March 2015

Amazon Prime Members can place Orders with Buttons

So this might seem a bit like an April Fool’s prank, but Amazon is seeing it as the way of the future. Amazon Prime members can now order buttons, called Amazon Dash, that allow them to quickly place orders for certain products, such as Tide detergent, that they purchase on a regular basis by simply pressing the button. Don’t worry, there are measures in place so that you don’t order hundreds of bottles of detergent unintentionally. Read more about it from The Verge.

3-D Printing at UMass Amherst

The library at UMass Amherst has recently opened a “MakerBot Innovation Center” as part of their Digital Media Lab. It houses 50 3-D MakerBot printers along with several 3-D scanners.  20 Faculty attended a pre-grand opening training session, and the library is putting together a basics of 3-D printing one credit course for students to learn about 3-D printing. You can read through all the details from Matt Enis at Library Journal.

More about Drones

The February 2015 post explored drones that could bump into things without detriment to the person, object, or drone. This article from The Next Web explores the variety of ways that drones of different types are being used to improve the world from helping with search and rescue to delivering needed medications. You can read more about uses for drones here.

Apple Event

During the Apple Event on March 9th, the company made a number of announcements. These included the reveal of the new Apple Watch which is set to come out this month, along with an updated line of MacBooks, as well as an updated Apple TV. All of the products can now be viewed in the Apple Store, but if you’d like a quick overview of the most interesting parts of the event check out this article from The Verge.

Google Maps and PacMan

If you open Google Maps right now you’ll notice that there is a PacMan button at the bottom left of the map. Turn any location (including the F&M campus!) into a fancy game of PacMan. You can read more about it from The Next Web or try it for yourself: maps.google.com.  

Turn Your Handwriting into a Font

Do you really like your handwriting? You can turn it into a font for free from MyScriptFont.com. Read more about it from makezine.com.