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Mozilla Firefox users who try to use popular dating service OKCupid are currently being shown the above message, encouraging them not to use Firefox. The reason? Mozilla’s new CEO Brendan Eich opposes gay marriage. That’s how you play hardball. Here’s the full text of the message, which is followed by links to Google Chrome, Internet…
There are very few things as scary as having a war plane coming at you firing its machine gun. The Aviationist found this video of a Syrian Arab Air Force Mig-29 Fulcrum strafing at rebel positions. Oh yes, that war is still going on, although nobody is paying attention any more. SPLOID is a new…
Growing outrage against the Guggenheim’s new museum in the United Arab Emirates kicked into high gear this week: Protesters stormed the Guggenheim’s New York location for a second time, and a fake website launched claiming to solicit new, “ethical” ideas for the museum’s design. The website, which is at globalguggenheim.org, announces that the Frank Gehry-designed…
For years now, if you wanted a watch that could survive almost everything up to a nuclear war, Casio’s G-Shock line was your goto timepiece. But Victorinox, maker of the venerable Swiss Army Knife, wants a piece of that market. So it’s just unveiled its Inox line of ‘Tonka-tough’ watches that can seemingly survive any…
Remember learning about America’s “amber waves of grain?” Well, it turns out that the United States’ bread basket—a.k.a., the Corn Belt—is even more productive than previously thought. In fact, during its growing season, it’s the most productive land on Earth, according to new NASA data. For the past couple years, satellite sensors have been gathering…
Arsenic-contaminated water is a massive problem in the developing world. But, even when you filter it out, the toxic sludge that the process produces often gets dumped right back into the water supply. It’s tough to dream up a use for arsenic soup, but one research team finally has: They’re making bricks out of it.…
The FCC just voted to open up another 100 megahertz of wireless spectrum, which will increase the number of frequencies available to unlicensed wireless networks (read: what you have at your house) by 15 percent. In other words, your Wi-Fi is about to get a lot faster.
As the microbrew industry has become increasingly crowded, brewmasters are becoming more and more creative with their ingredients and techniques. The latest trend, Outside magazine says, is spiking batches with foraged ingredients, from sassafras to kudzu. Sound delicious? Sounds different, at least. Kudzu, the invasive Japanese plant that’s taken over the South in the past…
A couple weeks ago, we learned from leaked documents that the NSA has the capability to record an entire country’s calls, texts, and email in real time. That’s a hell of a capability, and those documents revealed that it was being used in one country. Now, thanks to a retired NSA leader, we know which…
The hamburger icon is a classic. Even if you don’t know it by that name, its three black bars are as familiar as your mouse’s cursor—a constant companion on your cyber journey since the day you got your first computer. But who designed this icon? The hamburger is one of those UI features that’s so…
During the last Ice Age, when sea levels were lower and the Bahama shelf was exposed land. Rainwater drained down the cliffs, carving gullies in soft rocks. Modern sea levels submerge the region, with pale blue water on the shallow shelf, darkening to deep blue in the submarine canyon. Tongue of the Ocean, a deep…
There’s a fear that touchscreen devices like smartphones and tablets will one day turn kids into lifeless, imagination-less zombies. But technology isn’t all bad. And to bridge the gap between the toys of yesteryear and tomorrow, researchers at the National Taiwan University created a building block toy that can interact with apps on a touchscreen…
Game of Thrones season 4 starts this weekend. Everyone is going to be talking about it but you have no idea about what it is about. Or perhaps you forgot some plot elements after an entire year. You can do two things: Watch the three seasons for six days starting right now or watch this…
While you’ve been able to get the Moto X—the best affordable phone—on Republic Wireless—the cheapest unlimited plan—for several months now, you’ve been limited to boring ol’ black and white phones. No longer! Starting tomorrow (April 1) Republic Wireless will offer access to the colorrific Moto Maker, meaning you can design your phone to your heart’s…
Tesla’s Model S is supposed to be the safest car on the road—at least where the physical realm is concerned. But apparently, the crazy expensive car’s six-character password is vulnerable to some pretty basic hacking techniques, leaving you and your car’s data at the mercy of a tech-savvy stranger. http://jalopnik.com/the-tesla-model-s-is-the-safest-car-ever-produced-1171606291/all The vulnerability was revealed by…
Watch daredevil Flaviu Cernescu crossing a 170-foot-high Romanian aqueduct using a unicycle and no safety gear whatsoever. Try not to scream when he falls forward. Fortunately, he kept himself on the wood path, which was only a few inches wide. My heart skipped a bit when I first saw it. According to the video narrator,…
Ten years ago, NASA launched the first test flights of solid-fuelled rockets with aerospike nozzles. These inside-out rocket engines trade bell-shaped exhaust manifolds for a narrow spike, building the rest of the bell out of air. Test flight of a rocket equipped with an aerospike nozzle. Photograph credit: NASA Photo / Steve Thomas Aerospike engines…
Once upon a time, our planet was locked in ice. This era of the White Earth is long past: why? × Ice sheets like those found in modern-day Antarctica used to stretch across the planet. Photography credit: Stephen Hudson https://gizmodo.com/why-dont-we-live-on-a-white-earth-1555117261
We all love stories about teenagers schooling the government, but sometimes we get schooled, too. Last week, we wrote about 14-year-old Suvir Mirchandani’s research project that suggested the government would save $400 million by switching from Times New Roman to Garamond. Turns out, it’s a little more complicated than that. John Brownlee lays out the…
This wacky looking speaker is no joke when it comes to sound quality, if the 4.8 star reviews are to be believed. You get your choice of blue, green, or orange for just $20 today on Amazon. Lepow Portable Bluetooth Speaker | $20 Audio-Technical ATH-M35 Headphones | $49 Mpow 12,000mAh Portable Charger | $30 |…
