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By (author unknown), Core77 – September 17, 2012 at 03:00PM

In a couple of weeks it’ll be October, the weather will get cooler in our neck of the woods, some will reach for gloves, and a European company called Hi-Fun will release a special pair of gloves called Hi-Call. As you can guess from the photo above, the gloves are wired up with Bluetooth connectivity, a mic in the pinky and a speaker in the thumb, so the wearer can actually make phone calls by making that “call me” gesture.

Early adopters of Bluetooth headsets looked foolish for a short time, before we all got used to seeing people walking around talking to no one. Should these gloves take off, there’ll probably be another brief adjustment period where you think a crazy person is talking into their hand. Early Hi-Call adopters will probably be given extra personal space on the sidewalk, at least for a few weeks.

This demo is a bit underwhelming, but at least they show that the thing works and is real:

Hi-Fun may be the first to market with these, but they’re not the first to come up with the concept. A San-Francisco-based hacker named Rachel shared her Instructable for Bluetooth gloves here, and the comments for it indicate other people have produced something similar.

(more…)

By Saikat Basu, MakeUseOf – September 17, 2012 at 02:01PM

Prehistoric man knew how to communicate with images. Thankfully, his descendants didn’t forget; because where would we be without art, photography, movies, X-rays, animation, digital imaging, 3D printing, and Instagram. Okay, the last one was bit of a light-hearted addition, but even that shows you the pull of a picture.

For more day to day mundane uses, we need free images for decorate a blog post, seek inspiration, set a wallpaper, make a collage, or just finish the school homework. This post thus takes a ‘back-to-basics’ approach and attempts to go over the same image searching ground as before, but in a more comprehensive manner. I hope to again show that searching for the right free image is easy enough, provided you know where to look.

But first, let’s answer how image search engines actually work? And then…

What Exactly Is A Free Image?

When we talk about free images, there are three terms which you will encounter in your search.

Royalty free images: These images are not free. You have to purchase these images for a fee, but beyond that you can continue to use the image as long as you want. But this is a non-exclusive right as others may also purchase the same image for use.

Public Domain images: Images which are not covered by any copyright and are available free of charge are called public domain images. Images whose copyright have expired also fall under the public domain. To put it this way, any image which is freely available may not be a public domain image; but a public domain image is freely available for use without permission.

Creative Commons: Creative Commons images (or the licenses) should not be confused with public domain and free-to-use images. Creative Commons is a set of free licenses which cover fair use and allow creators to reserve some rights for themselves while freeing up the work for the benefit of the public. Learn more about Creative Commons on the CC website.

Our search for free images shall cover the last two types – public domain images and images licensed with CC.

The Big Daddy

Google Advanced Image Search

The Advanced Search is your quick bet because it is familiar and allows you to filter your search by license. You can search for only images that can be reused (free to use). These images include Creative Commons, or public domain images. But still check the copyright status of each work before you download.

But you would be wrong in thinking that Google Image Search is a bully. Because it’s not and you can also call on 5 Good Image Search Engines Apart From Google Image Search.

The Stockists

Tina went after the usual suspects when she covered Flickr, Wikimedia Commons, and Stock.XCHNG with three others to make it 6 Free Websites For Public Domain Images & Free Stock Photos. Supplement that reading with this – Top 5 Free Websites for Quality Copyright Free Photographs and the more recent The Five Best Places To Find Free Creative Commons Photos and you have a good resource bank to build upon.

Free Photos Bank

The search and advanced search takes you to your specific photo. Check out the Hot List for popular free photos. Photos are rated. As a user you have non-exclusive, non-transferable license to images.

MorgueFile

MorgueFile is a free high resolution digital stock photography resource that lists images contributed by many different photographers and artists. According to the blog, the site will undergo a major redesign this October. You can filter photographs for download using options like color, creative, and geotag. The site also has a portfolio section for budding photographers.

EveryStockPhoto

EveryStockPhoto is a search engine for free stock photos. The search engine covers most of the popular image stock sites like Flickr, SXC, NASA, and a few more. You can quickly view the image’s license and other details like the source site and photographer on the right.

Public Domain Photos

The site has a large and growing collection of public domain photos which are free to use without due credit of any kind. No, you do not need to credit the site as a source also. The site is neatly organized into categories and tags, with the number of photos in each category indicated. Most photos can be downloaded in multiple sizes.

If you have a particular liking for Flickr, do stop by to read How To Search & Credit Properly-Licensed Photos On Flickr  for a handy Firefox related tip. Also, check out all our articles that talk about Flickr like The Top 5 Best Search Engines To Search Photos On Flickr.

The Specialist Image Searchers

Pixabay

I searched for computer images and I got 1085 hits. Pixabay searched for both photos and clipart from other public domain websites. The image information tells you about the source, the type of license, and the important EXIF information. You can also view photos by the camera used.

Best Photos

Best Photos uses Google Custom Search to scour the web for free photos. The results may not be that pretty (it’s a straightforward Google search), but it is very effective. You have to click through to the source site and download the image from there.

Sprixi

Sprixi sources shareable images from Flickr and OpenClipArt. I wrote a detailed review about it about how you can use it to embellish your blog posts : Sprixi – A Free Image Search Engine With Creditworthy Image Use For Blogs.

Turning Back The Clock

U.S. History Images

This collection takes you back to the history of The United States (going back to 1862), especially the Civil War. Nearly all of the 5000+ images are free to use with a few exceptions. The image pages are very well organized in chronological order and cover most of America’s early history.

The Wayback Machine

On the Internet Archive, you can go back in time to at least 1999 and browse through archived versions of Web sites. The Internet Archive Wayback Machine contains almost 2 petabytes of data and is even larger than all the matter in The Library of Congress. On the Internet Archive, you can type in a keyword and then filter the results by media type (image) to get access to millions of archives images which are licensed under Creative Commons. Check the specific license as they also have CC – Non-Commercial attributions.

Clipart-History

Clipart History is a free high-quality public-domain clipart collection covering all ages of the Worlds History from pre-historic to now. You can browse the sections which cover the span of the pre-historic to the modern. Most images are black & white, but it is undeniably a good resource for school projects and other assignments.

Break Into the Government Archives

Totally Free Images

A huge collection of 500,000+ images culled from various government sources are available on this searchable site. The site itself is plain Jane with just a search bar and filters for image types. You can search for images related to astronomy, painting, and microscopy too. All images are free to use and you do not even need to attribute them.

USA.gov

This is the national portal to all other governmental sites. You can search for images by topic. The site has this to say – Some of these photos and images are in the public domain and may be used and reproduced without permission or fee. However, some photos and images may be protected by license. You should read the disclaimers on each site before use. Also check out the governmental photostream on Flickr.

For The Love of Education

Pics4Learning

School assignments and projects need pictures. Take your learning a notch up or two with pictures that are primarily for education. Pics4Learning has animals, architecture, geography, science, tools, and natural disasters. You can find images through browsing categorically or by searching for specific keywords. The images on the site have been donated by students, teachers, and amateur photographers.

The Oddballs

PhotoRogue

PhotoRogue is a different king of photo and image website as it takes requests. Volunteer photographers go to work on your request and their service is free. As the site says – You can request ANYTHING, and we’ll try to make it happen. Typically we’ll return between two and ten pictures.

Cadyu

2D and 3D CAD diagrams and images? I would agree. Try out Cadyu which is a collaborative library of 2D and 3D models. All are in public domain and Creative Commons licensed. It could be a one-stop resource for you if you are a designer.

Pinterest

Yes, the very same Pinterest. It gives you a roundabout way to search for free images. Log-into Pinterest – use the search box to type in “public domain” and view the results. Click on the specific image and then click on the source to view the license and verify if it’s truly public domain or at lease Creative Commons.

Here are many more image websites we have covered that you might consider off-the-beaten-track:

• The Best Websites For Free Clipart Downloads
• Top 7 Sites to View and Download Space Images
• 10 Best Websites For Free Vector Art Downloads
• 20 Great Resources to Download Free Patterns

The 17 image search resources represented here are like a few good men. Some have already been covered by our previous articles on image search and the links I have included in this post. Then some more lie undiscovered. Maybe, you will pull the curtain of anonymity and bring them into the limelight? Which is your favorite way to get to free images online? More importantly, why and where do you use the free image?

Image Credit: 100% free stamp via Shutterstock

By Justin Pot, MakeUseOf – September 15, 2012 at 04:30PM

Thinking of switching to Gmail, but afraid to lose all of your old emails and contacts? Don’t be. Gmail can easily grab your old emails, especially if you were already using a web-based client. And even if you weren’t grabbing those emails is perfectly possible.

Maybe you’ve wanted to switch to Gmail from a long time, but are hesitant because you don’t want to leave behind your old messages. This makes sense: the hardest part of switching from one email account to another is migrating your old email and convincing all of your friends to use the new address.

Unless, of course, you’re switching to Gmail: it can grab all of your old email and contacts automatically. You can even keep receiving mail from your old email address, so long as it exists.

If you’re using an email address provided by your ISP you should switch to Gmail now. If you keep your old address you won’t be able to bring your email with you when you change providers, and the interface you’re using for email is almost certainly ad-ridden and terrible.

Importing from an old email address isn’t a new Gmail feature, but it’s one someone switching to Gmail won’t necessarily know anything about. Here’s how it works.

Importing From An Old Email Account

Like I said: you can, if you stored your email online, easily import all of your email and (maybe) your contacts to your new Gmail account. The process isn’t incredibly complicated, but let’s go over it anyway.

Open the Gmail account you’d like to import your email to. You’ll see a gear at top-right; click it, then click settings:

This will open Gmail’s settings, logically enough. Click the “Accounts and Import” tab at top, then look for the import option. It looks like this:

When you click it the importing process will begin. You’ll be asked for your email address:

Gmail will then figure out what information it needs to continue. It might be only your password, if you use Hotmail or Yahoo, but it might require more technical information, such as which ports Gmail needs to check to gather your mail. I can’t hope to outline that information for everyone here,

30 Days and 30 Nights

The above process should grab all of your old email, and will also grab any new email sent to your old address. It will only do so, however, for 30 days – that’s supposed to be enough time for your to inform your contacts of your new email address and move on with your life.

If you’d like to keep getting email from your old account, however, this is also possible. Head back to the “Accounts and Import” page. Here you’ll find an option to check email from other POP3 accounts:

As you can see I’ve already set one address up. Click the “Add a POP3 mail account you own” and you can go through a similar process as above, entering your POP3 information. Your email will be pulled down from now on; you can use the Gmail “refresh” button anytime to force Gmail to check all of your POP email accounts.

You can even, if you want, send emails from your old email address from within Gmail. That process is on the same page, and requires you to know your email settings for sending or to enter a code send to you.

Note that if you’re switching your email address from one provided by a former Internet provider your old email address will likely stop existing soon – the above process will not change this and your old email address will eventually stop working. Sorry about that; blame your old Internet provider.

Desktop Clients: A Little More Difficult

If your email currently live in a desktop-based client, such as Microsoft’s Outlook for Mac’s Mail, your might not get all of your email using the above process. There’s a simple reason for this: the email is not stored on your email server but instead on your desktop. Sorry about that, but there is a solution if you want your old messages and contacts to move to Gmail.

You first need to enable IMAP in Gmail, which you can do on the “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” page in settings. It looks like this:

Now you need to a set up Gmail’s IMAP service in your desktop client. This page includes instructions for most major email clients.

Once IMAP is set up in your desktop client you can click-and-drag email from your old inbox to your new Gmail account. It’s slow, and you might need to leave your computer running for a long time, but it will work. Be patient.

If you’re a Google Apps customer there are a variety of tools for making this easier. Free Gmail users need to stick to the instructions above.

For your contacts you’ll need to import from a CSV using these instructions. It’s an imperfect process but it mostly works.

Conclusion

I’ve done this process for family, friends and clients alike and it works well. How did it work for you? Let me know in the comments below

By spinnrad@mac.com (Editor), InnovationDAILY for Syndication – Saturday September 15, 2012

Stanford University is continuing a high-profile push into online education with a new open-source platform called Class2Go, which will host two massive open online courses, or MOOC’s, during the fall quarter. Beginning in October, non-Stanford and Stanford students alike will be able to use the platform to take classes on computer networking and on “Solar Cells, Fuel Cells, and Batteries.”

The idea for the software started with a six-member “skunkworks” team in Stanford’s computer-science department, said Jane Manning, product manager for Class2Go. Over the summer, the team built Class2Go using code from Stanford’s existing course-hosting platform, called Courseware, and a similar platform from the nonprofit Khan Academy, along with software for integrated online classroom forums hosted by Piazza. Other colleges may add to the platform or adapt it for their own purposes, said Sef Kloninger, engineering manager for Class2Go.

Read more…

By Molly Oswaks, Gizmodo – September 15, 2012 at 12:30AM

Attention case-makers, accessory-builders and generally curious minds: the iPhone 5 blueprints have been made available to those with an Apple dev account. And, even though Joel Johnson no longer has a dev account, he somehow managed to procure the prints. Thanks, Uncle Joel! More »

By Whitson Gordon, Lifehacker – September 12, 2012 at 06:30PM

It may seem silly, but shirt collars that constantly curl upwards can be really annoying. Reader Chip Barron shows us his DIy fix, using a $1.50 pack of iron-on patches.

Chip used these patches from Bondex ($4 for a pack of 4 on Amazon), which are designed to fix rips and tears in clothing. Chip discovered that their stiffness is perfect for a set of makeshift, permanent, iron-on collar stays, so he took a pack of patches, cut them in the shape of collar stays, and ironed them on the underside of his collar. Now they stay perfectly straight. He notes that it might also work for other annoying clothing creases, like pant flys (or, I imagine, certain kinds of sleeves). Check out the image to the right to see the process step-by-step (you can click on it for a bigger version).