Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
This postcard from 1925 imagines future New York City, “The City of Skyscrapers.” Utopian New York of the 1920s sure had a lot of levels, with a system of elevated trains, some beautiful flying contraptions, and towering skyscrapers reaching toward the heavens. I’m fascinated by New York futurism, as it generally had a more rugged…
ESPN Radio: It’s ESPN Radio. On a phone. So you can listen to the talking heads of ESPN make sense of Lebron on live sports radio streams and over 40 different sports podcasts (including Bill Simmons). There’s Sportscenter updates too. Sports radio can be a screaming mess, but ESPN Radio has some good content. It’s…
The Cleveland Cavaliers franchise is decidedly displeased with their star fleeing for a new team. In a hilarious fit of passive-aggressive rage they have lowered the price of the LeBron Fathead to $17.41, the birth year of this infamous historical figure. https://deadspin.com/cavs-owner-channels-crazy-person-some-people-think-th-5582917 Top Deals: • 15.6″ Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 Ultimate Laptop for $934.15 plus free…
Off-road or on pavement, the all-new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee adjusts to your driving needs. With an brand-new 290-horsepower 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine, Selec-Terrain, and Quadra-Lift Air Suspension, your ride is fully-customizable. Pentastar V-6 Engine Chrysler Group’s all-new 290-horsepower 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine boasts an 11 percent improvement in fuel economy for the Jeep Grand…
Osmos For iPad: My favorite iPad game yet: https://gizmodo.com/osmos-for-ipad-an-evolutionary-step-in-ipad-gaming-5582559 The game, which is adapted from a well-regarded PC version and costs $5 in the App Store, puts you in control of a tiny blue organism, a mote, which you direct around the screen, growing in size as you absorb the smaller blobs around you. Of…
This is the impressive Khan Shatyr, the world’s tallest tent at 490 feet (150 meters). They are building it in the capital of Kazakhstan, and it will include a leisure park, shops, restaurants and an artificial beach. Very pretty. And now, the national anthem of Kazakhstan. Very pretty too. [Khan Shatyr via Yeinjee via geekosystem]
Aluminosilicate glass. CNC-machined steel. A4. IPS panels. Unibody. Retina display. It sounds like jargon plucked from a stuffy science journal. But it’s straight out of Apple marketing. The iPhone 4 is a zenith for materials discourse in Apple’s online marketing: Parts and process. How something is made, the actual process of putting it together, and…
Tim Berners-Lee cites this spot (specifically that plaque on the wall!) at CERN to be the birthplace of the world wide web. Note the series of tubes on the ceiling. Those played a critical role, I understand. [davidgalbraith]
So apparently LeBron James sort of ruined basketball last night, and maybe sports in general? Eesh! Let’s save the state of sports by tossing in some gear to spice it up, shall we? Send your best entries to me at [email protected] with Sports Tech in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs or GIFs…
Archetype: An exceptionally shiny first person shooter optimized for the iPhone 4, with slick, functional controls. Best of all is the 5 v 5 team deathmatch mode, which is just like the multiplayer action you’re used to on the consoles—including multiple guns, grenades, maps, and medals—except this one you play while you’re sitting on the…
For all the laurels heaped on Apple’s design philosophy, not nearly enough is said about just how delicious that logo looks. This “Who Ate My Mac” iPad decal from The Crazy Rabbit makes that playful point in three stages. While the double-layered black and white vinyl stickers are currently sold out on Etsy, the MacBook…
This Sunday there will be a total solar eclipse over the south Pacific Ocean, Chile and Argentina. Watching solar eclipses from Earth is a rare occurrence. Watching them from space is extraordinarily rare. Here are the best photos and videos. The first time that a solar eclipse was observed from space was in November 1966,…
It’s not hard to see why, for some, cryonics is an attractive postmortem option; it offers a chance to defy one’s very mortality. But for the spouses of the to-be frozen, it can be something else entirely: abandonment and betrayal. Nearly as long as the idea of cryonics has existed, so too has the Hostile…
The Candwich could have changed the world. With $145 million in potential funding, it was poised to be the Coca Cola of the sandwich-enclosed-in-aluminum market. But things went awry, as the money was never meant for candwiches at all. According to an SEC lawsuit, Travis L. Wright raised $145 million from 175 investors between 2001…
This might actually get me to cross some items off of my ever-growing to-do list: an app called Epic Win that turns chores into quests, and rewards completion with experience points, loot, and leveling up. And it looks great. That’s probably not surprising, given that one of the minds behind Epic Win was also Little…
If you aren’t lucky enough to live by one of the five official Microsoft stores (the only locations we’ve heard have Kinect on display), 13 different Macy’s stores will be hosting Kinect demos on July 15th. We wish we had a full list of locations for you. Sadly, we don’t. [ChipChick] UPDATE: List, thanks to…
Remember Touchgrind, the skateboarding simulation for iPhone and iPad? Well, it seems God likes to play it to. But to Him, the entire world is his iPhone. Let’s hope He doesn’t drop it. https://gizmodo.com/lightning-review-touchgrind-for-iphone-and-ipod-touch-5100398
According to a member of tw.apple.pro, this photo comes from “deep inside the throat”—that’s after a Google Translate. It’s a 1.2inch x 1.2inch screen. And it’s not hard to imagine it as the next iPod Shuffle. The component is marked “Apple,” which may or may not add credence to the rumor, depending on your personal…
Users of the B&N iPad app, your day just got .07% better. A new version is out that includes brightness controls within the app so you no longer have to close out to settings to adjust the display. Other improvements include a smaller “small” font, tweaked two-page display, faster syncing and the ability to delete…
In a belated but expected move, China has renewed Google’s ICP license. That means Google.cn will continue to function, which as recently as last month was an open question. https://gizmodo.com/google-search-will-cease-to-exist-in-china-by-friday-5576092 The first hints of a détente came Monday, when a Chinese newspaper first reported that Google had not only gotten their ICP license, but added…