Jamie Condliffe

The Science of Building a Space Gun

The idea of firing objects into space from a cannon was first hinted at by Newton, and has been seized upon by many a sci-fi writer since. But what’s the science behind the idea like—and could we ever launch payloads into space using the technique? In this video, astronomer Scott Manley takes a look at…

Nokia’s Xpress Browser Decrypts Your HTTPS Data

It’s come to light that Nokia’s Xpress Browser—used on its Asha and Lumia handsets—routes your secure and encrypted HTTPS data through its servers and temporarily decrypts it. GigaOm reports security research which reveals that Nokia’s browser passes data to its servers—nothing odd there, it’s a proxy browser designed to speed things up—but that, at stages,…

Samsung’s announced it won’t release Windows RT tablets in the US—because it thinks consumers don’ know what RT is.

Obama Signs Bill Finally Allowing Netflix-to-Facebook Sharing

President Obama has finally signed a bill which allows you to legally share information about which videos you’re watching on Netflix direct to Facebook. The Hill reports that the bill, signed yesterday, sets right the decrepit laws that previously banned Netflix-to-Facebook sharing. As a refresher of the problem: https://gizmodo.com/netflix-will-finally-probably-publish-what-you-watch-5970581 The 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act…

You Started Life as a Girl

Gentlemen, brace yourselves: once upon a time, you were a girl. Strictly speaking, when you were just an overgrown ball of cells in the womb you were female—but fortunately a few things happened along the way to ensure you were all man by birth. This video explains the whole process, which boils down to the…

Hack Turns Cisco’s Desk Phone Into a Spying Device

Cisco’s internet phones—which sit on thousands of desks around the world—have been shown to be easily hacked and turned into remote spying devices. The official announcement comes two whole weeks after Cisco first found out about the problem. The exploit was discovered by Ang Cui and Salvatore Solfo, a pair of computer scientists from Columbia…

Amazon to Provide CD Buyers With Cloud-Based MP3s For Free (Update: It’s Just Launched!)

CNET is reporting that Amazon is planning to launch a reward scheme for CD buyers. When they purchase music in its physical form, they’ll also receive a digital copy, which they’ll be able to listen to via Amazon’s cloud music service. Update: The service is now live! See below for more details Codenamed “Auto Rip”,…

What Is This? (Answer)

It is in fact, none other than that famous mathematical constant Pi. The image is a “walk” made out of the first 100 billion digits of pi, in base 4. Starting at the origin, each digit forced a point to move in one of four directions: a 0 made the point move right, a 1…

Convert an Old Game Boy Into an Android Gamepad

If for some reason you still have an original Game Boy lying around, the time has surely come to throw it out—or, perhaps, convert it into an Android gamepad to relive that retro gaming feel. That’s exactly what Chad Boughton decided to do, and he describes the process on Instructables: Using a Wii remote as…

What Is This?

This ragged cloud of color looks messy and unstructured—but in fact it’s a rare and unusual view of one of the most fundamental things in science. Can you work out what it is? Sadly for you, we’re going to let you puzzle over the answer for a little while. To stop you all going round…

Forget Pantone, Here’s Beertone

Who cares what color the walls are when there’s beer in front of you? That’s exactly what the guys between Beertone thought, when they decided to put together a color chart that takes you on a journey through the entire spectrum of beer. Beertone explains: The bright beers will start the guide ending with the…

WSJ: Schmidt Is Giving North Korea What For

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Eric Schmidt isn’t being backward at coming forward during his trip to North Korea. In fact, he’s been challenging officials over global Internet access, nuclear-development, and US detainees. https://gizmodo.com/eric-schmidt-actually-landed-in-north-korea-now-what-5973865 The Journal reports that Schmidt was keen to point out the economic disadvantages that a censored internet brings: “As…

Polaroid’s New Android Tablets Might Give Nexus Some Stiff Competition

Polaroid has announced a new pair of Android tablets at CES. Their most obvious selling point is super-low pricing—but will their performance be able to stand up to the competition? There are two new tablets—predictably, a 7-incher (M7) and a 10-incher (M10)—and when we say price is a big draw here, we really mean it.…

Netflix has confirmed that there will be 14 new Arrested Development episodes, which will start airing in May. [Netflix]

This Picture Makes Manhattan Look Like a Video Game

This isn’t a computer simulation of New York. In fact, it’s a 3D panorama that was stitched together from multiple shots taken during a helicopter ride—and the result is beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that when photographer Sergey Semonov submitted the image to the Epson International Photographic Pano Awards, it took first prize in the…

Apple Cuts the Price of Thunderbolt Cables

Apple has decided to cut the price of its exorbitantly priced Thunderbolt cables. Its 2-meter cable has fallen in price from a painful $50 to an only-slightly-more-palatable $40. It has also started selling a new, shorter Thunderbolt cable—measuring 0.5 meters—which costs $30. Less reason to buy those cheap knock-off cables, at least. [9to5mac]

Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile will all offer RIM’s new BB10 devices—the first of which will be announced January 30th.

Google Maps Is Back on Windows Phone

After Google Maps disappeared from Windows Phone, Google announced it was working hard to solve the problem. Now Maps is back, so WinPho users can find their way with Google once more. https://gizmodo.com/google-maps-has-never-been-accessible-on-internet-explo-5973295 Verge reports that Google has re-enabled the web version of its maps for WinPho users. For a time, a redirect was put…

Babies Start Acquiring Language in the Womb

If you and your partner are expecting a new addition to the family, now might be a good time to clean up your language. New research suggests that babies begin to pick up language from within the womb. Studies in the past have shown that babies of just a few months in age can distinguish…

Australia Is So Hot They Had to Add New Colors to Their Weather Maps

It’s super-hot in Australia right now: there are massive bush fires happening spontaneously and it’s 95°F in Sydney at midnight. In fact, the Australian bureau of meteorology has recorded the highest ever known temperature in Australia—and as a result, it’s had to add new colors to its weather maps. The purple spot in the center…