Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by RalphRatedR

A video billboard in Jakarta was playing porn

RalphRatedR — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 22:43:15 +0800

[YOUTUBE]zaV_TcS8lIQ[/YOUTUBE]

http://jalopnik.com/a-video-billboard-on-a...ying-1787271840

Apple will track your iMessage

RalphRatedR — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 18:33:26 +0800

What you say in your iMessages may be somewhat private and safe from the prying eyes of law enforcement, but the people you have in your contacts list isn’t. In fact, Apple logs your iMessage contacts almost every time you enter a new number to start a message.

Sam Biddle at The Intercept reports that Apple logs and stores phone numbers and IP addresses of all your iMessage contacts every time you enter a number into your iPhone to start a text conversation. The Messages app contacts Apple’s servers to determine whether the message will be sent over SMS or iMessage, and during that exchange, Apple logs metadata that includes every one of your iMessage contacts--regardless of whether you’ve ever contacted them or not. The log also includes the date and time when you entered the number, as well as your IP address. These logs are then stored for a period of 30 days and can be handed over to law enforcement with a court order.

This isn’t exactly new since a lot of companies capture data passing through their systems and share it with law enforcement. But it’s important to know that while the content of your iMessages may be private and encrypted, who you can contact and who you’ve been contacting isn’t. The whole report is worth a read, so check it out at the link below.

http://lifehacker.com/5887140/everyones-tr...ow-to-stop-them

Sos

new Ford GT production only limited to 2 years

RalphRatedR — Fri, 29 Jul 2016 15:37:08 +0800

QUOTE

Witness beauty, denied. The 2016 Ford GT
rejection letters are rolling in.

The new Ford GT is one of the most interesting and desirable cars of recent years. It’s a ready-made icon, but it’s still genuinely weird, from its cutaway aerodynamics to its questionably-super twin-turbo V6.

Demand for this car is at a five-joint-in-a-row high, and anyone able to secure ownership of one of these now Le
Mans class-winning cars is a very lucky human.

So rejection would be a bit of a bummer.

Reader Brian sent this in, Ford trying to let a prospective buyer down easy.
The full text reads:

QUOTE

Thank you for your interest in purchasing a Ford GT!

We are thrilled that you share our passion for performance and the all-new Ford GT.

The demand for Ford GT from enthusiasts like you has surpassed our very limited production. Unfortunately, we do not have enough Ford GTs to fulfill your request at this time.

We have confirmed our Ford GT production plans for only two years. However, if additional production is confirmed, you application information will remain in your profile for easy updating.

Meanwhile, we encourage you to stay connected to the latest announcements, news and information through our website: www.fordgt.com.

Thank you, again, for your passion for our all-new supercar.

Regards,

The Ford GT Team

Nothing’s going to help, Ford. But at least you’re trying. To whoever got this notice in their mail, we feel for you.

http://jalopnik.com/the-ford-gt-rejection-...n-th-1784442797

EPL refs will be more strict this season

RalphRatedR — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 21:20:21 +0800

English clubs risk an early-season flurry of red and yellow cards if a move to combat “intolerable behaviour” does not yield instant results.

The warning comes after the Football Association, Premier League and Football League announced a joint approach to clamp down on “unacceptable participant conduct”, under which match officials will be told to take a harder line on behaviour of players and managers. The last four seasons, in particular, are viewed as a period in which conduct has crossed the line on too many occasions, with a particular focus on behaviour towards referees and their assistants.

“If participant behaviour doesn’t improve, then there will be more yellow and red cards,” the Premier League executive chairman, Richard Scudamore, said. “The game has put a huge effort into education to try to ensure we don’t have this extra spate of yellow and red cards. But the game is prepared if we have them. The clubs are committed and we are committed to see this through.”

The initiative, which is backed by the Professional Footballers’ Association and the League Managers’ Association, arguably does not come before time. There has not been a red card for foul and abusive language in a Premier League game since Javier Mascherano was dismissed during Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat against Manchester United on 23 March 2008, and that was after two yellow cards.

The refreshed approach will see red cards automatically issued to players who “confront match officials and use offensive, insulting and abusive language and/or gestures towards them”. Yellow cards will be given to players who, among other offences, “respond aggressively to decisions” or “confront an official face to face”. Had it been in place last season it is likely that, to give one example, Jamie Vardy would have been dismissed for his finger-jabbing outburst at Jonathan Moss in April. Others would have faced sanctions too and, although Premier League clubs will be reminded of the laws when they meet before the season starts, teething problems are thought possible.

“Where you’ve seen similar recalibrations in the past, it takes a while for people to adjust,” said Mike Riley, the general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, although the hope is that the message’s clarity will limit any disruption. Among others to respond was Gary Lineker, who tweeted: “At last! Might be bedlam for a few games but players will soon learn.”

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker)
July 20, 2016
At last! Might be bedlam for a few games but players will soon learn. https://t.co/TzqM1OAHc9

Codes of conduct in the technical area will also be enforced more rigorously, with officials reminded to “retain professional detachment from players and club staff at all times”. Scudamore continued: “We still want to see the passion fans enjoy and demand, but players and managers have to be aware there are lines that should not be crossed.”

The move is largely motivated by an appetite to clean up the sport’s image, with unbecoming behaviour now reaching a wider audience than ever and also filtering to the grassroots. “That mimicry factor, the poor behaviour is picked up,” said Martin Glenn, the FA chief executive. “We’ve all got a responsibility for promoting the game in its wider sense.”

This is not the first time football’s governing bodies have vowed to clamp down on foul and abusive language, along with associated ills. In a far from dissimilar move 11 years ago, the FA and Premier League promised that abusive language towards an official would see a player sent off “far quicker than ever”, amid similar fears about the image projected downwards by top-flight players. The expectation will be that this year’s scheme has a longer-lasting effect.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/j...wn-indiscipline

Jeez now can run Windows on Chromebook liao

RalphRatedR — Mon, 18 Jul 2016 21:42:56 +0800

http://gizmodo.com/some-crafty-nerds-got-w...book-1783843348

now can run Steam on cheap computers!

Florida man sues Apple for $10 billion

RalphRatedR — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 18:25:43 +0800

Florida resident Thomas S. Ross has filed a lawsuit against Apple this week, claiming that the iPhone, iPad, and iPod infringe upon his 1992 invention of a hand-drawn "Electronic Reading Device" (ERD). The court filing claims the plaintiff was "first to file a device so designed and aggregated," nearly 15 years before the first iPhone.

Between May 23, 1992 and September 10, 1992, Ross designed three hand-drawn technical drawings of the device, primarily consisting of flat rectangular panels with rounded corners that "embodied a fusion of design and function in a way that never existed prior to 1992."

What Ross contemplated, was a device that could allow one to read stories, novels, news articles, as well as look at pictures, watch video presentations, or even movies, on a flat touch-screen that was back-lit. He further imagined that it could include communication functions, such as a phone and a modem, input/output capability, so as to allow the user to write notes, and be capable of storing reading and writing material utilizing internal and external storage media. He also imagined that the device would have batteries and even be equipped with solar panels.

Ross applied for a utility patent to protect his invention in November 1992, but the application was declared abandoned in April 1995 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after he failed to pay the required application fees. He also filed to copyright his technical drawings with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2014.

While the plaintiff claims that he continues to experience "great and irreparable injury that cannot fully be compensated or measured in money," he has demanded a jury trial and is seeking restitution no less than $10 billion and a royalty of up to 1.5% on Apple's worldwide sales of infringing devices.

Ross v. Apple, Inc. was filed with the Florida Southern District Court on June 27. The case number is 0:2016cv61471.

http://www.macrumors.com/2016/06/28/florid...1992-invention/
http://gizmodo.com/florida-man-sues-apple-...ente-1782808101

GG to this fella.
You cannot patent a concept. You have to actually patent an invention.

Real life Super Mario maker

RalphRatedR — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 12:12:26 +0800

WARNING! ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Apple WWDC 2016

RalphRatedR — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 12:07:45 +0800

what can we expect from the annual Apple developers conference:

>MacBook pro will use Intel's newest Skylake processor & design refresh that features OLED screens instead of traditional function (F) buttons

>MacBook air set to get Skylake processor upgrade as well, and it will stay lo-res (1377x768 pixels) & small hard drive

>OS X 10.12 will feature Siri functionality & updated Photos app

>...and we shouldn't get excited about iOS 10, nothing to shout about

more at: http://gizmodo.com/what-to-expect-from-app...2016-1778673239

Live stream of the keynote event: http://www.apple.com/apple-events/june-2016/

A new breakthrough in camera lens

RalphRatedR — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 11:07:38 +0800

If you’ve ever held a high-quality camera lens, the first thing you notice is the weight. Thanks to layers and layers of thick glass hunks inside, they end up being very heavy. However, thanks to research being done at Harvard on something called metalenses, one day those giant glass-filled lenses might be obsolete.

The curved surfaces on a glass lens focus incoming light onto a camera’s digital sensor. The more precise (and expensive) the lens is, the better the image it will produce.

Metalenses work in a similar way, but they’re not made of precision-ground glass. Instead, a layer of transparent quartz is completely covered in a layer of tiny towers made from titanium dioxide. When arranged in specific patterns, those complex tower arrays can focus light exactly like a glass lens does. Except that these tiny metalenses end up being thinner than a human hair, and weigh almost nothing.

Sounds like a technology that only a well-funded organization like the US military would be able to afford, right? Turns out that’s not the case. The reason giant camera lenses end up being so expensive is that the manufacturing process requires the glass to be perfectly ground and polished to incredibly precise tolerances—which slows down the mass production process.

Thanks to years of refining the manufacturing processes for electronics, producing these metalenses will be relatively easy and cheap using the same techniques used for microchips. The other huge advantage is that these lenses won’t have to be the size of Pringles cans. Once the technology is perfected, the same lens used in a DSLR could be squeezed into a smartphone. They say the best camera is the one you have with you, but soon your smartphone might actually be as good as it gets.

http://gizmodo.com/a-camera-lens-breakthro...tper-1780397803

Sony Xperia Z3

RalphRatedR — Fri, 03 Jun 2016 21:47:10 +0800

Are they a good buy?
Prices now cheap
I want to jump ship back to Android, currently own Lumia 550 (but I'll keep for business/personal purposes)

Dell's new 17 inch Inspiron 7000

RalphRatedR — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 17:24:04 +0800

Laptop 2-in-1s never creep past 15 inches, and the thinking seems to be that flipping around such a massive piece of machine would be unnecessarily awkward. Dell has decided to blow up that idea by introducing the new Inspiron 7000, featuring a monstrous 17-inch convertible configuration.

For a Windows laptop in 2016, the Inspiron 7000 has all the requisite hardware—your choice of Intel Core processors, infrared cameras to make use of Windows Hello, a USB Type-C port, a FullHD display, and so on. The new Inspiron comes in 13, 15, and yes, 17-inch models, starting at $750. It’s available starting June 2.

With those specs out of the way, let’s get back to the huge issue at hand: It’s really the beefy 17-inch guy I want to get my hands on. Really, I just want to know if a 17-inch convertible is worthwhile or just a back-breaking beast of machine that weighs an assload. With a 360-degree hinge, the 7000 can be a normal laptop or morph into “tent mode,” so you can comfortably watch movies, or perhaps use as an actual tent because it’s so huge. Of course, Dell could’ve always made a 17-inch convertible, but did it ever stop and ask if they should?

http://gizmodo.com/dells-new-17-inch-2-in-...anas-1779584900

http://www.cnet.com/products/dell-inspiron-17-7000-2-in-1/

Intel's new 10-core CPU!

RalphRatedR — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 17:21:08 +0800

some details on the Core i7-6950X Extreme Edition

>base CPU freq - 3 GHz, can overclock up to 3.8
>25mb L3 cache
price? $1,700!
start saving

http://gizmodo.com/intels-insane-new-deskt...osts-1779569354

No new iPhone this year

RalphRatedR — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 16:56:38 +0800

Since Apple released the iPhone 3G in 2008, its most popular gadget has been on a predictable two-year refresh cycle: redesign, refine, and repeat. Now, it appears that product cycle may finally be coming to an end.

According to a new Nikkei report, Apple will moving to a three-year iPhone refresh cycle, which means it will take even longer for the iPhone to get new technology and a shiny makeover. Although that’s a major bummer for gadget-obsessed consumers who were hoping for a fresh iPhone this fall, taking a little longer this time around makes sense.

Taken in sum, many of the rumors concerning future iPhones suggest that this year’s phone won’t be much of a departure from the existing iPhone 6S models. Most of the big changes being floated—like an all-glass body (which may or may not be a good thing), the second generation of 3D Touch, and the iPhone’s first OLED display—are slated for a 2017 timeline, according to supply chain and analyst rumors. This hearsay seems to indicate the 2016 iPhone update will have the same all-metal design that originally debuted two years ago.

Weirdly, one of the next iPhone’s rumored features is that it will be missing one: the 3.5mm audio jack. Meanwhile other rumblings say the iPhone 7 (official name still TBD) will also have a Smart Connector, a slightly thinner footprint, and redesigned antennas. Apple may also release a “Pro” model that will effectively be marketing to compensate for the fact that the iPhone 7 will be weak. Likely, this new iPhone Pro will be the focus of Apple’s hardware event in the fall.

It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Apple is shaking up the iPhone game. For one, it already torpedoed its usual refresh formula by introducing the baby hands-friendly iPhone SE in March. Moreover, Apple is starting to sober up after nearly a decade of explosive iPhone sales growth. In the past, smartphones added new useful capabilities year-over-year, like better displays and cameras. Now, new concepts have started veering towards arguably gimmicky terrain of VR headsets and modular phones like the LG G5, Project Ara, and the upcoming Moto X. Even when well-executed, these new ideas just don’t attract customers the way that features like, say, a vastly improved camera might.

It also makes sense that Apple would want to save its major rethink on the iPhone for its ten-year anniversary in 2017.

The reasons Apple might slow down go far beyond hardware. Apple has always had new markets to explore. It didn’t even launch the first iPhone in China until late 2009. But now those international markets are saturated with smartphones, too. China doesn’t even think iPhones are that cool anymore, which has put a damper on Apple’s potential profits.

Add the fact that carriers no longer work iPhone sales into contracts, and people are seeing less of a reason to buy a new $700 iPhone every one or even two years. (Unless you’re on an iPhone upgrade plan, which will also be significantly less awesome if Apple truly changes its refresh cycle.) The estimated upgrade period for smartphones is now 29 months, up from 24 months in 2013-2014. So if the average person isn’t going to buy a new phone every other year, why would a company want to sink resources into an outdated upgrade cycle?

Regardless, iPhones (and smartphones in general) will continue to be the most important gadget in our lives. Apple will undoubtedly continue to make amazing devices loved all over the world, it just won’t be fueled by a rabid, global fascination. With mobile VR on the horizon, smartphones are no where near the pinnacle of what they can achieve. Phone makers are just taking smaller steps, year-after-year, instead of gigantic strides.

http://gizmodo.com/why-the-iphone-you-want...year-1779615894

Why do you think Apple change the refresh cycle? Is it for the 10th anniversary iPhone next year?

No new iPhone this year

RalphRatedR — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 16:47:13 +0800

Since Apple released the iPhone 3G in 2008, its most popular gadget has been on a predictable two-year refresh cycle: redesign, refine, and repeat. Now, it appears that product cycle may finally be coming to an end.

According to a new Nikkei report, Apple will moving to a three-year iPhone refresh cycle, which means it will take even longer for the iPhone to get new technology and a shiny makeover. Although that’s a major bummer for gadget-obsessed consumers who were hoping for a fresh iPhone this fall, taking a little longer this time around makes sense.

Taken in sum, many of the rumors concerning future iPhones suggest that this year’s phone won’t be much of a departure from the existing iPhone 6S models. Most of the big changes being floated—like an all-glass body (which may or may not be a good thing), the second generation of 3D Touch, and the iPhone’s first OLED display—are slated for a 2017 timeline, according to supply chain and analyst rumors. This hearsay seems to indicate the 2016 iPhone update will have the same all-metal design that originally debuted two years ago.

Weirdly, one of the next iPhone’s rumored features is that it will be missing one: the 3.5mm audio jack. Meanwhile other rumblings say the iPhone 7 (official name still TBD) will also have a Smart Connector, a slightly thinner footprint, and redesigned antennas. Apple may also release a “Pro” model that will effectively be marketing to compensate for the fact that the iPhone 7 will be weak. Likely, this new iPhone Pro will be the focus of Apple’s hardware event in the fall.

It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Apple is shaking up the iPhone game. For one, it already torpedoed its usual refresh formula by introducing the baby hands-friendly iPhone SE in March. Moreover, Apple is starting to sober up after nearly a decade of explosive iPhone sales growth. In the past, smartphones added new useful capabilities year-over-year, like better displays and cameras. Now, new concepts have started veering towards arguably gimmicky terrain of VR headsets and modular phones like the LG G5, Project Ara, and the upcoming Moto X. Even when well-executed, these new ideas just don’t attract customers the way that features like, say, a vastly improved camera might.

It also makes sense that Apple would want to save its major rethink on the iPhone for its ten-year anniversary in 2017.

The reasons Apple might slow down go far beyond hardware. Apple has always had new markets to explore. It didn’t even launch the first iPhone in China until late 2009. But now those international markets are saturated with smartphones, too. China doesn’t even think iPhones are that cool anymore, which has put a damper on Apple’s potential profits.

Add the fact that carriers no longer work iPhone sales into contracts, and people are seeing less of a reason to buy a new $700 iPhone every one or even two years. (Unless you’re on an iPhone upgrade plan, which will also be significantly less awesome if Apple truly changes its refresh cycle.) The estimated upgrade period for smartphones is now 29 months, up from 24 months in 2013-2014. So if the average person isn’t going to buy a new phone every other year, why would a company want to sink resources into an outdated upgrade cycle?

Regardless, iPhones (and smartphones in general) will continue to be the most important gadget in our lives. Apple will undoubtedly continue to make amazing devices loved all over the world, it just won’t be fueled by a rabid, global fascination. With mobile VR on the horizon, smartphones are no where near the pinnacle of what they can achieve. Phone makers are just taking smaller steps, year-after-year, instead of gigantic strides.

http://gizmodo.com/why-the-iphone-you-want...year-1779615894

I think they're saving the best for the 10th anniversary iPhone next year

Eveyone pls come in

RalphRatedR — Tue, 31 May 2016 17:04:40 +0800

have we reached peak smartphone or we're on our way?
Discuss

Skateboarding in zero gravity

RalphRatedR — Sat, 28 May 2016 13:02:13 +0800

Looks awesome

[YOUTUBE]Z0nHSMM_69w[/YOUTUBE]

Stick figure playing piano

RalphRatedR — Sat, 28 May 2016 12:02:51 +0800

Learning to play any instrument isn’t just about correctly following every last note on a sheet of music. Being expressive, and imaginative, is just as important to learn. That’s what led MIT’s Xiao Xiao and Hiroshi Ishii to develop Andante, which adds lively animated figures to a self-playing piano.

Will it help develop the fundamental skills needed to be a great pianist one day? Possibly. The characters could certainly guide novices and reveal what key needs to be played next. And, as explained in a research paper, the movements of the characters can help children to better understand the rhythm of a piece based on the gait of the walking, running, or leaping characters.

Andante was brought to life using a projector pointed at a screen just above a piano’s keys, and hand-drawn animations triggered via a MIDI system from a previously recorded performance. But its creators are developing a new approach where the figures, and their motions, are automatically generated based on what’s currently being played.

Suddenly a night at a seedy piano bar doesn’t seem as unappealing.

More at: http://gizmodo.com/watch-stick-figures-dan...no-l-1779182979
(Too bad I cannot post embed viideo from Vimeo on the forum)

Stick figure playing piano

RalphRatedR — Sat, 28 May 2016 12:00:59 +0800

Bored with your smartphone?

RalphRatedR — Sat, 28 May 2016 10:40:58 +0800

Two things became apparent after the end of the Spring 2016 Smartphone Glut. One: Android is still a second-class citizen when it comes to gaming, and two: smartphones are in a ridiculously boring place.

Sure, the iPhone SE was a pleasant attempt at diversifying Apple’s line up, the Galaxy S7 is water-resistant phone, the G5 has an accessory slot, and the HTC 10 is Android at it’s purest. But that’s genuinely all there is to each of them. These devices have not redefined the way we phone, nor have they blown us away with unprecedented speeds, or wowed us with extraordinary battery life.

Each of these new phones is merely a marginal improvement over last year’s model. And they’re all actually remarkably similar in some ways. The Android phones all feature the exact same processor. They’re all using fast charge batteries that get you up to 50-percent battery life in a matter of minutes. They all have 1440p displays that are pretty damn stunning. They’re all slabs of glass and metal that will jut out of a woman’s pocket and stretch out a man’s.Consumers always win when consumer electronic improvements become glacially innovative.

The only differences between them are in the minute details. This one’s water resistant, or that one has a “slot.” This one uses TouchWiz or that one uses near vanilla Android. The few phones that still excite people are the wacky ones (or the Apple ones).

Phone design has plateaued. The wild advances we’ve seen for the last near decade are tapering off. They’re fast enough to play 1080p video without hiccups (something I wouldn’t dare to have said in 2014) and the cameras can catch decent images in low light. Even the screens have improved. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a truly ugly display outside of super budget phones intended for developing markets. Same with touch response. Four years ago, half the phones available were a nightmare to use. Forget playing games, it was hard enough typing your password.

Now the real trial isn’t finding a good phone—it’s finding a bad one. And that isn’t a bad thing (as boring as it is for everyone covering it).

Stability in design and marginal improvements in speed and battery life means you don’t have to upgrade your phone as often. Which is great now that most cellphone providers are moving to off-contract prices that can quickly reach $700 or more. Consumers always win when consumer electronic improvements become glacially innovative.

But the companies lose. Apple saw theirsales growth slow due to consumers’ boredom with the iPhone. Samsung too. The smartphone boom we’ve all been enjoying since 2007 is coming to a close.

It’s happened before. In 1998 every computer looked the same—a beige box sucking dust in and spitting out heavily pixelated renditions of the Oregon Trail. Sales were slowing, the dot com boom bust was coming and everyone who was going to purchase a computer had.

That’s when Steve Jobs returned to Apple and created the original iMac, and like the iPod and iPhone, it sent a shock through the industry. Design (and color) became critical to success. People got excited about computers again.

I’m not saying we need a slew of neon orange and grape purple phones with translucent cases to reinvigorate smartphones. That would actually be awful. But after another year of boring upgrades and barely improved internal specs it’s clear the smartphone industry is shifting. Joining computers and televisions as once cool tech that’s gotten painfully boring (if absolutely vital to our way of life).

It’s a bummer for our eyes and the companies’ bottom lines, but it’s going to be great for our wallets. So long two-year update cycle. I’ll probably hold onto my iPhone 6 another year.

http://gizmodo.com/weve-reached-peak-smartphone-1771606374

Zero gravity skating

RalphRatedR — Fri, 27 May 2016 23:16:16 +0800

skating in zero gravity!
This is something Tony Hawk just achieved

[YOUTUBE]Z0nHSMM_69w[/YOUTUBE]