Chris Mills

Line, the semi-popular social messaging network, has ‘done a Facebook‘ and spun its 30-second video-capture feature off into a separate app. If you’re a fan of “Stylish Filters, Titles, and More!”, you can download it here. [Line]

Drone-Carrying Drone Carries Drone Carries Drone Carries Gum

It’s like Inception, but with UAVs: the guys at Flite Test recently sought to redefine ‘overkill’ by using four remote-controlled aircraft to deliver one stick of gum. Because science. The Flite Test crew were trying to further the drone-delivery-system idea that’s become popular since Google’s Project Wing and Amazon’s infamous Prime Air concepts, but using…

This 3D-Printed Smartphone Microscope Only Costs a Dollar

We’ve seen small smartphone microscopes before, but they’re either a bit shitty or a bit pricey — problems neatly solved in this edition of Stuff You Didn’t Realize You Could 3D Print. It would appear that there’s some kind of very specific version of Moore’s Law that applies only to smartphone microscopes: a couple years…

Boeing’s Going to Sell Rides On Its New NASA-Funded Space Taxi

Buying rides to space isn’t anything new now — in fact, flying in something so old-fashioned as a ‘capsule’ on a ‘rocket’ is probably a little passé. But that hasn’t stopped Boeing from sticking a tourist seat into its new NASA-funded spacecraft. On the back of yesterday’s announcement that Boeing has won a $4.2bn NASA…

$9,000 Gets You Access to Facebook For Oligarchs

Back when apps were new and cool and edgy, someone made an iPhone app that did quite literally nothing but prove that you’re a baller. Now that social networks are new and cool and edgy (or they used to be), someone’s made the same concept: a Facebook country club, if you will. Netropolitan bills itself…

Netflix Under Pressure to Close Down The VPN Loophole

By this point, everyone and their internet-connected dog seems to know that you can access US Netflix (and its sweet promised land of rich video content) from abroad using a simple VPN, or even just a Chrome extension. Your streaming days might be limited, however: Netflix is reportedly under fire to shut the loophole down.…

This IFTTT-Enabled Panic Button Will Start Anything But a Nuclear War

Have you ever thought that everyday activities like, say, summoning your family for dinner, need a little more drama? Bttn, a giant, shouty, Wi-Fi-enabled button, is thinking yes. Bttn’s premise is very simple: you push the button (I mean, what else are you going to do with it?), and it sends a signal to a…

BlackBerry Reminds Us It Still Exists With New Porsche Design Phone

The long-running Blackberry/Porsche hookup has just pumped another device onto the BB10 landfill, with the release of the catchily-named P’9983, which is like a regular BlackBerry, but with a Porsche logo and slightly more angles. The P’9983 basically seems to be a Q10 on the inside, with the same 3.1″ screen and 8MP camera, not…

Why Apple Didn’t Use Sapphire Screens In The New iPhones

In the run-up to the iPhone 6 announcement, the rumor-mill had basically decided that we were getting a strengthened sapphire screen — something that ultimately proved to be completely false. TIME has an excellent breakdown of why Apple didn’t go the sapphire path. http://time.com/3377972/why-apple-didnt-use-sapphire-iphone-screens/ According to the author, the likely reason that Apple didn’t go…

Beartooth Radio Turns Your Smartphone Into a Walkie-Talkie

Smartphones are becoming increasingly popular amongst backcountry types, as a decent option for communication when the shit hits the fan. However, if you just want to chat to your partner a mile away, you still need a two-way radio – or, you did. That’s the problem Beartooth Radio is trying to solve with their snazzy…

If Phone Batteries Were Like Black Holes

…then we really would be screwed. As Randall Munroe points out in today’s xkcd, sometimes we get a little over-dramatic about our phones ‘dying’ — although yes, it would be neat if, when your phone died, it turned into a worn-out Palm Pilot. [xkcd]

The Top 100 Billboard Songs of All Time, Graphed

You might’ve thought that music is one thing that can escape the current ‘big data’ trend of mapping, charting and quantifying everything; but that’s where you’re so, so wrong — at least according to Flowing Data’s Nathan Yau. He’s put together a series of graphs that try to explain the best songs of all time…

Dropbox Suspends Auto-Upload Feature Because iOS 8

Uh-oh: iOS 8 has only-barely-kinda-sorta rolled out, and it’s already breaking things. Dropbox has ‘temporarily suspended’ the auto-upload feature on its iOS app because of compatibility issues with iOS 8. If you’re already in the process of upgrading, Dropbox warns in a blog post that you should double-check that photos have uploaded before deleting them…

An Organization Wants to Send You to Space For Free (Maybe)

Always wanted to go to space, but put off by Richard Branson’s beard (or the hundreds of thousands of dollars he also wants)? A US not-for-profit might be able to get you there on the cheap — but better get crossing those fingers. https://gizmodo.com/virgin-galactic-is-finally-cleared-for-u-s-take-off-1583708624 Spaceship Earth Grants’s business model is very simple: fork over a…

Upgrading to iOS 8 today? Two good third-party keyboards are already available: Swype (which will run you 99 cents) and Swiftkey, which will be just as free as U2’s latest album (but hopefully a little more welcome).

Airbus Patents VR Headsets to Make Flying Suck Less

Flying coach sucks — a fact that no quantity of overpriced Wi-Fi or hilariously tiny cans of Coke can change. So Airbus, one of the biggest manufacturers of commercial aircraft, is thinking about using VR to take you out of the experience entirely. A patent filing from Airbus reveals a line of passengers wearing some…

Researchers Use Drones and Lasers to Map Out Ancient Maya Sites

Most people think that archaeology technology peaked with spades and Indiana Jones’s whip; but a team of researchers has categorically disproved that idea (and, by the way, mapped out some Maya temples in the process). The team, using a few remote-controlled quadrotors, managed to get enough aerial imagery to stitch together a 3-D rendering of…

AirVR Wants to Shut Off All Human Contact With an iPad Mini Face-Holder

Would you trade quite literally all of your friends (and $49 shiny Canadian dollars) for a shot at a probably-mediocre virtual reality experience? AirVR, a Canadian company with an entire Kickstarter page all to itself, is thinking yes. Simply put, the AirVR helps you strap your iPad Mini (or iPhone 6 Plus) to your face,…

Good news for Adobe! Another half-a-million people have been converted to their Creative Cloud subscription, making the new total 2.81 million. Bad news for Adobe! This isn’t enough new customers for investors, and shares in the software giant fell 5 per cent following the announcement (sad face emoji). [Reuters]

Report: Android’s Material Design Will Take a Rolling Pin to Play Store

When Google introduced its Material Design manifesto to the world at I/O, it was made clear that it was only a matter of time before flat design took over the entire Googleverse — starting, it would seem, with the Play Store. https://gizmodo.com/what-material-design-means-for-the-future-of-android-1595976211 Android Police has got an early look at the 5.0 update to the…