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500px now supports light-field photos shot with the $1,599 Lytro Illum camera

Jul23
by on July 23, 2014 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Gadgets, Product Updates

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500px is one of the most respected photo-sharing sites on the Web and to further emphasize its commitment to the art form, the company is supporting images shot with Lytro‘s unusual light-field cameras. For those who need a primer, Lytro cameras are fitted with a unique sensor that captures numerous characteristics of light rays, including their color, intensity and direction. The result is a photo that feels 3D; viewers can drag their cursor to shift the perspective, or click to manually set the focal point. It’s hardly the holodeck, but light-field photography is already gaining momentum. Last month, Lytro open-sourced the…

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Former Google Maps architect launches PlaceUs, an iPhone app for smart location sharing

Jul23
by on July 23, 2014 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web

Maps & Navigation
Alohar Mobile, the location startup led by ex-Google Maps architect Sam Liang, today launched a new iPhone app called PlaceUs that tries to add contextual intelligence to location sharing. PlaceUs aims to help people stay connected with a close circle of loved ones. As the app learns your routines, it can do things like automatically send a message to your spouse when you head home from work or when you’re stuck in traffic on the way to daycare. PlaceUs can also notice if you haven’t been to the gym in a while and send you a reminder. Alohar claims that PlaceUs…

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Sense is a bedside gadget for monitoring and improving your sleep

Jul23
by on July 23, 2014 at 11:00 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Gadgets, Insider

sense
James Proud, a graduate of the first class of the Thiel Fellowship, has launched his new startup, Hello, on Kickstarter with Sense, a gadget that sits on your nightstand and monitors your sleeping environment. The device includes motion, light, temperature, humidity, noise and air quality sensors in order to understand your environment. Its design reminds me of a miniature version of the Olympic Stadium in Beijing, affectionately called the Bird’s Nest. Sense also combines with a “sleep pill” that clips to your pillowcase to provide more specific data about your sleep cycle. Sleep trackers are nothing new, with multiple startups…

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How cat photos can reveal privacy issues with what you share online

Jul23
by on July 23, 2014 at 10:41 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Shareables

cat
Posting pictures of your cat to the internet may seem like one of the most innocuous (and fun) things to do. But did you know that doing so can give away the location of your feline and, by extension, you too? Even if you are aware of that, you may not realize exactly what can be done with that data. Owen Mundy, an assistant professor at Florida State University, is filling in the gap by using the example of cat pictures to show what metadata in images can reveal about us. Munday’s project – I Know Where Your Cat Lives – shows one million randomly…

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China is forcing app developers to reveal their true identity amid a porn crackdown

Jul23
by on July 23, 2014 at 10:15 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Asia

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China has embarked on a “clean-up” of mobile internet services, and now app developers are the government’s next target. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a statement saying that it will “strengthen” the management of telecom firms and app stores among other entities — which includes urging them to verify the true identity of app developers (hat/tip Tech in Asia). It also wants these entities that publish apps to monitor illegal or pornographic information and take them down as necessary. Stemming the spread of pornographic information seems to be the key aim of the government in its latest move…

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