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Tech NewsStrange and Beautiful Underwater Photography Not Altogether Unlike Your Own Boring Photography
Russian marine biologist Alexander Semenov studied invertebrates at Moscow State University Moscow State with an emphasis in squid brains. Yeah! Squid brains. Pretty awesome. And that’s only like the fifteenth coolest thing over at WonderHowTo, where you’ll find an interview with Semenov along with some stunning images of the otherworldly sea creatures he photographs. But … Continued
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io9The Original Kick-Ass
Long before Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl, long before Super, there was Hero At Large, the original story of a regular guy who becomes a superhero. And gets his ass kicked massively. 1980’s Hero At Large is actually a pretty fun movie, with that goofy sense of humor that so many late 1970s-early 1980s comedies had. And … Continued
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Tech News
How the Name Droid Saved Motorola and Made Android
Wired has a really interesting story on the pre-Droid days of Android. If you remember back in 2009, Android was hardly the big player it is now. The G1 was nice, the myTouch 3G was a slight improvement and the Hero was a step in the right direction but it needed something different, something that … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
World’s First Single-Electron Transistor Works Like a Teeny, Tiny Etch-A-Sketch
It’s amazing what an electron can do. Researchers, lead by a team from the University of Pittsburgh, have built the world’s first operational single-electron transistor, the SketchSET, which could become an essential component of all sorts of futuristic technologies; from super-dense, high-capacity solid-state drives to quantum processors. The idea is simple: start with an “island” … Continued
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Tech News
Figure Out Where Your Tax Dollars Went with This Interactive Infographic
It’s tax day! Do you feel that sense of relief? Or depression? Or are you now panicked because you forgot about them? Either way, wouldn’t you like to know where your hard-earned money is going? Now you can, with WhereDidMyTaxDollarsGo.com, which was the winner of the Data Viz Challenge. Just type in how much you … Continued
By Husain Sumra -
Tech NewsTalking of Tomorrow (1962)
Talking of Tomorrow is a short animated film that was produced for Bell Labs and released in either 1960 or 1962. Directed by Jetsons writer Chuck Couch, the film tells the story of a business executive from the future who works for an “interspace engineering company.” This executive works in a soundproof room attached to … Continued
By Matt Novak -
ScienceBiologyWatch How Animals Turn into Delicious Meat (Plus Bonus Shot of Blowtorched Pig!)
If you’re a vegetarian, close this tab and maybe turn off your computer and take a cold shower. If you’re not, here’s how the meat on your plate gets processed from savage beast to tasty feast! This highly interesting mini-doc shows off the gear inside a slaughterhouse, from the electric stun rods to a thing … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech News
Logitech iPad 2 Keyboard Case Makes Your Lies about Working More Believable
Everyone’s favorite excuse for lugging an iPad to all manner of inappropriate places and events is that it allows them to be productive everywhere they go. But how many people do you know who can actually type on a touchscreen? The answer is not many. Thing is, most of the in-case keyboard solutions look like … Continued
By Kyle Wagner -
Tech NewsCommerce
When You Cancel Your Magazine Subscription on Your Kindle, Your Back Issues Disappear Too (Updated)
Consider this to be your dismaying PSA of the day: Apparently, if you’re a Kindle owner with a magazine subscription, and you decide to stop subscribing, the back issues you previously downloaded are also lost—for good. That’s right—there is no way to retrieve what you already paid for and supposedly, already own. To top it … Continued
By Davey Alba -
Tech News
Pencils Can Be Hip and Fun Too
I spied Gizmodo’s Joe Brown using these blue and red pencils, and immediately wondered where they came from. Turns out they’re “Slang Pencils” from Greenwich Letterpress and they come with 90’s era sayings like ‘Mad Props’ and ‘Off the Hook’. I don’t know about you but I like my writing tools to be as retro … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
How the Hell Do I Fix My Windows/Mac/Linux Computer?
If you live in the twenty-first century, you’ve no doubt endured the unutterable agony of a computer breaking down on you. Then comes the excruciating part: bargaining with the incapable hunk of metal to—”Please, for the love of God”—sputter back to life. Well, the next time this happens, perhaps you can use this handy Guide … Continued
Matthew Inman, theoatmeal.com -
Tech News
You Might Actually Learn Something With History Channel’s Civil War iPad App
History geeks everywhere will likely salivate over History Channel’s new Civil War iPad app, which lets you relive each day of the 19th century American war. Updated once daily, you can read news blasts from the front lines, stay updated on casualty counts, get inside the head of Lincoln, view interactive battle maps and do … Continued
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Tech NewsPower this Little RC Car with Soda Can Tabs
The car manufacturers have it wrong—we don’t need hybrids or electric cars. We need cars that run on discarded junkfood containers—like the DAlH2Orean remote-controlled car! Two Spanish engineers from the Polytechnic Institute of Catalonia figured out a way to power the little car with soda can tabs. The aluminum tabs are mixed with sodium hydroxide … Continued
By Husain Sumra -
Tech News
Are Cops Using Devices to Illegally Extract Data from Your Cell Phone?
The American Civil Liberties Union is accusing the Michigan State Police of using cellphone extraction devices on people that they pull over. Those devices can snag personal and sensitive data stored on your cell phone without you even knowing. Scary. The problem right now is that no one knows the extent of what the Michigan … Continued
By Casey Chan -
io9
Hear King Tutankhamun’s trumpets played for the first time in 3000 years
Among the remarkable treasures found in Tutankhamun’s tomb were two ornate trumpets, one made of silver and the other of bronze. In 1939, BBC radio broadcast the trumpets’ music to 150 million people, and they’re now re-releasing the original audio. The trumpet music – performed 72 years ago by bandsman and soldier James Tappern – … Continued
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Tech News
RDTN Project Wants to Arm Japan with Geiger Counters
One of the worst factors of the Fukushima crisis is clarity of information—and the distinct lack of it since the quake first hit. The people behind RDTN say to hell with the government and TEPCO—let citizens report radiation. The idea has yet to crack from its Kickstarter egg ($9,700 out of $33,000), but its ambitions … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
io9
Drone weapons systems risk leading us to “a Terminator-like reality,” warns a British government study
The U.S. government isn’t the only one using more robotic weapons in places like Iraq and Afghanistan — the British government is doing it too. But a new study from Britain’s Ministry of Defence warns we could be creating Skynet. The Guardian got a look at the MoD’s report, called “The UK Approach to Unmanned … Continued
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io9Television
Why did the BBC’s tribute to books ignore genre fiction?
Britain’s BBC 2 had a whole evening of book-related programming in celebration of World Book Night, including the promisingly titled The Books We Really Read: A Culture Show Special. So why did the featured books not include genre fiction? That’s what a host of writers, including genre authors like Michael Moorock and Iain M. Banks, … Continued
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Tech News
This is What You Get When You Get Lots of Mentos and Soda Together
You know what’s a good way to celebrate the beginning of Easter? Take hundreds of carbonated beverages, mix them with a bunch of Mentos, and watch the chaos ensue. That’s what educational group Mad Science did for Alton Towers Resort in the UK. [The Telegraph]
By Husain Sumra