Bloomberg reports that none of the bidders are close to clinching a deal, and the start-up might remain independent.Founded 4 years ago, Waze makes a navigation application for iPhone and Android used by roughly 45 million people. Its mapping service is powered by the people who use it. The app also connects to Facebook and provides social-networking functions so drivers can see their friends’ whereabouts, share their location, and send private messages.Google’s possible purchase of Waze could add social features to Google Maps, making the service even more robust and popular product. Should Facebook buy Waze, the navigation app would give the social network a way to insert itself into the lucrative mobile search business owned by Google.The search giant netted 93.3 percent of all US mobile search ad dollars last year, according to estimates from eMarketer. The firm anticipates that US mobile internet search ad revenue will total $7.85 billion in 2015; it pegs Google’s share at around $7.1 billion, or 90 percent of the market.Waze, a free service, generates revenue via location-based advertising. Its tools are also available over the Web. … Read More
Connectify Switchboard combines your internet connections to maximize speed
Connectify is back on Kickstarter hoping to crowdfund a new application that combines multiple internet connections to give you faster access to everything on the internet. Connectify Switchboard works by aggregating all available internet connections on your computer, and then balancing the load between them. … Read More
US Air Force one step closer to global strike capability as experimental aircraft exceeds Mach 5
Air Force officials announced Friday that the X-51A WaveRider flew for more than three minutes Wednesday, a one point hitting a speed of Mach 5.1, according to the Associated Press. The successful flight marked a turning point for the X-51A, which was designed with scramjet technology that’s capable of delivering weapons strikes around the world in only minutes. The aircraft was designed to reach Mach 6 (six times the speed of sound) but the Air Force deemed Wednesday’s flight a success because the previous three attempts either ended in highly publicized failures or failed to reach the desired top speed.“This test proves the technology has matured to the point that it opens the door to practical applications,” said Darryl Davis, president of Boeing Phantom Works, which designed the WaveRider, in a statement. He added that the flight, which saw the WaveRider travel more than 230 miles in six minutes, was “a historic achievement that has been years in the making.”While the immediate future for hypersonic scramjet propulsion will come in the form of faster and more effective cruise missiles, scientists have speculated that in the long term, the technology could make a London-New York passenger flight possible in under an hour. “I believe all we have learned from the X-51A WaveRider will serve as the bedrock for future hypersonics research and ultimately the practical application of hypersonic flight,” said Charlie Brink, program manager for the Air Force Research Laboratory Aerospace Systems Directorate, in the aforementioned statement.Last year, when asked why such technology is necessary, Air Force officials cited a failed attempt of the life of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in 1998. Upon learning of his location, military intelligence was able summon Naval ships to fire cruise missiles at the target within 80 minutes. This new technology, the Air Force told the Los Angeles Times in 2012, would cut that response time down to twelve minutes. The video below shows a Boeing jet lifting into the air before sending the missile-like scramjet into hypersonic speed. … Read More
Asylum denied for Afghani hunger strikers
The Swedish Migration Board has decided not to re-open the asylum application cases of eight hunger-striking Afghani men in Boden, north Sweden. … Read More
Kosher Certification Program Bans All GMO Ingredients
One group after another is denouncing the genetically modified poison on grocery store shelves. NFC has announced today that any food product that contains GMOs is no longer eligible to be certified as kosher under their “Apple K” kosher certification program. … Read More
Matt Welch Talks Rand Paul and Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC
On Friday, April 12, I appeared on MSNBC’s All In with host Chris
Hayes, Atlantic columnist Ta-Nehesi Coates and commentator
Melissa Harris-Perry to talk about the controversial appearance by
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) at Howard University: ;
The following morning I appeared on Harris-Perry’s
show, her first since drawing
nationwide criticism for saying that the nation needs to “break
through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents,
or kids belong to their families, and recognize that kids belong to
whole communities.” We talked about that controversy and much
besides, along with a variety of other panelists. Watch it
here: ;
… Read More
Vid: CA vs. The Suburbs – Planners, Smart Growth, and the Manhattan Delusion
“If you really believe that suburbs are going to die, then let
them die, and let the market address the situation” says Joel
Kotkin, Chapman University professor and urban planning
specialist.
But letting the market work is far from ideal for California’s
regional planners and local politicians, who want almost 70
percent of new housing over the next 25 years to be multi-unit
apartment-style dwelliings, despite the facts that more than half
of Southern California households reside in a single-family home
and that
more people are leaving California than are coming in.
Watch the Reason TV video above to learn more about the
ideology, politics, and outcomes of modern urban planning. Or click
below for the full text and downloadable versions.
About 6:30 minutes.
Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Shot by Sharif Matar, Paul
Detrick and Weissmueller. View this article.
… Read More
