Tuesday 30 June 2015
AWS to open first datacentres in India from 2016
See all your Google Contacts on a Google Map
Want to know where you friends and colleagues are? The all-new Map My Contacts app will help you quickly visualize the location of your Google contacts on a world map. It reads the postal addresses of people from your Google Contacts and puts them all in a Google Map using a simple Google script.
Create a Google Map with your Google Contacts
Publish a Map of Google Contacts
It takes one easy step to turn your address book into a Google Map. If you are Google Chrome user, you can install an add-on or you can click here to directly access the “Map My Contacts” web app in any other browser.
The app will require authorization because it needs to read the addresses of your Google Contacts and it needs access to Google Drive for saving the generated map. It is an open-source Google Script and you get find the entire source code on ctrlq.org published under the MIT License.
Once you have authorized and granted access, the app will run for a few minutes, depending on how big your address book is, and generates a Google Map embedded in an HTML file. A KML file is also created in your Google Drive with markers (or placemarks) for every contact and you can double-click to open this file inside Google Earth.
Also, if you are not using Google Contacts as your primary address book, you can still use the apps to map your contacts. Just export the contacts data from your existing address book (like Outlook or Yahoo Mail) as a CSV file, import the file into Google Contacts and run the app again.
Internally, the Google Apps Script reads the home and work postal addresses of your Google Contacts and then uses the geocoding service of Google Maps to transform these human-readable addresses into latitudes and longitude values. These points are then put in a KML file (see sample KML file) that can viewed inside Google Earth or Google Maps.
See some of our other useful Google Scripts.
The story, See all your Google Contacts on a Google Map, was originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal on 30/06/2015 under Google Contacts, Google Maps, Internet.Why Babies Cry
I understand that there are only so many ways to make awkward conversation with the parent of a screaming baby. I know that the well-meaning strangers are just trying to be nice. I know, I know...but if you could just not ask 'why is the baby crying?' (and whilst I'm at it avoid saying 'Is he sleeping through the night yet?' because, I do not know that either).
But why am I making excuses for my baby crying? Babies cry don't they? The do don't they? Mine cry, other people's cry. I'm sure other peoples' cry. Other peoples cry, don't they?
Enough of the second guessing: Babies cry. End of. Sometimes you know why, sometimes you don't.
If you are still wondering why babies cry however, here are 64 reasons:
1. Unknown.
2. I just feel like it today.
3. I can't talk, so I cry.
4. Hungry (yes, the random old lady in the post office queue was right).
5. Tummy ache (after eating too much).
6. Wind (after eating too much and crying too much).
7. You are inadvertently squishing one of my body parts.
8. You are not looking at me.
9. You are not look at me in the right way.
10. I have seen your face too much today.
11. I want to see Daddy/Grandma/Grandad/Auntie/Random person, just not you.
12. Some stranger just pinched my cheek and tried to hold my hand.
13. Teething, please let me chew.
14. You brought the wrong teether.
15. That brand of baby food is too inexpensive. Where is the organic one from the lady and her kitchen?
16. The bouncy vibrating chair is unnerving (95% of babies hate this, 95% of parents want their baby to love it).
17. The sibling (hit/bit/poked/invaded personal space/looked at me/didn't look at me enough).
18. You went to the loo without me.
19. You went to the loo with me.
20. The buggy.
21. Is this the first time you have used a sling? You amateur.
22. You put me down.
23. You picked me up.
24. You are carrying me wrong.
25. You are carrying me right...if this were yesterday.
26. You are not swaying correctly, more lunge, less shimmy.
27. You are sitting down.
28. You are eating.
29. Your tea is hot.
30. It's too dark, I can't see you.
31. It's too light, you haven't aged well.
32. You have the iPhone brightness up too much during my night feed.
33. You are making pastry, doing that whole crumbling thing and the butter mixture is all over your fingers. I must be picked up now.
34. You don't smell right today.
35. Tired.
36. Tired but don't want to sleep.
37. Poo.
38. Wee.
39. Fart.
40. Poo or fart will not emit as planned.
41. Soggy baby grow hidden by dry outside of sleeping bag (countless mornings my parents have fallen foul of this one).
42. I scratched myself, my nails need cutting.
43. You cut my nails.
44. The hand drier.
45. Someone else is crying.
46. Someone sneezed.
47. Getting into the bath.
48. Getting out of the bath.
49. You need to go through the list again, as I may have changed my mind now as to why I'm crying.
50. I'm bored.
51. Wrong toy.
52. Still wrong toy.
53. Right toy, but now I'm really miffed at you for getting it wrong. Start at the beginning of the list again.
54. You need to sing that song.
55. Now do the actions with the song.
56. I am lonely, being with you 23.5 hours a day is not enough.
57. You put me in this barren cot.
58. You turned the mobile on to keep me company in my cot - that thing is freaking me out.
59. The video monitor is looking at me with its one big glowing eye.
60. You talked over the baby monitor (FYI, never do this, frightens the crap out of me. OK, do it once but just for a laugh).
61. You brought me into your bed but you are now too close/too far away/leaking milk all over me.
62. The car (used to be a winner, not anymore).
63. I'm developmental leaping (you will only know this in retrospect).
64. I am a baby, this is what I do.
Next time someone asks why your baby is crying or you feel you need to make an excuse about them crying - feel empowered to tell them to bog off.... Only joking, use your British reserve and just smile while seething underneath. Then come here, where you are always welcome and visit me at Doctomum.
So why do babies cry? The answer in summary is Unknown.
Another of life's great mysteries, eh?
Do you have anymore ridiculous reasons why your baby is crying? You are safe here to share them (the baby can't read yet).
This article was adapted from the original blog post on www.doctomum.co.uk which you can find here
Greece misses IMF payment deadline
Minor changes turned Black Death germ from mild to murderous
Who's accountable if your personal data gets hacked?
4 Easy ways to control your privacy on Facebook
Sure Facebook has put plenty of guides and easy steps in place to demystify privacy, but we've collected together four easy tips to give you a bit more control. We find that most people we talk to want to control what people can see a bit more, organise groups and share things with particular people, but they often can't be bothered to take the first step, well now you've got no excuse.
The post 4 Easy ways to control your privacy on Facebook appeared first on ShinyShiny.
Apricot Cherry Galette
What I look forward to most in the summer? Stone fruit! We have trees, our neighbors have trees, and when the fruit on a tree ripens, it usually ripens all at once, setting up a flurry of activity. We eat (more like gorge on) the fresh fruit, make pies and cobblers, and freeze, dry, and can whatever’s left.
Apricots and cherries come into season about this time, early summer, which is a great excuse to pair them in a rustic tart such as this one.
Continue reading "Apricot Cherry Galette" »
Apple launches Beats 1 radio station
Hands-on review: Olympus Air A01
The interchangeable-lens camera has been an ever shrinking device from full-frame monsters, APS-C sensors to the miniature Micro Four Thirds (MFT) system cameras. Now, Olympus is introducing its smallest camera yet: the Olympus Air A01.
The new pocket shooter is a lens camera much in the same spirit as the Sony QX1 ($399, £250, about AU$520) in that they both rely almost entirely on a smartphone to operate.
It comes outfitted with a 16 megapixel, MFT sensor and a lens mount that will work readily with both Olympus and Panasonic glass. As for the camera screen, you'll have to supply that on your own with an iOS or Android smartphone.
On top of using your phone to see your photos, an accompanying OA.Central app will turn your smartphone into a central hub for everything from composing your shot to editing and ultimately sharing images.
Design
If you've seen Olympus's earlier Open Platform camera, then the Air should look somewhat familiar. Since the camera company initially announced its plans to build a new camera platform, the Air has seen some significant refinements. For starters, rather than looking like an oversized and boxy GoPro, the new Air is a perfect cylinder.
It's also incredibly small, making it perfectly pocketable. Measuring in at 57.1 x 57.1 x 43.6mm (W x D x H) it's compact even compared to the larger 74 x 69.5 x 52.5mm (W x D x H) Sony QX1. In fact, the lens camera is just about the same size as the Olympus 17mm, f1.8 lens.
What's more, while the Sony lens camera has weird outcrops protruding from its cylindrical body, the Air is perfectly smooth on all sides. The Air is also a fair bit lighter, weighing in at only 147g compared to the 216g QX1.
Externally, there aren't many controls on the Olympus Air. Up top, there's a massive shutter button, which makes it easier to trigger the camera no matter how you're holding it. Just below that, you'll also find a small power button, and that's really all there is for controls.
Instead of flicking dials and switches on the camera itself, you'll spend the majority of your time in the Olympus Air smartphone app, tweaking exposure settings and setting up the shot. Thankfully, pairing a phone to the Air is a sinch through NFC or scanning the QR code printed on the device's rear cover.
The Olympus Air comes with a mount for your smartphone to make it one whole, albeit makeshift, camera. Unlike the Sony QX1, the mount does not hold mobile devices flush with the back of the lens camera. Instead, the Air grips smartphones at an angle, making it easier to take photos from overhead or below eye level. Users can also rotate the smartphone mount unlike the Sony QX1.
A whole new world of possibilities
Despite the small size of the camera, the Air can take some truly gorgeous photos. Olympus has equipped its first lens camera with the same MFT sensor taken from the OM-D E-M10. The Air also inherits the E-M10's 81 contrast autofocus points – the sensor detects different colors and levels of brightness automatically – and TruePic VII processing engine.
One thing that has been upgraded is the burst rate, which has been increased to 10 frames per second, thanks to the Air's electronic shutter.
Compared to just about any smartphone camera, the Air resolves more detail, fuller colors, better shadows and general better dynamic range. That's not to say you'll be using this lens camera in a studio environment.
However, this camera will up your photography game with better food photos, landscapes, group selfies and just about any picture you would normally take with a smartphone. Don't forget about the extra flexibility either. Because you can point the camera without having to look at the display, you can use the Air can take images from all sorts of new perspectives.
As an added layer of accessibility, the smartphone app comes with an OA genius preset, which takes a single photo you took and transforms it into six variants. Olympus explained that the app creates these six deviations by applying different settings, art filters and cropping images.
From there, you can select a shot that looks best or stick with their original file. Either way the Olympus Air app automatically creates these files. You can also choose your favorite OA Genius-created photos with stars, and the smartphone app will begin understanding your preference.
Of course, more experienced shooters are also free to go fully hands on and manually adjust every aspect of their exposure.
A tiny bit too small
Annoyingly, just about everything on the backside of the camera is obstructed by one layer of plastic or another. At the rear, there's a switch to turn on and off Bluetooth as well as a microUSB connector for charging.
But to get to either, you'll have to take off the smartphone mount. What's more, there's yet another rear cover that blocks access to the microSD card slot.
Additionally, to shrink the Air to such a small size, Olympus sacrificed a few qualities innate to its MFT camera line. Most importantly, the Air does not feature any form of sensor-shifting image stabilization whatsoever. Panasonic lenses with in-image stabilization of their own will work, though.
The Air is also entirely reliant on an electronic shutter (with a maximum 1/16,000th of a second shutter speed) to take photos. Without a mechanical shutter, there's a greater chance images will develop rolling shutter, or the effect of a bent image, if you move the camera – or the subject in the frame is moving at a high speed.
Given the small stature of the Olympus Air, battery life isn't great either. Olympus claims you should expect to get about 320 photos out of a full charge, which should be enough to last several hours of use, but no more than half a day. Luckily, the camera supports USB charging, so at least it can be charged on the go.
Availability and pricing
Priced at $299 (about £190, AU$390), the Olympus Air is just a bit less expensive than the Sony QX1. The Olympus Air will begin shipping stateside this July.
That makes the US the third territory to officially sell the Air, following Japan and Canada. Olympus has yet to announce plans to launch the Air in the UK and Australia.
Early verdict
A few years ago, lens cameras seemed like a strange fad, but with more and more Wi-Fi connected cameras cropping up, it's beginning to make sense. Having a camera that you can use completely independent of your line of sight to a screen or viewfinder opens up a whole new world a photographic possibilities.
You'll have to wait for my full review to see if it works as well in the real world. But for now, the Air shows a breath of promise.
Solar plane attempts to cross front
Emission vows boost climate deal hopes
New Movies, TV on Amazon in July: 'The Skeleton Twins,' 'Dr. Strangelove,' 'Extant' and More
The second season of Amazon's original kids' series 'Annedroids!' along with 'Glory,' 'The Expendables 3' and lots of older HBO content will all be available for streaming by Prime members next month.
Addison Lee readies open API for global car bookings
'Leap Second' Added To Official Time Tonight
Israeli anger grows over Leviathan deal
Emergency Locksmith London
Stuck outside your door? Locksmith London 24 is here now for you. We operate 24/7 and 365 days a year.We're always here if you want us and we are a brand name that you can trust and rely on as it pertains to getting you out of a panicky situation.
One of the most unpleasant experience is once you realised that you have left your keys or lost your keys whether it's for your car or truck or home. The level of stress these situation causes is simply remarkable and very alarming.
We at Locksmith London 24 handles such emergencies on a daily basis and would endeavour to be at your doorstep within 30 mins of ringing us. Our expert locksmiths have undergone extensive training and are well organised to cater for just about any situation that could arise. Typically, we could provide you with a duplicate or alternate way to regain access.
Visit - http://www.locksmithlondon24.co.uk
Monday 29 June 2015
Map: How the price of marijuana varies around the U.S.
PriceofWeed.com, a website that asks people to anonymously submit the cost of marijuana they purchase in their area, has collected a lot of data on the street price of both legal and illegal marijuana around the U.S. over the last few years. Lazaro Gamio of the Washington Post took that data and created a map of state prices.
According to the site, the average price for an ounce of marijuana in the U.S. is now $286.35. In the green states, the price is lower than this average; in the darkest green states, it is more than 10 percent lower. In the yellow, orange and red states, the price is higher.
As the map shows, marijuana is now significantly cheaper throughout most of the West, as well as Florida and Mississippi. It remains the priciest in Virginia, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, New Hampshire and Vermont.
To see graphs of how the price compares in 8 major cities, click “Know More.”
Official: Aventador SV Roadster is coming
Essentially Speaking
I wouldn't put myself in the "intellectual" box. I know nothing about a lot of things that some comics talk about. The future of politics. The history of politics. And most of all, politics. But I have timing, awareness, delivery, common sense, and most importantly - stage presence.
When I meet someone, a comic or not, and they try to sound more intelligent than they really are, I can not only see right through it, but I also want to knock their block off for being so pretentious.
So when I worked at my latest temp position, I got sat next to a lad with the hair style of what looked like a giant whipping of chocolate ice cream scooped on to his head. After four hours of sitting too close to this guy I couldn't help but notice his use of the English language and how he was trying his best to sound way more intelligent that he actually was. It started with the words "figuratively speaking" and "fundamentally" a fair few times to the boss. Fair enough. They always like a brown nose. But then the word "essentially" started to pop up, not just to the boss, but to everyone. Way too often.
I started to feel myself getting agitated when he started using "essentially speaking" at the beginning of every single sentence. I started to grind my teeth when he slipped in "essentially speaking" when it wasn't necessary. I then wanted to punch his ice cream head when he added "essentially" when it didn't even make any sense. "You can ring back essentially any time Mrs Thomas". What a douche.
By day five of having the word essentially burned into my brain, I decided I could either be sent down for 20 years for a very messy murder, or I could try and enjoy it. So I made the decision to count how many times he said "essentially" in each hour. I'm delighted to inform you the hour that got the most hits was between 1pm - 2pm and received TWENTY TWO essentially's. The twitching of my face at that point was a mixture of bemusement and pain.
The job, like all the others, quickly came to a close and with the perfect timing came the filming for a new comedy show for E4 ( out next year ) which was brilliant fun. So now I sit and apply for more temp jobs to make some extra money, praying the people I next work with won't send me more insane and hope the lunch is free. (Am I asking too much?)
So essentially, until next month, I hope you essentially stay well and happy... essentially speaking.
Top Gear farewell divides critics
SDCC Sundays: What To Look Forward To at SDCC2015
Sweet young gulls seen in California.
SpaceX Rocket Explodes After Florida Liftoff
Hide and lock folders on your computer with My Lockbox.
Hide and lock folders on your computer with My Lockbox. It is an application, which helps you to make your files private by setting password to them.
You will be able to open a protected folder with a correct password only, so no user or application will get access to your data, no matter whether they are trying to get access locally or via internet.
