Day: February 10, 2012

Walt Disney World tightens the rules on FastPasses

On The Disney Blog, John Frost describes the upcoming rule-tightening for FastPasses in Walt Disney World. FastPass is a ride reservation system: park visitors visit a ride, feed their entry ticket to a kiosk, and it spits out a coupon that can be redeemed later in the day for admission via a shorter queue. Until now, FastPass expiry times were not enforced (that is, the pass might say it was good for 3-4PM, but you could use it any time after 3), which led people like me to collect FastPasses all morning (you can get one every hour or so) when the lines were short, and then use them all in a bunch in the afternoon when the lines got longer.

Frost says the rule change is a precursor to a much more dramatic change, a FastPass replacement (?) called xPass, which allows visitors to reserve their ride-times far in advance, over the Web, simultaneous with their other bookings — dining, hotel, etc. This feels like it would suck a lot of spontaneity out of Disney World visits, though for certain very slow-loading/long-queueing rides, it would be nice to guarantee a ride in advance.

Meanwhile, Frost has some excellent suggestions for ways to fine-tune the new FastPass system:


Here are a few tweaks I would like Disney to do to improve the FastPass system a bit.

* More surprise fastpasses. Standby queue dropping below 15 minutes? Send a digital fastpass to guests on their mobile phones.
* Shorten the wait time required to get an additional fast pass later in the day.
* Let guests pick their return window. Maybe just morning, afternoon, or night. But at least that way you have an option if you arrive at a fastpass machine only to find out you have an restaurant reservation scheduled for that same time.
* Allow locals to get a digital fast pass for one ride from home the night before. Make it for afternoon or peak dining times only. This solves the having to show up at the crack of dawn problem.
* Rides with a through-put of more than 2000 guests an hour should not have fastpass. Instead move those machines to spinners and other low capacity attractions.
* Display publicly the number of fastpasses that can be redeemed an hour. Perhaps as a % of the standby queue. This will help guests decide if they need to get a Fastpass for the attraction or not.
* Limit the number of Fastpass that can be issued before 11AM to 50% of the day’s fastpasses. This saves some Fastpass capacity for guests who arrive later in the day

Fastpass Changes Coming to Walt Disney World

(Image: Rockin Rollercoaster Fastpass Walt Disney Hollywood Studios, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from kathika’s photostream)


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Walt Disney World tightens the rules on FastPasses

How close are we to truly photorealistic, real-time games?

Every graphical and technical advance the game industry has seen from Pong to Crysis has been a small step toward the end goal of a real-time, photorealistic 3D world that is truly indistinguishable from a real-world scene. Speaking at the DICE Summit Thursday, Epic Games founder and programmer Tim Sweeney examined the speed and direction of computing improvements and determined that we “might expect, over the course of our lifetime, we’d get to amounts of computing power that come very close to simulating reality.”

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Android Hack Exposes Google Wallet PIN On Demand

Like most hacks, this discovery of a way to find an Android phone’s Google Wallet PIN requires a lot of initial access but is disturbing nonetheless. Google knows about the hack and is repairing it. Discovered by Joshua Rubin of Zvelo, the hack is one of the most interesting attacks on Google Wallet so far.

In short, this hack allows access to credit card data and purchase history and could, in theory, allow a hacker to use a Google Wallet freely in the wild. However, it does require the hacker to have unfettered root access to the phone. Using a small program, the exploit simply brute-forces a file found in the phone, thereby revealing the PIN and unlocking the wallet.

Again, the hack requires a rooted Android phone – a state that is trivial to achieve if your phone is stolen – and a bit of know how. Rubin recommends:

Do Not “Root” the Cell Phone – Doing so will be one less step for a thief.
Enable Lock Screens – “Face Unlock,” “Pattern,” “PIN” and “Password” all increase physical security to the device. “Slide,” however, does not.
Disable USB Debugging – When enabled, the data on mobile devices can be accessed without first passing a lock screen challenge unless Full Disk Encryption is also enabled.
Enable Full Disk Encryption – This will prevent even USB Debugging from bypassing the lock screen.
Maintain Device Up-To-Date – Ensure the device is current with the latest official software. Unfortunately, users are largely at the behest of their carrier and cell phone manufacturer for this. Using only official software and keeping devices up-to-date is the best way to minimize vulnerabilities and increase security overall.

Google recommends that anyone with Google Wallet call their toll-free support line at 855-492-5538 to ask that their prepaid card be disabled. They also recommend setting a lock screen.

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Android Hack Exposes Google Wallet PIN On Demand

Wolfram Alpha Pro now available, $4.99 a month will let you throw almost anything at it for analysis

Wolfram Alpha has made some fairly big strides in its few short years of existence, but the so-called computational knowledge engine has now rolled out what founder Stephen Wolfram says is the “the single most important development for Wolfram Alpha since the original website launched in 2009.” That development is Wolfram Alpha Pro, a new premium service that will run you $4.99 a month (or $2.99/month for students) and give you access to a wealth of new options for both input and output. On the input end, you can now upload images, audio and other files (over 60 types in all) for automatic analysis and a detailed report — according to Stephen Wolfram, the ultimate goal being “to do what a top data scientist would do if given the user’s data.” As for output, you’ll now be able to take advantage of a number of richer download options, including the ability to interact with and tailor the reports to your liking. As you might expect, however, that’s just scratching the surface — you can get a detailed look at the new service at the links below, or take it for a spin yourself with a free trial subscription.

Continue reading Wolfram Alpha Pro now available, $4.99 a month will let you throw almost anything at it for analysis

Wolfram Alpha Pro now available, $4.99 a month will let you throw almost anything at it for analysis originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | sourceWolfram Alpha Pro, Wolfram Alpha Blog | Email this | Comments

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Wolfram Alpha Pro now available, $4.99 a month will let you throw almost anything at it for analysis

The Gradual Death of the Brick and Mortar Tech Store


Cutting_Crew writes “As we all know brick and mortar stores have been closing left and right recently. We had CompUSA, Borders and Circuit City all close their doors within the last 4 years. According to an article on Forbes.com, it is spelled out pretty clearly why Best Buy is next in line to shut its doors for good. Some of the reasons highlighted include a 40% drop is Best Buy stock in 2011, lack of vision regarding their online services, management too concerned with store sales instead of margins and blatant disregard for quality customer service.”


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Tesla unveils Model X SUV, wants to be your all-electric crossover

We’re here at the Tesla Design Studio in Los Angeles, where Elon Musk just unveiled his startup’s third vehicle: an SUV it calls the Model X. The ‘ute sports some rather unique looking double-hinged “falcon wing” rear doors which makes loading people and things easier as you reach into the car, not over it. According to Musk they’ll open in tighter spots than a traditional door, opening high enough to fit even a standing human. Powered by an AWD variant of the Model S drivetrain, despite the larger shell, its most performant offering still clocks in at a 4.4 seconds to go from 0-60MPH — matching the most brawny variant of the Model S. And because it’s devoid of a space-hogging ICE, that front portion’s a trunk that Elon lovingly calls the “Frunk.” Per GigaOm, the seven-seater will cost in the $50,000 to $70,000 range, with first deliveries of the “Signature Series” arriving in 2013 before mass production begins in 2014. If that sounds like you’re kind of beat, Those interested can begin reservations on Tesla’s website tomorrow at noon.

Tesla unveils Model X SUV, wants to be your all-electric crossover originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tesla unveils Model X SUV, wants to be your all-electric crossover