Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Along with the flurry of hardware updates, Apple announced substantial upgrades to iLife and iWork. Features run the gamut from seamless integration with iOS to powerful automation tricks like a robotic drummer. And like OS X Mavericks, everything is available immediately, for free. https://gizmodo.com/os-x-mavericks-arrives-with-understated-elegance-plus-1449518276 The upgrades to iLife start with iPhoto and iMovie. It’s now…
Apple’s pulling out all the stops on its venerable Mac Pro line. This years edition offers more computing power than the entirety of some developing countries. Here’s what’s in store for Apple’s power users in 2013. The new Mac Pro is a beast of a machine. Sporting Intel Xeon E5 processors with between 4 and…
Apple has announced today that its flagship MacBook Pro models will be receiving a slew of modest improvements. Here’s what’s the new 13 and 15 inch machines will have under their hoods. On the hardware side, the new 13-inch version is more svelt than its predecessor, just .71 thick and weighing over 3 pounds, thinner…
As expected, Apple updated its new MacBook Pros with Intel’s kickass Haswell processor. What does that mean? Better battery life and killer integrated graphics, for starters. https://gizmodo.com/the-kickass-processors-that-will-power-your-next-comput-510668761 The Haswell architecture offers up to nine hours of battery life, faster graphics, and so much more. In the graphics department, this chip is 90 percent faster than…
When Apple introduced the latest version of OS X back in June, it did so with little bombast. Mavericks, as it’s called, is no iOS 7 in terms of radical overhauls, but it is full of subtle however powerful behind-the-scenes changes. And the best part about it? It’s free, and it’s available right now. https://gizmodo.com/os-x-mavericks-first-impressions-a-little-good-going-a-513804371…
If I could buy a private jet, I would definitely get the $45 million Dassault Falcon X. That integrated skylight is just amazing. And the clean cockpit is neat too. A beautiful beast. https://jalopnik.com/the-falcon-x-is-a-fancy-private-jet-designed-with-a-fre-1450089711
From 2011 to early 2013, the BMW Guggenheim Lab traveled to three cities—New York, Berlin, and Mumbai—holding workshops and events as part of a mobile “urban think tank.” The project outlined 100 trends facing each city—300 trends total—that the Lab’s organizers think will define the cities of the future. An exhibition of the findings, called…
Google is adding handwriting input to Gmail and Docs. Starting today, you can use your trackpad or mouse to hand-draw characters in a variety of languages. [Gmail Blog via 9to5Google]
In the summer of 1927 a new fashion craze swept the nation. Called the “Lucky Lindy Lid,” it was a ladies’ felt hat that came in a variety of sizes and colors. Adorned with a small propellor on the front and two miniature wings darting out on each side, it may have looked a bit…
Today’s moviegoers are a jaded bunch—it seems to require 3D visuals and advanced audio systems just to get a rise out of them. But it wasn’t always this tough in Tinseltown; there was once a time when something as basic as color film was sufficient to blow an audience’s collective mind. The Early Days of…
A few weeks ago, a tiny gallery in London was transformed into a scene straight out of the 19th century. Amid piles of sand, a worker donned a silver apron and safety helmet and poured molten hot steel down a track to create long slabs of metal. The man in the apron was Raphael Hefti—not…
Disposing of the world’s chemical weapon stockpiles is far easier said than done. It’s not like the good old days prior to WWII when we could just dump extraneous supplies of mustard gas and other chemical weapons into the open ocean or under Delaware roadways or just big pits at the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama—no,…
Multitouch user interfaces are slowly finding their way into all kinds of devices, not just phones and tablets. And thanks to researchers at MIT and the Max Planck Institute who’ve developed a printable sensor that can be easily cut down to size with a regular old pair of scissors, any device or appliance you can…
Amazon’s boosting the minimum order eligible for free shipping to $35, a $10 increase. That’s the first time in more than ten years the price has gone up. [Amazon via Lifehacker]
The BBC reports on new research that connects physical exercise with good grades. The scientists found that children could boost their performance by a full grade—from C to B, for example—with 60 minutes of exercise. The study—conducted on 5,000 children by the universities of Strathclyde and Dundee—concluded that boys got a quarter of a grade…
It’s no secret that dogs plus great photography and super slow motion have the power to mend the wounds of the world. Who doesn’t want more of that? You do. We all do. Here. https://gizmodo.com/stare-in-awe-at-wet-hedgehogs-rats-and-dogs-shaking-i-5992589 Shake began as a series of photographs by Carli Davidson from 2012 (check out the book here). The photos were…
It’s official; Apple’s hosting an iPad unveiling extravaganza today, 364 days after last year’s Cupertino tablet party. Here’s what to expect from the new iPad and iPad Mini. https://gizmodo.com/apple-will-announce-the-new-ipads-on-oct-22nd-1445584009 And don’t forget that we’ll be covering Apple’s iPad Keynote live in just a few hours. The event starts 10AM ET/1PM PT, but we’ll get things…
Nerf changed the way we all played indoor basketball without a proper court; replacing trash cans and balls of paper with plastic nets and foam balls. And now you can take your scaled-down game to near NBA-caliber levels with Eastpoint’s new wireless hoops and scoreboard that keeps tab on time and points complete with the…
Ann Leckie writes about how artificial intelligence might really see the world—and in the process she defines ourselves, an even more important question as we’re headed to a future in which replicators and brain downloads will probably be a reality. At the end, she says, “we are the stories we tell about ourselves.” https://gizmodo.com/how-to-write-from-the-perspective-of-a-truly-alien-self-1449703465
Microsoft has brought back the Windows RT 8.1 update, after customer installation troubles had them pull it on Saturday. [Microsoft Support]
