Jemblog

www.gizmochina.com

The rain falls everywhere except exactly where you’re standing.

http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=13723

Many apps for smartphones, tablets, and the web ask you for permission to use your Facebook profile in order to sign in or use the service.

Apps may ask for permission to do things like post status updates on your behalf and gather your email address or other basic personal information that you have listed in your Facebook profile. This is almost always to get around having to input all that information again when signing up for a new app or service. And it’s actually very useful.

A good example of this is Instagram: You give Instagram permission to post photos you take to your Facebook account.

To be clear, these third-party apps are very explicit about what kind of information they’ll take from your Facebook profile before you give permission. But if you ever change your mind and want to unlink the app from your Facebook profile or alter what kind of information the app can access, you’ll have to jump through a few hoops.

Here’s what you do:

First, start by heading to the drop-down arrow in the top right corner, click that and select Privacy Settings.

Next, head toward the bottom of the page to the Ads, Apps and Websites section. Then select Edit Settings.

After that, you’ll see a section in the middle of the page titled: Apps you use. This is a running list of all the apps you have authorized to use your Facebook account. Next to the apps is an Edit Settings button. Click that.

Now you’re inside. You can see every app, website, and plug-in that has access to your account. Go through the list and remove any app that you haven’t used recently.

To remove an app, click Edit next to an individual app. You can then see exactly what the app has access to (post on your behalf, access posts in your news feed, etc.). To revoke access, simply click Remove app.

We suggest you remove any app that hasn’t been used in six months.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-app-privacy-controls-2012-10#ixzz28rJt3ntI

Following its failed acquisition with AT&T, T-Mobile USA’s parent company Deutsche Telekom just announced that it has reached a deal to combine its U.S. operations with MetroPCS, the nation’s fifth-largest carrier. What’s in it for you?

For starters, T-Mobile gets to finally jump on the 4G LTE bandwagon as MetroPCS has been deploying this technology over the past two years. This could be a bargaining chip the merged carriers may just need to finally land the iPhone…

According to The Wall Street Journal and AllThingsD, the transaction requires customary regulatory approval from both The Federal Communications Commission and MetroPCS shareholders and is expected to close in the first half of 2013.

The Financial Times Deutschland reports that both carriers will be combined into a single entity where Deutsche Telekom will have a 74 percent stake while MetroPCS will get the remaining 26 percent shares and $1.5 billion in cash.

T-Mobile writes in a blog post that the combined company will retain the T-Mobile name and will have “the expanded scale, spectrum and financial resources to aggressively compete with the other national U.S. wireless carriers”.

MetroPCS is the nation’s fifth-largest carrier, behind Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel and T‑Mobile USA. The Richardson, Texas-headquartered telecommunications network had 9.5 million subscribers as of January 2012. Its 3G network uses CDMA technology, but the company is also deploying 4G LTE.

T-Mobile USA operates HSDPA+ network incorrectly marketed as “4G” though it is really just a speedy 3G. T-Mobile is the farthest behind the big three carriers in commercial 4G LTE deployment as the carrier pledged to begin a nationwide 4G LTE rollout in 2013.

Because T-Mobile’s and MetroPCS’s 3G networks are incompatible, the two carriers won’t be able to share signal and 3G customers across their respective networks. Neither carrier has the iPhone.

However, given that T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network is iPhone-compatible and that the carrier is offering free support to unlockers, and with 4G LTE in mind, perhaps the new company will have enough leverage to cut a deal with Apple?

Apps and devices have been designed to turn smartphones into light switches, medical tools and even satellites. For people who wish to extend a little less effort in their daily lives, they could even replace the traditional house key you use to get into your home.

Consider Lockitron, a keyless entry device that attaches to a door’s deadbolt. The small battery-powered box is equipped with Bluetooth 4.0, has NFC capabilities and communicates with a user through Wi-Fi.

To open a door, you swipe your phone past the Lockitron box.The device is compatible with every kind of smartphone, according to Lockitron maker Apigy. If you have an old model, text messaging can be used as an alternative to Wi-Fi in order to control access to your home. With the “Sense” feature, smartphones that include Bluetooth 4.0 — such as the iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 — can grant you access when you simply walk up to the door.

The downloadable two-button app that communicates with the box can be used to share or restrict access to your home by other people. Lockitron is able to send you notifications, alerting you to changes that include the door being unlocked by another user — for example, when your child returns from school and enters your house. The application is available for Android and iOS devices.

If you’re a renter, it’s possible to take the removable Lockitron box with you rather than having to purchase a new device or switch back to a set of keys. If you lose your phone, then resetting an account’s password can keep your home secure.

This week, Apigy is ready to take preorders for the $149 Lockitron box, having now received $424,350 in funding. The first batch is set to ship internationally in March of next year if Apigy receives 1,000 reservations.

https://lockitron.com/preorder

source

Microsoft’s cult-favorite SenseCam technology is reborn in a new, consumer- friendly package.

One of the coolest things to come out of Redmond was Microsoft’s SenseCam. It was a wearable camera that took thousands of pictures of your daily life to construct visual histories far more vast than our Instagram timelines. But SenseCam never really went anywhere within Microsoft’s product line.

Oxford Metrics Group (OMG) took over the tech and released the Vicon Revue, which assists people with memory impairment (like those living with Alzheimer’s) in remembering everything from their week’s adventures to where they parked their car. Now, OMG is polishing the technology for average consumers.

Their new camera is called the Autographer, and it was developed in conjunction with London’s ChauhanStudio. It’s technically brilliant, using five sensors that discern the best 2,000 moments of your life to capture each day (measuring changes in light, motion, direction, color, and temperature to track activity). But whereas the original SenseCam was an R&D prototype, and the Vicon Revue was technically a medical assistance device, the Autographer reimagines the platform as something that’s not just intelligent but attractive enough that the everyday consumer would want to display on his body, all the time.

“Designing a technology device that is supposed to be worn is tricky; you don’t want it to look too “geeky,” or on the other hand too expressive,” designer Tej Chauhan tells Co.Design. “We wanted it to exude a quiet confidence, with unmistakable character. We worked hard trying to find the right visual language and on the details and physical features that make it wearable.”

That visual language had to build a brand, too, that would make future Autographer’s look related to the original, no matter how much smaller the body and internal processors became. It’s what drove them to the unique “Eye”–a lens that looks ever-so anthropomorphic–peeking out from an otherwise minimal frame. When the lens is closed, the Autographer powers down and the Eye turns bright yellow, signaling to camera-shy company that the system is totally powered down.

OMG also added richer backend services, acknowledging the popularity of Twitter and Facebook, building single-shot sharing into the platform (as 2,000 photos filling your timeline each day would be a bit much).

So it all sounds great, except how do you actually wear the thing? Autographer will hang or be strapped to your body through a series of yet-unannounced accessories–and it’s these accessories that will ultimately decide just how comfortable and practical the device is. Given that the Autographer is expected to go on sale this November, we should know a lot more on that topic soon.

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670901/a-wearable-camera-that-photographs-your-entire-life

Google’s Data Liberation Front keeps adding new ways for Google users to get their personal data out of Google’s services and back into their own hands. The latest addition to Google Takeout is YouTube videos. You can now download all of the original, full-quality videos you’ve uploaded to YouTube and take them elsewhere whenever you want. Here’s how.

1. While logged in to your Google account, go to google.com/takeout.

2. Click ‘Choose services’ in the navigation bar

3. Click ‘YouTube’

Note: you can also go straight to the YouTube export page by going to https://www.google.com/takeout/#custom:youtube

After it loads, you’ll see the estimated number and size of the files.

4. Click ‘CREATE ARCHIVE’

This could take a while, so you can select ‘Email me when ready’ to get a notification.

5. When it’s all done, you’ll get a link to download the videos just the way you uploaded them.

Previously, you could download videos one at a time from your Video Manager on your YouTube account page. But Google Takeout lets you download the whole batch at once, even if it takes a (potentially long) while.

Data portability is always good, and Google has always led the way.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how-to-get-your-youtube-videos-back-from-google.php

Well, that was a three-day weekend all right. For your sake, we hope you left no witnesses. Or loose ends.

And if you suddenly start feeling the need to recount the highlights via a video to a friend…

Don’t.

But if you must, at least use something that’ll self-destruct.

Download Züm, an iPhone app that’ll let you share video clips that erase after a single viewing, available now.

It’s possible you’ve seen something like this before. For texting. Or emailing. Or on an episode of Inspector Gadget. So, this: sort of like all of that. You’ll download the app, record a video, make a five-second message (“I’m sorry this happened to your parakeet… not really”) and send it.

Then, the person on the receiving end of your clip (they’ll need to have the app, too) will watch the footage. They’ll likely experience a strong wave of emotions (mainly shock, horror and shame). And before they can even think about forwarding your viral masterpiece/alerting the authorities, the thing will explode into a bunch of fiery little pieces. Figuratively.

Somewhere, Michael Bay is very disappointed.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zum-zum/id536708511?mt=8