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Tech NewsGadgets
Bullets That Slowly Self-Destruct Make a Surprising Amount of Sense
A self-destructing bullet isn’t the most intuitive thing: normally, you use projectiles to destroy targets, not the other way around. But people make mistakes, bullets can travel for miles, and civilian casualties (or friendly fire!) are sad realities. In an effort to counter this, the Army’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) has patented … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsApple
Apple Fans Don’t Actually Care About the Whole FBI iPhone Thing
Apple is waging a vicious war in the court of public opinion against the FBI and its court order mandating Apple to hack an iPhone. It’s a big deal, but despite the hand-wringing rhetoric, Apple has failed to make the general public actually care. The top photo comes from a demonstration this afternoon in Washington … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Study Finds People Are Dumb, Will Connect to Any Wi-Fi Network
Shady public wi-fi networks are up there with Nigerian scammers for the most cliched way to get hacked. But just as surely as people will continue using “password12,” if you set up free wi-fi then people will come. To prove the point, researchers from Avast set up a bunch of likely-looking wi-fi networks at the … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
Dinosaurs Are So Much Better in 360-Degree Virtual Reality
Sir David Attenborough is a world-renowed nature documentarian, mostly due to his ability to bring viewers into the moment with expert narration. Mix that with a virtual reality visual, and you’ve got an astoundingly good dinosaur encounter that anyone can experience at home. Attenborough stars in a four-minute VR video showcasing the largest dinosaur we … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
Nikon’s New DL Cameras Are All the Point-And-Shoot You’ll Ever Need
Point-and-shoot cameras are stuck in a bad place between smartphones for most people, and mirrorless shooters for people who care more. Nikon’s new DL range is hoping to change all that. The DLs all sport 20-megapixel 1-inch sensors, the same as in Nikon’s existing mirrorless cameras. It’s smaller than the Micro Four-Thirds and APS-C sensors … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
Snapchat’s New Custom Geofilters Are the Dumbest Way to Waste $5
Snapchat has had the option for people to submit custom geofilters for a while, but until now they’ve been restricted to public places and neighbourhoods. Now, anyone with $5 to spare and no self-respect can get in on the action. In case you’ve lost your resident tween, let me explain what a geofilter is: if … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
This Mountain Refuge Is a Lighthouse at 7,000 Feet
Mountain huts are normally utilitarian in the extreme—when you’re helicoptering up every pound of building materials, there’s not a lot of leeway for granite countertops. This Romanian hut isn’t what you’d call luxurious, but it creatively uses materials to make something better than a big Portaloo. The constraints on design firm Archaeus were strict: they … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
I Could Stare At Yosemite’s Natural Firefall All Day Long
The firefall is a natural phenomenon that occurs for a couple magical weeks in February. Horsetail Fall only flows in the winter and early spring, and when the sun sets at just the right angle, it illuminates the water, causing the lava-like red glow that I can’t tear my eyes away from. Contact the author … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
Study Suggests Drinking Coffee Might Reduce Liver Damage From Alcohol
There is a growing body of evidence that coffee may be good for your long-term health, reducing the risk of type II diabetes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. According to one recent meta-study, it may also lower your risk of liver damage from boozing. The study was conducted by scientists from the University of Southampton. It’s not … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Hospital Pays $17,000 Ransom to Reclaim Its Files
Ransomware is one of the nastiest forms of malware around: once it’s downloaded onto a computer network, it runs around encrypting all your files, before charging a Bitcoin ransom to give up the encryption key: bad if it’s your holiday photos at stake, disastrous for hospitals and patient data. The Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center has … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
Google Translate Now Works With 13 More Languages
Ever had the urge to translate a website written in Corsican, Pashto or Luxembourgish? Good, because Google’s now got you covered. Today’s update adds 13 languages to Google’s stable: Amharic, Corsican, Frisian, Kyrgyz, Hawaiian, Kurdish (Kurmanji), Luxembourgish, Samoan, Scots Gaelic, Shona, Sindhi, Pashto and Xhosa. Just because you likely don’t recognize most of them, doesn’t … Continued
By Chris Mills -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
Damn, Earth Can Be Colorful
In between doing real astronaut things like space walks, science experiments, and dressing up as a ghost, Commander Scott Kelly has found the time to show off his inner photographer. Under the hashtag #ColorsofEarth, Kelly’s been conducting a high-speed exploration of all the differently-colored natural phenomena he can see from the International Space Station. It’s … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Instagram Is Finally Adding Two-Factor Authentication
If you want to not be hacked, the absolute best thing you can do is turn on two-factor authentication for all your accounts. Instagram is way behind the trend here, but it looks like tween’s second-favorite photo network is finally getting with the times. According to TechCrunch, Instagram is in the process of rolling out … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
Libelling a Lawyer in Online Reviews Turns Out to be a Bad Idea
In case you’re ever in the position of wanting to get back at a lawyer, here’s some news from Florida: don’t get your revenge by posting false reviews across the internet, or you’ll be in the hole for $350,000. The case concerns a divorcing couple, Copia Blake and Peter Birzon, and Blake’s lawyer, Ann-Marie Giustibelli. … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsApple
Judge Orders Apple to Help the FBI Hack San Bernardino Shooter’s iPhone
The problem of law enforcement and encryption is mostly talked about in vague terms of “backdoors” and “a new Manhattan Project”, but here’s something concrete: a District Court Judge just ordered Apple to help the FBI access files on one of the iPhones of the San Bernardino shooters. The ruling was handed down by Sheri … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsSamsung
Samsung Just Posted a Bunch of Details About the Unannounced Galaxy S7
Samsung’s next flagship smartphone has already been given the full leak treatment, but in case there was any doubt left, Samsung Indonesia has an unlisted teaser page and video. I assume this is a dumb leak, and not a desperate PR effort. The page and YouTube video, spotted by Phone Probe look like they’re meant … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsGadgets
Huawei Made Yet Another Surface Tablet Ripoff
Last year saw some high-profile Surface tablet ripoffs, so it’s only logical that the trend will continue in 2016. Huawei, best known for its line of affordable Android smartphones, just teased the image above in advance of Mobile World Congress next week. The details aren’t really clear, but do they need to be? https://gizmodo.com/the-world-finally-admits-microsoft-surface-was-the-shit-1730622015 From … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsApple
Why the 1970 Bug Bricks Your iPhone
Thanks to scum-of-the-internet 4chan, we’ve all been hearing lately about a particular iOS bug that will brick modern iPhones, if you set the date back to 1/1/1970. Why does that happen? YouTuber Tom Scott explains. Scott gives a quick lesson in Unix time to explain why he thinks the bricking happens: for your iPhone, time … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsAmazon
What Would the World Look Like If Half of All Jobs Were Held by Robots?
Numerous intelligent people have now claimed that within the next few decades, robots will automate half of all existing jobs. Whether or not that will pan out—or whether you’re in the luckless 50 percent— will only be determined by time. But either way, what would that world look like? The latest robotic prophecy comes from … Continued
By Chris Mills