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Starbucks’ iOS mobile payment appseems to store passwords in clear text, with no encryption of any sort. Looks like the coffees could be on you whether you like it or not.
If you think you drink a lot of coffee, think again. While the US might pride itself as being a nation fuelled by the stuff, it turns out that other countries beat it hands down. This map, created by Quartz using data from Euromonitor, reveals that the US doesn’t even make into the top 15…
New Scientist has a story on how peregrine falcons rely on a sailors’ trick to hunt down their prey. The video is like watching one of those World War II dogfighting films. [Falcons] fixed a potential victim in their field of view using a method commonly used by sailors to avoid collisions, called constant bearing.…
New York has at least a few magical moments through the day. This is probably the best, when the sun is about to disappear engulfed by New Jersey and Manhattan is still alive and buzzing. Hungarian photographer Örs Cseresnyés captured this moment perfectly. It’s my current desktop background (I miss NY). Here are some more…
Russia is developing weaponized ground drones, including some big amphibious models like the one you can see here. Add the thousands of combat air drones from many nations already flying through the world and it’s not crazy to think in a full robotic war happening before 2020 somewhere in the world. Some of these ground…
It’s only a matter of time before things go the way of Skynet, and this new algorithm is a stepping stone along the way: it can learn to identify objects all by itself, with zero human help. Gulp. Created by Brigham Young University researchers, this new recognition algorithm churns through images, defining its own parameters…
Until now, Spotify’s free accounts provided unlimited ad-supported streaming via its desktop client for six months, until it then imposed a cap on your streaming. Now, though, that cap is being scrapped. As of now, Spotify has removed the caps from its free web service. You’ll still have to put up with ads, but you’ll…
Another fine track that sounds like ambient music but travels at several times the speed generally associated with the often reserved form of music, “Tout ce qui pousse (vraiment)” by Arbeemonkey mixes a droning effervescence with a pulsing momentum. Bleepy synthesized tones shuffle beneath extended notes that seem to spend much of their existence in…
Adobe is updating Photoshop to let you create 3D-printable files within the program. Hooray! The update is available today for free for existing Creative Cloud subscribers, or for $50 for new sign ups. It converts models into STL, OBJ, 3DS, Collada and KMZ files. These files can then be exported to a MakerBot machine, outsourced…
Remember kids, you should never judge a book by its cover. Even if that cover looks like a parasitic, towel-eating monster that’s taken up residence in your anus.
Winter is no fun, especially when it comes too soon or overstays its welcome. How can you make it more enjoyable? By being awesome like Chris Marchand who decided to turn snow into snowlemonade (snowade? water?) by making a beautiful and colorful ice wall fortress in his yard. Look at it. It glows. Marchand, who…
I’m one of those horrible humans who take nature for granted and recharge myself through indoor fluorescent lighting. I like walking city streets, I like going into city bars and I like eating city food. Feeling tires screech, hearing sirens wail, coming across unexplainable damp spots, that’s all what I’m used to. But then I…
You’re not looking at a digital painting or a photo that’s been manipulated with Photoshop or some sort of hyper real painting here, you’re looking at a real photograph taken with a real camera. No Photoshopping at all. Hard to believe, right? How did the photographer, Patrick on Flickr, pull off this delirium-inducing image? Quite…
Almost everything looks cooler when it’s filmed in slow motion, right? Explosions, athletic feats of achievement, glass breaking, water pouring, fireworks shooting, highlights happening, fighting and pretty much everything else in the world. Except one thing. Beatboxing. It looks positively explicit in slow motion. YouTube star Flula showed himself beatboxing in slow motion and well,…
Early Wednesday morning, an odd fog descended upon New York City, hugging the buildings and obscuring the ground. For those of us who’ve spent some time in the Bay Area, it was hard not to imagine we were snuggling in between San Francisco’s steep hills rather than thumping through the gridlock of Gotham. http://gawker.com/fog-engulfed-much-of-new-york-city-this-morning-photo-1501853651 This…
Riding a bike is a musical experience in more than a metaphorical way: Brakes squeal, spokes click, derailleurs clang. Composer Johnnyrandom sampled himself “playing” his bicycle and the results are positively gorgeous. First of all, just listen to this SoundCloud clip from “Bespoken,” which is available on iTunes for $1: It’s hard to believe that…
North Korea is very famously closed off from the rest of the world, but one organization—Fighters for a Free North Korea—is working to breach the walls of the regime by airdrop. But they’re not using conventional means and fancy technology; they’re delivering info via balloon, The Atlantic reports. From a launch site near where the…
It’s easy to call reality TV stupid. Or inane. Or just boring. But could it be nefarious? Could it actually making us all way too accepting of perpetual surveillance? Maybe. There’s no real answer, but PBS Idea Channel dives into the question, examining a number of its fascinating facets. Does surveillance-style reality TV subconsciously make…
That fancy premium chocolate from Tanzania that you spent $10 on at Whole Foods last night might not be as fancy or premium as you think. Lower quality cacao is often mixed into even the best chocolate, which is precisely why scientists have now developed a method for authenticating the varietal purity and origin of…
There’s a reason ancient tea-drinking cultures made ornate cast-iron kettles: They’re beautiful and functional, keeping brewed beverages at the right temperature for hours of soothing warmth. Copenhagen-based Norm Architects put this historic inspiration into the Thermo Kettle Jug to make a carafe that’s both pretty and pragmatic. With a spout the designers promise is 100-percent…
