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Tech NewsScientists Are Going to Create the Coldest Spot in the Known Universe
The universe is freezing. In spots like the Boomerang Nebula the temperature drops all the way down to one degree Kelvin. But if NASA scientists have their way, the known universe will have a new coldest place, and it’s going to be inside the International Space Station. The Cold Atom Lab will be an atomic … Continued
By Eric Limer -
Tech NewsSploidZoom into the Orion Nebula with this new awesome time-lapse video
In an amazing twist on timelapse videos of the night sky, physicist and photographer Isidro Villo outfitted his camera with an automated mega-zoom lens, and captured the journey from the ground to the great Orion Nebula in this video found on DIY Photography and Petapixel. Villo spent a couple of years developing the perfect rig … Continued
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Tech NewsA Hacker Found GPS Data in the Audio of This Police Chase Video
It’s incredibly noisy in the cockpit of a helicopter, and you’d assume the sounds you hear in any YouTube police chase video were just the deafening whine of the chopper’s engine. But as one hacker discovered, that monotonous drone can actually hide some useful data, like the helicopter’s GPS coordinates. Watching cockpit footage of a … Continued
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Tech NewsMicrosoftEvery Super Bowl Tech Ad, Ranked
Unlike recent years, 2014 saw some Super Bowl ads for tech companies that were actually… good? Inconceivable! We’ve gathered them all here, in easily processed ranking form. As always, all rankings are totally subjective and legally binding. 15. Sprint – “Sprint Framily Plan – Band” This is the exact same as Sprint’s previous Framily Plan … Continued
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Tech NewsAppleIt Took More Than Just iPhones to Shoot Apple’s New Ad
With Macintosh turning 30 this year, you’d think Apple would go big. Maybe they’d spring for another Super Bowl commercial like the 1984 ad that changed the way the world thinks about computers. Nah… they just made an Apple promo reel that was shot entirely on iPhones—with a little help, of course. Don’t get me … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidThe surreal, disturbing and sometimes erotic worlds of Rachel Baran
I love the surreal worlds of Rachel Baran, a self-taught, 20-year-old photographer who creates beautiful images—sometimes disturbing, sometimes erotic, always hypnotizing. This is Rachel in her own words, as she told me in an email: I’ve been practicing photography as a hobby for somewhere around four years, but as of now I still haven’t gotten … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech News
32 Mesmerizing Photos of Vortices, From Soap Bubbles to Spiral Galaxies
Vortices are beautiful and mysterious, found at every imaginable scale—from soap bubbles to black holes. They’re so ubiquitous, in fact, that we tend to overlook them. But new research shows that studying the simplest vortices could glean surprising scientific insights. Just look at the wonderful vortex shining in rainbow colors in the photo above. It … Continued
By Attila Nagy -
Tech NewsBehold One of the Biggest Controlled Skyscraper Implosions Ever
It took more than 2,000 pounds of explosives to bring down this 32-story tower in Frankfurt yesterday—roughly the same amount as a Mark 84 bomb. Thankfully, since we live in the age of YouTube, there are plenty of astounding videos of the demo. A controlled implosion like this is way more difficult than it sounds. … Continued
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Tech NewsMicrosoft
Latest Windows 8.1 Update Leaks Onto File-Sharing Sites
Microsoft’s latest Windows 8.1 update has hit the web early ahead of its March release, letting those happy to take a punt on an unofficial, torrented version of the update check out what’s in store for the divisive operating system. Most of the obvious improvements deal with better keyboard and mouse support, such as a … Continued
Gerald Lynch - Gizmodo UK -
Tech News
This Beautiful Tintype Portrait of Hoffman Will Haunt Us Forever
This haunting tintype photo is probably the last studio portrait of Philip Seymour Hoffman. It was taken on January 19, 2014 at 08:59:11 PM, at The Collective and Gibson Lounge, during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead on Sunday in his Manhattan apartment. He was 46 … Continued
By Attila Nagy -
Tech NewsDesignHow Two Men Made Low-Res Fonts Look Good Forever
While we now take crisp-looking typography for granted, it wasn’t always that way. Back in the 80s, low-res fonts looked dreadful—but fortunately two men changed all that. When John Warnock and Chuck Geschke left Xerox PARC in 1982, they had with them years of experience in computer graphics, laser printers, fonts and design. In time, … Continued
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Tech News
AT&T Is Making Its Shared Data Family Plans Way Cheaper
Over the weekend, AT&T announced that it’s cutting the prices of its Mobile Share Value plans that are aimed at families—and it could save you between $50 and $100 a month. The Mobile Share plans will continue working in the same way: you purchase a bucket of data (unlimited talk and text included) to share … Continued
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Tech NewsApple
NYT: Apple’s Smartwatch Could Use Wireless Charging and Solar Power
The New York Times reports that Apple is researching new technologies to charge its products—and it could see its smartwatch come equipped with solar charging capabilities. Some day. In a feature about the future of power portable electronics, the Times mentions that “two people who work at the company” have told them that Apple is … Continued
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Tech NewsPunch-Drunk Love: Where Philip Seymour Hoffman Steals Every Scene
Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his apartment today in New York City, a 46-year-old actor with a staggering range who could slip nearly undetected into the most difficult of roles. Hoffman was Oscar-nominated for dark, complex films like The Master, Doubt, and Capote, but he was also a regular in cult-hit crowdpleasers: The … Continued
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Tech News
Disquiet: 15, 10 & 5 Years Ago This Week (2014.05)
This would be roughly the week of January 27 through February 2. 5 Years Ago (2009): Downstream (free download) entries included Wavespan’s music made from fields recordings of the Santa Cruz area, a “mega mix” of the Downstream entries from 2008 stiched into one single piece by Loopy C, some proof-of-concept experimentation with the Nintendo … Continued
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Tech NewsAphex Twin SAW2 Countdown: Track 12 (“White Blur 1”)
I am going to do this track-by-track countdown to the release, on February 13, 2014, the day prior to Valentine’s Day, of my book in the estimable 33 1/3 series. It is a love letter to Aphex Twin’s album Selected Ambient Works Volume II, which will mark its 20th anniversary this year, less than a … Continued
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Tech News
One Boob Built YouTube: How Nipplegate Changed the Way We Share Video
Think about it this way: If Justin Timberlake hadn’t partially exposed one of Janet Jackson’s nipples during that fateful Super Bowl halftime show, you wouldn’t be able to watch all the nipples you’d like on your computer today. Ten years ago, Timberlake’s promise to “have you naked by the end of this song” as he … Continued