As reported on Wired. BY RHETT ALLAIN Check out this 736 horsepower Volkswagen Golf. Yes, most traditional muscle cars are rear-wheel drive instead of front-wheel drive. What is the difference? Of course there is an issue when the front wheels are used for both steering and power. But there is something else – traction. Fake Forces The best way to look at frictional forces on the tires for a car is to consider fake forces. Trust…
As reported on The Verge. By Matt Stroud How regulators allowed chemicals to literally slip through the cracks and threaten the water supply When 35-year-old Jason Eldridge arrived home last Thursday from his job as a systems administrator with a healthcare company in Charleston, West Virginia, he acted no differently than he normally would: he made dinner (that night, it was tacos) for his wife, his two-year-old daughter, and himself. Then the trio sat down to…
As reported on TechCrunch. by Frederic Lardinois This isn’t Google Glass in a contact lens, but it may just be Google’s first step in this direction. The company’s Google X lab just teased a smart contact lens on its blog that is meant to help diabetics measure their glucose levels. The company says it is currently testing prototypes of this contact lens that use a tiny wireless chip and a miniaturized glucose sensor. These chips are embedded in…
As reported on TechCrunch. by Matthew Panzarino The way we communicate is increasingly visual. The devices that we carry with us are uniquely suited to both capturing and displaying stories primarily comprised of images, rather than words. Snapchat and Instagram are good examples of the changing ways we’re communicating with each other, but their ‘atomic unit’ — the capsule that they use to present their shared content — consists of a single image or series of…
As reported on Engadget. BY MAT SMITH Pay attention to the road. At least, until the cars are able to drive themselves. That’s the rule, and it was probably one of the reasons why Google Glass early-adopter Cecilia Abadie got ticketed for donning the wearable at the wheel. It was a second citation, alongside speeding, although it was dismissed by San Diego Court Commissioner John Blair, noting that: “There is no testimony it was operating or in use…
As reported on Wired. BY AATISH BHATIA The uncertainty principle says that you can’t know certain properties of a quantum system at the same time. For example, you can’t simultaneously know the position of a particle and its momentum. But what does that imply about reality? If we could peer behind the curtains of quantum theory, would we find that objects really do have well defined positions and momentums? Or does the uncertainty principle mean that,…
As reported on The Verge. By Tom Warren Microsoft opened up registration for its 2014 Build conference yesterday, and it has sold out just over 24 hours later. This year’s event takes place in San Francisco again, but Microsoft will play host at the Moscone Center between April 2nd and 4th. After holding Build 2013 in June, Microsoft is pushing its annual event forward a couple of months this year and is expected to unveil Windows Phone…
As reported on TechCrunch. by Josh Constine Spotify’s advertising engine and paid customer conversion funnel are finally working well enough that today it eliminated all limits on free, ad-supported web listening in all countries. It’s an important milestone for the scalability and sustainability of Spotify’s business that contrasts with other streaming music services like Ex.fm and Rdio that are stumbling or shutting down. Previously, Spotify gave free web users unlimited listening for a six-month grace period, but then limited some international free…
As reported on Engadget. BY BILLY STEELE With the emergence of desktop 3D printing, a long-trusted name in creative software is looking to offer tools for the task. Adobe has announced an update to Photoshop CC that includes 3D printing capabilities as a means of “simplifying the 3D print process.” The new functionality allows you to refine, preview, prep and output those three-dimensional creations. Starting from scratch or using an existing model, Photoshop’s tools like automated mesh repair…
As reported on Engadget. BY MARIELLA MOON Not all soldiers are crack shots, but the U.S. military is reportedly hoping to make that happen — with a little help from “smart” rifles, that is. According to a startup called TrackingPoint, the military bought six of its precision-guided firearms that can cost between $10,000 to $27,000 each. These pricey rifles come equipped with a Linux computer in the scope and sensors that automatically determine environmental factors such as the…