Affordable Christmas Gifts: January 2016

Sunday, January 31, 2016

UK spying law would undermine tech industry, MPs warn

The UK's planned surveillance law is "unambiguous", "confusing" and will cause disadvantages for technology companies in the country, according to a group of MPs looking at its implications.

By: Matt Burgess,

Desktop Wallpaper Calendars: February 2016

Since seven years, we welcome the new month with a collection of unique desktop wallpapers. And it’s not any different this time around. Created by designers and artists from across the globe, they are just waiting to give your desktop a makeover and provide you with some fresh inspiration.

This post features their artwork for February 2016. Each wallpaper comes in two versions, with and without a calendar, and can be downloaded for free. Now you only need to decide which one will accompany you through the month — and that won’t be easy given all the creative ideas the community has come up with. A big thank-you to everyone who participated!

The post Desktop Wallpaper Calendars: February 2016 appeared first on Smashing Magazine.

ET deals: Save $320 on a Dell XPS 8900 quad-core desktop PC

For a limited time, Dell is offering up a $250 discount on the new XPS 8900 desktop PC. With a brand new Skylake CPU, incredibly fast DDR4 memory, and plenty of room for expansion, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better PC with an asking price this low.

Friday, January 29, 2016

Web Development Reading List #122: A Performance Budget Builder, Streams, And The Web Push API

This week, Firefox 44 has been released to the public. The new version offers better video support (VP9, WebM in addition to h.264) and adds support for Brotli compression (a new, better compression than gzip) for HTTPS connections. Service Workers are also supported now.

The new Chrome Beta channel build now includes a security panel in the developer tools. This panel shows you how secure your site is, including details on HTTPS and mixed content warnings. Unfortunately, it’s not super detailed yet, and it also doesn’t provide information like HSTS, HKPK and other security details, but I’m excited to see this and bet that they’ll integrate more features over time.

The post Web Development Reading List #122: A Performance Budget Builder, Streams, And The Web Push API appeared first on Smashing Magazine.

NASA releases new Curiosity selfie at Martian dune field

Curiosity is still doing science on Mars, but it stopped for a quick selfie the other day.

Transaction tax floated, again

Yesterday the New York Times Editorial Board wrote an piece supporting a tax on trading, which would include stocks, options and futures. Such a tax has been bandied about for years and has gained traction in Europe and elsewhere following the financial crisis and numerous trading scandals.

Star Wars Episode IX will be shot on traditional film

Did you enjoy the authentically retro visual trappings of Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Lucky you, because it's not going anywhere.

J.J. Abrams shot Episode VII on film, and it's a process that his successors are going to continue for at least the remainder of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Speaking at Sundance Film Festival, incoming Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow said he also intended to shoot the movie on actual film, rather than using digital cameras.

By: Matt Kamen,

Does IKEA’s ‘peak stuff’ talk match its ‘buy more’ actions?

Have consumers reached their furniture-buying limit? The retailer isn't betting on it

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Destiny developer Bungie gets new CEO as fans lament delays

Change is afoot at game developer Bungie, as studio president Harold Ryan steps down and Pete Parsons takes over as new CEO.

By: Matt Kamen,

Oracle is finally killing the Java browser plug-in

Java's unloved browser plug-in is finally being phased out. With Flash also headed for the dustbin, user security should significantly improve -- provided, of course, that people don't leave the software enabled or installed.

Shock Top and Anomaly Toronto head to the Super Bowl

The spot marks the Toronto office's first U.S. Super Bowl ad

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Google’s DeepMind AI beats humans at the massively complex game Go

Google cracks the code on humanity's most complex game, paving the way for more advanced AI.

Texas police now double as debt collectors thanks to ‘free’ license plate readers

Police in Texas have signed deals with license plate reader companies that turn cops into debt collectors and give companies private financial data. The information gathered through these deals is now being monetized in a variety of ways in an unprecedented violation of citizen privacy.

What the FOMC didn’t say

Today’s (Jan. 27) Federal Open Market Committee’s statement following its January meeting may have been the least anticipated FOMC statement in many years. The Fed had already tightened rates for the first time in a decade at its last meeting and there was no anticipation of another move until, at the very earliest, its March meeting.

Indie game bundle wants to finally reward 'Godus' winner

A new game bundle is set to launch in February, aiming to redress what some consider one of the great gaming wrongs in recent memory -- giving Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube? "winner" Bryan Henderson the prize he's never received.

By: Matt Kamen,

Mindshare, PHD and UM Canada discuss data at FFWD 2016

Media buyers share their thoughts on the move to real-time or predictive analysis

Is The Internet Killing Creativity?

The internet is a wonderful place (mostly). An unprecedented revolution in communication, it continues to empower more people to publish and share their knowledge than any other phenomenon in history. It is a limitless playground of ideas and unbridled creativity. Or is it?

In 2014, Elliot Jay Stocks declared that designers have stopped dreaming. That we’ve stopped being creative. That every site looks the same. A crazy notion, considering the magnitude of tools and resources we have at our disposal. But Elliot’s been right before, and he’s not alone either.

The post Is The Internet Killing Creativity? appeared first on Smashing Magazine.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Apple reports slowest-ever iPhone sales growth

Apple made more profit in the previous three months than any quarter in its history, but also saw iPhone sales grow at their slowest rate since the phone's 2007 introduction.

By: Michael Rundle,

Star Wars Battlefront DLC will take you back to the Death Star

Star Wars Battlefront has been a success for developer DICE and publisher EA, but neither party has been particularly forthcoming about its DLC plans for the sci-fi shooter -- despite charging players £40 upfront for an unspecified season pass.

While all players got the Battle of Jakku DLC for free -- serving as an interactive prequel to The Force Awakens -- details on what else to expect has been scarce. Finally, more information has been provided, via the PlayStation Blog, and it's looking food for fans of classic-style Star Wars.

By: Matt Kamen,

What is the Doomsday Clock and why does it matter?

If you were hoping for some good news about the future of the human race, you're out of luck -- the Doomsday Clock has been updated, and it's not budged.

By: Emily Reynolds,

Everything you need to know about the WIRED World in 2016

In these idea-rich pages you will discover our experts' views on the trends, products, businesses, people and issues that will be significant over the next year

By: Wired UK Staff,

Davos or Not Davos? Take the quiz

Can you tell the difference between Davos quotes and quotes from David Brent, dictators and movie villains?

By: Emily Reynolds,

The best digital decks for semi-pro DJs

Four semi-pro mixers battle for a spot on WIRED's set list.

By: Mike Lowe,

BBC Three reveals its post-reboot web-first programs

Come 16 February, the UK's TV landscape will look very different as BBC Three shifts from traditional broadcaster to an online channel. While that leaves a weird gap in the channel order -- BBC One, BBC Two, and BBC Four remain -- it also means a slate of new programming and web-optimised content for the youth-targeted network.

By: Matt Kamen,

Your phone's GPS can predict crime

MIT Media Lab professor Alex "Sandy" Pentland on what big data can reveal about us, and how it could make governments more accountable.

By: Gian Volpicelli,

Sony unifies PlayStation businesses as 'Sony Interactive Entertainment'

Over the last 22 years, PlayStation has been arguably Sony's biggest success story. It's also one that the electronics company is now restructuring its businesses to better support.

By: Matt Kamen,

Barclays will finally support Apple Pay from mid-April

Barclays will finally support Apple Pay by the middle of April, the company has confirmed.

By: Matt Burgess,

Uber is tracking dangerous drivers with smartphone sensors

Uber has started using smartphone sensors to record if drivers are going too fast or accelerating too aggressively.

By: James Temperton,

Jonathan Blow on his new indie game 'The Witness'

Explore the mazes of Jonathan Blow's desert island puzzle game The Witness.

By: Daniel Nye Griffiths,

'Autistic' monkeys created in Chinese lab

Scientists in China have genetically modified monkeys to give them autism in an experiment they hope will allow them to find better treatment for human sufferers of the disease.

By: Emily Reynolds,

★ “Busting Myths and Horror Stories Of Designing For The Web!” ★

Hear, hear! SmashingConf NYC 2016 is coming! A spectacular performance about failures, successes and superpowers in front-end and UX — now on Broadway! A flabbergasting show on fascinating endeavours in web design, with busted myths, horror design stories and wisdom gained from daunting real-life struggles! Don't miss the most remarkable show of the year!

Can you dispel the truth from the lies? Honesty from deception? Myths from heartbreaking real-life experience? Have you figured out responsive design, mobile, pattern libraries, SVG, flexbox, performance, HTTP/2 — and all of the other mischievous, erratic facets of designing for the web today?

The post ★ “Busting Myths and Horror Stories Of Designing For The Web!” ★ appeared first on Smashing Magazine.

Spotify is finally adding video to its apps

Spotify will start rolling out video content to its users this week, the company has said.

By: Matt Burgess,

Ubisoft partners with Vice on content marketing program

Documentary series supports a game about New York in the wake of a pandemic

WIRED Awake: 10 must-read articles for 26 January

Your WIRED.co.uk daily briefing. Today, Spotify is adding streaming video to its mobile apps, Wikipedia editors demand the departure of the Wikimedia Foundation's newest board member, astronomers have identified the largest solar system ever seen and more.

By: WIRED.co.uk,