architecture: Passive House 101

The Principles : Passive House Institute - United States:

"Passive building comprises a set of design principles used to attain a quantifiable and rigorous level of energy efficiency within a specific quantifiable comfort level. “Maximize your gains, minimize your losses” summarize the approach."



Passive house - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

IoT: another infographic

Everything You Need To Know About The Internet Of Things - Forbes

security: Gmail Drafts for Malware

Hackers Are Using Gmail Drafts to Update Their Malware and Steal Data | WIRED:

"Researchers at the security startup Shape Security say they’ve found a strain of malware on a client’s network that uses that new, furtive form of “command and control”—the communications channel that connects hackers to their malicious software—allowing them to send the programs updates and instructions and retrieve stolen data. Because the commands are hidden in unassuming Gmail drafts that are never even sent, the hidden communications channel is particularly difficult to detect."

ScottGu's Blog - Azure News

ScottGu's Blog - Azure: New Marketplace, Network Improvements, New Batch Service, Automation Service, more:

AngularJS 2.0, AtScript

ng-europe - The first AngularJS European conference in Paris, France.:

It Is Too Soon to Panic on AngularJS 2.0 

by Shawn Wildermuth

AngularJS 2.0 Details Emerge @ InfoQ

"Last week at the ng-europe conference in Paris, the Angular team gave attendees details about the upcoming AngularJS 2.0 release. It's a significant departure from version 1.X with no migration path and made with a new language, AtScript, in mind.

AtScript is a superset of TypeScript, the language created by Microsoft. TypeScript adds types to JavaScript code and AtScript extends this idea further by adding annotations and introspection.

...
AtScript is optional. There is no rule to develop Angular 2.0 apps in AtScript. Miško said that, because of the existing community and libraries already written in JavaScript, it was "a very important goal that you don’t have to use it". Since AtScript compiles to EcmaScript 5 (ES5), developers can write Angular 2.0 directly.

...

Even though this is still called "Angular", this new version has barely any resemblance with the previous one, it's really a totally new framework...

there is no migration path from Angular 1.X to 2.0, though they left the door open for this possibility. There is no release date set, but the consensus is that version 2.0 will be finalized late 2015."

Dan Wahlin - My Thoughts on AngularJS 1.3 and 2.0

AtScript Primer - Google Docs

(AngularJS) Design Docs - Google Drive

Google Nexus 9 Tablet

Amazon.com : Google Nexus 9 Tablet (8.9-Inch, 16 GB, Black) : Computers & Accessories:
3x4 screen ratio, $399, 8Mpx camera...  Android 5.0
Essentially iPad-like hardware with comparable price... not a "deal" anymore


Hands on: The first things you notice about the Nexus 9 and Android 5.0 | Computerworld

Nexus 9 @ Google

Devices on Google Play

gadget, cloud: Microsoft Band + Health

The Microsoft Band Is a $200 Heart-Monitoring Wristable Supreme:

"In addition to the obvious optical heart-rate monitor you can see in the picture above, it will include a UV sensor to keep track of your sun exposure, a galvanic skin response sensor to measure stress, and built-in GPS. The 18.5-millimeter band's made of a "thermal plastic elastomer," which means it's probably nice, soft, and stretchy. It's got a fairly tiny 1.4-inch touchscreen at just 320 x 106 resolution, and is powered by two 100mAh lithium-ion batteries."

Introducing Microsoft Health - The Official Microsoft Blog

Azure + Machine Learning

Microsoft Band, the smart band powered by Microsoft Health
By the way, this "band" is also a watch, since it has a screen

Retail Stores Home - Microsoft Store