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Instagram Selling Your Photos

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Everyone seems to be just a little worried about the recent changes to Instagram’s terms of service. One of the concerned users of Instagram included National Geographic, who stated that they will be suspending new posts due to concern with the new terms of service and that they may close their account. So what the heck is all the fuss about?

Terms of service often include language that is difficult to interpret but it would seem that an update to Instagram’s new TOS included some language that involves using your username, location and photos for advertising purposes, and of course without having to tell you or pay you. Here’s the controversial section of the TOS.Instagram logo

“Some or all of the Service may be supported by advertising revenue. To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you. If you are under the age of eighteen (18), or under any other applicable age of majority, you represent that at least one of your parents or legal guardians has also agreed to this provision (and the use of your name, likeness, username, and/or photos (along with any associated metadata)) on your behalf.”

So, is this actually going to happen? Well, not really. Due to the big reaction to the upcoming changes, Kevin Systrom (co-founder of Instagram) has tried to calm everyone down by telling us that they’re not trying to sell our photos for profit. It would seem that Instagram will still be using our content along side advertisements, which really isn’t all that bad. A free service needs to make money somehow and by selling ads they can use our data to help them figure out what we like and what you and our friends would most likely be interested in. If this all sounds familiar it’s because Facebook does the exact same thing. Also, remember that Facebook and Instagram are family now.

Are you concerned about these changes? You can read the official post about Instagram’s TOS changes on their website.

 

The North Star Closer Than We Thought

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Well this is embarrassing, but researchers using Russia’s 6-Meter Telescope have found that the North Star (Polaris) is actually much closer than we had previously thought. Originally it was believed that Polaris was approximately 434 light-years away from Earth but now it is believed that the star is more like 323 light-years away. That’s a big difference!

Polaris

What makes this discovery even more significant is that we have been using our North Star to help us with measuring other distant objects in space, so now we may have to recalculate the actual distances of many other celestial objects. We have long used the North Star to aid in navigation as it never seems to move from it’s position in the sky. The main reason behind Polaris keeping it’s position is that it is aligned with Earth’s North axis.

Get more details on this new discovery at National Geographic News.

StarCraft II Heart of The Swarm Will Help You Play Better

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StarCraftII Artwork

There’s a lot going on behind the doors at Blizzard Entertainment and StarCraft II Heart of the Swarm is the main focus as the company gets closer to the game’s launch date of 3/12/2013. During a conversation with PCgamesN, Mike Morhaime mentioned that they are working on a “training area” that will allow players to get better by playing out scenarios against the computer that will teach you how to create and use a few basic builds. The computer will also offer up tips that will help you improve your gameplay. The difficulty will slowly increase as you progress in this new “training mode”.

There are some concerns from the gaming community surrounding the lack of  in-game support for learning how to play in multiplayer matches. Often, players new to playing against real “human” opponents will struggle early on and this has caused many players to become discouraged and to give up playing online altogether. This is obviously not something Blizzard wants happening. Although there has been some improvement with the addition of unranked gameplay, it looks like we will see even further support for the community by introducing this new training mode.

If you fall into this category of new players and you really love the game, don’t give up! There are already a ton of resources out there to help you become a better StarCraft player. One great place to start is by heading to Day[9]TV, a website created by Sean Plott, a professional StarCraft player. He offers up a TON of advice and honestly I can’t think of a better place to get started.

I am always looking for ways to become a better StarCraft player and even if you have a bit of experience already, it would still be nice to run through some type of “training mode”, you never know what you might learn.

Yahoo Mail Gets A Makeover

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Yahoo Logo

Yahoo mail has just been redesigned and it’s looking really good. The new look isn’t just on the web either it’s also translating to your mobile devices as well. Yahoo mail has been a bit behind other mail services like Gmail for a while now and it’s refreshing to see Yahoo reinvest some time into making it’s mail application a little more appealing.

The first thing you will undoubtedly notice is that there is a lot less clutter. One big feature of a good UI design is when it lets the content shine and basically stays out of the way. The new Yahoo mail does exactly that. Right away I can see only two tabs, inbox and contacts. The tabs are a nice size and located in an convenient  area of the screen. Folders and applications are tucked away nicely and collapsable, settings are easy to find and navigate through. Yahoo now looks very good on mobile devices as well and no matter which device you’re using, the experience should be the same. All Yahoo mail apps have been updated to feature this new look, including the Windows 8 app.

NewYahooMail

The new design is a success and I’m glad to see that many companies are taking this newer, cleaner approach to apps that we use everyday to get things done, like mail apps and audio libraries like iTunes, which also just recently got a new look. Microsoft attempted a similar move earlier this year by transitioning Hotmail into Outlook. The new Outlook was also re-designed, not just to fit in with Windows 8 but to also to make it a better fit on mobile devices as well.

 

A Potentially Hazardous Asteroid 3 Miles Wide To Pass Earth Tonight

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A potentially hazardous asteroid named “Asteroid 4179 Toutatis”,  is about 3 miles wide  and will be flying by Earth in a cosmic “near-miss”. The asteroid will be about 4.4 million miles away from Earth at it’s closest approach, that’s about 18x the distance of the Moon. Fortunately, the asteroid will be just passing by but if it were to collide with Earth, it would most certainly be catastrophic.

Toutatis Asteroid
Toutatis Asteroid (Source:NASA)

This isn’t the only asteroid getting up close and personal with Earth as another smaller asteroid (about 2.1 miles wide) named 2012 XE54 just squeezed between Earth and the Moon earlier today at a distance of just 141,000 miles from Earth. This pass was much much closer, close enough for Earth to be able to cast it’s shadow on the asteroid.

Video of Asteroid Toutatis Orbit 2012 – courtesy NASA JPL

This is a live feed of the 4179 Toutatis event, you get more detailed information information including the abillity to switch channels at www.slooh.com.