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“Once your voice is translated, the zeroes and ones literally fly through the air until they reach a cell tower… Now, the code gets translated into electric charges which run from one cell tower to another in tubes filled with stuff that does that kind of thing.” All sounds pretty plausible, right? [Doghouse Diaries]
Manned fighter jets may have a limited future. The secretary of the US Navy has announced that the new F-35 Lightning II “should be, and almost certainly will be, the last manned strike fighter aircraft the Department of the Navy will ever buy or fly.” The Register reports that the Navy’s secretary Ray Mabus made…
By now, you’ve probably heard that SpaceX’s third attempt at landing a rocket on a drone barge met the same watery fate as numbers one and two. And, you’ve probably seen the long-distance video of the landing attempt. But to rub just a little more salt in Elon Musk’s wound, here’s the leaked video shot…
General Electric’s development team just completed a year of field-testing for the new Evolution Series Tier 4 locomotive. Some of the tests took place at the Federal Railroad Administration’s high-altitude testing circuit near Pueblo, Colorado at an elevation of 5,000 feet. These photographs capture the train’s grueling journey. This harsh desert testing ground is considered…
In 1995, the hydroelectric power plant on the shores of this Tasmanian lake went dark for the final time. It’s remained silent for 20 years since—until this year, when it re-opened with a radically different business model: A hotel. Lead image: Stuart Gibson. It turns out that hydroelectric power has a long legacy in Tasmania—back…
Two incremental but important changes—wider seats and redesigned bins—have been announced for Boeing’s new 737 MAX, which will take to the skies in 2017. This isn’t just about passenger comfort, either. The changes are also intended to make flying a lot more affordable. At the heart of the 737 MAX project is a promise to…
I can pretty much watch these fighter jets rip through the runway at night forever. I mean, what is more awesome than seeing city lights blur and afterburners shoot out fiery power? This footage comes from The Aviationist and includes all kind of fighter jets burning rubber at the Nellis Air Force Base near Las…
A few seconds into this video, MIT neuroscientist Nancy Kanwisher pulls out a pair of scissors and—is she really, oh god she really is — cuts off all her hair. Kanwisher, best known for discovering a brain area for face recognition, gives one very memorable lesson in neuroanatomy. The video is an introduction to your…
Google is the most popular search engine in the world, to the point where I feel dumb typing “Google is the most popular search engine in the world” because holy shit, you already know. But ubiquity is not synonymous with benevolence. The EU’s new lawsuit against the search giant brings up larger issues. The European…
The Matrix was one of the best sci-fi action movies of all time and the rest of the trilogy had some of the most outrageously awesome action sequences ever, even if the movies themselves didn’t reach the levels of the original. Basically, The Matrix trilogy is responsible for a lot of awesome moments in film…
The new MacBook is out this week, and its most famous attribute — other than its heroin-addicted model skinniness — is its single USB-C port for power and everything else. Yep, you can’t power your machine and use an external monitor or USB drive at the same time. So let’s build a crazy multi-port dream…
The government is failing to adequately protect its whistleblowers, with dozens of its agencies’ whistleblowing channels—including the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice—leaving sensitive information vulnerable to attacks. According to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union, at least 29 inspectors general hotlines fail to use HTTPS, the secure hypertext protocol…
Here at the Inside 3D Printing show in New York City, I stumbled upon a treasure trove of 3D-printed movie props, printed on standard consumer printers, and I never wanted to leave. The creations come from My Mini Workshop in London, an intensive 10-week program for learning 3D printing, which just kicked off for the…
Down is the most effective commonly-available insulator for outdoors apparel. But, it’s also expensive, loses its ability to insulate when wet (if untreated) and — there’s no way around this — is horribly cruel to most of the ducks and geese who donate their underfeathers. Now, there may be a real alternative: milkweed. Top photo:…
My favorite foe for the vaunted red hot nickel ball is food items. The bigger and more ridiculous and goofier the food, the better the destruction. Take this burning of a giant jawbreaker, it crushes the exterior and then starts boiling and bubbling the gooey green innards. It’s like alien candy blood leaking out. AND…
It’s one of the coolest, simple effects in photography. A car zooms by in the night. You capture it looking like Tron. For this week’s Shooting Challenge, capture long, luxurious exposure of cars at night. The Challenge Take a long exposure photo of cars driving at night. The Technique So to pull this off, it’s…
Believe it or not, people still buy VHS tapes. The aging format has been in decline for years, but between the collectors and the luddites, there’s a big enough market for Amazon to maintain a massive library of tapes for sale. You’d never guess what tops the “New and Popular” list. Actually, you might. The…
Forensic photographer Nick Marsh discusses his 20-year career in David Beazley’s five-minute documentary. Among the revelations: lighting, composition, and keeping an open mind are of utmost importance — and technology has actually harmed his profession by flooding the field with undertrained shutterbugs. He also shares why going out to dinner with a forensics expert can…
It’s official: Vaping is now more popular than smoking traditional cigarettes. At least when it comes to teens. About 13 percent of American high schoolers now use electronic cigarettes. Compare that with just 9 percent of high school kids who smoke traditional cigarettes. “Whatever LOLJKWTF,” replied one local teen, probably. https://gizmodo.com/cool-teens-prefer-unicorn-puke-e-cigs-1698256645
With the e-cigarettes industry’s recent boom, it’s no surprise that vaping is also exploding in popularity among teens. Newly released CDC data show that teen use of e-cigarettes tripled to 13.4 percent from 2013 to 2014, overtaking traditional cigarettes. Is this a good thing? A bad thing? Let us DISCUSS. The CDC report shows that…
