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Most people have pretty terrible taste in music—it’s a fact. But you, you’re different. So what are you supposed to do when you happen to forget your headphones, and the only ones nearby are in use by one of the aforementioned good-taste-challenged? Why, bust out Double Music Player, of course. What does it do? Takes…
If there’s anything the internet has waxed poetic about wanting—nay—needing to see on the upcoming iOS 7 release, it’s a general flat design overhaul. But while that’s a completely valid demand, we’ve yet to hear too much about how Apple might address specific features in need of major functionality tuneups—until now, that is. https://gizmodo.com/what-is-flat-design-508963228 Brye…
Oh hello little friends. These delicate handmade terrariums from the Japanese company Terra 1012 are simple and beautiful. If you find yourself wanting the crap out of them, I assure you, you’re not alone. They vary in price, starting at about $70/piece if you’re getting one without the plants, and they go up from there.…
Ten years ago, there were more than 800 individual buildings under construction in Dubai at any given time. Today, Dubai and Abu Dhabi suffer from a vast oversupply of real estate: some claim that as much at 40 percent of buildings are vacant, though plans for more development are in the works. Matthias Heiderich, a…
Good job internet! Nikola Tesla—a noted promoter of eugenics who hated fat people and once fired one of his secretaries for being overweight—will soon have his very own statue in Silicon Valley! The Tesla statue’s Kickstarter campaign surpassed its goal of $123,000 over the weekend, riding the wave of Tesla boosterism that has helped add…
iOS 7 has a lot of catching up to do. In a relatively short time, Apple’s once unimpeachable mobile platform has fallen behind Android and even Windows Phone in some key areas. iOS is still rock solid, for the most part, but it needs to take some cues from the competition. And the very first…
Every camera you’ve ever used in your life has a lens that focuses incoming photons on to a light-sensitive surface. But in the future, cameras might not need lenses at all, and this Bell Labs prototype illustrates how this could be done for cheap. Technology Review reports the Bell Labs concept, which relies on a…
In the summer of 2010 Google rolled out multiple log-ins. It was a fabulous thing for those who didn’t want to run multiple browsers in order to have simultaneous access to Google-powered personal and work accounts. Merging your own accounts is one thing, but can you imagine accidentally merging yours with someone else’s? It’s kind…
Fancy new Gmail has started rolling out to Android users. And if you just can’t wait, Android Police has some juicy APKs for the impatient.
Late last month Google dispatched its “Conversational Search” feature into Chrome and today, the mobile version of Chrome is receiving a similar update that basically amounts to Voice Search. You’ll see the microphone icon anytime you tap the search bar now. [App Store]
Your welcome mat is not a secure key hiding place, neither is the frame over your door or the suspicious foam-rubber “rock” lurking suspiciously next to your stoop. You might as well leave your doors unlocked. Instead hide your spare where nobody will ever think to look—right out in the open. Assuming you’ve already undertaken…
You’re about to spend a couple glorious months outside in the sun, and the easiest way to bring your tunes beyond the reach of a power outlet is a portable Bluetooth speaker. Good thing that both Jawbone Jamboxes just got an across-the-board price cut. There are a lot of Bluetooth speakers crowding the market, and…
If you haven’t replaced your plethora of old Apple dock connector cables with fancy new Lightning cords, you might want to consider Sanwa’s alternative before you do. Even though cellphones have all but replaced old-school phones with tethered handsets, those ‘outdated’ models can apparently still teach us something about keeping cords tidy. Namely that those…
We’ve seen the Pistol shrimp snap its claws so fast that you can only see it at 10,000 frames-per-second, but the little guy’s trick is even wilder than just that. A Pistol shrimp can actually snap its claw so fast that sound turns into light, and scientists still don’t know how that’s even possible. https://gizmodo.com/incredible-slo-mo-footage-of-the-pistol-shrimps-devast-509523860…
Is this pizza-delivering drone from Dominos just a publicity stunt, or a tantalizing look at the future of food delivery? Because while the eight-bladed DomiCopter is a little impractical given it needs a skilled pilot, eventually autonomous drones will be capable of delivering a piping hot pizza in mere minutes since they’re able to avoid…
Designing a museum logo used to be a simple. Maybe you chose the outline of the building facade. Or a staid serif logotype. Or hell, just the heraldic seal of whatever aristocrat was underwriting the whole operation. But in an era of faltering endowments and fickle audiences, many museums are turning to high-concept graphic design…
The problem? Vacant office space in Manhattan has spiked over the past few years. One possible solution? Replicable pop-up hotel rooms designed by Danish firm Pink Cloud. Now, keep in mind: this is an entirely theoretical idea. But it’s not a bad one. Pink Cloud’s plan works like this: 36 prefabricated boxes with the dimensions…
The ’20s may have been roaring for well-heeled urban centers, but on the farm? Rural electricity in the 1920s was as rare as Google Fiber is today. Which makes these 1922 predictions for the farm of the future so brazen. Last week, you may have seen this awesome 1921 map from the Star Tribune archives.…
Even the musically illiterate can appreciate the intricate beauty of a physical piece of sheet music—though, to them, the score itself means jack shit. But even the notationally disinclined can now, thanks to the Smithsonian’s design blog, know where those pretty little pictures at the beginning of those big long lines come from—otherwise known as…
The aging process is an essential part of whiskey-making. The charred oak barrel gives the liquor its caramel color and imparts rich, subtle flavors. Problem is, this soaking step takes years to complete. But one enterprising distillery has figured out how to ripen sour mash in a fraction of the time. Cleveland Whiskey is an…