Tech News

Jawbone Finally Recognizes Android Users As Humans, Releases App for UP

It certainly didn’t happen as quickly as some would have liked but Jawbone is finally releasing an Android app to accompany its UP band. So if you’ve been itching to try the UP activity tracker but don’t have an iOS device to actually use the thing, well, now you can. The following devices are supported…

Blowing $175,000 on a Bed Isn’t Ludicrous—It’s an “Investment”

Money may not buy happiness but it can certainly get you the next best thing—a bed fit for royalty. But to lounge in this lap of luxury, you’ll first have to pay a king’s ransom. The Royal Bed by British mattress maker Savoir Beds is the epitome of grandiose design. Made from curled Latin American…

The World’s Biggest Ship Is Assembled like a Lego Model

With a capacity of more than 16,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit shipping containers) the CMA CGM Marco Polo currently reigns as the “world’s largest container ship” but it won’t for much longer. Construction of an even larger line of mega-ships—the Maersk Triple E—will soon be complete and, once launched, will dwarf every other vessel on…

The Light-Filled Louver House Is Not a Barn

The Louver House is situated on the edge of an agricultural reserve in Long Island. Sheathed in a skin of slatted louvers that flood the place with natural light, it’s supposed to capture the feeling of a traditional barn, although barn it is not. The shutter-like material that makes up the exterior of the home…

These Incredible Paintings Were Made By Injecting Paint into Bubble Wrap

The only reason why bubble wrap exists is so that people can pop them. That’s a universal fact. So color me surprised when I found out another thing you can do with bubble wrap: make art. Bradley Hart injected bubble wrap with paint to create these wonderful portraits. When you first stare at these pieces…

Swirl: Organize Your Spring Shopping Spree

One of the best parts of the seasons changing—besides a reprieve from snow and slush—is shopping for new clothes. Swirl will help you in that endeavor and it might save you some money while you’re at it. What does it do? Lets you follow retailers you like, find deals from stores in your area, and…

Apple’s Big New Hire Sure Doesn’t Like Apple Sometimes

Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch—that’s the guy in charge of technology at a very powerful and important technology company—is jumping ship, reportedly for Apple. Which is odd, because he’s said a lot of mean, frustrated things about Apple! Lynch has been with Adobe since 2005, meaning he was lined up against Steve Jobs when the two…

This Desk Assembles With Nothing But Manual Labor

If you end up doing more harm than good when tools are around, you’ll love Fraaheid’s collection of easy-assembling tables designed by a trio of Amsterdam-based architects. Cut from a single sheet of plywood, the tables use a series of strategic slots and grooves to assemble in less than three minutes without the need for…

Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch Is Going to Apple (Updated)

CNBC reports that Adobe chief technology officer Kevin Lynch is heading to Apple. Whoa! What does this mean? Especially given that Lynch has publicly trashed Apple in the past. According to financial documents filed today with the Securities Exchange Commission, we know for sure that Lynch is leaving Adobe: Item 5.02. Departure of Directors or…

A Little KitchenAid Hand Mixer Can Handle Big, Big Tasks

You can spend like $14 on a hand mixer at a drug store, and it’ll work just fine. But oh, this KitchenAid Pro Line cordless blender sure looks nice. And it seems up to just about any kitchen task you present it with. The blender runs on a 12-volt rechargeable lithium battery and comes with…

Christo’s Gigantic Indoor Balloon Will Dwarf the Senses

The artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude have been staging large-scale site-specific art installations for decades. These projects have ranged from a red curtain spanning a Colorado valley, entire buildings literally wrapped in fabric, and thousands of orange gates lining Central Park in NYC. They are all grandiose—and Christo’s latest effort doesn’t disappoint. Big Air Package, Christo’s…

This Extremely Small, Smart, Phone Keyboard Would Be Amazing… If It Actually Works

Phone and tablet keyboards are humongous, relative to the screens they live on, and admittedly adhere to an antiquated typewriter metaphor. Minuum is a new way to think about how to make a digital keyboard—tiny and forgiving, mostly—but also highlights just how damn hard it is to come up with something better. The idea with…

Robert Rodriguez Needs Your Help Finishing His Movie About Hot, Kick-Ass Ice Cream Scoopers

Robert Rodriguez, multi-talented horror/action movie auteur is announcing his latest collaboration: Project Green Screen. In partnership with BlackBerry® Z10, Rodriguez is putting the finishing touches on his new short film. Seems like a normal, not-newsworthy thing for a filmmaker to do, right? Wrong! He’s actually asking his fans to create these finishing touches, because he’s…

GameTrailers and Redbox Instant apps are now downloadable for your Xbox.

The Most Perfect Lego Apple II+ Will Make You Want a Lego Computer

This Lego version of an Apple II+ is perfect. It has the lovely aged hue of beige, clear bricks for the Apple Monitor II, floppy disk drives with the right sticker and even a removable top on the computer to see the Lego computer’s guts! Made by Chiu-Kueng Tsang, a wizard with his Lego creations,…

It Took Five Years To Make a Beautiful Android Phone

Android has become an enormous success in part by appealing to a lot of people who don’t prioritize aesthetics. It’s no wonder it’s been ugly for half a decade. But finally, it’s spawned a truly gorgeous object for everyone: the HTC One. Google’s take on phones was never meant to be pretty—it was just supposed…

4TB of Storage Capacity Is Your Back-Up-Everything Deal of the Day

Amazon’s Gold Box deal today is a 4TB Seagate Backup Plus hard drive for $140. This is an excellent deal. Here’s why: First, at $140 — which is at least $35 lower than the next closest price — it comes out to $35 per TB, which is a fantastic price even for bare drives. Second,…

Science, Not Magic, Guarantees You’ll Never Get Lost Wearing This Pendant

In what could be the most stylish camping accessory ever created, Meister designed this gold and titanium pendant that transforms into a functioning compass. So whether you’re deep in the woods, or strutting down a runway, you’ll theoretically never get lost with some basic survival skills. That, and just over $3,000 for the pendant. I’ll…

The Most Realistic Virtual Human Ever Is a Fully Expressive Talking Head

Hoping to be holding the personal assistant of the future, researchers at the University of Cambridge have unveiled what’s supposedly the most realistically esxpressive controllable avatar ever. Move aside, Siri—this is what you get for mouthing off. https://gizmodo.com/what-happens-when-you-tell-iphone-4s-siri-that-you-love-5848856 To develop the virtual, controllable avatar (dubbed Zoe) with what they claim is “unprecedented realism,” they had…

A Memo to Investors in 11D Technologies, Inc.

You may have seen reports this week that a team at MIT is developing so-called “4D printing” technology, which would go far beyond current 3D printing technology’s capacity to print three-dimensional objects with a machine. This team has stated that its fourth “D” involves objects self-assembling. I want to assure you, my unwavering investors, that…