Tech News

Samsung-Made Galaxy Nexus 2 Currently in Testing?

Photos that appeared online over the weekend appear to have been taken with an as yet unannounced Samsung phone, which seemingly fits in with Samsung’s Nexus device naming system. The data attached to the shots say they were taken with a device Samsung’s labelled the GT-i9260, which you might reasonably expect to be an update…

How Much Do You Care About How Twitter Measures Your Influence?

BuzzFeed is reporting that Twitter cofounder Ev Williams is interested in shaking up the way the company measures “reach”. Instead of caring about follower count, he suggests, maybe Twitter should let you know how many people saw your tweet. Speaking at a roundtable discussion on Monday, Williams explained: “The thing I think would be more…

Google Chrome has been updated for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5’s screen. No letterboxing here. [App Store]

Schmidt Confirms Google Hasn’t Submitted a New Maps App for iOS Yet (Updated)

Last week sources at Google suggested that a new Maps app for iOS might arrive “before Christmas“. Now, Eric Schmidt has confirmed to Reuters that Google has not yet submitted a new Maps app to Apple. https://gizmodo.com/it-might-be-a-couple-of-months-before-we-see-a-proper-g-5945070 Speaking after a Tokyo-based Nexus 7 event, Schmidt denied rumors which have suggested Google already has an app…

Woz: Apple Maps Has Problems, But They Aren’t “That Severe”

ZDNET managed to chat to Steve Wozniak while he was speaking at an event in Sydney, Australia, and unsurprisingly they chatted to him about Apple’s Maps. His verdict? Up-front, mixed—but not as negative as some. As ever, Woz has been reading around what’s been reported to get the lie of the land. According to ZDNET…

This Piece of Glass Can Store Data Forever

Data, like all things, eventually dies. Your music, your movies, your documents, your files, your computer. You don’t expect it to live forever but… what if it did? Hitachi claims that they’ve developed a new quartz glass plate that can store data forever. CDs and hard drives can only last for a few decades or…

What Happens When You Combine Liquid Nitrogen with 1500 Ping Pong Balls?

A massive explosion, bro. That’s what you get. If you want to fast forward to the good parts, I’d suggest starting somewhere around 3:45. Though to be honest, hearing Professor Roy Lowry of Plymouth talk about the explosive potential of liquid nitrogen in its gaseous state is pretty damn interesting. [YouTube via Neatorama]

The Stoner Channel: Phil Hartman Auditions, James Franco Howls, and Anthony Griffith Brings Us to Tears

There are Two Kinds of People There are two kinds of movies in this world: The kind that rely on tired cultural cliches to advance a plot and develop characters, and flops. The Best of Times, The Worst of Times – Anthony Griffith Warning: You will cry. But you’ll be a better person for it.…

Meet the Street Artist Who’s Wanted by the NYPD for Punking the Police with Fake Drone Ads

His name is ‘Essam’ and he’s a 29-year-old art school grad from Maine, who served in Iraq as a “geo-spatial analyst”, and has put up posters like the one above all over New York. It shows drones being used to police regular people in an Orwellian world… with the NYPD logo plastered all over it,…

You can reserve an iPhone 5 for in-store pickup at the Apple Store now. Who likes waiting in line, right?

Madame Tussauds Is Making a Steve Jobs Wax Figure That Is Hauntingly Realistic

Madame Tussauds is making a Steve Jobs wax figure to mark the first anniversary of his death. It’s hauntingly realistic—just look at the pictures above—and will, of course, come complete with black cotton turtle neck, Levi’s 501 jeans and New Balance 991 sneakers. The wax figure will be displayed at Madam Tussauds Hong Kong and…

Watch The Mythbusters Hilariously Answer If God Exists or Not

Mythbusters. Not only are they good at revealing what’s true and what’s myth but they’re also awesome at figuring out life’s tough questions, like, does God exist? Or at least, that’s what College Humor thinks. In this parody video, this fake Mythbusters team sets out to test God’s existence while also finding time to use…

Prime Minister Admits That Government Spies Illegally Bugged Kim Dotcom

As more details leak out about the investigation on Kim Dotcom, the more embarrassing it gets for government officials. After thinking Dotcom had a doomsday device, it’s now known that government spies illegally bugged Dotcom at the behest of the US government. https://gizmodo.com/the-fbi-thought-kim-dotcom-had-a-doomsday-device-that-c-5933870 As ridiculous as Dotcom’s life may be, it seems like the government…

Watch a Girl Transform Old Bicycle Parts into Terminator Chandeliers

In this video by Etsy, Carolina Fontoura Alzaga shows how and why she transforms old junkyard bicycle parts into chandelier sculptures that look more like something from our apocalyptic future. Who knew bicycle chains and wheels could add up to be Terminator? Alzaga is obviously passionate about using salvaged materials to create her works of…

How the iPhone 5 Camera Stacks Up with a DSLR

In our iPhone 5 camera battle, we mostly pitted it against cameras in its own weight class: the Galaxy SIII, the HTC One X and the 4S. Sure, we stacked the odds a bit when we compared it to the Canon S100 and Nokia’s 808 PureView, but we didn’t go as far as to see…

Watch Bon Iver Play Radio City

Bon Iver played three nights NYC’s Radio City Music Hall last week. The folky band played a beautiful 97-minute set on Friday, the final evening, and it’s streaming on YouTube for the next two days. It’s definitely worth checking out—I went to the Wednesday show, and it was utterly beautiful. Some bands just don’t sound…

This Air Force Officer Looks Like He’s Serving on Another Planet

Look at this badass soldier. In this beautiful picture, 1st. Lt. Drew Parks helps guide a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet through the gorgeous, star-speckled night sky of Kuwait as a part of Operation Spartan Shield. Parks is a JTAC, or a joint terminal attack controller, meaning he helps things along in the air—communications,…

Thanks to RFID, You’ll Never Lose a Sock Again

Pushing war and world hunger to the back of the line, the next important issue that technology is tackling is mismatched and missing socks. A company called Blacksocks has developed what it’s claiming are the world’s first smart socks that make them virtually impossible to mis-match, and incredibly easy to find in a basket overflowing…

This Lovely Folding Ice Scraper Will Have You Begging For Blizzards

Who cares if Mother Nature’s just buried your ride to work under four feet of ice and snow? You’ll be as excited as a kid on a snow day to get outside and clean it off with this lovely folding ice scraper from Eva Solo. If you’ve ever struggled to find room to store a…

Recapping “The Jetsons”: Episode 01 – Rosey the Robot

This is the first in a 24-part series looking at every episode of “The Jetsons” TV show from the original 1962-63 season. Episode 01: “Rosey the Robot,” originally aired: September 23, 1962 If you flipped through the Cedar Rapids Gazette on September 23, 1962 the news looked fairly typical for the early 1960s. There was…