Tech News

Apple and Google Are Reportedly Trying to Play Nice Over Patents

Reuters reports that Google and Apple CEOs Tim Cook and Larry Page supposedly had a chat on the phone a few weeks ago their intellectual property disputes before they hit the courtroom. And apparently they’ve got a date to speak again. Can two tech titans resolve their problems without a lawsuit? The report comes just…

How Porno Downloaders Are Shamed into Paying Cash to Keep Their Names Clean

You don’t pay for porn. That’s a problem for pornographers, but aces for porno copyright trolls like John Steele, attorney at law. Buzzfeed took a deep look into how they squeeze money out of porn torrenting cases, whether you downloaded anything or not. For a point of reference, here’s, basically, how the operation works: The…

Barrel Lamp Holds Nothing But Glorious Light

In their most unkempt forms, wood, concrete and steel are sturdy and raw materials. And when you can manage to combine the qualities of those materials with an aesthetic form, the results are often gorgeous. Such is the case with New Duivendrecht’s Barrel Lamp. Inspired by the design of an industrial spotlight, the lamp is…

Could This Possibly Be the New Kindle Fire?

The Verge claims it’s got its hands on an image of Amazon’s new Kindle Fire being announced next week. We’re dubious. It’s certainly possible, since we’re almost certain that we’ll see a new Kindle Fire, since the current Fire is sold out at Amazon. But gosh, that bezel looks weird (read: very possibly Photoshopped), and…

Nobody Has Any Idea What the Cloud Is

A recent survey has unearthed an interesting/borderline depressing fact—one in three people think cloud computing has to do with literal clouds. That’s right: many of us think we need an umbrella to access SkyDrive. You’d think this was the kind of statement your mother said at the dinner table and then you texted to all…

Reinventing the Ice Cube Tray

As we enjoy the last few weeks of absolutely everything being served on the rocks, take a moment to admire the cubes inside that sweaty glass. Long ago ice used to be a novelty, shipped across the country-or world-in massive chunks carved from frozen lakes and rivers. We’ve come a long way from 19th century…

Disco Fish and Snails on Wheels: The Amazing Vehicles of Burning Man 2012

Most people assume Burning Man is just this mecca of sex and drugs. It isn’t. Well, it is, but that’s a much smaller part of the picture than people make it out to be. A major part of the event is the collection of hundreds of incredible sculptures on wheels just rolling across the desert.…

Jeopardy Home Game Will Expose How Stupid You Really Are

When you’re watching Jeopardy and playing along at home, it’s easy to ignore the endless run of questions you get wrong because you’re not keeping score. Such is not the case with this home version of the game. It keeps track of just how ignorant you really are—so it’s a good idea to maybe only…

The Best Mars Panorama Yet Feels Just Like Being There

This morning Hans Nyberg sent me the most impressive panorama I’ve seen of Mars yet, made from images released by NASA on August 27. Put it at full screen and look around. It’s just like being right there, but with oxygen and air conditioning. The size of Mount Sharp—which is 12 miles (20 kilometers) from…

Sifteo Game Cubes Now Freed From Their Laptop Shackles

A year after they were officially released to consumers, Sifteo’s game cubes are finally no longer tethered to your computer. Now you can enjoy this unique take on portable gaming, which has players re-arranging multiple tiny displays to solve puzzles and complete missions, wherever you’re willig to tote its base station. https://gizmodo.com/these-little-cubes-of-fun-interact-with-each-other-usin-5829899 The original cubes,…

Whoever racks up the most Virgin Atlantic miles between now and August 7 2013 gets a free trip to SPAAAACE. [TechCrunch]

FriendsWithYou Blows Up “Happy Rainbow” in Hong Kong

FriendsWithYou has a knack for creating adorable color-loving characters, which are very often brought to life in the form of over the top vibrant inflatables. Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval, founders of FWY, just launched their first exhibition in Hong Kong titled, Happy Rainbow. The 16-piece exhibit varies from a forty-foot interactive bounce house, to…

Apple Has Decided We Can’t Track Killer Drones With Our iPhones

Drones are being used by militaries to quietly attack targets, and little is reported about it because of how little manpower is necessary to carry out such an operation. So an iPhone app like Drones+—which sends you a notification every time a drone strikes—sounds like a good idea as far as government transparency goes. Unfortunately,…

This Telepathic Exoskeleton Could Help Stroke Victims Move Again

A stroke can cause permanent paralysis even if a patient’s cognitive functions recover. But those thoughts, if a revolutionary new robotic orthotic succeeds, could be all it takes to help stroke victims’ bodies recover a greater degree of limb function. Funded by a $1.17 million grant from the National Institute of Health, a collaboration of…

I Want This Gorgeous Mega-Widescreen Monitor Right Now

So far, Sony and Samsung have dominated IFA with a torrent of magical TVs and new phones. But quietly, LG is showing off one of the coolest monitors we’ve ever seen. The Verge reports the 2560 x 1080 29-inch EA93 monitor boasts a highly unconventional 21:9 aspect ratio—most wide screens are 16:9. This means more…

Of Course You Need a 2TB 10,000RPM Hard Drive with Two Thunderbolt Ports

The cloud’s great, but sometimes you still need fast, humongous local storage. How fast and humongous? How about, say, 2TB at 10,000RPM with TWO Thunderbolt ports. The MyBook VelociRaptor Duo is actually two 1TB 10,000RPM drives in one housing, and claims transfer speeds of up to 400 megabytes per second. The two Thunderbolt ports allows…

Did Scientists Just Find a Cure for Malaria?

Researchers at the University of Cape Town in South Africa have developed a pill that can wipe out malaria with a single dose. It’s a development that could save millions of lives in Africa alone, not to mention the rest of the world. But there’s a teensy weensy little hurdle that must first be overcome:…

Acer’s Got an Awesome-Looking New 11-inch Touchscreen Ultrabook

While everyone’s spewing out Windows 8 hybrids all over the place, Acer has an 11-inch ultrabook that looks pretty exciting. The Aspire S7, the apparent semi-successor to the Aspire S5, has an 11-inch 1366×768 touchscreen (the same resolution as the 11-inch MacBook Air) made of Gorilla Glass, Core i5 or i7 processors, HDMI and USB…

Real-Life Andy Warhol Campbell’s Soup Cans Make Your Pantry a Canvas

Since Andy Warhol’s original artwork can sell for millions of dollars at auction, Campbell’s has made it possible for all of us to have a piece of the artist’s work at home. Fifty years ago Warhol unveiled his tribute to Americana called 32 Campbell’s Soup Cans, and to celebrate the anniversary the company is releasing…

The Kindle Fire Is Sold Out

The Kindle Fire is sold out, Amazon says. Oh that’s funny. Maybe that means we will get those new Amazon tablets next week after all. https://gizmodo.com/110-says-all-the-new-kindles-are-coming-next-week-5933590 We’ve been anticipating a refresh for a while, and Amazon announced this morning that its best-selling device is no longer available. There’s an Amazon event next week, so perhaps…