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Nails! Magnet! Magnetism!

Science visualization doesn’t get much awesomerer and old school than this. We should put a bunch of these together near the North Pole, to keep the Russians from stealing it. [Caleb Charland courtesy of Michael Mazzeo Gallery—Thanks David ] https://gizmodo.com/mysterious-earths-core-plume-shifting-the-magnetic-nort-5434876

IMAX Hubble 3D Trailer: Avatar What?

This trailer is unbelievable, you guys. IMAX Hubble 3D is the story of the Hubble repair, and the visuals are stunning beyond any teal fantasy jungle you could imagine. Just watch it. [YouTube] https://gizmodo.com/filming-hubble-repair-practice-underwater-5272399

The “Blood-Curdling” Name Steve Jobs Wanted for the iMac

Back in November, former TBWAChiatDay creative Ken Segal said that Steve Jobs’ original name for the iMac would “curdle your blood.” I guessed Macternet, but according to this account, that wasn’t blood-curdling enough. Jobs’ alleged proposal was a lot worse: https://gizmodo.com/what-do-you-think-steve-jobs-blood-curdling-first-nam-5396904 Our sources claim that the name that Steve Jobs wanted was… MacMan. At the…

Remainders – The Good, Bad and Ugly Things We Didn’t Post (and Why)

In today’s remainders: The Onion visits CES; Recompute makes a cardboard PC; a robot spins on its head; and a helmet inspired by an armadillo. Raw Onion America’s Finest News Source visited CES this year and reported on the gadgets that excited them most. Among them: Bose Noise-Delaying Headphones, Texas Instruments’ Graphic Bassoon, and an…

Carrie Fisher Admits Her Complicity In The Famously Unwatchable Star Wars Holiday Special [NYTimes ArtsBeat]

Sending a Text Message to Canada Saved a Woman in Haiti

A Canadian woman trapped under rubble after the recent earthquake in Haiti managed to send out a text message to the Foreign Affairs Department in Ottawa, a place nearly 3,000 miles away. And it saved her life. Once received, the text message was “relayed to Canadian diplomats back in Haiti” who then provided aid in…

Sleep Suit Allows You to Doze Anywhere and Be Touched Everywhere

I like the sleep suit, because can’t not like anything that allows me to sleep anywhere I want, and has holes for people to poke their hands inside. The suit is designed for siestas—four 30 minutes ones taken over 24 hours periods—, with holes that allow “human contact.” I don’t know about the contact, but…

Temperature-Adjusted OLEDs Simulate Sunlight

OLEDs are known for having a kind of clinical coldness to the color gamut (read: “blue-ish”), but a Taiwanese researcher has worked out a way to up the temperature to the point where it comes very close to simulating sunlight. Basically, he adjusted the voltage on a certain type of OLED, which produces a light…

Bear Attacks Plane, Pilot Fixes Plane With Duct Tape, Pilot Flies Duct-Taped Plane Home

I’m not sure this story is true, but if it is, I’m going to go buy a hat just so I can take it off in this guy’s honor. Is there anything duct tape can’t do (besides repair ducts)? So this pilot was flying out in the Alaskan backcountry (is there a frontcountry in Alaska?)…

Sensor Network Could Sniff Out Terrorists, Literally

OK, so you might feel weird about those naked-o-vision scanners they’re installing at the airport. Here’s a nice alternative: chemical noses that can sniff out explosives and precisely track them through crowded areas. Researchers from Germany’s Fraunhofer Gesellschaft have created a network of these chemical noses that can do just that. First, the sensors pick…

Cellphone Steadicam Rig Leaves No Excuse for Shaky Home Videos

Camera stabilization rig maker Steadicam-Tiffen is making its first anti-shake mounts for cellphones and pocket cameras, including the iPhone, Droid, and Flip. I say it’s about damn time for it because I’m tired of shaky cellphone spy videos. No pricing or release information is available for these small scale rigs at this time, but I…

Punxsutawney Phil Is Going To Text His Prediction This Year

I know there is a tradition to uphold, and I enjoyed the movie, but groundhog texting? Do they even have thumbs? Of course, the idea is to get the word out to the millions of crazy people out there that rely on a talking groundhog to predict the weather. If you are one of those…

Apple “Experts” Will Make Geniuses Feel Like Dunces

We’ve teased that Apple Geniuses might not be the brightest in the bunch, but now Apple itself might make them feel stupid. The company is supposedly adding “experts” who’ll roam retail stores and answer support questions without need for appointments. https://gizmodo.com/apple-store-geniuses-might-actually-be-dunces-5055539 From the sounds of it, this new job position translates as a sales floor…

Building a Lego Router

I never really cared for the classic look of Linkysis routers to be perfectly honest. The solution: dress it up with Lego. That’s just what Luke Anderson did with an old WRT54GL. He noticed that the guts fit nicely with the dimensions of Lego bricks, so he set about making a new case. The entire…

The Best Representation Of Kick-Boxing In Cyberspace Ever Created

Everything about this cyber-security ad is awesome — the explanation of the CyberWorld, the Segway that Jackie Chan rides through Cyberspace on, and the kung-fu battle against malware. Most of all, the final double thumbs-up is AWESOME. [Thanks Jason Scott!]

The 53 Best iPhone Games

Scouring the App Store for the best games is a full time job. Luckily, it’s a job held by the guys over at Touch Arcade. Here are their picks for the best games—and only games—available on the iPhone. While the App Store had clearly been a huge success in 2008, the continued growth and explosion…

D-Link’s MiFI-Like MyPocket 3G Router Hits FCC

D-Link’s diminutive MyPocket 3G, which takes a 3G connection and outputs it as Wi-Fi, just got approved and poorly photographed by the FCC. It’s definitely destined for North America, since it uses our local 3G GSM bands. We don’t have much more information on the MyPocket just yet—we know it can handle up to 7.2Mbps…

Lego Short Film Makes Me Want to Play With Legos Immediately

CL!CK is a short film made by Lego about how Legos can inspire you to come up with great ideas. It’s a fancy ad, to be sure, but a truly lovely one. [YouTube via NotCot]

What If The Neandertals Didn’t Die Out?

With recent news that Neandertals painted, and proto-human homo erectus sailed to Europe on boats, this is the week for hominid power. In that spirit, let’s take a look at a subgenre of science fiction where Neanderthals never went extinct. While the subject of contemporary Neandertals is often treated with startling gravity in many SF…

Peter Sarsgaard To Play Green Lantern’s Heady Foe, Hector Hammond

Critically-acclaimed actor Peter Sarsgaard is in talks to play evil, giant-head Hector Hammond opposite Ryan Reynolds’ Green Lantern. Given that Sarsgaard and Hammond may not exactly be household names for all film-goers, here’s a little background on them both. Sarsgaard has gained plaudits for his roles in Boys Don’t Cry, Shattered Glass, and Jarhead. He…