Tech News

Apple will restore the “show duplicates” feature to iTunes 11 through a minor update. [WSJ]

Frisky Gifts for Cat Nuts

Everyone knows at least one cat owner who is a little bit crazy, a little bit intense, and a little bit covered in cat fur. Hanging out at this friend’s house might be a disgusting chore. But that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve presents! Hey there! You might notice our gift guides look a little…

Shape-Remembering Hydrogels Are the First Step Towards a Real-Life T-1000

A team of researchers at Cornell University, led by professor Dan Luo, has developed a new kind of hydrogel made from synthesized and interwoven DNA, like a microscopic bird’s nest. In the presence of H2O the hydrogel forms and holds a pre-determined shape. But in the absence of water, the material flows like any other…

This Video of Planet Earth Will Give You Goosebumps

I just watched this video and still have goosebumps. Seriously. Crank up the volume, make it full screen, play and enjoy. The wonderment overdose is really worth it. And sure, it’s just a compilation of incredible clips showing Earth from every possibly amazing place in the planet , edited to some “everything is wonderful” soundtracks,…

This Is Why Yesterday’s New York Post Cover Matters to You

Yesterday, as you probably know, the New York Post ran a front page photo of a man about to be struck and killed by an oncoming subway train. It set the Internet on fire, and raised a lot of questions about the photographer’s role in the man’s death. This is a technology issue. As usual,…

The BMW i3 Concept Will Make Your Commute Green and Stylish

These days, buying a small car is a daunting task. With gas prices constantly in flux, cities becoming more cramped and a market inundated with bland options, it’s easy to think that you have to sacrifice style and passion to meet your practical needs. The BMW i3 Concept will change all that — finally mixing…

Verizon Wants to Watch and Listen to Your Life While You Watch TV

Last week, Verizon filed a patent for a set-top box that detects what you’re doing while you watch TV, and serves you advertising accordingly. Ew, weird, companies watching what I do while I consume content. Big brother! Chill, son. “Methods and Systems for Presenting an Advertisement Associated with an Ambient Action of a User” describes…

This Watch Is Like Strapping a Muscle Car to Your Wrist

If you’d rather have a classic Mustang or GTO in your driveway than a Ferrari, you’d probably also prefer MB&F’s new Horological Machine No. 5 strapped to your wrist instead of a Rolex. Inspired by the American muscle cars of the 1960s and 70s, the watch presents the time like a series of dashboard gauges…

Why Your Instagram Pics Look Weird on Twitter Now (Updated)

Notice anything strange when you’re looking at a photo of meatballs through the Valencia filter on Twitter? Probably. Instagram has revoked Twitter’s ability to show its pictures on its website, leaving pics weirdly cropped and off-center. Per Twitter, technically what happened here is Instagram disabled Twitter cards, which are the things you need to attach…

The Oldest Dinosaur Ever Found Spent the Last 50 Years in a Storage Closest

A team of palaeontologists has discovered what they think is the oldest known dinosaur: a new species which predates previous earliest dinosaur specimens by 15 million years. But they didn’t have to go on an expedition or get their hands dirty to find it—they merely stumbled across it in a museum store room. The fossilized…

The 19 Most Badass Spy Planes

There is little in the world that can match the simultaneous awesomeness and mystery of a spy plane. These are the paragon of modern innovation, yet largely pass invisible above us. They decide battles and wars, yet only a few lucky soldiers get to see them. Blah blah blah words. Let’s look at some incredible…

What’s the Most Popular Element?

Sure, we can’t breathe without H or make squeaky chipmunk voices without He, and Ne is the king of strip-club signage. But being important—or even just in ample supply—has nothing on being popular. And this brilliantly reimagined periodic table shows us just how much we really care about the elements. The results in Anders Sandberg’s…

BlackBlackerry 10 Won’t Let You Use These 106 Incredibly Dumb Passwords

BlackBerrys used to be known for bulletproof security: the go-to device for business because you could guarantee it’d stay locked down and secure. Even if no one really wants a BlackBerry anymore, RIM’s carrying on in that vein. BlackBerry 10 will stop you being an idiot, and using a whole load of dumb passwords. There…

Wii U is to get Google Maps Street View, which will be navigated through motion control. That sounds kinda fun. [Verge]

Ten Pictures That Make Earth Look Like Art

Our planet is full of breathtaking views: oceans, mountains, forests, glaciers, and plenty more besides. Look at it all from space, though, and plenty of those views become so striking that they’re hard to distinguish from art. NASA has recently published a free ebook called Earth as Art, which brings together years’ worth of beautiful…

How Much Physical Space Does the Internet Take Up?

The internet is one of the most ethereal concepts in tech: it’s nowhere and everywhere, all at once. But if you could measure the thing, how much physical space would it take up? Fortunately Randall Munroe of XKCD fame has answered the question in a fun way over on his What If? site. He explains:…

Nokia’s New Lumia 620: Windows Phone 8 on the Cheap

If you want Windows Phone 8 but are scrabbling for cash, Nokia might have the answer. It just announced its new entry-level handset, the Lumia 620, at a show in Paris—and it’s squarely targeted at the budget end of the market. Filling the bottom end of Nokia’s WinPho 8 range—just like its predecessor, the 610,…

Apple’s lifted the two-per-customer order limit on iPhone 5. Stock levels are clearly up! [Apple Insider]

Amazon’s New $3 Kid-Friendly Subscription Service

Amazon’s just launched Free Time Unlimited for its range of Kindle Fire tablets. It offers unlimited access to age-restricted movies, games and books for kids, for $3 a month. Essentially a subscription service for children, the service lets you tell Amazon your offspring’s gender and age, and then a custom library of books, movies, apps…

Sonos Now Lets You Stream Music Direct From an iOS Device

Proprietary software updates are rarely exciting, but the latest from Sonos really is worth hearing about. The latest Sonos software now allows users to stream music stored on iOS devices direct to the company’s speaker systems. Don’t be fooled into thinking this uses Airplay, though it sounds exactly like it should. Instead, Sonos has developed…