Latest

What’s Apple Doing With This Mystery Building?

North Carolina: home of BBQ, beaches, and Apple’s gi-freaking-normous data center. It’s where iCloud lives, and maybe Siri! And now the company is putting the finishing touches on a new center. Why? Nobody really knows. So Wired checked it out. From above, Wired was able to spot some interesting physical details of the 20,000 square…

Choose a Drinking Establishment According to “Vibe” with Don Q’s New Barometer App

Picking the perfect watering hole can be tough. You might not know exactly where to go to satisfy your urge for, say, one of those places with a mechanical bull. If only you had a group of locals that knew just the spot… You do! Barometer is a new app from Don Q Rum that…

BREAKING: David Pogue Has Lost His iPhone (UPDATE #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16—THEY GOT IT—Still Updating #17 #18)

New York Times technology writer David Pogue has lost his iPhone. He has posted a screenshot of where it might be on Lockerz.com, though. Won’t anyone help him find it? Or help him sign up for PhotoBucket? Update 11:52AM EDT: David has posted another photo to Lockerz.com, this time showing the larger scope of the…

Ingenious Chopsticks Never Touch the Table

The gentle curve of the tines on a fork make spearing food a little easier, but also help to keep them from getting dirty when placed on a table. Which is an issue that has made chopstick rests a necessary accessory at many restaurants, at least until these brilliant Restless Chopsticks become more mainstream. Created…

The Robot Sub That Can Chart Nearly Every Inch of the Ocean

As the world awaits Curiosity’s arrival on Mars, an alien landscape 141.6 million miles closer to home remains woefully unexplored. To chart the vast depths of the ocean, the UK has developed an unmanned sub capable of diving miles beneath the sea. It’s called the Autosub6000. This 18-foot, 3-ton, titanium-clad Autonomous Underwater Vehicle is the…

Quite Possibly the Cutest (Accurate) Dinosaur Illustration Ever

Science artist Emily Willoughby specializes in birds and their feathery ancestors among dinosaurs. And in this illustration, “The Rains of Rogling,” is possibly the cutest scientifically accurate rendition of a dinosaur I’ve ever seen. It probably helps that this is a picture of a baby, and (yes) it’s covered in down. It’s like the Cretaceous…

The iPad’s Smart Cover Could Someday Be a Second Display

Apple is trying to patent a Smart Cover for the iPad that has an embedded secondary display. Or in other words: Eat it, Surface. The cover would use a connector on the side of the iPad that would supply data and power to the cover. Here’s Apple’s description from the application: [The] accessory device comprising:…

Christopher Eccleston will play Thor 2’s villain, Malekith The Accursed!

Former leather-jacketed Doctor Who Christopher Eccleston is in final talks for the major villain of the second Thor flick, Thor: The Dark World, which wil be helmed by Game of Thrones director Alan Taylor. Malekith is the ruler of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim and a trickster and illusionist, which makes him the perfect co-conspirator…

No, the next iPhone won’t cost $800. Unless it’s unlocked. Please stop being dumb, Twitter. [Buzzfeed]

Not Even the Olympics Can Make 3DTV Worth It

The 3D feed of the Olympics is the most ambitious 3D broadcast in history. It employs 50 3D camera rigs, manned by 80 souls who are split into three teams, which scurry around London from event to event. Obviously, it’s incredible to watch, but is it enough to make the effort and cost of watching…

Even Deadly Snakes and Monkey Shit Couldn’t Stop Me From Excavating Maya Ruins in the Jungle

Snakes. In the ancient Maya ruins where I’m working at with archaeologists, the creatures we fear most are probably the snakes. That fact might sound like the punchline to an Indiana Jones joke, until you hear about the most dreaded serpent here in the jungles of Belize. The fer-de-lance is likely the deadliest snake in…

Weirdo Google Street View scenes invade the realm of high art

The roving cameras of Google Street View has archived all manner of accidental weirdness. Artist Jon Rafman has assiduously documented the strangest sights Google’s cameras have captured in the company’s quest to provide a navigable facsimile of reality. Indeed, tucked between the boring shots of roads and homes are gangs of Mexican werewolves and sleepy…

Why Apple TV Just Became Apple’s Most Important Product

There are coincidences in this world, and it’s important not to read too much into them. Pandora playing the song stuck in your head doesn’t make you psychic. But then there are coincidences you can’t help but think might mean a little bit more. Like, say, three heavy hitter holdouts all hopping on Apple TV…

Apple Ditched Curved Glass iPhone Because it Was Too Expensive

The information about Apple’s early iPhone prototypes and concepts just keeps coming. According to a court filing, Apple considered building a phone with shaped glass, but it never happened because it would have cost too much cash money. Look at those images above. Trippy concept, right? Network World discovered the deposition of former Apple designer…

The Most Amazing Tour of Kennedy Space Center Is On Your Computer

In honor of the Kennedy Space Center’s 50th anniversary, the Google Maps team has just added something very cool: an all-access pass to the KSC. You can now take a Street View walk through rooms you’d never have access to without some serious security clearance. The self-guided tour includes over 6,000 high-quality panoramic images to…

How wasps helped give us wine

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a pretty awesome yeast. It’s one of the first that humans discovered, and is still used today in the creation of beer, wine, and bread. So, in other words, it’s the foundation of human society. So, what role did wasps have in bringing us this delightful stuff? Photo by Alex Wild. What’s…

RIM’s Finally Launching a 4G PlayBook (In Canada)

RIM is finally releasing a 4G LTE PlayBook. The company announced today that it will debut in Canada next week and it will be available in the U.S. “in the coming months,” which hopefully isn’t code for “never.” It’s pretty much the same PlayBook we’re already familiar with—7-inch display, front- and rear-facing cameras, the same…

This Bed Gives Kids the Wrong Impression About Bear Encounters

According to cartoons, bears are nature’s most cuddly animal and are more than willing to welcome children into their den for a snuggle. But that’s a dangerous fallacy that this giant plush bear bed continues to reinforce. Admittedly, the thought of curling up inside a giant stuffed teddy bear does have a certain appeal. But…

Stem cell finding will lead to a “paradigm shift” in cancer treatments

There’s been a heated controversy in cancer research over the past several years about the alleged presence of cancer stem cells that fuel tumour growth. But now, new research conducted by three independent teams has confirmed the existence of these “master builder” cells — a discovery that will likely lead to completely new forms of…

See self-assembling microstructures in action

We’ve heard a lot about self-assembling structures, but we rarely get to see a cool visual demonstration. This video shows several shapes and even complex, interlocking structures being assembled through “microfluidic channels.” As an accompaniment to a paper published in Nature, a video was made of a group of microstructures self-assembling through fluid movement and…