Monday 31 October 2016

Happy Halloween 2016

Have a great trick or treat. Frankenstein's monster is watching over you.

Saturday 29 October 2016

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar - Bright Future

You've pretty much read about the new MacBook Pros with Touch Bar and Touch ID on every corner of the web so lets not get there. I've had no intention to write anything about it but this Cult of Mac post sure peaked my interest! A modified version of watchOS is actually powering the Touch Bar and Touch ID independently under the hood. I suppose this makes sense why the price of the new laptop got to be more expensive than it already was.

What's even more interesting was that this revelation prompted me to revisit the post "Here’s why Apple will never give MacBook a touchscreen" that I've read moments before the one mentioned above. Sir Jony Ive:
“In our view this is a big, big step forward. It is a new system architecture, and it allows us to then create many things to come, things that we can’t envision yet.”
It's integration of macOS and watchOS (and to a certain extent, iOS) but not in the way that boring companies would do. Dual boot is so yesterday! I'm excited all over again about the future of the Mac (and for that matter, iOS devices) indeed!

Tuesday 18 October 2016

Toilets - Origins of Great Ideas

I used to doubt that people have their first glimpse of great ideas when in the toilet but the best proof has arrived. Donkey Kong was born when creator and Nintendo legendary video game designer was taking his bath.

IonBuck's impression of a Thinker "Kong" taking a dump

Wednesday 12 October 2016

Crocodiles, Alligators and now... Caimans

I used to be confused between crocodiles and alligators. My life gets more confusing now that I learn of caimans.

@stevewinterphoto  I am working on a @natgeo Jaguar story in the Pantanal of Brazil. Here is a male I named Scarface, as his lip is split on his left side - probably kicked by a buffalo. Here he has grabbed a black caiman - the #1 food source of Jaguars here in the north of the Pantanal. This caiman is at least 9 feet or 3 meters long!!! Jaguars are the 3rd largest of the big cats. Found from US / Mexico border to northern Argentina. Jaguars have rebounded in this area where 95% of the land is privately owned. In the past many ranchers would kill the cats when they ate their cattle. Today in this area tourism brings in much more money to the local economy than cattle ranching. So the jaguar population is increasing. But revenge killings of jaguars happen close to this area and all throughout the jaguars range. Also poaching for skins, bones and teeth is growing for the first time since the 1970’s to feed the demand for Asian Traditional Medicine and luxury items from endangered species. “Stop the demand and the killing can too.” @wildaid My first story with big cats was the 1st @natgeo Jaguar story 20 years ago! It has changed my life working with the magical and magnificent cats of the world. Animals have emotions just like we have - they need to eat - we go to the restaurant of supermarket - well the rivers are the jaguars supermarkets, , jaguars mate and have young cubs, moms play with their kids, their cubs which stay close to mom until they are about 2 years old.  50% of our oxygen and 75% of our fresh water comes from grasslands and forests, the homes of big cats.  So if - We Save Big Cats we can help Save Ourselves.  Please visit CauseAnUproar.org to find out other ways to become involved to save big cats! #follow me @stevewinterphoto to see more images from my work with @natgeo and Thanks!! @stevewinterphoto @natgeo  @nglive #nglive #natgeochannel @natgeochannel @natgeowild #natgeowild  @thephotosociety #NGcreative @natgeocreative  #fursforlife #wildlifeconservation #wildlifephotojournalism #BCI #bigcatsintiative  #startwith1thing @projetooncafari @refugioecologicocaiman @pantheracats @pantanalsafaris
A photo posted by National Geographic (@natgeo) on

Saturday 8 October 2016

Updated Doomsday Prediction?

I guess the doomsday visualised in the Terminator series need an update. The evil AI could very well be borne out of smartphones.