Tech News

Five excellent tips for long-distance relationships

Having been the victim of long-distance relationships not once but thrice—after swearing to never repeat the experience again each time—I can tell you that Lifehacker’s advice on the matter is spot-on. My only additional advice: never ever start a long distance relationship online. Photo by Shutterstock

How an Astronomical Mystery Was Explained by High-Tech Photography

They stretch 50 miles into Earth’s upper atmosphere. They shower the night sky with shimmering bursts of light. They emit a crackling “ping” over radio. And because they’re so fast, scientists have only known about them for a few decades. Today, Wired Science introduces us to the world of Transient Luminous Events—and the Santa Fe…

Own a Basis B1 and an iPhone? Well, you’re in luck because Basis has just pushed out its iOS app. Better late than never, right?

Motorola Droid Maxx: 48 Hours of Battery Life in One Powerful Package

Verizon showed off a whole slew of new Droid smartphones today—the Droid MAXX, Droid Ultra, and Droid Mini. And with all three smartphones the keyword is battery life. Update: Hands on! The Hardware First up is the Droid MAXX. It’s thinner than last year’s model but with even more battery life. It’s $300. Last year’s…

Doctors Reversed 146 Established Practices in the Last Decade Alone

Medicine is evidence-based—but that doesn’t mean the evidence is always correct. A new report reveals that doctors have reversed their positionon an astonishing 146 established medical practices in the last ten years. Uh… mulligan? The research, published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, reveals a raft of advice given in the past was wrong. Sifting through…

The Internet’s Favorite Remix Artist Spills His Secrets

If you haven’t seen any of Pogo’s mesmerizing and melodious film remixes, please please do that now. Once you’ve been entranced, come back here and watch this video about the man behind the magic. Nick Bertke, or Pogo, has created a nice little peek inside his own world of sampling, assembling, and transforming films like…

Maxipad and tampons ads are all a big lie, says maxipad manufacturer

British maxipad manufacturer Bodyform has published a deliciously sarcastic video answering a man’s funny rant posted in their Facebook page. According to Bodyform’s CEO, that guy is right: all maxipad advertisings about women having a fun period running around and laughing are a big stinky lie.

Smokey the Bear Meets the 21st Century in These Firefighting UAVs

Remember, only you can prevent forest fires. But that doesn’t stop them from happening with frightening regularity and increasingly destructive force. To better understand and predict the atmospheric conditions that lead to these wildfires, one research team wants to float an armada of disposable, self-guided sensor-toting UAVs into the flames’ maw. Finally, all those years…

These nerds in costume look even better than the real superheroes

San Diego Comic-Con 2013—the Big Bang of everything nerd, sci-fi and fantastic—may be over, but its power is still rippling through the Spacetime continuum. Take a look at these incredible nerds dressed as their favorite heroes. Impressive.

The State Department’s Cybersecurity Office Sounds Like an Awful Mess

There are governments that finish projects on time, use technology to improve performance and protect Americans from imminent harm. Then there’s the State Department’s cybersecurity office. It seems to have a hard time just keeping the lights on. A damning new report by the State Department’s inspector general casts this anti-hacking office in a pretty…

How Star Wars Just Inspired a Real-Life Scientific Discovery

The real-life Tatooine may not have two suns—but it has unlocked the secrets of a geomorphic mystery. Close to Tozeur, Tunisia—George Lucas’s stand-in for the barren planet—there’s a wilderness of sand that’s permanently changing. When wind whistles across the dunes, it pushes that sand into huge, crescent-shaped structures known as barchans. These things are huge,…

“Born to Die” Electronics Dissolve When Wet

Planned obsolescence is a dirty word for most tech consumers. But for scientists developing a new breed of circuitry that vanishes on command, it’s the ultimate goal. Christened “transient” or “dissolving” electronics, these devices are poised to change how electronics decay, how wounds heal, and how war is fought. Leading the pack is a University…

The Real Reason Google Killed Reader

Much has been said about the demise of Google Reader and whether a decline in users ultimately killed off the much-loved product. But according to a new report from Buzzfeed, Larry Page and other higher-ups at Google simply didn’t care for the product, so it was taken behind the barn. More specifically, Page’s disinterest in…

Watch the Fiery Crash After Southwest’s Landing Gear Collapse

This has not been a great month for commercial airlines—or anything that’s supposed to stay in the sky without crashing down amidst flames, really. The most recent mark against flying contraptions occurred yesterday evening at LaGuardia, when the front landing gear of a Boeing 737 collapsed and sent the plane skidding across the runway. Passengers…

Best Buy Will Give You $200 to Trade in Your Old iPad

If that ageing iPad 2 is proving too slow for you, or your iPad 3 is ounces too heavy, good news: Best Buy isre-launching its $200 iPad trade-in program. From July 23rd, Best Buy will take your iPad 2 or 3—as long as it’s not water damaged or sporting a cracked display—when you buy a…

Those lovely, custom Flipboard magazines you’re creating? You can now view them on the web, as well as editions others in the Flipboard community have made.

You Won’t Believe These Images Are Just Renders

It can be difficult to know what’s real and what’s fake when it comes to digital art these days. But don’t torture yourself worrying about it now: Here are some of the most photorealistic 3D renderings on the web. Each one is completely synthetic; every single detail generated by madly talented 3D artists. Enjoy. Airbus…

Nokia’s Lumia 625: A 4.7-Inch Windows Phone on the Cheap

Nokia’s follow up to the mid-range-to-budget Lumia 620 has gone bigger than ever, taking Windows Phone to an Android-like 4.7-inches. Shame about the resolution. The budget phone will come packing an 800 x 480 IPS 4.7-inch LCD with “supertouch” so you can use it with gloves on; great, I guess, but it looks decidedly low-res…

How to Get Rid of Google’s Annoying New Gmail Ads

Google’s new tabbed inbox is designed to declutter your email, but actually it’s a bit irritating. If you are using it, though, you may have noticed a new rash of irritating, targeted ads that look like email. The good news is, you don’t have to put up with them. Appearing in the Promotions tab, there…

Another day, another Moto X leak: this time, it seems Motorola’s new camera software will feature a slick swipe-based navigation system and sloooow-mooootion mode.