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If you thought the Kepler spacecraft’s glory days were over, think again. Today at the 227th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, astronomers announced a whopping 234 new exoplanet candidates discovered by Kepler in 2014. The best part? All of them are just tens of light years away. The deluge of planetary candidates are distributed…
You probably grew up with a cheap Casio on your wrist, but the company’s first Android Wear offering is a very different product. It’s engineered to be tough enough for outdoor enthusiasts who need more than just notifications of Facebook likes. By no means as high-end as Tag Heuer’s recently revealed $1,500 Android Wear spectacle,…
Once again, the internet is quivering with angst over Twitter ditching its 140-character limit. A Re/code report today claims that the microblogging service will soon become much less micro by expanding that limit to 10,000 characters. Everybody calm the fuck down. Twitter is not ditching its 140-character limit. Not yet, at least. Some anonymous sources…
News broke today that Lumosity — the company behind all those brain-training games that are supposed to make you smarter — had to fork over $2 million for being 99% bullshit and 1% cutesy commercials. Coincidentally, a team of Israeli scientists announced that “emotion training” might be possible. Based on recent experimental results, researchers at…
A box of powder-cheesed macaroni? Natural! A candy bar? Sure, why not: natural! A can of 7-Up? All natural! A bag of fruit snacks? Just chock full of natural flavor, friend. The presence of the word “natural” on your food has long guaranteed you one thing: Someone at that food company wanted to write it…
Nikon’s getting into the action camera game with a 360 camera with the Keymission 360. An action camera? A 360 camera? Nikon does not do these things. What! What we’ve got here looks more like the products riding the 360 wave, in the hopes of getting ahead of the looming virtual reality craze. So it’s…
In today’s world of constant mass breaches of personal data, fears of spying drones, and nightmarish visions of AI-fueled robot rebellions, it’s nice to know that some new technologies can fall squarely into the category of “wholly secure”—like this nifty wifi-connected safe. Security company First Alert is announcing a host of new products at CES…
There are fancy cameras, and then there are flagship professional DSLRs—big super powerful overkill machines designed for ultra-fast performance. Nikon teased its latest monster, the D5, in the fall. Now, it’s been formally introduced. This overhaul is the first major refresh of Nikon’s top line since the company announced the D4S two years ago. The…
A German research team recently discovered what they thought were five distinct species of nematode worms on account of significant facial differences. But it turns out they’re a single species of worm—a fascinating creature that changes the shape of its mouth depending on what food is available. The newly described nematode worm, a roundworm dubbed…
The Technics 1200 has long been revered by DJs for its high-torque, direct-drive platter that ensures flawless mixes and incredibly precise scratch performances. The last version of the turntable, the MK6, was released in Japan back in 2008. But today at CES, Panasonic announced it had revived the turntable with the new Grand Class Technics…
Instead of forcing your family to endure a grueling slideshow of your vacation photos, Panasonic wants you to treat them to stunning 4K videos of your hotel room, random meals, and various takeoffs with its new Lumix DMC-Zs100—a compact shooter with a hefty one-inch sensor. Available starting in March with a black or silver housing…
The Wire absolutely belongs on the Mount Rushmore of television shows (it would probably be the spot of ol’ Abe) and its intro sequence was always one of the most memorable because of the music but also how it utilized up close look at scenes of the season while painting a broader picture of the…
Huawei, the Chinese telecom company behind those blingy smartwatches, is introducing a new tablet today that reminds us of the Nexus 6P, that awesome Android phone we loved last year. The tablet, called the MediaPad M2 10, was announced today at CES. It’s got a 10-inch display, full HD 1920×1200 resolution, and runs on Android…
President Obama announced a new executive order to stop gun violence in the US, with several new policies including a national registry for gun vendors. But he also called for gunmakers to “update firearms technology,” which would include not only biometric locks but a new idea to track guns with an app. “If there’s an…
Mutated viruses have long been the bogeyman of science fiction films, but in the case of Ebola, mutation could be its downfall. New research suggests the virus’s own tendency to mutate could one day lead to an effective treatment. Researchers at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute believe they might have discovered a potential way to…
Lumosity, which created a brain game powerhouse by telling people it could make them smarter, is paying for its lies. Lumos Labs will pay the Federal Trade Commission $2 million for deceptive trade practices. “Lumosity preyed on consumers’ fears about age-related cognitive decline, suggesting their games could stave off memory loss, dementia, and even Alzheimer’s…
That silly sci-fi dream of invisible screens that magically display graphics is inching towards reality. Thanks to LG, the world can now lust after a television that looks like it’s nothing more than a pane of translucent glass—and a very thin pane of glass at that. LG’s new OLED 4K TVs are just a tenth…
Any kind of individual geotracking may sound unnerving at first, but if you can control who is able to see your location and when, it can be a convenient way of keeping an eye on the kids, making sure everyone meets at the same bar, or working out how long it’ll be before your better…
LG’s added a see-through door to its new Signature line of fridges that lights up when tapped so you can check its contents without letting out the cold. But to save you the strain of actually physically opening the door when you see something you want, a simple foot tap now does that for you.…
Unusually heavy rainfall and severe storms in parts of Missouri and Illinois late last month are now causing the Mississippi River to surge, threatening a number of communities with severe flooding. Between December 26 and December 28, 2015, some six inches of rain fell on 50- to 75-mile-wide region of middle America. Some areas recorded…
