Flipboard, What Your iPad Was Made For

Yesterday a new app hit the iTunes app store and because it was showing up in a bunch of twitter posts ("Exclusive first look at Flipboard: http://scobleizer.com/Revolutionary social news app for iPad." @Scobleizer) I downloaded it to see what all of the fuss was about. It would seem that every other iPad owner on the face of the planet was also downloading Flipboard and trying to connect it to their social network as well. The app store held up to it's end of the bargain but Flipboard itself was a little overwhelmed by all of the attention and I was unable to connect it to my Facebook or Twitter accounts. None the less this is the killer iPad app! There, I said it too... Flipboard turns your iPad into a rich media experience. You have to try it to understand but the app maker has done a great job of explaining and demonstrating it via this video:

I now officially love my iPad!

Google Upgrades Image Search

After 9 years, Google image search has grown from 250 million indexed images to 10 billion and counting. I guess it was due for an upgrade, particularly with rivals such as bing forcing their hand. The Official Google Blog describes the features that have lived on since it's inception and introduces a number of recent upgrades that will assist us in finding that perfect awe inspiring image. 

Here is what you'll see in the updated version of images being rolled out over the next few days:

• Dense tiled layout designed to make it easy to look at lots of images at once. We want to get the app out of the way so you can find what you’re really looking for.
• Instant scrolling between pages, without letting you get lost in the images. You can now get up to 1,000 images, all in one scrolling page. And we’ll show small, unobtrusive page numbers so you don’t lose track of where you are.
• Larger thumbnail previews on the results page, designed for modern browsers and high-res screens.
• A hover pane that appears when you mouse over a given thumbnail image, giving you a larger preview, more info about the image and other image-specific features such as “Similar images.”
• Once you click on an image, you’re taken to a new landing page that displays a large image in context, with the website it’s hosted on visible right behind it. Click anywhere outside the image, and you’re right in the original page where you can learn more about the source and context.
• Optimized keyboard navigation for faster scrolling through many pages, taking advantage of standard web keyboard shortcuts such as Page Up / Page Down. It’s all about getting you to the info you need quickly, so you can get on with actually building that treehouse or buying those flowers

Double Rainbow...

Isn't it funny how one video will go viral while another just sits waiting to be discovered? The double rainbow phenomena is sweeping the internet thanks to Paul Vasquez, aka "Hungry Bear," who spent an hour marveling at the beauty of a "double rainbow" that he spotted and video taped the experience. All it took was for one simple tweet, from late night host Jimmy Kimmel on July 4th and a new internet meme was born. Hungry Bear found himself the subject of interest by media and a lot of people with a bunch of time on their hands. Vasquez's double rainbow video attracted ~5 million views and a spun off a number of parodies such as the double rainbow song:

My double rainbow is yet to be discovered though, I guess 23 seconds of video sans the oohs and the "what does it mean?" does not a meme make. ;)

Source: CNN

BC Lottery's Online Casino Overwhelmed On Day One

With British Columbia's population spending $100-million on online gambling websites every year, the government decided to build it's own "legal" site and keep the money at home where it could be used for "health care, higher education and improved infrastructure." The government did not however anticipate the overwhelming interest that there was in a home grown site and was forced to shut it down for several hours for maintenance. 


While typing this I attempted to view the site and was met with the following:

PlayNow.com is Currently Unavailable

We are experiencing technical difficulties and will have the matter corrected shortly.

We regret any inconvenience this may cause you.

If you require more assistance, please contact Consumer Services at consumerservices@bclc.com or 1-866-815-0222.

Thank you for your patience.

PlayNow.com is reportedly North America's only government sanctioned online gambling site, though I think that is open to interpretation. I fully expect that I would have been blocked from attempting to play on the site as I reside outside of the province.