The National Weather Service Will Convert Airplanes To Weather Balloons

The National Weather Service Will Convert Airplanes To Weather Balloons

Here's how weather forecasts in the United States work: The National Weather Service attaches devices that measure pressure, temperature and humidity to weather balloons that are launched, twice a day, from 69 locations in the US. This is the way it has been since, well, the 1930s.

Now, the Weather Service is finally getting better data by using sensors already present in hundreds of aircraft as they fly across the country. To get this data, it has entered into a partnership with Southwest Airlines. This, according to Bloomberg, should create a more accurate forecast.
Not only will this benefit hundreds of other industries, better weather predictions could improve flight delays, which currently cost airlines about $8 million a year.

These sensors are less common than you would imagine. Less than 1% of commercial aircraft in the US have them, reports Quartz. But seriously, if Apple can put a barometer in the next iPhone, how hard can it be to put these sensors in airplanes?

Pranav Dixit Provided by Gizmodo

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Best Motorcycle Helmet For Bikers:

Best Motorcycle Helmet For Bikers:

looking in the market for a new motorcycle helmet? First you need to choose a style of helmet, there are four different varieties including the full face, modular, half helmet and off road helmet. Once you decide on a style, you need to choose a size by measuring your head. The distance around your head should be measured just above your eyebrows, then you can use that number to choose a size. Helmets should be replaced every few years, especially if they have been dropped. There is an expiry date on helmets which can vary between brands. All of the helmets we reviewed are DOT approved.

• Bio-hazard Matte Black ATV Dirt Bike Motocross Motorsports Helmet DOT

This is one mean looking off road helmet black in color with neon green highlights. The inner liner features PS impact absorption and can be fully removed and washed. There is a ventilation system to provide air flow, an adjustable sun visor and a Dual D Ring strap with a snap button. This helmet is reasonably priced at $39.95 if you are looking to replace a helmet you own with an affordable choice.

price: $42.95

• GLX modular helmet with built in blue tooth

This is one of the most versatile helmets available on the market today. The communication system (HN588) allows you to communicate through digital technology. The helmet has a 6 -8 hour battery life for talk time. This unit also comes complete with the AC charging adaptor. The helmet itself is comfortable and has every feature you could possibly want in a reliable and safe helmet.

price:$212.99

 

• Fly Racing Trekker Adult Dual Sport

The advanced construction of the poly alloy shell serves to combine high strength materials for a lightweight yet durable design. The ratcheting face shield has several positions and can be easily opened or closed while wearing gloves. The liner and cheek pads can be removed and washed for a fresh helmet. Sixteen vents increase maximum airflow to keep your head cool. Overall, this is an extremely stylish helmet.

price:$125.96

• Dual Visor Modular Flip up Matte Black & White Demon & Samurai Motorcycle Helmet

This helmet features the most advanced dual visor system on the market. A one button control can be operated with one hand to convert the helmet from full face to open face. A retractable sun visor can also be easily controlled and the ventilation system provides superior air flow through 10 separate vents.

price: $84.95

• HLC Helmet CL-16

This full faced helmet offers a good measure of protection and comfort with the use of CAD technology. The Pinlock face shield provides a UV protection factor of 95% and can be fitted with a fog resistant insert. Shields can be replaced without tools quickly. The ventilation system allows air to move through the helmet and gets rid of heat and humidity. The interior features SpeedCool which is removable and wicks moisture and is free of odors.

price:

price:$116.99

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See Lava Before you Check Out Disney/Pixar's Inside Out

Disney and Pixar’s newest upcoming adventure Inside Out has our emotions running wild, happiness, joy, and excitement to be exact!

What doubles all of those emotions, however, is the traditional animated Pixar short that comes before every movie. Despite being a short before the movie, Lava is going to span the course of millions of years, telling a love story through music and song. And if there’s anything that Disney does best, it’s telling a musical story.

So there you have it, in less than a year, we’ll be checking out Inside Out and Lavafrom Disney and Pixar. We’re counting down the days to the June 19, 2015 release date. Get ready!

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Google's Nest to buy Dropcam for $555 million : report

Google's Nest to buy Dropcam for $555 million : report

Google Inc's Nest Labs will buy home-monitoring camera startup Dropcam for about $555 million in cash, technology blog Re/code reported on Friday, taking another step deeper into consumers' homes.
Nest and Dropcam confirmed the acquisition in separate blog posts on Friday, but did not specify the price tag. Google declined to comment.

Google is increasingly expanding into new markets, with efforts ranging from high-speed Internet access to advanced research on self-driving cars and robotics.
It bought Nest, which makes smart thermostat and smoke alarms, this year for $3.2 billion, the Internet firm's second-largest ever acquisition.

The deal was touted as a foray into the fast-growing "smart" home automation market, at a time consumer appliances and Internet services are merging. But it also raised concerns about the privacy implications for Google, which already collects rafts of data about users' online habits.

Dropcam, which lets users monitor homes and offices via its camera hardware and software, will adopt Nest's privacy policy after the acquisition, the latter company said in its blog post. That means data will not be shared with any other firm, including Google, without a user's permission, it said.
Dropcam's backers include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Accel Partners and Menlo Ventures.

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bangalore; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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Facebook's company trip to Africa leads to more efficient Android app

Facebook's company trip to Africa leads to more efficient Android app

Facebook recently rolled out an update for Android devices that's supposed to speed things up for users. If that update delivered on its promise, then you've got the company's trip to Africa to thank -- that's how Facebook's engineers got a taste of how slow the app can be on low-end phones with developing nations' internet speeds.

 One of the social network's engineers, Alex Sourov, detailed in a blog post how they bought several low-end Android phones in Africa to test out their app, which didn't only crash repeatedly, but also loaded really slowly. Even worse, they ended up consuming a month's worth of data plan within 40 just minutes trying to use the app. It became apparent that they needed to give their Android app an overhaul if the social network wants to reach even more people around the globe -- so they did.

In order for Facebook to load faster on single-core devices, the engineers tweaked the app so its features don't load all at once when you launch it, and cached News Feed entries load up much earlier. Then, they decided to move away from JPEG and PNGs and transmit Facebook images using Google's WebP format, which consumes a lot less data. The app now also only loads images in resolutions and sizes that match the device's screen size -- it doesn't automatically download a full-size high-res pic, for instance, unless you specifically click on it. Finally, Facebook has reduced its app size by 65 percent in hopes that it'll play better with phones and tablets with small RAM sizes and limited storage capacities.

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"Demi Lovato Posts a Tweet Remembering Her Dad"

"Demi Lovato Posts a Tweet Remembering Her Dad"

A year ago today Demi Lovato lost her father, Patrick Lovato, who had been battling throat cancer for years. The courageous star took to Twitter to mark the anniversary of his passing, making it clear that even though they had a difficult relationship, they were also extremely close.

Demi said in her tweet " Can't believe it's already been a year.. Wish I could've hugged you one last time.. RIP Daddy, I love you"

9:22 PM - 20 Jun 2014

There were several years where Demi cut off all communication with her dad, who was dealing with mental health issues, because she found it too painful to be around him.

"You try to have faith in somebody, even when you're the last person that believes in him," sheexplained back in 2009. "But when somebody lets you down after you've been the only one there for them, and so many times, you don't know what to do."

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Selena Gomez stalker sentenced to treatment

Selena Gomez stalker sentenced to treatment

LOS ANGELES — A homeless man has been ordered to undergo psychological treatment after pleading no contest to stalking Selena Gomez.

Los Angeles County prosecutors say Che Thomas Cruz entered the plea Friday and was told to spend six months in a residential treatment facility followed by a year of psychological treatment.
He'll also have to stay 200 yards away from the singer-actress and her home for 10 years.
Authorities say Cruz went to the home of Gomez twice and was arrested in March for breaking into her guesthouse in suburban Calabasas.

He pleaded no contest in April to a misdemeanor trespassing charge.
Cruz spent two days in jail and hours after his release he jumped a fence at Gomez's home and was rearrested.

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Super cheap Smart Home kit brings automation to the massesar

Super cheap Smart Home kit brings automation to the masses

If you're wondering when home automation might tip into the Walmart-level mainstream, here's a sign: Archos' Smart Home starter kit is now on sale. Along with two cameras, two movement tags and two weather tags, they're throwing in a controlling tablet, all for $250 -- or $25 each for the cameras and sensors. Considering the tablet, that's even cheaper than SmartThings' low-end kit. Archos says it's the first to use the Bluetooth Smart tech in connected homes and engineered it to work at double the normal distance (65 instead of 32 feet) with up to 13 devices. 

That'll permit it to take a photo when a movement-tagged door is opened, for instance, using its scenario editor and the Tasker Android app. Archos also has controllable plug sockets, alarm sirens, motion-detectors and even a pet tracker planned for the future. The kit should hit its online shop soon, but fair warning -- Archos is known for low-priced, but not exactly high-end goods.

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Sharp has created a new Free-Form LCD panel

Sharp has created a new Free-Form LCD panel

Sharp Corporation has announced the development of a new LCD panel that can be created in any shape. The new Free-Form panel technology will open up new possibilities for current products and create new opportunities for emerging product categories.

The new display differs from current LCD panels that have their circuits embedded around the display, which is why current LCD panels all share the same rectangular shape. The new panels have their circuits embedded across the display, which allows Sharp to manufacture displays in any shape.
The new LCD panel will revolutionize the industry and bring forth a wave of new products with unique shapes and thinner bezels. But don’t expect them anytime soon: Sharp has stated they have plans to put them into commercial production by 2017.

Sharp is currently in talks with several major manufacturers from around the world that will produce new products based on this technology. Perhaps in the future we will see new wearables and smart watches created from Free-Form displays.
While it’s too early to tell how successful this new technology will be, it is certain that Sharp is pushing the boundaries as a technological leader, evolving the display industry.

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The Surface Pro 3 is now on sale

The Surface Pro 3 is now on sale!

Today is June 20th, or if you live in the land of Microsoft, today is the day that the Surface Pro 3 is finally on sale. After a few weeks of waiting, pre-ordering and software updates, the Pro 3 is now a device that anyone can purchase at their favorite retail outlet.
Up for sale today are two iterations of the Core i5 model, one that costs $999 and comes with 128 GB of storage and 4 GB of RAM and the other model costs $1299 and comes with 256 GB of storage and 8 GB of RAM.

Microsoft is offering a diverse set of specs for its Pro 3, with everything from an i3 with 4GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage for $799 to an i7 with 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage for $1,949. The i3 and i7 models can be pre-ordered now but won't ship until August. It should be noted that all SKUs do not come with the Type Cover 3 that costs $129.99 but we highly recommend that you purchase this accessory.
If you didn't pre-order a Pro 3, you may still be able to pick one up in person at a Microsoft store or Best Buy. Microsoft told us that each store has a different number of available units but that not all units are destined for pre-orders. So, if you are bummed you didn't pre-order, call around, you might be able to find one in stock.

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Apple’s iWatch Could Be The Next Big Sports Fashion Accessory:

Apple’s iWatch Could Be The Next Big Sports Fashion Accessory:

Sports sells gatorade, and sports sells sneakers, and sports sells clothing and hats and TV trays and bottle openers and anything that has enough surface area to hold a logo. But can sports sell the concept of the smartwatch? That’s what Apple might find out beginning in October, the rumored launch date of the iWatch, according to a new report from 9to5Mac. The blog’s sources say Apple is working with professional athletes to test the fitness tracking features of the upcoming device, and it’s only logical that if they’re helping inform product design, Apple should tap them for promotion, too.

The stars working with Apple include Kobe Bryant, Dustin Brown of the LA Kings, and other unnamed stars from top U.S. pro sports organizations. 9to5Mac also says that the iWatch is being developed as a fashion piece, to ship in two different designs, with an announcement in October and a ship date soon after. The report echoes one earlier today from the Wall Street Journal, which said it would include fitness tracking and be unveiled in October, too.

Building wearables so far has proven a challenge, at least in terms of making something that sells with the kind of volume that makes them worthwhile for a company like Apple. The top-selling smartwatches to date are the Samsung Gear line, and 2 million total smartwatch devices were sold last year according to Strategy Analytics, of which 1.2 million were Android powered. Apple, by contrast, is shooting for first year sales of between 50 and 60 million units for its device alone, according to reports from media outlets including WSJ and Reuters.

To sell the devices, turning to the age-old marketing machine that is professional sports is a logical path. Apple is said to be packing a heap of sensors into this device (10 to be exact) and working with Nike on the fitness features. Traditionally, if you create something that has a ‘performance’ or activity angle, turning to pro athletes for a marketing push delivers huge dividends – Gatorade, and every other sports drink on the market, likely wouldn’t exist without the influence of celebrity endorsements.

Apple hasn’t leaned too heavily on the celebrity angle for promoting its past products, at least not directly. Instead, it has used a comprehensive media strategy of helping Apple products find their way naturally into films, TV shows and celebrity pockets, along with a few select endorsements via television ads and media spots. But it has acquired a company recently that could help with this kind of market positioning: Beats.
Beats doesn’t really make sports accessories – but you’d be forgiven for thinking they do. Their advertising campaign around the World Cup is one example of how well they’ve been able to tie their headphones to athletes and athletics.

 Nevermind the fact that Beats on- and over-ear headphones are pretty much the opposite of what you want on your head while you’re running five miles or training for a triathlon. They share the same basic design as earmuffs, which are made to keep heat in your head. True, Beats makes wireless earbuds, too with the Powerbeats line but they’ve managed to give the whole brand sports cache.

There is no evidence that a smartwatch will pack people into stores, Apple-made or not. But there’s plenty of evidence to suggest an Apple-built sports and fitness/fashion accessory will sell and sell well. Apple wouldn’t be the only company trying to use fashion as a selling point for wearables, but it might be the one with the best angle yet.

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Android and Windows Adding 'Kill Switches' to Their Phones

Android and Windows Adding 'Kill Switches' to Their Phones

Google and Microsoft are joining Apple and Samsung in adding a "kill switch" feature to their phone operating systems. Both Android and Windows phones will now offer a true kill switch as a way to fight back against thieves.

A kill switch basically turns a phone into a fancy paperweight, to varying degrees. There are two kinds of kill switches: hard and soft. A hard kill switch makes the phone permanently unusable, whereas a soft kill switch makes the phone unusable to unauthorized users.

Thus far, legislators have advocated for hard kill switches, as a soft kill switch leaves the phone open to a hack and may not activate if the phone is turned off, or if the connection is temporarily disabled.

If the kill switch activates successfully, it renders the value of the phone next to nothing. In the States, one-third of phone theft victims say they would pay up to $1,000 to get their device back. The street value for a stolen, unlocked phone can certainly get that expensive as well. However, if the phone is killed, there is no information to ransom to the rightful owner and it cannot be resold to anyone. Still, the thief could price out the parts of the phone, but that would not be much of a profit comparatively.

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