Tech News

New York City Is Getting Futuristic Touchscreen Subway Maps

This will be awesome and also deeply unsanitary. New York City has hired a company called Control Group to install 90 47-inch touchscreen subway maps around the city. It looks like real life world-of-tomorrow type stuff. The maps will show you how to get from one station to another. All you do is tap where…

Samsung’s 85-inch 4K TV officially costs $40,000. More or less what we thought, but holy wow that’s a lot of money.

The Stinky Footpad PC Controller Lets You Stomp the Competition

PC gamers tend to be quite attached to their mice and keyboards, but that doesn’t mean there’s not room for a controller to squeeze in. The Stinky Footboard won’t steal away your precious pointer, or replace your keys with a handful of buttons, but it will give you four more, and it puts them right…

Projection Chic: Jane Jetson Tries on Clothes in the Future

This is the 22nd in a 24-part series looking at every episode of “The Jetsons” TV show from the original 1962-63 season. The 22nd episode of “The Jetsons” originally aired on February 24, 1963, and was titled “Private Property.” Like many that would come before it, this episode of “The Jetsons” centers around the business…

Say Goodbye To Needles and Get a Bluetooth Microchip That Bathes in Your Blood

We’ve got plenty of devices that track stats on the outside of our bodies and send the numbers to our phones, but how about one that goes under your skin and bathes in blood? A chip developed by a team of Swiss scientists does just that; it’s a Fitbit for under your skin. Sorta. 14mm…

Why My iPhone Is Better as a Dumbphone

When people see my iPhone they’re like, “My God, man, do you have some kind of crazy phone virus?” It’s got no web browser. No email. No Twitter, no Instagram, no Facebook. But no, the phone isn’t broken. I actually did it on purpose. It was supposed to be a one week experiment, and now…

Here’s a Drone Flying Between Two Tesla Coils

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you sent a metal-cage-enclosed quadrotor soaring between two Tesla coils? Of course you have. And here lies your answer in all its highly dangerous, lightning-spewing, nightmare-inducing glory. Details on what’s happening are sparse. Who are these men? Why did they set out to recast Powder with drones?…

Amazon Is Putting Send to Kindle Buttons on Major Websites

The Washington Post, Time, and Boing Boing are all getting a button to send articles to your Kindle. Convenient! Amazon already has Send to Kindle apps for Chrome and Firefox, but they aren’t as widely used as stuff like Instapaper or Pocket—and those services are notorious pains in the butt to get working on a…

In Testing This Bombproof Watch Survived a Ten Pound C4 Explosion

If your job involves handling explosives, probably the last thing you’re worried about is whether or not your watch can survive a blast that would leave you dead. But that didn’t stop Kaventsmann from crafting this truly over-the-top timepiece that’s been torture tested with ten pounds of C4. The verdict: the crystal got scratched, but…

One Little Tweak Makes a Vastly Improved Soap Dispenser

There hasn’t been much innovation in the soap dispenser world since self-pumping sensor-activated models entered the picture. But those can easily break and/or run out of batteries rendering their hands-free advantages moot. Which is why the simple design improvements of Joseph Joseph’s new C-Pump are so brilliant. The C-shaped dispenser is still manually operated, but…

The Super Protein That Can Cut DNA and Revolutionize Genetic Engineering

When scientists Phillipe Horvath and Rodolphe Barrangou set out to find a better way to make yogurt, they didn’t expect to stumble across one of the future’s most promising discoveries: a super protein that can accurately cut DNA—and could perhaps revolutionize genetic engineering. The protein, called Cas9, can be exploited to snip strands of DNA…

11 Walls That Are Definitely Watching You

Abandoned places are creepy. Abandoned places are even creepier when you give them eyes and mouths and teeth so they look like they have a sinister personality and want to eat you alive. That’s exactly the treatment street artist Nomerz gives the dilapidated buildings around Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Here are some of our favorite of…

BB10 Fails the UK Government’s High Security Testing

The new BlackBerry ecosystem has failed the UK government’s high security testing. James Bond isn’t getting a Z10 any time soon. The tests were carried out by the UK Government’s Communications-Electronics Security Group, which ratifies hardware and software for use in official capacities. The previous BB 7.1 OS was passed for used in senior governmental…

Twitter Just Patented Itself

Twitter has finally patented the unique style of communication that its messaging service provides. The patent, issued yesterday, describes a system where users follow each other and messages don’t have specific recipients. Which is exactly how Twitter works! In fact, the patent—which lists Twitter founders Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone as inventors—makes a big fuss…

Is Amazon in Talks to Create a Subscription Music Service?

The Verge is reporting that Amazon is in talks with record labels to create a new subscription music service. Sources have told the Verge that Bezos and co have “shown an interest in… an on-demand service that sounds pretty similar to Spotify”. Details seem scant—to be honest, even that’s generous—but despite talks being described as…

Report: Amazon Is Building the CIA’s New Cloud Computing System

The CIA has reportedly signed a massive cloud computing deal with Amazon, worth up to $600 million over the next 10 years. FCW reports that its sources have told it Amazon will build a private cloud infrastructure for the CIA, to help it “keep up with emerging technologies like big data in a cost-effective manner…

Leak Reinforces Rumors of “Always Connected” Future Xbox

A new leak seems to reinforce claims that Microsoft’s next-generation “Durango” Xbox will require mandatory game installation and have an “always on, always connected” internet policy. https://kotaku.com/the-next-xbox-has-mandatory-kinect-game-swapping-and-n-5982986 The leak, from VGleaks and reported by Verge, provides screen shorts from an Xbox Development Kit (XDK) for Microsoft’s upcoming console. Those grabs state that each new console…

Google Fiber Finally Reaches Outside of Kansas City

Google has announced the first expansion of its new Fiber service. Its internet provision will now spill out of Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo., into the city of Olathe, Kan.—a Kansas City suburb with 125,000 residents. Google first rolled out Fiber to Kansas City homes late last year, and since it’s been widely…

These Stone Shades Are Fit for a Flintstone

Whether pedaling to Rock Vegas with the top down or boarding a pterodactyl flight to Hollyrock, no self-respecting cave man leaves his igneous abode without proper eye wear. Now, both the stone age man about town and modern cool hunters can rock a pair of retro wayfarers made of, well, rock. Shwood Eyewear of Portland,…

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: The Suitcase

Hunter S. Thompson didn’t mess around when it came to mind-altering chemicals. One famous account of his daily drug routine included a bottle of Chivas, a pack of Dunhill cigarettes, LSD, heaps of cocaine, and just a touch of the sitcky-icky—you know, to take the edge off. This psychedelic animation from Levi Calcagnile reimagines a…