit card with the website. Then, when we head in-store, we redeem the discount by paying with the card that we synced with our Twitter account.

For customers this is obviously hugely beneficial. Twitter Offers has already gone live at several retailers and food chains in time for the Black Fridays deals bonanza, meaning that this week is a good one for thrifty savers.

Meanwhile, this is good for Twitter too as they’ll now be able to prove that promoted tweets from advertisers directly impact sales, allowing them to get more advertisers as a result. It’s also being suggested that Twitter may charge per redeemed offer too, which will only further help the company turn around recent profit disappointments.

Source: Twitter

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories, Twitter: Two More Execs Jump Ship, Is the Company in Turmoil?, Twitter acquires TapCommerce, aims to improve mobile ads

 

Zano Selfie Drone Flies on Its Own

Posted: 27 Nov 2014 12:47 PM PST

Zano Selfie Drone

Now that GoPro has announced that it would enter the drone business next year, things are about to get interesting for its competitors, who will work feverishly to make sure the action camera manufacturer doesn’t stand too much of a chance.

Zano may not come from such a reputable company, and to be fair, it’s not even meant for action shots, but hey, it’s a drone, and it is equipped with a camera, so a lot of people will compare the two at some point. Developed by Torquing Group Ltd, this drone stands out of the crowd not only because it can take selfies from up above, but also because it is autonomous. Yes, it flies on its own, and there’s little to no interaction required of you. Basically, all you need to do is to pose nicely and say “Cheese” every other 3 seconds.

This is how Torquing (Twerking? Now this one won’t win the Best Company Name of the Year, that’s for sure.) described its micro-drone on Kickstarter, where it looks to raise £125,000:

“ZANO is up and flying, holding position, avoiding obstacles, streaming live video back to a smart device, capturing video and photos. However, with as much capability as we’ve packed into ZANO, we are continuing to refine the flight, avoidance, video and photo capturing and user interface, plus we have relentless testing and refining procedures prior to us releasing ZANO to the market. We will begin our BETA testing in March 2015. With a view to enter production in May 2015!”

The way it works is really awesome, as people don’t have to program their drone, but task it. In other words, Zeno will have to do certain activities and maybe go over some thresholds in the process. Anyway, this looks like a cool project that become a reality as soon as possible.

The project has just surpassed its funding goal minutes ago, so there’s no doubt about the success of this campaign. The ones who pledged the equivalent of $200 will get their Zano micro-drone in June 2015, and if you happen to fancy this flying gadget, you’re free to back the project in the next 41 days to secure one for yourself. Given how quickly it reached its funding goal, this campaign will surely get one or more stretch goals.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the GoPro action drones, or the selfie printed in blood by a robot.

LG GizmoPal Phone Tracks Your Kids, Answers Parents’ Call Automatically

Posted: 27 Nov 2014 12:10 PM PST

LG GizmoPal 01

It may be interpreted as overprotection, but up until a certain age, kids should be supervised closely by their parents, to make sure that they’re in a safe environment and in good company.

LG GizmoPal, which was announced today by Verizon, acts as a phone and a GPS tracker, even though apparently it’s nothing more than a wearable that straps around the wrist. Well, in the case of kids, safety gadgets should be designed to look as inconspicuous as possible, so that they do not attract the looks of wrong persons. On the other hand, now that LG got involved in this niche, it’s safe to assume that its competitors will start making similar products, as well.

This safety gadgets has a single button, and frankly, that’s all that it needs. You wouldn’t want your kid to be all day long on Facebook or Twitter, so at an early age he’s better off with a display-less device such as this one. Using a device on all the wrong things would also drain its battery, and that’s also a thing to consider. As Verizon explained:

“Using the GizmoPal app on your smartphone, you can see the GizmoPal’s location on a map, via GPS. Plus, you can receive location notifications at scheduled times, such as when your child's bus typically arrives in the neighborhood.

The kids phone is easy to use and is the perfect companion for kids ages 4 and up. It fits securely around the wrist, is durable and water resistant, and comes in blue or pink. It even plays fun sounds and speaks the current time.

Simply manage GizmoPal’s settings using the GizmoPal app. Update or change contacts at any time. Change the volume. Check battery life and more. The app is compatible with smartphones using Android™ 4.0 or higher and iOS 7 or higher.”

As with toys and games, such safety gadgets should have an age range stamped on the package, as some parents forget how long to use it and they end up calling their children in their early twenties five times a day. We wouldn’t have gotten very far as a species if all parents were overprotective of their children.

LG GizmoPal is already available, and if you want to buy one for your kid, you’ll have to shell out $80, which is really an OK price, considering the alternatives.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about Skylock, a gadget that protects your bike and shares its location on your smartphone, or pd.id, which identifies spiked drinks as accurately as the DEA.

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