Tech News

Say Hello To America’s New Money-Minded Cyberweapon

Considering that Flame and Stuxnet have been gunning at Iran for a while, it should come as no suprise that there’s another cyberweapon lurking in the shadows. This one’s been dubbed ‘Gauss’ and it’s harvesting bank account information. https://gizmodo.com/meet-flame-the-massive-spy-malware-infiltrating-iran-5913779 Discovered by researchers at Kasperky Labs, Gauss is yet another cyber-spying weapon built on the Flame…

Drunk Idiot Takes a Nap On Airport Baggage Belt And Gets X-Rayed

Passing out in weird places is part of any good drunk’s job, but a Norwegian tourist has taken the artform to a whole new level by falling asleep on an airport baggage belt, and taking a trip back to the scanners. The unnamed 36-year-old tourist was about to check in for a flight, but found…

Siri’s Grandfather Is One Creepy Old Man

Even Apple’s Siri, arguably the cutting-edge of synthesized computer voices, sounds incredibly fake. To the point where you’d think that field of research has only been around for about 10 years. But shockingly it dates back to the 1930s—80+ years ago! But we’ve still come an incredibly long way in recreating human voice and speech,…

FTC Lets Facebook Off the Hook With No Fines for Repeatedly Deceiving Users About Privacy

The FTC has accepted a settlement over its allegation that it repeatedly misled its users about privacy. Facebook was accused of telling users they could keep their information private and then repeatedly disclosing it anyway. Facebook won’t take a fine for the privacy violations. Sigh Under the settlement, the FTC will monitor the company closely…

Why a Two-Tone Unibody iPhone Makes Perfect Sense

There’s been much speculation that Apple’s next iPhone will come with a unibody, two-tone design, a significant departure for the company. But fewer people have bothered to ask why. Industrial designer Don Lehman does here for The Tech Block—and comes up with some convincing answers. The image above could be one of four things. 1.…

Slit-Scan Photographs Make for Psychedelic Photo Finishes

Slit-scan photography works much like a rolling shutter does—the sensor continually collects image data but the shutter never actually closes, hence its use in determining a “photo finish”—whatever crosses the camera’s view first, appears first in the photo set. Or at least that’s how its supposed to work. Slit-scan photography is also really useful for…

Nightlighter Optics Find IEDs Hiding in the Dark

Taliban warfighters aren’t the only threat to American forces in Afghanistan. There are also the nastly explosives they leave behind. But rather than simply reinforce some Humvees and hope for the best, General Atomics has developed a system to spot IEDs from the air, up to a mile away, day or night. This high-altitude Intelligence,…

Pontoon Treads Let This Tank Tear Across Land and Water

Many wonderful things have come out of the US Military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency—or DARPA—incuding the internet. But none are as insanely awesome as its new CAAT (Captive Air Amphibious Transporter) which is essentially a tank that floats on water thanks to its oversized inflatable treads. Created as part of DARPA’s Tactically Expandable Maritime…

A Tiny RC Drone You Can Almost Stash In a Pocket

Don’t have $300 to spend on Parrot’s AR Drone that you’ll most likely crash into a wall five minutes after take off? Consider Brando’s minuscule alternative. You’ll be sacrificing onboard video cameras and the ability to pilot it with your iPhone, but you’ll be saving yourself $250. https://gizmodo.com/parrot-ar-drone-2-0-review-your-own-private-predator-5931424 The petite craft comes with a dual…

Who Knew an Oversized Sewing Box Could Make Such an Awesome Desk?

At first glance, the Klippen Klappen desk looks like a small box on a metal base that wouldn’t serve much purpose as a desk. But as you unfold its layers, what was once a glorified side table becomes a fully functional workspace. Inspired by the design of old-school sewing boxes, Gregor Korolewicz‘s design not only…

$110 Says All the New Kindles Are Coming Next Week

If you want to know if Amazon’s new Kindles are coming out—and what they’ll be—don’t listen to analysts or supply chains or, yes, blogs. One trip to Amazon today will tell you nearly everything you need to know about when, and what, Amazon’s about to unleash on the world. Out With the Old When bargain…

“Leaked” iPhone 5 Battery Seems Really Small

9to5mac has reported images of the next iPhone’s battery, and if they’re to be believed, the battery’s relatively small size could spell problems for battery life if the new iPhone has LTE. The battery increases from 1430mAh to 1440mAh. That’s a relatively tiny upgrade, but in line with the bump from the iPhone 4 to…

On Second Thought: Microsoft Is Calling Metro “Modern UI Style” Now

Word yesterday was that Microsoft was changing the official name of its Metro UI to “Windows 8.” Except, not totally. Today, the Verge is referencing several Microsoft listings for upcoming events referring to Metro/Windows 8/Fancy New UI as Modern UI. Ugh. https://gizmodo.com/microsofts-metro-ui-is-now-just-windows-8-5933407 If you’re going to confuse the hell out of everyone with an alternative…

What Is This?

Is this some strange new GM flower? An awful piece of abstract art? Or just what happens if you take too much LSD? Actually, it’s none of those things; keep guessing, you’ll never get it. It is, in fact, the largest symmetrical Venn diagram ever created. As New Scientist sagely points out, it’s possible to…

Dart Silenced Alarm Clock Is A Great Excuse To Sleep With a Nerf Gun Under Your Pillow

The whole ‘shoot to silence’ alarm clock idea has been done to death by now. But Hasbro has managed to eek out one more worthy of mention with its new Nerf-branded Shoot To Snooze alarm clock which requires groggy users to nail it with a foam dart or disk in order to silence its morning…

The powers-that-be have decided there won’t be any more internet-destroying leap seconds this year. Phew. [IERRSS]

What Annoying Wi-Fi Dead Spots Do You Have in Your Home?

Wi-Fi is supposed to provide pervasive internet access, so you can pick up your tablet, laptop or phone and browse from any place you fancy in your home. Sadly, it doesn’t alway work like that. In the far end of my apartment, in an armchair in the bedroom, my Wi-Fi is patchy at best. It…

Apparently IBM is sniffing around RIM, especially its enterprise-services division. [Bloomberg]

Court Filing Reveals Confidential Apple and Samsung Sales Figures

The Apple-Samsung court battle rolls on, and continues to provide insights that the companies would rather keep confidential—like their sales figures, which have just been released in a new court filing. All Things D has laid the documents out for all to see and, while they’re not the most surprising figures in the world, they…

Samsung’s New Exynos Mobile Chip: USB 3.0 and 1080p Video at 60fps

Samsung has released the specs of its new Exynos 5 Dual mobile chip, and it looks set to be an absolute powerhouse. An ARM-based 1.7 GHz mobile CPU, it seems set be a massive leap forward from the Exynos 4 Quad which currently powers the Galaxy S III . https://gizmodo.com/this-chip-will-power-the-new-samsung-galaxy-s-iii-5905282 So, what can you expect…