I saw 'Darkest Material' and thought we were getting some sort of continuation to the Golden Compass (His Dark Materials).

;) ah well, at least there was a shot at a neocon

Are there any actual consumer products that you can buy that use nano tubes? It's been Nano Tube this, Buckey Ball this for almost 10 years now. I want zero failure point tires pronto.

This will make excellent window tinting for my Monte Carlo.

when did Gizmodo become a leftist zoo? Can we keep the inane psuedo political commentary to our respective selves and focus on the gadgets?

This will finally unite the Goth and Bondage sub-cultures.

just call it "dark matter" and be done with it...

@Riemannian: I'm not sure I'd class that as "pseudo political" -- I think that calling Karl Rove black-hearted is 100% political. Unless you meant "pseudo political" in the sense of "I don't like the kind of politics this is".

@strangepork: I rather meant that it's the kind of bad political commentary: ZOMG Cheney is EVIL, Hillary Clinton is the devil, Democrats are socialists, Republicans hate babies kind of thing. It's just a stupid throwaway so that Giz can continue being hip in NY circles.

It's ridiculous to say Karl's blood is black, after all if Rove has blood, wouldn't that mean he has a heart?

@MagnoliaBoy: That's the thing about Nanotech - it's invisible. There are nanotube tennis rackets, nano-sunscreen (uses nano sized zinc particles to get transparent zinc sunscreen), nano-material based batteries, computer components and tons of other stuff.

But we don't know the long term effects of nano-sized particles. Asbestos is harmful because of it's size and shape. It'd be a shame to have you spawn Frankenstein children just because you wanted a nano-insulated jacket.

@graviton:
Hahahahaha

@Riemannian: Here're my two thoughts about that:

1. The notion of calling Karl Rove evil is not something that's limited to hip NY circles. It's a worldwide phenomenon, baby.

2. I IM'ed a genuine NY hipster to find this out (still up from last night, of course):

"Gizmodo has never been hip in NY circles. There's no such thing as a hip blog about gadgets."

@graviton: I thought window tint was supposed to be purple and uneven?

@Riemannian: I thought it was the safe kind of political non-commentary: Everybody knows everything you just said is true. If I wanted a flame war, I'd have tossed a coin—heads for Billy G, Tails for Stevey J.

I wonder if it can be used to make IR sensors for televisions.

ack! photo stretching and distortion! Medic!
exclamation points!

Wow, as if the whole CES TV crapola wasn't enough to drive people away from Giz. Now we have to listen to political bashing from a blog dedicated to gadgets. If you're going to bash one side, you'd better be prepared to bash the other equally. For example, keep your Rove comment and add, "nearly 2X as bright as Hillary Clinton's soul".

Stick to electronics boys. Politics are religion are the two topics I don't want to ever read about here.

darker than a steer's tuckas on a moonless prairie night??

@Jason: I see your point, though I was thinking Nano Tubes specifically, not Nano Tech in general. You hear all these reports about the seemingly magical properties these things have, but I haven't seen a single product roll off the assembly line that takes these properties (super strength, super conductivity, etc.) and uses them to any great benefit. I don't play Tennis, but a Nano Tube based racket seems an overly specialized product. How about some more mundane, 'every man' type applications? Also, the term Nano Tech seems a little misleading. Activated Charcoal, something that's been around for 100+ years, I'm sure qualifies as a Nano Tech product. I guess I'm just asking for the future too soon... :-(

Incredibly impossible!

Calling Karl Rove evil is not necessarily indicative of leftism. The man used push polling and the skin color of John McCain's adopted daughter to make people think McCain fathered a half-black baby out of wedlock... and it worked. That's totally evil and he did it against a conservative.

Come on. Where are the Wesley Snipes jokes?

What does Karl Rove have to do with gadgets? Keep your politics out of it, please. You are on the verge of turning away many users with comments like that. If I wanted politics I would go to cnn.com.

Comparing darkest black to stuff in Karl Rowe veins is FUNNY. It should not matter on who's side you are. It does not mean Giz is supportings Dems or they are starting a political blog.
I doubt that any of the people complaining are Dems, so I can draw only one conclusion: Right wings have no sense of humor and are not too bright just like the nano stuff. Now this statement is a political one, so feel free to flame me, not Giz.

Sweet. That much closer to creating a monolith.

Whatever. Karl Rove, haha. Dick Cheney, yucky-yuck. Poking fun at targets who don't mind and won't retaliate isn't exactly courage or class, is it.

Maybe some balance by slamming some leftist icons (Al Gore, Hillary, Obama) and authentic bad guys (Castro, Mugabe, bin Laden, Kim Jong-il) is called for. I can pass it off as humor...a sense of which I and my right-wing friends possess in great quantities.

Karl Rove is an idiot jerk. Just like his defenders.

Karl Rove is indeed pure evil, and you right wingers bitching about Giz (or anyone else) pointing it out are whiny babies. Guess what, most people hate your BFFs Rove Cheney and Bush. Your whining isn't gonna change it. Get over it.

@Riemannian: Actually, we Republicans love babies. With a light bearnaise.^W

While I get pretty tired of pointless political jabs (Politics is the new pop culture! Everyone get on board with the trivially pointless minutiae people in NYC and DC find endlessly interesting!), the Karl-Rove-is-evil is so old and tired that it really has crossed 'round into irony and self-parody. I don't think anyone with a decent grip on reality takes it seriously any longer. If a transgression has been committed here, it's that Rove has been out of the spotlight long enough that it's no longer really funny.

Thank you, Phelander and Chantastic for proving me wrong about people taking that sort of thing seriously. Or assuming that Giz readers have a good grip on reality, whichever's more applicable.

Hey, Matt --

Next time you make a joke, you should probably raise some kind of joke flag, or a semophore or something -- it seems that nobody gets it otherwise.

Nanotubes is the new black.

Keep politics and political figures/jokes out of the gadget guide. Plain and simple. I don't care if you are making fun of Hillary, Obama, Mitt or Rudy. Keep it out of HERE.

Do you think God could make a darker material?

Ooh, I'd like to line the walls of my room with that material, then trim it with regular black so it doesn't look so gloomy.

Thanks CANTHROS for continuing in the grand tradition of being wrong 100% of the time just like the whole Bush Gang. Also, stfu douchebag.

Lest you think Gizmodo isn't "Fair and Balanced"(TM) enough:
Al Gore: [gizmodo.com]
Bill Clinton: [gizmodo.com]
Hillary Clinton: [gizmodo.com]

I bet you right-wing crybabies weren't all in a huff when they posted this. That is so like you guys: you dish it out, but when someone tries to twit you back, you have to go on a rant about liberal bias, and how everyone is against you, and blah blah blah. I'll share with you now the sage advice my aunt once gave to me: "Suck it up, bitch!"

Wow! American's have such thin skins! You can't say anything in this country without upsetting someone.

Anyway, if it could be made cost-effective, a CNT coating would be great for optics (inside lenses, etc).

You guys have heard the phrase, "the pot calling the kettle black," right? Well in this day and age, I think people as a whole are more familiar with the darkness that flows through Mr. Rove's veins than the color of a kettle. Giz is just being succinct, that's all.

@paulrus:
Stop bitching for something you are NOT paying for. The way I see it, if it is free, you have no right to complain.

Because Americans feel that they are privileged and special. That's how we were raised so if anyone says anything negative about them they are OFFENDED to their ultimate core as if those words would destroy them. USA is fast going down the shit hole.

@theespacepope: Those are reserved for the V6 Mustang crowd.

Ooooh, let's start another partisan fight between the Chevy and Ford guys, because MS v Apple, Left v Right is not enough. No it isn't.

is it as dark as el job$'s shirt???

Hmmm

I wonder if a CNT coating would cloak my X-wing so I could get close enough to destroy the Deathstar. (The evil empire must fall! Both its left and right wings.)

Whether or not the political joke was funny or even appropriate, it was probably not a good idea, because when something like this happens, it fills the comments with endless irrelevant posts. I won't even give my opinion on the joke itself, I think we've heard enough from both sides.

On a more relevant note, it appears that once again humanity has furthered itself by stealing technology from an alien race. I feel sorry for the Formics.

Nothing is darker than Karl Rove's soul.

Certainly there's very little controversy over whether he's Machiavellian in his methods. But either way it was a damn joke, so if you still support Rove, go take your medication and ctfo.

Back to carbon nanotubes, pretty amazing what they're doing with this technology isn't it? Will this material also be good for coating stealth aircraft with, i.e. does it absorb radar and other frequencies as well as visible and IR?

I know they use it to make the world's lightest bicycle: 2 freaking kilogram frame:

[nanotechweb.org]

Sweet! Has anyone read Splinter Cell? Secret agents everywhere will rejoice.

@matt buchanan: Dude, leave the political commentary to the other Gawker blog that knows what they're doing on the matter. [wonkette.com]

That being said, evil is a matter of perception. Unethical, absolutely. He's crafty for sure, and smarter than most people.

@MagnoliaBoy:
How´s about swords made from damascus steel? Entered production nearly 1000 years ago, their sturdiness came from nanotubes and nanowires.

Honestly, you should remember that most "modern" technologies you´re using right now took more than 20 years to develop from discovery to public availability - just take LEDs for example. Discovered around 1920, they became "'every man' type applications" only a few years ago.
It takes a lot of time from discovery to production. Always has.

Are you guys still talking about the Karl Rove jab? Jeez. That sort of comment should make you either chuckle or roll your eyes. Neither reactions warrant any sort of commentary; if you feel it does, go bury your head in the sand because there are a lot more offensive things that'll get your panties all in a bunch and there's no need to share that experience with all of us.

Anyway, is there actually a fear with nano technology that the particles will be harmful? I never thought about that aspect. Also, is it possible that nano tubes of varying functions be impregnated into other non-nano materials like plastics or glass? Because if they can do that, and I assume someone has thought of this, that'd be great. Image a piece of glass the size of a slide for a microscope having a full functioning computer. Now that'd be futuristic. Ever wonder how all those neat little things in Minority Report work without wires? Guess this is how it'll work in reality. Nano-impregnated materials.

ive noticed a lot of crybaby whining in the comments here lately. lighten up.

@omfgitsdon: "ive noticed a lot of crybaby whining in the comments here lately. lighten up."

Only from the reich-wingers who can dish it out but can't take it.

@JCove: "fear... particles... harmful?"

Yes, there's certainly a fear. The stuff is not really biodegradable, is it? The tubes are meant to be mind-bogglingly sturdy, plus they are potentially amazing conductors or resistors, depending on what you mix them with.

They might cause granulomas in mice that breathe them...

[www.i-sis.org.uk]

Any substance that is absorbably by cells, but not easily degradable, has toxicity potential.

The only things blacker are Hillary's brain cells and subsequent thoughts.

ok fine, forget neutrality...

@ackthbbft: don't you mean reich-vingers? either way, (assuming this is a nazi reference) you forget Nazism is "national socialism" (Nationalsozialismus). so "reich-wing" technically would mean left wing. how ironic.

Karl Rove is a hero, and his ideas will live on forever!

Wow, the little right wing trolls are out in force in this thread. Who knew you could stir them up so easily by simply ripping on someone whose only claim to fame is being one of the most underhanded and successful liars in the history of politics. Strange things garner you loyalty in right winger world.

Oh, and PETERLARSON233, you need to learn about irony. But I find it odd someone comparing progressives, the enemy and victims of fascist authoritarian regimes the world over, especially the nazi's, to nazi's themselves, especially in defence of someone who has on many occassions quoted Goebbels (most likely unintentionally) when making policy speeches. But I'm sure in right winger world helping the poor, and putting a check on corporate power and inherited wealth is EXACTLY like murdering six million jews.

Wasn't this a thread about nano-tubes?

"Almost Blacker Than Karl Rove's Soul"
-what's that on the Cheney Scale? :P

However, I do agree that the light coming off the nano stuff is theoretically 6.02×10^23 more detectable than the morals of a Clinton. :D

@Kanti_v2: lighten up, Francis.