Man on the street jokes are regular fodder for late night comedians, but Jimmy Kimmel loves picking on technology. In this bit he turns his sights on Apple fans, promising people a sneak peek at Apple’s new iWatch. In reality they’re playing with a $20 Casio. Let’s see how folks like it once they slap an Apple logo on the back.
Google Voice Now Allows for Calls Through Hangouts
Progress has been painfully slow, but eventually Google Voice and Hangouts will merge into one super app of calling and communication. Recently we’ve been looking for changes to the Hangouts app, but Google has just announced an update to Voice that shows they are walking these two services together.
Alex Wiesen, a Manager at Google, posted this to G+ yesterday:
When I’m travelling I like to call my family from the Google Voice website on my laptop, but without a phone handy, it’s a little hard to use. To make things easier, we’ve just added Hangouts as an option when making calls from the web. It works even if you aren’t using Hangouts in Gmail, and doesn’t require a Google+ account. Try it the next time you place a call from the Google Voice website — I think it’s a much easier way to keep in touch with people.
You can check out the update now logging into Google Voice on a desktop browser. Hopefully this means we’ll eventually see updates to the mobile apps for these services soon.
Chromecast Turns 1 – Offers up Three Free Months of Play Music All Access to Celebrate!
Happy Birthday Chromecast!
Google’s little, inexpensive, wunder-streaming HDMI stick is now a one year old, and no birthday should ever pass without celebrating it with presents. Google’s gift to Chromecast users is a free three month trial of Play Music All Access. The caveat is you can’t already be signed up for the All Access service, so those of us all ready paying for it aren’t invited to the party.
If you do have a Chromecast, head over to chromecast.com/offers to sign up!
House GOP Attack FCC and Local Tax Payer Funded Internet Access
If a community of people vote to approve tax payer funded internet access, should they be allowed to build their own network?
House Conservatives say “no”, that people at the state and local level should not be allowed the right to decide for themselves how to improve their internet access. Why? Because free market, competition, taxes, reasons.
In a frustrating example of political double-speak, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced an amendment to the 2015 Financial Services Appropriations Bill which would “prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from trampling on the rights of states when it comes to municipal broadband“. How does it protect states rights? By making it illegal for states and municipalities to petition the FCC for permission to build tax payer funded data networks. This amendment was of course approved by a vote of 223-200.
Continue reading “House GOP Attack FCC and Local Tax Payer Funded Internet Access”
STM Sequel Small Laptop Bag Review – One of the Sexiest yet!
I loves me a good bag!
STM are making some of my absolute favorite tech bags right now. Durable, affordable, and with a colorful sense of style. After tackling the Blazer Laptop Sleeve and the Pocket Tablet Sleeve, it’s time to sit down with the Sequel laptop shoulder bag!
Continue reading “STM Sequel Small Laptop Bag Review – One of the Sexiest yet!”
The NewYorker Makes Entire Archive Free Online for the Summer!
Many magazines have been struggling with emerging technologies. On the software side you face blogs and social media, and on the hardware side phones and tablets are more “fun” than printed paper.
For their 90th anniversary, The NewYorker is trying something a bit radical for their publication. Following refreshes to their website and app, instead of hiding all their content behind a paywall, or splitting some content out for free, they’ll be making their entire archive available online for the whole summer. From any browser or through the app, even non-subscribers will be able to get their fill.
The paywall will return come fall, but for those of you scouting some fun summer reading, The NewYorker has you covered for the next couple months.
(via The NewYorker blog)
Students Aim to Build Record Breaking Solar Powered Car
Students at the University of New South Wales hold the Guinness World Record for fastest Solar Powered Electric Vehicle. They set the record in 2011 with a car that hit a top speed of 55mph. Now they have their sights set on another record to smash.
On July 23rd the Sunswift Student Team is looking to unleash the newest version of the eVe electric car, and they’re hoping to break the record for fastest average speed over a 500km distance, which currently sits at 73km per hour (around 45mph). They’re being coy by how much, but they’re confident they can break that record by a “comfortable” margin. Continue reading “Students Aim to Build Record Breaking Solar Powered Car”
Why You Should Upgrade Your Memory Card When Buying a New Phone (Transcend 600X MicroSD Review)!
It’s something we don’t often think of, but after using a phone for a couple years, and buying a new one, many of us will just yank out our old SD Card and pop it into our brand new phones. As phones have become more powerful, we might also want to consider upgrading our cards when upgrading our phones.
Transcend sent us a new Class 10 UHS-1 MicroSD card to run a speed test!