If you’re of a certain age it’s totally fine for you to flip out now: the LEGO Voltron kit is available on August 1st. The kit is a LEGO Ideas project so the fan designer, Len_D69, has to be pretty excited. The kit includes all five Voltron Force lions and they assemble into the full Voltron with sword and shield. The assembled kit is 15-inches tall and includes 2,321 pieces. It’s priced at US$179.99 and looks absolutely epic.
Analyst Says Apple is Still Making a Car
Guggenheim analyst Robert Cihra says Apple’s self-driving car, known as Project Titan, isn’t dead and the iPhone maker is still working on getting it on the streets and into showrooms.
Awesome Tiny House Built in Style of Lunar Lander
Kurt Hughes, in Seattle, has used his boat design experience to construct a 250 square foot (23 square meter) tiny house in the style of the lunar lander used in the U.S. Apollo program. It features a kitchenette, breakfast alcove (with a view), bathroom and sleeping quarters. The home will be used for “weekend trips and creative respites.” The photos are great, so take a look.
Instagram Lets People Add Music to Stories
Instagram announced Thursday that users can now add music to their Stories, the temporary videos borrowed from Snapchat. Users will be able to select a song, searching by name, mood, genre, and other criteria. Once selected, users can scrub through it to find the part that matches their video, and then post it. Users can also choose a song before starting a live video. So far, you can only select from a limited library of songs chosen (and paid for) by Instagram. The company said it was adding more songs to that library “daily.” Go forth. Influence.
Mpow 4-Port USB Wall Charger: $19.99
We have a deal on the Mpow 4-Port USB Wall Charger. Like the name says, it’s a wall charger with 4 USB charging ports. It’s a smart charger, meaning it sends the amount of power each device needs, up to a maximum of 7.2 amps. It’s $19.99 through our deal.
Facebook's Spy Patent, Apple Music Shows, Samsung Patent Fight Ends - ACM 468
Facebook has a scary new patent application that Bryan Chaffin and Jeff Gamet say “is so Zuck.” They also talk about how Apple might position and price its streaming original content, and there are a lot of possibilities. Plus, Apple’s long-running patent fight with Samsung is over. What does that really mean?
Apple's Media Bundle Plans, Drinking with Captain Kirk - TMO Daily Observations 2018-06-28
Kelly Guimont and John Martellaro join Jeff Gamet to discuss the possibility of an Apple Music and television show streaming bundle, plus they talk about Captain Kirk’s whiskey.
New Apple Cotai Central Store has a Bamboo Forest Inside
The Apple Cotai Central store has a grand opening on June 29. It’s the second Apple store in the Chinese district of Macau.
Watch Out Borg: the Apple Hive Mind May Be Real
Quartz put out an interesting piece today about Apple and the definition of consciousness. Thome W. Malone writes that Apple is technically a conscious organism based on certain criteria. At first I thought it was silly, but then I considered that since corporations have personhood, why not consciousness? Of course this applies to any corporation, not just Apple. And it seems to me that it wouldn’t be just any consciousness, but a hive mind. Android users scoff at the Apple hive mind, but it will assimilate you next and resistance is futile.
Awareness: The entity can react to changes in the world.
Self-awareness: The entity can react to—and can tell others about—changes in itself.
Goal-directed behavior: The entity can take intentional action to achieve goals.
Integrated information: The entity can combine many different kinds of information simultaneously.
Experience: The entity feels happiness, pain, hunger, or other subjective experiences.
Today Only: 512GB MacBook Discounted to $1000
Today only, Woot is offering the previous generation 12-inch 512GB MacBook for US$1000.