You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
One of the worst things a writer or an artist faces is the dreaded creative block when you can’t come up with an idea that drives you to draw or write. One tool to help you get past this blank canvas state is The Brainstormer iPad app from Tapnik.
The Brainstormer app is a basic collection of common brain storming lists. The app launches in wheel mode which allows you to spin a wheel and generate a combination of plot/conflict, style/setting and subject/location words. The more adventurous can choose to roll the dice in slot machine mode to get a random mix of words.
I’ve spoken twice at TED. The first time was in 2006. TED was a very different event then. It was a private conference for about 1,200 people. After the event, the talks were packaged in a box set of DVDs and sent just to the attendees. I gave a talk called “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” A few months later, Chris Anderson, the curator of TED, called to say they were planning to put a few talks on their website as an experiment and asked if they could include mine. The timing was perfect. Social media was beginning to take shape and the insatiable appetite for YouTube and short videos was about to emerge.
Watch game developer Kevin Slavin’s TEDTalk above and then explore his thoughts in this companion essay.
Back at TEDGlobal, the most difficult aspect of preparation was the editing process, chipping away at three hours of material to cut it down into 14 live minutes.
Of all the darlings that were killed, the ones I missed most were a few minutes about genetic algorithms. Like everything I presented, it’s a subject for which I have interest and passion, not training or expertise. It’s going to seem very dull. But stay with me for a few of the missing minutes.
It’s tricky being a parent these days, especially when technology is involved.
On one hand, you want to give your kids the independence to make decisions on their own, learn from those actions, and mature accordingly. On the other hand, they’re still your baby—no matter what the age— and you want to protect them as best you can.
Just weeks after undergoing open heart surgery as an infant, Rosanna Ogden’s swimming lessons were not only aiding her recovery, but revealing an extraordinary talent.
Now 2-years-old, the British toddler first took to the water at just 10-weeks-old after she had an operation to remove a life-threatening tumor in her heart.
MADISON, S.D. — From the moment 73-year-old Carl Ericsson rang his old high school classmate’s doorbell in January, verified the man’s identity and then shot him dead, the question had been what prompted him to confront a man he hadn’t even spoken to in years.
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
Explore the dynamic relationship between faith and science, where curiosity meets belief. Join us in fostering dialogue, inspiring discovery, and celebrating the profound connections that enrich our understanding of existence.
James' World 2 