Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Facebook started out as a fun distraction, then it became something integral. And while it’s currently trending towards being an essential part of our lives, will it someday become inescapable? If these graphs are any indicator, then it’s very well possible. https://gizmodo.com/facebook-timeline-review-this-is-the-greatest-thing-fa-5843354 Citi Research conducted a study of the amount of time Americans spent on…
9to5Mac is claiming some giant news about the next iPhone. The specs aren’t shocking: a generous 1 GB of RAM and the iPad 2’s A5 processor. But what Apple’s going to push hardest is Assistant: your iPhone talks to you. From 9to5Mac’s explanation based on “people familiar with the feature and SDK findings,” Siri-powered Assistant…
Pulse, the slick and pretty RSS reader-ish app on iPhone, Android and iPad, is now available for the equally slick and pretty Windows Phone. If you’re not familiar, Pulse takes a bunch of news sources and transforms them into a pretty gorgeous collection of tiles. Reading doesn’t have to be a snoozefest, you know. All…
5.8 seconds. That’s how fast an Re 620 electric locomotive can top 60 mph (100 km/h) from a standing start. Which is handy when one needs to pull 800 tons of freight through some of Europe’s highest peaks. Re 620 series of locomotives were built between 1975 and 1980 but are still a workhorse along…
It should first be stated that these ants aren’t just crazy, they’re scientifically crazy. Known as the Rasberry Crazy Ant, they’ve garnered a reputation in the US for moving in massive colonies and destroying everything in their path. And they’re spreading. The Crazy Ant got its name from the way it tends to run around…
Seamless, formerly SeamlessWeb, allows me to lie on my couch, corpselike, and have delicious food delivered directly to my door with a few clicks (or smartphone taps). Now they own MenuPages, and slothful America can order in even smarter. The recently designed Seamless already made it stupid-easy to get any meal at virtually any time…
The advent of video-capable DSLRs has made it possible for more people to produce good looking videos on a tight budget. Lenses have played no small part in accomplishing that feat. Now, there’s an entire kit designed for this purpose. The Lensbaby Movie Maker’s Kit is designed for Canon DSLRs (like the 5D MKII, 60D,…
Kevin Clash. You might not know who he is but every kid in America will recognize his work. He’s Elmo. Like the Elmo. Being Elmo is a documentary that takes a heartfelt look at Clash, Elmo, a lifelong dream and more. Watch the trailer, it looks ah-mazing. The film opens up on October 21st and…
Last week, we learned that New York City’s famed subway system would get texting, talking and internet, beginning a gradual cell service rollout across its stations, like the rest of the modern world. Many people are upset by this proposition. Those people need to shut up, please. https://gizmodo.com/cellphone-service-hitting-nyc-subways-to-both-delight-a-5843054 The comments on the NYT’s post say…
Rejoice, for Boeing has delivered its first 787 Dreamliner after three years of delay. It has been handed to All Nippon Airways yesterday and it’ll arrive to its base in Tokyo today. It will begin commercial flying on November 11. https://gizmodo.com/boeing-dreamliner-turns-into-nightmareliner-after-new-d-379003 The first line would be local, from Tokyo to Okayama-Hiroshima, presumably to get the…
Five of the Dead Sea Scrolls—the world’s oldest biblical documents—are now viewable online as searchable, high-resolution images thanks to Google. Talk about some priceless Google Docs. The scrolls are available in the Israel Museum’s online collections just a year after the project started. Developed in partnership with Google the website allows users to dive into…
Jesse Anderson developed a program that simulated a few million virtual monkeys randomly mashing keys on virtual typewriters in an attempt to re-create Shakespeare. Amazingly, the monkeys (monkeys!) have managed to write 99.99% of Shakespeare’s poem, A Lover’s Complaint. Anderson created his virtual monkey experiment to prove the long standing saying of how an infinite…
New York City is serious about anti-terrorism efforts. It has to be. But did you know that the NYPD has its own anti-aircraft missiles? Commissioner Ray Kelly told 60 minutes last night that his counter-terrorism unit could take out an aircraft if it had to. Commissioner Kelly said that he wanted the city to be…
I haven’t played a stringed instrument for half a decade, but something as magical as this could bring me back. See, hacker (and admitted non-musician) [magnetovore] crafted a cello that plays music with invisible magnetism instead of a traditional bow. And he didn’t just load samples onto the thing either. His magneto-cello produces sound with…
Perhaps it is because I’m used to see it in black and white, but it’s fascinating to see how incredibly modern Berlin looks in this color film from 1936. It was a beautiful city. Except for the bloody Nazis. You may want to turn off the music, as it made me want to invade Poland.…
Despite no official confirmation by the Pentagon, it’s a very safe assumption that the US created the Stuxnet worm (with Israel’s help) to take Iran’s nuclear reactors offline. But when it was first discovered, it seemed too sophisticated for Earthlings. https://gizmodo.com/israels-dimona-nuclear-facility-splits-time-as-cyberwea-5734934 NPR spoke with German security expert Ralph Langner, who was the first in the…
Amazon just announced that they’ll be adding FOX TV shows and movies to their Amazon Instant Video service for Amazon Prime members. That means shows like Arrested Development, 24, The X-Files, Buffy and even The Wonder Years will be available for unlimited instant streaming. Free 2-Day shipping and the Bluth family? What a steal. The…
The 60 Minutes profile of New York City’s massive anti-terrorism network this evening was nothing short of amazing. 35,000 police. 15,000 civilians. Unattended bag-tracking artificial intelligence. Cameras, oh the cameras! One message for potential terrorists: “Stay away.” That’s the message, plain and simple, that New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly had for anyone thinking of…
It’s late here on the East Coast. The day grows long into night, and I’m unwinding with a nostalgic, slow song that reminds me of college. For me, Dispatch was and always will be a band that existed only in the early 2000s. The General, Out Loud, Bang Bang and a select few other tracks…
The Japanese presented a tenacious, unrelenting foe to U.S. and Allied servicemen who battled with them during an island-hopping campaign across the Pacific. Images from that vicious campaign have been assembled by In Focus as part of their weekly 20-part series on World War 2. In the lead image, ordinance strikes the deck of the…
