Tech News

Graphene Can Clean Radioactive Water By Clumping Up Toxins Like Magic

The wonders of graphene never seem to cease. Desalinization, flexible semiconductors, and now nuclear waste clean-up. It turns out graphene-oxide is fantastic for clumping up around radioactive waste making it easier to get rid of the stuff. https://gizmodo.com/graphene-just-won-two-guys-the-nobel-so-what-the-hell-5656256 Research done by scientists at Houston’s Rice University and Lomonosov Moscow State University show that flakes of…

Academics Are Tweeting Out PDFs of Journal Articles in Memory of Aaron Swartz

There’s been a pretty big outpouring of grief following Aaron Swartz’s suicide, even from those who didn’t actually know him. And the trend is continuing. Many researchers and academics are now tweeting links to PDF files of their papers as a tribute. https://gizmodo.com/the-void-of-losing-someone-you-don-t-know-in-memory-of-5975463 At the time of his death, Swartz had been facing charges for…

The World’s Tiniest Clock Is Just One Atom

We’ve gotten pretty good at clocks. The nuclear clocks that exist right now are super accurate, so what more could you ask for? Something simpler. How about a clock that’s just one, single atom? That’s exactly what researchers just figured out how to make. Holger Muller, a physicist at the University of California at Berkeley,…

Every Phone Should Have This Mode That Won’t Blind You in the Dark

You know that feeling. You’re in a dark room, maybe you just woke up, and you reach for your phone to check something and—BAM!—you’re assaulted by its full brightness and effectively blind and squinting for the next 30 seconds. Or maybe you just want to text at the movies. Microsoft has a potential fix for…

This Kid Can Drive Heavy Machinery Like a Total Pro

When you think about child labor, chances are your first thoughts aren’t “Wow! Awesome!” And if they are, you’re probably a monster. Perhaps the sole exception is if you’re thinking of this video. Granted, this is dangerous, and no kid should be doing this, but damned if it isn’t impressive how competent the little guy…

They Really Did It! Watch Toy Story—The FULL MOVIE—Filmed with Real Live Toys

My goodness, this is a thing of wonder and whimsy and a buttload of perseverance. The Live Action Toy Story Project, which we’ve updated you about in the past, is finally completed. What a wonderful thing to exist in the world. https://gizmodo.com/what-toy-story-would-look-like-if-they-filmed-with-real-5844904 Jonason Pauley and Jesse Perrotta started the project, a shot-for-shot recreation of the…

Watch These Lunatics Use Parachutes To Fly Their Snowmobiles Around

Bored? Canadian? Need something to do with those snowmobiles and parachutes you’ve got hanging around? Enter parasledding: the motor-sport that’s exactly what it sounds like. As you can in this (sometimes-painfully-portrait-oriented) video, it combines all the joys of being on an extremely heavy and fast-moving vehicle and floating in the air with not all that…

Guided By Voices: Everywhere With Helicopter

When it comes to Guided By Voices’ absurdly huge discography, most people seem to come down on Bee Thousand as the stand out record. And you know what? Rightly so; it’s a great album. That said, when I stumbled upon “Everywhere With Helicopter” off GBV’s somewhat later effort Universal Truths and Cycles on Pandora, it…

Awesome Window Washers Dressed Up As Spiderman When They Visited a Children’s Hospital

Cleaning windows at a hospital can be totally awkward for everybody involved so All Children’s Hospital in Tampa Bay got creative by having their window washers dress up as Spiderman while they cleaned their windows. It brightened up their entire day. A superhero of a job, I’d say. I’m glad the kids got a kick…

China’s Requiring All New Houses Built Near Fiber to Have It Installed

Here in the US, the one pushing fiber hardest is Google, and for the time being, you’re only able to get some of that sweet, sweet juice if you’re in Kansas City. And you’ll have to pay for it. In China, things are a bit different. A new policy now requires all residences built near…

How To Disable Java in Your Browser

Java isn’t good for your for your computer’s health right now. It can mess it up pretty bad. Bad enough that the Department of Homeland Security is warning us all to turn it off. OK, but how do you do that? Fortunately, it’s not that hard. https://gizmodo.com/even-the-department-of-homeland-security-wants-you-to-d-5975415 All the current Java exploits come from Java…

The Void of Losing Someone You Don’t Know—in Memory of Aaron Swartz

I didn’t know Aaron Swartz personally. We never spoke, not in person nor by email. Yet, his suicide today has left a big hole in the world for me. I found my own sadness baffling. I didn’t know the guy. Why did I, deep down, feel such a void in the world? The reason was:…

What’s The Oldest Tech You Have to Deal With at Work?

When I was getting a haircut a few weeks ago, I found myself in the chair, staring at the register from behind, and I couldn’t help but notice how damn old their setup was. The CRT display looked to be 15 years old at least, the keyboard chunky and probably never cleaned, and all this…

How Technology Feels After Decades In Jail, Ridiculous MS Paint PornEdits, The Best Phones of CES, And More

CES was this week. It was a blast. It was hell. It was fun. It was chaotic. It was tiring. It’s over. Catch up on the week in (and aside from) CES with the best phones from the show, Valve’s first Steam Box, a Surface Pro hands-on, a look at Blackberry 10, a satelite killing…

Oracle says it’ll have a fix for those egregious Java vulnerabilities “shortly.” [Reuters]

John McAfee: “The More Ugly The Woman, The Better The Sex”

Back from Belize, crazy-man extraordinaire John McAfee has settled down in Portland for the time being. And, of course, he’s still giving some characteristically insane interviews. Before he’s asserted that if he’s going to do drugs, they’re going to be good ones. Now, in an interview with Willamette Week, he’s extolling the virtues of sex…

Former Reddit Co-Owner and Internet Activist Aaron Swartz Commits Suicide (Updated)

Former Reddit co-owner and founder of DemandProgress, Aaron Swartz committed suicide at the age of 26 in New York City yesterday, according to reports by The Tech. Swartz had been battling criminal charges related to his attempts to make JSTOR archives public and had been facing up to 50 years in prison and $4 million…

Even The Department Of Homeland Security Wants You To Disable Your Java

We’ve been concerned about the security of Java for a while now. There was that vulnerability that affected like a billion computers, and Apple went so far as to remove Java plugins from all OSX browsers. Now even the Department of Homeland Security is in on the act with a special message: “Yo, shut off…

How Nikon Makes the Glass Inside Its Lenses

If you were ever curious about how Nikon managed to make the wonderful glass that capture beautiful pictures, well, it all starts with making the glass itself. This video gives you a peek inside the Nikon factories that make the glass and shows you the step by step process. It’s crazy to see little frosty…

Quentin Tarantino Shutting Down Butts, James Brown Dance Lessons, and Close Encounters of the Architectural Kind

Watch Pedro Barros Do Inhuman Things with a Skateboard Looking back on that title, it does sound like something you’d have to pay $10 to see in Guadalajara. [Red Bull] Quentin Tarantino Will Shut Your Butt Down SAY “DISCUSS THE LINK BETWEEN MOVIE VIOLENCE AND REAL LIFE VIOLENCE” AGAIN MOTHER FUCKER. I DARE YOU, I…