Creationists get their 'Cosmos' (It's quite short)

It's all explainable. In a way. Funny OR die

I imagine them in a duel.
On one side, a scientist with the latest laser-blasting bazooka. On the other, a believer with nothing more than a Bible and certainty.
At heart, though, they don't need to fight. Plenty of scientists are deeply religious. Plenty of deeply religious people still leave a place for science in their hearts (if not their souls).
Can't we all just get along? Oh, of course we can't.
Bill Nye debates creationist Ken Ham and neither seems to get anywhere with the other.
Moreover, those labeled creationists complain that Neil DeGrasse Tyson hasn't left room for their version of life as we don't know it in his fine series "Cosmos."
It is left, therefore, to comedians to bridge the gap between the two entrenched armies of truth.

Creationist Cosmos from Funny Or Die

The sometimes satanically amusing people at Funny Or Die thought they'd take it upon themselves as a penance of peace to create a creationist version of "Cosmos" and satisfy the cries of those who claim they're not heard. Except, perhaps, on a Sunday. Why not present a more fundamentalist explanation of our world's existence and history? Why not depict Earth as less an example of evolution and more the result of divine intervention?
Some might feel that Timothy Simons (the not-so-Biblical Jonah in "Veep") is less immediately persuasive than Tyson. He's a little too much like a Ph.D student, rather than a seasoned professor.
He does, though, present an uplifting and sincere air, as he explains the world's existence with short words, short sentences and, indeed, a very short series.
After all, if there's only one explanation for everything, there are few mysteries left to be unraveled.
My own experience suggests the world is an absurd place, full of nonsense and non-sequiturs.
My sense of humor would, therefore, be entirely appeased if scientists worked for another few hundred years to unlock life's mysteries -- only to discover, at the very, very end, a ten-legged being wearing a t-shirt that said "God," laughing his/her/its head off at the sheer insignificance of man.

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Creationists get their 'Cosmos' (It's quite short)

It's all explainable. In a way. Funny OR die

I imagine them in a duel.
On one side, a scientist with the latest laser-blasting bazooka. On the other, a believer with nothing more than a Bible and certainty.
At heart, though, they don't need to fight. Plenty of scientists are deeply religious. Plenty of deeply religious people still leave a place for science in their hearts (if not their souls).
Can't we all just get along? Oh, of course we can't.
Bill Nye debates creationist Ken Ham and neither seems to get anywhere with the other.
Moreover, those labeled creationists complain that Neil DeGrasse Tyson hasn't left room for their version of life as we don't know it in his fine series "Cosmos."
It is left, therefore, to comedians to bridge the gap between the two entrenched armies of truth.

Creationist Cosmos from Funny Or Die

The sometimes satanically amusing people at Funny Or Die thought they'd take it upon themselves as a penance of peace to create a creationist version of "Cosmos" and satisfy the cries of those who claim they're not heard. Except, perhaps, on a Sunday. Why not present a more fundamentalist explanation of our world's existence and history? Why not depict Earth as less an example of evolution and more the result of divine intervention?
Some might feel that Timothy Simons (the not-so-Biblical Jonah in "Veep") is less immediately persuasive than Tyson. He's a little too much like a Ph.D student, rather than a seasoned professor.
He does, though, present an uplifting and sincere air, as he explains the world's existence with short words, short sentences and, indeed, a very short series.
After all, if there's only one explanation for everything, there are few mysteries left to be unraveled.
My own experience suggests the world is an absurd place, full of nonsense and non-sequiturs.
My sense of humor would, therefore, be entirely appeased if scientists worked for another few hundred years to unlock life's mysteries -- only to discover, at the very, very end, a ten-legged being wearing a t-shirt that said "God," laughing his/her/its head off at the sheer insignificance of man.

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Google sells out of ‘Cotton’ Glass model in hours

 

Google's one-day Google Glass sale has proven to be a success. In just a few short hours, the white "Cotton" version of the wearable has sold out.
"Wow, what a morning! We're happy to see so many new faces (and frames) in the Explorer Program," the Google Glass team wrote on its Google+ page. "Just a quick update that -- ack -- we've sold out of Cotton (white), so things are moving really fast."
Likewise, the company posted to Twitter, "Yikes, we're out of Cotton."
Google opened up sales of its computer-enabled eyeglass to the general public for the first time ever on Tuesday. With its one-day online sale, the company offered any US resident the ability to buy the Google Glass Explorer Edition at the regular price of $1,500. With the purchase, the company also threw in a free accessory, like frames or shades.
Before Tuesday's sale only a few thousand people, mostly developers, owned the device. Google plans to make Glass available to everyone within this year.
Google Glass is the company's foray into a wearable computer. The device comes in the form of eyeglasses that can record videos, take photos, chat, get directions, look up facts on the Web, and more. While many people have been wowed by the device, it has caused some issues with lawmakers, casinos, bar-owners, and bystanders who don't want to be recorded.
Even though the Cotton version of Glass has sold out, as of this writing the Charcoal, Tangerine, Shale, and Sky versions are still available. Google plans to end its Glass sale on Wednesday, April 16 at 6 a.m. PT. The devices will be shipped to consumers within five to seven business days.
When CNET contacted Google for more specifics on the Glass sales, the company declined to comment.

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Intel paints bleak picture for Windows tablets vs. Android

The Dell Venue 8 Pro has been well received but Windows tablet numbers overall are small. Dell

When Intel announced its tablet numbers for the first quarter on Tuesday, it was clear that Android buried Windows.
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said during the company's first-quarter earnings conference call that out of the 5 million tablet processors shipped "80 to 90 percent" were for Android and the rest Windows.
That leaves a pretty small number for Windows, underscoring the uphill battle Microsoft is fighting against Android and Apple in the tablet market.
"Windows tablet numbers in general have been pretty modest," said Bob O'Donnell, founder and chief analyst Technalysis Research.
The problem is, a pure Windows tablet experience doesn't have a lot to offer when compared with Android and Apple.
"Consumers using Windows want more of a PC experience. And they're going to get that from a device that has a keyboard," he said.
O'Donnell continued. "That's why you see the latest updates to Windows 8.1 are pretty much focused [on adding] keyboard [functionality]. The keyboard angle of a PC is so essential."
And how does Intel define a tablet? "The 5 million shipments (and 40 million full year target) does not include 2-in-1s. [Those] are reflected in [PC Client Group] results," said an Intel spokesman.
"The primary difference is, if it detaches, that's a tablet; if it just folds over, that's a 2 in 1," he said.
Indeed, that kind of 2-in-1 that folds over -- like the Lenovo Yoga -- is very laptop-like and a far cry from a tablet like an Apple iPad Air or Samsung Galaxy Tab 3.
Intel's PC revenue in the first quarter was $7.94 billion, down from $8.54 billion a year earlier. And global shipments of PCs have continued to fall, down 1.7 percent in the first quarter of 2013, according to Gartner.
On the other hand, the kind of devices that would be categorized as a tablet include the Surface Pro 2 and HP Spectre 13 x2, as both detach completely from the keyboard and can be used as a pure tablet.
In 2013, Gartner said that about 4 million Windows tablets shipped worldwide. That compares with 121 million Android and 70 million Apple tablets.
Intel thinks it has a solution, though. The chipmaker will increase the amount it allocates to device makers to order to incentivize them to bring out more Intel-based tablets, Stacy Smith, Intel 's chief financial officer said Tuesday.
But the question is, how much of that money will flow to Android tablet makers and how much to Windows.

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The $99 Amazon Prime arrives, with questions in tow

An Amazon fulfillment center. Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Amazon Prime's US members have until tomorrow to decide on whether they can swallow a $20 increase to their membership fees, as the hike raises questions about the two-day shipping program's real value.
There is an assumption that in addition to predictable, two-day shipping, Prime customers end up saving money vs. non-Prime members, with the membership fees often compared to the fees customers pay to join warehouse clubs that offer bulk discounts. But CNET took a look at a number of products and found that isn't always the case.
In some cases, certain products under Prime actually cost more than their non-Prime counterpart, with the shipping fees baked in. For example, the PlayStation 4 dual shock wireless controller costs $59.96 through Prime. A non-Prime seller had the same item listed for $52.32 with a $3.99 shipping cost, bringing the total to $56.22. The difference is mere dollars, but that might be enough to sway shoppers.
"I spend fairly large amounts at Amazon but I was even starting to wonder if $79 was a reasonable price," one customer wrote in an Amazon forum post about the fee increase. "I have noticed that a large number of Prime items seem to cost more already...This last year, more of the stores I encounter locally and online have lower prices."
Amazon Prime is an important part of the company's plans for revenue growth on its retail side. Most of Amazon's products and services, from the Kindle Fire tablets to its video streaming service, are designed to drive customers to Prime, which in turn will spark a higher frequency of online shopping on it site. As a result, it has had to be sensitive about raising the fees on the service.
Any members who sign up after Thursday will have to pay the new $99 per year membership fee. Any existing members who renew their memberships after Thursday will also pay the new fee (so if it's almost time for you to renew, you might want to renew early to lock in the old $79 price for the next year).
The membership provides unlimited two-day shipping on 20 million Prime-eligible products as well as unlimited access to Prime video streaming and the Kindle e-book lending library. While Amazon says the hike will help cover rising transportation costs, it has also had the unintentional effect of causing some to pause and re-consider its value. But, most members seem fixated on shipping and not the other perks.
"I set my iCal reminders for two weeks prior to expiration to 'END AMAZON PRIME MEMBERSHIP,'" another customer wrote in Amazon's customer forums. "This increase is a joke. Drone package deliveries, your own TV series, well, I don't want to pay for it. I buy mostly camera gear, and B&H has free shipping and great promotions without charging $99 a year. Thank you for waking me up."
Amazon, for its part, believes the value of Prime shipping is on reliably knowing when a product will arrive at your doorstep. The primary benefit isn't in price, but the two-day delivery.
"The comparison is only relevant if you include two-day shipping on both purchases because Prime is a shipping service, not a pricing program. Otherwise, you are comparing apples to oranges," Amazon spokeswoman Julie Law said.
Shoppers who don't pay for Prime can still get free standard shipping on Prime-eligible items, but they have to buy $35 worth of items, and it is delivered in three to five days. Those who can't stomach the fee increase will just have to wait a bit longer for their goods to arrive.
The other products on Amazon are sold and shipped by third-party merchants on the Amazon Marketplace, a way to sell items that is similar to eBay. These sellers set their own prices, ones that Amazon says its tries to beat. But, Amazon is not trying to hide that some non-Prime items are cheaper.
Law pointed to a Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner filter listing that has includes a note that reads, "This item may be available at a lower price from other sellers that are not eligible for Amazon Prime."
"I know it's complex, that's why we try really to make it transparent as possible for the customers," Law said. Not all items that have cheaper counterparts have this note, though.
CNET did a few comparisons and found that while Prime products were more expensive in some of Amazon's top selling categories, there were also some categories where Prime products were the much cheaper options.
To do the comparisons, we checked the price of Prime-eligible products versus those non-Prime products that are also listed for sale. We used items from Amazon's top selling products categories: toys, electronics, camera and photo, video games, books, and clothing. We also tested out household products because it's an area Amazon has been focused on. Household items, like laundry detergent or toothpaste, require frequent replenishing and encourage repeat purchases.
To get a sampling, we picked five items from each category and made two separate shopping carts, Prime and non-Prime with identical items. It's important to note that Amazon's prices are dynamic, and change so frequently that some of these items may actually cost less or more now, compared to when the comparisons were conducted

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Samsung Galaxy S5 sales double S4, driven by 4G

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is selling like warmed baked goods

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is flying off the shelves, selling twice as many as the Galaxy S4 on launch day in the UK, with more than 9 out of 10 phones sold signed up to 4G contracts.
UK mobile phone retailers Phones 4U and Carphone Warehouse have revealed that sales of the S5 were more than double that of the S4 on its first day alone. The two big street staples say that pre-orders for the new phone were "significantly" higher than its predecessor, with Carphone Warehouse claiming sales 150 per cent of the S5 on day one.

And a whopping 95 percent of S5 contract sales at Carphone Warehouse and 99 percent at Phones 4U saw phone fans signing up to 4G contracts.
4G is still at a relatively early stage in Britain, but it seems the S5 has arrived at the point when it's reached wide enough coverage and hit price levels phone fans are willing to embrace.
Both retail chains are partnered with Samsung to run dedicated Samsung Experience shops across Britain and Europe, the first of which opened just in time for the S5 launch.
Samsung will be pleased: although the S4 undeniably did boffo business -- more than ten million shipped in its first month -- sales were a little slower than expected and didn't see the explosive growth of previous models.
Speaking to Reuters, Yoon Han-kil, senior vice president of Samsung's product strategy team, said the S5 is "selling faster than the S4 so far."
The strategy with the S5 is not to fill it with gimmicks and bloatware. "With the S4, we thought smartphones shouldn't just focus on hardware. They also had to come with a lot of software and services, and that line of thinking did lead us to cram many services into the device," Yoon continues. By contrast, with the S5, "We decided not to put in so many things and only include what the user really needs, so I cut out a lot of services and software."

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Can Apple's former top evangelist 'democratize' design Down Under?

Canva's graphic design software Canva

Guy Kawasaki was on Apple's front line in the 1980s leading the charge to convince developers to use the Macintosh. A well-known figure in Silicon Valley, Kawasaki was the company's first chief evangelist, whose job it was to make sure the Mac stood a chance against incumbent IBM by winning hearts and minds among applications developers.
Obviously, other culminating factors helped put the Mac on the map. There was an elaborate launch keynote by a young Steve Jobs -- an early example of the kind of rousing presentation Apple's former chief executive would become famous for delivering. And don't forget the launch of Macworld, a magazine devoted to the machine, as well as a now-iconic Super Bowl ad called "1984" by director Ridley Scott.
But Kawasaki hopes he can repeat his success at Apple as the chief evangelist for a little-known, Sydney-based design tech company called Canva. The startup makes free software that lets people design graphics for use in blog posts, or on business cards, fliers, posters, or presentations. The company announced Kawasaki's appointment on Wednesday.
"Apple was my first platform to democratize something, which was computing," he said, referring to the Mac's role in bringing personal computing to mainstream consumers. "Now, this is the way to democratize design."

Guy Kawasaki

Canva's software is in line with a greater trend that sees the Web catering to a do-it-yourself mentality, from the growing popularity of 3D printing with companies like MakerBot and Shapeways, to the online storefront network Etsy.
There are other graphic design tools, like the venerable Adobe Illustrator. Kawasaki said the goal isn't to snake away users from other software but to attract people who weren't doing any designing to begin with. "It's about making the pie bigger," he said.
Canva was co-founded in August 2012 by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams. Perkins and Obrecht originally ran an e-publishing platform for yearbooks, and spun out Canva from there. Since the product launched last summer, the company said it has 330,000 registered users who create 100,000 new designs a week and have collectively created more than 1.5 million designs on the site.
Kawasaki said he learned of Canva because a woman who helps handle his social media accounts was using it to create graphics for him. The company contacted him three weeks ago after seeing his name in its user database.
Outside of Apple, Kawasaki has written several books, founded the venture capital firm Garage.com, and started firms like the Mac database company ACIUS and Alltop, a news aggregation site. But he hasn't donned the evangelical title since working for Apple.
Why would Kawasaki get back in that saddle again? When asked, he paused, and the eloquent Kawasaki stammered for the only time during our conversation. "It's basically an emotional decision. Contrary to what many people believe, I think that something like this is falling in love," he said. Typically, he gets pitched on things constantly, then consults with his wife and friends, and brushes the projects off. "I can tell you with great honesty that this is the first time in my career that I didn't check with anybody before deciding to do it. Then I let all my best friends know."
The biggest difference between cheerleading a product now versus while he was at Apple is just how powerful the communication channels have become. In 1997, he had 44,000 email addresses on his email list -- nothing to scoff at. Now, he said he has more than 8 million followers across his social media networks. To get the word out about Canva, he plans to do things like writing blog posts on how to leverage the software and perform demos during speaking engagements.
While the software is intriguing, there's got to be something more to attract a Silicon Valley big wig like Kawasaki. After all, Apple didn't stop with the Mac and went on the create the iPod and iPhone. Kawasaki said Canva has plans for expansion, but he's mum about details. "Let's just say it's more than designing online," he said.

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