Apple News: What a cable-free HBO subscription could mean for Apple TV
Apple TV has never followed a predictable update path. Officially unveiled alongside the iPhone in January 2007, it has had just two revisions to speak of during its lifespan, and aside from a quiet silicon swap last year, there hasn’t been any movement on the Apple TV front since March of 2012. But the industry around it hasn’t been nearly as stagnant. In the two and a half years since the third generation of Apple TV landed, we’ve seen a veritable explosion of streaming devices and services, with various sticks and boxes all promising to deliver high-definition content to our televisions. Apple TV has kept pace by adding channels and occasionally refreshing its software, but there’s one main problem: All of these boxes, up to and including Google’s new Nexus Player, pretty much do the same thing. Sure, some have a slightly better selection of channels and others play games or offer tighter integration with the particular ecosystem they serve, but when it comes to actual television, none of the digital media players have managed to break the stranglehold cable companies have on our consumption of broadcast content, leaving so-called cord-cutters to pick through the scraps.
Read full story => Macworld
Technology News: Too much Google Glass lands one man treatment for Internet addiction
A man who used Google Glass for 18 hours a day was admitted to a substance abuse and recovery program for Internet addiction disorder, according to a report from The Guardian Tuesday and a scientific paper published about the patient. The man reported that he became “irritable and argumentative” when he could not wear his Glass, and he started viewing dreams as if they were projected through Glass’s tiny display.
Read full story => ars technica
Programming News: JavaScript Architecture for the 23rd Century
JavaScript applications have grown in size and complexity for the last several years. More and more single page applications have hit the market, and demands for that type of experience have increased to the point where even Google finally decided to render JavaScript when it crawls pages. This demand for SPA type applications has made JavaScript architecture increasingly important. JavaScript, being a dynamic language, you have to go the extra mile to ensure that the code is written in a maintainable fashion and to avoid spaghetti code. For a long time it seemed like it was ok to just use a single file full of jQuery selectors and event handlers. This is just not a sustainable pattern. The Modern Web that we are entering here in the 23rd century demands a more thought out, and architected approach.
Read full story => ModernWeb
Photography News: How to Use Rhythm and Pattern to Create Stronger Compositions
After I had written my article about juxtaposition and contrast I realized that one of the photos also perfectly illustrated the concept of rhythm in composition. The rhythm comes from the way the eye moves from the first tower to the second, then on to the statue. These three focal points are linked by colour (they are a similar shade of brown) and shape (they are all narrow shapes emerging from the bottom of the frame). The combination of shape and colour pull the eye, creating a natural rhythm as it moves through the photo. I suspect the sensation of rhythm is reinforced by the western convention of reading a page from left to right. It would be interesting to hear from readers whose mother language utilizes text that is read in a different direction. Does that change the way you perceive the rhythm of this photo? Please let us know in the comments.
Read full story => DigitalPhotographySchool
