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In theory, the U.S. is a land of opportunity, where success isn’t constrained by background or education — but the reality is a rather different. This visualization digs into that a little, allowing you to see how many people have the same education, income, work hours, and commute as you do. Nathan Yau of Flowing…
Apple has been found guilty of using a technology, patented by the University of Wisconsin-Madison way back in 1998, in its chips without the proper permission — and it could cost it close $1 billion. Reuters reports that Apple has been using technology that’s described in this patent to improve the efficiency of its A7,…
When Google announced that its new parent company was going to to be called alphabet, the world shrugged. But according to Eric Schmidt, the company could grow in size and importance, and fairly quickly. Re/code has listened to a recording of Schmidt talking at the Internet Association trade group, where he explained: “I wake up,…
Some people will drink coffee out of any old ceramic receptacle. But me? I want a mug that reminds me of the power of the Dark Side every time I drink. The $12 mug from ThinkGeek changes color when you pour a hot liquid into it. In the cupboard, it’s just your regular run-of-the-mill Vader…
For the last few years, Apple’s iMacs have tried to combine the best of both storage worlds in the Fusion Drive, a SSD/hard-drive combo that’s meant to blend performance and storage capacity into one. The newly refreshed iMacs are sporting Fusion Drives, but they’re much smaller than their predecessors. The Fusion Drives in previous iMacs…
A construction crane builds buildings and structures and basically everything but what builds a construction crane? Another construction crane? Nope, a construction crane builds itself. Here’s a fun video recently re-dugg up by Digg showing how one of them tower cranes are built. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Apple’s not been especially forthcoming over the years UNDERSTATEMENT but recently the company has been opening up. Case in point: Journalist Steven Levy went inside Apple’s HQ to see where the company prototypes hardware, including an acoustical lab for tuning the audible feedback from your fingers. For Medium’s Backchannel, Levy writes about his experience visiting…
Tonight! 8:30 pm ET! Hillary Clinton faces off against Bernie Sanders! And also those other guys! How might you be able to watch such an event? The five Democratic contenders have agreed to meet at the Wynn casino in Las Vegas this evening to have a nuanced discussion about Clinton’s email practices. How can you…
Today is Ada Lovelace Day, and people have been celebrating pioneers in STEM (science, tech, engineering, and math). Which got me thinking: who is your favorite innovator? My current favorites are Margaret Hamilton, who helped the navigational software for the Apollo mission, got Apollo 11 to land on the moon, and coined the term “software…
In May 1980, Taiwan-born, Minnesota-raised Ming Sen Shiue acted on a sick fantasy he’d been having for 15 years, kidnapping and sexually assaulting his former high-school math teacher, Mary Stauffer. The crime would have been nightmarish enough with just those facts … but it was worse. First, there was the length of time Shiue had…
Science fans love to nerd-gas when it comes to popular culture. Witness the countless recent articles analyzing the science versus the storytelling of The Martian. That tension between accuracy and artistic license is not unique to modern society. It’s been present throughout history, including depictions of the earliest observations made with microscopes. As part of…
We were blown away when MIT’s Tangible Media Group first posted video of its interactive pin table in action. But now that the team has had a few years to refine the software and hardware, we’re starting to see more practical applications, and a good case for having one in every home. The unique table,…
Devices like laser-guided bombs and nonlethal weapons have the potential to reduce civilian casualties and wanton suffering. But as these new technologies emerge, are humans actually becoming more ethical about waging war, or is killing just becoming easier? The notion that technological advances can improve battlefield conditions may seem counterintutive, considering that historically weapons have…
In the age of smart phones, we probably spend more time sitting on toilets than ever before. And technology has changed the toilet-making process, too. Recently we visited a massive factory in Hungary where humans and robots make toilets hand in hand. The 267 year-old European ceramics manufacturer Villeroy & Boch acquired Alföldi Porcelángyár, the…
The Naval Academy hasn’t taught midshipmen how to navigate by the stars in nearly 20 years, but it’s reintroducing the old-school approach to maritime travel. Why use a sextant instead of computers and GPS? Worries about ships stranded by cyber-attacks, which have the Navy re-thinking its reliance on tech. The Capital Gazette talked to Naval…
Backflips, I get. You launch in the air, you tilt backwards, and you flip. Front flips are a whole other story. You launch in the air, you tilt forward (which is downward but you’re still going up), and then you flip? Crazy talk. And this triple front flip from Ryan Williams? Definitely more than three…
Designer Cléon Daniel made a name for himself a while ago when images of his unorthodox banana-shaped pool table appeared online. And as a follow-up to that creation, he’s just finished a new table that puts another unique twist on billiards inspired by Homer Simpson’s favorite food. Cléon’s donut-shaped pool table, made completely by hand,…
Every time you go from one country to the next, you cross a border. And that usually means dealing with some kind of border agency that enforces each country’s idiosyncratic rules and regulations. But what if the whole process were standardized and run by a single organization? To figure out what this future might be…
Want to capture epic first-person action photos, but don’t have a hand free? Pro kayaker Rafa Ortiz has a trick for you. It’ll cost you a quarter. You can see more of Rafa’s whitewater adventures on Instagram. IndefinitelyWild is a new publication about adventure travel in the outdoors, the vehicles and gear that get us…
Grandpa had a horse. Father, a horseless carriage. Today —and tomorrow— you will have wings. — Print ad circa 1946 for Alcoa Aluminum via X-Ray Delta Too bad many of those postwar dreams — from personal flying machines to miracle houses — weren’t delivered on.
