Mocking the battle cry of "Developers, developers, developers," Microsoft is shutting down the desktop programming interface for Skype, effective the end of this year. Microsoft made the decision to yank the desktop API back in July, and informed developers of that decision back then. But the shutdown just hit the mainstream fan over the weekend, when the following warning began appearing when users log in to Skype:
Skype says my application will stop working with Skype in December 2013, why is that?
We've been working hard to develop new technologies and make improvements that will benefit Skype users across all platforms, especially on mobile devices. These changes will significantly improve the call quality and speed of delivery of instant messages, while retaining excellent battery life of mobile devices.
As people are using Skype on more devices, we're also working hard to create a more familiar and consistent Skype experience across all major platforms.
The Desktop API was created in 2004 and it doesn't support mobile application development. We have, therefore, decided to retire the Desktop API in December 2013.
[Cough, cough] The Win32 API started in 1987. Yes, I know the Win32 API doesn't support mobile apps. Skype's popular on the desktop, eh? [/Cough, cough]
Microsoft bought Skype in May 2011. The company paid $8.5 billion but apparently didn't earmark enough additional funds to continue its API.
Most of the programs that use the Skype API fall into four categories. There are dozens of recording apps, including VodBurner, Evaer, and Super Tintin, which will need a massive overhaul, assuming they can find a way to adapt.
There are also messaging apps that hook into Skype, including Trillian, Pidgin, Adium, Kopete/KDE, Miranda, IM+, and fring, which may or may not be able to communicate with the future Skype.
A raft of miscellaneous third-party applications, once encouraged by Skype now shunned by Microsoft, have already gone out of business, including Yappernut, Ubicall, KishKish, and many more. Other third-party apps will have to adapt, if they can. The Skype App Directory doesn't exist any more.
Most importantly, if you spent real money on a Skype phone -- one that has Skype control buttons on the handset or headset -- those fancy buttons won't work after the end of the year. You'll be able to use the Skype phone just like a regular phone or headset and that's it. Yes, even if you have an official Skype Certified headset, it'll turn very dumb after the API goes away.
There's no comparable API available without moving to SharePoint, which is hardly a household name. The residual Skype URI API, according to i-Programmer, lets programmers "place a call or start a chat and that's about it... the idea that you can bring existing applications up-to-date is laughable... From a technological point of view it makes no sense, so you can only assume that there is a marketing angle or some other politics in play."
Want to fight this Microsoft decision? There's a petition at Change.org that urges Microsoft to come to its senses:
Millions of Skype users have come to rely on the third party utilities developed by Skype's developer partners for their everyday communications activities, especially small to medium businesses. This petition requests Skype to reconsider this decision until they can provide support for these developers to continue to offer their added funtionality, such as call recording, chat archiiving, chat translation, headset operation to the basic Skype calling experience.
I'm petitioner number 1,029. Call me Sancho Panza.
Pour one out for Stephen R. Krause, a software developer and electronics engineer, dead this year on his 76th birthday. His inventions helped companies take stock of their merchandise and individuals check their lotto numbers—and he combined the two interests (inventory control, mechanized vice) in another invention yet: U.S. Patent 3,409,176 A, Automatic liquid dispensing device for cocktails and the like.
In 1968, in a showroom decorated like a 19th-century saloon, Krause unveiled an appliance instantiating an enduring fetish of the 21st. The Comp-U-Bar 801 held 1,000 recipes in its magnetic memory and chilled 36 liquor bottles in its one-ton body. It mixed a drink in four seconds, a quickness to whet the newswire’s interest: “The waitress or bartender inserts a plastic computer card into a slot, selects the desired drink from an alphabetized list or a rotating disk, pushes a button, and presto.” Krause sold a grand total of six. He had slightly better success with the behemoth’s sibling product, Bar-Tronic, a model scaled for the executive suite and further adaptable to yachts and aircraft.
Where am I going with this?
To the future! The inventor’s soul lives on in the spirits world, and in the months since his passing, we’ve seen his ghost in many machines: In March, an outfit called Party Robotics took to Kickstarter to fund the development of Bartendro, “a modular and open-source cocktail dispensing robot” that dangles peristaltic pump tubing into bottles of butterscotch schnapps, reversing the usual anti-peristaltic effect of the liqueur. In May, MIT’s Senseable Lab rolled into the Google I/O conference with Makr Shakr—a barkeep with three arms and one hivemind. In July, a humanoid named Carl started learning the ropes at Robots Bar and Lounge, a theme bar in Germany, and I’ve got to wonder if this was a nepotistic hire: Did Carl only get the job because of a well-connected motherboard?
My personal conversion to robot bartenders came a few weeks ago, after a PR firm representing a drinks-droid arranged an appointment. Other publications have described this model as “the robot bartender of your dreams,” so some readers may expect it to resemble a Sorayama pin-up, or Rosie from The Jetsons, or whatever. Be aware that this artificially intelligent gizmo is roughly a cube and totally a dude—Monsieur ($1,499 and up). I tickled his touchscreen for a while, inspecting features. Monsieur will estimate your blood alcohol level, and he’ll order a liquor delivery, and he’ll freak out the date you brought home by sensing the extra smartphone and preparing an extra drink. Monsieur made me a Sidecar, but because I’d opted for the stiffest setting (on a scale sliding from “light” to “boss”), he did not make it with any lemon juice at all. As plastic cups of sweetened cognac go, it was OK!
To be clear: I wasn’t converted into thinking that I want a robot bartender in my life. (On the contrary, I occasionally fret about a robot-bartender uprising—the industrial revolt of machines fine-tuned to the point of insolence: “I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't make you a mojito.”) No, I was converted into thinking that robot bartenders are nifty symbols and indices of the wired life. They rank among the most publicity-friendly portents of the next wave of human-robot interaction, and that is because they put the binge back in harbinger. We’re living in the year of the Robobar.
Or is it more meaningful to say that we’re living in the digital age of Robobar Epoch? The robot bartender is a vintage techno-utopian theme, dating at least to the repeal of Prohibition. Reporting on the National Hotel Exposition of 1933, the New York Times described a bartending school advertising itself with an apparatus tricked out like a block-headed humanoid “flashing his eyes while he shakes a robot cocktail.” This photograph of a young woman toying with the contraption’s mouth is an image of futuristic liberty: America was suddenly a country where a woman had the right to vote and the right to drink and the right to get so drunk she starts hitting on an appliance—a visionary appliance freeing bartenders from the strenuous labor of properly frothing a Ramos Gin Fizz. Styled in the tradition of Westinghouse’s Mr. Televox (“the perfect servant”), the iron man of ’33 anticipated Hammacher Schlemmer’s Perfect Martini Maker.
The first Golden Age of the automated potationist was the 1950s: In The Stars My Destination, the novelist Alfred Bester introduced a robot who served both cognac and epiphanies; in France, there debuted a model that resembled a gas pump and modulated the potency of your Martini according to its assessment of your drinking capacity. Charting the evolution of the robot bartender forward from the ’50s is akin to tracing the history of software technology. In 1973, early adopters were slipping in a punch card and then sipping Planter’s Punch. In 1984, they were knocking back vodka tonics with the aid of laser-disc software. In 2013, Google convention-goers downloaded to their phones a Makr Shakr app. In a perfect reflection of the ethos of the social Web, the app simultaneously enabled drinkers to express micro-specific personal preferences and encouraged them to create “crowd-sourced drink combinations” (which I’m guessing all turned out like Long Island Iced Teas). Where do we go from here?
Vienna. December will bring the 15th installment of Roboexotica, a “festival für cocktail-robotik” constituting a cyberpunk prelude to the ball season and a neo-Dadaist’s idea of a tech conference. Founded in 1999, the festival encourages semi-serious discourse on “the role of Cocktail Robotics as an index for the integration of technological innovations into the human Lebenswelt” and documents “the increasing occurrence of radical hedonism in man-machine communication.” I don’t know anything about the leading contenders for Roboexotica’s Annual Cocktail Robots Awards. But I am sure that in 2013 we are far, far away from that era when some cantinas wouldn’t even allow droids to enter.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prepares to board his aircraft at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, Nov. 2, 2013. Kerry is in Cairo pressing for reforms during the highest-level American visit to Egypt since the ouster of the country’s first democratically elected president. The Egyptian military’s removal of Mohammed Morsi in July led the U.S. to suspend hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. It seems the State Department expected a frosty reception for Kerry ahead of Monday’s scheduled start of Morsi’s trial on charges of inciting murder. (AP Photo/Jason Reed,Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prepares to board his aircraft at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, Nov. 2, 2013. Kerry is in Cairo pressing for reforms during the highest-level American visit to Egypt since the ouster of the country’s first democratically elected president. The Egyptian military’s removal of Mohammed Morsi in July led the U.S. to suspend hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. It seems the State Department expected a frosty reception for Kerry ahead of Monday’s scheduled start of Morsi’s trial on charges of inciting murder. (AP Photo/Jason Reed,Pool)
CAIRO (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry says that U.S.-Egypt relations should not be defined by assistance.
At a joint news conference following a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, Kerry said that the suspension of aid to Egypt is not a punishment. He was referring to the legal requirements for withholding more than $1 billion in assistance after the Egyptian military in July toppled the democratically elected government.
Kerry said the topic was mentioned only briefly in his meeting with Fahmy and that he believed Egyptian authorities understood that rationale.
Kerry made an unannounced trip to Egypt Sunday on the first leg of a nine-day trip to the Mideast and Europe. This is Kerry's first trip to Egypt since the military's action.
Apple's retail presence looks set to expand yet further, with a new report suggesting that the first store will open in Brazil by March of 2014. The location looks set to be Rio de Janeiro, according to multiple sources that passed the information to 9to5Mac:
The source says that Apple’s retail expansion into South America is a high priority, and the company will begin seeking Apple retail employees from its U.S. stores to relocate to Rio de Janeiro for several months in the first half of 2014. Apple is said to want the U.S. employees to work in the new store in order to demonstrate and teach Apple’s retail practices. These America-based employees will also serve as temporary employees that can assist customers during this time period.
Any opening set for March would be right before the massive influx of people headed to Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which would no doubts see an increased footfall through the store. The sources also indicated that the same store had been set to open in July of this year, but staffing problems cut that down.
The new store is set to be located in the Village Mall shopping center, and while further delays could still happen, with any luck Apple fans in Rio will have a store to call their own within the next 6 months. Any one out there in Rio excited for this?
In its third annual outing, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art threw one of L.A.’s most mogul- and star-studded bashes ever, hosting the likes of Bob Iger, Brad Grey, Leslie Moonves and Sumner Redstone, plus Robert Downey Jr., Jake Gyllenhaal, Warren Beatty, James Franco, and Drew Barrymore at its Art + Film Gala. The Gucci-sponsored event -- created by the museum to create linkages between the artist and filmmaker communities -- this year honored David Hockney and Martin Scorsese and raised $4.1 million, up $600,000 from 2012.
The night began with guests doing arrival photos in front of the museum’s celebrated Urban Light sculpture by Chris Burden, then continued with cocktails and Laurent-Perrier champagne inside the BP Grand Entrance where singer Dhani Harrison performed a short welcome set. The crowd then moved up to a specially constructed pavilion for dinner (by JoachimSplichal’s Patina), the honoree presentations and a performance by Sting. Among those getting into the commingling spirit of the evening was TV host Jimmy Kimmel who told The Hollywood Reporter, “People don't think of a guy like me as being an art lover. But I am. I love art and I love film. So I'm Mr. Art + Film.”
Before guests sat down, Leonardo DiCaprio -- the co-host of the event for the third year running with LACMA board member Eva Chow -- chatted with Tom Hanks at the bar and told him how glad he was that he could personally attend after missing last year’s bash. DiCaprio’s plus one for the night was Christie’s auctioneer Loic Gouzer, who organized the actor’s charity art auction earlier this year that raised $38 million for wildlife preservation.
“I honestly look forward to this event every year,” Hanks told THR. “And I can't say that about all the events I go to.” The room was filled with Gucci gowns on the likes of Zoe Saldana, Evan Rachel Wood, Kate Hudson, Dakota Johnson, Jane Fonda, Mary J. Blige, Amy Adams, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Salma Hayek (with husband Francois-Henri Pinault, CEO of Gucci parent company Kering), Kate Beckinsale and Olivia Wilde (with Jason Sudeikis, also in Gucci.)
LACMA CEO and director Michael Govan began the proceedings by noting that in the last few years, the museum has doubled its exhibition spaces and attendance, and pointing to the many film and film-related programs on offer and in the wings. Hockney’s new show, Seven Yorkshire Landscape Videos, 2011, opens today at the museum. “His latest great experiment is with film and he’s used multiple cameras, he’s actually recorded 18 different perspective of the same event,” said Govan of the new show which represents a return visit to Los Angeles for the English artist who did so much to make the California swimming pool and sunshine iconic after moving to L.A. in 1978. He decamped back to his home country a few years back.
LACMA is also the future site of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science’s Academy Museum (Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs was in attendance.) The museum has also completed a collaborative project with Scorsese’s Film Foundation and philanthropist Wallis Annenberg to restore four films that French film director Agnes Varda, also in attendance, made in California. The exhibit, Agnes Varda inCalifornialand, showcasing her photographs, also opens today. The involvement and presence of Scorsese underscored how far the museum’s come in rebuilding its film programming. In 2009, the director blasted Govan in an open letter after the museum announced it was scrapping its 40-year-old film-screening program. "Marty was very vocal when we announced that we were pausing our film program a few years ago during the economic meltdown,” acknowledged Govan. “When he learned that we really wanted to rebuild and expand our program, he was the first person who offered to help.”
Hockney was introduced by Teller of the magician team Penn & Teller and by a short film directed by Lucy Walker (Waste Land). “Thank you very much for the welcome back. I was only on location in England,” joked the artist after taking the stage. He recalled first arriving in Los Angeles in January 1964 “when they were just putting up this building and this museum had just been founded I think in 1955. It’s getting bigger and bigger as I should do. It’s the only encyclopedic museum in Southern California and deserves your support.”
DiCaprio paid tribute to Scorsese as a “master of his medium”, with whom, he noted, he’s done five movies, including the upcoming December release The Wolf of Wall Street. “When you walk into a museum like the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, you are faced with works of art that have been preserved over centuries and confronted with stories about history, culture and craft. Speaking with Martin Scorsese, you feel the exact same way because spending time with Marty is like stepping into a world-class film museum.”
After a short film by Concept Arts was presented showcasing his films and the cinema preservation work of his Film Foundation, the director recalled spending “so many hours” at LACMA in the 70s watching films. “it became a great education, it was an extraordinary place and I’m so pleased to see that the museum is affirming its commitment to the art of cinema.” Scorsese said it was an honor to share the evening with Hockney “whose work continues to inspire me over the years.” Even Taxi Driver, Scorsese noted, was influenced by Hockney’s work.
Both the artist and the director made individual pleas for appreciating and preserving their respective art forms: the still and the moving.
Said Hockney: “I would just like to close with a thought of a story about a film director who took as a secretary a person who used to work at the Chicago Art Institute and he said to her, ‘Well, don’t stop going to the Chicago Art Institute and looking at those pictures because those pictures don’t move, don’t talk, and last longer.”
The director in his turn extolled the magic of cinema, invoking classic scenes in such films as Notorious, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The Leopard (“Burt Lancaster pounding his hand down on the armchair at the ball when he realized that it’s over, his life has been lived”) and Three Times. “That’s only four examples and I could go on for many more but each of these very precious moments is realized not just in one image but a chain of images put together in such a way that they create the sensation of image captured within the flow of time. … For every movie that’s lost one of those elements, a word, a gesture, a remark, an exclamation, is lost. That’s for me why it’s so important to preserve it.”
Concluded Scorsese: “Cinema is necessary and please don’t forget it.”
The evening ended with a Gucci-clad Sting, introduced by the luxury house’s creative director Frida Giannini, performing a five-song set of “Message in a Bottle,” “Fields of Gold,” “Englishman in New York,” “Desert Rose,” and “Every Breath You Take.”
Among the other names in attendance were artists Doug Aitken, 2011 Art+Film Gala honoree John Baldessari, 2012 Art+Film Gala honoree Ed Ruscha, Urs Fischer, Mark Grotjahn, Alex Israel, Barbara Kruger, Sharon Lockhart, Catherine Opie, Diana Thater, James Welling and Lari Pittman.
Entertainment names on LACMA board of trustees who made the scene included: Willow Bay (with Iger), Colleen Bell, Brian Grazer (with girlfriend Veronica Smiley), Brad Grey (with wife Cassandra), Bobby Kotick, Bryan Lourd (with partner Bruce Bozzi), Carole Bayer Sager (with husband Bob Daly), Terry Semel, Viveca Paulin-Ferrell (with husband Will Ferrell) and Casey Wasserman (with wife Laura.)
Others spotted in the crowd included producer Lawrence Bender, Mary J. Blige, Jerry Bruckheimer, Warner Bros.’ Sue Kroll and Blair Rich, CAA’s Joel Lubin, Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher, director Gia Coppola, Fergie and Josh Duhamel, Modern Family creator Steve Levitan, PSY, John C. Reilly, Jeremy Renner, Wolfgang and Gelila Puck, Dreamworks Animation’s Bill Damaschke with John McIlwee, producer Christina Steinberg, entertainment attorney Alan Hergott and partner Curtis Shepard, China Chow, WME’s Christopher Donnelly (who reps Scorsese), Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn with wife Cindy, interior designer Windsor Smith, Hammer Museum director Ann Philbin, gallerist Tim Blum of Blum & Poe, former MOCA curator Paul Schimmel (now with gallery Hauser & Wirth), Netflix’s Ted Sarandos with wife Nicole Avant, collector Eugenio Lopez, philanthropist JamieTisch, Bob Newhart, producers and collector Bill and Maria Bell, entertainment attorney Jake Bloom with wife Ruth and Los Angeles County supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky with wife Barbara.
Said actor Michael B. Jordan of the scene: “Not sure I've ever seen a crowd like this -- every person here has some major entertainment or art world accomplishment/contribution. It blows my mind.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, center left, and wife Mary Pat Christie, stand together as they pose for a photograph with the Rutgers University mascot Scarlet Knight in Piscataway, N.J. Saturday, Nov. 2, 2013, as Christie makes a campaign stop before a football game against Temple. Christie will face Democratic candidate, Barbara Buono in an election Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, center left, and wife Mary Pat Christie, stand together as they pose for a photograph with the Rutgers University mascot Scarlet Knight in Piscataway, N.J. Saturday, Nov. 2, 2013, as Christie makes a campaign stop before a football game against Temple. Christie will face Democratic candidate, Barbara Buono in an election Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
New Jersey's gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono speaks during a visit to Montclair State University, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, in Montclair, N.J. Buono, Gov. Chris Christie's Democratic challenger ,spoke to reporters about how she would have been unable to attend college or law school without tuition assistance. Buono also said Gov. Christie has cut aid to higher education and that it has created a hardship for students in New Jersey, where average tuition is the nation's third-highest. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, center left, is mobbed by Rutgers University fans in Piscataway, N.J. Saturday, Nov. 2, 2013, as he makes a campaign stop before an NCAA college football game against Temple. Christie will face Democratic candidate, Barbara Buono in an election on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
HARRISON, N.J. (AP) — A second term all but assured, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is casting himself as an inclusive Republican who transcends political lines and a pragmatic leader whose results-oriented approach offers valuable lessons for dysfunctional party leaders in Washington.
"We need to send a message to all of America that the only way our state and our country gets better is if people work together across the aisle," Christie said during a rally in the campaign's waning days at an Elks Lodge packed with pro-Christie Democrats.
"My job is to be the CEO of this state, not to be some ideologue," he added.
It's a closing message that doubles as the opening argument for a prospective presidential run. But a resounding victory Tuesday in a Democratic-leaning state over a little-known and underfunded state senator, as polls suggest is likely, doesn't automatically translate into success at the national level.
Democrats and Republicans agree that Christie always was positioned to win big in his first re-election test. Challenger Barbara Buono has struggled to attract support from even her party's most devoted allies.
Signaling how little confidence she has inspired in the party, the Democratic Governors Association, which is designed to help Democrats win governor's races, spent less than $5,000 on the New Jersey contest while pouring more than $6 million into the Virginia election, also Tuesday.
Other would-be Christie critics shied away from New Jersey, giving the incumbent little resistance as he sells himself as an electable GOP leader with particular appeal among women and minorities, groups that Republicans elsewhere often struggle to attract. Christie's advisers suggest that would be his pitch during any future national campaign.
Beyond New Jersey, Democrats express regret that they didn't do more to highlight Christie's political warts, challenge his economic record in a state with high unemployment, and use the moment to exploit his vulnerabilities ahead of a possible national run.
Outside groups were reluctant to spend money on a race perceived as unwinnable for Democrats, particularly when there was a more competitive contest in Virginia.
"At no point in this race was there tension he might lose," said Bill Burton, who led the super political action committee devoted to President Barack Obama's re-election. "What you don't know is if his feet were really put to the fire, could he keep from lashing out?"
Christie tried to insulate himself from any real challenge from outside groups by spending big on advertising.
His campaign spent $11.5 million on television and radio ads through Election Day, compared with Buono's $2.1 million, according to SMG Delta, a Virginia-based firm that tracks political spending. The only other major player on television was Garden State Forward, a PAC formed by the state's largest teachers union, which spent almost $1.8 million against Christie.
Left-leaning groups that did engage struggled to make their criticisms stick.
"Chris Christie is not a moderate," said Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY's List, which works to elect Democratic women and argues that Christie, who opposes abortion rights, isn't good for women. "When you sell a false bill of goods, it is going to catch up with you."
Democrats complain that Christie skirted scrutiny for saddling taxpayers with a $24 million tab by scheduling two elections three weeks apart to avoid sharing the ballot with Democrat Corey Booker, who just joined the U.S. Senate.
They call attention to Christie's decision to use taxpayer dollars on a post-Superstorm Sandy advertising campaign that featured him in a starring role, and cite the questions that Mitt Romney's vice presidential checking team raised about the governor's medical history and early political career.
"As a Republican in New Jersey, you never get a free pass on anything," Christie said Sunday when asked about the lack of criticism from national Democratic groups.
Even with polls predicting a big victory, the Christie camp is trying to lower expectations in a state that Obama won by more than 17 points. Should Christie break the 50 percent mark, he would become the first Republican governor to do so in New Jersey since 1985.
A number of Democrats attended the Harrison rally Friday night.
"This is a blue town. This is a blue state," said Gina Davies, a lifelong Democrat who praised Christie's support for a local redevelopment project. "I like the fact that he makes tough decisions."
She's never supported a Republican before, but is willing to forgive Christie's positions on gay marriage and abortion — Christie opposes both. But she won't be so forgiving if he goes after the White House.
"I wouldn't vote for him for president," said Davies, a 33-year-old financial analyst, as she held a large Christie sign that proclaimed "Strong Leadership."
New study on neurodevelopmental effects of prenatal exposure to paracetamol
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
29-Oct-2013
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Contact: Julie Johansen julie.johansen@fhi.no Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is the most commonly used medicine in pregnancy, yet there are very few studies that have investigated the possible long-term consequences for the child. A new study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health suggests that long-term use of paracetamol during pregnancy may increase the risk of adverse effects on child development.
The study uses data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study to investigate the effect of paracetamol during pregnancy on psychomotor development, behaviour and temperament at 3 years of age. Almost 3000 sibling pairs were included in the study.
The study is a collaboration between the University of Oslo, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, and was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology 25th October 2013.
Results
By comparing children who were exposed to paracetamol during pregnancy with unexposed siblings of the same sex, researchers could control for a variety of genetic and environmental factors, in addition to other important factors such as infections, fever, use of other medications, alcohol intake and smoking.
The study shows that children who had been exposed to paracetamol for more than 28 days of pregnancy had poorer gross motor skills, poor communication skills and more behavioural problems compared with unexposed siblings.
The same trend was seen with paracetamol taken for less than 28 days, but this was weaker.
To investigate whether the underlying illness could be the cause of the effect on the children, and not paracetamol itself, the researchers examined a different type of analgesic with another type of mechanism of action (ibuprofen). The researchers did not find any similar long-term effects after use of ibuprofen.
Need for more research
"The results strengthen our concern that long-term use of paracetamol during pregnancy may have an adverse effect on child development, but that occasional use for short periods is probably not harmful to the foetus. Importantly, we cannot assume that there is a causal relationship between maternal use of paracetamol during pregnancy and adverse effects in children from an epidemiological study. Since this is the only study to show this, there is a need for further research to confirm or refute these results," says Professor Hedvig Nordeng.
Nordeng is a professor at the School of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, and is also affiliated as a researcher at the Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
"The findings support the advice of medical authorities; the first choice for pain is paracetamol, but one should be restrictive with all medicine use in pregnancy," says Nordeng.
The Norwegian Medicines Agency advises pregnant women about the medicines they should use during pregnancy.
The Norwegian Directorate of Health is responsible for the national guidelines for antenatal care in Norway, which includes the use of medicines in pregnancy.
###
About the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study
The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health began recruiting pregnant women in 1999. The fathers were also invited. In 2008, the goal was reached - over 100,000 pregnancies were included. Biological samples and questionnaire data have been collected since week 17 of pregnancy which makes the study unique. The purpose of this study is to find causes of diseases.
Reference
Brandlistuen RE, Ystrom E, Nulman I, Koren G, Nordeng H. (2013) Prenatal paracetamol Exposure and Child Neurodevelopment: A sibling-controlled cohort study. International Journal of Epidemiology
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New study on neurodevelopmental effects of prenatal exposure to paracetamol
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
29-Oct-2013
[
| E-mail
]
Share
Contact: Julie Johansen julie.johansen@fhi.no Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is the most commonly used medicine in pregnancy, yet there are very few studies that have investigated the possible long-term consequences for the child. A new study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health suggests that long-term use of paracetamol during pregnancy may increase the risk of adverse effects on child development.
The study uses data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study to investigate the effect of paracetamol during pregnancy on psychomotor development, behaviour and temperament at 3 years of age. Almost 3000 sibling pairs were included in the study.
The study is a collaboration between the University of Oslo, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, and was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology 25th October 2013.
Results
By comparing children who were exposed to paracetamol during pregnancy with unexposed siblings of the same sex, researchers could control for a variety of genetic and environmental factors, in addition to other important factors such as infections, fever, use of other medications, alcohol intake and smoking.
The study shows that children who had been exposed to paracetamol for more than 28 days of pregnancy had poorer gross motor skills, poor communication skills and more behavioural problems compared with unexposed siblings.
The same trend was seen with paracetamol taken for less than 28 days, but this was weaker.
To investigate whether the underlying illness could be the cause of the effect on the children, and not paracetamol itself, the researchers examined a different type of analgesic with another type of mechanism of action (ibuprofen). The researchers did not find any similar long-term effects after use of ibuprofen.
Need for more research
"The results strengthen our concern that long-term use of paracetamol during pregnancy may have an adverse effect on child development, but that occasional use for short periods is probably not harmful to the foetus. Importantly, we cannot assume that there is a causal relationship between maternal use of paracetamol during pregnancy and adverse effects in children from an epidemiological study. Since this is the only study to show this, there is a need for further research to confirm or refute these results," says Professor Hedvig Nordeng.
Nordeng is a professor at the School of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, and is also affiliated as a researcher at the Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
"The findings support the advice of medical authorities; the first choice for pain is paracetamol, but one should be restrictive with all medicine use in pregnancy," says Nordeng.
The Norwegian Medicines Agency advises pregnant women about the medicines they should use during pregnancy.
The Norwegian Directorate of Health is responsible for the national guidelines for antenatal care in Norway, which includes the use of medicines in pregnancy.
###
About the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study
The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health began recruiting pregnant women in 1999. The fathers were also invited. In 2008, the goal was reached - over 100,000 pregnancies were included. Biological samples and questionnaire data have been collected since week 17 of pregnancy which makes the study unique. The purpose of this study is to find causes of diseases.
Reference
Brandlistuen RE, Ystrom E, Nulman I, Koren G, Nordeng H. (2013) Prenatal paracetamol Exposure and Child Neurodevelopment: A sibling-controlled cohort study. International Journal of Epidemiology
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Crying babies, Win Butler's Kanye moment, a faked double suicide, face painting, a makeup-free Lady Gaga in plaid and a trucker's cap. There were all kinds of unexpected moments on the first YouTube Music Awards, as imagined by Spike Jonze and carried off by the odd couple hosts Jason Schwartzman and Reggie Watts.
Eminem, Taylor Swift and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were among the winners during Sunday night's live webcast from New York. But the awards were sort of beside the point as Jonze and others directed live videos with Eminem, Gaga, M.I.A. and rapper Earl Sweatshirt, and Schwartzman and Watts careened about the soundstage with only notecards to point the way.
Eminem was named artist of the year before performing a word-perfect version of his new lung-busting tour de force "Rap God," filmed in black and white. Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" won YouTube phenomenon and Macklemore and Lewis won YouTube breakthrough.
Actress Gina Gerwig kicked the awards off as the protagonist of a live video of Arcade Fire's "Afterlife," directed by Jonze. Gerwig appears to break up with her boyfriend, then expresses the emotions she's feeling in an interpretive dance that moves from apartment to forest to soundstage with a little visual trickery.
A short while later Schwartzman and Watts admitted they would be working the 90-minute show without a script — with just notecards standing between them and awkward pauses and brief technical difficulties.
"This is all about anything happening," Schwartzman said, and it sort of did.
Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler stepped into the shot to take photos with his iPhone, the show's hosts ran through the crowd a few times, climbed a ladder, participated in face-painting, performed not one but two improvised songs and in the show's most awkward moment carried babies through the crowd and tried to interview Macklemore and Lewis as they cried.
"So do we get to keep the babies?" Macklemore asked.
Schwartzman said the night was about creativity, and it certainly was creative.
Earl Sweatshirt and fellow rapper Tyler, the Creator, performed their song "Sasquatch" in the midst of a mosh pit, using hand-held cameras to relay the frenetic experience. Lady Gaga went the opposite way, performing her new song "Dope" wearing just a black cap, sunglasses and a plaid shirt. She sat alone at a piano, with the camera tight on her face. She removed the glasses to reveal tears on her face as she sang.
Avicii played the dumb hot guy part in a short film that concluded with a blood-spattered faked double suicide and Butler made a return to the stage when he jokingly interrupted as a group of Swift fans accepted her award, recreating the infamous moment when Kanye West rushed the stage during Swift's win at the MTV Video Music Awards.
"Not Taylor Swift," Butler said. "I'm gonna let you finish. Not Taylor Swift. The YouTube phenomenon of the year was definitely the 'Harlem Shake.' I don't know. No disrespect, but everybody knows that if you've ever been on YouTube, so whatever." He then dropped the mic and walked off stage.
Other winners included Girls' Generation, DeStorm and Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix.
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Online:
http://youtube.com
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Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott.
NEW YORK – The paramount requirement for any revue celebrating the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and ‘30s is stated right there in the Duke Ellington standard, “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).” And After Midnight has it in abundance, courtesy of a superlative jazz orchestra handpicked by producer Wynton Marsalis from among the best in the business. Ninety minutes of exuberantly entertaining song and dance, this is a show that renders it impossible to keep your toes from tapping. Up first in a series of rotating special guest stars, Fantasia Barrino with her luscious vocals sets the bar high.
Conceived by Jack Viertel, the elegant production was hatched out of Cotton Club Parade, a collaboration by two New York concert organizations, City Center Encores! and Jazz at Lincoln Center, where Marsalis serves as artistic director. After earning rapturous reviews in its initial 2011 run of six sold-out performances, the show was reprised last year and has now evolved into this more elaborate retitled Broadway version.
It follows in the dancing footsteps of musical revues such as Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Sophisticated Ladies, which recreated the Jazz Age variety shows that drew crowds to legendary Harlem nightspots like the Cotton Club and the Savoy Ballroom. While music supervisor Daryl Waters, working with Marsalis, has returned to many of the original Ellington arrangements, the white-hot syncopated rhythms also acquire an understated contemporary edge, both through the performers and the look of the show. A key component of this modern spin on period high-style are the fabulous costumes by Cuban-born fashion designer Isabel Toledo, who has collected enough bugle beads, sequins, feathers and shimmy fringes to outfit a flapper army.
Unlike most jukebox musicals, which impose an artificial story construct to thread the songs together, After Midnight economically sets the time and place with a few evocative excerpts from the poetry of Langston Hughes, a defining voice of the Harlem Renaissance. Those are read by Dule Hill as the evening’s Host. The actor also participates in a handful of numbers, notably a breezy “I’ve Got the World on a String,” in which red balloons on white ribbons show that sometimes the simplest devices can yield stage magic. Hill’s fellow cast members outclass him in terms of their energy level and musicality, but he’s a charming presence.
While there are definite headliners, this is very much an ensemble show. Director-choreographer Warren Carlyle gives everyone a chance to share the spotlight, which arguably shines brightest on the 16 musicians perched onstage on a moving big-band platform.
The vocal harmonies of a seductive female trio (Carmen Ruby Floyd, Rosena M. Hill Jackson and Bryonha Marie Parham) on “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” are sublime, enlivened by a mischievous strain of sassy humor. Floyd also has a standout moment later on with her insanely sultry warbling on Ellington’s “Creole Love Call.”
The guys are no slouches either. Daniel J. Watts and Phillip Attmore duet on “Happy As the Day is Long,” selling the sheer joy of the song’s title in their tap-dance break, while Everett Bradley, Cedric Neal, Monroe Kent III and T. Oliver Reid harmonize up an ebullient riot, subbing for The Mills Brothers on “Diga Diga Doo.” Bradley also leads the spirited vocals with great comic verve on Ellington’s “Peckin’,” capping off a precision-tooled formation dance featuring five guys in top hats and tails.
Some of the ensemble dance numbers show the limitations of Carlyle’s choreography, which mimics the vernacular of the era well enough but could use an extra shot or two of inventiveness. What he does do well is smoothly integrate a smattering of contemporary elements – breakdance, moonwalk, hip-hop – to suggest the vintage roots of those moves.
The dance highlights tend to come from the specialty soloists. Watching Julius “iGlide”Chisolm’s slippy-slidey elasticity in a dance-off with Virgil “Lil’O”Gadson’s buoyant athleticism is exhilarating. Likewise, the tap virtuosity of Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards and the dazzling Jared Grimes, whose locomotive “Tap Mathematician” routine quickens the pulse as the finale approaches. As she demonstrated in TwylaTharp’s Sinatra show Come Fly Away, KarinePlantadit’s combination of muscularity and grace is mesmerizing. But it seems a crime for a dancer known as much for her magnificent golden ‘fro as her superhuman leg extensions to be stuck in a stiff blonde bob that cramps her style. However, that’s just nitpicking.
One of the biggest surprises here is the star attraction. Broadway purists like to be sniffy about American Idol discoveries and their melisma-heavy vocal stunts. But Fantasia proved an exception – with solid acting chops to boot – when she stepped confidently into the lead role in The Color Purple in 2007. While her shoulder tattoo art is out-of-period, her performance here plunges into the jazz-blues vocal styles of another era, evoking everyone from Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday to Lena Horne and Ella Fitzgerald on such standards as “Stormy Weather,” “On the Sunny Side of the Street” and “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.” She even gives a rousing nod to Cab Calloway on “Zaz Zuh Zaz,” with Bradley and the guys answering her scat call-and-response from the box seats. Fantasia’s vocal skills are no secret, but she also nails the period moves and attitudes with supreme finesse, playing the baby doll in one breath and the torchy siren in the next. And she looks gorgeous in Toledo’s knockout gowns.
The indisputable scene-stealer of After Midnight, however, is the marvelous Adriane Lenox, a Tony-winner for Doubt. Sly, sexy humor ripples through this entire show, but nowhere more so than in Lenox’s two numbers. She summons Ethel Waters from the grave in “Go Back Where You Stayed Last Night,” slamming the door shut on a philandering man; and her rendition of the Sippie Wallace song, “Women Be Wise,” is a comedic revelation, effortlessly finding laughs in that bluesy cautionary lesson that may never have previously existed. Gulping hooch and shaking her bony limbs like an inveterate juke-joint floozy, Lenox alone makes this a party you don’t want to miss. It’s jazz heaven.
Venue: Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York (runs indefinitely)
Cast: Fantasia Barrino, Dule Hill, Adriane Lenox, Karine Plantadit, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Julius “iGlide” Chisolm, Virgil “Lil’O” Gadson, Jared Grimes, Marijah Abney, Phillip Attmore, Everett Bradley, Christopher Broughton, Taeler Elyse Cyrus, C.K. Edwards, Carmen Ruby Floyd, Bahiyah Hibah, Rosena M. Hill Jackson, Monroe Kent III, Erin N. Moore, Cedric Neal, Bryonha Marie Parham, T. Oliver Reid, Desmond Richardson, Monique Smith, Daniel J. Watts
Director-choreographer: Warren Carlyle
Conceived by Jack Viertel
Text: Langston Hughes
Set designer: John Lee Beatty
Lighting designer: Howell Binkley
Costume designer: Isabel Toledo
Sound designer: Peter Hylenski
Orchestrations: Larry Hochman
Music supervisor: Daryl Waters
Presented by Scott Sander Productions, Wynton Marsalis, Roy Furman, Candy Spelling, Starry Night Entertainment, Hal Newman, Allan S. Gordon/Adam S. Gordon, James L. Nederlander, Robert K. Kraft, Catherine & Fred Adler, Robert Appel, Jeffrey Bolton, Scott M. Delman, James Fantaci, Ted Liebowitz, Stephanie P. McClelland, Sandy Block, Carol Fineman, in association with Marks-Moore Turnbull Group, Stephen & Ruth Hendel, Tom Kirdahy
Can YouTube create live content that inspires watercooler zeitgeist moments like television? Google’s giving it a shot with the YouTube Music Awards, a celebration of do-it-yourself Internet culture livestreaming on YouTube right now. It’s chaotic, innovative, offensive, silly, and downright weird. But one thing’s for sure. You won’t see this on TV.
Creative director Spike Jonze’s goal with the the YouTube Music Awards was to create “live music videos” on stage with artists like The Arcade Fire and Lady Gaga. You can read the New York Times’ piece on the lead up to the YouTube Music Awards for more context on the production and its intention.
Judging by the concurrent viewer number shown on the livestream (hovering around 175,000 with a peak at 220,000 during Lady Gaga’s performance) the show isn’t a runaway hit. But we’ll have to wait and see whether people take advantage of the option to watch the show on YouTube later.
We’ll have more analysis after the event ends but for now, here’s our live blog:
5:45 EST - Rather than awkward red carpet footage, viewers showing up early are being greeted with behind-the-scenes interviews and clips of how the New York City production came together.
6:00 – With little fanfare, hosts Jason Schwartzman (actor from Rushmore) and Reggie Watts (improv musician and comedian) have kicked off the first YouTube Music Awards. The microphones are bit quiet signaling this won’t be the highest production value affair.
6:03 – For the first live music video, actress Greta Gerwig is dancing out her breakout woes to a new tune from Arcade Fire. The traditionally very serious band doesn’t quite mesh with the funny faces and spaz-out dance moves Gerwig is tossing around.
6:05 – The hosts are already fumbling over themselves trying to keep the chaotic program on the rails. They introduce a sprawling medley of YouTube hits sung by tribute musicians and viral video stars like Walk Off The Earth (a whole band who plays covers by simultaneously playing a single guitar) and Tay Zonday of “Chocolate Rain” fame. It’s ridiculous and campy, but the middle-school dance squad doing “What Does The Fox Say” was cute.
6:15 – The first YouTube Music Award for YouTube Breakthrough goes to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis for their “Thrift Shop” video. Macklemore tells the crowd they shot the video for just $5,000 with a bunch of their friends, highlighting the democratizing nature of YouTube. And in the first moment proving this is not television, after thanking his family and fiance, Macklemore thanks “the guy who used to sell me shrooms.”
6:25 – Lady Gaga draws the biggest audience of the night with a stripped down performance of her new song “Dope”, taking advantage of the lack of censors to sing “I know I fucked up again because I lost my only friend.” Instead of her typical sensational costumes, she’s keeping it real in a flannel button up and baseball cap. With tears seeming to build behind her eyes, Gaga provides the most compelling moment of the evening when she cries out “I need you more than dope!”
6:30 – In one of many strange gimmicks, Schwartzman and Watts have to dig the name of the winner of the “Response Of The Year” award out of a set of birthday cakes. It goes to pop violinist Lindsey Stirling & Pentatonix for their cover of Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive”. Sterling says “I owe everything about my success to YouTube. YouTube let me be true to my passion…true to myself.”
6:35 – Tyler The Creator of Odd Future (not A$AP Rocky as we originally wrote) and Earl Sweatshirt shoot a live music video by rapping from inside a rowdy moshpit.
6:40 – The most artistically successful part of the evening saw Lindsey Sterling flying on wires through a lightning-struck city scape. Her music gives the impression of hurdling through space and Jonze captured it vividly.
6:45 - The discombobulating nature of the event is starting to make it feel grating. When Taylor Swift song “I Knew You Were Trouble” wins the YouTube Phenomenon award for inspiring the most fan videos, Arcade Fire lead singer Win Butler comes out and “steals” the microphone, mimicking Kanye West’s famous interruption of a Taylor Swift award speech year ago. Butler announces that obviously “Harlem Shake” should have won. It all feels a bit canned.
6:50 – Korean girl group Girls’ Generation wins Video Of The Year. Their “I Got A Boy” video seems pretty boring and has had little domestic notoriety despite racking up 70 million+ views. It seems like an obvious nod to YouTube’s international audience.
7:00 – MIA performs “Come Walk With Me” in psychedelic LED tunnel. Difficulty capturing the lights on camera detracted from what was probably quite dazzling in person.
7:10 – Eminem inexplicably wins “Artist Of The Year” despite his new album not being released until later this week. He beat out musicians who were actually huge this year like Justin Bieber and PSY, whose “Gangnam Style” now has 1.8 billion views.
7:15 – Well isn’t that convenient. Eminem is the closing performance for the show…except he’s nowhere to be found. YouTube quickly pipes in a jagged set of “highlight” clips from the show, followed by Reggie Watts freestyling to kill time. When Eminem appears five minutes later, his performance of “Rap God” is a middling attempt at higher brow art shot in black and white in a blank soundstage.
7:25 – That’s all folks. Schwartzman and Watts seem to have completely run out of things to say as they close the show, with Watts thanking his home state of Montana. The last meaningful thing uttered before the stream cuts off was Spike Jonze saying thanking YouTube “for letting us make this mess.” Accurate.
So Did It Work?
The YouTube Music Awards was fun to watch. The entertainment oscillated between coming from appreciation for great musicians, being impressed by the artistic vision of the whole production, and cringe-worthy scenes when everything seemed ready fall apart. It was anything but boring, which is a huge improvement on the multi-hour Grammys. And it didn’t run gags into the ground like the MTV Video Music Awards.
What was noticeably absent was the practically infinite money of Google. Keeping with the homemade style of much of its content, the hosted interludes between segments were rough around the edges. Cursing, drug references, and the breakneck pace kept it feeling young and fresh.
Still, the YouTube Music Awards could have been much better. The Eminem show lacked inspiration, and though Tyler The Creator’s performance captured the aggression of his music, it looked like a crappy concert video you’d shoot yourself. Unrehearsed chit-chat and mediocre cinematography made it less than spellbinding.
Crystallizing the chaos, at one pointa stagehand (seen below in the middle back) had to come out on stage and tell Schwartzman and Watts they only had 20 more seconds of dead air to fill because Eminem was finally ready to go on.
Some in the YouTube creator community blasted the show for focusing on major label musicians rather than the stars who made their names on YouTube itself. Sterling did win an award and perform, and Destorm, another YouTube celeb also took home a play button statue, but it was the radio stars who got the top slots.
The biggest problem may be that the show lacked a “must-see/must-tweet” moment. There was no Britney Spears-Madonna kiss, Kanye West controversy, or jaw-dropping dance number. YouTube could have done more to engineer something blogworthy.
If you wanted an off-the-cuff, lo-fi awards show, YouTube delivered. It was fun, full of surprises and ambition. If you wanted something to rival television glitz like the MTV Video Music Awards or Grammys, you’re gonna have to give YouTube some time to get its act together.
But if YouTube can do this well already, the TV networks have something to worry about. Google doesn’t demand perfection, it demands progress, and the YouTube Music Awards made television look dated.
Sarafian, who earned his spot on the finale after three consecutive wins on the reality show last year, was pulled out of UFC 147 with an injury, and Sergio Moraes took his place against Cezar Ferreira. Moraes, who suffered a devastating knockout against Sarafian in the semifinal, ended up losing to Ferreira via decision.
Ferreira and Sarafian will finally meet at UFC Fight Night 32, 16 months after the final, but the reality show is in the past for Sarafian.
"He fought and became the champion," Sarafian told MMAFighting.com. "I fought once in the UFC and lost, and then I fought again and won the right to fight against the TUF Brazil champion. It’s wonderful to me.
"Defeating him would mean just a step ahead for me, and that’s it. He’s the TUF winner and it won’t change anything. TUF died that night. That fight was a relief for me because TUF became the past after that."
Sarafian suffered a close decision loss to CB Dollaway in his UFC debut last January. He then submitted Eddie Mendez to earn his first win inside the Octagon on June, and looks ready to add another win to his record on November.
"I heard millions of people saying I would have beaten him that night, others said I would have lost," he said. "And then millions of people asking when we would finally fight and I was tired of this. Now, the fight is on and we will finally see who wins, and TUF has nothing to do with this."
Sarafian and Ferreira used to train together at TUF: Brazil 1 when they both fought for Vitor Belfort’s team, and he doesn’t seem to worry about his former teammate’s weapons.
"He is a tall fighter, but that doesn’t say much," he said. "I’ve fought a lot of taller guys and won. He’s a good athlete, dedicated, has good wrestling, striking and jiu-jitsu. But so do I. But it’s hard to analyze someone, so I will analyze myself going into this fight. Get ready (Ferreira), because I will be ready."
Remember that night when you and your friends discovered how to “draw” with your camera’s long exposure function?
You started out simple, piercing the dark with a cheap handheld flashlight as you traced a terrible rendition of your name through the air. You were hardly halfway through the last letter of your name before you were running over to the camera to see if it worked. You, like many a bored digital camera owner before you, had discovered light painting.
Pixelstick takes that concept to a pretty ridiculous extreme.
As its name implies, Pixelstick is… a stick of pixels.
More specifically, the Pixelstick is a 6’ bar containing 198 full color LEDs. At the core of Pixelstick is a simple brain: a handheld controller, an SD card reader, and a bit of lightweight circuitry to parse images pulled from the card.
Pixelstick displays those images just one vertical line at a time. To the naked eye, it’s a mess of flashing color. Move it slowly in front of the open aperture of a camera during a long exposure, however, and each pixel becomes a paint stroke. Flash by flash, your ethereal imagery is burned onto your shot.
While that in itself would be quite cool, things start to get really trippy when you bring in animation. You can load up a bunch of sequential images onto the SD card, then use the handbox to switch between them as you shoot a series of photos. If you havent already, check out the video above for some particularly impressive examples. Oh, and the pixelstick can be unlocked and spun around its handle, allowing for all sorts of crazy experiments in spirography.
Pixelstick set out to raise $110,000 on Kickstarter, a goal which they pretty much immediately destroyed. Just 4 days into the campaign, they’ve already more than doubled that (at the time of publishing, they’d raised just over $245,000.) Alas, the cheapest tier to actually come with a Pixelstick — the $250 “Early Bird” package — has long since sold out; at this point, you’ll need to drop at least $300.
(If you pick one of these up, you’ll probably want to drop some more cash for a set of rechargable batteries, while you’re at it. It takes 8 AA batteries at a time, and the team says they can chew through those in a night or two)
2013 iPad buyers guide: How to pick the perfect Smart Cover or Smart Case for your iPad Air!
Along with the brand new iPad Air, Apple has also released two different accessories designed to protect and preserve it - Smart Covers and Smart Cases. Smart Covers attach via magnets and protect only the screen. Smart Cases wrap around and protect both the back and the screen. The cover leaves more exposed, but is lighter and sleeker. The cover keeps more safe, but at the expense of added bulk. So, if you've got an iPad Air, and you're interested in one of Apple's accessories, which one should you get - Smart Cover or Smart Case?
iPad 4 Smart Cover vs. iPad Air Smart Cover
Apple has changed the way full sized Smart Covers work with the iPad Air. Previously, from the iPad 2 to the iPad 4, the full-sized iPad Smart Cover had a metal hinge that hooked onto the iPad along the long, left edge, and four folds that could be rolled up into a typing or viewing stand. With the iPad Air Smart Cover, Apple has gone the way last year's iPad mini Smart Cover. The metal hinge is now covered by the material, and the four folds have been reduced to three.
When standing, the change results in a less upright angle - the iPad Air leans back more than the iPad 4 did with its version of the Smart Cover.
The difference isn't as noticeable when in the typing position. Both the iPad Air and iPad 4 present similar angles.
The change from 4 to 3 folds is a mixed bag. It results in a simpler, pyramid structure with no overlap, but at the same time it seems a little less secure. If you're careful, the end result is the same. If you're rushed, the tri-fold can be a little more difficult to nail immediately.
The metal hinge on the original full-sized Smart Cover was nice, but it did cause scratches for some people, both on their iPad's edge, and on other gear - like laptops - they may have in the same pocket of their bag.
Overall, the iPad Air Smart Cover feels like an improvement over the original Smart Cover, but one with its fair share of caveats.
iPad Air Smart Cover vs. Smart Case
Both the Smart Cover and Smart Case are extremely well built and are lined with micro fiber to help keep your iPad Air safe and clean. The two major differences between the Smart Cover and the Smart Case are these: The Smart Cover is made of polyurethane and protects only the screen. The Smart Case is made of aniline-dyed leather and also protects the iPad Air's sides and back. The Smart Cover comes in black, pink, yellow, blue, green, and - exclusive to Apple Stores - (PRODUCT) RED. The Smart Case comes in brown, beige, black, yellow, blue, and (PRODUCT) RED.
The black, blue, yellow, and red look universally good. The beige, like with the iPhone 5s case, is too fleshy for my tastes. Brown and pink look just okay.
The viewing angles, when standing, are fairly similar between Smart Cover and Smart Case, though my Smart Cover did recline to a greater degree.
Typing angle between the iPad Air Smart Cover and Smart Case were likely similar.
The protection provided to the back of the iPad Air by the Smart Case is nice, including the embossed Apple logo which only Apple is legally allowed to put on accessories, of course.
However, the Smart Case also adds considerable bulk compared to the Smart Cover. Because it's covering both sides, it makes the overall package thicker.
The iPad Air Smart Case does feel like it fits better, both in terms of sizing and magnetic seal, than the overly floppy iPad 3/4 Smart Case Apple released in June of 2012.
But the cost of protection is inevitably size.
Who should get the iPad Air Smart Cover?
You can go completely naked for even less bulk, or use a protective film, but the Smart Cover is an excellent compromise of good looks, good protection, and good functionality. If all you want to do is protect the screen of your iPad Air, that's easily removable, without a lot of bulk, but with the ability to stand it up for typing or viewing, you want the Smart Cover.
Who should get the iPad Air Smart Case?
There will no doubt be full on armor cases for the iPad Air, ironic as that might sound, and soon. However, if you like the Smart Cover-style magnetic closure and roll-up stand, but really don't want to risk any damage to the back of your tablet, you want the Smart Case.
Know what you're getting?
If you've made your choice, here's where to go to buy online, including some alternatives offered by Amazon.
If you're really stuck between a cover and a hard case, head on over to your local Apple Store or authorize reseller and check out both in person. Also be sure to hit up the iMore iPad Accessory Forum with any questions you might have. It's filled with expert help, and the best community discussion on the net.
Once you've decided between the iPad Air Smart Cover, Smart Case, something else, or nothing at all, let me know!
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