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iSpy | Apple’s got its eye on where you’ve been https://kotaku.com/ispy-conspiracy-your-iphone-is-secretly-tracking-every-5793925 Night Vision Goggles Are Finally Awesome Again (Yes, Even Though They Look Super Dorky) https://gizmodo.com/night-vision-is-finally-awesome-again-yes-even-though-5793985 Night vision is one of those technologies we instinctively think is all high tech, but after 30-plus years, it’s a bit rough around the edges. SA Photonics’ new Hi-Res…
Location’s on our mind today. There are currently 24 satellites that make up our Global Positioning System. The most recently launched, the GPS IIF SV-1, is part of a new series that offer a whole bundle of upgrades. https://kotaku.com/ispy-conspiracy-your-iphone-is-secretly-tracking-every-5793925 The GPS satellites have traditionally been launched in blocks. The first block (with a truly original…
There was a minor media frenzy over Apple secretly tracking your iPhone 4 today, so naturally the government wants in on the action. The FCC and representatives from both houses of Congress have said they’ll look into the matter. https://kotaku.com/ispy-conspiracy-your-iphone-is-secretly-tracking-every-5793925 An FCC official told Politico that the commission intended to look into the matter of…
The fins of an engine turbine usually take days to finish. GE’s new Blue Arc machining gear does it in hours. How? Instead of just drilling away metal with a harder material, it’s scorched off with an electric blast. This isn’t exactly gear you’ll find in your basement someday, but seeing the thing whiz to…
When the Eye-Fi X2 wi-fi SD card appeared, it introduced a new feature, Direct Beam, which opens a direct connection with Android and IOS smartphones and tablets. Now the necessary apps for those devices have arrived. [Rob Galbraith via Engadget]
Apple’s suing Samsung! Samsung’s wants to sue Apple! But Samsung sells Apple lots and lots and lots of components every year! So how are the legal squabbles affecting their relationship? According to Apple COO Tim Cook on Apple’s earnings call today, Samsung remains a “very valued” partner, no matter what the lawyers say, despite having…
Strippers are people too! And just like people, some of them are batshit crazy. Take Vera Svechina, a stripper who recently followed a blind Google employee into Google headquarters to leave a Russian book and “non-threatening” note for co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. A little weird, no? Turns out, Svechina has a bizarre history…
It’s no secret that the energy stored in citrus fruits can generate an electrical current (a favorite demonstration of middle school science teachers). But what happens when you use 2500 oranges? You can power a neon billboard, apparently. [Mashable]
Maybe you’ve heard about slit-scan photography, a process in which an image is developed one thin ‘slit’ at a time. Probably you haven’t! But if Photo Booth has taught us anything, it’s that the joy of taking wacky warped pictures is universal. And the Slit-Scan Camera iPhone app is like Photo Booth on acid. What…
When asked the inevitable questions about the impact of Japan’s recent earthquake and tsunami tragedy on Apple’s business, acting COO Tim Cook made clear that what matters, more than anything else, is the human impact. That being said: as it turns out, Apple’s supply chain has remarkably remained largely intact. https://gizmodo.com/apple-earns-6-billion-despite-steep-ipad-sales-decline-5794120 Cook cited that Apple…
In light of recent cellular privacy revelations, your most paranoid neurons might be firing hard. You can put a tinfoil hat on your head, but what about your gadgets? These Faraday Bags put your device in a radio-proof vault. https://kotaku.com/ispy-conspiracy-your-iphone-is-secretly-tracking-every-5793925 The cases, like a standard (room-sized) Faraday cage, block out electrical charges and electromagnetic radiation—so…
President Obama’s delivering a town hall speech at Facebook, which you can watch live, like, now. Yes, this is the world we live in. The President of the United States is hanging out at Facebook, giving speeches, and you can ask him asinine questions from your Personal Computer. [Facebook, Livestream]
RockMelt, the super social desktop browser based on Chrome, is now available on the iPhone. Unsurprisingly, it’s as social network friendly as ever. Hell, when you open up the browser for the first time, you have to connect your Facebook account to use RockMelt. https://gizmodo.com/what-is-the-rockmelt-browser-5684524 There’s a browser in RockMelt, I’m sure, but the rest…
There are innovations in design and then there are innovations in design that make you cry joyful tears of double downs and chicken nugget soda cups. You already know which innovation this new dual-chambered Slurpee cup from 7-eleven is. https://gizmodo.com/kfc-double-down-sandwich-destroyer-of-touchscreens-5515565 Coming in June, 7-Eleven will begin to offer Slurpees in these cups with dual chambers,…
iPad sales may have dropped more than 30% between the holiday quarter and this most recent one, but that didn’t stop Apple from having second-quarter record revenues and earnings. The iPad decline isn’t totally unexpected, considering the tablet’s popularity as a holiday gift, the looming specter of iPad 2 staving off potential sales, and there…
For absolutely no particular reason, a couple of flashbacks you might enjoy today: When we reviewed the $600 Volcano vaporizer and a more portable option. https://gizmodo.com/taking-the-670-volcano-vaporizer-for-a-test-drive-5219983
If you’re holding out for an x86-based tablet from Intel, good news! They’re working with the Android team on a version of Honeycomb that will run on their devices (most likely Atom-based chipsets). [The Register via Liliputing via Slashdot]
Night vision is one of those technologies we instinctively think is all high tech, but after 30-plus years, it’s a bit rough around the edges. SA Photonics’ new Hi-Res Night Vision System brings it back up to speed. The new system addresses two of the most common requests for the technology from U.S. Air Force…
Qwiki for iPad, like their website, is like a visual Wikipedia. Which is to say it’s a super pretty way to learn stuff. How so? Instead of delivering information in text and hyperlinks, Qwiki provides a narrative to the topics you search for with an audio commentary and relevant visuals. You can either search for…
In the past couple of weeks, the co-founders of Microsoft and Twitter have been attached to the same kinds of unsavory stories that have long dogged the people behind Facebook, Apple, Zynga and other top tech firms. What is it about computers and money that instills villainy? As Tom Foremski at Silicon Valley Watcher has…
