Jamie Condliffe

These 100 Year-Old Negatives Were Found Frozen in Antarctic Ice

These images look pretty great considering they’re 100 years old. They look even better when you learn they’ve been sealed in Antarctic ice for 100 years. Discovered by a team of Antarctic conservators, the treasure trove contained 22 unprocessed cellulose nitrate negatives. They’re believed to have been snapped by the Ross Sea Party way back…

Martin Scorsese’s Hugo is free on iTunes today as part of its 12 Days of Gifts promo. That’s pretty great!

Why Is Time Slower in Space Rockets?

You’ve probably heard that if you get in a rocket ship and fly fast, time will slow down. But, unless you’ve majored in physics, you probably don’t quite know why. Fortunately this video does a great job of explaining the phenomenon. Perhaps one of the most famously odd physical phenomenon, time dilation might not be…

This 110-Inch Monster Is the World’s Largest Ultra HDTV

At last year’s Consumer Electronics Show, Samsung unveiled the world’s largest 4K TV. But its paltry 85-inch size is now dwarfed by a bigger brother, which offers up 110 inches of screen real estate. This things is crazy big. https://gizmodo.com/samsungs-giant-amazing-ultra-hd-tvs-are-imprisoned-in-h-5973925 Indeed, Samsung promised a larger version of the TV almost a year ago now, and…

WSJ: Google and Audi Are Working on In-Car Android

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google has been working with Audi to develop in-car entertainment and information systems based on Android—and the pair plan to make an announcement at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The newspaper explains that the announcement will also detail collaborative efforts with other manufacturers—it specifically names…

Science Proves That Rudolph’s Nose Really Does Glow

It might not be bright red, but Rudolph’s nose really does go glow. These thermal images of reindeer acquired by scientists show that Santa’s flying friends have incredibly warm noses. Because they live in cold climates, the noses of reindeer have adapted to have an increased blood to prevent them from freezing. In turn, that…

To address the problem that 80 percent of new contributions to Wikipedia are abandoned before they’re submitted, the online encyclopaedia now offers a drafting feature to help ease a little of the pressure.

The Math Behind the NSA’s Email Hacks

We’re all outraged by the NSA’s invasions of privacy, sure—but we don’t perhaps understand exactly how it managed it. This video explains the maths behind the agency’s surveillance. Hacking into email and working through encryption schemes requires some interesting math, a lot of very large numbers, and a fair dollop of computer science savvy. In…

Samsung’s 2014 Smart TVs Will Be Controlled By Your Pointed Finger

Kinect may have been at it for years, but it’s taking most companies a fair old while to really get to grips with gesture control. Now, Samsung is planning to offer more fine-grained, finger-sensitive functionality in its 2014 smart TVs. https://gizmodo.com/leap-motion-controller-review-waiting-for-the-future-t-817895912 Its new hardware will support single-finger gestures, in contrast to this year’s rather granular…

The Biggest Science Stories of 2013

The wonderful thing about science is that researchers are always pushing to produce the latest, greatest and most wonderful findings they can. They never let up. And 2013 was no exception. From synthetic hearts that beat of their own accord, through treatments for HIV and amazing developments in fusion, to finding out why hot water…

When Did There Become Too Many Books to Read in One Lifetime?

We’ve all done it: stood in a library, looking around, we’ve been confronted by the fact that there are way, way too many books in existence for us to ever read. But when in history did that happen? Randall Munroe has tried to answer that question over on his What If? site. Sadly, it’s not…

The European Space Agency’s Gaia Telescope—which is set to scan the entire sky and change our understanding of the universe—successfully launched yesterday morning at 09:12 GMT. [ESA]

Classic Arcade Game Designs Illustrated as a Field Guide

If your recollections of arcade games past are starting to fail you, perhaps you just need the Amusement Field Identification Kit in your life. Illustrated in the style of a traditional field manual, these annotated images—created by Michael Mateyko and Hans Thiessen—detail the design of classic arcade games like Donkey Kong, Pong, Ms. Pac-Man, and…

Google ‘Started Over’ on Android the Day the iPhone Launched

Apple changed the mobile industry with the iPhone, and has been known to suggest that others have copied it along the way. Now, one of Android’s original software architects admits that Google had “to start over” the day the iPhone was announced. When the iPhone was launched in 2007, Andorid had already been in development…

Steam Machine Teardown: A Gaming PC by Any Other Name

Valve has offered up 300 beta kits of its forthcoming Steam Machine console for developers and the like to play around with. Fortunately, iFixit got its hands on one, too—and then ripped the sucker apart. Here’s what’s inside. Diving into this piece of hardware offered more surprises than many teardowns, because the Steam Machine’s specs…

A Map of How Educated the United States Is by County

How does academic achievement vary across the US? While stereotypes and prejudices invariably exist, the only way to the answer that question is with some cold, hard data. Here it is. Thanks to the Census Bureau’s new interactive data-mapping tool, Atlantic has taken a look at how educational achievement varies across the country. Above is…

The Sounds Your Computer Makes Can Give Away Your Encryption Keys

You might think your computer runs quietly—or, if you’re unlucky, noisily—but either way you probably wouldn’t expect that its hum could give away your secrets. Turns out, that the noise your computer makes can reveal the RSA keys it’s using. A team of researchers from Tel Aviv University has been analyzing sound recordings made close…

A Fully Loaded New Mac Pro Will Cost You $14,000

After no short period of waiting, the new Mac Pro has finally gone on sale today. All along it’s promised to pack punch, and it might just prove to be your ultimate work station. But absolute power will cost you. https://gizmodo.com/the-mac-pro-finally-goes-on-sale-tomorrow-1485617275 If you head on over to the Apple Store, you can configure the Mac…

Just in time for the new Mac Pro going on sale, Final Cut Pro has gotten a big update, with improved support for 4K.

U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet has ruled that Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and dozens of banks must face a lawsuit, accusing them of misleading investors about the social network’s economic health during its IPO. Ouch.