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Many photographers who still shoot on film do so for its unique aesthetics. But a small subset just downright hate digital cameras, and with Lomo’s new Belair X 6-12 and its retro bellow mechanism hanging around their neck, no one will ever mistake their shooter for one of those new-fangled digital monstrosities. The Belair X…
In September of 1992 astronauts Jan Davis and Mark Lee became the first married couple to leave the planet together. But NASA didn’t originally plan on it happening that way. NASA had an unwritten rule that married astronauts couldn’t be sent into space together. Davis and Lee had been assigned to the mission in 1989…
The American Can Company used to be the single largest producer of tin cans in the country, but the glory days are long gone. The building, in San Francisco’s Dogpatch, is part of a neighborhood where sprawling shipyards and industrial complexes have closed up shop, replaced by the likes of the AT&T Ballpark and the…
Not only did Mayor Mike Bloomberg cut the ribbon today at the new Shapeways 3D printing factory in New York, he did it using 3D-printed scissors. And they came out of the printer fully assembled. How amazing is that? 3D printing is absolutely magical—these crazy machines use selective laser sintering to print complex moving parts,…
Sometimes science can turn the Universe into art, like this video from NASA, made using a gradient filter. From NASA: Science and art techniques are often quite similar, indeed one may inform the other or be improved based on lessons from the other arena. One such case is a technique known as a “gradient filter”…
TweetBot, the hugely popular iOS Twitter client, finally comes in a finished desktop version available in the Mac App Store for 20 bucks. No joke. It appears to be a nicely polished piece of software with some smart features, but is there any way to justify that price when you can just use Twitter’s app…
Google’s having a rough day, but here’s some good news: It has a new Chromebook, and this time it’s $250. That’s pretty amazing. https://gizmodo.com/google-spills-earnings-early-made-way-less-money-this-5952897 Chromebooks are an overlooked part of Google’s arsenal, but they really shouldn’t be. If you don’t need specific programs, and just need a computer to work on docs on and browse…
Hungarian student Bence Hajdu had a seemingly obvious genius idea: take out people out of famous paintings. This is Leonardo da Vinci’s famous Last Supper, right after Jesus and his disciples left to have some drinks at some bar around the corner. Here’s what the artist has to say: I am a student at the…
Challenging the iconic Luxo lamp when it comes to flexibility, Michel Charlot’s U-Turn light trades the complicated springs for a brilliantly simply magnetic ball joint. So you can use it as an adjustable desk lamp when working, or flip it over and illuminate an entire room in a spotlight configuration. It’s the lamp of a…
It’s easy to get caught up in the Wall Street expectations game, under whose rules Google just had a disastrous third quarter. But while earnings were down significantly year over year, and were well below analyst expectations, the company still hauled in over two billion dollars of income on $14.10 billion of revenue. That’s got…
Eyes. They’re the windows to someone’s soul. They also look really cool when shot in an extreme close-up. For this week’s Shooting Challenge, capture eyes. Well, eye. The Challenge Capture an extreme close-up of someone’s eye. Really make it fill the frame. The Technique Many of you will dust off tripods and macro lenses for…
Finding similarities between how penguins huddle together for warmth and humans create giant crowded cities, artist David Graas created this complex lightbulb that looks like a tiny metropolis is exploding from its glowing core. It was created using a 3D printer, and houses a modern 5-watt LED bulb so that it never gets hot enough…
Desktop computing may be dying, besieged by ultrabooks and tablets, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t still loving their crazy desktop setups. Here are the very best ones—located in the homes of artists, musicians, engineers, mad gamers and people who just love computers—compiled from readers’ submissions and hours of searching. It’s the definitive collection. Stefan…
Sadly there’s no movie version of your chemistry textbook to make studying easier. But someone out there with either a love for science, or a hatred for cramming, has created this Periodic Quest board game that tries its best to make learning fun. Thankfully, school sets the fun bar pretty low. There are multiple ways…
In an effort to stay on the right side of German law, Twitter has blocked access within Germany to all tweets by the neo-Nazi group Besseres Hannover. This is the first time Twitter has censored speech to keep a government happy. But before you cry “censorship,” keep in mind that this is just good business.…
Earlier this week, Foxconn owned up to using underage workers in one of its factories. That’s made Nintendo—whose Wii U is also assembled at Foxconn—suspicious, so it’s launching its own investigation into the Chinese manufacturer’s labor practices. https://gizmodo.com/foxconn-admits-violating-child-labor-laws-5952126 Nintendo said it has talked to Foxconn and made it clear that if it discovers violations, Foxconn…
A Japanese company called Tokai Rubber Industries has created what it’s claiming to be the world’s first all rubber speaker. But it’s not made from the exact same material as the tires on your car. This is a smart rubber that could one day lead to artificial muscle technology. What makes this rubber so smart…
Newsweek’s 80th anniversary will be next February, but you won’t be able to find a commemorative issue in newsstands or in your mailbox. After December 31st, the weekly magazine will cease to be anything more than bits downloaded to your iPad. It’s the end of an era for one of America’s most stalwart weeklies, but…
We’ve known it was coming for months, but the Acer Iconia Tab A110 finally has a due date and a pricetag. It’s going on sale October 30th, and it’ll only cost you $230. That puts it squarely in Nexus 7 territory. But what does that extra $30 get you? Well, more. And less. The Iconia…
Having lost its appeal against the UK High Court of Justice’s ruling, which decided Samsung’s tablet designs didn’t infringe on the iPad, Apple is being forced to make a public apology. The best bit? The judge in question has described how it has to do it. Apple will have to post notices on its website,…
