Jamie Condliffe

This Interactive Web App Lets Your Play at Being an Air Traffic Analyst

If you’ve ever wondered what it must be like to study the movement of airplanes as they take off and land across the entire world, then this interactive app let’s you do just that. It’s not the first time we’ve seen air traffic data visualized, but it is the first time we’ve seen an interactive…

YouTube’s iOS app now lets you edit videos on your phone before you upload them.

EU Ruling to Stop US Companies Moving Data Freely Across the Atlantic

A new court ruling from the European Court of Justice deems invalid a legal framework that has untul now been used to justify the free transfer of data between the European Union and the U.S.. Known as the Safe Harbour agreement, the law has in the past allowed organizations based in the U.S. to pull…

Reddit Is Launching a News Website Called Upvoted — Without Comments

Reddit is launching a brand new website today to unearth news from its social aggregator. Called Upvoted, the site will surface pictures, videos and commentary from Reddit and present it as news — without the option to comment on a single thing. Wired reports that the new website, which is set to launch later today,…

Strava Insights Lets You See How the World Runs and Cycles

Since Strava burst on to the fitness scene to track runs and rides, it’s collected an extraordinary amount of data—so much, in fact, that it even sells it to city planners. Now, it’slaunched a new website called Insights that lets you explore how the entire world runs and cycles. Drawing on a frankly bewildering 136…

World’s First Silicon Quantum Logic Gate Brings Quantum Computing One Step Closer

Quantum computing is a devilishly complex pursuit and one of the main problems is that it demands exotic materials to create its equally exotic circuitry. Now a team of researchers has managed to create the world’s first quantum logic gate in faithful old silicon. Engineers from the University of New South Wales have developed a…

This Jet Display Is Like Watching a Reflection in a Lake

No matter how many times you see fighter jets get too close to things, it’s still terrifying to witness. Here, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds perform during a rehearsal on September 18th before the 2015 Joint Base Andrews Air Show at Joint Base Andrews. Don’t worry: they didn’t crash. [US Air Force]

Facebook Is Going to Send Free Internet Across Africa From Satellites

Facebook has announced that it’s teaming up with French-based satellite provider Eutelsat Communications to beam free internet to 14 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The deal will see the companies use “the entire broadband payload on the future AMOS-6 [geostationary]satellite” along with gateways and terminals on the ground, providing high gain spot beams of data that…

This Robotic Bee Can Swim (Unlike Its Real-Life Counterpart)

If you’ve ever had a bee land in your beer, you’ll know they can’t swim. If it were one of Harvard’s Robobees, however, it would be a different matter altogether. The Robobee isn’t a new creation, but it has just picked up a new skill: using the same motion that it uses to fly in…

A Moody View of Titan and Saturn

Saturn and its moon Titan are a moody looking pair in this image. But despite the fact they look similar in a picture like this, they’re actually far from alike. As the European Space Agency points out, Saturn’s mass of swirling gas is a sharp contrast to Titan’s icy, solid body. Both do, however, have…

Video Explainer: How Image Filters Work

When it comes to image filters, these day’s it often a case of choosing between Instagram’s Hudson or Hefe. But in reality those filters are combination of several, simpler effects — and this video explains how they work. If you used Photoshop before the era of Instagram, you’ll have at least read the names of…

IBM Is Shrinking Transistors With Rows of Tiny Carbon Nanotubes

In the semiconductor industry, size matters — and people are worried that it won’t be able make transistors any smaller. But a team of IBM scientists has now published research showing how carbon nanotubes could help. The size problem is a simple one: continue shrinking down the circuity required by transistors, and the electrical resistance…

This Crazy Screen Squeezes an 8K Display Into a 17-Inch Panel

Well hello there, overkill. This screen from Japan Display is a triumph in taking resolution to the extreme: it squeezes an 8K LCD module into a screen that measures just 17.3 inches. For those keen on numbers, that’s a screen that packs 7,680 x 4,320 pixels, or a staggering 510 pixels per inch. It also…

These Balls are Mini-Brains, Ripe For Medical Research

Understanding how the brain works is important, but going hands-on to test drugs or other treatments can be difficult. Which is why a team from Brown University has created these miniature ball-shaped brains for use in the lab. While these balls of brain cells don’t actually perform actual cognition, they do produce electrical signals and…

Asus is joining the likes of Samsung, Sony, and Dell in bundling up Microsoft apps, including Office, on its Android handsets. Slowly, Microsoft is spreading its tentacles across Google’s domain.

Careful Application of Heat Could Extend the Lifetime of a Battery

Think of heat and batteries, and you probably imagine a li-on cell bursting into flames. But now researchers think that a little heat at the right time could actually be used to extend the lifespan of a battery. During the cycles of charing and discharging, li-on batteries slowly degrade. One factor involved in that degradation…

Last Night’s ISS Sunset Sure Was a Good One

This was astronaut Scott Kelly’s view from the International Space Station before he went to bed last night. Those primary colors are really quite incredible. [Scott Kelly]

Study: You Suck at Spotting Fake Images

We all like to think we can spot a real from a fake. But a new study by researchers from the the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul suggests that, actually, we’re pretty awful at telling a real digital photo from a fake. In a study posted to the arXiv pre-publish servers, the team…

Samsung TVs Reportedly Use Less Power in Efficiency Tests Than in Real Life

A series of tests by EU-funded research group ComplianTV suggest that Samsung TVs use more power in real-life conditions than they do when undergoing efficiency tests. Some Samsung TVs feature a ‘motion lighting’ feature that’s supposed to reduce brightness, and thus power consumption, when fast video motion is detected. But, as The Guardian reports, the…

These Microflowers Bloom From Organic Chemicals in 3 Hours

It looks like a vivid red carnation, but this flower is actually the result of mixing simple organic chemicals—and it measures just 10 microns across. Created by Sheshanath Bhosale from RMIT University in Melbourne, the flower blooms when phosphonic acid and melamine are mixed in water. As they react, hydrogen bonds form — the same…