For everything from family to computers…
There’s a small room in Minnesota that blocks out 99% of all external sound. That’s an impressive number! Also impressive: nobody can take more than 45 minutes alone in the room before they go nuts. More »
from Gizmodo
Lunch break? Like planes? Watch this old documentary on the story of the Concorde, the first and only turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner in history. It was created by the French and the British. The 20 planes flew for 27 years, mainly between London Heathrow and Paris-Charles de Gaulle to New York JFK. More »
from Gizmodo
Macrovideo of insects made with Canon 7D and 65mm MP-E and Canon 100mm f/2.8 L IS.
Google has always been innovative and coming up with the future before we are ready for it. There was talk about a project featuring a device that would deliver the power of the internet in a wearable device and today I tripped over this video on Google’s channel that spills the beans on what they are working on.
Check out Project Glass:
Of course, despite how cool this appears, what they don’t show is the user. No matter how magical this device could be, I wonder what you might look like wearing them. Will this have a multitude of styles to fit your fashion? Can the lens be prescription or will this only be for those blessed with perfect vision? Will it be a lens at all?
This likely is going to hinge on how silly you might look wearing them.
Rumor says we might even see this device for sale later this year, or at least a more functional version to show off.
The future is now.
You should really still read Ernest Hemingway’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about an aging fisherman’s battle with a massive marlin. But if you can’t be bothered, this animation serves as the most enjoyable CliffsNotes you’ll ever find for The Old Man and the Sea. More »
from Gizmodo
You’ve probably heard that the sun is strong enough to power our planet many times over, but without a practical method of harnessing that energy, there’s no way to take full advantage. An incredibly thin and light solar cellcould go a long way to accomplishing that on a smaller scale, however, making the latest device from researchers from the University of Austria and the University of Tokyo a fairly significant discovery. Scientists were able to create an ultra-thin solar cell that measures just 1.9 micrometers thick — roughly one-tenth the size of the next device. Not only is the sample slim — composed of electrodes mounted on plastic foil, rather than glass — it’s also incredibly flexible, able to be wrapped around a single strand of human hair (which, believe it or not, is nearly 20 times thicker). The scalable cell could replace batteries in lighting, display and medical applications, and may be ready to be put to use in as few as five years. There’s a bounty of physical measurement and efficiency data at the source link below, so grab those reading glasses and click on past the break.
from Engadget
US consumers will be making a multimillion dollar donation to an Australian government agency in the near future, whether they like it or not. The great majority won’t even know about it—the fee will be hidden within the cost of a huge array of tech products. After the resolution of a recent lawsuit, practically every wireless-enabled device sold in the US will now involve a payment to an Australian research organization called the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, or CSIRO.
In the culmination of a nearly decade-long patent campaign, CSIRO has now scored a $229 million settlement from a group of nine companies that make a variety of wireless devices and chips, including Broadcom, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Lenovo. The settlement was reached last week just before the companies were scheduled to face a jury in Tyler, Texas—a location with a growing reputation for patent lawsuits.
CSIRO (commonly pronounced “si-rohâ€) adds this lump sum to the $205 million it received in 2009, when a settlement with 14 companies was struck midway through another East Texas trial. Soon after that, CSIRO began boasting to the Australian press that WiFi was a homegrown invention. By suing over its patents, it anticipated an additional “lazy billion” out of tech products sold in the US. Ultimately, this didn’t quite happen—but CSIRO is about halfway there.
from Ars Technica