Tech News

Defense Specialist Shows Off Terrifying Automated Web Stalker

Defence specialist Raytheon has an automated data harvesting process which can track you with pin-point accuracy and even predict where you’re going. Until two days ago it was top secret—but now a leaked video shows exactly what it can do. The technology created by Raytheon, and revealed in a video found by the Guardian, is…

Why US Internet Access Is Slow and Expensive

US citizens pay more for internet access than those in many other countries—and also get worse connections for their cash. This video explains why. Here, Bill Moyers interviews Susan Crawford—former special assistant to President Obama for science, technology and innovation, and author of Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded…

The Biggest Wikipedia Traffic Spikes Since 2010 Prove We’re All Morbid

Over the past three years, Wikipedia member West.andrew.g bas been analyzing the weird and wonderful data traffic on the English-language Wikipedia. In the the latest edition of Wikipedia’s community-managed newspaper, The Signpost, he’s revealed the biggest traffic spikes on the site within that time—in the process proving that we’re all morbid sports fan. Excluding duplicate…

The Pope has resigned! Guess that means his @pontifex Twitter account will dry right up.

This Was The British Space Shuttle Concept

The Multi-Unit Space Transport And Recovery Device or MUSTARD was a concept explored by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) around 1968 for launching payloads weighing as much as 5,000 lb. into orbit. MUSTARD was a winged three-stage reusable vehicle which used the triamese concept. The three components of the design were three largely identical lifting…

The Beautiful Result of Projecting a Movie Onto a Blizzard

Over the weekend, New York-based redditor Brian Maffitt aimed a projector—playing The Lorax—at the blizzard which struck the east coast and photographed the result. The images are a beautiful and psychedelic take on the pure-white flakes that fell. You can see a full set of the resulting photographs over on his Flickr page, or watch…

An Art Deco PC Case: Brilliant or Repellant?

Here’s one piece of technological design that’s bound to divide opinoon. Jeffrey Stephenson’s Project Ayr is a fanless home theater PC encased in an art-deco style Mahogany shell. But would you let it inside your home? Inside the wooden case—which itself houses an aluminum frame—there’s an Intel Core i3-3225 processor, 8GB RAM, an Intel Cherryville…

This Is What It’s Like To Be Color Blind

With around 1 in 12 men suffering from color blindness, it’s a really common problem—but it’s incredibly difficult to understand what it must be like to suffer from. Fortunately, Etre now has a simulator which lets you see the world through the eyes of the color blind. The simulator will spit out any photo you…

Apple and Microsoft are being hauled in front of the Australian Parliament as part of an enquiry into unfair pricing.

Every Update Ruins Someone’s Life

With every groundbreaking update or fix that a company rolls out, someone’s life crumbles just a little. Whether it’s a little software tweak in an OS update or a subtle change to hardware on a new model, companies like Apple and Microsoft are always trying to iron out the kinks. Which, for most of us,…

Watch This Oscar-Nominated Short: Adam and Dog

Not every Oscar-worthy film is a mammoth, Speilbergian effort. Small stuff’s good too, and what better showcase than the Oscar nominated animated shorts. You’ve probably heard of Paperman, and the animation tech behind it, but another one, Adam and Dog has popped up on YouTube and it’s worth a watch. Put together by Minkyu Lee,…

Stephen Malkmus: Phantasies

When it’s snowing—and you may have noticed that it has been snowing—it’s time for snow music. But I’ve covered this before. Anyway, consider this the second part of an arctic one-two punch. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more jaunty, up-beat tune about day-to-day life in the frozen wastes (no offense) of Alaska than Stephen…

Can Spotify Predict the Grammy’s? (Update: Kinda, Yeah.)

Say what you will about the Grammy’s but…well. Just say what you will about the Grammy’s. Hate ’em or shrug at ’em, Spotify thinks it can predict ’em. Using a slew of user data, Spotify has rounded up the following predictions, and now, with the Grammy’s starting up, we’re about to see if they’re right.…

Google Street View Could Be the Best Road Crew Ever

Potholes are not a joke. They get in your way, damage your car and make you spill a Big Gulp’s worth of Grape Fanta on your already-dingy upholstered seats. But new research shows that Google Street View may be all municipalities need to correct the problem. The U.S. has about 4 million miles of road…

You’ll Wish Your PC Was Half As Stylish As This Fanless Mahogany Beauty

Talk about the post-PC area all you like, but some good old-fashion stationary PCs can be pretty damn cool in their own right. This slick, fanless HTPC put together by Jeffrey Stephenson is a perfect example. Starting with a mahogany shell was a good start, but that’s far from the box’s only virtue. It’s also…

“Breathing Bike” Protects Riders Against Ominous Beijing Air

Beijing’s smog problem isn’t exactly new information, but it’s been getting way worse lately. In response, local artist Matt Hope decided to integrate an air purifier into his bike so riding around the city would be less hazardous. The contraption is powered by Hope’s pedaling, and includes a mesh IKEA garbage can, a fighter-pilot breathing…

What’s The Best Ringtone You’ve Ever Heard?

There are two worlds of ringtones. There are the “this is my favorite song” ringtones and there are the “holy shit why didn’t I think of that” ringtones. Music, pretty much by default, falls in the first category. The second category, that’s harder to define. And that’s where you come in. What’s the best, wittiest…

That’s It, Slingshots Can’t Possibly Get More Insane Than This Fully Automatic Minigun

Slingshot lover and—let’s face it—borderline maniac (in the best way) Joerg Sprave definitely took things to one extreme when he created an enormous slingshot cannon that fired ridiculous chainsaw halberds. Not to be outdone, even by himself, he’s back at it with another ludicrous invention that goes with speed over size: a fully automatic slingshot…

Report: Ex-Cop Christopher Dorner Is Now a Target for Drones

Christopher Dorner, the ex-LAPD cop who allegedly killed three people has been on the run, successfully evading police, for over a week. To finally track him down, it seems that law enforcement is pulling out all the stops. According to the Express, Dorner is now a target for drones, among the first ever on U.S.…

This Could Be The First Photo Of Someone Being Flipped Off

This is an 1886 photo of the Boston Beaneaters posing at a game against the New York Giants. Note (or see below) that the player on the far left in the back row is giving the camera the finger. That’s not very mid-1880s of him! He’s way ahead of his time. This may in fact…