Restaurant at the Soneva Kiri resort in Thailand that has tree pod dining is certainly a crazy idea for a restaurant. The resort has created a pod that fits in a tree and overlooks the resort and surrounding area. The pod looks like a birds nest or clam contraption sitting on the side of a very high looking tree. The tree pod dining clam can fit up to four people and you can only access the very isolated perch from a zip line. I just feel badly for the poor resort staff who have to serve that restaurant! What if you're afraid of heights? Having said that, I would love to try out that restaurant, but they should probably hold the alcohol.
Sleep with the fishes, dine with the sharks. Now you can literally do both when the Underwater Hotel premiers in Dubai. Without a doubt, Dubai is one of the hottest exotic destinations with amazing skyscrapers and luxury amenities to rival even the most modern cities from the rest of the world. Now, a Polish architecture design firm has unveiled a new hotel concept that will make use of space below the ground, giving guests the ability to sleep underwater while enjoying the marine landscape.Deep Ocean Technology (DOT)'s Underwater Hotel is shaped like a spaceship found in most sci-fi movies, except the hotel rooms plunge 21 stories underwater. The rooms will contain panoramic glass windows that offer views below the Persian Gulf, allowing guests to feel like they are sleeping inside a 24-hour aquarium with local flora and fauna right outside the other side of the wall. The windows are even equipped with special lighting and macro photography sensors so guests can zoom into even the smallest creatures for detailed look at their colors, patterns, and movements. The hotel will also include other amenities such as a diving and water sports center, spa, helipad, and an above ground terrace should guests feel a bit claustrophobic stuck inside the discus all day. It is also located a short distance from a beach if you really prefer to feel some actual ground.
This is the mount that fits in a cupholder to provide easy access to an iPad or tablet computer. Its cylindrical base expands to fit any cupholder up to 3.3″ in diameter while the mounting frame holds an iPad or any tablet 5 1/2-11″ H x 4 1/2-7 3/4″ W and enables full portrait-to-landscape 360 rotation. The mounting bracket’s swiveling joint adjusts forward and backward for an optimal viewing angle; mounting bracket folds away when not being used and the base removes from a cupholder easily. Durable ABS construction.
Good news has came to those who waited – you can now make your very own buy-to-order Macbook Pro with Retina Display. And it certainly can get pricey.
This is a blessing for those with a price point higher than the the preconfigured models, and are more thirsty for power or storage, but not necessarily both. The model I’d want (aka the most powerful)? The $3,749 version with 16GB of RAM, a 2.7GHz quad-core i7, and an amazing 768GB of flash storage.
It seems right now the configurable options are taking 1-2 weeks to ship, so be aware it’s always quicker to make a stop into an Apple Store.
I know what you're thinking and I thought the same thing too. But this little activity tracker is different from the others, I swear.
Withings' Smart Activity Tracker does just about everything the Fitbit, FuelBand and UP can do, like track the number of steps taken, calories burned, distance traveled and "quality" of sleep, but it also measures your heart rate and the number of strides run. All in a tiny little package (43.3 x 22.1 x 8.3mm) about the size of the Fitbit One or a generic flash drive. Oh, and it (supposedly) supports Android right out of the gate along with the last two to three generations of every iOS device.
If you're unfamiliar with Withings, they make the WiFi Body Scale that tweets out your weight along with a blood pressure monitor and baby things.
So this new Smart Activity Tracker claims to have a two week battery life thanks to Bluetooth 4.0 aka Bluetooth SMART and will sync your data to the Withings Health Mate App. It can be worn on your upper arm (bicep) for working out and tracking sleep and can also be thrown in your pocket as is or on your belt via the clip.
An OLED display lets you navigate the menu and screens via touch. On the backside is a heart rate sensor that does exactly that like the Basis watch. Charging the device is achieved through the micro USB port. It's unclear if the SAT has an altimeter like the Fitbit One or Striiv Play but it claims to calculate "the number of stairs climbed" based on the "users' body composition."
Like the UP, the SAT also has an inactivity reminder but instead of buzzing you on the device, it sends an alert to your paired device. Not quite as elegant but I suppose most of us are tethered to our phones anyway. And unlike the UP or Fitbit, it doesn't have an alarm to wake you from your slumber.
No word on pricing or availability. [Withings] [Press Release]
Dyson's not the only company capable of vacuum innovation these days. Samsung shows it's still in the housecleaning game with a trio of new stealthy vacs, including the champagne-tinted SC96 which uses a multi-chamber design that's promised to deliver longer suction while being a lot quieter than its predecessors.
The sound dampening is made possible through a customized airflow design which keeps the rushing wind to a dull roar, but the vacuum is also able to automatically adjust its suction level on the fly thanks to sensors that detect the amount of dust and dirt that's being drawn in. So if you're a neat freak, you'll be rewarded with a whisper-quiet cleaning routine. And if you're a real-life version of pig pen, the $450 SC96 will ramp up the suction in an attempt to tackle your mess.
Will they? Won't they? We've gone back and forth for nearly a year now, talking about whether Apple plans on launching a music streaming service. As far back as iOS 5, we were hearing rumors that the iPad maker was looking to compete with the likes of Pandora and Spotify.
Today is no different. Research analyst Richard Greenfield with BTIG just published his predictions for 2013 and top on the list was Apple's upcoming launch of what he calls, "iRadio".
"We expect iRadio to be incorporated into the iTunes iOS app with personalized radio functionality akin to Pandora," said Greenfield in his report. "We believe Apple is negotiating direct deals with music labels to offer a far more robust service than current digital radio services that rely on compulsory licenses."
Greenfield describes his idea of iRadio as including integration with iTunes to purchase music, plus the ability to buy concert tickets and other merchandise via integrated Live Nation and Ticketmaster services.
"iRadio will not only be a global solution, but will include increased skips per hour and extended caching for offline playback," said Greenfield. He doesn't believe that the premier version of iRadio will include a subscription-based music streaming service like Spotify, but that it will later be incorporated into the application.
If this rumor turns out to be true, it is likely we will see some form of it in iOS 7.
As various publications have launched their own magazine app for the iPad, one popular business news organization has been noticeably absent from the App Store. After much planning and developing, Forbes Magazine finally launched an official app for Apple's tablet.
Previously, Forbes was available as a PDF digital download through Zinio. However, the business publication recently partnered with MAZ to create the iPad app. The new digital version incorporates the print content of each issue with interactive information, like Web links, writers' Twitter feeds, access to Forbes' Facebook page and the ability to share content from within the app.
Users can tap and pinch the screen to clip a photograph, chart, headline, or section of an article and share it through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and email.
The company took a long time to join the tablet world with caution. According to writer Lewis DVorkin, the approach was made with careful planning. "That means we didn't lust after the pixie dust floating around the iPad like most publishers did."
With careful planning and a desire to stand out above other magazine apps, Forbes enters the iPad arena, a little late to the party, but dressed to the nines.
"The new FORBES magazine app represents our effort to provide news enthusiasts with the freedom to glide between print, Forbes.com and the social web - to discover, to learn and to share what they find valuable with those who are important to them," writes DVorkin.
Forbes Magazine for iPad is free to download with single issues priced at $5.99. You can subscribe for one month for $2.99, or an entire year for $29.99.
The iPad app subscription does not include the print subscription and does not give access to subscription-only content at Forbes.com. This will definitely be to the detriment of Forbes. Subscribers to print magazines hate not getting free access to digital copies. They will cry foul and they will cry loud. Forbes' foray into the app market will stumble, as hundreds of consumers will give one-star ratings because they want free access. Mark my words.
“A decision by U.S. regulators to end a probe into whether Google Inc hurt rivals by manipulating internet searches will not affect the European Union’s examination of the company,” Ethan Bilby reports for Reuters.
“U.S. regulators on Thursday ended their investigation into the giant internet company, which runs the world’s most popular search engine,” Bilby reports. “Other internet companies, such as Microsoft Corp, had complained about Google tweaking its search results to give prominence to its own products. But the FTC said there was not enough evidence to pursue a big search-bias case.”
Bilby reports, “If it fails to address the complaints and is found guilty, Google could eventually be fined [by the European Commission] up to 10 percent of its revenue – a fine of up to $4 billion.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Dan K." for the heads up.]
“More than $635,000 in counterfeit Apple adapters and USB cables were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) during a routine search in Anchorage, the agency announced Thursday,” Laurel Andrews reports for The Alaska Dispatch.
“The goods arrived in Alaska via plane from China, and were heading toward several locations in the continental U.S.,” Andrews reports. “Designed to look like iPhone 5 USB "lightning" connector cables and adapters, the products included fake Apple logos and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) trademark icons.”
Andrews reports, “The items stood out as counterfeits, Frank Falcon, CBP spokesman said. They were packaged for retail sale in cardboard blister packs that were sub-standard compared to Apple’s trademark white packaging... The seized items will be destroyed.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
