Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
If you can’t beat ’em, take ’em over. At least, that’s what Apple might be thinking, as rumor has it that Cook and co are in talks to acquire Primesense, the compnay which makes the 3D sensors used in Kinect. According to Israeli newspaper Calcalist, Apple has offered up a cool $280 million to buy…
Huge Herr is a cyborg. He has two bionic legs. He does pioneering research into cybernetic technology. But much more importantly, he has some very forward-thinking ideas about this technology, and how our society should deal with it. Read this amazing profile of him in the Wall Street Journal, which includes a lot of useful…
We’ve all been there: arrive in a grubby public rest room, realise there’s nowhere to hang anything, and be faced by the grim experience of dropping your possessions to the grimy floor. This folding hook could save you from that fate. Designed by Bjorn Bye, the Hook concept is a credit card-sized piece of plastic…
VLC is not a TV show. Nor is it a movie. Nor is it a music album. Nor is it anything but open source software that the entire Internet knows as the greatest video player in all the lands. HBO, however, apparently doesn’t know that. The It’s Not TV TV company recently sent Google a…
Roy Scheider is the tannest guy you know. More bronzed than his baby shoes, Scheider’s immaculately impeccable skin tone is rivaled only by his acting prowess. I mean, how else could Captain Nathan Bridger glow that deeply while 20,000 leagues under the sea? [Indistinguishable from Magic]
Science, chemistry, computer science, medical science, math, programming, physics and basically anything else that requires more than half a person’s brain means that I completely suck at it. Does that make me stupid? Yes. Does that make me useless? Yes. Does that make me scratch my head as the wind passes through my hair? Absolutely…
Droid Life got their hands on internal Verizon slides that reveal that Verizon has plans to let its customers upgrade their phones more often. Yeah, kind of like T-Mobile’s Jump plan. The ‘VZ Edge’ plan will supposedly let Big Red customers upgrade to a new phone once they have paid off 50% of their phone.…
On the list of comic book hero abilities I dream about magically waking up with one day, Wolverine’s claws were probably squeezed right between Superman’s flying and Bruce Wayne’s women. One of those have practically become reality. These steel Wolverine claws are so fantastically perfect that you could fight Wolverine himself with it. And maybe…
We knew it was coming since Google I/O but the Internet version of Google Play just got a redesign that makes it look a little more like the Android version. You’ll have navigational tabs on the left corner, banner-ish cards for apps and a better preview page. Check it out. [Google Play]
The “fun” tech question to ask famous people and/or grandmas in 2013 is what they think of Google Glass. Most usually this requires slapping Google Glass onto their face, making awkward conversation on how to control it, asking them to do what they do best and then talking about if they think it’s the future…
There’s an unwritten rule that luggage for adults has to have a fairly mundane and boring design. But when you’re waiting at the luggage carousel and realize that everyone else had the same idea to buy a red suitcase to stand out, you realize there has to be a better way. And there is, it’s…
One of the great things about Vine and now Instagram, too, is the ability to stop filming and pick up right where you left off. It has the effect of producing more dynamic, interesting clips than you would otherwise. But that’s the problem—your’re stuck to clips. With Clipper, though, you can get that very same…
Computers are good at a lot of things. Thinking like a grown-up human being is not one of them. Not yet, at least. A team of researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago recently set out to discover just how advanced our artificially intelligent computers have become. Like they’d do with any food-eating human, they…
According to a report by former WSJ reporter Jessica Lessin, Apple’s long-rumored stand-alone TV service will supposedly allow viewers to skip over commercials. While commercial skipping has been available as a feature from the likes of Dish Network, networks have gone after and often crushed services into bankruptcy or caused them to retract said feature.…
You love Jay-Z, you say? Bad news: his appearance fee is bonkers. Good news: you can still have a private audience with Hova with these wall decals from design studio Pixers, which put him and several other famous musicians right in your home. Pixers has created eight different colorful wall decals, each featuring a different…
TV advertisers imagine that one day soon you might see a product on screen — say Don Draper’s whiskey glass or Daenerys Targaryen’s dress—and pause the program, click on the product and then instantly purchase it. Relatively primitive versions of this technology already exist, but the idea is far from new. Long before most people…
Although they probably didn’t maintain any pretense of security, Verizon customers will be bummed to know that a duo of security experts have discovered how to hack into the carrier’s network extending base stations and turn them into little spy centers. The news comes just a couple of months after the world learned that the…
A bunch of geniuses from Harvard, MIT, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute are about to make your life a heck of a lot easier the next time you move into a new place. They’ve all been working together to develop flat-pack structures using shape memory polymers that can self-assemble into 3D structures when a charge is…
It’s no coincidence that the best and most popular apps frequently have striking and memorable icons. It might seem like just a colorful tile, but a good icon is critical piece of an app’s design that has a huge effect on how people think about and interact with what’s inside. Here’s a rare look at…
The Wall Street Journal pointed out today that while sales of point-and-shoot cameras have declined steadily over the past few years, DSLRs and other interchangeable-lens cameras have been doing great. That’s right. People don’t want to just take more photos than ever, they want to take better photos, with big-kid cameras. And that’s not in…
