Tech News

Thank a Simple Excel Error For Austerity Economics

You know the much-ballyhooed theory that high national debt always correlates to crappy economic growth? The one that’s trotted out on a regular basis by politicians arguing for austerity budgets and sequestration? Well, according to new findings, the study that austerity proponents cite more than any other is based on an Excel error. A big…

DARPA’s New Tiny Night Vision Camera Could Give Every Soldier Sight In the Dark

DARPA-funded DRS Technologies, Inc has developed a new 1280 x 720 night vision camera with pixels just five microns across—that’s reportedly just one-twelfth the size of a human hair. So. Small. The new tech isn’t just way more practical, it could save the government a bundle of money, too. The military uses sophisticated thermal infrared…

Report: Microsoft’s Smart Watch Is Coming from the Xbox Team

It was no big surprise when the Wall Street Journal started reporting that Microsoft was working on a smart watch. Really, who isn’t at this point? Now sources are telling The Verge that the watch is a thing, and that it’s coming from the Xbox team. https://gizmodo.com/wsj-microsoft-is-designing-a-touch-enabled-watch-5994645 According to the rumors, Microsoft has just put…

Travel Case Furniture For Roadies Looking To Finally Settle Down

If your career choices have you moving from city to city every few years, you might want to consider furnishing your pad with IDI Studio’s new Roadie line inspired by the rolling travel cases musicians use to transport their gear. Handmade from aluminum and recycled teak wood, the various pieces can be used as shelves,…

The Book Vase: A Tree Grows in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Be careful when you’re snooping in someone else’s bookshelf. When you’re reaching for a text on plantlife, you might be grabbing an entire planter, like YOY’s flower pot, which masquerades as a book. Shown during Salone del Mobile earlier this month, the planter is only book-like in its shape and style. Otherwise, it’s made from…

Gigabyte’s Aivia Uranium Gaming Mouse Comes With Its Own Tiny Monitor

A beefed up computer ensures you can actually play the latest and greatest PC gaming titles, but if you want to compete online with even a marginal level of success, you’re going to need to get yourself a kick-ass mouse as well. Gigabyte’s new Aivia Uranium seems to fit the bill, particularly if you want…

Space Monkey: Easy Cloud Storage in Your Very Own Home

I have a confession: I’ve never properly backed up my computer. Ever. Whether it was a cloud-based solution or a local NAS, the upload speeds were horrendous or the software was just plain ugly and confusing to use. But a couple of former Mozy employees have convinced me otherwise. Say hello to Space Monkey. The…

Sherpa, the Lovechild of Siri and Google Now

Bark something at Siri and it might get back to you with what you’re looking for. Google Now is supposed to serve up relevant information when you need it without having to do the legwork yourself. Now imagine the two merging together to form a Voltron-like personal assistant. Sherpa is that Voltron and it’s finally…

These Are the First Videos Being Shot With Google Glass

It’s been a long wait, but the very first videos shot with Google Glass out in the wild are finally starting to pop up on the Internet. Some of them almost live up to the crazy spectacle of the first Google demos, but most don’t. At least not yet. Here are the first ones out…

Google Mail, Drive, Docs and Other Services Are Down For Many (Updated)

If you’re having problems with your Gmail this morning, you’re amongst slews of others. Google outage! According to Google’s Apps Status Dashboard, Gmail Drive, Docs, and Presentations are experiencing disruptions. Google Drawing, however, appears to be up and running. The outages appear to be intermittent, but users are still experiencing problems. What are you all…

Replace Google Reader With a Star Wars RSS Crawl

Still on the hunt for an alternative to Google’s soon-to-be-dead Reader? Head on over to StaRSS which displays any feed as if it were the epic opening crawl of a Star Wars film. It’s not as functional as Google Reader, and it will most definitely get tiresome quickly, but it includes John Williams’ iconic Star…

It’s official: the U.S. version of the Galaxy S4 will have a 1.9GHz quad-core processor and be available this month.

Pirate Bay Co-Founder Charged With Hacking and Fraud in Sweden

Pirate Bay cofounder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg has been charged on suspicion that he hacked into a variety of companies, as well as fraudulently withdrawing money from the Swedish Nordea bank. Prosecutors claim he—along with three others—hacked IBM mainframes belonging to tax firm Logica and the bank. The crimes are said to have occurred between 2010…

Apple is being investigated by Chinese authorities for providing porn content though its apps. Which seems… odd.

Android Was Supposed To Be a Camera OS

Andy Rubin, the now-departed former boss of Google’s Android division, has revealed that the OS was initially developed to power digital cameras, before the slump in snapper sales encouraged his team to turn it into a mobile phone system. “The exact same platform, the exact same operating system we built for cameras, that became Android…

The Small Victory Your Admin Account Wins You If Your Laptop’s Stolen

Of course all your email accounts, social networks, cloud services and payment details are up for grabs if someone grabs your laptop while it’s logged in—because, really, we’re all to lazy to log-in over and over. But at least your drivers are safe! Today’s XKCD was a real treat to wake up to, but best…

Foxconn Is Microsoft’s Biggest Patent Licensee (Of, Uh, Android Patents…?)

Foxconn has become Microsoft’s biggest single patent licensee. While that might not be surprising—the Taiwanese manufacturer produces an amazing 40 percent of the world’s consumer electronic devices—the fact that the patents are over Android might be. In fact, Microsoft has long insisted that anybody making an Android device needs to license its patents. Somehow, it’s…

Ricoh GR: A DSLR Sensor in a Point-and-Shoot, For $300 Less Than Nikon

Ricoh is a little late to the high-end, large-sensor compact game, but it may well have struck gold with this, the GR. Almost identical to Nikon’s Coolpix A, it packs a similar spec punch—and costs $300 less. https://gizmodo.com/nikon-coolpix-a-this-is-how-you-cram-a-dslr-sensor-int-5988441 Inside, there lies a 16.2-megapixel APS-C sensor, a fixed 18.3mm (28mm-equivalent) f/2.8 lens, ISO 25,600 capability, pop-up…

Facebook’s nabbed yet another Apple employee, hiring Richard Williamson, who led Apple’s mapping efforts. Interesting!

Where Are All the YouTube Stars Now?

Do you remember the first time you saw Gangnam Style? Or the first time you laughed at Antoine Dodson? Or even Charlie bit my finger? What about watching Rebecca Black’s Friday? It was a long time ago! So what are all those YouTube stars doing now? This infographic gets you up to date. It seems…