-
Tech News
Bill Nye Explains The Science Behind Exploding Spaghetti
You probably remember Bill Nye from when he taught you real things about actual science. But as it turns out, he also knows about — and I’m quoting here — “blowing shit up”. To promote the charmingly-named charity auction, “Blowing Sh*t Up With Arnold”, everyone’s favorite Science Guy took to YouTube to explain the science … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
FCC Hits Asshole Robocallers With $2.94 Million Fine
The FCC has been conducting some major ass-kicking lately, a trend it is continuing with its latest move: slapping a $2.94 million fine, the biggest in FCC history, on a serial robocaller. The robocaller in question is Travel Club Marketing, a Florida company that tries to sell package holidays and timeshares over the phone. The … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsApple
Apple has a new version of BootCamp,actually designedto work with Windows 10. If you’re already running it, look for the update in your Windows partition; otherwise, the update should be available soon. You’ll need an Intel-powered Mac running OS X Yosemite to take advantage. [MacRumors] Contact the author at [email protected].
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
Why Do We Use a Dumbass Unit to Measure Explosions?
There’s been some confusion over the size of today’s explosion in China’s Tianjin province, with some people mistakenly thinking it was the largest non-nuclear explosion of all time. It was not — that honor goes to the Russians — and you can partly blame our stupid system of measurement for the mistake. An explosion is … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
Paying For Stuff With Your Heartbeat Is Now A Thing
Apple Pay’s fingerprint authentication is already miles better than the laughable magnetic strip on our credit cards. But to try and create the The Nymi Band is like a contactless credit card, which only works when you (and only you) are wearing it. It uses a sensor to record the electrical activity of the wearer’s … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
Why Are Our Boats And Planes Getting Slower?
Humanity used to have supersonic passenger jets and 70mph car ferries. Now, we have gate-checked bags and the TSA. How did we fall so far? Tom Scott’s video should help explain. The focus of Scott’s video is the hovercraft ferry that operates between Portsmouth, on the south coast of England, and the Isle of Wight, … Continued
By Chris Mills -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
SpaceX’s Crewed Rocket Passed A Major (Simulated) Test
Provided that they stop spontaneously blowing up, SpaceX’s Dragon rockets will someday carry astronauts up to the International Space Station. It’s a long, potentially explosive road to a manned mission, but a recent ground simulation puts the team closer. At the avionics testbed facility in Hawthorne, California, the SpaceX team recently simulated a flight to … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsSamsung
Galaxy Note 5 Rumor Roundup: Everything We Think We Know
Samsung is set to debut the fifth iteration of the generously-sized Note later this month, but this is the internet—why wait in patience, when we can piece together rumors and half-truths instead? Here’s everything we think we know. The Galaxy Note has long been the trend-setting Big Android Smartphone: Samsung basically invented (don’t-call-’em) phablets when … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
Tinder’s Twitter Account Is Freaking The Hell Out
In a recent article, Tinder and the Dawn of the “Dating Apocalypse”, Vanity Fair writer Nancy Jo Sales threw seven kinds of shade on Tinder and everything it stands for. Rather than issue a tersely-worded statement upholding its belief in the sanctity of marriage, Tinder found the keys to the Twitter account, and let loose. … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
This 21st Century Cat Hunts For RFID-Tagged Prey
Outdoor cats get to massacre untold millions of mice per year, but indoor cats have to make do with balls of yarn and laser pointers. To try and bridge the gap, one man built a machine that would only feed his kitty when he ‘hunts’ down an RFID-chipped plastic ball. Ben Millam made the device … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsGoogle
HBO Now Gets Chromecast Streaming Support
HBO Now and Chromecasts are two wonderful things in a world that also contains Donald Trump; it is fitting and right that they should work together. Now, they do. Thanks to an update to the HBO Now iOS and Android apps, you can now cast Game Of Throne to the big screen using only Google’s … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsApple
iOS 9 Will Use Cell Data When Your Wi-Fi Sucks
The latest version of the iOS 9 beta has brought some goodies, among them the new Wi-Fi Assist feature, which will recognize bad Wi-Fi connections, and use cellular data instead. You can switch it on and off with a toggle in Settings, so if you’ve got spotty home Wi-Fi — or jealously guard your data … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
Pebble Time Steel Review: Still Quietly Beautiful
The original Pebble Steel was a great smartwatch in a surprisingly fashionable costume. Its successor, the Time Steel, keeps the sex appeal but crams more brains inside. Pebble is one of the oldest smartwatch companies around, and its products have evolved over time. First was the original Pebble, a Kickstarter project with an e-ink screen … Continued
By Chris Mills -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
SpaceX’s New Hangar Is Looking Good
SpaceX is taking over Launchpad 39A, the iconic pad at Kennedy Space Center that launched all the Apollo missions, and the first and last Shuttles. Things are looking good at the future launchpad for Dragons. To accommodate for the Falcon 9 Heavy rockets SpaceX will be using, the company is building a gigantic hangar — … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
This Flamethrowing Helicopter Is Helping Fight California’s Wildfires
Water-bombing aircraft are pretty standard wildfire-fighting equipment. Helicopters that spew fire onto the forest? Not so much. Although flying around an already-burning forest with a flaming propane tank might seem counterintuitive, there is logic to the Apocalypse Now madness. Think back to your fire triangle: by burning tinder that’s in the path of the advancing … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
Twitter’s in-Tweet Buy button, previously reservedfor a select few #brands, might be about to see some real action: according to a report from Re/Code, 100,000 merchants from the Shopify network will get access to the Buy button in the near future. Prepare yourself for some RT capitalism. [Re/Code]
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsMicrosoft
Don’t Buy The $15 DVD Player App For Windows 10
Windows 10 doesn’t ship with the software to play DVDs. If you want to make that happen, Microsoft thinks you should spend $15 on a Microsoft DVD-playing app from the App Store. Don’t do that. It’s kind of a shame that there’s no built-in software to play DVDs on Windows 10 — one more thing … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
Parrot Isn’t Actually Going to Sell Its Fantastic Dual-Mode Dash System
Parrot’s RNB6 promised an in-dash system that would work with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. It promised a Utopia of car tech that would make any smartphone compatible with basically any car. And it still promises all those things, but only if you buy a new vehicle. The RBN6 debuted at CES this year, with … Continued
By Chris Mills -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
Take a Sightseeing Flight Over Mars’s Atlantis Chaos
The Atlantis Chaos is a region on Mars splattered with small peaks and troughs, the result of erosion of a once-flat plateau. Thanks to the magic of technology (and the ESA’s hard work), you can take a virtual flight over the area. The ESA’s ride-along description paints an impressive picture of the area: Explore the … Continued
By Chris Mills