Adidas Wilson's Blog, page 147
May 18, 2017
Mokase smartphone case turns your mobile device into a portable coffee machine
The device uses thin coffee capsules which contain just enough beans and water to make a delicious shot of java.
All owners need to do is insert the wafer and press a button on the Mokase app.
The coffee is then warmed up using a built-in heating system and can be poured through a hole in the case.
Smark K, the Naples-based company which invented the gizmo, said: “Mokase is the first multi-utility cover that supplies espresso coffee whenever and wherever you want using a simple system of disposable wafers.”
There are different versions of the case which can fit iPhones, Samsungs and multiple other smart phone brands.
Alongside the case comes a special pop-up cup which can even be used as a key ring to take up as little room as possible.
The product was originally on Kickstarter but due to its popularity the inventors decided to begin production right away and cancelled the campaign.
It will be soon be available for pre-order and is expected to retail at around £67.
[image error]
Source:
Jordan Peele Is Going To Create A Jim Crow Horror Series For HBO
Jordan Peele is taking his unique brand of horror to HBO.
The writer and director of “Get Out” will be the executive producer behind “Lovecraft Country,” a just ordered drama series based around a Matt Ruff novel about a 1950s road trip through the Jim Crow South.
‘Lovecraft Country’ is more of a social thriller/horror/sci fi/ based on Matt Ruff’s book; the amazing @MishaGreen will helm the show! https://t.co/xGuRpVj8Gj
— Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) May 16, 2017
On his website, Ruff describes the 2016 novel this way:
Chicago, 1954. When his father goes missing, twenty-two-year-old Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to New England to find him, accompanied by his uncle George—publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide—and his childhood friend Letitia. On their journey to the manor of Samuel Braithwhite—heir to the estate that owned one of Atticus’s ancestors—they encounter both the mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits that seem straight out of the weird tales George devours.
Atticus discovers his father in chains, held prisoner by a secret cabal, the Order of the Ancient Dawn—led by Braithwhite and his son Caleb—which has gathered to perform a ritual that shockingly centers on Atticus. And his one hope of salvation may be the seed of his—and the whole Turner clan’s—destruction.
A chimerical blend of magic, power, hope, and freedom that stretches across time, touching diverse members of two black families, Lovecraft Country is a devastating kaleidoscopic portrait of racism—the terrifying specter that still haunts us today.
J.J. Abrams is signed on as another one of the show’s executive producers, but it’s Mischa Green, creator of the period drama series “Underground,” who will be running things.
“When I first read ‘Lovecraft Country’ I knew it had the potential to be unlike anything else on television,” Green said in a statement provided to Deadline.
“Jordan, JJ, Bad Robot, Warner Bros and HBO are all in the business of pushing the limits when it comes to storytelling, and I am beyond thrilled to be working with them on this project,” she added.
Listen. No words 4 how excited I am to tell genre stories where the black folks don’t die first.
Celebrating Mediterranean diet month
May is Mediterranean diet month and registered dietitian Jennifer Fillenworth from Mercy Health joined My West Michigan to show us how the Mediterranean diet can be not only healthy, but also flavorful.
The Mediterranean diet has been a favorite of health care professionals for a long time.
Studies have shown that the diet has positive effects on heart health, anti-cancer properties and could potentially extend life. This is thought to be due to the high antioxidant, fiber, and healthy unsaturated fatty acid content.
The Mediterranean diet encompasses the cooking styles of the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea.
Foods typically included are fish, heart healthy oils, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and yes, even wine.
Mediterranean pasta
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1lb whole grain spaghetti
1/2 cup quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
12oz grape tomatoes, halved
3 scallions (green onions), top trimmed, both whites and greens chopped
1 tsp black pepper
6oz marinated artichoke hearts, drained
1/4 cup pitted olives, halved
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
10-15 fresh basil leaves, torn
Zest of 1 lemon
Crushed red pepper flakes, optional
Preparation:
Follow package instructions to cook thin spaghetti pasta to al dente
While pasta is cooking, heat the extra virgin olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat
Lower the heat and add garlic and a pinch of salt. Cook for 10 seconds, stirring regularly. Stir in the parsley, tomatoes and chopped scallions. Bring down heat to low
Remove pasta from heat, drain cooking water and return to its cooking pot
Pour the warmed olive oil sauce in and toss to coat thoroughly. Add remaining ingredients and sprinkle with black pepper
Serve immediately and enjoy
Mediterranean shrimp with feta, olives and oregano
Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Israeli couscous
4 Tbsp olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
6 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 lb tail-on medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted
1/3 lb feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup fresh oregano leaves
Preparation:
Cook the Israeli couscous according to the package instructions
Stir in 2 Tbsp of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cover to keep warm and set aside
Preheat an oven to 400°F
Lay the tomatoes in the bottom of a shallow 2-quart baking dish and drizzle with the remaining 2 Tbs. olive oil
Bake just until the tomatoes release their juices, about 8 minutes
Remove from the oven and top with the shrimp, olives, feta and oregano. Bake until the shrimp are bright pink and opaque throughout, 12 to 14 minutes
Fill bowls with couscous, top with the shrimp mixture and drizzle with olive oil
Serve immediately
Baked Mediterranean peaches
Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 peaches
1 cup Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp honey
1/3 cup pistachios (crushed)
Preparation:
Slice peaches in half
Grill flesh side down until lightly charred
Fill with ¼ cup of Greek yogurt in each half
Drizzle each half with ½ Tbsp honey
Top each half with crushed pistachios
Resources:
www.eatright.org
www.mayoclinic.org
The 6 Biggest Things Google Just Announced
Google on Wednesday revealed several new updates for its most popular hardware and services as part of its annual I/O conference. While the developer-centric event has historically focused on Google products like Android and Chrome, this year’s announcements revolved mainly around the search giant’s advancements in artificial intelligence, or AI. That’s been a common theme among Silicon Valley’s top companies lately, setting up AI as the next big tech battleground.
The smart speaker battle is heating up: Just days after Amazon revealed a new Echo device with a screen, Google announced a slew of new capabilities for its own connected speaker, the Home.
The most significant upgrade is that Home users will be able to make hands-free phone calls through the device. Calls to the U.S. and Canada will be free, while Home owners can choose to link their phone number to the gadget. (Amazon recently announced a similar feature, but calling is limited to Echo-to-Echo communication for now).
Because Google Home can tell the difference between various users’ voices, it will know to call the right person depending on who’s placing the call. During a live demo, Google’s Rishi Chandra asked to call his mom, then said that if his wife had uttered the same phrase, the Home would have known to call Chandra’s mother-in-law instead.
Google is also launching a new Home feature called “proactive assistance,” which is basically a different term for notifications (another feature that arrived on the Echo this month.) When the Home’s microphone lights up, users will be able to ask the Home if it has any important updates to share, such as a change to an upcoming calendar appointment or a flight delay.
The Google Assistant can “see”
The Google Assistant digital aide is getting a big visual upgrade. In the coming months, users will be able to point their phone at a sign in a different language and watch as it’s translated before their very eyes. Or, if they aim their phone at a theater, it could show upcoming showtimes and an option to buy tickets. That’s all thanks to Google’s Lens app, which is similar to the Bixby Vision feature Samsung offers on its Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones.
Furthermore, the Google Assistant is coming to Apple iPhones as a standalone app. It won’t be baked in at the operating system level like Siri is, so it will be limited in how useful it is for iPhone owners. But it can still do things like the Lens features above.
[image error]
Android O updates
Google offered new information about what to expect from its next major Android update, which for now is referred to as “Android O.”
One highlight: When downloading an app for the first time, Android may ask if you’d like it to fill in your username if you’ve already used that service in Google Chrome.
Google is also making it easier to copy-and-paste text in Android. If you tap an address, for example, it will automatically select the entire address instead of just a portion of it, and from there it will suggest pasting it into Google Maps.
Other core Android O updates will improve security and battery life and add a picture-in-picture mode, which will let users minimize a video so that it only occupies a portion of the screen.
New Android software for low-end phones
Google is working on a version of Android called Android Go that’s optimized to work on low-end phones with under 1GB of memory (most high-end phones have around 4GB.) Go is also built to help users budget their bandwidth: When using the Android Go version of YouTube, for instance, users will be able to preview videos and see exactly how much data they will eat up before deciding to stream a full clip.
Android Go is similar in spirit to Google’s Android One program, which offers low-cost Android devices to users in developing markets.
Virtual reality without a phone
Google is one of several tech companies pursuing the “holy grail” of virtual reality: Headsets that don’t need to be connected to a computer or smartphone to work. To that end, the search giant announced that standalone VR headsets will be available starting later this year.
HTC — maker of the Steam-compatible Vive headset — and PC maker Lenovo are among the first partners working on these headsets. The search giant collaborated with chipmaker Qualcomm to come up with a reference design.
[image error]
Google Photos makes real-life albums now
Move over, Shutterfly. Google announced a new service that creates photo books based on the images in your phone’s gallery. If you’re using the Google Photos app, you’ll be able to search for images of a specific person. From there, Google Photos can choose the best photos and arrange them in an album that you can order.
Google also announced other sharing-centric features for Google Photos. You can, for instance, choose to share your entire photo library with your spouse or a family member. If you don’t want them seeing your entire collection, you can limit the sharing to only include photos of specific people, like your kids.
Source:
http://time.com/4782915/google-io-keynote/
May 17, 2017
New Pirates of the Caribbean movie leaked online after hackers fail to extort money
We just saw it happen to Netflix with the fifth season of Orange Is the New Black, and it looks like Disney was also hit by hackers. Digital thieves managed to steal one of Disney’s upcoming movies, and are now asking a huge ransom to be paid in Bitcoin. Otherwise, they’ll release the film in tiny increments ahead of its theatrical debut. The movie is believed to be Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, or the latest episode of the Pirates saga, due on May 26th.
With a few weeks left until the movie debuts, Disney is apparently not looking to pay the ransom. According to Deadline, Disney is working with the FBI on the matter.
The company would not confirm the title that was stolen, but Deadline learned that it was indeed the fifth Pirates movie. Disney, however, did confirm the incident happened, informing ABC employees during a town hall meeting in New York on Monday about the event.
It’s unclear at this time how hackers got their hands on a copy of the movie, and whether the attack is related in any way to the WannaCry ransomware that affected more than 300,000 computers in more than 150 countries since Friday. It’s not known whether Disney’s own computers were hit, or whether a smaller company may be to blame.
The four Pirates Of The Caribbean movies released so far grossed $3.72 at the box office, and the fifth episode is also expected to be a hit. It remains to be seen whether the hackers will release it early, and whether such an outcome would affect Disney’s bottom line.
[image error]
Source:
Hackers are threatening to leak the new ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie
US utility offers clients cheap Tesla batteries for grid backup
For the first time, a power utility has teamed up with Tesla to use its battery packs for extra grid power during peak usage times. Vermont’s Green Mountain Power (GMP) is not only installing Tesla’s industrial Powerpacks on utility land, it’s also subsidizing home Powerwall 2s for up to 2,000 customers. Rather than firing up polluting diesel generators, the utility can use them to provide electricity around the state. At night, when power usage is low, they’re charged back up again.
[image error]
Green Mountain Power said the idea started after a power outage knocked out over 15,000 homes. “Three customers who had Powerwalls never lost power, so it carried their home through,” GMP CEO Mary Powell told WCAX-TV. “And unlike a generator, they didn’t have to worry about hooking it up, they didn’t have to worry about whether it was fueled.”
Once in operation, the Powerwalls will stay charged in your home. During times of peak electricity usage when its normal power sources (hydro, nuclear, wind, etc.) max out, GMP will draw from its Powerpacks and the consumer-installed Powerwalls. At night, when demand is low, the batteries are recharged.
Tesla says GMP is the first utility to do such a large-scale “grid-smoothing” installation. “There hasn’t been any really successful large-scale trial, so that’s why this is so exciting,” said Tesla CTO J.B. Straubel. “It’s been in development at Tesla for quite some time, but this is our first real deployment.”
GMP is offering 7kW Powerwalls for $15 a month or a flat fee of $1,500. That’s quite a bargain compared to the regular $3,000 price, but again, it’s only available for 2,000 homes. That’s presumably enough, however, to provide peak power backup in conjunction with the company’s industrial Powerpacks.
GMP thinks the Tesla batteries are not only less polluting than regular generators, but more economical too. “[Backup generators] are some of the dirtiest and … costliest forms of generation,” says Powell. “So when we can produce 10 megawatts of energy, that is an alternative to that peaking generation, that has tremendous economic value.”
[image error]
Source:
https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/16/us-utility-offers-clients-cheap-tesla-batteries-for-grid-backup/
This 11-Year-Old Just Schooled Cybersecurity Experts By ‘Weaponizing’ a Teddy Bear
Cybersecurity experts were shocked Tuesday when a sixth grader showed them just how easy it would be to hack their mobile devices and weaponize a seemingly innocuous item—in this case, his smart teddy bear.
At a cyber safety conference in the Hague, Netherlands, 11-year-old prodigy Reuben Paul used a small computer called a “raspberry pi” to hack into audience members’ bluetooth devices and download phone numbers, Agence France-Presse reports.
[image error]
Paul then reportedly used one of the numbers to hack into the teddy bear, which connects to the Internet via Bluetooth or WiFi, and used the toy to record a message from the audience by using a computer language program called Python.
“I basically showed how I could connect to [a remote Internet-connected device], and send commands to it,” Paul told AFP.
He warned that Internet-enabled everyday objects “can be used and weaponized to spy on us or harm us,” for example by scraping private information like passwords. Toys could even be programmed to say “meet me at this location and I will pick you up,” he added.
Though not yet a teenager, Paul is already well known among his community in Austin, Texas, and beyond. In 2014, the wunderkind founded his own company, an educational gaming website called PrudentGames. Paul is now the company’s CEO.
Source:
http://fortune.com/2017/05/17/reuben-paul-cybersecurity-hacking/
Delta Air Lines Links Its Rewards Program to Lyft
Delta Air Lines customers can now earn award miles traveling by car, part of an agreement announced Wednesday with the car-sharing service Lyft.
The airline suggested that its fliers preferred Lyft over the much larger Uber, which has been engaged in public disputes with drivers and employees.
“We look at the culture and the value system,” said Sandeep Dube, Delta’s vice president of customer engagement and loyalty. Mr. Dube said the airline wanted a partner whose culture was “customer-focused and employee-centric.”
When Delta frequent fliers link their Lyft and SkyMiles accounts, they will earn one point for every dollar spent on all Lyft rides, not just those to the airport.
Delta is eager to win the loyalty of younger travelers, many of whom have a more casual and spontaneous approach to flying. And Lyft expects to tap into Delta’s more than one million SkyMiles members.
“Lyft is the fastest growing rideshare company in the U.S., said David Baga, the company’s chief business officer, “with a user base that aligns to one of Delta’s fastest growing customer groups.”
The agreement is the third partnership Delta has forged in the last year.
In June 2016, the airline began offering discount memberships in the identity verification service Clear, which speeds travelers through security using bio-metric identification like fingerprints and iris scans. Clear lanes are in place in 20 of Delta’s busiest airports.
“Our growth is up over 150 percent” over last year, said Caryn Seidman Becker, the chief executive of Clear. The increase by Delta’s customers “has exceeded ours and Delta’s expectation,” Ms. Seidman Becker said.
Delta also formed a partnership with Airbnb last fall, offering award miles for dollars spent on the home sharing site, when the stay is booked through a special page on Delta’s website.
“We looked at millennials and asked, ‘What kind of partnerships would you like? What brands do you love?’” Mr. Dube said. The airline concluded that affection for Airbnb was high among young travelers, a conclusion supported by an Airbnb-sponsored study showing that 60 percent of those who booked an Airbnb stay were between 18 and 35.
[image error]
Source:
GOOGLE HOME AND THE GOOGLE ASSISTANT GAIN SUPPORT FOR GE APPLIANCES
Google Home, Google’s AI-powered speaker, isn’t just good for summoning cars and ordering pizza. It can control a growing number of smart appliances (like Honeywell products and Nest thermostats), connected locks (August deadbolts), and LED bulbs (Lifx and Philips Hue), among other devices. And on Wednesday, May 17, it added yet another ecosystem to its roster: General Electric.
Starting on May 17, integration with GE’s Geneva platform will go live for the Google Home and the Google Assistant, Google’s AI-powered helper on Android smartphones, set-top boxes, and smartwatches. Like the app for Amazon Alexa that GE debuted last year, you’ll be able to delegate tasks like preheating the oven, checking if the dishes are clean, and asking if a dryer load’s finished via a Google Home speaker.
The list of supported commands includes:
OK Google, ask Geneva Home to make hot water
OK Google, ask Geneva Home to turn on Sabbath mode
OK Google, ask Geneva Home if the dishes are done
OK Google, ask Geneva Home to preheat the oven to 350 degrees
OK Google, ask Geneva Home is my laundry clean?
“Everyone’s busy these days and our consumers are looking for simpler and more convenient ways to control their home, especially when busy in the kitchen or working around the house,” Liz VerSchure, vice president responsible for GE Appliances’ connected strategy, said in a press release. “Integrating our full suite of connected appliances with the Google Assistant makes it easier for owners to control their appliances and get on with their day.”
Since Google Home and the Google Assistant made their respective debuts last year, they’ve only gotten better at handling smart home commands. In March, WeMo integration brought voice control to Belkin’s collection of internet-enabled thermostats, lightbulbs, and outlets. More recently, Wink finalized device support for light, temperature, and lock commands.
New recipe and food features make it perfect for the kitchen. Google Home can place grocery orders via Google Express, Google’s retail-to-door delivery service. And Google Home’s new recipe feature sources step-by-step guides from Food Network, Wine Guide, and elsewhere.
In perhaps bigger news, Google-powered smart home controls — and voice, by extension — are coming to more devices. The Google Assistant SDK, which launched in April, allows enterprising hardware developers to plug the Google Assistant into any device that meets a core set of requirements.
It might be perceived as a preemptive measure against Amazon’s upcoming Echo Show, an AI-powered speaker with a full-color touchscreen, video camera, and messaging features. But it’s not just Amazon. Microsoft partnered with Harmon Kardon to build a speaker powered by Cortana, its voice-controlled assistant. And rumor has it that Apple is working on a Siri-powered hardware assistant — reportedly with Beats speaker technology, AirPlay integration, and HomeKit compatibility.
[image error]
Source:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/google-home-ge-appliances/
My New Travel Book Cover
My new travel book cover arrived today and I think it’s one of the most beautiful covers I’ve seen so far. I order them early to give me that added motivation to finish and publish. This book will be broken down by regions. Also i’m doing research to make sure it’s different from other travel books but provides quality. The audio book will also be available this year. Adidas Wilson on Amazon, Itunes, and B&N.
[image error]
