One of the things on my bucket list is to go on a spooky haunted tour. Locations like Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and New Orleans, Louisiana, are known for guiding curious tourists through the haunted portions of their cities. The Stanley Hotel, in Estes Park, Colorado, offers its own ghost tours, and it’s got the history to back up its claims. It’s more than 100 years old, and people have been talking about its spooky atmosphere since the beginning. In 1980, Stephen King famously stayed at the Stanley Hotel and had nightmares after realizing his family was the only one in the entire 142-rooms. It directly inspired “The Shining.” Youtube / Inside Edition The television shows “Ghost Hunters” and “Ghost Adventures” have also have filmed there due to the high paranormal activity. Youtube / Inside Edition The Stanley Hotel itself embraces its reputation and offers haunted tours on the grounds. Youtube / Inside Edition <div class="llcust" data-lltype="video" id="ll_59eaac6696b42" data-source=" Youtube / Inside Edition Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/stanley-hotel/
To be fair, Christopher Mintz-Plasse looks a lot different than he did back then. Read more: http://www.wimp.com/guy-holding-a-mclovin-sign-doesnt-notice-hes-standing-next-to-the-real-mclovin/
Google’s taking on an ambitious global initiative — using technology to expose, map and disrupt illicit networks of drug smugglers, arms dealers and human traffickers. The tech giant is hosting its second annual summit, this time called the Illicit Networks: Forces in Opposition (INFO), in Los Angeles on Tuesday and Wednesday. The INFO summit will focus on how technology can expose and disable these illegal networks. In attendance will be tech leaders, Googlers, government officials and survivors. Google says it’s been working with frontline fighter groups to gain an understanding of how these criminal trades function. The summit is part of Google Ideas — the “think/do tank” the company launched in Oct. 2010 to tackle some of the world’s toughest problems. The search giant wrote in a blog post Tuesday that it plans to take on illicit networks, expanding from its first challenge, counter-radicalization. Included in the conversations of these networks, are organ harvesting, arms trading and drug smuggling. Google hosted a Summit Against Violent Extremism one year ago, bringing together former right-wing extremists, jihadists, gang members, militants and survivors. The illegal trade of goods is no small problem, representing a trillion-dollar industry and claiming hundreds of thousands of lives annually. This year’s summit is a joint initiative from Google, the Tribeca Film Festival and the Council on Foreign Relations. Google cites a 2003 U.N. estimate that the illegal drug trade alone is worth $320 billion, totaling more than the gross domestic product of 88% of countries. It also points to the more than 50,000 causualties of the ongoing drug cartel war in Mexico over the past five years. As for specific ways Google plans to use technology to disrupt illicit networks, we’ll have to wait until the conference concludes to find out. Google doesn’t highlight any particular technologies it’s using to try to bring an end to criminal business activities. Do you have any ideas about how Google can use technology to expose illegal practices? What would you like to see come out of this summit? Let us know in the comments. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/07/17/google-drug-cartels/
Even if you don’t have a baby, you know that there are numerous “remedies” to stop them from crying. Whether it’s going for a drive, singing, or playing classical music, we’ve all heard some kind of wive’s tale on how to calm cries. The problem with these remedies is that they don’t work 100% of the time on 100% of babies. Until now. This pediatrician has a method to stop your baby from crying that seems fool-proof. Watch how easily he can comfort a whining baby — he even does it multiple times to prove how effective it is! Wow! Look how easy that was. Try it with your little babe the next time they are having a fit. Hopefully it works for you, all you have to do is shake that little booty. Turn it into a fun little dance! Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/crying-baby/
Product Name: The Impossible Instant LabPrice: $299Who would like this? Retro photographers, lovers of good design and anyone who still decorates their fridge/desk/walls with prints. Digital photography has decimated film, but that doesn’t mean no one likes to print photo anymore. Now we’re just more selective — it used to be that you needed to print out all your photos to get just the one or two you really wanted. Now photo printers and printing services let us get prints on demand. That’s great, but for those who like the look of analog film, prints from ultra-precise inkjets and laser printers can sometimes lack flavor. That’s why a group of people launched the Impossible Project in 2008. After a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2012, the company brought to market its Impossible Lab: a curious-looking tabletop gadget that turns your iPhone photos into prints — analog, instant prints. Image: Impossible Lab, Kickstarter The lab can do this because of the work Impossible put into creating instant prints that works just like the old Polaroid ones, which ceased production in 2008. Keep that in mind if you buy the Lab as a gift — the owner will need to occasionally replenish the film supply at $20-$25 a pop. To anyone who appreciates the retro feeling of Polaroids, though, that’s a small price to pay. Paired with the iOS app, the Lab (which is battery-powered for easy portability) will pop out an instant print of any iPhone photo, which will develop in seconds once it ejects. Just hearing that click and whir will certainly bring back fond memories for lots of people. The lab folds up and is light enough (just a pound) to throw in a bag, so you can even take it to parties to show off your retro chic. For novelty’s sake along, this is a great gift for anyone who appreciates history — and great design. Image: Impossible Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/12/14/impossible-lab/
Looked at objectively, the images on Samsung’s curved, Ultra HD TV sets do live up to their name. When Samsung streams custom-made 4K content, which is four times more detailed than 1080p, on any of the sets (which range from 55-inches to a room-swallowing 105-inches), the effect is surreal (or perhaps, “hyper real”). However 4K content is still in short supply, even with all the 20th Century Fox content Samsung is promising to deliver on a 1 terabyte drive ($299). What about Joe T.V. Watcher, sitting at home with his HD feed from the local cable company? How will his picture look? We posed that question and a few others on some pressing issues facing the next big wave of HD TV technology to Samsung SVP Joe Stinziano, who spoke to Mashable shortly after the company gave a closer and more detailed look at its upcoming Ultra HD TV line, including a group of curved displays, some new 4K content options and a few new sound devices. Stinziano was also, famously, Michael Bay’s counterpart at the CES keynote that will go down in history. Standing in the cavernous Guggenheim Museum atrium, right above where Stinziano made his presentation to press, the Samsung exec promised that, thanks to some pretty intense upscaling technology, the 1080i content from your cable or fiber company will actually look better on Samsung’s UHD TVs. That sounds great. Of course, there’s no way for us to know if that’s true (Samsung has never shown the sets running a standard HD feed) until we get a UHD TV in at Mashable HQ and hook it up to a Time Warner Cable feed. Image: Mashable, Christina Ascani Stinziano also shared the based prices for the smallest UHD TV, a 55-inch $2,500 model and talked a bit about the sound limitations of these ultra-thing devices. Samsung spent some time on Thursday talking about the Shape sound system it introduced last year (they have a new design option) and the new Sound Stand, a 1.5-inch audio device that can sit under 55-inch UHD. Joe admitted that sound really needs air to be powerful and these flat TVs simply don’t provide the space. Hence, the sound systems. You can hear more of Stinziano’s comments and get a closer look at the new UHD TVs in the video above. Read more: http://mashable.com/2014/03/20/samsung-uhdtv/
For as long as they’ve been around, movies have looked beautiful. Read more: http://www.wimp.com/a-century-of-best-cinematography-oscar-winners-in-a-single-supercut/
At the Elephant Nature Park sanctuary in Thailand a recently rescued elephant named Faa Mai was given an elastic ribbon to play with. You might not think that elephants (or animals in general) have feelings. When you see what little Faa Mai did, it will keep you smiling for hours…! (via TwisterSifter) Elephants are extremely intelligent and sensitive animals. An elephant’s brain is actually similar to a humans, in complexity and in structure. Just by watching Faa Mai play with a ribbon, I know that I’m completely convinced of their emotional range. If this put a smile on your face as big as mine, share with your friends below. Read more: http://viralnova.com/elephant-ribbon/
