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Post-Earthquake: Why Chile’s Telescopes Survived

Chile was rocked by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake on Saturday, and while hundreds were killed, Discovery.com has cast light on the many telescopes of Chile, built there for the low humidity and high altitudes. Earthquake expert Anil Ananthaswamy said the telescope will have survived the quake not just because it’s located 1,370km north of the…

Acer Working On Slim Intel Calpella Laptops

Acer’s working on some viddy, viddy slim laptops with Intel Calpella processors inside, according to Digitimes. Calpella was rumored to be making an appearance in the MacBook Pro line last year, but never materialized. https://gizmodo.com/intel-quad-core-laptop-processors-inevitably-headed-to-5250889 The laptops will be called the Calpella Slim series, and will come in 13, 14 and 15-inch models, measuring less…

New Wacom Cintiq 21UX Has 2048 Pressure Levels and Back Touchpads

I’m a fan of Wacom’s Cintiq display tablets, so I’m excited about their new 21-inch model, the Cintiq 21UX. According to Wacom, it has better pen performance and ergonomics. The two back touch-strips have me intrigued. https://gizmodo.com/wacom-cintiq-12wx-lcd-pen-tablet-video-review-verdict-338021 They say their new Grip Pen has their new Tip Sensor technology that requires near-zero pressure to start…

HP ProBooks Get Prettier Inside and Out

HP’s ProBook s-series wants to be your everything: punchy enough for work, stylish enough for home. And with a new brushed aluminum industrial design and Core i3/i5/i7 processing power, they may just bridge that gap. HP’s rolling out four new ProBook models, ranging from the 13.3-inch 4320s to the heavy-duty 17.3-inch 4720s. In addition to…

HP EliteBook 2740p Tablet Graduates to Capacitive Multitouch Display

The HP EliteBook 2730p was a tough little convertible tablet, and its successor— HP’s EliteBook 2740p—is no exception. The 2740p meets the same rugged MIL-STD 810G military standards, and adds a capacitive touch screen and Core i5/i7 goodness. https://gizmodo.com/hp-elitebook-2730p-tablet-is-ruggedized-and-means-busin-5038124 The 12.1-inch WXGA (1280 x 800) LED display includes anti-glare and optional outdoor view, and can…

Error: 8001050F Takes Down PlayStation Network

Something is happening in PlayStation Network land this evening, and it isn’t good. Known cryptically as Error: 8001050F, the error won’t allow users to log into their accounts or play online. Updated. According to one user over at the official PlayStation boards, the error does not prevent him from using the Internet via his PS3,…

The Church of Lunology’s Moon City Conspiracy

There are people on a secret city on the moon, and they are from the future. Find out what the Church of Lunology doesn’t want you to know. Plus, the video game Dead Rising gets a live action flick. Lunopolis The little faux-documentary Lunopolis, which received great reviews from the Boston scifi festival, blows the…

Italian Philip K. Dick Book Covers Are As Mind-Bending As His Tales

Artist Antonello Silverini has posted a sprawling gallery of Phillip K. Dick book covers he designed for Italian publishing house Fanucci Editore. Silverini’s gorgeously fractured collages truly convey the reality-altering aspects and transhumanism present in Dick’s oeuvre. These covers – and many more – can be found at Silverini’s blog. [via Tor] “We Can Build…

The 75 Books You Should Own For DC Comics’ 75th Anniversary

2010 sees the 75th anniversary of DC Comics, which launched in February 1935 with the first issue of New Fun. Since then, it’s gone on to publish some of the greatest comics ever. Here’re seventy-five you really should’ve read already. The Superman Chronicles Vol. 1 What is it? The first appearances of the world’s first…

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Caprica Is Quickly Becoming The Best SF Show On Television

Friday night’s episode of Caprica, “There Is Another Sky,” moved the already-intriguing show to the status of must-watch. It was simply one of the best SF representations of futuristic videogames and internet culture that I’ve ever seen. Caprica was occasionally shaky in its first few weeks, but with this episode the series found its sea…

Sony Vaio P Clone Can’t Compete with the Original

So, the Sony Vaio P has a clone. Congrats, Sony! Too bad the mimicry ends with the aesthetics: The appearance is spot on, but the insides are decidedly sub-par. The Atom processor is a less powerful than the processor offered in the Vaio P, and the memory maxes out at 1GB. If you’re comparing, that’s…

15-Year-Old Sven Junga Creates Starships From LEGO Bricks

Plastic block wunderkind Sven Junga has built some of our favorite interstellar dreadnoughts. Check out his renditions of the Daedalus from Stargate Atlantis, the HAVw A6 Juggernaut from Revenge of the Sith, and more. Here’s the Daedalus. [Sven Junga’s Flickr via SCI Fi Wire] The Daedalus HAVw A6 Juggernaut HAVw A6 Juggernaut (interior) The Retribution…

Löopa Gyro Bowl Provides Intense Astronaut Training for Your Frosted Flakes

There’s actually no “gyro” in the Löopa “gyro bowl,” so the designers’ decision to market it as such is a bit disingenuous, but nevertheless it’s a novel idea that could get the brattiest of kids to eat their cereal… …in spaaaace! Note: This was removed from the front page because it was a duplicate post.…

Nokia Teases, Heavily, That C-Series Phones Are Launching at CeBIT

Remember Nokia? They make cellphones (still!), and at CeBIT they’re hinting hard that two more, possibly the C5 and C6, are about to join their ranks. The hint was packaged in the Nokia Conversations newsletter. C if you can figure out what it is: “Of course, we don’t comment on rumours or leaks, but we…

How Aeon Flux Killed Black Widow And Made Iron Man 2 The Movie It Is Today

Iron Man 2 may be the cinematic debut for Marvel’s femme fatale spy the Black Widow, but it’s not the first time she was headed for the big screen. X-Men screenwriter David Hayter explains how Charlize Theron ruined everything. Latino Review spills the beans, quoting from a Hayter interview in the book Tales From The…

Growin’ Up Speaker System Design Rooted in Trees

“Larry, your new speakers look great, really they do. But…something’s off. I can’t put my finger on it, but they just sound, I dunno, kind of wooden. You know?” Because they’re inspired by trees! Haha. I kill me. Anyway, really, designer Marcos Ignacio Madia must have gone all Sigourney Weaver in the jungle from Gorillas…

UK Bill Would Outlaw Open Public Wifi Hotspots

If passed, something called the Digital Economy Bill over in the U.K. could do the unthinkable in this, the digital age: Ban open wifi spots. The ban comes as part of a bill that seeks to limit copyright infringement, or something. In summary, schools, small businesses and even libraries would have to effectively become their…

In The Future, Your iPhone Will Be A Universal Translator

Google recently unveiled a smart-phone app that can translate German text into English just by scanning it. And even though we’re a long way from Hitchhiker-like Babelfish, the universal translator of Star Trek lore is closer than you think. At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Google revealed a German-to-English text translator that utilizes Google…

ASUS Eee PC T101MT Convertible Struggles in Hands-On Preview

When we previewed the Asus Eee PC T101MT convertible netbook/tablet earlier this month, it was just on paper. The plucky little netbook looked promising, for an Eee PC, but this latest string of hands-on previews is just plain ugly. https://gizmodo.com/asus-eee-pc-t101mt-has-a-multitouch-tablet-display-and-5471797 The 10.1-inch touchscreen tablet portion, for example, struggles with basic tasks, touch recognition and responsiveness.…