I Only Have i's For You: Is The Apple Watch The Fruit Of All Knowledge? (iGadgetry Release, Part Two)

The gods have spoken, the skies have parted, and the now-immortal Apple Watch has descended from the heavens to grace your wrist like a miracle on a (obviously customizable and interchangeable) watch strap.  Your precious iShinything will never be more than a glance away.

As reported by theverge.com, Apple's Tim Cook describes the watch as a "comprehensive health and fitness device" - that's right, the damn doodad could change you from slacker to lip-smacker.  Chart your heart rate or sleeping habits and monitor other fitness stats like steps taken and calories burned (so you can learn exactly how much better it is for you to walk to Dunkin' Donuts instead of drive.)  It'll even warn you if you've been sitting too long.  Yes, the brilliant Apple Watch can function as your mom, telling you to go outside.

The innovative Taptic Engine can tell the difference between a tap and a press (called "Force Touch", which sounds like the Apple Watch maybe wants to be mounted to a leather bondage cuff), allowing for your fondling to give it extra special commands (effectively recreating the "right click" element of a mouse...or a particularly sensitive wrist-mounted love slave.)

The input mechanics offer a Digital Crown that enables zooming, scrolling, and navigation, sans obstruction of the main display.  The display itself is a flexible Retina panel, laminated to the popular high-end watch covering of sapphire crystal.  The Guardian UK reports some neat variations on the watch's style, among other things.

Siri's there (that bitch is everywhere...she'll buzz your wrist and tell you where to turn.)  Maps are there.  Tunes are there.  Obviously.  It also has Bluetooth to beam your soundtrack to other devices around you.

Onboard Facebook, Twitter, email, blah blah blah.  What about something NEW?  How about Apple Pay, which acts like a credit card that only requires a touch of the watch to receptive payment systems?  You're like a sultan - simply grab and item and touch the till on your way out - those organic apples are now yours, sans any unnecessary human interaction.

Fascinatingly, the Apple Watch can be charged inductively, meaning you don't need to plug it in.  This development will likely spur on other breakthroughs for technology that was formerly required to be wired.

Oh, and it tells time to a universal standard.  So you know exactly how much of it you've been wasting, messing around with your aggravatingly awesome new Apple Watch.

How else are you supposed to tell time in the future?

BTW, this is what some of the rest of the world looks like, in case you stop noticing.

I Only Have i's For You: Apple Unveils Latest iGadgetry (Part One)

It's like Christmas for the computer crowd.  Today, Apple is releasing not only their sixth and latest version of the iPhone, but also a rumored iWatch product that will make its popular technology more portable (because you weren't dithering with enough iSchwag already.)  Here are some of the new features you get to enjoy while phasing out all of humanity around you.

-According to the telegraph.co.uk, the iPhone has been hailed as "the world's most popular camera."  The iPhone 6 will now feature advanced image stabilization with exceptional low-light capabilities (for all those various and vilifying bar images that you'll end up deleting lest they end up on social media.)

-The camera also has the capacity to shoot at 240 frames per second, making it all the more easy to be extraordinarily creepy as you sneak photos of hotties on the subway.

-The 8-megapixel camera has "focus pixels", which are extra important to help make sure all your illicit imagery is crystal clear - your nudie-questing hackers will thank you.

-An integrated M8 motion chip and barometer work in conjunction with a new onboard health app or Nike's fitness app to maybe someday give you all sorts of data on the exercise you swear you'll do tomorrow.

-Worldwide cell service providers have teamed up to make your iPhone 6 able to complete calls over any 4G network, voice-over-LTE, and voice-over-WiFi.  Every single person at the NSA was reported to be seen malevolently drumming their fingers together and orgasmically murmuring, "Exxxcellent."

-Onscreen multi-tasking, because god forbid your ADD not get its fix.  Also, double the transistors of the iPhone 5 (2 BILLION!) making a 25% faster CPU and 50% faster graphics.  MORE CAT GIFS.  RIGHT NOW.  FASTER.  MORE.

-A record-breaking size:  6.5 mm of sleek sexy slimness, because even if Americans can't be svelte, our tech toys can be!

-Oh, and 1.3 million apps.  No big deal.  We've come a long way since phones only carried onboard Snake.  Is there a modern Snake app to be had, for old time's sake?  Maybe some Tetris?  This technological whirlwind shouldn't eradicate the simpler elegances of life.  WAIT A SECOND, IT PLAYS GAMES IN HIGHER RESOLUTION THAN CONSOLES.  SCREW SNAKE AND THOSE STUPID RUSSIAN BRICKS.

Pre-sale starts Friday, plebes.  Too bad you weren't in the line outside the Apple store in NYC.  It started last week.

Once rumors of the fabled "iWatch" wearable are confirmed, more information will be posted here.  Watch (iWatch?) this space.

That's evolution, baby.

Chomping At The Bit(coin): Paypal Now Accepts Popular Cryptocurrency

The bitcoin revolution has ascended rapidly, and the options for using cryptocurrency are expanding just as quickly to meet the demand. Now, the major online payment service PayPal has begun to accept bitcoin as part of its operations.

The internet-only monetary system of bitcoin has grown not only in popularity but in value recently, and according to fastcompany.com, had been considered an option by PayPal in the past. PayPal has now officially adopted the cryptocurrency, which will help to speed along transactions completed via their subsidiary Braintree's mobile app, One Touch PayPal. This expedites e-payments using a program called Coinbase.

Braintree CEO Bill Ready stated, "This will be PayPal's first foray into bitcoin...We think both the One Touch mobile payments that we announced as well as bitcoin will be high interest to merchants."

PayPal customers, including the cab-hailing app Uber and the apartment-letting service Airbnb, will now be open to accepting your bit-loot. With the scope of the company's usage on the internet, many more vendors will likely follow this trend.

Lesser-known e-currency provider Dogecoin are just happy they have a cool racecar.

Space Station Sunday! Space Crafts On The Spacecraft

It's a hot new technology on Earth, and now it's moving on up...literally. NASA announced this week that it will be sending a 3-D printer to the International Space Station on September 19th.

As reported by itproportal.com, the microwave-sized 3-D printer was created by NASA in conjunction with the "Made In Space" organization. The printer will aid astronauts by printing out small spare parts or tools that they otherwise might have had to wait days or weeks for, if sent up on a conventional supply launch.

NASA's 3-D printing project manager Niki Werkheiser stated, "The on-demand capability can revolutionise the constrained supply chain model we are limited to today and will be critical for exploration missions." If successful, NASA could feasibly equip long-distance space missions with printers for supplies of all sorts, someday maybe even including 3-D printed food.

The upcoming efforts will also be the first test of what happens with 3-D printing equipment in a microgravity environment. It is estimated that the machine would require 15 minutes to an hour to complete a task, hence perhaps as little as two hours for a design to be created on Earth, emailed to the ISS, and printed out for use in space. The printer is operable by the astronauts themselves, but can also be controlled by - who else - ground control at the Marshall Spaceflight Center's Operations Support Center.

According to madeinspace.us, the printer went through a battery of tests to prove its mettle for microgravity, including EMI (electromagnetic interference), materials compliance, vibration endurance (for launch survival), human factors, and the ability to interface with elements aboard the ISS.  Thanks to Made In Space working closely with NASA, the required space-safety tests were passed with flying colors, and the printer was certified mission-ready this June.

The Made In Space company's enthusiasm for the project was bountiful, and they are excited not only by where the achievements will lead in the future, but what will be possible very soon.  Made In Space CEO Aaron Kemmer said, “Passing the final tests and shipping the hardware are significant milestones, but they ultimately lead to an even more meaningful one – the capability for anyone on Earth to have the option of printing objects on the ISS. This is unprecedented access to space. If you want to 3D print in space, contact us now."

The possibilities seem as vast as the stars...

As is the norm for NASA, even the device's development looked cool.

E-Pubcrawl: Two Alcohol Apps To Slake Your Thirst

In New York City and the Hamptons, there always seems to be a party going on somewhere. Why not make it your place? Now, thanks to a new app, you won't even have to hit the liquor store.

Meet Minibar Delivery, a delivery service that promises alcohol delivery in Manhattan (under 96th street) and some of Brooklyn, all inside an hour. Their app is available for iOS and Android, meaning you could bypass the after-work happy hour gauntlet entirely, send an alcohol order from the subway and be ready to meet your whiskey deliveryman by the time you got home. Sure, it might not be as fun as hitting up your nearest pub, but if you need extra party supplies and simply can't eschew your hosting duties, now the traditional "beer run" runs to you!

Minibar Delivery's cofounder Lara Crystal told venturebeat.com, “Basically we saw a huge market that has not been successfully brought online...A lot of people have loyalty to spirits but not necessarily to brands.” Your loyalty plus their legwork equals good times.

The Minibar Delivery service is not to be confused with the app of the near-same name, which offers excellent bartending advice ("mixology" for you fancy-tini drinkers.) This Minibar app ("A world of cocktails in your pocket") provides detailed recipes including mixing techniques, proper glassware instructions, and even facts about the origins and ingredients of the cocktails. Rated a "new and noteworthy" 5 stars from Macintosh and said to "outclass every other cocktail app in every aspect" by Beautiful Pixels, the Minibar can give you ideas for everything from punches for parties to a classic cocktail to try the next time you get bored at your local bar.

Cheers!

Don't want anyone catching you buying cupcake-flavored vodka?  Problem solved.  

#1 Fan? New 3-D Printed Mini Wind Turbine Generates Power, Portably

A major tenet of the sustainable energy revolution is soon to be found in convenient to-go form. Thanks to a new invention, you'll soon be able to spin windpower into electricity anywhere you can catch a breeze thanks to the AirEnergy3D portable wind turbine.

As reported by factcoexist.com, the AirEnergy3D is a lightweight, backpackable wind turbine that is currently under development via a kickstarter. It will eventually be able to generate enough power to fuel a laptop, or feed energy back into a personal grid. It requires no tools for assembly and can be plugged directly into.

Truly a machine for the people, the AirEnergy3D's inventors plan to make their schematics open-source so the design can be improved upon. Engineer Kamil Dziadkiewicz, of the Polish developing/printing company Omni3D, said, "We want to make it as easy to develop upon the original project...Thanks to 3-D printing, everybody as a community can experiment and prototype better solutions for the machine."

Also adding to the humanity of the project are AirEnergy3D's outreach plans. Already, they plan to donate pre-printed parts to send to Africa for easy, mobile power sources. Sustainable independence is a valuable power that we are seeking to make ever more containable.  While options like solar may currently work better on the small scale in some environments, portable windmill power could someday at least be a breath of fresh air to those in emergency need.

An AirEnergy 3D turbine/DNA windchime.

All-Weather Anti-Drone Laser Cannon. Yep.

It's called the HEL MD (High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator), and it's a truck-mounted laser cannon. The US Army has commissioned them from Boeing (spending $36 million over the last decade), and now, targets on land, sea, or air are in the sights of losing to lasers.

According to wired.com, the HEL MD system has "successfully engaged" drones and 60mm mortars, aka blew them the hell out of the sky. Tests were conducted at Florida's Eglin Air Force Base under cloudy and foggy conditions, making the weapon attractive for use in stormy naval situations.

The HEL MD currently uses a 10-kilowatt laser to scorch out its targets, although a more powerful beam will be used in future iterations. A “tactically significant power level” of 50 or 60 kilowatts will then be in force. Either way, the premise is simple: the laser's concentrated beam of light, when sighted on a target, soon turns into ever-expanding heat, disabling its target (possibly via a cool explosion, as "Star Wars" led us to believe.)

Quite awesomely, when mounted on a truck for mobility, the system requires only a driver and an operator with a laptop and Xbox controller to send up the lasery lightning. A telescope along with an infrared-based wide-angle camera helps to identify targets. The weapon is expected to be in development for several more years, so bust out your video games and get practicing...those enemy UAVs are in for a zapping.

Hot.