Matt DeHart, a former U.S. soldier seeking asylum in Canada, claims hes wanted for working with Anonymous. The U.S. says he may be a spy and more

By Adrian Humphreys

MILTON, ONT., APRIL 2014 Guards at the Maplehurst Correctional Complex, a maximum-security jail near Toronto known to inmates as the Milton Hilton, came to rouse their newest prisoner from a concrete bed in the intake holding cells. Pulling back the hoodie covering his face, they found his T-shirt had been yanked up and twisted around his throat as a ligature.

The distraught prisoner was Matt DeHart, a 29-year-old American who had been brought to jail days earlier by a Canada Border Services Agency official and five police officers, who arrested him at the apartment he shares with his parents while fighting for refugee protection here.

Pulled from the cell and taken to hospital, he appeared to suffer no serious physical injury but underwent a mental health assessment. After returning to jail, Matt then dived headfirst from his bunk onto the concrete floor of his cell, requiring another urgent hospital visit. He told doctors he had crashed on purpose because he had no hope.

Days later, Matt appeared by video link at a detention review before a tribunal of Canadas Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). It took half an hour for jail guards to retrieve him from a one-to-one suicide watch cell and sit him in front of the camera. Matt silently peered into the lens. He looked dreadful: unshaven and unkempt, his eyes red and swollen, his lids heavy from medication. He squinted and grimaced.

Its not that Im not patriotic I am. I voted for Bush. My family is military, pretty gung ho. But everything has changed. Matt DeHart

Gone was his bravado and the wide, almost goofy smile he seemed shy about flashing during many meetings with the National Post over the past eight months, while he was on bail from immigration detention on strict conditions. His father, Paul DeHart, a retired U.S. Air Force major who worked for the powerful National Security Agency, sat grim-faced, watching his son on the video monitor.

Were here on a claim of torture, Paul said, his voice straining as he stated Matt has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. To visit your son in a maximum-security prison in a suicide smock more heavily medicated than hes ever been For anyone with PTSD to be treated that way, much less your own child is very disturbing.

This is decidedly not how the DeHarts envisioned life in Canada as they drove across the border little more than a year earlier, on April 3, 2013, seeking refugee protection. They claim U.S. authorities tortured Matt during a national security investigation.

See the original post:

Hacker, creeper, soldier, spy: The bizarre story of Matt DeHart

Two new releases see high debuts on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, led by Big Sean, who crowns the ranking with Dark Sky Paradise (139,000 copies sold in the week ending March 1, according to Nielsen Music). The rapper earns his second No. 1 with the entrance, following Hall of Fame, which debuted at the top in 2013. Four tracks from the new set debut on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, increasing the total number of Sean's concurrently charting tracks to seven -- the most he has placed at one time. The album release also blasts Big Sean 32-2 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart.

Big Sean Scores His First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200

Chris Brown & Tyga Arrive:The second-highest album debut goes to Chris Brown and Tyga with their collaborative set Fan of a Fan: The Album entering at No. 3 with 51,000 copies sold. It enters the Billboard 200 at No. 7. The set contains a mix of R&B and rap tracks, led by first single "Ayo," which steps 7-6 on Hot R&B Songs in its eighth week on the chart. A 24 percent bump in streaming (to 4.1 million domestic weekly sterams), aids in the rise -- also lifting the track 9-6 on R&B Streaming Songs.

On R&B Digital Songs, "Nothing Like Me," featuring Ty Dolla $ign debuts at No. 17 (11,000 downloads). Meanwhile, the rap-dominant "I Bet," featuring 50 Cent, arrives at No. 49 on Rap Digital Songs (6,000). The set as a whole is rap-leaning, qualifying for the Rap Albums chart, where it also debuts at No. 3. A throng of featured acts appear on the album, including T.I., Ty Dolla $ign, 50 Cent and ScHoolboy Q.

Nicki Notches New No. 1: Over on Rap Airplay, Nicki Minaj lifts 2-1 with "Truffle Butter" featuring Drake and Lil Wayne (up 17 percent in audience to 44.7 million impressions), taking Greatest Gainer honors. It's her fifth No. 1, tying with Rihanna (all in featured roles) for the most chart-toppers by a woman on the chart.

Silento Whips Onto Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: A viral dance trend boosts Silento's "Watch Me" to a No. 33 debut on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, spurred by 2.6 million domestic weekly streams (up 85 percent). The song's chorus "watch me whip, watch me nae nae" has incited fans to upload dance videos on platforms like Vine (which are then transferred to YouTube), accelerating its popularity.

Usher Logs 15th Airplay No. 1: Usher earns a new airplay No. 1 as "I Don't Mind" featuring Juicy J steps 2-1 on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop airplay chart (up four percent in plays), in its 17th week. It's the singer's 15th song to top the list, which maintains his standing as the act with the third-most No. 1s -- inching closer to rank leaders Lil Wayne (17) and Drake (20). The climb gives Juicy J his first No. 1 on the chart, he previously peaked highest with "Bands A Make Her Dance" featuring Lil Wayne & 2 Chainz, which reached No. 2 in 2012.

Read more:

Big Sean, Chris Brown & Tyga Arrive on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart

Chappie (left) meets his non-AI counterpart and contemplatesjust a littlewhat it is that distinguishes conscious matter from unconscious matter. (Credit: Sony Pictures)

What is consciousness?

That question has been fertile ground for millennia of philosophical debates, centuries of scientific research, and decades of juicy movie plots, going back at least to Fritz Langs Metropolis. This week it gets a workout yet again in Chappie, a new movie directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9) and starring sci-fi stalwarts Sigourney Weaver and Hugh Jackman along withless predictablyDev Patel, best known as the star of Slumdog Millionaire.

Broadly speaking, there are three classes of machine intelligence fiction. Class One assumes that human consciousness is unique and can exist in a machine only if that machine is part human (RoboCop is a prime example). Class Two assumes that machines can mimic many aspects of human consciousness but lack the essential soul (the Terminator movies are a modern archetype). Class Three treats consciousness as a solvable programming problem: Put in the right code, or give the wrong code some kind of mysterious scramble, and a conscious machine emerges. Familiar examples of Class Three movies include Her, AI: Artificial Intelligence and, er, Short Circuit.

Chappie falls squarely into Class Three, with all of the dramatic potentials and conceptual pitfalls it entails. I spoke with Blomkamp and his cast about why they went down this path. Their commentary explains a lot about the movies take on artificial intelligence and its confusing scientific politics. Chappie turns out to be a great case study in the challenges of squeezing an expansive concept into the tight confines of mainstream Hollywood entertainment.

If youve seen the trailer you get the basic concept. Chappie is set in a near-future South Africa, where the government has decided to address rampant crime by introducing a squadron of robotic police officers. So far so good: This is a classic forward-spin on existing ideas and technologies. Simple battlefield robots already exist and have been tested in limited deployment, and the company that builds Chappie is patterned knowingly on South African arms company DENEL. I also note that the Chappie design looks similar to the humanoid robots that participated in an ongoing DARPA robotics challenge.

But in true Short Circuit style, a rogue element emerges: One of the military robots becomes self-aware, and takes off on a totally new mission to understand his identity. In this case, the change occurs not via a lightning strike, but through the deliberate actions of Deon Wilson, a genius computer programmer (Patel). And heres where Chappie goes intriguingly awry as it dips into some common sci-fi tropes.

Chappie and Deon, his creatora prime, improbable example of the lone genius at work. (Credit: Sony Pictures)

The lone genius. Its a common theme: A single man (and yes, its almost always a man), through sheer brilliance, solves one of the greatest science or technology puzzles in historyand does it with no help and, seemingly, without even consulting anyone else. In the case of Chappie, Deon not only develops a conscious computer program, he seemingly solves the problem in a single night of furious work. This kind of plot device serves an obvious cinematic function by creating a simple, solitary hero, but it doesnt have much relationship to the real practice of research and engineering.

I was curious what Blomkamp had in mind. Was this pure storytelling economy, or is Chappie intended as commentary on the nature of the creative process?

Read this article:

The Revealingly Flawed AI of "Chappie"

Hockey6 hours ago

What Marvel property would u like to see in live action, Movie/Netflix/TV/etc?

Ok going into the way back machine here

As a kid I loved the Invaders comic book, Superhero group from WWII era with a allies vs axis flavor.

Of course, Captain America was always and still is my favorite. But the rest of the crew: Bucky, Namor, Spitfire, Human Torch (represented at the Worlds Fair in CA:First Avenger), etc. lend themselves to some great stories.

As a movie, it could be done a couple of ways. 1)Period peice set at Capt Americas time in WWII. During the 1st Capt America movie there isnt any mention of the amount of time Cap, Bucky, Peggy Carter, and the Howling Comandos spent attacking and dismantling Red Skulls/Hydras factories. That had to have taken place over an extended period of time. Invaders could be set in that time. This could lend itself very well towards introducing multiple super powered beings in another season of Agent Carter. Upping the ante a bit.

2) A movie set nowadays where the Invaders have gone their seperate ways with flash backs to WWII of the whole team fighting with Captian America. Some big baddy from the past returns (Red Skull back from traveling the universe?). Red Skull defeats all of earths heros to rule the earth, except Cap. He rounds up the old gang, takes charge, and they kick but!! The old gang would have a few original members: Bucky, Cap, Namor, potentialy Human Torch (as he is an android), and might have to involve grandkids of the other original heros. Or Somehow Cap uses the cosmic cube to bring back the Invaders because he knows theyre the only ones who can defeat the Red Skull.

Question though Whats the status of Namor and his rights? Would love for Marvel to get him back!!

Original post:

Open Discussion March 6, 2015

Update: Video upload site Vimeo has added Chromecast support via its iOS app. Original Chromecast review written in August 2013.

Streaming media around your home isn't a new idea, but the rise of internet-based on-demand services like Netflix, Sling TV and Amazon Prime Instant Video means that it's becoming more and more popular as a way to watch TV.

Chromecast is an inexpensive media streaming adapter that turns any HDMI-equipped television into an app-driven smart TV when paired with a phone, tablet or computer.

The total package is Google's answer to products like Apple TV, Roku 3 and the Amazon Fire TV all of which are designed to take your digital content and get it up on your big screen without fuss or fiddle.

Google's offering streaming in its simplest form: the Chromecast is a small HDMI dongle that plugs directly into your TV and connects to your Wi-Fi network.

From there, you choose what to watch on another device and then Chromecast streams that content directly and displays it on your TV. But that means unlike the competition, it has no real interface of its own. It just sits and waits for your other devices to tell it what to stream.

On its launch in the middle of last year in the US, the Chromecast wowed with its cheap price and it can now be had for as little as $32. It's similarly bargainous in the UK: just 30 - less than a third of the Apple TV's RRP. That's awesome.

Chromecast is easy to set up and easy to use

On launch, the services that tied in with Chromecast were limited and very much a work in progress. But 15 months on, the list of compatible apps is impressive.

Most of the big hitting services are now compatible, with Netflix, YouTube, Hulu Plus, Pandora, HBO Go, Starz and Showtime Anytime etc... all ready and waiting in the US, and BT Sport, BBC iPlayer and more in the UK. You can find a complete list of Chromecast-compatible apps on the Google Chrome Store.

Go here to see the original:

Review: Updated: Chromecast

Salt Lake City, UT (PRWEB) March 03, 2015

All Kinds of Therapy is an innovative, user-friendly website that focuses on providing an interactive directory for residential treatment, wilderness therapy, therapeutic boarding schools, and addiction treatment for clients ranging in ages 10 - 30. Additionally, all residential interventions on the site have a wide variety of specializations including psychiatric assessments, anxiety, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, severe learning disabilities, drug rehabilitation, failure to launch, adoption, or recovery.

The website is designed for families in crisis investigating the diverse forms of treatment options through an independent resource. We are very excited to provide families and professionals with this comprehensive, online resource to evaluate and compare these important programs, said Jenney Wilder, founder of the site. As a former full time education consultant even I could never keep up with ever-changing volume of facts about treatment facilities. With All Kinds of Therapy, the facts are at your fingertips and families and professionals can focus on the nuance of placement recommendations, said Wilder.

All Kinds of Therapy has launched with affordable advertising options to ensure that all types of treatment centers for troubled teens and young adults can participate. Basic listings are free and available to any treatment center. The Professional listings are paid in either monthly payments or a year upfront with a year commitment. The Professional listings allow the advertiser to upload a video, pictures, and answers to the general questions. Their responses illuminate the program details ranging from detox facilities and sober living homes, to young adult transitional program and wilderness therapy programs, to diagnostic or psychiatric hospitals. Facilities have the ability to Sign Up for their listing on the home page. All Kinds of Therapy has launched with over 370 Basic listings and Professionals listings.

Prior to working in Education Consulting for 10 years, Wilder had a career in Silicon Valley. She worked for three successful start-up companies. She learned that databases are only as good as the people who have time to update them. All Kinds of Therapy is designed with two goals in mindan interactive, user-friendly website for families in crisis to see the breadth of options available and for advertisers to have a place where they can have control of their message. Wilder is ending her consulting practice as she transitions to running the website full time.

All Kinds of Therapy is located in downtown Salt Lake City, UT. It is surrounded by cutting edge private pay behavioral health and substance abuse options for troubled teens and young adults. The website provides the only comprehensive online directory available with the ability to search and compare the vast options available to families in search of residential treatment options. All Kinds of Therapy will donate 1% of its net income to nonprofits that they believe encompass all types education, all types of learning, and all types of therapy.

Go here to see the original:

All Kinds of Therapy New Website for Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Treatment Launches Today

When you buy a Chromebook, youre eligible for a free 100GB upgrade on Google Drive for two years. It has now been almost two years since the first devices with this offer went on sale in Australia, so some people are going to start losing that space shortly. Heres what you need to know.

Its easy to lose track of just when you activated your free storage, so head to the Drive Storage section of your Google account settings to check. Hover the cursor over the pie chart that shows how much space is available and how much has been used. The pop up that appears shows how your space is used and where it all came from its possible you gained more storage from other offers as well. You will be able to see when a storage offer expires, and this is the date you need to keep in mind.

When the expiration date rolls around, your storage limit falls back to where it was before. Your files will not be deleted so dont panic too much but you wont be able to upload any more files until you drop back below the 15GB level.

Ultimately, if you need more space, youre left with two main options.

Buy More Space: It is, of course, possible to pay Google so you retain the storage space youve become used to. At the Drive Storage page, click one of the buttons to sign up for a 100GB or 1TB package, priced at $US1.99 and $US9.99 per month respectively.

Go down this route and theres not need to worry about expiration dates. As long as you keep paying the monthly fee, the storage space is yours.

Take Your Data Elsewhere: You may prefer to save your money, and there are lots of Google Drive alternatives to choose from. In terms of space, it is hard to beat the unlimited storage option from Mega. But if Kim Dotcoms cloud storage doesnt appeal, the likes of Dropbox, Box and OneDrive all have varying amounts of free space that you can distribute your files between. You could even create your own cloud storage with a NAS drive.

Remember, though: if youre moving files away from Google Drive, make sure you have a local copy before you delete them from the cloud. Check your Google Drive account now to see how long you have left.

What Happens To Files When the Google Drive Chromebook Offer Ends? [OMG! Chrome!]

See the original post here:

Two-Year Chromebook Users: Your Free Google Drive Space Is Ending Soon

Nowadays, it appears that social media has given holiday photography a far more sinister purpose: to show off to friends and colleagues.

This new breed of holiday photograph, taken with a global audience in mind, has been dubbed the boastagraph, and according to a study by British Airways, may have the power to destroy friendships.

One in seven admit to feeling jealous when looking at friends holiday photos, while a quarter of those who upload them feel upset, annoyed or confused if they dont get any likes, favourites, comments or retweets.

Credit:Rich Kids of Instagram

As if this isnt bad enough, one in ten feels an obligation to post a "cheeky selfie with a cocktail by the pool". Perhaps what is even more shocking is that only one person in six apparently finds such photos annoying.

Credit: Justinbieber/Instagram

The common themes of boastagraphs are the usual fare of family holidays, nights out and pretty landscapes, but all with an added veneer of perfection, to make those back home as jealous as possible.

Beaches, swimming pools and sunsets are just some of the other images posted online with the implicit purpose of making everybody else green with envy.

Credit:Rich Kids of Instagram

Of course, immediacy is the key to inducing the maximum amount of jealousy, and it seems the boastagrapher is aware of this. According to the study, many Britons upload their photos online while still on holiday, with 35 per cent doing so either immediately or within the hour.

View original post here:

Goodbye holiday snaps; introducing the 'boastagraph'

Nate Swanner

Municipal broadband is now available. The FCC today ruled via a 3-2 vote that municipalities across the country can build their own broadband Internet service. Keep in mind, broadband was recently reclassified to reflect a 25Mbps download and 10Mbps upload speed. The decision was prompted by the petition of two communities with gigabit Internet service who were prevented from expanding into neighboring areas due to state laws. This is a big step toward better Internet service, but its not the grand prize.

We likely wont be seeing a ruling on Net Neutrality today. Two FCC commissioners have refused to submit their edits on the order before them. Ajit Pai and Mike OReilly, the two commissioners who failed to do their diligence, are staunchly opposed to Net Neutrality in any form. We may still get a ruling on reclassification, though.

As for municipal broadband, thats still full steam ahead. Though some oppose the FCCs authority to establish rules for municipalities and states, the commission is empowered by section 706 of the Telecommunications Act. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said "We dont take lightly the matter of preempting state laws.

He went on to say The human faces of those who are condemned to second-rate broadband are a message to all of us. and noted There are a few irrefutable truths about broadband. One is you cant say youre for broadband, and then turn around and endorse limits.

This is a work in progress, but at least for today, your city or the city next to you can provide Internet service anywhere its needed. Thats pretty huge for rural areas who are condemned to suffer terrible Internet based on stodgy state laws.

Link:

FCCs 3-2 vote brings widespread municipal broadband

Phil Miglioratti likely would not want me to put his name and that of E.M. Bounds in the same sentence, but, there, I did it. Both are prayer warriors as the term is often used: Miglioratti as host of PrayNetwork.org today and Bounds as the author of published works on prayer, the most notable one that was gathered into one volume of 600 pages, E.M. Bounds on Prayer. I read all 600 pages and the author and the book still fascinates me; what Bounds focused on was the why of prayer, not the how. He died in 1913 at the age of 78.

Miglioratti toils onward with his website which is a clearinghouse on all things prayer, reaching what he calls many different segments/styles/strata of prayer-driven people, prayer authors, congregational prayer leaders, pastors, little old ladies who pray the hell out of their neighborhoods, and former magazine editors, meaning me who needs prayer the most.

Some of the site, he says, is simple faith, much is serious thinking, some strategic-tactical-resources. Certainly all is biblical, Christ-centered, Spirit-guided, to the glory of God our Father.

His background in prayer ministry, he says, started with a praying grandmother before he was born, and in opportunities to lead prayer before he knew what he was doing, being young and idealistic. He facilitated prayer at Willow Creek Community Churchs New Community on Wednesday nights in the late 70s that gave me valuable experience in leading the church by following the Spirit.

Phil pastored a church for 19 yearsthe last half was a head-long plunge into building a prayer culture. Opportunities to serve on the National Prayer Committee and coordinate the National Pastors Prayer Network came after that. He responded to several of my questions:

How can Christians participate with you on the site?

They can look over the site to see what a learning community looks like; take the couple minutes to become a member (that requires a quick profile); join a group that you have an affinity with, and post a simple blog commentary or upload an article you have written.

Any examples of people reached or helped or saved?

As administrator I often see thank yous going back and forth from persons who have been blessed by the prayer support they have received to a personal need or family crisis. Some of our groups result in persons exclaiming how much they have learned. And I know of several persons who have taken time to contribute articles or blog postings and have indicated how it has benefitted them by seeing others helped.

Continued here:

Phil Miglioratti is bounded by prayer at PrayNetwork.org

St. Louis, Missouri (PRWEB) February 26, 2015

Pic the Gift is now customizing and personalizing new superhero capes to create one-of-a-kind superheros. It is a great gift to give any child to spark their imagination during play time or those who love to pretend to be their favorite superhero saving the day.

The cape is made from poplin, a strong fabric, and measures to about 35 inches long. It will fit most children from ages 3 and up. The cape uses a Velcro closure for an easy use and quick release.

Use the online designer provided by Pic the Gift to invent the next superhero. Upload pictures from Facebook or Instagram, upload personal files, or use the massive library from Pic the Gifts stock clip art. The cape can be either personalized or have some text embroidered. When designing, mind if placing any text that it is centered from the neck hole to the bottom and keep images away from the sides to avoid being lost during production.

Create a creative superhero cape to provide a child with hours of imaginative play and empower them to build their self esteem, develop self confidence. Let them become their own superhero to the save the day by purchasing them a new personalized superhero cape.

About Pic the Gift

At Pic the Gift they strive to WOW their customers for 50 years by creating quality products right here in the USA. Pic the Gift offers personalizing one gift for the special person or to fill a wholesale of personalized gifts. Pic the Gift is green and offers free shipping on all orders. Check out Pic the Gifts full line of products at http://www.picthegift.com/.

Original post:

New Superheros Are Being Customized by Pic the Gift

If Congresswoman Jackie Speier has her way, the United States could finally be on the verge of creating a federal law banning revenge porn, reports Gizmodo.

Representative Speier told the publication that the bill will be introduced sometime this spring. Today, its possible to ruin someones life with the click of a button, by publishing another persons private images without their consent, said Rep. Speier. Our laws havent yet caught up with this crime.

As with all federal laws,Speiers national revenge porn bill is designed to deter people from committing the crime, by making revenge porn a federal offense. Not only would individuals who upload and share content without someone elses consent be liable, but so would people who run revenge porn sites. These criminal penalties will be doled out depending on the severity of the issue, because there is no one punishment that fits every crime possible within the confines of the bill.

Related:A California man was just convicted for posting revenge porn of an ex on Facebook

There will be no minimum penalty for revenge porn, though the bill does set a maximum penalty that includes jail sentences.

Ultimately, the bill is designed to help those who dont have the means to defend themselves. If youre Jennifer Lawrence, you can pay a high-priced lawyer to demand that websites take your picture down, but for an average person, the current system offers almost no recourse, said Rep. Speier.

Gizmodo does point out several issues with the bill, one of which being that even sites that might unwittingly host links to the content, such as Facebook and Google, could face penalties under the bill for enabling distribution. In addition, the bill could violate existing laws meant toprotect free speech. One example is the American Civil Liberties Unions challenge of an Arizona law that criminalizes revenge porn, arguing it goes against the First Amendment.

Even so, the push for revenge porn laws has been loud and clear. Back in December of last year, Noe Iniguez was the first person to be sentenced under Californias revenge porn law for publishing naked imagesof his ex-girlfriend on her employers Facebook page.Last August, Meryem Ali sued Facebook and a man named Adeel Shah Khan, after Khan posted manufactured, sexually explicit images of her and Facebook did not react in a timely manner. Earlier this month, 28-year-old Kevin Bollaert became the first person convictedin the U.S. under state law for running a revenge porn site, while also running another revenge porn site that would charge victims $350 to have nude pictures of them taken down.

Currently, 16 states have passed legislation, effectively banning revenge porn. Redditrecentlyissued a ban to nude images and videos on its site, unless the content has the consent of the people in the footage. Google, meanwhile,will block any sort of sexually explicit content,regardless of whether the people in the videos expressed their consent or not.

With that in mind, while the national revenge porn bill will likely be a contentious topic of debate on Capitol Hill, there seems to be a solidchance the bill will becomea law.

Link:

Revenge porn could soon become a federal crime in the United States

Connect the dots, la la la la, go to Miami, la la la la.

On Wednesday, Google announced the final version of itsflight-shopping siteclearly designedto compete withthe travel industry's currentdeal-sorting titans. Dubbed Google Flights, the site shares a lot in common with Kayak and Hipmunk, meaning that if you know your destination and ideal travel dates, you can sort available flights and tweakyour schedule to easily save a few bucks.

But Google Flights'key usability difference, and the newest feature since its beta launch a few years ago, is an interesting one: helping travelers make decisions when theydon't have a specific destination in mind.

"Our research shows more than half of searchers dont know where theyre going to travel when they sit down to plan," Google's Eric Zimmerman wrote in the product's announcement page, and he linked to a data-rich study about how Google users work out their typical travel arrangements.

As such, Google Flights' default interface isn't a list of cheap flights but a worldwide map covered in red airport dotseach of which has a price tag based on the calendar dates you entered in the first place. Budge those dates and the red dot prices change almost immediately. Or youcan type something as simple as "Europe" in the destination bar, at which point the site will offer refined searches like "Northern Europe" and "Western Europe" for quicker multi-airport searches.

In smaller Google news, the company also increased its cloud-storage song limit today. With no press release or fanfare, it bumped the limit that users can upload and privately enjoy from 20,000 songs to 50,000 this morning, thus surpassing the 25,000 limit that iTunes Match currently offers its users. (Amazon Cloud offers amuchlarger tally, but its 250,000-song storage comes with a price tag, unlike Google's and Apple's offerings.)

Post updated to reflect the service's original beta launch in 2011.

Read the original here:

Google mixes business with pleasure, updates Flights shopping service

'Family friendly' ads for the app will undergo a rigorous review process, Google says

YouTube Kids logo

Google says its new YouTube app for kids is its first product "built from the ground up with little ones in mind," and it appears to have taken careful steps not to ignite a furor by sacrificing children's' privacy for its business interests.

YouTube Kids was released Monday in the U.S. in the Google Play store and Apple's App Store. It has privacy-preserving features but also displays ads, which Google says will be "family friendly."

Ads in nearly a dozen categories are prohibited including beauty and fitness, food and beverages, and politics, Google says. And it says the ads won't collect data about those who view or engage with them, or track them elsewhere on the web.

The app is focused on content Google thinks will be best for pre-teens, organized into four categories: shows, music, learning and "explore." On Monday, there were clips from Sesame Street, Thomas the Tank Engine, PBS, and a "Baby Mozart" channel with cutesy versions of the composer's music.

Some observers said Google is handling the privacy aspects well.

"With no way to register personal information or even to upload videos directly, and with only kid-friendly advertising, YouTube Kids should provide a privacy-safe experience for kids," said Jules Polonetsky, executive director and co-chair of the Future for Privacy Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

YouTube Kids collects only anonymous identifiers to support internal operations such as spam and abuse prevention, and ad frequency capping, Google says in its documentation.

The app does not collect, use or disclose personal information connected to a Google account, it says. It's therefore compliant with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Google says, which governs how Web companies can mine personal information of children under 13.

Read this article:

YouTube Kids has 'no minefields for parents,' group says

Jessie Lorenz cant see Facebook. But it gives her a better way to see the worldand it gives the world a better way to see her.

Lorenz has been blind since birth, and in some ways, this limits how she interacts with the people around her. A lot of people are afraid of the blind, she explains. When you meet them in person, there are barriers. But in connecting with many of the same people on Facebook, she can push through these barriers. Facebook lets me control the narrative and break down some of the stigma and show people who I am, she says. It can change hearts and minds. It can make people like mewho are scarymore real and more human.

Lorenzuses Facebook through an iPhone and a tool called Voiceover,which converts text into spoken words. Its not a perfect arrangementFacebook photos are typically identified only with the word photobut in letting her read and write on the social network, Voiceover and other tools provide a wonderfully immediate way to interact with people both near and far.

I can ask other parents about a playdate or a repair man or a babysitter, just like anyone else would, says Lorenz, the executive director of the Independent Living Resource Center, a non-profit that supports people with disabilities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Blindness becomes irrelevant in situations like that.

Lorenz is one of about 50,000 people who actively use Facebook through Apple Voiceover. No doubt, many more use it through additional text-to-speech tools. And tens of thousands of otherspeople who are deaf, or cant use computer keyboards or mice or touch screensuse the social network in ways that most of its 1.3 billion users do not. They use closed captioning, mouth-controlled joysticks, and other toolssome built into Facebook, some that plug into Facebook from the outside.

So many people are using the social network through such tools, Facebook now employs a team of thinkers dedicated to ensuring they work as well as possible. We wanted to build empathy into our engineering, says Jeff Wieland, who helps oversee this effort.

He calls it the Facebook Accessibility team, and its a vital thing. Not all online services are well suited to people with disabilities. Google is really lousy, says Lorenz, explaining that she can use Gmail but not Google Docs or Google Calendar. And as a service like Facebook evolveswith engineers changing things on an almost daily basisthey consistently run the risk of undermining Voiceover and other alternative means of using the social network.

Tech companies have long worked to ensure their software and services can be used by people with disabilities. Ramya Sethuraman, who helps drive Facebooks effort, worked on similar issues with old-school software at IBM. But in the modern age, where so many services change from day to day, this requires a greater diligence.

As Sethuraman points out, other companies are tackling these issues in ways similar to Facebook, including Twitter, LinkedIn, and eBay, and for Lorenz, the improvement is apparent. The industry is becoming more conscious about these things, she says, and very slowly, its getting better.

The task is certainly more difficult in the modern age. But at the same time, the possibilities are greater. And the stakes are higher. There are more people with disabilities than ever before. People are living longer. People are more likely to survive accidents, says Adriana Mallozzi, who has cerebral palsy, typically uses Facebook and other services through a joystick she can control with her mouth, and serves as a kind of tech consultant for people with disabilities in the Boston area. Companies have to take this into consideration.

More here:

Meet the Team That Makes It Possible for the Blind to Use Facebook

IFTT's new standalone Do apps for iOS and Android simplify the tasks you do every day. Here are a few awesome ways to use them.

Josh Miller/CNET

IFTTT's new Do apps -- Do Button, Do Note and Do Camera -- are simple, yet versatile tools to help you automate and simplify the tasks you do everyday. While the apps are well designed and fun to use, they can be a bit overwhelming at first, because there are hundreds of ways to use them.

I'm highlighting the some of the best recipes available for each of the apps, most of which you can create in just a few steps. Still stumped on what to do with the Do apps? Check out the collections that IFTTT created, which are available in each app.

Before you use the Do apps, you'll need an IFTTT account, which you can get for free either within the apps or at IFTTT.com.

Next, activate the channels you want to use by signing into your accounts on each. Channels are the services that are connected to IFTTT and they include Dropbox, Twitter, Google Drive, Instagram, SMS, WeMo, Phillips Hue, Pocket and Fitbit. All told, IFTTT has 169 channels that you can use.

Now you're ready to login to the Do apps to start creating new recipes. Recipes are the formulas that IFTTT uses to complete an action. When you press one of the buttons in the Do apps, the recipe tells the app what to do in response. You can either browse existing recipes in the app, or create a brand-new one.

Here's how to create a new recipe: Tap the mortar and pestle icon, tap the grey plus sign and then press the black plus sign. Pick a channel and choose from the available actions you see. Actions vary greatly by channel, so you might need to look around and experiment to find the right action for what you want to do.

Once you choose an action, you can edit the recipe from the available options. That usually includes changing the recipe title or editing a message that's sent. You can often attach extra information to your recipe, such as location information or a shareable URL. Tap "Add Recipe" to save the recipe and you're done.

You can't yet send someone an SMS message with the Do apps, but you can send an email. Instead of typing out a message each day to let your roommate, parent or partner know that you're heading home, you can streamline the process by tapping the Do Button each time. By default, IFTTT will also send a map photo of your current location with your message too.

Read more:

9 ways to automate your life with IFTTT

Spark gives Dunedin locals exclusive Gigatown pre-launch offer

Spark is inviting Dunedin locals to gear up for the launch of Gigatown by offering its fastest Ultra Fibre plans at a discounted price, ahead of launching its official Gigatown plans later this year.

From today, residents of Dunedin in the Gigatown UFB footprint can sign up to Sparks Ultra Fibre 100 plans for just $79 a month for 80GB ($99 with a landline), or $99 a month for Unlimited data ($119 with a landline). The Ultra Fibre 100 plans offer speeds of around 100mbps upload and 50mbps download.

Spark Chief Executive, Chris Quin says we want our customers to have a mind blowing experience on the Spark Ultra Fibre Network and so we are right behind Gigatown. However, our Gigatown plans are taking a little longer to deliver than expected, and wont be available until around the middle of the year.

In recognition that we dont have these plans ready for customers as early as wed like to, we are offering Dunedin locals our fastest Ultra Fibre plans at a heavily discounted price.

The Ultra Fibre 100 offer comes a month after Spark announced it would shout Spark Broadband customers a 12-month subscription to Internet TV service Lightbox.

Lightbox gives our customers access to more than 6,000 ad-free hours of insanely good TV. For our customers in Dunedin, this means fibre broadband speeds are suddenly a whole lot more attractive, as theyll allow you to bingewatch your favourite TV shows on the smoothest, fastest connection available. said Quin.

Spark is also planning to launch its GigaWiFi service for Dunedin locals later in the year. Spark plans to liven up the ten busiest Dunedin WiFi hotspots with gigabit speeds for Spark Mobile customers to connect to while they are out and about.

And since a Dunedin offer wouldnt be complete with something for the Scarfies, Spark is offering all tertiary students on the $19 or $29 prepaid pack a beginning-of-the-year boost. Tertiary students who visit the Spark store and present their student ID before 9 April 2015 will have an additional 250MB of data and unlimited calling added to their $19 or $29 prepaid pack for the next 12 months.

ends

Read this article:

Spark gives Dunedin exclusive Gigatown pre-launch offer

MANILA. PhilippinesActress Angelica Panganiban hit netizens who watched a pirated copy of the film That Thing Called Tadhana that was leaked on Youtube.

On her Twitter account, the actress who played as the heartbroken Mace also commended those who paid to watch the film on cinema.

Sa lahat ng nanood ng pelikula sa computer Sana makatulog kayo ng mahimbing sa ginawa nyo.. according to Panganibans tweet that garnered 816 favorites and 325 retweets as of postingtime.

At sa lahat ng nagbayad sa sinehan, mabuhay kayo!! she added in a separate tweet that got at least 1,064 favorites and 278 retweets.

Panganiban was obviously outraged at pirated copies of the film uploaded on Youtube that was doing the rounds on social media. The pirated copies have since been taken down.

Angelica Panganiban

Some netizens sided with Panganiban and said they did not regret paying for the film instead of watching it online.

Yes! We dont mind. Just by watching the movie in cinema means that we truly appreciate your craft! tweeted @mizy_sue.

Mas maganda manuod sa sinehan mas feel mo yung aww ng paligid! added @IamKayeAldrinM.

Nagbayad po ako.. ipinila ko yon ng isang oras sa Glorietta nung 14th makanuod lang mam! naka post pa sa IG ko <3, @ohohmartin also said.

Go here to read the rest:

Angelica Panganiban slams netizens who watched pirated Tadhana

Lineage Labs Bevy drive and app let you take, consolidate and view photos on the fly.

Image: Lineage Labs

By Lance Ulanoff2015-02-18 07:26:35 UTC

Raise your hand if you feel buried by the number of photos you have on various devices or confused about which service or software to use to store and organize all of them for you and your family. Okay, thats everyone.

Were living in the midst of what can best be described as a photo-splosion. With nearly 2 billion smartphone owners in the world, weve become snappy-happy photographers. Every moment is worth capturing (and sharing, Facebook gets nearly 350 million photos per day). Increasingly, though, people are losing track of what they shot and where it lives. Its one of the reasons that recent software and product updates from companies like Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft have paid so much attention to photo management.

They all have their own organization tools and cloud storage. This is a good thing, unless youre a non-homogenous family, with iOS, Android, Windows and Amazon devices. Each one offers to auto store your photos and, as long as everyone is on the same platform, all can see and share the images. Even if thats the case, though, the baseline storage options offered by most isnt enough to store a familys worth of images and video (yes, you can always buy more storage).

As a result, a new class of products has emerged, led by Lyve Home, a 2 Terabyte box and free app that lets you store everyones photos in one place all they need to do is install the Lyve app on all devices (all platforms) and the app does the rest. Lyve is interesting because it also offers the option of using just the app. This way, photos are not copied to the cloud or a network-attached storage (NAS). Instead everyone sees thumbnails of all the photos in the Lyve collective. If they tap on thumb, they pull the full image from the source (which may be someone elses phone) with permission, of course.

The 1 terabyte Bevy photo storage and sharing system from Lineage Labs.

Now another startup, Lineage Labs, is entering the photo management fray. Like Lyve, it tries to solve the photo conundrum by centralizing photo and video storage on a 1 TB drive and service called Bevy, a name chosen because it means "a large collection of things."

Go here to see the original:

Bevy wants to get your photos and videos out of their digital sandboxes

One of the best, and most important, things about social media is that there are no hard and fast rules. Social media is what you make of it, and there's no right or wrong way to use it.

Social Media Rules of Engagement

However, some social networks are better-suited for certain activities than others. Twitter has more than 288 million monthly active users who post around 500 million tweets each day. The platform has been around for nearly eight years, but many people still don't understand Twitter or how to effectively use it.

Twitter can be surprisingly fruitful and at the same time mind-numbingly wasteful. As you scroll through your feed, reading breaking news updates, it can be jolting to suddenly see a completely non-related tweet, such as a haiku about someone's breakfast.

And that's OK. Twitter is designed to be a global, online town square, and if you want to make the most of the service you have to accept everything -- the good, bad and mundane -- that comes with it. Many of the things that make Twitter seem terrible at times are the same things that make it great. If you're not getting value out of Twitter, you're probably not following the right people. You also need to remember that Twitter is a two-way street, and you should be just as thoughtful about how you represent yourself on the platform as you are about the people you choose to follow.

Read on for our Twitter rules of engagement.

Don't Create Tweetstorms

Tweetstorms are a relatively new Twitter phenomenon, created mostly by academic types, billionaires and people who just love to see themselves tweet. Twitter messages are limited to 140 characters for good reason, and brevity is a thing of beauty. It's something you should cherish about Twitter, not circumvent.

It can be tough to narrow a thought, idea or joke down to 140 characters, but that's part of the fun of Twitter. There are plenty of things that can't be said in 140 characters, and those are what blogs, pens and paper are for.

If you can't say something on Twitter in less than 140 characters, don't say it at all. Sometimes a series of related tweets is warranted, but you should always keep them relevant -- and please don't write sentences that run from one tweet to the next. That's just obnoxious.

Read more here:

7 Things You Should Never Do on Twitter