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Tech NewsGoogle
Google Might Finally Be Ready to Mercy Kill Google Voice
If there’s one thing Google can do to help make its messaging better than ever, it’s to kill the hulking zombie that is Google Voice and transplant its good parts into the still-living Google Hangouts. It hasn’t happened yet, but now there’s evidence in the Hangouts app that it might be coming soon. Deep in … Continued
By Eric Limer -
Tech News
Can You Tell the Monet From the Microscopic Imitation?
One of these is Claude Monet’s famous painting “Impression, Sunrise.” The other is a replica, constructed using an aluminum nanostructure, measuring around 300 microns in width. But can you tell which is the real deal? Printing, at whatever scale, is simply a case of laying down lots of small dots which, when observed at the … Continued
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Tech NewsSploid
The hand-drawn version of Frozen looks a lot better than the 3D one
Call me nostalgic but, when I first saw thesehand-drawn concepts fromFrozen, I couldn’t help but think that a classic 2D version would have looked so much better. The warmth and beauty in these drawings are not in the flashy computer animated version. This is not concept art from the abandoned hand-drawn Snow Queen feature film, … Continued
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Tech News
The Best Products of the Year, Chosen By Designers
What were the best products designed this year? The IDSA, or Industrial Designers Society of America, has announced its International Design Excellence Awards, naming 176 winners across 23 categories. We picked a few of the most interesting and innovative winners, from a surgery-performing robot to a lightweight bike helmet. Digital Design: BOOK by FiftyThree Designed … Continued
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Tech News
Oculus Rift Developer Creates Weird Third-Person View Hack
This man is living the dream of starring in his own real-world video game, using a complex camera rig and an Oculus Rift headset to view his own life from the popular behind-and-up-a-bit third-person perspective. He is also, presumably, very confused. The project uses a pair of GoPro cameras, fixing them to a 3D-printed mount … Continued
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Tech News
NASA’s Orbital Carbon Observatory Has Launched!
After the original Orbital Carbon Observatory crashed into the ocean, and the first attempt at launching the replacement observatory was scrubbed yesterday with less than a minute left in the countdown, we finally have a satellite capable of tracking carbon in our atmosphere. I was there. I’m at the Vandenberg Airforce Base in California, part … Continued
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Tech NewsGoogle
Google’s Cube Lets You DJ Six Videos at Once
Music videos are wonderful, but you can only watch one at a time. No longer—thanks to a weird, but rather fun, project from Google called The Cube, which lets you play and manipulate six at once. A product of its Creative Labs division, you can grab a cube—with mouse or finger—to reveal a different video … Continued
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Tech NewsSploid
How to toss food in a pan like a cool pro chef
This is, without a doubt, one of the coolest tricks of the professional chef. And, let’s be honest, we have all tried it at some point with different—sometimes disastrous—results. The guys at Serious Eats explain how to do it properly. Your meal doesn’t get any better when you flip it in a pan, but it’s … Continued
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Tech News
The Modern Version of the World’s Longest-Running Experiment
Remember that 84-year-old pitch drop experiment, where scientists watch as a liquid 230 billion times more viscous than water drips from a glass container? Well, finally, it’s been given a modern overhaul. New Scientist reports that a tweak to the old experiment is letting researchers cheat at the world’s longest-running experiment. It uses the same … Continued
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Tech NewsSploid
This is why you are still alive: How the immune system works
Why are we still alive when our bodies are constantly under attack from bacteria, viruses and more? As this video explains, it is because we have a coordinated army of cells fighting for our cause—and this is thanks to our immune systems. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook
By James Baker -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
7 Things You Need to Know About Tor
We posted last week about the Tor Challenge and why everyone should use Tor. Since we started our Tor Challenge two weeks ago we have signed up over 1000 new Tor relays. But it appears that there are still some popular misconceptions about Tor. We would like to take this opportunity to dispel some of … Continued
Cooper Quntin - EFF -
Tech NewsDesign
Experimental Terracotta: This Material’s More Versatile Than You Think
Terracotta is a wonderfully earthy, traditional Italian material, derived from clay. But there’s more to it than flower pots, as this collection of modern objects crafted from the earthenware proves. This display of objects is the result of a project by 10 designers in the Federazione Italiana del Design (FID) group. While other materials do … Continued
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Tech News
About 40% of American-made cars in 1900 were steam-powered
Thanks to recent documentaries and news stories, many Americans have woken up to the fact that electric cars aren’t such a new idea. What’s gotten less attention is that steam-powered cars were actually quite popular at the turn of the 20th century as well. From Pacific Standard: The steam-powered automobile may seem like a bit … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsSploid
Why do ice cubes crack when you drop them in drinks?
The sound of summer is ice cracking as you pour yourself a cold drink. Hearing that snap and pop cools everybody down. But why does ice crack? Periodic Videos explains the reason why ice straight from freezer suffers that sudden crack versus how ice left on a tray will just melt instead of crack. The … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
Stuntmen in LED Suits Made This Impossible Parkour Run a Reality
The advent of CGI has allowed us to realize things on-screen we never thought would be possible—from living, breathing dinosaurs, to giant transforming robots. But it’s become so over-used that over-the-top practical effects now draw the biggest wows from audiences, like Lexus’ use of countless LED-suit clad stuntmen to create one unbelievable parkour run across … Continued
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Tech NewsSploid
Optical illusion painting changes its perspective as you move around it
When I started to watch this video I thought I wasn’t looking at a painting but a high definition flat display that tracked your eyes, modifying a 3D model to give you the illusion of real depth. And then the magics finally get revealed. It’s so simple and so damn cool. It reminds me of … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech NewsSploid
Here’s how golden goop turns into fortune cookies
How do they get those quippy fortunes inside a fortune cookie? It starts with a goop which gets baked and perforated while still hot. The paper fortune is placed on top of the hot cookie which is then permanently folded to its infamous shape with robot hands, trapping the promises of one’s future until someone … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
Why Vampires Are Sooo Six Seasons Ago
True Blood’s long awaited final season has arrived. Two episodes in and I’m very underwhelmed. I stuck with it through the witches, werewolves, and other supernatural beings, but for some reason, I’m relatively unexcited for its impending vampire apocalypse. However, I’m going to watch each episode regardless—for the blood and the boobs. As should you. … Continued
By Eric Rydin