Potato salad Kickstarter ends with $55K+ in the bank
I told you about this a few weeks ago, but now the potato salad Kickstarter has closed with a total of $55,492 in contributions from 6,911 people. Given that Zack Brown only asked for $10, he’s got a lot of money left over—but he’s going to do some good with it.
He has organized an outdoor festival called Potatostock in Columbus, Ohio to be held on September 27th. It’s a free music festival but all proceeds from the sale of concessions will be going to a fund to help end hunger and homelessness in Central Ohio. At the event, people who were supposed to receive a bite of potato salad will be able to get one. Also, those who sponsored enough to be in the kitchen with him can also cash in as he cooks in the industrial-sized kitchen they are setting up at the festival. On his Kickstarter page, he’s got details about how he’s going to fulfill all of his promises. When all that is done, he is going to donate a “significant portion” of the remaining money to the Columbus Foundation—a non-profit dedicated to helping Central Ohio’s hungry and homeless. He says he’s going to take some of the rest to make a new company dedicated to bring joy and humor to the world.
Next iPhone coming September 9
Re/code is reporting that Apple has scheduled a big media event for Tuesday, September 9. Evidently, the focal point of the event will be the two new iPhones with the larger displays and A8 processors.
Start-up of the week: Navdy
Navdy is a portable transparent, heads-up display you can put on your dashboard to get smartphone notifications and navigation help, without taking your eyes off the road. You use your voice and gestures to control the device to make it safer. Their website says, “it feels like driving in the future” and the video does make it look pretty cool. And, IMO, it’s smart to come up with a “plug and play” solution for the masses who are not going to run out and purchase a new car, just for Apple’s CarPlay and/or are running out to purchase Google Glass. You can preorder your Navdy for $299 + shipping and save yourself some cash (it will eventually sell for $499 when it ships in early 2015).
Pinterest now lets you private message
Sure, since last year you could send a pin to someone, but now you can send a pin and they can reply back with a text message or even with a pin they saw. And, it’s not just that you can send a reply comment—if you receive a pin you can save it to a board right from the message. Even better? You can share pins as a group private message. Pinterest says—and I think they’re right—that this new feature, which is rolling out for both iOS and Android apps, will make planning projects and trips with groups a lot easier. Here’s a quick video Pinterest put together to show you how it works, in case you’re confused:
Leak your secret via email
A brand new website called Leak is down, after just going up this week (and getting tons of press). The Leak app (or website) let you anonymously email someone a message you’ve always wanted to say. Rather than giving your name you select from a drop-down list of “from” options such as, “From, A Coworker” or “From, A Family Member.” Although the messages are sent anonymously, they’re not necessarily private —you can see a stream on the website of recently sent messages. Really, this is not unlike Secret in many ways…but it goes right in someone’s email box. I tested it and sent myself a message from “someone” and it showed up in my inbox from Leak with a subject line of, “From someone, anonymously.” It is an interesting idea and one that, apparently, was so popular they now have to move the system off of their current email system (which they were banned from for violating “opt-in” policies) and likely build their own.
Barnes & Noble and Samsung to hold Nook event
On August 20th the companies will be debuting their first co-branded tablet, the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook (now there’s a name that roll right off the tongue!). The event is happening at Barnes & Noble in New York’s Union Square. The invitation doesn’t say much else, so time will tell.
Self-folding origami robot made from Shrinky Dink plastic
Harvard and MIT scientists have created a robot that starts as a flat sheet of polystyrene plastic, but folds itself and then walks away. The plastic, which is the same kind used for Shrinky Dinks, has carefully-placed hinges and so, when the sheet is attached to two motors, batteries, and a microcontroller, becomes a self-folding robot. This technology could be used to build robots for applications in space or other hard-to-reach locations. Check it out:
Russian hackers steal one billion passwords
Yes, that billion. We had two blogs about it this week. While there is some question as to whether the report is legit, a member of our TDS Security Team wrote up a great blog with tips for staying safe.
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