2015 - Page 11 of 37 - Daily Inbox

In the New Alphabet, G Still Stands for Google

19Aug

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Business

In the New Alphabet, G Still Stands for Google

As of Tuesday, August 11, Google has a new owner. According to Wired, Alphabet, the newly-introduced parent company of Google, is much more than a rebranding effort. Alphabet, run by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, will essentially act as the mothership for all of Google's various ventures. This includes Calico, the company's longevity program; Google X, its lab division; and Google itself, the search engine giant that controls 65 to 70% of the global search market. Alphabet and Google are two entities with entirely different corporate structures and entirely different purposes. By allowing an outside entity to control Google's various tech ventures, from self-driving cars to Google Glass, Google executives can focus their attention on the products and services that make the...

New Algorithms Can Remove Photo Obstructions

19Aug

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Business

New Algorithms Can Remove Photo Obstructions

Chain-link fences are usually considered more of a security measure than an aesthetic choice. If you've ever had an intrusive fence or a window glare in your photographs, a recent report from the Massachusetts Institute for Technology will be welcome news. Researchers at MIT and Google are developing a new algorithm, one that can separate the foreground and background of your image and remove unwanted obstructions. The method works with a specific sequence of photos taken, similar to the panoramic feature on many smartphone cameras. The different angles provided by the multiple photos help to distinguish the foreground elements from the background elements, granting you the freedom to tweak them as needed. Motion parallax is a phenomenon in which closer objects appear to move faster than...

19Aug

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Business

Wrapify: an Uber For Advertisers

A new tech company is being called "an Uber for advertisers." Wrapify, which rolled out its product less than one month ago in San Diego and San Francisco, connects companies with drivers, wrapping their cars with branded, vinyl graphics and marketing messages. In other words, it acts as a vehicle advertising middleman. So far, Wrapify has nearly 10 brands on board and almost 2,000 drivers interested. Some of the brands already using Wrapify include Petco, Coldcock, Whisky, HomeHero, Captiv8.io, and Unreel.io. Thanks to its early successes, Wrapify is speeding up its plans to launch in Los Angeles, Orange County, and Atlanta by this Fall. The way it works is pretty simple. Wrapify's drivers download its mobile app, which only engages with their personal vehicles. GPS tracks the vehicle's...

Want to Live Like a (Middle Earth) King? Check Out This ‘Lord of the Rings’-Inspired Crowdfunding Project

19Aug

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Lifestyle

Want to Live Like a (Middle Earth) King? Check Out This ‘Lord of the Rings’-Inspired Crowdfunding Project

A group of architects and engineers is ready to build an epic piece of property in Southern England -- but they need nearly $2.9 billion to do it. The group aims to create a replica of Minas Tirith, the fictional city and capital of Gondor in Lord of the Rings. Fans of the series will remember this as the site of the Battle of Pelennor Fields in The Return of the King. Based on the design in director Peter Jackson's adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien trilogy, the property will feature both residential and commercial spaces. Luxury penthouses will be built on any of the property's five levels alongside resort-style spaces. In order to actually turn this fantasy into reality, the architects and structural engineers behind the project have set up an IndieGoGo campaign to crowdfund the elabor...

18Aug

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Local

NYC Welcomes New Rooftop Oasis

According to a recent report from CBS News, the Jacob Javits Center in New York City has installed a rooftop green oasis the size of nearly five football fields. The 17-story building, which was once one of the leading causes of bird deaths in NYC due to its windows, is now home to one of the largest rooftop sanctuaries in the city -- and bird deaths are down nearly 90%. By replacing the blacktop roof, which would absorb 85-95% of the heat and energy from the sun, with a roof made of soil, grass and shrubs, the building has saved 25% on heating and cooling costs. Susan Elbin, head of the New York City Audubon Society, said, "When I am walking around up here, like right now even, I have a hard time believing I am on a roof in New York City. I feel like I am in a meadow somewhere." Javits...

Even Some One-Percenters Have Trouble Affording Elite Private School Educations for Their Kids

18Aug

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Lifestyle

Even Some One-Percenters Have Trouble Affording Elite Private School Educations for Their Kids

Although 20% of children live in poverty throughout the United States, there's a new group that's beginning to feel left out of the private education sector: the "mildly rich." The Los Angeles Times reported on some of the most opulent upgrades to L.A.'s private schools, including a $100 million expansion at the Archer School for Girls. The school, located in Brentwood, has battled for four years with neighbors because it needs area residents to move out to complete the construction. Meanwhile, schools like the Buckley School and the Marlborough School have state-of-the-art facilities -- including high-tech academic buildings, Olympic-sized pools, and rooftop athletic fields -- planned for the near future. All of this is in a bid to keep parents, who are shelling out $38,000 per year or...

Buffalo, NY’s School-Bus-Sized Snow Piles Finally Melt

17Aug

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Local

Buffalo, NY’s School-Bus-Sized Snow Piles Finally Melt

A full eight months after last year's infamous "Snowvember" storm, snow still remains in Buffalo, NY -- in the form of two massive snow piles. The 10-foot piles, located in an abandoned lot near Central Terminal, don't really look like snow anymore; nearly one foot of soil covers the piles due to the long, slow melting process, which has actually insulated the snow even more. The only evidence of melting snow is the swampy soil that surrounds the piles. "It's not unprecedented, but it is weird when you think about it," said WGRZ Meteorologist Patrick Hammer. Last November, a freak lake-effect snow storm dropped seven feet of snow onto the Buffalo area. Snow removal crews had nowhere else to put all this snow, so the lot at Central Terminal became the dumping ground for 10,000 to 11,000 ...

Could Your Air Conditioner Be Making You Sick?

14Aug

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Lifestyle

Could Your Air Conditioner Be Making You Sick?

Many can't imagine life without air conditioning during the hot summer months. But what if the very thing that's keeping you cool is also making you sick? This question is not a new one. In fact, people have been questioning air conditioned air quality since it became popular in the United States, in the years following World War II. For many people, air conditioning is not just a luxury -- it's actually life saving, as it helps mitigate the effects of chronic ailments such as allergies, asthma, and bronchitis by filtering out pollen, pollutants, and other irritants from the air. Many forget that air conditioning isn't just a cooling system; rather, air conditions literally condition the air, acting as a means of filtration. Not only do air conditioners remove pollutants from the air, b...

Colored Fun Run or Potential Powder Keg?

13Aug

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Sport

Colored Fun Run or Potential Powder Keg?

You may not think combustible dust is something to worry about, but it's more prevalent a cause for concern than you might suspect. Between 2009 and 2013, 57 combustible dust incidents caused 26 people to die, and another 129 to be injured. Now, after a fireball engulfed a crowd of patrons in Taiwan, authorities in the U.S. are issuing warnings about powders used in Color Run events. The incident in Taiwan, which injured and burned hundreds of people, was caused by the ignition of colored powders that were sprayed over the crowd. "That was corn starch, which is a combustible powder, an organic powder," said Wichita Fire Department Fire Prevention's Chief Stuart Bevis. "It'd be just like flour or something like that." If the powder is made out of something combustible, and there's the right...

High-Tech Plumbing Comes to Small-Town America

12Aug

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Local

High-Tech Plumbing Comes to Small-Town America

People don’t tend to think of plumbing repairs as being particularly high-tech. But the use of “trenchless” sewer and pipe rehabilitation is slowly starting to revolutionize the plumbing industry. In the beginning of August, that paid off for the town of Adrian, MI, where a trenchless repair of a stormwater sewer averted what could have been an emergency in the small city, located about an hour outside of Ann Arbor. “We had a collapse on this line just over a month ago and found this concrete pipe to have significant deterioration,” City Administrator Shane Horn told the Adrian City Commission Aug. 3, highlighting the need for an immediate solution. To fix the line, a special liner was inserted into about 1,000-foot length of the pipe, which runs beneath Michigan Avenue. The pipe thickn...