It's been a long day of posting s***. Time to put on some music and relax.
Apple’s Beats buy is two-sided for music streaming
Apple on verge of buying Beats for $3.2b
I'm not listening, sorry. You can tell everybody, I'm the man, I'm the man, I'm the man!
"Search for flair grows as gadgets become accessories" by Barbara Ortutay | Associated Press May 30, 2014
NEW YORK — Beats Electronics’ colorful, oversized headphones serve as a fashion accessory to cool kids riding the New York City subway, but as tech companies such as Apple, Samsung, and others are discovering, wearable gadgets like smartwatches and Google Glass still have a long way to go to become trendy, must-have consumer items.
Apple’s $3 billion purchase of Beats Electronics, by far the company’s largest acquisition, is at least in part recognition that Beats founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine might be able to help Apple incorporate more style and flair into its premium technology gadgets — especially a coming wave of wearable devices.
Technology companies see wearables as an important area of growth beyond phones and tablets, and many are slowly realizing that if they expect people to wear gadgets — be they bracelets to monitor fitness activity, smartwatches to substitute smartphones, or Internet-connected goggles— those devices must focus as much on form as function.
So far, the most noteworthy wearables have hardly been stylish. The standard Google Glass product looks more like something out of Star Trek than a fashion accessory. Fitness bands meant to be worn 24 hours a day are difficult to match with evening gowns or even a suit and tie.
‘‘I guess they are accessories, but I would not say they are high fashion,’’ says Alison Minton, a blogger who writes about accessories, jewelry, and handbags on accessorygeneration.com. ‘‘There’s a ways to go before they could be considered high fashion in the way Chanel would be, or Prada.’’
To change that, tech companies are beginning to attract top talent from the world of fashion. Apple’s move comes less than a year after the iPhone and iPad inventor hired Angela Ahrendts, a respected executive who helped mold Burberry into the popular luxury brand it is today. In recent weeks, Google lured fashion and marketing executive Ivy Ross, who’s worked for Calvin Klein, the Gap, and Coach, to head its Google Glass unit....
I'm sorry, readers; I took off my glasses and I can't see a thing without them.
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What happened when I put them on:
"California motorist cleared in Google Glass case" by Julie Watson | Associated Press January 17, 2014
SAN DIEGO — A San Diego traffic court threw out a citation Thursday against a woman believed to be the first motorist in the country ticketed for driving while wearing a Google Glass computer-in-eyeglass device.
Commissioner John Blair ruled that Cecilia Abadie was not guilty because she had been cited under a code that requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the device was in operation, which the officer did not provide.
However, Blair did find that the language of the code specifically bars the operation of a video or TV screen or similar device on the front of a vehicle while it is moving — a provision that Blair said could be broad enough to apply to Google Glass.
The device in a kind of glass-wear frame features a thumbnail-size transparent display above the right eye.
Off come the glasses again.
Abadie said she was happy she won her case but hoped the court would have ruled that Google Glass is legal to wear while driving whether activated or not.
‘‘I believe it’s an initial success but we have a long way to go,’’ said Abadie, wearing the device outside the courthouse after the ruling....
‘‘The fun is just starting,’’ said Vivek Wadhwa, a fellow at Standford Law School.
From driverless cars to wearable devices that can enhance human functions, Wadhwa said, there are a host of legal questions to be answered. For example, when a Google-operated car is on the road and hits someone, who is responsible — the passenger, car manufacturer, or software developer?
Abadie, a software developer, is among some 30,000 people called ‘‘explorers’’ who have been selected to try out Google Glass before the technology becomes widely available to the public later this year.
Abadie was cited after being pulled over for speeding on a San Diego freeway in October and the California Highway Patrol officer noticed she was wearing Google Glass.
Officer Keith Odle, a 10-year veteran of the CHP, testified Thursday that the ‘‘hardware for this device was blocking her peripheral vision on her right side,’’ and that’s why she sped by his patrol car at 85 mph in her Toyota Prius.
Blair rejected that as speculation, noting that Odle had never worn the device. He also threw out Odle’s documentation of her speed and found Abadie not guilty of that count.
The commissioner also asked Odle to turn off his cellphone after it rang twice interrupting the proceedings.
Abadie’s attorney William Concidine said the device was not activated when she was driving and the code was irrelevant because it does not specifically state that drivers are barred from using Google Glass.
He said Thursday he hopes the case will spur lawmakers to review legislation on the issue, otherwise the code will be open to interpretation by individual courts.
The lightweight frames are equipped with a hidden camera and tiny display that responds to voice commands. The technology can be used to do things such as check email, learn background about something the wearer is looking at, or to get driving directions....
Google’s website contains an advisory for users: ‘‘Read up and follow the law. Above all, even when you’re following the law, don’t hurt yourself or others by failing to pay attention to the road.’’
You are not supposed to text on the road; how is surfing the web any different?
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"Ex-teacher who spied on students gets 25-year term" Associated Press March 12, 2014
WASHINGTON — A former Washington elementary school teacher who became one of the FBI’s most-wanted criminals after taking hidden video of his students using the bathroom and then eluded law enforcement officials by assuming fake identities and escaping to Nicaragua has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Eric Justin Toth spent five years on the run, living in Arizona and Texas before escaping the country. In 2012, the FBI put him on its ‘‘Ten Most Wanted’’ list, where he filled a vacancy created by Osama bin Laden’s death.
Related: FBI Case File: Checkmated
Before sentencing him Tuesday, a judge noted his skill at evading law enforcement and the large number of victims in the case, 17 in all.
Toth had asked for 22 years in prison, expressing remorse and promising to ‘‘do penance’’ for his deeds....
Toth, 32, became choked up while speaking, at points tearing up but at others attempting to joke. Toth, who will spend a lifetime on supervised release after he leaves prison, mentioned Google Glass and said he told his lawyer he could wear glasses that allow officials to ensure he is staying away from children.
He promised to spend his time in prison ‘‘trying to do penance in whatever humble ways I can.’’ Toth previously wrote in a letter to the judge that one of the things he wants to do is train seeing eye dogs as part of a prison program.
The prosecutor overseeing the case acknowledged that Toth had never distributed the images he took of children under his care. But she told the judge that Toth is ‘‘deeply disturbed and needs treatment.’’
Toth fled Washington in 2008 after images of child pornography were found on a camera he had used while a teacher at Beauvoir, a private elementary school.
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Time to turn the glasses off for the night.
