Author: Rocco Penn

Every now and then, an idea comes along that springs from a garage and turns into gold. Such will hopefully be the case for the Satarii Star Accessory, a truly innovative idea that makes one wonder, “Why didn’t Apple build this already?” The idea is simple: a base that rotates 360 degrees to follow someone or something, allowing a mounted camera or smartphone to capture video without an unsteady hand at the helm. By using a hand-held or mountable marker, the base follows the target to create a steady video. The applications are limitless. Parents can take videos of their children playing while actually…

There are certain things, particularly in politics and technology, that seem to make sense on the surface. Take, for instance, the rejuvenated legislation they’re considering putting back on the table that would grant the President of the United States the power to “kill” the Internet in times of extreme crisis. Makes sense, right? “Imminent cyber attacks,” as they’re described by Homeland Security, would be the triggering event to initiate a shut down. The example used is a cyber attack on the Hoover Dam that would open the gates without authorization. In such a case, the President would…

When is the best time to change CEOs if you’re a major company? How about shortly after announcing fourth-quarter earnings of $8.75 a share on revenue of $6.37 billion, numbers that shattered analysts’ expectations. Today, Google announced that CEO Eric Schmidt would be going into a new role and co-founder Larry Page would be ascending to the top position that he held in the beginning of the company a decade ago. Schmidt wrote about it in a blog post. “As Google has grown, managing the business has become more complicated. So Larry, Sergey, and I have been talking for a long time about how best to simplify…

It actually happened a while ago and nobody noticed until now. Here’s how it will work. A developer can set the MSRP for an app. They will get the higher of 20% of the MSRP or 70% of the retail price. So,  developer can set an MSRP of $10. Amazon can price it at $10 and the developer would get $7. If the retail price drops below $2.86, the developer would get the minimum of 20% of their MSRP, in this case $2. Will developers like this? If they make money, they’ll like it. Otherwise, they’ll blame Amazon’s meddling on their lack of success….

When you’re done with the video, most gamers will probably say, “But they missed so much.” I know, but that doesn’t make this little exercise a fun watch for 4 minutes, even if only to reminisce.  From 1958 with Tennis for Two on the Oscilloscope to the implied future of sunglasses as the game itself, these students from Munich did a nice job of taking us from the beginning to now and beyond. …

It’s clear that Facebook is absolutely huge and getting absolutely huger every day. It’s getting so embedded into many of our lives that some couldn’t imagine not having it. Facebook facts are everywhere and it seems that the infographics associated with them are equally prevalent, but this one stuck out as interesting. While it has been published on several different blogs, (which we found out after originally seeing it on Automotive Social Media) it’s quality is strong enough to make us give it one more shot at exposure. Are you obsessed with Facebook? Via: Online Schools…

It’s definitely a digital age in movies as more and more are trying to meld real-life with computer generated effects to find the happy medium. There are those who believe that the trend is damaging the industry. We won’t explore that here. What we will look at is a pretty darn cool video from a movie that demands the need to be digital. Tron: Legacy was born from one of the original fully-digital movies and in many ways carried out its charter splendidly. This video that shows some of the ways that the graphics were created takes us into a world that few get to see. When the veil is lifted, it’s clear that…

There is no question that there are a ton of planes in the sky at any given point. Understanding just how crowded the skies are requires more than just a bird’s-eye view, so someone took a satellite-camera view and turned it into a nifty video. As the shadow of night passes over the different continents, it’s clear that flight patterns are based upon the sun. Many flights leave the US east coast in the middle of the night, flying against the shadow to land in Europe at dawn. Heading west, there seems to be no reason to go against the shadow, so the vast majority of congestion in the air happens from morning…

The need to build elaborate sets to appease historical facts or science fiction worlds has long been on the decline as graphic programs that work on a good laptop can be used to create stunning realities. This video is just further proof that the days of the set designer are numbered. …

With Delicious in purgatory, can anything bring the trend-setting social bookmarking site back to (even half of) its former glory, pre-Yahoo? Some are showing interest in buying it. Sources say Yahoo is going to get around to considering how to unload it in January. In the meantime, it’s just sort of… there. News that it was on the chopping block really put a dent in the site’s ability to stay relevant. Users have scrambled looking for a new place to store their bookmarks. Former employees are speaking out. The founder is willing to “help” but not willing to buy it back. What do they need to do to stay…