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The USS Enterprise Is Being Shut Down

It’s the beginning of the end for the USS Enterprise. After 50 years of service, the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is going dark at the same shipyard where it was first built. Around 600 sailors and 1,200 employees at the Newport News shipyard in Virginia have been tasked with completing the “inactivation.” As the…

Sansa Stark To Play Frankenstein Author In Mary Shelley’s Monster

Sophie Turner, best known for playing the badass that is Sansa Stark on Game of Thrones, has been cast as Mary Shelley in a dark gothic horror/romance based somewhat on the iconic author’s life. I say somewhat because Turner will be playing a “monster,” too. https://gizmodo.com/game-of-thrones-sansa-stark-is-awesome-a-treatise-1485716181 Here’s how Deadline describes the movie: …Mary Shelley’s Monster…

A handful of Brooklyn Law students working out of a tech-oriented legal clinic forced a patent troll to drop a meritless lawsuit. If more law schools set up pro bono patent litigation clinics, they could be potent anti-troll weapons — especially since many start-ups would rather settle lawsuits than pay huge legal fees.

What Is Lex Luthor’s Evil Scheme in Batman v. Superman?

Does a deleted scene from Captain America 2 reveal plans for a Black Widow prequel film? A long-awaited love scene is coming to True Blood. Sleepy Hollow casts its succubus and Abbie’s mother. Arrow reveals details of its 50th episode. Plus, new footage from Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and The Maze Runner.…

From Bugs Bunny to Wile E. Coyote: The Animation Genius of Chuck Jones

It’s a good bet that you spent hundreds of childhood hours with Chuck Jones, even if you didn’t know who he was at the time. “What’s Up, Doc? The Animation Art of Chuck Jones” is a new exhibition which chronicles the work of the legendary animator who breathed life into household names like Bugs Bunny,…

Apple Patented a Mouse that Would Vibrate at Your Touch

Imagine if your mouse was more like a games controller, providing feedback as you navigated your desktop. Well, Apple’s certainly had that idea—and described it in this recently approved patent for a mouse that reacts to your use. The “Force Sensing Mouse” patent describes how sensors in a mouse could measure the level and location…

Ultraviolet camera shows why we should always wear sunscreen

Thomas Leveritt asked random people on the street to pose in front of his ultraviolet camera to show them how sun really affects their skin. It’s amazing how much we change. When we are kids our skin looks spotless, but as we grow older the exposure to sunlight ages it and invisible freckles start appearing…

If you think you have it bad with your family life, be grateful that at least you get some ready-made answers to security questions. [Doghouse Diaries]

Shazam has pulled a U-turn and restored its Spotify sharing tool to its service. It’s now also reported to be testing Beats Music integration on iOS, too.

A British Pilot’s Artificial Arm Came Off, Almost Caused Crash Landing

The pilot of a Flybe flight from Birmingham to Belfast City Airport managed to get himself in a bit of a mess last year—when his artificial arm somehow came off during a landing. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch report into the incident, just now issued, makes for bizarre reading. It explains that the man’s “…prosthetic…

One of the Best Cybersecurity Minds on Earth Uses a Pager Not a Phone

Dan Geer is world-renowned cyber security researcher. He’s Chief Information Security Officer at In-Q-Tel, a non-profit venture capital firm. Hid company invests in technology to support the CIA. He’s knows his shit. And he uses a pager instead of a smartphone. The Washington Post spoke to Geer after the keynote speech at last week’s Black…

How Badly Will Sin City: A Dame to Kill For Affect Its Effects Studio?

Variety has a fascinating profile on the visual effects company Prime Focus World, which threw its lot in with Sin City: A Dame to Kill For in a gamble designed to raise its profile and bring in money. It did not work out that way. The company begain in Mumbai, founded Namit Malhotra in 1997.…

This Is What a Heart Injected With Liquid Metal Looks Like

Two researchers from a Beijing University have found a way to create 3D X-Ray images of some of the smallest blood vessels in the heart — by filling it with liquid metal. Gallium is a metal which melts at 29 degrees centigrade, so it’s liquid at the normal temperature of a human body. It’s stable,…

A Forgotten Einstein Model of the Universe Describes the Big Crunch

Way back in 1931, Albert Einstein visited the U.S. for three months. Inspired by meetings with Edwin Hubble, he began thinking about the Universe differently, writing a paper in four days to get down his thoughts—and now, those first scribblings have been translated into English for the first time. “On the cosmological problem of the…

A replica of the backplane of the James Webb Space Telescope is hoisted into place in the assembly stand in NASA Goddard’s giant cleanroom. Over the next few months, the telescope’s mirrors will be installed to it—so they don’t make any mistakes when they do it on the real-deal. [NASA]

This Panoramic 4K Time-Lapse of Dubai Airport Is Mesmerizing

A busy airport at night is a beautiful thing to see in action. This video, though, takes that to a whole new level, showing a 360-degree time-lapse panorama of Dubai International Airport in 4K. It is utterly, oddly compelling. It gives you a real feel for the insane amount of to-and-fro at an international airport:…

Google might be ripping off one of Facebook Messenger’s best features on the phone for its own Hangouts app on the desktop: chat heads. A new leak on Phandroid shows that Google is currently experimenting with this feature. Hangouts is a mess and chat heads are awesome. Google may never actually release this, but I’ll…

Future Wearables Could Communicate Using Reflected Wi-Fi

Sending data between small, portable devices is full of compromise: higher transfer rates usually means a bigger drain on the battery. But UCLA researchers have a plan to use reflected Wi-Fi signals to help solve that problem. A teams from UCLA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has spent the last two years developing technology which allows small…

Watch Zuck Dump a Bucket of Ice Water on His Head (For Charity)

Some of the most powerful people in the tech world are dumping buckets of ice water on their heads. No, they haven’t lost it. They’re doing it for charity. The stunt is a part of a campaign to raise money to fight amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as the motor neurons disease. Those who…

Dogs With Flower Crowns Promote Pit Bull Adoption

Photographer Sophie Gamand‘s new series is called “Flower Power,” and its an attempt to fight the pit bull stereotype. Because a dog’s breed affects its behavior only so much. https://gizmodo.com/does-your-dogs-breed-really-determine-its-personality-1543999674 Gamand says she admittedly had prejudices about the breed, but she partnered with Second Chance Rescue, Sean Casey Animal Rescue, and Animal Haven to do…