Category Archives: Technology

JPEG, GIF, & PNG: Know Your File Types | Who Is Hosting This?

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Trying to save space on image files? It can be tough to know exactly which filetype is the best to use. If you save your image as the wrong type, you could end up blurring a beautiful photo, losing all the detail of your logo, or turning a transparent background black.

If you’d like to know exactly which is the perfect image filetype to use for which images, and save a lot of space and bandwidth in the process while maintaining a quality image, check out the handy reference below for the facts.

via JPEG, GIF, & PNG: Know Your File Types | Who Is Hosting This?

What Book Should You Read Next? Putting Librarians And Algorithms To The Test | Co.Exist

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What Book Should You Read Next? Putting Librarians And Algorithms To The Test | Co.Exist | ideas + impact

Snips

When I received the Brooklyn Public Library’s recent email newsletter promoting a new service called BookMatch, I was both delighted and dismayed.

On the one hand, it was a great idea. All I had to do was fill out a short web form letting the librarians know a bit about what I wanted to read and what I liked to read, and one promised to write back with five personalized recommendations tailored to my interests and tastes. On the other, the fact I was so delighted was exactly what was dismaying.

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Clearly, the librarians believe that human tastes and discretion are still relevant, even as automated algorithms are influencing an increasing portion of the media we consume, whether in the form of news, books, music, or movies. But are a book expert’s personalized suggestions really better than what I might get from Amazon, a site that hasn’t employed a human editor for its home page in 14 years? It’s very possible my positive feelings about the BookMatch program are sprung from mere sentimentality.

READ MORE: What Book Should You Read Next? Putting Librarians And Algorithms To The Test | Co.Exist | ideas + impact

10 Amazingly Useful Spreadsheet Templates To Organize Your Life | makeuseof

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Is your life a hotch-potch of missed deadlines, forgotten shopping and reneged commitments? Sounds like you need to get organized. Where better to start than with hard numbers and figures? For this, you might want to take advantage of the many spreadsheets available on Vertex42 that allow you to keep track of your time, belongings, projects and money. Here are 10 of the best.

READ MORE: 10 Amazingly Useful Spreadsheet Templates To Organize Your Life | makeuseof

Why Geocaching Is The Perfect Sport for Readers | BOOK RIOT

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I’ve heard of geocaching before but never thought about this activity associated with books. This would be so much fun…would love to try!! Adventure and discovery, mysteries and problem-solving, stories and books, gadgets and tech, plus new environments…now if I had a to-go mug filled with tea…my idea of perfection. I also think geocaching would be a fun date activity.

Geocaching is a real-world treasure hunt. When this was written, there were over 2.5 million geocaches or “caches” and 6 million geocachers around the world. Each cache is listed on a website. A player uses a GPS device either a handheld GPS unit or a smartphone to read and decipher the clues and then find the actual treasure. It may take a long hikes in the woods or a simple walk around the corner, depending on where you are and what you want to do. For someone like me, who prefers to sit with her head in a book, it can be a welcome little bit of exercise between chapters. Once found, you sign a log, record it on the computer, and move on to the next one.

READ MORE: Why Geocaching Is The Perfect Sport for Readers | BOOK RIOT

Martha Stewart Brings Pastel Aesthetic to MakerBot | PCMag.com

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Sure, you can already 3D print things on your MakerBot in a wide range of colors — from bright orange to glow-in-the dark green. But those looking for something a little classier now have a few new color options — and theyre all approved by none other than Martha Stewart. The domestic diva has struck a licensing deal with MakerBot for three new filament shades and a collection of 3D-printable designs.

Besides the new filament colors, Stewart and her team of designers are working with MakerBots design team to produce new collections of printables for the 3D-printer companys digital store. The idea is that you can purchase and download these Stewart-branded designs, then print them on your MakerBot Replicator.

READ MORE: Martha Stewart Brings Pastel Aesthetic to MakerBot | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

Mattel Pulls Sexist Barbie Book “I Can Be A Computer Engineer” Off Amazon | TechCrunch

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The makers of Barbie seem to apologize A LOT for underestimating young women. This time the Internet’s buzzing over a pretty cringe-worthy Barbie book, “I Can Be A Computer Engineer,” published out of Random House.

READ MORE: Mattel Pulls Sexist Barbie Book “I Can Be A Computer Engineer” Off Amazon | TechCrunch.

16 Fun Projects for Your New Raspberry Pi | Gizmodo

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The new Raspberry Pi is smaller, cheaper and more energy efficient—not a bad way to update a best-selling device. Whether you’ve taken the plunge on one of the new units or you want to put the original model to good use, weve collected together some of the most fun Pi-based projects on the planet for you to have a crack at.

Read More: 16 Fun Projects for Your New Raspberry Pi | Gizmodo.

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A Creatives Quick Guide to Social Media Image Sizes | Design Instruct

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This Design Instruct post lists optimum image sizing for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Google+, Behance and Dribble. The post will be updated as sizing for these platforms evolve…now I just wish this information was visualized in a infographic for us visual learners!

Social media is a way of life for a lot of people. For creatives, it’s a great way to get your work out there and potentially gain a following…Depending on what kind of work you do and how well people respond to it, social media can be a very effective self-marketing tool for many creatives. Therefore, it’s important that your work looks the best that it can look online. Since social media platforms over the last decade have been continually evolving and optimizing, it has not always been clear how best to display your work on these platforms. Luckily, we’ve managed to do a bit of research on how different social media platforms display images so that others can see your work in the best possible way.

READ MORE: A Creatives Quick Guide to Social Media Image Sizes | Design Instruct

Moss is a pricey Erector set for robot lovers [REVIEW] | Mashable

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Browsing toy stores these days is often a constant reminder that they don’t make toys like they used to — because, in most cases, they make them better. It’s row after row of products you wish had been around back in your younger days. This goes double for the high-tech toys including robotics, smart devices and construction kits. Moss is a little bit of each.

The second product from Boulder, Colorado-based hardware startup Modular Robotics began life as a Kickstarter campaign late last year, when it managed to capture more than three and a half times its lofty $100,000 goal. And it’s not tough to see why. The robotics kit promises balances education and entertainment.

READ MORE Moss is a pricey Erector set for robot lovers [REVIEW] | Mashable

Internet Archive offers 900 classic arcade games for browser-based play | Ars Technica

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As part of its continuing mission to catalog and preserve our shared digital history, the Internet Archive has published a collection of more than 900 classic arcade games, playable directly in a Web browser via a Javascript emulator.

The Internet Arcade collects a wide selection of titles, both well-known and obscure, ranging from “bronze age” black-and-white classics like 1976s Sprint 2 up through the dawn of the early 90s fighting game boom in Street Fighter II. In the middle are a few historical oddities, such as foreign Donkey Kong bootleg Crazy Kong and the hacked “Pauline Edition” of Donkey Kong that was created by a doting father just last year.

READ MORE: Internet Archive offers 900 classic arcade games for browser-based play | Ars Technica.