Alas, an iPad Speaker Dock That Isn't Totally Awkward-Looking [Daily Desired]

The iPad's built-in speakers aren't exactly mindblowing, so if you find yourself using it mostly as a stand-in for your TV, Beoplay's new A3 dock is a gorgeous solution to its sound woes—even if it costs more than the tablet itself. More »

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Google patent app describes NFC sharing between devices, gives us Beam deja-vu

Android Beam has been with us since October of last year and now we might just be getting a look into how it came to be. A patent application made public today describes "sharing application states" across messaging apps, ongoing phone call status, as well as playback position for video and audio on multiple devices via NFC and "other" wireless communication. If you think the potential uses for the tech discussed in this filing from September of 2011 sound strikingly familiar, you're not the only one. Could this really be a part of Android Beam, or does Google have something else up its sleeve?

Google patent app describes NFC sharing between devices, gives us Beam deja-vu originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 May 2012 16:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Architecturally Inspired Furniture Brings New Meaning to Table Forts [Beautiful]

Inspired by children who use furniture as objects of play, Atelier Takagi's Range Life table was designed not only with architects' favorite materials—blackened steel, concrete, glass, etc— but also with the design principles of much larger structures as well, incorporating I-beams, columns and trusses into the visual design of the piece. More »

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A rp idea...

Okay so I had an idea for a roleplay and I thought I would do an interest check. I have created roleplays on other sites but never on rpg.

In a victorian-ish fantasy world (airships and stuff but no cell phones or cars) there is a murder of a very wealthy and well known business man. The roleplay would focus around the detective, his assistant and the group of suspects. Unfortunately everyone, even the detective themselves could be possible suspects. The group kind of get together with the detective kind of in the lead (since it would be their area of expertise) to prove each ones innocence to the police and the public. Yet one of them IS guilty. While trying to prove themselves innocent with the help of the group each person will look at the others and wonder 'did YOU do it?' Eventually the case must be solved while keeping your suspicions close to your heart, only sharing them with someone you absolutely trust. People find friends, some could fall in love, and enemies could be made. All while tensions rise inside the mansion of the deceased that the group has been house arrested in.

Basically a who dunnit rp. The end would be the finding of the murderer. It would have a few suspects that are story important to be played, and then a couple slots open for other characters who might not be suspects, or could be but aren't story important. These people would be the few that could die from finding out secrets etc. Everyone could have up to two characters.

Thoughts? Like? Dislike?

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China, US in talks to allow Chen to leave: activist

Beijing and Washington are working on a deal to allow rights activist Chen Guangcheng to leave China for the United States with his family after he fled house arrest, a fellow activist said Tuesday.

Bob Fu, who runs the US-based group China Aid and has been in close contact with Chen and his supporters, said both sides were keen for a swift agreement ahead of key US-China talks that start on Thursday in Beijing.

Chen had initially been reluctant to leave China, but now accepted that it would be difficult for him to stay, and was prepared to go into exile in the United States as long as his family could accompany him, Fu said.

"The situation has changed on the past few days. He understands that there is no way he could return to Dongshigu now," Fu told AFP by telephone, referring to Chen's hometown.

"But he won't leave without his family -- if he had thought about that he would already have gone.

"The most viable scenario is to negotiate a quick deal to allow China to make a face-saving agreement."

That could involve China allowing the family to leave for medical treatment in the United States, said Fu, a former Tiananmen Square democracy activist who fled China in 1996 and now lives in Texas.

Fu did not reveal who his sources were, but said he had contacts with officials in China and Washington who said both sides were "working very actively to find a solution".

Chen, 40, a self-taught lawyer, escaped from house arrest in the eastern province of Shandong on April 22, and is now said to be under US protection in Beijing. His wife and young daughter are believed still to be in Dongshigu.

The affair threatens to overshadow key talks between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and their Chinese counterparts scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

Neither the United States nor China has so far commented on Chen's whereabouts, underscoring the sensitivity of the situation.

But Clinton has in the past repeatedly criticised China's treatment of Chen, who won worldwide acclaim for exposing forced sterilisations and late-term abortions under China's policy restricting the size of most families.

He and his family were put under round-the-clock house arrest after he completed a four-year jail sentence in September 2010. He has said he was being punished for defiantly continuing to speak out.

Kenneth Lieberthal, a China expert who was a top aide to president Bill Clinton, said he believed the United States wanted a solution that is "the least embarrassing to China and to do so as expeditiously as possible."

"The question to my mind is whether in China this turns into a political football in a very political season. I think it's more likely to be resolved than to turn into a political football, but you never can predict this stuff," said Lieberthal, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

China is preparing for a once-in-a-decade political handover, with the communist leadership extremely keen to avoid any embarrassments as Vice President Xi Jinping prepares to succeed President Hu Jintao.

The facade of a smooth transition was already shattered when rising star Bo Xilai was dramatically ousted from China's inner circle in a scandal that involved his right-hand man seeking refuge, unsuccessfully, at a US consulate.

With the 2012 campaign well under way in the US, White House hopeful Mitt Romney has criticized Obama's China policy, saying he should challenge the rising Asian power more aggressively over its human rights record, trade practices and military expansion.

He has urged the administration to take "every measure" to protect Chen and his family.

Chen addressed Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in a defiant video released after he somehow escaped from under heavy guard at his home, saying "Dear Premier Wen, I finally escaped."

He went on to detail the harsh conditions of his house arrest, beatings of his wife and mother at the behest of local officials in his hometown, and demanded an investigation.

Fellow dissident Hu Jia, who says he met with Chen following his escape, said Monday that Chen was "not seeking political asylum" but intended to stay in China and fight for protection of legal rights.

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Space Shuttle Enterprise flyover wows New Yorkers (+video)

Perched atop a modified 747 jumbo jet, the Space Shuttle Enterprise greeted the Big Apple by zooming past the Statue of Liberty and flying along the Hudson River.

Hundreds of space shuttle fans braved the chilly temperatures and biting wind Friday morning (April 27) along the Hudson River here to catch a glimpse of NASA's prototype orbiter as it flew past the museum it will soon call home.

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Enterprise, the agency's original test shuttle,?flew to New York today?from Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., atop a modified Boeing 747 jet. Before landing at New York's John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport, the piggybacking duo flew over the Statue of Liberty, then followed the Hudson River past the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, where it will soon be placed on public display.

The shuttle flyover attracted fans of all ages, who gathered around the Intrepid museum and Pier 86 on Manhattan's west side to witness the historic event.

"How often do you get to see something like this ? a shuttle on piggyback coming down the Hudson River?" said Kenneth Irvin, who came with his wife, Ceil, from Long Island. [Photos: Final Voyage of Space Shuttle Enterprise]

As?Enterprise?and its chaperone flew overhead, the crowd, which was made up of men, women and children of all ages, erupted into cheers and applause.

"It was absolutely amazing to see it like that," Adam Schechter said shortly after Enterprise's first pass. Schechter carried his young son, Harry, and spoke energetically about his experiences with the space shuttles, including seeing the STS-97 launch of the shuttle Endeavour in November 2000.

"It was amazing, and the loudest thing I ever heard in my life," Schechter told SPACE.com.

He also recounted a visit he and his son took to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va., where Enterprise had previously been on display since 2003.

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Water floats on oil, defying conventional wisdom

Water can float on oil, suggest new findings defying conventional wisdom that could have important applications in cleaning up oil spills that endanger seashores and fisheries, researchers say.

Normally what determines whether something floats or not is its density. For instance, hot air is less dense than cooler air, which is why hot-air balloons float. Crude oil has a density of about 58 pounds per square foot, and so floats on seawater, which has a density of 64 pounds per square foot.

By making water float on oil, scientists now find that conventional wisdom can be wrong.

The key behind the counterintuitive results involves how tightly the molecules in a liquid stick to one another as opposed to something else. The strength of this force between like molecules determines the liquid's surface tension ? how likely it resists an external force. Insects such as water striders can walk on water by taking advantage of this surface tension.

The researchers added tiny amounts of water to drops of various types of oil. These water droplets could float on the oil, depending on how large they were and the type of oil that was used. Commercial vegetable oil has enough surface tension to support the droplets; in contrast, pure mineral oils such as hexane, octane and decane do not. This effect also worked on commercial vegetable oil as long as the drops were smaller than about one-hundredth of a cubic inch ? slightly smaller than a pea. [ See Video of the Experiment ]

Air plays a role as well. The water droplets, due to their weight pressing down on certain parts of the oil drop, create dimples on the oil's surface that allow in pockets of air to help balance the weight of the droplets, keeping them from sinking.

"The implications could be wide for industrial processes where we can use natural forces to support a heavier liquid on top of a lighter liquid," said researcher Chi Phan, an engineer at Curtin University in Australia.

The researchers suggest these findings could help clean up oil spills. They are currently working on applying water droplets to oil slicks, Phan told LiveScience. These droplets can carry oil-eating microbes that could rest on spills and chow down instead of separating away, speeding up cleaning.

The scientists detailed their findings online April 19 in the journal Langmuir.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

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