Author: Connor Livingston

Science has been solving life’s little problems for centuries, but one task that has remained manual over the years has been chicken breast de-boning. While it may sound like a simple task, the accuracy required to make shallow cuts and clean off the bones efficiently has eluded us… …until now. It can process 1,500 chickens per hour, approximately 10X as quickly as doing it manually. According to Atsushi Suzuki, assistant manager for Mayekawa Mfg., “The most important thing in removing chicken meat from bones is the process of making shallow cuts. It recognizes images taken by the camera…

It’s hard to say goodbye to things that have been with us for so long, but it appears we may be saying goodbye to the Google “I’m Feeling Lucky” button that most people have tried and few ever use anymore (other than when having friends do a search for “Chuck Norris”). The search giant appears to be testing out a new style for presenting their results based upon what is being seen on Google Finland for some. The order has changed, flip-flopping the URL and description sections of search results to put the URL directly below the live link. This makes sense, as it goes along with the concept that people rarely…

Touchscreen technology has changed the way we do many things in our lives. The electric connection created by our fingers and other items makes mobile devices and large touchscreens easier to use in many cases, particularly for web browsing. It makes it possible for insects to surf as well. This video of a fly surfing Reddit shows two things: the screen is sensitive enough to detect the current as it travels through the fly’s small legs and the fly itself has good taste. …

Regardless of which side of the debate you’re on, one thing is clear: Jeff Bezos and Amazon are fighting with everything they’ve got to keep states from imposing sales taxes on affiliate sales. In March, we reported the cutoff notices sent by Amazon to many affiliates in certain states.  The fight continues and Bezos is going on the offensive, appealing to Washington to step in and protect them. “We will continue to drop states who pass those affiliate laws, from the affiliate program,” CEO Jeff Bezos said at the ShopSmart Summit in New York in May. “In the U.S., the Constitution prohibits states…

When you’re hold the attention of hundreds of millions of users, it’s good to “give back” every now and then. YouTube is doing just that with their new “As Seen On” pages that are designed to “celebrate content curators,” specifically large blogs and other sites that embed YouTube videos and drive views to them regularly. The intention is not only to promote those who are sending views to videos and traffic to the site, but also to “connect those conversations around the web” surrounding videos to add context and bring better understanding and commentary to the medium as a whole. The service crawls…

Bob Ross is beloved by millions who enjoy his easy-going demeanor and colorful ways of expressing himself through paintings. His view of the world has been considered someone child-like — not simple, but perhaps more pure. It’s not surprising that someone would filter the world of social media through his gentle gaze. This graphic by Flowtown does the trick. Click to enlarge. …

If you’re Apple with a goal of 12,000 employees under one roof, what better place to put them than in a building that looks like a spaceship? That’s the question that Steve Jobs asked the city council in Cupertino today. In his soft tone and prepared with a deck that walked through the concept, Jobs addressed the city that he helped to put on the map. “I think people were curious as to know what the city residents can benefit from this new campus,” a councilwoman asked. As Jobs pointed out, Apple is by far the largest employer and puts in the largest dollars towards taxes. Here’s the complete video of the…

With Star Wars Kinect previews coming out and disappointing real fans such as myself, I thought it was appropriate to show my age and reminisce a bit. Below, you will find the original trailer for the epic that was (and still is) Star Wars. Prepare yourself. Get into a happy place. If you haven’t seen it before, it should still all seem strangely familiar. If you have seen it before, get ready to remember. …

When Microsoft purchased Skype last month for $8.5 billion, we viewed it as a step forward for both companies in becoming better integrated in business, particularly catering to the trend of less travel and more remote employees and virtual conferences. The biggest challenge was scalability, and those challenges have appeared lately. Today, Skype is not having a full “outage” but many people are not able to connect via Skype. This is not a big deal to the majority of users, but from a business perspective where meetings are often scheduled and must be kept, services such as GoToMeeting still…

Local branches of Apple and Google stores in Taipei City have been given two weeks to offer free 7-day trials on apps that run on their mobile platforms or face financial penalties. According to Yeh Ching-yuan, Taipei City’s director of Law and Regulation Commission, “If the two companies fail to meet the requirement by the deadline, they may be slapped with fines of up to NT$1.5 million (US$52,265).” Currently, both companies are in violation of Taiwan’s Consumer Protection Act, a consumer protection that requires companies to have return and refund policies available for all purchases that…