Posts Tagged ‘Tools’

Going Google: Powerful Tools for 21st Century Learning

Going Google: Powerful Tools for 21st Century Learning

Going Google: Powerful Tools for 21st Century Learning

The author explores the wide array of Google tools and shows how to use them in the classroom to engage students and foster digital learning.

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Pixelmator 2.2 goes after graphic design with new shape tools and vectors-first UI

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Popular OS X image editor Pixelmator is releasing a major update tomorrow, codenamed Blueberry, and if you like working with vector shapes, it might just make your day. New tools for working with text as vectors, a new Shapes palette, and the ability to reconfigure your workspace for vector-first input are the big additions this time around. On the other hand, if you tend to focus on photo editing, there’s a flexible new effect that imitates the light leak found in cheap film cameras, and a new tool called Paint Selection (a toned-down version of Photoshop’s Quick Selection) makes it easier to select certain parts of your images. Long story short, there’s a lot of new stuff packed in here, and the download is free if you already own…

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Nest Acquires MyEnergy To Boost Its Home Energy Management Tools

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Nest proved that energy monitoring can be tantalizing. And it’s about to get even better. The company just announced that it has acquired MyEnergy to further enhance its suite of monitoring tools. Terms of deal were not released.

Originally called Earth Aid, the startup launched its online dashboard in 2009 as one of the first energy monitoring solutions. Similar to EnergySavvy, Google’s Powermeter andMicrosoft’s Hohm, Earth Aid, and now MyEnergy, provides consumers with information on how much electricity, water, and natural gas they use and how much they spend on these utilities. Simply connect your online utility accounts with the platform, and the system imports all the necessary bits and displays them on the beautiful web dashboard.

Spend a few quick minutes on MyEnergy.com and it’s easy to see why Nest wanted MyEnergy in its corner. The system is wonderful. Just like the Nest Learning Thermostat.

In 2011 the startup raised $ 4 million in Series A funding from Point Judith Capital, the Clean Energy Venture Group, and Capital-E. According to today’s announcement, MyEnergy has users in all 50 U.S. states and spans more than 1,500 utility territories.

“Giving our customers more in-depth access and analysis of their energy usage has always been part of the Nest vision,” said Tony Fadell, Nest founder and CEO said in a released statement today. “We’ve made great strides in the past year and a half; by bringing MyEnergy into the Nest family, we can reach our goals even faster. The MyEnergy team is incredibly like-minded and we’ve already begun working with them to find ways to integrate their technology into Nest products.”

The Nest Learning Thermostat is beautiful. But the web dashboard is lacking in depth. There is plenty of room for improvement. MyEnergy will likely not only make it look better, but dramatically enhance the tool set by giving the homeowner information from their neighborhood.

Nest is charging forward, simultaneously building out consumer aspects and partnering with utility companies. This acquisition clearly fits within Nest’s vision. It’s unclear exactly what Nest plans to do with MyEnergy, but as a Nest user myself, I’m rather excited to see what Tony Fadell and team does with the beautiful MyEnergy platform.

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Orbotix launches new Sphero AR tools to get the ball rolling on development

Even the appeal of piloting a remote control toy ball around your carpeting usually tends to diminish after a while. As such, Orbotix has been pushing the augmented truth element of its Sphero hardware pretty hard for the previous several months. Now the business is announcing the availability of a new AR SDK through Github, along with a Unity-based plug-in that lets developers construct games around existing 3D designs. The latter was created for iOS, with an Android version coming shortly. The business’s also announcing an “App Bounty” program, guaranteeing the gift of funds to developers who build genre apps that hit on “pre-determined requirements” from the company. Roll on past the break for even more details on all of the above.Com ments

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Yota Tools Becomes Qualcomm Licensee, Which Ought to Help Its Chances Of Going Global

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Yota Gadgets, the Russian business that has nerds like me excited with its combo e-ink/LCD display smartphone designs, today revealed at MWC that it has become part of a software licensing arrangement with Qualcomm to help it bring LTE-capable smartphones, modems and routers to market. Yota becomes the first Qualcomm software licensee in Russia with the offer, and for Qualcomm, it indicates securing a partner in a crucial target location in terms of future mobile market growth.

“ Russia is tactically essential to us as we anticipate sturdy development in the lot of 3G smartphones over the next two years, ” Qualcomme Europe President and Elder VP of QTI Enrico Salvatori is estimated as stating in a release revealing the information. As a hardware company, Yota Gadgets already has a great deal of knowledge under its belt from constructing modems and routers, including its very own self-branded designs starting in 2010. The arrangement with Qualcomm will help them work straight with QTI at every phase of the design process of brand-new devices, which will help the Russian company better compete on a worldwide scale with established OEM handset and mobile device manufacturers.

Yota revealed previously this month that it will start mass producing its ingenious e-ink phone in Signapore, with commercial launch planned first for Russia by the 2nd half of this year, then expanding to Asian markets. The YotaPhone includes an e-ink display on the back of the handset, which can reveal reasonably static and alerts information while sipping power, allowing a user to only switch on the many more power-hungry LCD display on the front when they should view video, for example, or search the web. The YotaPhone is powered by a 28nm Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor.

With Qualcomm ’ s backing, Yota improves its chances of becoming a global contender in the smartphone market. The company has actually made waves with its first smartphone design, but now it has to ship the gadget prior to we get a better concept of simply the amount of demand there is out there for a dual-splay mobile.

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Bad Dog Tools Demos Drill Bits That Cut Through Basically Everything There Is [Video]

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The CES program floor was stuffed with heaps of companies that you ’ ve most likely heard plenty about today, such as Panasonic, Sony, LG, etc. But the hidden treasures and oddballs amongst the customer electronic giants were the real treat for world-weary attendees who felt it was tough not to stifle a yawn at yet another 4K TV. Bad Dog Tools, a business showing its super-hard drill bits, is among those gems.

While I had difficulty understanding precisely why there was a tool-making company on the flooring of the Customer Electronics Show, I needed to admit that what they had to flaunt was outstanding. We got to see their drill bits go through all kinds of anxiety and strain, and come out working perfectly fine on the other side. I ’ m not precisely a convenient man, however I ’ ve made use of a drill enough to realize that bits that could sustain the kind of penalty these were facing are something unique.

I liked when they got so hot they offered off smoke. Not enough things at CES offered off smoke.

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Android Phones And Tablets Placed By Battery Life: Longest Lasting Smartphones Aren’t Top-Tier Tools

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Android mobile phones can have a pretty bad reputation when it pertains to battery life, though that reputation has absolutely improved in basic gradually. A brand-new report updated today from the Root Uninstaller Group (who created Battery Stats Plus for Google ’ s mobile OS) places the leading 15 and worst 15 Android devices based on data shared through their application. There ’ s a substantial difference between the finest and the worst, and the ones on top could not be the crown jewel gadgets you ’ re seeking.

As you could see in the listing, Root Uninstaller looks at both Android tablets and Android mobile phones, which you might expect to alter the results a little bit. However despite a dominating performance from the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the listing of the leading 15 performers was a healthy mix of phones and slates. Being available in a close second with over 60 hours of battery life usually was the LG Optimus Pro, a phone released in July with a hardware keyboard and fairly small 240 × 320 display running Android 2.3.3 with a 3 MP camera. It ’ s on odd duck, with its QWERTY and VGA video clip, but it ’ s cheap, and according to this list, if it ’ s battery life you ’ re after many of all, you could do no much better than the Optimus Pro.

The Motorola DROID RAZR HD also ranks rather highly, highest among more up-market devices, with north of 40 hours battery life on average, and the HTC One V doesn ’ t rank that far behind with 40 hours. The RAZR HD ’ s battery life is something I can really personally vouch for: it ’ s a mobile phone that keeps going long after I anticipate it to have actually faded. Undoubtedly, I ’ m not typically using it that much because it isn ’ t my main gadget, however there ’ s no rejecting it outlives most of its competitors by a large margin.


Way down at the other end of the spectrum, you ’ ll find the Samsung Galaxy Mini (2 variations) with simply over 4 hours each, and the Sony Xperia X8 and LG Optimus G. Samsung appears a whole lot on the listing of the bottom 15, however then it additionally appears a great deal on the top list, too. In fact, something this listing serves to mention is just exactly how much Samsung now dominates the Android gadget ecosystem.

Overall, Root Uninstaller ’ s list covers 474 Android devices and periods 5,585 user-submitted battery reports, so it has a decent-sized sampling, plus you see a great deal of synchronicity with exactly what reviewers and individuals have actually shared anecdotally about device battery life. The typical life overall for Android devices is 20.4 hours, by the means, or just under a full day, and the top battery killer applications are typically in fact uninteresting system procedures, along with something called “ Cowboy. ” Battery life isn ’ t bad overall based on these numbers, however it ’ s not fantastic either: next generation battery tech, whatever that winds up being, could ’ t show up soon enough.

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Android Phones And Tablets Ranked By Battery Life: Longest Lasting Smartphones Aren’t Top-Tier Tools

top15d

Android mobile phones could have a rather bad credibility when it comes to battery life, though that track record has definitely improved in basic gradually. A new report updated today from the Root Uninstaller Team (who created Battery Stats Plus for Google ’ s mobile OS) places the leading 15 and worst 15 Android gadgets based on statistics shared with their application. There ’ s a huge variation between the finest and the worst, and the ones on leading may not be the flagship gadgets you ’ re looking for.

As you can see in the list, Root Uninstaller looks at both Android tablets and Android mobile phones, which you could expect to alter the results a bit. But despite a dominating efficiency from the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the listing of the leading 15 performers was a healthy mix of phones and slates. Being available in a close 2nd with over 60 hours of battery life on average was the LG Optimus Pro, a phone released in July with an equipment keyboard and relatively small 240 × 320 show running Android 2.3.3 with a 3 MP camera. It ’ s on odd duck, with its QWERTY and VGA video, but it ’ s cheap, and according to this list, if it ’ s battery life you ’ re after many of all, you can do no much better than the Optimus Pro.

The Motorola DROID RAZR HD also places rather highly, highest amongst more up-market gadgets, with north of 40 hours battery life on average, and the HTC One V doesn ’ t rank that far behind with 40 hours. The RAZR HD ’ s battery life is something I can actually personally testify to: it ’ s a smartphone that keeps going long after I expect it to have faded. Admittedly, I ’ m not generally utilizing it that much since it isn ’ t my main device, however there ’ s no denying it outlasts many of its competition by a broad margin.


Method down at the other end of the spectrum, you ’ ll discover the Samsung Galaxy Mini (two versions) with just over 4 hours each, and the Sony Xperia X8 and LG Optimus G. Samsung appears a great deal on the list of the bottom 15, however then it additionally appears a lot on the leading listing, too. In fact, something this list serves to point out is simply the amount of Samsung now controls the Android gadget ecological community.

Generally, Root Uninstaller ’ s listing covers 474 Android devices and spans 5,585 user-submitted battery reports, so it has a decent-sized sampling, plus you see a whole lot of synchronicity with exactly what reviewers and individuals have actually shared anecdotally about device battery life. The ordinary life overall for Android devices is 20.4 hours, by the way, or simply under a full day, and the top battery killer applications are typically in fact mundane system processes, along with something called “ Cowboy. ” Battery life isn ’ t bad general based on these numbers, but it ’ s not terrific either: next generation battery tech, whatever that winds up being, can ’ t show up quickly enough.

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Apple Patents A System-Wide Event-Tracking And Geotagging System For iOS Tools

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We ’ ve seen a couple of apps attempt to handle the ambitious feat of becoming the log for your whole mobile life, but a new Apple patentrecommends the company may be attempting to build that kind of capability right into iOS at the system level, in a way that keeps track of all your phone occasions, consisting of when and where they occurred. The system can assist you remember when and where you took a photo, sent an e-mail, obtained a telephone call or even went to a web page, and reveal that to you on a map or in a timeline-style list of events.

It ’ s an intriguing patent with a number of feasible functional uses. For example, it could possibly be utilized to help a gadget learn more about the certain practices and patterns of its certain user. If it could develop patterns in their behavior, it should theoretically have the ability to much better anticipate and adjust to their needs. In the more near-time, and less sci-fi instant future, the system might also make it exceptionally simple for a mobile device owner to quickly search their interaction history and find all the contextual information around a certain party, which could be very beneficial if, for circumstances, your wedding floral designer is recommending you never ever made a telephone call altering your order six months ago.

Filters can be applied to the saved data to group occasions by time, place, application and according to a variety of other variables, so that individuals could drill down and discover exactly things that they ’ re seeking, even if they ’ re not rather sure exactly what that is. The patent system also explains occasion databases that can easily be stored in the cloud, relieving up important neighborhood storage space on the gadget. The occasions logged could also be app specific, given that Apple ’ s patent explains an approach to invoke it by means of API, implying you could theoretically keep in mind every time you uploaded a picture to Instagram, or check out a write-up in Instapaper, too.

This is an a patent application that, while potentially exceptionally useful, we likely won ’ t see make a public experience for a minimum of a while yet. Individuals seemed uncomfortable with the fact that iPhones utilized to preserve an area database to assist with place triangulation, for example, so there would likely be apprehension about such a comprehensive logging tool, also if designed as a user-accessible component like the patent explained in this system. But it would be tremendously beneficial in cases of device fraud, and when working with personal health monitoring devices, spending plan trackers and other sorts of journalling applications, particularly in a time when the idea of the quantified self continues to have a big impact on consumer equipment and software development.



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Unity 4.0 now on sale with DirectX 11 support, Linux publishing preview, new animation tools and more

Unity 4.0 now on sale with DirectX 11 support, Linux publishing preview, new animation tools and more

The Unity game engine and development platform has actually reached the 4.0 milestone and is now readily available for acquisition with a slew of brand-new components onboard. Headlining the update are DirectX 11 support, brand-new computer animation devices and an add-on for releasing games to Flash. In addition, Tux is getting some love with a preview of a deployment choice for publishing games to Computer Linux. Sure, a landmark release could seem like an excellent time for Unity Technologies to cool its heels and reduce development, however a release isn’t really on the roadmap. According to the company’s CEO, David Helgason, Unity 4 will certainly see a much faster paced schedule and even more regular releases than the platform previously had. Developers can easily snag a free version of the software or shell out at least $ 1,500 for an expert license. For even more information on additions and enhancements to the engine, struck the jump for the press release or tap the 2nd source link below for the total rundown.

Continue reading Unity 4.0 now on sale with DirectX 11 support, Linux posting preview, brand-new animation devices and moreFiled under: GamingUnity 4.0

now on sale with DirectX 11 support, Linux posting preview, new animation devices and even more originally

appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Nov 2012 02:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink|Unity Technologies (1), (2)|E-mail this|Comments

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