Datensklaven

Fortsetzung folgt: das Sneaker-Jahr 2012

Der Erfolg einer Modesaison kann unter anderem an den Modellen des Folgejahres gemessen werden. Am deutlichsten geht das bei Schuhen: Nicht nur bei Frauen mit ihrer großen Leidenschaft namens Stiefel, Riemchensandalen oder Pumps, sondern auch beim starken Geschlecht steht die Fußbekleidung hoch im Kurs. Die wichtigste Rolle spielen dabei die Sneaker. Und siehe da: Was 2011 sicher durch den Sommer führte, ist auch 2012 wieder äußerst präsent.

Hoch, höher, High Sneaker

Die Chucks waren nur der Anfang. Mittlerweile darf in keiner gut sortierten Schuhhandlung ein breites Sortiment an High Sneakern fehlen. Lacoste, Keds und Co. geben sich dabei alle Mühe, den schmalen Grat zwischen Sportschuh und Style-Treter zu erwischen. Freunde der klassischen, aber namentlich patentgeschützten Chucks-Bauform können mittlerweile auf etliche Alternativen zurückgreifen. Natürlich sind auch Szene-Größen wie Adidas oder Nike vertreten, wenn auch mit klarer Orientierung in Richtung Basketball-Boot.

Mit aller Leichtigkeit: Segler trifft auf Turnschuh

Das Stichwort ist Canvas. Obwohl damit eigentlich nur das Material des Schuhs beschrieben wird, also Stoff, handelt es sich bei den meisten Canvas-Sneakern um flache, zierliche Gesellen, denen der Begriff Urban Style auf den Leib geschneidert zu sein scheint wie bei keinem anderen Schuh. Skate-Labels wie Element, aber auch Pointer, Converse und Vans sorgen für die nötige Bodenhaftung. Ob mit Chino Shorts oder zur Regular Fit-Jeans – es ist wirklich schwer, mit dieser Klasse von Schuhen etwas verkehrt zu machen. Und zwar ganz unabhängig vom Anlass.

Auch mit dabei: Klassiker im neuen Gewand

Für die sportlichen Momente des Lebens führt auch dieses Jahr kein Weg am Nike Air Max 1 vorbei. Die riesige Farb- und Musterpalette macht einen idealen Mix aus Trend und Individualität möglich. Im Mittelpunkt stehen 2012 die Premium-Editionen. Von Varianten wie Patta oder ACG heben sich die Premium Air Max 1 durch eine relativ direkte Ansprache ab. Heißt: Kraftvolle Farben und wirkungsvolle Kontraste brennen sich kompromisslos im Auge des Betrachters fest. Dass der Air Max 1 genau genommen nur die Neuauflage des Air Max 87 aus eben diesem Jahr vor langer Zeit ist, unterstreicht den nachhaltigen Charakter dieser Schuhe. Und noch besser: Outlets wie dieses hier ermöglichen eindrucksvolle Rabatte beim Einkauf, sodass dem inneren Wachstum des Schuhschranks nichts mehr im Wege steht.

While the Ralph Lauren designs custom spandex for our bestest ping-pongers, shot putters and race walkers, surfing remains on the sidelines.

Do we even care? A SURFING Poll ponders.

By Nathan Myers

Did you know Roller Hockey was once an Olympic event? (1992, Barcelona) Tug of war was around for a while, pigeon shooting had a go, and there used to be an event called “obstacle course swimming” that took place in a busy river. Solo synchronized swimming is still an Olympic sport, but only one person watches it.

And yet, despite the grand efforts of the ISA, surfing still hasn’t been invited to the Olympics. Do we care? Should we?

SURFING polled a handful of professional surfers as to what events they’ll be tuning in for and whether they think surfing should be included in the Olympics (it’s already been denied for 2020, so don’t get your hopes up).

 
Here’s what they said:

What’s your favorite Olympic event to follow?

MICK FANNING: Probably the swimming, ’cause that’s where Aussies do well. But you can’t not watch the 100m sprint.

ROB MACHADO: Table Tennis, because it’s amazing.

HANK GASKELL: Basketball is my favorite to watch because all the best American players team up to put on an epic show on a worldwide stage. Good entertainment… Especially since the NBA season just ended. Us b-ball fans get a little bonus this year!!

CJ HOBGOOD: Speed kills: 100 meter spring. If you’re the fastest person alive, you can play any sport.

YADIN NICOL: Basketball is the only event worth while following. What is the point of watching someone throw a stick in hopes that it sticks farthest in the ground? I think it’s more impressive how hard they train all for one event every 4 years.

TONINO BENSON: Gymnastics is the best. It’s the hardest and most technical.

DAMIEN HOBGOOD: Not sure why but curling comes to mind. Looks like a fun game to have at a party.

DYLAN GRAVES: Women’s ice skating. There are some hotties!

ALBEE LAYER: I like to watch the one with the two poles when the chicks or guys get super nuts. And the vault or whatever.

CORY LOPEZ: Men’s 100, because that’s it. Can the US beat Bolt?

LEIF ENGSTROM: Swimming…because of Michael Phelps losing all his sponsors thinking he could get away with taking a bong rip in front of a huge party. Classic.

NICK ROZSA: It’s really interesting to see so many unexciting “sports” in the Olympics. I honestly don’t even watch the Olympics just for that reason. Nothing really that exciting to me.

Should surfing be part of the Olympics?

MACHADO: Surfing isn’t a sport, it’s a way of life.

HANK GASKELL: It’s gonna take some patience for the world to realize what an amazing sport we have.

CJ: Surfing’s great. The Olympics are great.

YADIN: I don’t think it should be in the Olympics unless it’s in a wave pool and everyone has equal opportunity.

TONINO: Kekai Minamishin. (*SURFING Googled this response… no luck.)

DAMO: Never really cared.

ALBEE: It would take a wave pool that was amazing for it to be in the Olympics, but I think after a year of the wave pool surfing would become like snow boarding half pipe where people scripted their runs before they caught the wave and it wouldn’t be real surfing which is based on 90 percent instinct in real waves.

MICK FANNING: A sick wave pool that everyone is talking about. It would be amazing to surf for a gold medal. Maybe Brazil 2016.

GRAVES: Once they perfect wave pools and getting them with legit waves would get surfing in there. Not having surfing be limited to coastal venues and being able to control conditions would be a whole different ball game. Not to mention everyone would get the same chances.

LEIF ENGSTROM: A wave pool like the Dion surfed in that new video Blue Electric. That thing was sick. Perfect sections, every wave is the same, and everyone can watch it.

NICK ROZSA: If surfing were to be an Olympic sport, there would need to be some sort of consistency as far as waves go… the ocean is just too unpredictable. So, my answer is no it shouldn’t be an Olympic sport. The playing field isn’t equal and therefore shouldn’t be categorized as one. If wave pools came into play, then there could be a possibility, but as we all know nothing can produce the raw power and intensity that the ocean provides for us.

So, apparently it’s all in Kelly Slater’s hands to develop a wave pool exciting enough to turn us into uniform wearing jocks. But is that really surfing…or just riding waves?

Well, until then, let’s just have a beer pong toga party and be thankful we’re not wearing spandex. Whaddayareckon, people?

Over the weekend, The New York Times reported that Apple was in talks to invest a significant amount of cash into Twitter. The multi-million dollar investment would raise Twitter’s company valuation to a healthy $10 billion.

But that doesn’t really sound like something Apple would do, does it? If you thought that when you first read this rumor, then you had the right hunch. Apple and Twitter have talked, but not recently. Beyond the current Twitter integration in iOS and OS X, the two companies are merely friends.

We thought about simply updating our original post on this story, but a separate article to debunk the former seemed more appropriate in this case.

Both The Wall Street Journal and Reuters have chimed in since The New York Times first published its report over the weekend. The Journal says that “ there are no current formal investment or acquisition discussions between the companies” while Reuters says the same. Such talks did happen about a year ago, but nothing of the sort has taken place in many months between Twitter and Apple.

The Verge had a great piece today explaining why The Times likely published its report. A slew of poor quarterly earnings were announced last week for major tech companies like Facebook, Zynga, and even Amazon. In short, someone wanted to use Apple as way to bolster Twitter’s perceived worth in light of a bleak financial scene in Silicon Valley.

Apple is the closest thing we have to a sure-thing technology company. If private markets’ valuations and Facebook shares aren’t worth what we thought they were, where do we turn? The surest way to get everyone to believe that these companies are worth a fortune is to show that slow, steady, cash-rich, acquisition-averse Apple thinks they’re worth a fortune. That’s the nearest thing to a gold standard.

What better way to make your startup stand out than by saying that the most valuable tech company on earth is investing?

A closer relationship between Apple and Twitter would definitely be interesting, but for now, it looks like we won’t be getting anything better than Ping and tweet sheets.

This isn’t the smallest headset. In fact, Motorola’s Elite Sliver Bluetooth Headset ($130) is actually bulkier than many other personal BT headsets. Its trick, though, is to hide most of the bulk behind the user’s ear, leaving just a sliver — hence the name — of technology visbile.

But the Sliver isn’t just a one-trick pony; its case also doubles as a battery that will top off the Sliver when the headset is housed in the case (which actually does triple duty as a charger).

The Good:

The Sliver turns on when the “sliver” part is rotated when placing it in an ear; I thought this was pretty smart, even if the unit’s voice assist (which was pleasantly loud and clear) often announced battery status before the unit was in my ear.

I love Motorola’s headset speakers. They’re big, but boy do they sound better and louder than almost anything on the market. The Sliver is no exception here; great sound from the speaker (with one caveat — see below) that let me hear callers on the other end no matter the environment I was in.

For the fashion-forward, the Sliver is about as stylish as headsets get. A tiny metal-and-rubber footprint is all that betrayed to others I had a communication device attached to my cranium. Heck, some of my less-observant friends may not have even noticed it at all, so long as they didn’t catch me from behind, an angle that would’ve revealed the big bulbous appendage behind my ear.

All the good stuff you’d expect from a premium headset was there: A2DP for music-streaming, multipoint connectivity for use with multiple phones, noise cancelation and even echo cancelation. Most of the time, callers on the other end claimed they could hear me very well via the unit’s two microphones, but this was highly dependent on poitioning of the unit — more on that later. Noise cancellation worked reasonably well for a headset in this class.

The Sliver is the undisputed Bluetooth headset endurance champ. The unit’s five-hour battery actually lasted just about that, itself an impressive feat; but the Sliver is equipped with a set of contacts that allow it to top off from the case’s reserve battery once inserted in the molded bed inside the case. Motorola claims an unbelieveable ten hours additional talk time from the case’s reserve battery; a literally unbelievable claim, as I only managed to eke perhaps another four hours from the reserve. Still, that’s almost ten hours without having to find an outlet.

Both the headset and the case are equipped with tiny, sleek multi-colored battery indicators that display battery or charging status, with the one on the Sliver also responsible for call status.

The Bad:

Hiding a reserve battery in a case is genius; only problem is, that’s where Motorola also hid the charging port — so losing the case is a bad idea, because there’s no way to charge the Sliver other than through the case. Though since the case is considerably larger than the headset, I suppose you’re more likely to lose the latter than the former.

The Sliver’s buttons were a little awkward to work. The call button — on the bottom of the bulbous bit — wasn’t as easy to hit for an incoming call as I would have liked, though I found myself getting more used to its postion as time progressed. The volume button near the top of the unit was worse, as it tended to shift the headset a little out of place when pressed.

Motorola says this unit has automatic volume control; if the feature is there, I didn’t notice it.

But the biggest issue I had with the Sliver was its fit. Most of Motorola’s headsets are worn with clips that fit over the ear, which works well with the large speakers the outfit usually employs in its sets. But the Sliver itself is the clip, and it just isn’t as stable. The set tended to shift more often — unfortunate, because the Sliver’s microphones seemed much more sensitive to placement than most other headsets, with a little shift dramatically affecting call quality.
Verdict:

Compelling qualities like a large, clear speaker, classy looks and unique battery-in-a-case are offset by an odd fit, odd choice of charging port location and premium pricetag.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

One of the coolest parts of digital photography is being able to use software to make your photos better than you could ever had imagined. I’m not just talking about fixing exposures or adding special effects—both of those things are very cool—I’m talking about things like HDR photography.

HDR (High Dynamic Range) is entails taking several images (one correctly exposed and several over and under exposed) and combining them into a new image that make the picture much more like how we see the world. And how is this done? Software. Software like Hydra Pro

The Pro version of Hydra let’s you pull in up to 7 images (so I’d do a shot right on, then three under and three over exposed and maybe a half stop each picture) to combine for results like the example above (for more examples check out the gallery on the website).

Is it hard to do this? Not really. You just flip your camera into manual or program mode (auto won’t do it) and take the seven shots. It is, I’ll grant you that, easier if you can fire in a burst bracketing mode (DSLRs have this built in) so there is less moving (or use a tripod). However HydraPro has tools to align your images to get them to turn out awesome.

You might be wondering how this compares to the HDR mode built into the iPhone camera app or other third part apps. Essentially the HDR setting on the iPhone does a lot of the same work, but you don’t get control over how many images are used (using seven makes for a great range of exposure) or get to tweak things later.

HydroPro even works as a plugin for Aperture or Lightroom, so you don’t have to mess with your photo work flow (this is an awesome feature to me).

How much? $50. A nice 50% savings. If you’re heading on a vacation soon and want to blow people away with amazing vistas…get HydraPro now, practice, and when you have all those shots from your vacation…art, baby, you’ll make art.

HydraPro for $50.

Is this the next iPhone?

Rumors surrounding Apple’s next-gen iPhone are started to pick up steam leading up to the device’s rumored release this fall. We know that the sixth iPhone will probably have a 4-inch display, slimmer design, smaller dock connector, and launch before November.

Leaked snapshots of purported next-gen iPhone parts have surfaced in recent months, but nothing as complete and authentic-looking as a series of images published over the weekend.

Originally spotted by Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac, these pics come from the repair guys at iLab in Japan. While we’ve seen parts of what could possibly be the new iPhone, iLab’s findings show some of the first fully-assembled shots we’ve seen. Obviously, these “parts” could just be elaborate renders or a prototype, but they do line up with the rumor mill’s predictions.

A new flex cable holds the Home button in place and the speakers and cameras look improved with larger space for sensors (the front-facing camera for FaceTime is repositioned at the center of the device). Obviously, the screen is larger and the micro 19-pin dock is also visible.

Another Japanese blog, Macotakara, has a video of what looks to be the same assembly in action:

Who’s a fan of the metallic backplate?

Source: iLab

Via: 9to5Mac

Every week Mac Games and More (http://www.macgamesandmore.com/blog) features a fun, casual game you can play over the weekend. This week’s game puts you in the charge of finding the cause of a killer virus, then stopping it before it spreads worldwide. Download it now

Infected: The Twin Vaccine (Collector’s Edition) (hidden objects) – The people of Oxford, Nova Scotia are dropping like flies. There’s reason to believe that this small town has been subjected to a bio-terrorism attack. A deadly virus has spread throughout the community, and you have been brought in as the medical expert to remedy the potentially catastrophic situation. Venture to Oxford in search of a little girl who has been named Patient Zero. She’s the sole survivor, and the solution (via a vaccine) to preventing a global problem. The only thing is, she’s missing, so you must find her before the deadly virus spreads. Download it now

Asmita Prasad:

The state of the world economy has been shaky since the global recession in 2008, leaving many people jobless and many were even forced out of their homes due to mortgage woes. Consumerist as we are, the economic crisis appears to be heightened when we find that we cannot afford the same luxuries that we could when the inflow of money was smoother. To highlight the severity of personal economic meltdown and just how depressing and overwhelming the current economic climate is, designer Sebastian Errazuriz has created the Drowning in Debt Salt and Pepper Shaker Set.

Drowning in Debt Salt and Pepper Shaker Set

Read the rest of this entry »

Buy it here

Episode by Joe Alani

You’ve seen the photos in our February 2011 movie issue — now see them come to life

Maxing Soupbowls welcomes Chris Ward and Mason Ho into her emerald womb

Seriously scary. Seriously good.

The Walking Dead is the definitive zombie tale of the past few years, moving quickly from indie hit black-and-white comic book to even bigger hit television series, and then as a Mac and PC game on Steam. If you haven’t played it there, you owe it to yourself to check it out on your iPhone or iPad – it’s really that good. Heck,if you have played it on Steam, you might want to check it out on iOS.

The Walking Dead: The Game is compatible with the iPad 2 and up or the iPhone 4 and up, not anything older. In it, you can take on the role of Lee Everett, a man with a past, as he experiences the end of the world in the back of a police car, as a transported criminal. After the zombie apocalypse, Lee makes his escape, connects with a young girl named Clementine, and has to make several extremely difficult choices about how to survive in a world gone undead.

On the Mac, the game is a scary mix of survival horror, solid dramatic writing, and fantastic visual style. Telltale has done a fantastic job with the Robert Kirkman-created universe, giving a new set of characters and an entirely new storyline the Walking Dead treatment. You’ll have to act fast, making life-or-death choice along the way that will affect not only your character, but that of the others in the story as well.

Episode 1 for iOS is now available as a universal app for $4.99 in the iTunes App Store. Future episodes (there are five planned) will cost $4.99 each, or you can buy a season pass for all five episodes up front for an extra $14.99, bringing the total to about $20 – a discount of $5 over the Steam version.

These do look pretty cool together.

Ping never had a chance, the way it was tied into Apple iTunes, but a recent report may show the way to Apple’s eventual success in the social media space. According to a report in the New York Times, “people briefed on the matter” say that Apple has been talking with the social media startup about making a strategic investment.

The numbers bandied about include an Apple investment stake of hundreds of millions of dollars, which might then in turn increase Twitter’s already high valuation of around $8.4 billion to a nicer-looking $10 billion.

While Apple and Twitter are not currently in negotiations, a stronger financial partnership would make a lot of sense, especially as Twitter continues to integrate more strongly with each iteration of Apple’s iOS mobile software, as well as a stronger integration on the Mac desktop with Mac OS X Mountain LIon. Facebook debuts as a more integrated service in upcoming iOS 6, but the relationship between the house of Zuck and the house of Jobs is tenuous at best, ever since the two companies were unable to make a deal to include Facebook features within Ping. Google, of course, is pushing it’s own social media presence, with Google Plus, and – oh yeah – also competes quite directly with Apple via the Android mobile operating system.

Investing in social media superstar Twitter would be a different approach for the typically buy-em-and-subsume-em Apple, but it would definitely raise Apples social media street-cred. Twitter’s growth into the market has been unparalleled, gaining more than 140 million monthly active users (MAUs) in a very short time. Twitter would benefit from the above-mentioned boost in valuation, a first for the social media business, as Facebook’s weak debut on the financial market still casts a pall over the web company. Twitter doesn’t need the money, per se, with a reported $600 million in cash and $1 billion in financing it’s garnered from investors and advertising.

It would be fantastic if these two companies connect, though, as Apple really doesn’t seem to “get” social media, and Twitter isn’t bound to compete with Apple in any obvious way. A partnership, even a limited one via an investment strategy, makes sense.

Source: New York Times
Via: 9 to 5 Mac

Honor among corporations with secrets?

In a not-so surprise move today, Apple filed a proposal with the US District Court that is handling Monday’s trial between it and rival Samsung over possible patent infringements. The surprise move today is the fact that Samsung agrees with Apple.

Both companies have to submit documents as exhibits in the wide-ranging trial, scheduled for Monday, and each company would like to keep it’s sensitive business data private. The two tech industry leaders today came up with a proposal that, if accepted, will have them jointly submitting documents they would like redacted from the public.

“While the parties have yet to reach a final agreement that would eliminate the need to introduce exhibits that contain highly sensitive information, both Samsung and Apple are committed to negotiating in good faith to minimize the need for maintaining the confidentiality of trial exhibits and ensuring that the trial remains an open forum,” the two companies said in a joint filing on Friday, as reported by AllThingsD.

The filing today from Apple argued that the company had reduced the amount of private documents to only four briefs and around 30 specific documents. There are hundreds of these filed in total, so this is a small amount or the total. Apple argued that if these specific documents were made public, it would damage Apple’s reputation with the third-party business partners that do research for the iPhone maker. In addition, argued Apple, its business competitors would gain access to intelligence such as cost structures and profit margins, which it does not want to share.

Samsung has a similar set of sensitive information that it would like to keep private as well, so it makes sense that it, along with other companies apparently involved in the documentation, including Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Intel, would want to cooperate with Apple in this joint proposal. It’s sort of like a quid pro quo arrangement, in that if Apple would like to keep its own private documents from the prying eyes of reporters, then it will have to support Samsung’s claims to the same.

It’s a fascinating time to follow what some are calling the most important patent case in recent history. Stay tuned.

Source: AllThingsD

Via: iClarified 

One of the new features in OS X Mountain Lion is called Power Nap. Touted as a tool that get things done while your Mac is sleeping, Power Nap enables a Mac running Mountain Lion to download email, sync with iCloud, check for system updates, etc. while in sleep mode. There is a big caveat, however. Power Nap will only run on Macs with an internal solid-state hard drive (SSD).

During the developer beta phase of Mountain Lion and continuing into its public release stage, it was noticed that certain compatible Macs didn’t have Power Nap installed by default on the final release of Mountain Lion. Apple has since issued a firmware update to bring Power Nap to the MacBook Air, and now a new update today has been issued for the new MacBook Pro with Retina display.

MacBook Pro Retina SMC Update v1.0 is available now in the Mac App Store as a free update for Mountain Lion. According to Apple:

This update fixes several sleep/wake issues to improve the stability of MacBook Pro with Retina display (Mid 2012) computers and is recommended for all users running OS X v10.7.4.

It also enables Power Nap support for users running OS X v10.8 or later.

Once installed, Power Nap should be available under the Energy Saver settings in System Preferences. As Apple notes, even users on OS X Lion are asked to install the update as well, although Power Nap will only be added on Mountain Lion.

Source: Apple