Tech News

These Synthesia Glasses Help Blind People “See” Via Sonar

People who have been blind since a young age can sometimes learn to develop a sort of low-grade echolocation. This technique, used by the likes of Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Ronnie Milsap, and Ben Underwood, works much the same way as it does in bats and dolphins. But people who have just recently lost their…

Google’s “Not yet visited” filter steers you toward sites you haven’t cruised in the past. The feature was launched in 2009, disappeared for a while, and now it’s back, as long as you’re logged in. [Search Engine Roundtable]

Here’s a Scary Lightning Strike Exploding Some Power Lines

Remember how your mom/dad/legal guardian/leader of your gang of street urchins used to tell you not to stand near telephone poles in a storm? Yeah, there was a reason for that. And as you can see in the video above, that reason goes “boom.” Followed by lots and lots of fire. So for today’s lesson,…

We’re Closer Than You Think to Beating HIV

At least 35 million people around the planet live with HIV, and it kills over 1.7 million people each year, so the fact that it’s currently untreatable is one of the biggest medical problems of our time. But in recent years scientific advances seem to be kicking HIV’s ass more effectively than ever—so is there…

517 Movies I Could Have Watched Instead of Waiting on Hold With PayPal (UPDATED)

During my lunch break yesterday, I decided to do a little multitasking and give the kind folks at PayPal a call regarding an ongoing issue I was having with my account. I figured, stupidly, that a company as big as PayPal would have more than three people working the whole of their customer service wing.…

LG announced today it’s adding two more 4K TVs to its Ultra HD lineup. 55-inch models are priced at $6,000, with 65-inchers costing an additional $2,000.

Ping Pong Only Gets Better When You Add Crazy AR Visuals

The problem with ping pong—as cool as it is—is its complete and utter lack of insane, borderline seizure-inducing visuals. We can all agree on that, right? Well you don’t have to worry anymore; the Pingtime augmented reality table has got that covered. The setup was developed by Sergiu Doroftei, Bogdan Susma, Ion Cotenescu, and Silviu…

Here’s Google’s Eric Schmidt Using the Moto X Smartphone In the Wild

Information about Motorola’s forthcoming “Moto X” smartphone has been slowly trickling out over the last few months. Here’s our first look at the snazzy new Moto phone, courtesy of Mr. Eric Schmidt. The Google Chairman was photographed by several wire services using the forthcoming phone at a meeting of tech minds in Sun Valley, Idaho.…

This Stylish Watch Lets Blind People Feel Time

There are simple things we often take for granted, like the fact that we can flippantly glance at a clock to tell the time. But people who can’t see don’t have that autonomy, which is why designer Hyungsoo Kim of Eone Timepieces has created the Bradley, a watch that lets blind people feel the time.…

Solar-Powered Sun-Tracking Briefcase Battery Guarantees Perpetual Power

If you’ve got travels in the near future that will keep your gadgets away from the live-giving power outlets that keeps them charged, trade your briefcase full of ‘important’ files for this equally vital solar-powered battery-filled attaché. When the SunSocket’s set of solar panels are fully deployed, they automatically track the position of the sun…

12 Cool Pools You Wish You Were Swimming In Now

It’s gone from warm and pleasant seersucker weather to hot as hell outside. It’s slogging through air so thick you need a machete and a shower every time you step outside hot. In times like these, you just want to laze in a pool. Specifically, in these positively perfect specimens. While you’re not picky, and…

The latest Chrome update—version 28!—is now ready and waiting for you. Newly powered by Blink, not Webkit, it also has a sweet new rich notification system.

How Good Does Your Phone’s Camera Need To Be?

Yesterday, Nokia announced to some fanfare its new Lumia 1020: a 41-megapixel, Xenon-flashed, highly tweakable camera that, y’know, also makes phone calls. But how good does the camera on your phone really need to be? Of course, it depends on your usage. Only interested in posting pictures of sandwiches to Instagram? Your humble 5,6,7,8-megapixel camera…

Is This 5-Inch Phone BlackBerry’s New Hope?

Looks like BlackBerry’s might be interested in getting in on the enormo-phone scene, with the first leaked image of a phone destined to be known as the A10 seemingly confirming the existence of a 5-inch model—that could upgrade the Z10 with curvier lines and a newer version of BB’s mobile software. According to the image,…

How to Confuse Any Smartphone User

If you’re ever prompted to scan a QR code while you’re installing an app, either someone is playing a cruel practical joke on you, or something has gone very, very wrong. Especially if it’s a QR reader app. [XKCD]

Transit Times in NYC, Visualized

As cities grow and populations expand, people move further and further away from the center. That’s definitely happened in New York—and this visualization shows how the shift to more distant neighbourhoods affects travel time. The interactive maps lets you click on a location and then gives a color-coded insight into transit times across the entire…

And yet another one bites the dust: Google has announced that its local recommendation service Alfred, purchased from Clever Sense back in 2011, is shuttering on July 19th.

Nokia’s Pro Camera App Is Headed to the Lumia 920, 925, and 928 Too

Along with the launch of Nokia’s new Lumia 1020, the first proper camera-phone hybrid that seems to make sense, came an amazing piece of photographic software in the shape of Pro Camera. The good news: it’s coming to other Lumias, too. Our very own Kyle Wagner was certainly impressed when heused the new app yesterday:…

Ctrl Shift: If Computers Were Alive They’d Just Want to Bone You (NSFW)

Thank God computers are satisfied with the one-way relationship we have with them. We put them to work every single day, asking them to check our e-mail, using them to follow the news, play with them by going on Facebook and making them creep to the darker corners of the Internet. What do they get…

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet: Wild Casting

And that’s why you don’t walk into the lion house 15 minutes before feeding time, smelling of ham. I mean, really. The a team of six talented student animators at GOBELINS l’école de l’image, a 50-year-old Parisian school of digital communication and interactive design, created this entertaining romp across an unnamed American city skyline. Well,…