Technology
Technological applications and advances in computers, agriculture, industry and transportation
Man or Computer? Can You Tell the Difference?
Could you be fooled by a computer pretending to be human? Probably
July 2012 |
By Brian Christian
Where Do All Those Facebook Photos Go?
On the outer boundaries of the Arctic Circle lies a massive construction project funded by Facebook: the future home of thousands of server farms
July 2012 |
By Mark Strauss
How Spray-On Everything Could Radically Transform Manufacturing
Soon, the days of building things from bigger blocks of things—forging, sculpting, whittling, carving, cutting, etching—may well be be gone. The push toward building from the bottom, of laying down exactly what you need rather than cutting away that which you don't, is underway in force.
June 29, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Body Heat From Your Seat Can Juice Your Laptop
Swedish designer Eddi Tornberg’s desk pulls power from a number of different sources — a plant, a piezoelectric pad that responds to the pressure of fidgeting, and from the body heat of the person sitting in the chair. Tornberg’s idea was to connect sustainable design and energy with day-to-day life, he says: The energy is [...]
June 29, 2012 |
By Sarah Laskow
Finally, Male Birth Control Even Dudes Will Use
Here's a male contraceptive from the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute that a) works pretty well and b) shouldn't be too burdensome for dudes.
June 27, 2012 |
By Sarah Laskow
1987 Predictions From Bill Gates: “Siri, Show Me Da Vinci Stuff”
The co-founder of Microsoft worried that, in the information age, people would prefer synthesized reality.
June 27, 2012 |
By Matt Novak
Coffee Pods, An Instant Classic
Single-serving coffee pods are the most recent form of instant coffee. Its history is much shorter than the espresso shot, though in its own way, just as inventive
June 27, 2012 |
By Jimmy Stamp
Bike-Powered Helicopter Smashes World Record, Flies for Almost a Minute
Kyle Gluesenkamp powers the Gamera II helicopter A team of engineering students designed and built a bicycle-powered helicopter that managed to hover just above the ground for 50 seconds—10 seconds and 3 meters of altitude shy of the $250,000 Igor. I Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition prize. Wired UK reports, The aircraft consists of a [...]
June 26, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
70 Percent of Illinois Is In A Drought (And It’s Better Off Than Indiana)
The U.S. Drought Monitor has determined that most of Illinois is in a drought. So is most of Arkansas (71%), Ohio (77%), Missouri (82%), and Indiana (85%). The drought’s bringing to mind the last bad one, which happened in 1988. The Jacksonville Journal-Courier talked to the Illinois Farm Bureau’s John Hawkins, who says it’s not [...]
June 22, 2012 |
By Sarah Laskow
We Are Already Living in Hollywood’s Dystopian Future
Not sure about you, but I wouldn’t want to live in a world where genetically engineered replicant robots prowled the dank, steel-and-microchip urban jungles a la Blade Runner. Likewise for the Minority Report future in which creepy pale kids call people out for murders they had not yet committed. It’s been 30 years since Blade Runner [...]
June 22, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
High-Tech’s Crucial Rare Earth Elements Are Already Running Low
Rare earth minerals are used to make smartphones, flat-screen televisions, drills, electric vehicles, compact florescent bulbs, wind turbines, and military equipment. But now China, the world’s nearly-sole provider of rare earth elements, is warning that modern lust for high-tech toys and tools has caused the supply of these materials to plummet. According the a recent official [...]
June 22, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
New Solar Cell Targets the 40% of Sun’s Energy That Others Miss
A group of researchers lead by Michael Strano announced today that they have developed a prototype solar cell that can draw on a broader range of solar energy, and hence provide more electricity, than traditional technology. MIT News says, The new cell is made of two exotic forms of carbon: carbon nanotubes and C60, otherwise known as [...]
June 21, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Gigapixel Camera Takes 11-Foot Wide Photos in 0.01 Seconds
Update: This story originally discussed a prototype camera capable of capturing 50 gigapixel images. Though a design has been laid out for such a camera, the existing prototype takes one gigapixel shots. A brand new photography system uses 98 synchronized camera to capture a gigapixel photo in an instant. If this were a normal camera, [...]
June 20, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Glasses Let Doctors, Poker Players See Your Blood
More specifically, O2Amps, a new vision filtration system, could let me see your blood in vivid detail–right through your skin. And with that power, says vision researcher and glasses developer Mark Changizi, comes the ability to, “enhance one’s perception of the emotion, mood and health signals” of those around us. “That means people wearing shades don’t [...]
June 19, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
The Long History of the Espresso Machine
In the 19th century, coffee was big business in Europe. As inventors sought to improve brews and reduce brewing time, the espresso was born
June 19, 2012 |
By Jimmy Stamp
A Brief History of Abject Failure in Tablet Computing
Yesterday, Microsoft took a dangerous leap into the tablet computing arena, where many a respectable tech company has met its downfall. The Surface has a detachable keyboard and also (brace yourself) a stylus that can be used to write on the surface of the Surface. The Surface hasn’t exactly met with the same warm embrace [...]
June 19, 2012 |
By Sarah Laskow
Coffee Retailers Reinterpret the Container Store
Starbucks's new prototype retail store in Tukwilla, Washington, known as The Reclamation Drive-Thru, is a 450-sq-ft drive-thru and walk-up store built from four refurbished shipping containers
June 15, 2012 |
By Jimmy Stamp
The Airport Design Utopian
What ever happened to the Starport, the brainchild of Jim Starry that re-imagined the airport?
June 12, 2012 |
By Sarah C. Rich
Prospero’s Island in the South Pacific
Was it Bermuda—or the dreamy French Polynesian island of Huahine—that inspired the setting for Shakespeare's The Tempest?
June 11, 2012 |
By Susan Spano
Fritz Haber’s Experiments in Life and Death
The German chemist helped feed the world. Then he developed the first chemical weapons used in battle
June 06, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
