InterfaceAddict-ed

If you think today’s drones are interesting, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Drones are in their deceptive phase, about to go disruptive. Check out where they’re going…

What makes today’s “drones” possible?

Energy Addicts by Naomi Kizhner

An invasive jewellery collection that converts kinetic energy from the body’s involuntary movements into electricity.

How can we as human bodies become a natural resource?

From Dezeen:

Naomi Kizhner designed the Energy Addicts accessories in response to the world’s impending energy crisis, looking for an existing energy source that is yet to be tapped in to.

"It interested me to imagine what would the world be like once it has experienced a steep decline in energy resources and how we will feed our energy addiction," Kizhner told Dezeen. "There are lots of developments of renewable energy resources, but the human body is a natural resource for energy that is constantly renewed, as long as we are alive."

"I wanted to explore the post-humanistic approach that sees the human body as a resource," she added.

The pieces would be embedded into the surface of the skin to capture the energy of subconscious movements, such as the flow of blood through the veins and blinking, transforming it into a useable energy resource.

It’s easy to build something that’s more powerful than an iPad—and very, very hard to do it without introducing complexity.

Over at Medium, MG Siegler (parislemon) has a nice piece likening the iPad to a typewriter. He means the comparison to a defunct piece of technology as a compliment: Writing on an iPad with an external Logitech keyboard, he says, strips away all the distractions of other applications and web services and lets you focus on your thoughts and the words.

I know what he means. For almost three years now, I’ve used an iPad with a keyboard as my primary computer. About 85% of everything I’ve produced for publication in that time, I’ve pounded out on my tablet.

I like the fact that iPad apps run in full-screen mode and usually aren’t overwhelmed by interface clutter or features I’ll never use. I like the fact that I don’t have to spend much time maintaining my iPad, and don’t have to futz with stuff like anti-virus software. I like the fact that my iPad has built-in LTE wireless Internet which is (AT&T willing) available the moment I turn on the tablet. And I absolutely love the fact that I dependably get 10 hours of battery life on a charge, which means that I can be smugly productive while those who tote notebooks are frantically hunting for wall outlets.

In short, an iPad with a keyboard—my current fave is Belkin’s Qode Ultimate Keyboard case—is the closest thing I’ve found to the ideal general-purpose PC for me. I still run into folks who tell me I’m nuts, but there seem to be fewer hidebound naysayers than in the past. And more people like MG Siegler.

Here are the 5 best designed iOS apps you must check out right now

Welcome to the latest edition of our series on gorgeous iPhone apps. We talk about apps a great deal here on THE TECH GETS and the reason is fairly obvious: apps make the phone. Thanks to the advent of on-device application stores, smartphones now ship as blank canvases, waiting for users to fill them with third-party software that extends their functionality in any number of directions.

Fly Through A City Owned By Drones

City of Drones isn’t just a first-person drone simulator. Its an engine to create empathy toward our all-seeing flying robots.

Facebook forcing users to download separate Messenger app

Facebook may want to look up the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”TechCrunch reports that Facebook plans to take away the messaging feature from its core app and force users to download the separate Facebook Messenger app if they want to chat with their friends. Facebook has apparently been testing out using Messenger as its sole messaging app in Europe and has been encouraged by the results so far, TechCrunch says.