Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Aircell, a company setting up a broadband network for use while flying, just received two critical FAA approvals that clears the way for the rollout of in-flight broadband in the near future. The first approval allows Aircell to run its network on commercially operating Boeing 767-200 planes, while the second authorizes the company to manufacture…
We thought Beckham had been officially exiled from his home country, but apparently he’s back and captaining their squad. His teammates were sooooo thrilled at his return that they all chipped in and purchased a gold iPod Touch (probably from these people) and engraved his name on the back. Not only that, they engraved what…
This video shows the guts and construction process of the Dreamlifter. Used to transport the composite fuselage and immense wings of the 787 Dreamliner, Boeing built this beast in the USA because they couldn’t find an aircraft to ferry these parts cheaply and on time through the world. Only four Dreamlifters have been made from…
Western Digital’s been churning out these My Book external hard drives in all sorts of configurations, but this 1 and 2TB Studio Edition IIs seem to be the most feature rich yet. It’s got FireWire 400/800, eSATA, USB 2.0, RAID 0 or 1, and Mac support (you can also reformat it for PCs). Looking at…
The DualShock 3 rumbling PS3 controller might have had an April 15 release date on it, but Sony says that units will be shipping out this week to hit stores by next week. If you see it in stores, buy it. Here’s a list of games that will support rumble, with an asterisk after the…
Scientists are hard at work on making teeth regrow the crystals that make up dentin and enamel, allowing them to phase out fillings and drillings completely. The goal is to spot tooth decay early and then get the teeth to grow healthy tooth-matter over the bad spots. No fuss, no muss. They say that the…
As we teased just the other day, Nike will in fact be selling a Nike+ SportBand—complete with the familiar shoe pebble, not shown—for training without the iPod nano. “Heavens! Why would you ever want to train without an iPod nano?” you ask, aghast. According to my runner friend Rid, who shunned the original Nike+ iPod…
Amazon.com says its TextBuyIt system for buying merch via text message is “incredibly simple and convenient” but it actually entails a few steps. Weirder still, Amazon says the process happens “using only text messages,” which is just blatantly untrue. Here’s the rundown of the process—which in its defense can be used on any mobile phone,…
This is the “Who Did It?” clock. Every hour that there’s light, on the hour, it farts. When the lights are out it’ll refrain from waking you up with flatulence, leaving that to you and/or your bedmate. I’d say that this is a great way to see exactly how long you’ll find farts funny, but…
The RIAA was handed some bad news by a federal judge in New York: they can’t sue people over songs that are merely “made available,” which is the basis for nearly all of their lawsuits. Instead, they need to prove that songs were actually transmitted, something that is a hell of a lot harder to…
So at first glance what we have here looks like a well designed four-port USB hub, with a handy top-placed port for convenient thumb-drive plugging. It’s not multicolored, it doesn’t have a photo frame built in, it doesn’t transform. Just a plain old hub. With magnetic mounting. Sorry, what? Magnetic mounting? So someone can stick…
It looks like AT&T will be the first retailer to plunk down the coin for Microsoft’s fancy-pants Surface table, installing them in its stores on April 17th. https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-surface-in-your-house-in-2011-373042 The tables will be set up so that when you place a phone on it, it’ll automagically pull up info on that particular model. You’ll also be…
We’re not going to oversell this one. It’s a bike. And it’s had the wheels replaced by spokes tipped with shoes. In other words, it’s quite possible the greatest invention ever. Ad Dugdale celebrates that there’s finally a bike to give the Bitchcruiser a proper ass-kicking. We celebrate the sweet, awkward video of someone riding…
Did you ever do a pinhole camera experiment in school? No? You missed out on some good long-exposure fun. But now you can catch up: the folks at picture agency Corbis have got a bunch of strange designs you can print out, stick to some card and turn into your very own pinhole camera. The…
Click to viewApparently scientists (and some of our readers, surely) have known that we can grow oil for years, and not in the grow-corn-make-oil kind of way. The Brazilian Copaifera langsdorfii can be tapped (ala maple syrup) for a natural diesel fuel that requires only simple filtering before being poured into a truck. (This picture…
Knife-proof, machine-washable T-shirt not enough protection for you out there on the mean streets? Bulletproof backpack insert just won’t cover enough of your nice, lead-free body? Maybe you need a hoodie with 2mm of Type IIA bulletproofing, enough to stop a 9mm full-metal-jacket round at a velocity of 1,090 feet-per-second. The bad news, besides the…
N.E.R.D. may get their lapdances for free, but I don’t know about ordinary people. I do know, however, that my lapdancing run-in in Vegas several years ago was a never-to-be-repeated experience. Girls with wonky boobs in Santa outfits, (it was June) my girlfriend in hysterics and me squirming with embarrassment, vowing that this was the…
Yesterday, Brando chose not to release any new products. I wonder why—maybe they thought someone might not like it. It’s a four-way USB hub that also brings color to your desk. I say a pot of paint does just the same (give Brando five years and they’ll probably come up with USB paint). All this…
Since it’s April 2nd, we guess this news is legit. Samsung has announced that they’ve developed a Second Life client for their mobile phones, allowing their users to jack…in anywhere in the world. And while at least a little technically impressive, we’re wondering what drove Samsung to support a game that’s been noted to have…
Ok, tackling the standard kitchen design for improved eco-friendliness or chicness makes sense, but for portability, like this Whirlpool Range concept? Nope… don’t see it. I mean designer Weston Boege has made it look all very nice, with those curvaceous lines and wooden accents. And his design squeezes in a small oven and stove-top gas…
