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More efficient recycling with 3D printing

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We generate so much plastic waste today that it has become a serious environmental problem. Some of us do put aside our plastic bottles for recycling, but even that endeavour requires energy consumption just to get the plastic to a recycling centre. Even more energy is needed for the actual recycling. There is a better way to reuse the plastic, and 3D printing makes it possible. Read more in 3D Printing Plastic — Distributed Recyling and Distributing the Benefits Joshua Pearce holds a DremelFuge chuck made from shredded plastic milk jugs.

3D printing at MAD

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My first-hand account of the 3D exhibit at MAD Living in New York is wonderful for a number of reasons, but high on my list is access to so many great museums. Not only do we have world-famous museums, like the Met and the MoMA, but we have small, specialized museums that offer unique exhibits focused on innovations in art and technology. The Museum of Art and Design’s  Out of Hand: Materializing the Postdigital , on view through until July 6th, is definitely worth a visit for anyone interested in digital design and production. Read more in  http://3dprintingindustry.com/2014/03/17/3d-printing-review-mad-exhibition/ Related:  http://writewaypro.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-moma-goes-mobile.html

How am I tweeting?

NewTwitterAnalytics  offers answers.  Almost every business has a Twitter account, but many fail to take full advantage of Twitter's many add-on tools. What's holding them back? Perhaps it's just a matter of not knowing how to measure their impact and figure out how the tools contribute to their goals. Twitter solves that problem with its new  Analytics for Twitter Cards   service.   Read more in Twitter Analytics Puts Cards on the Table

What were you hired for?

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This is my rejoinder to "Don't ask me to think. I was hired for my looks."

British slang

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from http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g186364-d213579-Reviews-Police_Box-Sheffield_South_Yorkshire_England.html The list of terms is at  http://www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml .  I've picked up some British slang just from context. So this wasn't all new to me, though there were a few surprises, particularly the compilers' own perception of  of American usage, perhaps that's due to limited exposure to some friends who are not familiar with all expressions. What  could have been left out I never thought of DIY as a British term; it's one Americans use regularly. Also most Americans (apparently, excluding the friends of the compiler) understand that "piece of cake" means  that something is easy, though some, for some reason prefer the term "cake walk." You could also say "easy as pie" here, though I don't know if they would get the gist of that over the pond. .  We also say "haggle" and are not too likel

Photoshop in 3D

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We may not yet have the Star Trek "replicator," but we're coming pretty close to wonders with recent advances in 3D printing. It's no wonder that Adobe sees this as the right time to introduce 3D printing capabilities to its Creative Cloud." No longer limited to hobbyists printing out plastic shapes, 3D printing can now be used to produce ceramics and metals, increasing its functionality for engineers as well as artists . The CES show in early January had 28 exhibitors for 3D printing. This past October, Gartner  predicted rapid growth for 3D printers, anticipating that this year "spending will increase 62 percent, reaching $669 million, with enterprise spending of $536 million and consumer spending of $133 million." That's a substantial enough amount to attract the likes of Adobe, which announced its foray into the 3D printing industry on January 16 with the new release of Photoshop CC . Read more in 3D Printing From Adobe's Cloud

Oh the places you'll go and the stories your can can tell about htem

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The main problem with the current state of in-car, location-based services is that they aren't required to notify consumers. It's possible that some motorists are completely unaware of who uses their location data, and how. Also, for four o ut of the six automakers, customers do not have the option to request that their historical data be erased. (The "right to be forgotten" is included in the EU’s data protection laws and recommended by the GAO.) Read more in  In-Car Tracking: We Know Where You've Been

3D printing brings the stars to the blind

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Discussions of big data often touch on the challenge of visualization. An even greater challenge, though, is rendering the data into something that is comprehensible to people who have to use senses other than sight. 3D printing brings the stars to the visually impaired by rendering Hubble's images into tactile form. Read more in  Reaching for the Stars With 3D Printing

Keeping your identity

Clones, robots, alien shapeshifters, or disembodied consciousness take over people's identities in shows such as  Star Trek  and  Doctor Who . They can then take over the lives of the people they've duplicated, particularly when they have access to their memories. How can anyone defend himself when he can't tell friend from foe? In real life, most of us don't fear having someone else show up in person claiming to be us. But we are concerned about identity theft. Our digital world makes it all too easy for the bad guys to hack into personal information posted online, as well as financial information that we can think is secure. The cost of identity theft can be huge when hackers get access to our credit cards, debit cards, and bank accounts. Read more in  Your Personal Online Guardian

Cellphone tracking: a matter of protection or loss of privacy?

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With the right equipment, anyone can trace where we are through our phones. Whether and how this technology is used has been a source of controversy for years. One of the latest flare-ups is police use of Stingrays. In this context, it's not a type of fish but the brand name of an  International Mobile Subscriber Identity  tracking device. Read more in  Cellphone Tracking: Protection vs. Privacy

Glassdoor

Glassdoor, once known primarily as a site for salary information and an insider's peek into corporate culture, has grown by building up its job search features, putting it squarely in competition with the better-known LinkedIn. That could be good news for job seekers and employees who want salary bumps or better benefits. Read more here: I In Glassdoor vs. LinkedIn, Employees Win

Written in the meta-data

Is it possible to identify an individual’s romantic partner on the basis of his/her social networks alone? That’s the question Jon Kleinberg, a computer scientist at Cornell University and Eric Bakstrom, a senior engineer from Facebook, teamed up to answer. After analyzing millions of Facebook data points, they came up with an affirmative response in  Romantic Partnerships and the Dispersion of Social Ties: A Network Analysis of Relationship Status on Facebook  -- they assert the answer is yes with a 60% probability.  Read more in  Your Romantic Attachments as Predicted by Metadata

Students on camera -- not for security

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We have technology that can use c Cameras in Class: Insight vs. Privacy ameras in the classroom for analysis of lessons. What do you think? Learn more about the concept of  EngageSense in

the use of @ and # before Twitter

Grawlixes, AKA obscenicons are the short strings of symbols that take the place of profanity. It seems positively quaint in today's world when just about everything is considered fit for print, though you may still see it on rare occasion. I was reminded of the device recently when I read The Pigman . (I checked it out of the library after seeing it among the books on display at the New York Public Library's  The ABC of It: Why Children's Books Matter ).  The 1968 novel has two narrators, and the teen boy says that to abstain from using curse words, he will type  “@#$%” or“3@#$%.”  I'm not certain I've ever seen the use of grawlixes in books before, though I have seen the oblique reference, something along the lines of "He called her something I cannot repeat," that you can find in a book lie  The Forsyte Sage   or the dashes following a letter like "d___ " that you can find in books by the Brontes. I have the impression that language in print

Hashtags and Haute Couture: Effective Branding on Instagram

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Businesses have a long tradition of serving as patron of the arts. Often they are only acknowledged discreetly with logos on the sign for the exhibit they support. Some get more credit with the free admission times named for them like the “Target Free” days at many museums. For even brand greater exposure, though, it’s necessary to tap into internet sharing, and that is something that  Instagram makes possible Read about Lexus' getting the most out of sponsoring  The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk ,  with Instagram in  Lexus Steers Branding Program via Instagram