Tech News

Basically No One in Russia Thought That Meteor Was a Meteor

Last month, a giant meteor exploded over Russia. Ground zero was the Ural city of Chelyabinsk, where 1500 people were injured and thousands of buildings were damaged. About half the city’s million people saw the meteor, but most of them didn’t know it was a meteor at all. https://gizmodo.com/meteorite-explodes-over-russia-panic-spreads-5984476 A recent opinion poll from Moscow’s…

BB10 just got a software update. Improved 3rd party app performance, camera updates, and assorted bug-fixes. Woo.

New Tablet Camera Tech Conjures an Invisible Keyboard

Relying on your tablet’s on-screen keyboard saves you from having to carry clunky accessories, but it also gobbles up a good chunk of usable screen real estate. So Fujitsu researchers are working on a happy medium that uses the tablet’s camera to track your finger movements on a desk, as if you were typing away…

This Lego Fortress of Solitude Should Be a Set

We all want to be Superman, but sadly can’t be—so maybe the nearest we can get is building his pad out of Lego. At least that’s what Chris Melby thought when he constructed this sensational model of the Fortress of Solitude from scratch. It’s fantastic: he managed to do a wonderful job of recreating the…

This Kid Blew $2,500 on In-Game Purchases in Just 10 Minutes

Shameless in-game purchases aimed at kids have been in the new recently. But this five-year-old kid spent more than most: he blew $2,500 on in-game junk in just 10 minutes. That’s impressive. The boy in question is Danny Kitchen. The game is Zombie v Ninja, which is “free” for download on iTunes. When he was…

If You’re Blaming Computer Problems on a Virus, You’re Probably Wrong

Next time a computer in your office is broken, chances are someone will blame it on a virus. But let’s face it, most computer problems don’t stem from viruses; they stem from dumb people. Of course, it’s easier to blame something than it is to understand a problem. That’s natural; we all look for scapegoats…

The Pope Deserved a Better Leaving Gift Than This Comic Sans Photo Album

Officials at the Vatican were faced with a tough question when the Pope announced his retirement: what do you get God’s Rottweiler as a leaving present? Fortunately that question didn’t trouble them for long, because the answer was so very, very clear to them: his very own virtual photograph album! And, ladies and gentlemen, here…

Pentagon’s Scariest Robot Can Now Hurl Cinder Blocks Your Way

Boston Dynamic’s Big Dog was already one of the most advanced—and terrifying!—robots on the planet. Well, it just got scarier, because now it can accurately throw cinder blocks at you while on the march. The robot, built by Army Research Laboratory Boston Dynamics, is designed to tramp across uneven terrain, and it does a good…

The Most and Least Repairable Tablets on the Market

The world is awash with tablets, but if you’re a nerd who likes to tinker, it’s important that you buy one that isn’t too tricky to take apart, repair and upgrade. Fortunately, iFixit has released a list which ranks tablets according to their repairability. Whenever iFixit tears apart a new piece of hardware, it notes…

A New Zealand court ruled that US prosecutors mustn’t disclose all their evidence in the fight to extradite Kim Dotcom.

This Wonderful Guy Will Paint Whatever Picture You Ask For in MS Paint

If you want a picture of a dinosaur drawing people in an art class. Jim’ll paint it for you in MS Paint. If you want a picture of Moby throwing ninja stars at a ‘melancholic’ badger wearing specific clothing in a specific situation. Jim’ll paint it for you in MS Paint. Jim will basically paint…

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: Synesthetic Locked

Not everybody needs LSD to see sound and hear smells, people with a neurological condition known as Synesthesia experience a sort of “cross-talk” between their senses. Director Oscar Lopez Rocha is one such synesthete. He shares what he sees in Synesthetic Locked.

Your Phone’s Low Battery Warnings Should Look Like These Hilarious Notifications

Because batteries enjoy dying so much when we really need that last little bit of juice, low battery warnings really should be more animated than the plain “20% of battery remaining”. I don’t know how many times I’ve ignored that message. But if the alert made fun of me and said something like, “Oh I’ll…

Will 3D Printing Change the World?

The easy answer: no probably not. But after being shouted out by POTUS himself at the SOTU, 3D printing is slowly, possibly, maybe creeping into a bigger deal for more than just Maker Faire-types. So the wonderful folks at PBS Off Book decided to take a closer look and answer the question once and for…

Google Says the Next Motorola Products Aren’t Really ‘Wow’ Impressive

When Google bought Motorola, a lot of people thought it would mark the beginning of an onslaught of awesome Motorola Android phones. It didn’t really happen like that. In fact, it looks like it’s getting worse. Google just described Motorola’s upcoming products as “not really to the standards that what Google would say is wow—innovative,…

Apple Is Deleting iCloud Emails That Have the Phrase ‘Barely Legal Teen’ in Them

Something really weird is happening to iCloud emails. It turns out, Apple is straight up deleting emails sent from iCloud email accounts that have the phrase “barely legal teen” in them. Like, if you sent out an email that included that phrase in the body of the message, it would never be sent to the…

Here’s How Long Food Can Last in the Pantry, Refrigerator and Freezer

I’m one of those people who never takes anything anyone says at face value but absolutely swears by expiration dates. Ew the milk expired today?! Eat my cereal dry. The bread smells fine but it says it’s not BEST BY today anymore. Go get a sandwich at the deli. My blind adherence to those labels…

Reinforce Your Wardrobe With a Industrial-Strength Rebar Hanger

Is all your bad-ass clothing just too much for those flimsy, plastic, run-of-the-mill hangers. Do your pants or shirts, weighted as they are with pounds of pure awesomeness, need something more structurally sound to keep them in order? The “Man Hanger” suits your very strange needs. Made from real, industrial-grade rebar, hand-bent into shape (somehow),…

Sony’s 4K Movie Streaming Will Work on PS4—At 100GB a Pop

While there’s still little known about Sony’s efforts to pioneer the first 4K movie download service, one thing we can say almost definitely now is that the service will in fact be compatible with its (supposedly) upcoming PS4. In an interview with The Verge, Sony President and COO Phil Molyneux almost sort of definitely confirmed…

Thanks To HTML5 This Website Can Fill Your Whole Hard Drive with Cats

Sometimes a browser needs to leave a little data on your computer, just a little 5-10KB nibblit, a cookie. HTML5 is a hungrier beast than that which came before it though, and sometimes wants a little more. Maybe 5MB or so. But that’s where it should end. Thanks to a little HTML5 vulnerability, however, this…