Tech News

Seven High-Tech Ways to Cook a Turkey

The most important part of your Thanksgiving meal is the bird. It’s the centerpiece of every Turkey-day related piece of pop culture from Norman Rockwell illustrations to Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. But just because it’s traditional, doesn’t mean the way you prepare it has to be. Here are seven totally techie ways to get your delicious…

These Badass Multifuntion Scissors Could Save Your Life One Day

Instead of incorporating a useless pair of tiny scissors into a multi-tool, Leatherman has used a pair of industrial-looking snips as the base for its new Raptor tool. Designed for medics and rescue personnel, the Raptor incorporates a strap cutter, a carbide glass breaker, a ring cutter, a wrench, and a ruler into a pair…

This 70-Inch Television For Only $1700 Is a Hot Black Friday Deal

If you’re in the market for a big ‘ol flatscreen, add this number to your Black Friday shopping list. Starting tomorrow at 9 PM, you’ll be able to get Vizio’s flagship 70-inch LED TV for just $1700 on Vizio’s website. That’s $300 off the regular price, which is still a lot of money. But SEVENTY…

Four Crazy Ways to Cook Your Turkey Using NASA Equipment

Most of you will use ovens to cook your turkeys tomorrow. But most of you are not NASA. We asked their engineers and science writers how they would cook a turkey to perfection using their high tech gear instead of traditional methods. Then we asked Josh McKible to illustrate their recipes. The results are fantastic,…

How Alcohol Turns Your Aunt Into the Life of the Thanksgiving Party

Have you ever really stopped and wondered—like on a scientific level—why excessive alcohol consumption can turn someone into the life of a party? Or a blubbering mess? Before aunts and uncles across the country get inevitably tipsy tomorrow afternoon (or morning, no one’s judging) ASAP Science breaks down the biology of how alcohol affects the…

The Holodeck Is Real, and It’s in Stony Brook, NY

While we still have a ways to go before the advent of photon torpedoes and warp drives, Stony Brook University has just brought us one step closer to our Star Trek future with the unveiling of its immersive video projection system, the Reality Deck. What? Holodeck was already taken. The Reality Deck is the world’s…

Here’s the 26-Year-Old Snowboarder Running Israel’s Social Media War

Sacha Dratwa enjoys some very normal things: macchiatos, swimming, vodka, hanging out with friends. You can see it right on his Facebook profile. But unlike most Facebook folks, this guy runs Israel’s Internet propaganda war machine. Tablet brings us the story of Dratwa, who came to Israel from Belgium, and at only 26 years old,…

10 Black Friday Dos and Don’ts

With many stores opening Thanksgiving evening, this year you won’t even have to digest your turkey before you put on your elbow pads and line up outside your favorite big box store. But to make body checking your fellow shoppers worthwhile, you’ll need a plan. You don’t want to spend 12 hours wearing adult diapers…

Should Parents Have the “Online Talk” Before the Sex Talk?

Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, talked with Reuters last week, mostly about online security and privacy and how both relate to the General Petreaus nonsense. But he also said something interesting about parenting: Have the online talk before the sex talk. He’s got a point. If you do something irresponsible or stupid or even…

Turn Your iPad Into the Foosball Table You Never Had Room For

If you’ve found it hard to shake your addiction to foosball after graduating from college, but your first apartment doesn’t afford you the room for a table of your own, all you need now is an iPad and a willing opponent. The geniuses at New Potato Technologies have created this elaborate iPad housing that serves…

Can You Make an Authentic Twinkie at Home?

The Great Twinkie Panic of 2012 seems to be over, but we were worried. Is it possible, in case of need, to craft scientifically authentic Twinkies at home? Last week, Hostess Brands, Inc. announced it was going out of business, raising fears of an orphaned Twinkie the Kid, inciting Twinkie runs on eBay, and turning…

This Time Lapse Shows the Nikon D600 Has a Dusty Sensor Problem

There have been rumors knocking around that suggest Nikon’s great D600 DSLR suffers from excessive sensor dust. This time-lapse goes a long way in proving them true. https://gizmodo.com/nikon-d600-review-images-this-spectacular-have-never-b-5946258 Toronto-based artist Kyle Clements wanted to test the problem for himself. He explains: I thought I would put this claim to the test by purchasing a brand…

Facebook Is Launching a Numberless “Social Calling” Service

TechCrunch is reporting that Facebook is teaming up with carriers to provide a “social calling” service. Initially striking up a deal with French carrier Orange, it seems the service will allow friends to make voice calls without knowing each other’s numbers. The service will apparently allow users to make calls from mobile and desktop flavors…

Can You Fly By Firing Guns at the Ground?

It might be the preserve of fantastical action movies, but we’ve probably all wondered at some point or other if it’s actually possible to fly through the air by firing bullets down at the ground. Fortunately, you must wonder no longer, as Randall Munroe of XKCD has done the science for you. As he explains:…

Microsoft Just Messed Up and Gave Out a Free Windows 8 Activation Key

If you’ve been wanting to upgrade to Windows 8 but baulk at paying then, firstly, you’re a bad person but, secondly, now your opportunity’s here. Microsoft just screwed up and handed out a free activation key for the OS. Microsoft is letting Windows 8 Pro users upgrade to Media Center for free until January 31st.…

Apple’s massive new spaceship-like HQ is severely delayed: it won’t be ready until 2016 at the earliest. [Bloomberg]

Hacker Found Guilty of 2010’s Massive AT&T iPad Breach

Way back in 2010, a security breach exposed the emails of 114,000 iPad owners. Eventually, the hackers behind it were arrested—and now one of them, Andrew Auernheimer, has been found guilty. http://gawker.com/5559346/apples-worst-security-breach-114000-ipad-owners-exposed First, though, we need to refresh some memories. Auernheimer and a co-conspirator—both from Goatse Security—found a serious security flaw in AT&T’s iPad subscriber…

T-Mobile: The iPhone Isn’t Worth It

T-Mobile’s struggled because of the fact that it doesn’t carry the iPhone. But it doesn’t seem to care: in fact, one of its executives has explained that being able to offer Apple’s phone isn’t worth the sacrifices it would have to make to the rest of its device portfolio. Jim Alling, Chief Organizational Officer of…

According to Bloomberg, the FBI is investigating the HP-Autonomy fiasco. This could get messy. [Bloomberg]

The Longest Word in English Takes 3.5 Hours to Pronounce

The longest word in English has 189,819 letters and would take you three and a half hours to pronounce correctly. Seriously. It’s the chemical name of Titin (or connectin), a giant protein “that functions as a molecular spring which is responsible for the passive elasticity of muscle.” You can listen to a guy pronounce the…