Are You Excited for a $400 Hair Dryer?

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The heat that comes out of a hair dryer, as anyone who uses one knows, is both what dries your hair and damages it. Your typical drugstore hair dryer likely has settings for hot, warm, and cold air; when on hot, heat can climb past what’s thought to be ideal for drying hair, and into temperatures that fry and damage hair cuticles. During testing, the engineers used thermal cameras to watch how prototype hair dryers dispensed heat over strands, and over time. In practice, the final Supersonic has heat sensors built in next to the airflow jets that will take the air’s temperature 20 times per second, and send that data to a built-in microprocessor. If temperatures rise too much, the Supersonic can level itself out. All of this is powered by a V9—a newer, smaller version of Dyson’s prized digital motors.

Sounds awesome but is it worth the price of 20 $20 Conair Salon hairdryers?

Apple's Funky Laptop Update Cycle

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I don’t really blame Apple for the seemingly slow pace of its upgrades. The truth is that the current MacBook Pro already has enough advantages — primarily that Retina display, but performance matters too — to make my contemplated upgrade of a 2013 Air a very reasonable proposition. But I want more. I don’t just want to buy a better laptop than my old one, I want one that’s better for tomorrow as well as today. And that’s where I’m at my most foolish.

Vlad Savov hit the nail on the head. I sold my 2008 MacBook Pro in anticipation of a new Retina MacBook Pro two years ago and have been in limbo using a 2010 MacBook Air. As I've said before, it's showing its age with every tap on the keyboard and trackpad and I'm left contemplating biting the bullet at every "update." Here's to WWDC on June 13th.

And if you're interested in the latest MacBook refresh, you can now get it in Rose Gold and also standard with 8GB RAM!!!

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Stephen Curry's 103 Home Runs

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Sitting atop it is the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, who finished the regular season with a record 402 3-pointers.

The record is an outlier that defies most comparisons, but here is one: It is the equivalent of hitting 103 home runs in a Major League Baseball season.

If you're a sports fan of any kind, this is true athleticism at its height. And he's just getting started.

Watch Coachella Live Exclusively on YouTube Starting at 3:30pm Pacific! →

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For those (us) with kids...

Un-leashed by T-Mobile, music fans around the world can tune into Coachella’s YouTube channel on April 15-17 to catch performances of both emerging artists and the biggest acts on the lineup. The live stream will also be available on the YouTube Music app, and on any screen where you can watch YouTube.

Maybe I should setup the projector screen again and just stream a weekend long dance party at my house?! Check out Channel 1!

update #1: added direct link to "Channel 1"

Not Worth the $200 Premium →

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Still, those upgrades don't feel worth $290 for a device that doesn't perform its sole function any better than one more than half the price. In that context, the Oasis is meant to be the first desirable e-reader, marketed with its visual and tactile appeal instead of with its functional role in our lives. It’s appealing to customers who want a digital reading experience to feel more like a holding a well-crafted book and are willing to pay a premium for it.

My thoughts exactly. Looking at the reviews, the Kindle Voyage has half the amount of reviews of the Paperwhite and a quarter of the Paperwhite and Basic combined. Maybe I'll just add my own little "spine" invoking plate to my current Kindle for that "Oasis" feel.

A Fatigued Airline →

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The Emirates airlines’ management displays a callous disregard for the needs of its pilots, an ex-Emirates pilot told RT on condition of anonymity, stressing that none of the “many fatigue reports” he filed were taken seriously. Additionally, he was told that his promotion was delayed because he had “called sick and… fatigued too often.”

Seriously. Why would anyone knowingly put their lives on an airline that has blatant disregard for their pilots? Now, in wake of the FlyDubai crash, many pilots are finally voicing their concerns through the media.

PCWorld Goes Hands-on with Intel's Skull Canyon NUC →

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How much performance does that add up to? On one Skull Canyon NUC we played the new game Just Cause 3 at 1920x1080 resolution, with frame rates in the low- to mid-30s. For PC gamers that’s, well, not great, but for integrated graphics, that’s actually pretty impressive.

If you really want more power, you can hook up external graphics cabinets such as this Razer Core with a Radeon GPU inside of it using the Thunderbolt 3.0 port.

This might just be the PC that I've been waiting for. FYI: I haven't owned a Windows based PC since 2005 and at that time, I was already running concurrently with my Powerbook Titanium followed by a MacBook Pro in 2008 virtually dropping all PC/Windows related computing.  The biggest problem I have is that I am well divested into the Mac / OS X ecosystem but then again, the PC would be primarily for gaming. 

Paired with Razer's new Core Graphics external add-on for $500 (graphics card NOT included), this could shape up to be a lean, mean, portable gaming machine which is also less expensive than the Razer Blade Core combo. 

Sidenote: When the heck is the new Apple MacBook Pro going to be released? I've been stuck on a 2010 MacBook Air Core 2 Duo and it's becoming a drag! (this post written on that 2010 MBA) 

Motortrend First Drive of the new 2017 Mercedes-Benz E300 →

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Mercedes has stepped up the E’s semiautonomous game quite well. The system is called Drive Pilot, and here are the big bullet points: The E300 can follow the car in front of it at up to 130 mph. As long as the lanes are clearly marked, you can keep your hands off the wheel. Every now and then a graphic will pop up telling you to grab the wheel, but you can just lightly brush one of the two thumb buttons on the steering wheel, and the car will keep driving forward hands-free. While Drive Pilot is engaged, you can hit the turn signal to change lanes in either direction. Once you’re in the lane you want, just cancel the turn signal. In the States the system uses GPS to automatically adjust for posted speed limits, though you can override that (i.e. speed) by pushing up on the cruise control stalk.

This is a design and interior feature I can agree on! In this case, maybe when I make captain again this would prove to be a comfortable "airport" car as a certified pre-owned vehicle. Cheers to the new E-Class W213!

Do you Clash?

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The company made profits (before certain items) of €848 million, or $964 million, on revenues of €2.109 billion, or $2.326 billion. That compares to earnings before income tax, depreciation, and amortization of €515 million, or $592 million, in 2014, on revenues of €1.545 billion, or $1.777 billion.

Clash of Clans, which debuted in August, 2012, accounted for the bulk of that revenue, though Supercell didn’t say how much. The game was ranked at either No. 1 or No. 2 during the course of 2015 on the top-grossing list. It’s not official, but it’s pretty clear that Clash of Clans is the most successful app in the world.

And to this day, my friends and I are declaring "war" every weekend. And yes, I am also playing their new game, Clash Royale. It's addicting and still fun. 

Reach Across the Aisle

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Can you come to an unanimous agreement when it comes to receiving an awesome benefit such as a free flight?

From the capital to the campaign trail, political partisanship and a contentious election make disagreement feel like the new normal. It is clear that the country is divided. Or is it? Can compromises be made for the greater good? See what happens when unsuspecting JetBlue customers are tasked with putting aside personal differences to reach across the aisle.

Have I mentioned that I love working here?