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A new paper from the US Copyright Office has been published to clarify what can and what cannot be copyrighted. Novels written by human beings are covered. What’s not covered? Photos taken by monkeys, murals painted by elephants, and songs written by ghosts. Things that can be copyrighted: Photos taken by a human Songs written…
We’ve been following the emergence of Apple’s sapphire production plant in Arizona closely this year, since it tells us a lot about the products coming down the line. Now, Mark Gurman reports, filings from Apple indicate that not only is the company manufacturing a new sapphire product this month—it’s being classified as “jewelry.” And no,…
If you own an Xbox, here’s a no brainer for you. $45 gets you a $50 Xbox gift card, plus two free movie tickets (up to a $26 value total) to use through Fandango. [$50 Xbox Gift Card Plus Two Free Movie Tickets, $45 with code EMCPBHW24] Update: The movie tickets part of the offer…
It’s quite the day for new phone plans—first T-Mobile offered up a year of free LTE for people who convince a friend to abandon one of the other big three carriers, and now Sprint has announced an unlimited talk, text, and data plan for just $60/month. https://gizmodo.com/you-can-get-free-unlimited-data-if-you-convert-friends-1625048349 Sprint’s new plan is open to both new…
I think we can safely label T-Mo a meddler. Helmed by the mildly eccentric CEO John Legere, the Uncarrier announced today that it’ll offer a free year of unlimited data to current subscribers who successfully coerce a family member or friend from Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon to join T-Mobile. This offer comes in response to…
Kristoffer Brady is a San Francisco based motion graphic designer with a great hand for futuristic screen graphics. This video is a montage of his work for Simian, an upcoming independent film. Check out Brady’s website where he explains in detail the role these graphics play in the movie. SPLOID is a new blog about…
Since the demise of DreamScene with Windows Vista, users have been denied the option of having moving pictures as their desktop backdrop, but the hugely useful VLC Media Player provides something of a workaround. Open up a movie then choose Video and Set as Wallpaper to place it behind your program windows, audio and all.…
This seemingly random assortment of colorful rectangles, reminiscent of a terrible paint swatch accident, actually represents the state of Android fragmentation in 2014. OpenSignal, a website dedicated to mapping all things mobile, pulled together this data and saw 18,769 distinct devices downloading its app on Android. And we thought last year was bad. How bad…
In the early days of the U.S. satellite surveillance program, our orbital cameras employed state-of-the-art technologies to get the physical film back to Earth for development and analysis. They shot it back into the atmosphere like 300-pound bullets, and tried to catch the falling canisters by their parachutes using a passing plane armed with a…
It makes sense in a backwards sort of way. Last year’s NSA revelations scared people into seeking more privacy online, and so they turned to Tor, the anonymous web browser. Then, we learned that the NSA is actually targeting people that use Tor, sending users running in the opposite direction. Understandably, this has Tor worried.…
Take this moment to be furiously jealous that the excellent view the astronauts on the International Space Station have of Earth can somehow get even more gorgeous with the addition of auroras. At least the astronauts are well-aware that they have the best view in the solar system. Of course Reid Wiseman was the photographer…
Wanting to own the very best—the fastest processor, a display packing the most pixels, a professional-grade camera—made sense in the days when nearly every smartphone was terrible. A raft of new devices, though, has cemented that cheap price no longer means cheap quality. And they’re going to save you a whole lot of money. Just…
The Russian press agency ITAR-TASS is reporting something so surprising that I’m having a hard time believing it: Cosmonauts have found microorganisms on the exterior of the International Space Station. Russian scientists are shocked by this discovery and can’t really explain how it is possible. According to the chief of the Russian ISS orbital mission,…
Tesla’s Model S is so technologically advanced, it gets software updates the way your old fashioned car gets oil changes. And rumor has it the newest update will let iPhone-using Tesla owners forget their car keys forever: The car will soon recognize the owner’s phone to start the car. First spotted by 9to5Mac, this screen…
Most kids want to stay overnight at the museum of planetarium. But certain weirdos, like me, always wanted to sleep over at Ikea, amongst the endless rows of futons and 99 cent Swedish doo-dads. Now, we’re getting our chance, thanks to an Airbnb promo with Ikea that will rent out beds overnight. Just one problem…
Sitting won’t kill you. It’s actually great, and important! And for some people, like assembly line workers, not having a chair to sit in can actually pose a health hazard. That’s why Noonee developed the Chairless Chair, a chair you can wear. Essentially a pair of mechanical pants that can lock in place, the Chairless…
Every year, Dyson asks industrial designers, product designers, and engineers to submit their smart solution to a problem—any problem. It’s an awesomely broad request, and it usually results in some pretty fascinating projects. Leading up to this year’s Dyson Award, we took a look at just a tiny fraction of the entries. Yesterday, we looked…
A pair of new Apple patents explain how your phone could help you find your car in the parking lot, even if you’re struggling to get a phone signal and aren’t in range of a GPS satellite. The patents—”Automatic identification of vehicle location” and “Vehicle location in weak location signal scenarios“—describe how an iOS device…
You might think yourself a unique soul, but thrown into a data pool of the tens of millions of users of an online service, your behavior is going to sync up with somebody else’s at least some of the time. (Sorry, Quixote!) On Spotify, this means you’re going to be listening to songs in sync…
Writer and director David Soll explores the interior of a real-life Cold War era nuclear silo in this comedy short film: The custodian of a nuclear missile silo wakes up one morning to realize that the projectile has disappeared. David explains to the Hollywood Reporter how they found the silo: One of the silos had…
