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Remember the futuristic automatic-drying jacket in Back to the Future 2? Purdue researchers are developing a robotic fabric that could become a big material for wearable technology and soft robot creators, which means you may be able to rock smart outerwear like Marty McFly someday. The material is embedded with flexible sensors, but it’s largely…
Samsung’s Gear S—Samsung’s first smartwatch that is literally also a phone with a SIM card and a phone number—is coming to the US this fall, and it’s being supported by all four major carriers. Dick Tracy your day has come.
Shockingly, there are some instances where the US Navy’s Phalanx Close-In Weapons System’s (CIWS) red hot wall of 20mm tungsten isn’t enough to neutralize incoming threats—like against fast moving anti-ship cruise missiles. For times like those, America’s Navy relies on the Phalanx’s bigger, badder, rocket-propelled brother: the SeaRAM. https://gizmodo.com/the-c-ram-centurion-tears-up-warheads-with-a-stream-of-5907237 First deployed in the early 1990s,…
This cool video produced by the New York Times tries to explain the mystery of how a string quartet communicates by transforming their movements into visual data. Every member plays a different and very complex rhythm but, when the four combine, the result is perfectly harmonious. Watch the interactive video of the Kronos Quartet playing…
Why take photos when millions upon millions of people are taking billions upon billions of them every single day, of every subject imaginable? Artist Joachim Schmid has been obsessed with other people’s photos for years, collecting and re-packaging them as art objects. This great video from the Carnegie Museum of Art’s Invisible Photograph series takes…
This is footage from the what was apparently the first live concert played completely with 3D-printed instruments. From the little bit we can hear, it doesn’t sound as bad as you might expect! The show, played by students from Sweeden’s Lund University Malmö Academy of Music, featured a band with two electric guitars, a drum…
Jesus H Christ. We knew it was going to be good when Hot Toys revealed they’d purchased the Star Wars License a few months ago, but today’s revelation of the first two 1/6th scale figures of Han Solo and Chewbacca have finally shown us how good. Get ready to reach for those wallets. Each figure…
When we think about where hackers come from, China is probably the first country that comes to mind—for good reason, too. Russia’s maybe next in line. But a controlled experiment by cyber security researchers shows that the vast majority of attacks actually come from a very familiar place: the United States. Bloomberg News reporter Jordan…
Ahh, there’s nothing like watching an $750 electronic device roasting in a orgiastic chemical fireball in the name of… Science? Capitalism? Boredom? Take your pick, but here’s the latest from the crazy people at Rated RR, whose previous iPhone torture videos can be found below. https://gizmodo.com/8-videos-of-new-iphones-getting-dropped-soaked-and-to-1637709670
Oculus Rift’s amazing virtual reality capabilities present a blank canvas for game developers. Thanks to Tilt Brush, the VR goggles could also give you a blank canvas for 3D doodling. It’s like a holodeck for MS Paint! Tilt Brush gives you a virtual canvas you can tilt, spin, and skew to doodle in any plane…
Despite having almost a quarter of a billion active users, Amazon is struggling to find a footing for its hardware in peoples’ homes. You might have ten old Amazon boxes lying around—but did any of them contain a Fire phone? A new report from Reuters details how Jeff Bezos plans to change that by doubling…
The Walking Dead’s fifth season is starting soon – and to “celebrate”, Fox have teamed up with two London food creatives to craft a Burger that is meant to depict the taste of actual human flesh, without being made of human flesh. Ew! The burgers, made by a collaboration between Fox (who broadcast TWD in…
Earlier this week, we asked you to help us sort through the (significant) muck for the best iPhone 6 cases you’ve seen thus far. We’ve already had a look at the 6 Plus players out there, but this particular bounty was far more plentiful. By virtue of being made for a smaller phone in general,…
A report from Android Authority combines rumors from venerable Android blogger Paul O’Brien and the ever-present “sources familiar with Google’s plans” to peg two important dates: new Nexus hardware on October 15/16th, and the release of Android L by November 1st. Android Authority is claiming that the new HTC-made Nexus 9 tablet will be unveiled…
Passwords are almost undisputedly broke: seemingly every month, a different major online service gets hacked, along with all your credit card details (and a few celeb’s personal photos). A Canadian startup thinks it has the solution: using your heartbeat as the authentication method. Bionym’s solution relies on a dedicated wearable, which uses an ECG sensor…
By this stage, Facebook’s plan to bring internet to the whole world with a fleet of drones and lasers is pretty well documented: what’s a little vague has been the details — until now. Speaking at the Social Good Summit in New York, Yael Maguire, the engineering director at Facebook Connectivity Lab, spilled a few…
Adobe has refreshed the Elements editing-software-on-the-cheap, with updated versions of Photoshop and Premiere. New features include intelligent editing and cropping tools, making it easier than ever to get that perfect Facebook cover/profile photo effect. Prices are $99 apiece, or $149 for the bundle, with discounts for Elements 12 owners. [Mac Rumors]
Friction welding spins so fast and burns so hot that it looks like the excess orange metal is something that’s not meant for this world. The metal pipes forge together so colorfully (and almost unnaturally) that I never get bored of watching the process. Here are a few more videos of friction welding: And linear…
Though the new iPhone is called the iPhone 6, we’re actually on the 8th generation of iPhone that has existed. But who cares about that. Let’s just see how much the camera—maybe the most important feature on the iPhone after messaging—has improved over those 8 generations. Hint: a lot. Lisa Bettany compared the new iPhone…
Tonight is a big night for the planet occupied entirely by robots: the Mars Orbiter Mission is the second spacecraft in two days to slip into orbit around the red planet, and the first interplanetary mission from India. Don’t take this accomplishment lightly: the failure rate for Mars missions is still painfully high. The Mars…
