Dolphin saves the day (iPhone)!

Everyone loves dolphins, right? RIGHT! And, everyone loves a good dolphin story, so here we go on this glorious Thursday morning!

Teressa Cee, a dancer with American professional basketball team Miami Heat was recently in the Bahamas near Blue Lagoon Island, also known by its official name Salt Cay. Sweet. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE DOLPHINS?

From the sauce:

“True Story: While in the Bahamas, I had the opportunity to go swimming with dolphins on Blue Lagoon Island. We were filming on this floating platform in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. So, against a my better judgment I asked someone to hold my phone for me and he accidentally dropped my phone into water and it sank to the bottom.”

Can you guess what happens next? Let us give you a hint: It has something to do with a dolphin named Cacique!

Watch the video and smile! Happy almost weekend guys!  And Teressa; if you’re reading this? We know a place that would give you really good CASHMONEY for that water damaged phone… Just sayin’.

Help raise money for refugees on Kickstarter!

The United Nations has stated that it needs $7.42 Billion this year to help meet the needs of the those caught in the war in Syria – both those who are refugees and those who are suffering inside Syria. As of early this month, they are still $4 Billion short of that goal.

The United States has donated $4.5 Billion since the crises began four years ago, and has now specifically requested that the crowdfunding company Kickstarter creates a unique charity version of it’s winning formula to help raise more money for the Syrians.

Kickstarter CEO Yancey Strickler told BuzzFeed News:

“We were really compelled by an ask from the White House because of some sense of civic duty and wanting to step up, but also just feeling what a global situation this is and felt like this is an opportunity where our product and our community could have real value.”

SO now Kickstarter has partnered with USA for UNHCR, which is a U.S.-based non-profit which raises funds and awareness for the UN Refugee Agency to create the first Kickstarter charity fund.

Similar to the other more creative projects on Kickstarter, the charity campaign will last for one week, however all the funds they raise, even if it’s short of their goal, will go straight to USA for UNHCR, as well as the 5% cut that the good guys over at Kickstarter usually take.

Instead of rewards, donors see what kinds of things can and will be done for their money – such as $30 providing water for 50 people, or scaling up to $600 which can provide care and education for a vulnerable child.

You also don’t need to have a Kickstarter account in order to donate. The largest amount raised in Kickstarter history was $20,338,986. That was for the Pebble Time, in March this year.

As of writing, the Aid refugees Kickstarter has raised $815,643. There is 6 days and 37 minutes left.

Let’s see if we can beat that $20 million to help feed, clothe, and care for the people who desperately need it. Please, if you can, donate, or share this or other stories you see about the campaign on social media.

Here is the link to the campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/aidrefugees

Apple remembers Steve Jobs on the 4 year anniversary of his death

Yesterday marked the passing of prolific Apple guy Steve Jobs four years ago.

To commemorate this day and to remember his friend, CEO Tim Cook sent an internal email to employees (via The Telegraph) of Apple. It’s pretty touching.

 
Here’s what he wrote:

“Team.

Today marks four years since Steve passed away. On that day, the world lost a visionary. We at Apple lost a leader, a mentor, and many of us lost a dear friend.

Steve was a brilliant person, and his priorities were very simple. He loved his family above all, he loved Apple, and he loved the people with whom he worked so closely and achieved so much.

Each year since his passing, I have reminded everyone in the Apple community that we share the privilege and responsibility of continuing the work Steve loved so much.

What is his legacy? I see it all around us: An incredible team that embodies his spirit of innovation and creativity. The greatest products on earth, beloved by customers and empowering hundreds of millions of people around the world. Soaring achievements in technology and architecture. Experiences of surprise and delight. A company that only he could have built. A company with an intense determination to change the world for the better.

And, of course, the joy he brought his loved ones.

He told me several times in his final years that he hoped to live long enough to see some of the milestones in his children’s lives. I was in his office over the summer with Laurene and their youngest daughter. Messages and drawings from his kids to their father are still there on Steve’s whiteboard.

If you never knew Steve, you probably work with someone who did or who was here when he led Apple. Please stop one of us today and ask what he was really like. Several of us have posted our personal remembrances on AppleWeb, and I encourage you to read them.
Thank you for honoring Steve by continuing the work he started, and for remembering both who he was and what he stood for.

Tim”

Remembering Steve for who he was and what he stood for. We honor him by continuing the work he loved so much. pic.twitter.com/6UiXBjYe3l

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) October 5, 2015

Weird new iPhone trend we DONT suggest trying

New Google Service?

You might have heard rumors of a new Google fortune telling service, which is great, right? Google has ALL the answers!! Give us more answers Google!! This, however is a little different, and it’s not actually a Google service.

Click on this link, and start typing. Type a question you have about the future. You can go for a cliche, like ‘will I be the richest man in South Florida even though I live in San Francisco?’ or, a little more off the beaten track, like ‘ will I ever own a dinosaur named Tubby MacPeterson?’

Go for it.

Not what you were expecting?

Neither is war and becoming a refugee. This is a great little tool to spread around to promote understanding of the refugee crisis unfolding around the world. A reminder that we can help. If you choose to share the site, it’ll appear on Facebook and Twitter as if you found an incredible fortune-telling website, but it will lead people to the same page in the end.

Tech, helping people helping people. Nice.

Future tech of the week!

When we say shaving, what word pops into your head? We’re going to go ahead and guess that for a lot of you, that word is ‘booooooring’. For a lot of us shaving is a regular thing, and the tools we use haven’t changed for like 5000 years. AND it means that while we’re supposed to be giving the environment hugs, we’re actually giving it about 2 million plastic razors a year (from the US alone!). Sorrrrry environment.

Well, never fear, because a Kickstarter campaign is here!

More precisely, a company called Skarp (meaning “sharp” in Swedish) is here! And it has designed an aluminum razor powered by lasers that doesn’t need water to work or to be thrown out after use. Whaaaaat.

At time of writing Skarp has had over 10,000 backers pledge $1,823,077, waaaaaay over their original goal of $160, 000. Aparrently a lot of people are feeling the lack of progression in the shaving industry!

Benefits? We’ll give you benefits!

No scratches
No razor burn
No infection
No itch
No accidental cutting
No irritation
Effortless smooth stroke
No painful waxing or messy depilatory creams
Incredibly close & smooth shave
No expensive cartridges replacements
Little to no water usage
Environmentally friendly

The razor works by using wavelengths of light for an extra close, clean, shave for both dark and light hairs.

Ch-ch-ch-eck it out!

Tinder for… bacon lovers?

Tinder, Tinder, Tinder. Tinder. It seems like there’s a Tinder version for everything, but not until now has there been one for… Bacon?

Yup, you read that correctly. If you love Bacon, (like, as if you capitalize it, for example) and you’re looking for a date with someone with a similar love, then Sizzl is for you.

Released by the excellent people over at Oscar Mayar, Sizzl is a dating app where you can search through, accept and reject, nearby people who like the same bacon that you do. Traditionalist Pork Bacon lover? Turkey Bacon? Thick? Smoked? Crispy? The Maple kind? 

Go get some! Are we talking about some Bacon, or some lovin’? BOTH SILLY!

Amazon introduces offline viewing

Amazon has just announced a pretty baller new ability for those who have the Amazon Video iOS or Android app.  You guys ready for this? You can now download movies and TV Shows for offline viewing.

Whaa?

Yup. For those times when internet connection just isn’t good enough to stream, or non existent, now you can watch Amazon content whatever whenever!

This feature has been available to users of Amazon-branded Fire phones and tablets, but the rollout for iOS and Android is more than welcome!

Amazon is the first video streaming company to allow this, with Netflix’s Director of Corporate Communications Cliff Edwards saying last year that offline viewing was ‘never going to happen’. Uh, never until this year, right Cliff? He did have a point, however, saying that limited Wi-Fi availability was the issue we needed to be looking at.

Until that problem is fixed (Hi Google!), those of us who do want/need to watch content offline, thanks a bunch Amazon!

Amazon is also changing the name of it’s service from Amazon Instant Video, to Amazon Video.

Apple Music Festival

Every September, Apple holds a Music Festival in London – until now it has been called the Apple iTunes Festival, but this year, due to the introduction of Apple Music, it has been renamed  the Apple Music Festival. It has also been cut from the previous 30 night period, to just 10 days from September 19th through September 28th.

It’s a free festival, which is pretty awesome, and this year will see performances by The Weeknd, The Chemical Brothers, Take That, James Bay, and Leon Bridges, Pharrell, One Direction, Little Mix, Disclosure, and Florence + the Machine.

If you aren’t in London and can’t make it across the Pond, don’t sweat it, as every performance will be streamed live and on demand via Apple Music.

Stay tuned here!  http://www.applemusicfestival.com/

Google’s birthday!

Today marks Google’s birthday! Hooray! Founded 16 years ago by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the company has since made them a lot of money, and given them a lot of power.

You could also say that the company has brought a lot of power to the people, if you wanted to. Information, knowledge. Perhaps you could also say that the company has changed the way we live, learn, teach, and relate.

I guess Google’s alright. Especially when set to such happy and inspiring music! Watch how Google has changed our lives and our history below.