iRobot's newest machine is made for student hackers

iRobot's newest machine is made for student hackers

Many educational robots tend to be complex and expensive, or simple and cheap. Where's the middle ground for students who want to build sophisticated things, but don't want to pay a fortune just to get started? iRobot thinks it can reach that happy balance with its new Create 2 robot. It's effectively a Roomba 600 series vacuum turned into a hacker's paradise. Instead of the usual cleaning equipment, you'll find easily accessible, clearly marked spaces that practically beg for add-on hardware (like cameras and arms) and cosmetic modifications. It's the foundation for a robotics project rather than a fully accessorized (and therefore costly) machine, as CEO Colin Angle tells us. You will get many of the tools you need to get cracking, though, including a programming framework, example instructions and 3D printing files for extra parts. So long as you can write code and plug in through USB, you can turn the robot into a Bluetooth-controlled DJ, a miniature security guard or whatever else your budget and skills allow.
As you might imagine, stripping down a floor-roaming automaton does wonders for its price. Where a basic Roomba 630 costs $350, the iRobot Create 2 is launching today for $200. That's inexpensive enough that it should still be relatively affordable even after you've bought the gear needed to make your dream device. It's definitely not meant for younger kids, but it could be an ideal blank slate for college and high school students that need (or want) to learn programming by solving real-world problems.
iRobot

Jon Fingas

Engadget

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Grammy Nominations 2015 - Record of the Year & More Noms Announced, Big nominees include Taylor Swift!

Grammy Nominations 2015 - Record of the Year & More Noms Announced, Big nominees include Taylor Swift!

The 2015 Grammy Awards aren’t until February 8, 2015, but the first round of nominees were just announced and we have the list!

Big nominees include Taylor Swift, Meghan Trainor, Ed Sheeran, and Ariana Grande. Keep checking back all day as new nominees are going to be revealed every hour with the bulk of the nominations coming late tonight!

Check out the first nominees below:

Record of the Year:
Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX, “Fancy”
Sia, “Chandelier”
Sam Smith, “Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)”
Taylor Swift, “Shake It Off”
Meghan Trainor, “All About That Bass”

Best New Artist
Bastille
Iggy Azalea
Brandy Clark
HAIM
Sam Smith

Song of the Year
Meghan Trainor – “All About That Bass”
Sia – “Chandelier”
Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off”
Sam Smith – “Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)”
Hozier – “Take Me to Church”

Best Pop Vocal Album
Coldplay, Ghost Stories
Miley Cyrus, Bangerz
Ariana Grande, My Everything
Katy Perry, Prism
Ed Sheeran, x
Sam Smith, In the Lonely Hour

Best Pop Solo Performance
John Legend, “All of Me (Live Version)”
Sia, “Chandelier”
Sam Smith, “Stay With Me”
Taylor Swift, “Shake It Off”
Pharrell Williams, “Happy”

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX, “Fancy”
Coldplay, “A Sky Full of Stars”
A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera, “Say Something”
Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj, “Bang Bang”
Katy Perry feat. Juicy J, “Dark Horse”

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Cheek to Cheek
Annie Lennox, Nostalgia
Barry Manilow, Night Songs
Johnny Mathis, Sending You a Little Christmas
Barbra Streisand, Partners

Best Country Album:
Dierks Bentley, Riser 
Eric Church, The Outsiders
Lee Ann Womack, The Way I’m Living
Brandy Clark, 12 Stories
Miranda Lambert, Platinum

Best Country Song
Kenny Chesney, “American Kids”
Miranda Lambert, “Automatic”
Eric Church, “Give Me Back My Hometown”
Glen Campbell, “I’m Not Gonna Miss You”
Tim McGraw feat. Faith Hill, “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s”

Best Urban Contemporary Album:
Jhene Aiko, Sail Out
Beyonce, Beyonce
Chris Brown, X
Mali Music, Mail Is
Pharrell Williams, G I R L

Best Rock Song
Paramore, “Ain’t It Fun”
Beck, “Blue Moon”
The Black Keys, “Fever”
Ryan Adams, “Gimme Something Good”
Jack White, “Lazaretto”

Best Rock Album
Ryan Adams, Ryan Adam
Beck, Morning Phase
The Black Keys, Turn Blue
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Hypnotic Eye
U2, Songs of Innocence

Best Rap Solo Performance
Childish Gambino – “3005″
Drake – “0 to 100/The Catch Up”
Eminem – “Rap God”
Kendrick Lamar “i”
Lecrae – “All I Need Is You”

Best Reggae Album
Ziggy Marley, Fly Rasta
Lee ‘Scratch Perry, Back on the Controls
Sean Paul, Full Frequency
Shaggy, Out of Many, One Music
Sly & Robbie & Spicy Chocolate, The Reggae Power
Soja, Amid the Noise and the Haste

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McDonald's is bringing touchscreen ordering to the US

McDonald's is bringing touchscreen ordering to the US

It turns out that people aren't eating as many McHamburgers as they used to, which is a big problem if your business is all about slinging meat. So McDonald's is hoping the novelty of its "Create Your Taste" ordering kiosks will lure some customers back in. The machines will be installed in 2,000 of its US outlets by the end of 2015. Instead of just walking up to the counter and ordering, users will be given the option to McCustomize their McMeal on a touchscreen. That includes everything from choosing chicken over beef, skipping the fatty mayo or picking sweet potato fries. Unfortunately, the privilege of being able to order a Big Mac minus special sauce on a ciabatta without getting the stink eye will cost you a premium, both in terms of prep time and cash.
But don't fret for the underpaid cashiers -- they'll now be underpaid pseudo waiters that deliver your food to your table (like a real restaurant). It's hoped that this blending of not-so-fast food, technology and choice will be enough to win back younger, more health-conscious customers and rouse the company out of its slump. As Bob Nibeel, a McDonald's franchise owner told USA Today (with a twinge of sadness in his voice), "most millennials would rather deal with a computer, iPad, iPhone than actually have interaction with another human being." Leave it to McDonald's to offer the most depressing of observations about our society.
USA Today

Daniel Cooper

Engadget

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One Direction Named 2014's Billboard Artist of the Year

One Direction has been crowned Billboard's Artist of the Year for 2014! They're the first group to win the award since 2001 — and the ninth group to ever snag the honor.

Since the guys have already won the 2014 AMA for Artist of the Year,  Despite rumors of tension between them, they just keep proving to their Directioners how much making good music means to them.

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Ed Sheeran Collaborates With Taylor Swift's '1989' Songwriter

Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift are totally BFF, but they have even more in common — they even share songwriters. The "Thinking Out Loud" singer says that he worked on a new track with the songwriter who cowrote his bestie's "Welcome to New York" and "I Know Places."

"It was a really weird thing because I hear from everyone that he just loves writing songs all the time," he said.

"And I'd never met him and he was in the dressing room next to me at X Factor so I just popped my head around the corner and was like, 'Oh do you want to write a song tonight?' and he was like 'yeah.'"

Since Ed is such a prolific collaborator — and his stuff is always so good — we can't wait to see what he came up with when working with the One Republic singer. It's guaranteed to be a super-catchy hit!

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G. Hannelius Launches a Custom Nail Wrap App

G. Hannelius always wows us with her elaborate manicures and nail art designs, so we're totally not surprised that she's partnering up with Minx nail wraps to help us all get insanely cool nail designs.

"Introducing MAKE ME NAILS! A brand new app co-created by me and Lauren Jones," G wrote on Instagram along with a fun pic. "Make Me Nails is a free app that allows you to create custom nail wraps! Simply select or take a pic, or upload from Facebook or Instagram, design your nails, ship, and style! You can put a different image on each nail!"

G promises that the app will be coming soon to the app store, 

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Lorde Admits to Rummaging Through Her Neighbors' Trash

GETTY IMAGES

Lorde may be rich now, but that doesn't stop her from going through her neighbors' trash and loving second-hand items. The "Royals" singer recently admitted that she partakes in New Zealand's annual tradition of emptying everything you don't want from your house and putting it on the side of the street. Once it's out of the house, it's totally up for grabs by anyone who wants it!

"It stays on the street for a few days and then it's collected and put into a landfill somewhere. But people drive around and go through other people's household rubbish. And, honestly, I've gotten amazing furniture, shoes, hats, jackets," she said.

"I did this three weeks ago! Recognized every single time. So embarrassing!"

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Taylor Swift Tells the Media to Stop Making Rumors About Her Dating Life!

Taylor Swift Tells the Media to Stop Making Rumors About Her Dating Life!

 Taylor arrives at ABC Cocina in the Union Square area of New York City for some lunch on Monday (December 8).

Just hours before, the 24-year-old superstar told the media to stop with the rumors that she’s dating her best friends.

Taylor has been out of New York for a good amount of time! She was in London to perform at the 2014 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show at the beginning of the month, and then hopped around between Los Angeles and London again for more shows. We’re glad to see her back! Taylor will be performing at an upcomingJingle Ball show this coming Friday in New York City – stay tuned for pics!

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Wireless charging for tablets is finally coming next year

Wireless charging for tablets is finally coming next year

We're still waiting for the Rezence standard to bring wireless charging to laptops, but Freescale is taking a big step towards making that a reality. It just announced a new wireless product that's powerful enough to recharge tablets, portable medical devices, and other large gadgets. The 15-watt system, which should hit the market early next year, offers three times as much electrical power as Freescale's phone charging solution. It also plays nicely with other standards like the Wireless Power Consortium's Qi technology, VentureBeat reports (though we don't know if existing Qi devices can take advantage of the full 15 watts). If you've ever used a USB battery pack to recharge your gadgets, you've probably noticed that tablets typically need to be plugged into higher wattage USB ports to get juiced up. The same basic idea applies here. Increased power could also mean that tossing your phone on a wireless charger before you run out the door could actually be useful. After all, when charging your phone over a USB cable is three times faster, the minor convenience of wireless is a lot less compelling.
[Photo: A Lumia phone on a Nokia wireless charging pad.]
Freescale

Devindra Hardawar

Engadget

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Vimeo will let you download (but not stream) 4K videos

Vimeo will let you download (but not stream) 4K videos

YouTube embraced 4K video a long time ago, but Vimeo is at last catching up... well, more or less. The internet media hub now lets you download 4K clips from both Vimeo Pro members and Video On Demand providers. If you just snagged a Retina iMac or a lower-cost 4K display, you now have one more source that will do justice to your extra-sharp screen. However, there's no streaming here. As Vimeo explains, it's waiting for the technology to make this technology work -- not many people have 4K-capable displays, and internet connections typically aren't speedy enough to deliver that many pixels in real time. Even so, it's an important upgrade if you've been meaning to watch Video Game High School and other online productions in the highest resolution possible.
Vimeo Staff Blog

Jon Fingas

Engadget

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Barack Obama just became the first US president to write a computer program

Barack Obama just became the first US president to write a computer program

Remember that Hour of Code event we mentioned earlier today? The one that had President Barack Obama hosting a computer science workshop at the White House? Turns out the president used the event to mark a new milestone in American history: He's now the first US president to write a computer program. Specifically, the president used Google's Blockly tool to craft a tiny segment of code to draw a square. It's not a very useful program, but its creation is symbolic of the event's message -- with a little effort, anybody can learn to code. Even one of the busiest men on the planet.
[Image credit: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin]
Code.org, Wired

Sean Buckley

Engadget 

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Microsoft says private data 'at risk' in court case

Microsoft says private data 'at risk' in court case

Microsoft argued Monday in a court brief that an order requiring it to give US prosecutors data stored in Ireland could "put all of our private digital information at risk."
The brief with the US Court of Appeals in New York comes with prosecutors seeking customer emails in a narcotics probe, with the data stored in Microsoft servers in Ireland.
A lower court ruled that the US tech giant must hand over data sought in the probe, dismissing Microsoft's claims of "extraterritorial" authority.

Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said the case could set a dangerous precedent, and invite other countries to take similar actions.
"The filing begins by imagining how the US government might react if the shoe were on the other foot," Smith said in a blog post.

"For example, how would the Unites States react if a foreign government attempted to sidestep international law by demanding that a foreign company with offices in the United States produce the personal communications of an American journalist?"
Smith said that if the US prevails, "how can it complain if foreign agents require tech companies to download emails stored in the US? This is a question the Department of Justice hasn’t yet addressed, much less answered."

In the court brief, Microsoft said, "The power to embark on unilateral law enforcement incursions into a foreign sovereign country -- directly or indirectly -- has profound foreign policy consequences. Worse still, it threatens the privacy of US citizens."
A ruling requiring Microsoft to turn over the data "would put all of our private digital information at risk, not just emails, but everything else we store on remote computers collectively called 'the cloud' -- a veritable 'cache of sensitive personal information' saturated with the highest constitutional privacy rights."

Microsoft had argued that the court order was invalid. But prosecutors contended that it must comply with the order and US Magistrate Judge James Francis ruled in April that "it has long been the law that a subpoena requires the recipient to produce information in its possession... regardless of the location of that information."

The case comes amid rising concern about US surveillance following revelations of snooping disclosed by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. Leading tech firms, including Apple and Verizon, have filed briefs supporting Microsoft.
Smith said Microsoft "complies with lawful orders from US authorities" but that the government "should follow the processes it has established for itself for obtaining physical evidence outside the United States."

He added that "the warrant issued here cannot reach emails stored in Ireland, and as we argue in our brief, we believe the lower court's judgment should be reversed."

Agence France-Presse (AFP) 

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