Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
The images here, mapped in 3D by documentarian Miklós Falvay, depict the first Hungarian gas station and the people who frequented it. Titled Motalko, it’s something like stepping into the Great Gatsby or a Hemingway novel. [Vimeo via Laughing Squid]
Windows Phone 7.5, better known as Mango, could possibly-maybe-there’s-a-chance be out September 15th, according to the latest round of rumors. Previous rumors had already pointed to the 15th as a possible release date, and now those have been backed up by the same sources that accurately predicted the release dates for the Mango dev betas.…
On an LA-to-NY flight yesterday, a few people used the bathroom repeatedly. On a flight from Denver to Detroit, a few more people used the bathroom for a really long time. In both cases, the military intervened. Wait, huh? Well it was the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, after all, and it’s better to be safe…
Sony’s natty new Tablet S will see release in just a matter of days, so Best Buy decided to show it off to get a buzz going. How sweet. It’s still too expensive, but it’s still the best Android tablet out. [Engadget] https://gizmodo.com/sony-tablet-s-review-its-good-to-see-you-again-sony-5836051
There has been an explosion at Marcoule’s nuclear plant near Orange, south of France. The explosion has killed at least one person and injured four more. The French nuclear safety authority claims there’s no risk of exterior radioactive leaks. According to French authorities, the explosion happened in a radioactive waste dump dedicated to the reprocessing…
Painted lines? Where we’re going we don’t need any painted lines. We’ll have reconfigurable LED lines, because this is the future we’re talking about, and those little lights are almost cheap enough to use everywhere, including beneath our sneakered feet. Soon we’ll see this technology deployed to high school gyms across the land, and that…
There’s not really much that needs to be said about this six-pound beast of a box than what’s hinted at in the headline: Basically, this is a portable satellite communications device that’s built around an iPhone dock. Inside the box are a spectrum analyzer, power meter, multimeter and a Low Noise Block Downconverter. The latter…
Would you pay a fee to access a library of written content? A Netflix for the book-reading world? Amazon is apparently banking you might, as it was reported tonight by the WSJ that the online retailer was considering that option. As noted by The Next Web, such an idea isn’t new (i.e. booksforfree.com and bookswim),…
In World War 2’s European theater, women were often as brutal a soldier as their better-known male counterparts, if not more. This was especially so in the war-torn Soviet Union, Poland and within the notorious German S.S. Perhaps the most notable woman warrior was Lyudmila Pavlichenko (pictured above sighting a rifle), who was a Soviet…
Poor, fledgling Nintendo. When tinkerers are creating better gaming experiences than you are using nothing but a shoebox, paper cut-outs, some magnets and an Arduino, you know things aren’t going well. Seriously, I could play this mindless scrolling “game” for hours on end, which might actually say more about my unfortunate life circumstances at the…
I don’t mind heights, but you won’t see my sky diving—or BASE jumping, for that matter. This little Disney-financed BASE jumping robot was seemingly made just for me. Called the Paraswift, this autonomous ‘bot can climb smooth walls using a low pressure vortex, and then leaps from them all by its lonesome before deploying a…
Have NFL Sunday Ticket? Watching it on a PlayStation 3? Sorry, are you attempting to watch it on a PlayStation 3? Apparently it isn’t working very well. DirecTV is currently “troubleshooting” and a number of key features are deactivated. [DirecTV]
As we learned over at the New York Times today, if you were perusing the personal blogs of Japanese air traffic controllers in November you might have come across detailed flight plans for Air Force One. Oops! The security lapse was the work of one currently unnamed Japanese air traffic controller, who reportedly posted the…
To urinate or update Facebook with pics from last night’s drunken debauchery? That is the fundamental anatomical pop culture question for our time. This is true! You see, according to a new survey about life’s necessities, people with bladders far stronger and larger than mine would rather have Facebook in their lives than a toilet.…
It may have taken a decade, but New York finally has a fitting tribute to those who lost their lives in 9/11. The Design The process for choosing the new 9/11 Memorial became the largest design competition in history. More than 5,200 ideas from 63 countries and virtually every state of the union were submitted…
I know many deluded parents will get their toddler the Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Apptivity Case thinking it’s the first step toward raising a millionaire App developer, but come on. Gut check. The kid just likes the shiny shiny, right? Besides, he or she is just going to gum it up and use it to…
After $100 million in back taxes to Ireland, Singapore and elsewhere, and 20 years after he vanished off the face of the Earth, tech baron William H. Millard has surfaced in a rather unsurprising locale: The Caymans. Now 79, the founder of ComputerLand Corp.’s last known location was the island of Saipan waaaay back in…
We each remember the events of 9/11 in our own way. Oftentimes, to cope, we use music. Fender, a company that knows a thing or two about that, is paying tribute and remembering with this set of custom Stratocasters. The three electric guitars are one-of-a-kind musical memorials to the New York City Police Department, New…
Well, this news is a long time coming for most Star Trek Fans. Apparently, CBS is hard at work remastering the Next Generation as an HD offering, and will beam it to you via Netflix this fall. While no official announcement has been made, the rumblings got a Geordi-sized boost earlier this month when actor…
Sometimes, Saturday’s nights are for fighting. Others, Saturday’s nights are for staying at home and watch a movie. But this Saturday night I’m off to burn some NYC bars. And I’m warming up with Moloko while I airdry. Although unknown by the masses, Moloko is one of the best “undefined” bands to ever grace this…
