Author: Rocco Penn

Have you ever been out and about and wondered, “do we have milk?” It’s a question that gets asked in families semi-regularly almost as much as the same question about toilet paper. What if our milk talked to us via mobile a mobile application? What if all of our food did? What if all of the products that filled our lives kept track of themselves and let us know when they were low? A future of self-aware food may be around the corner and milk seems to be the first step. The Do We Have Milk jug was designed by Teehan+Lax Labs to give us alerts when we’re running low. As you can see in the video, it acts in real time…

The Slowmo Guys often find interesting things to capture on video and play back for us in super slow motion, but this one in particular caught our fancy because of the precision camerawork necessary to capture 10,000 frames per second. The corn was popping so fast that at 100x slower it simply wasn’t enough to capture the nuance of the interesting steam-powered explosion of a dried, popping piece of corn. To solve this, they slowed it down even more to 400x. The results are pretty fifty. …

One of the biggest complaints about Twitter over the last couple of years surrounds doubts about their actual size. They have the users – over 200 million – but are they really engaged? How many of them are actually using the service and how many created an account after Ashton Kutcher did, then abandoned it after an annoying month of hearing about what people were having for breakfast. They get plenty of that on Facebook, after all. Today, they purchased the technology and most of the team behind RestEngine, a “social marketing automation platform” that specializes in getting users re-engaged…

Few public companies have experienced the type of roller coaster ride that Groupon has been on in such a short time. From darling to dud to darling and back to dud, the social buying site has been on the top of daily deals for a while but has been embroiled in controversy after controversy continuously. Their latest challenge: the Securities and Exchange Commission. Whenever the SEC gets involved, prospects for the future are often dim. In this graphic, we explore the sources and current status of the SEC probes. Via: Courtesy of: BackGroundCheck.org Related articles Groupon’s SEC troubles,…

With any payment plan, you will likely pay more than you would if you bought the product up front. That’s the case with the latest offer from Xbox, but don’t expect people to shy away from the deal that includes a $99 Xbox 360 bundle with Kinect. To get the deal, one will need to sign a 2-year agreement for Xbox Live at $14.99 a month. This makes the total package come to $459 spread out over 3 years. By contrast, if someone paid $299 for the standalone Xbox 360 + Kinect and prepaid for 2 years of Xbox live for $120, they would spend $419. There are bargains available on both the bundle (we found one for $259) and…

Had I known it was going to be the last ROFLcon, I would have made it my first. Unfortunately for those such as myself who have never made it out to MIT for a semi-annual ROFLcon, they may never get to see one at all. This, the third one, declared in their show guide that they will not be having them in the future. “This is the last ROFL.con. Sort of. It’s been an amazing run — more stupendously successful than we could ever have possibly imagined — but for now we’re putting this trilogy to bed and riding out into the sunset. Our lives are taking us to new and exciting places so ROFLCon is on hiatus until…

Identity and insights meet at the junction of LinkedIn and SlideShare as the professional social network just purchased the presentation sharing site for $119 million – 45% cash and the rest in stocks. “Presentations are one of the main ways in which professionals capture and share their experiences and knowledge, which in turn helps shape their professional identity,” said LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner. “These presentations also enable professionals to discover new connections and gain the insights they need to become more productive and successful in their careers, aligning perfectly with…

Less-useful than a laptop, less-awesome than a tablet, the netbook market has suffered the most in the past two years with the rise of the iPad (and other tablets, of course, but really let’s just blame Apple). Keyboards were the last real argument for the netbook over a tablet and most tablets have keyboard attachments that work just fine. With a 34% drop in Q1 2012 versus Q1 2011 marking the 6th consecutive drop for the waning product, can we call them dead, yet? In a press release by Canalys that was punctuated by the announcement that HP regained the top spot in PC sales over Apple by 40,000 units thanks…

Samsung is knocking off the top players in mobile. First, they ousted Nokia to become the top mobile phone vendor in the world for Q1 of 2012. Then they pushed passed Apple to become the most prolific smartphone manufacturer. Overall, phone sales were down year-over-year by 1.5% but smartphone shipments are up 42.5%. “The race between Apple and Samsung remained tight during the quarter, even as both companies posted growth in key areas,” said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Phone Technology and Trends program. “Apple launched its popular iPhone 4S in additional key…

Those of us who have owned an iPhone are familiar with the multitouch keyboard and overall interface of Apple’s smartphone. According to ex-Apple executive Tony Fadell, an iPhone with a physical keyboard made the final list of 3 prototypes before getting scrapped just before launch in January, 2007. According to Apple Insider: Fadell, who officially left Apple in 2008 but was kept on the payroll as a special advisor to the late Steve Jobs until 2010, worked on 18 versions of the iPod as well as the iPhone up to the 3GS before leaving to start “smart thermostat” company Nest. Steve Jobs sided with…