Day: February 7, 2014

Science

Lawrence Livermore Lab wins $45 million to create the most powerful laser ever built

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As reported on The Verge. By Russell Brandom Today, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory joined the cutting edge of laser research, receiving $45 million dollars to build a laser system of unprecedented power for a European Union project outside of Prague. The project, called ELI-Beamlines, is developing something called a “High repetition-rate Advanced Petawatt Laser System” (HAPLS), which employs short, frequent bursts of intensely high-powered lasers reaching power greater than 1,000,000,000,000,000 watts. If successful, it will be the…

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Humor Security

In Russia, Bathroom Mirror Watches You!

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As reported on TechCrunch.  by Gregory Ferenstein In Russia, spying on visitors is so pervasive, authorities don’t even seem realize that watching someone shower is cause for alarm. During a press meeting on the Winter Olympics, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak claimed that Western journalists were deliberately sabotaging the hotel facilities. As evidence, he said authorities had seen guests leave the water running in the shower. Yes, you read that right. Here’s the full report from the Wall…

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Art

Remote Controlled Robots To Roam Tate Britain Gallery After Hours So Web Users Can Peek At The Art

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As reported on TechCrunch  by Natasha Lomas Who doesn’t want to hang out in the museum after hours? London’s Tate Britain art gallery houses a treasure trove of great works from Hogarth, Gainsborough and Whistler, to Bacon and Freud.The gallery gets more than a million visitors a year passing through its lofty halls during opening hours, but after dark its passageways fall silent and the works fade from public view. That’s going to change next summer thanks to the inaugural…

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Hardware Dev

‘Beep’ works like a Chromecast for your old speakers

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As reported on Engadget. BY EMILY PRICE If you want to make your favorite speakers wireless, you have a few options. Nothing on the market, however, is quite like Beep. Launching today, the tiny dial works like a Chromecast for your speakers, and lets you cast tunes from your mobile device over Wi-Fi — and with none of the range restrictions that affect Bluetooth-based devices. The creation of two ex-Android engineers, the project has financial backing from…

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Google

Google refuses to pay French privacy fine in a battle of company versus country

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As reported on Engadget. BY SHARIF SAKR France and Google are playing a delicate game of brinkmanship in the courts of Europe, and it still isn’t clear who’ll come off worse. France fined the search company €150,000 ($200,000) last month as a penalty for failing to tell French citizens exactly what happens to their personal data. Google could have coughed up the trivial sum and drowned its sorrows in a bottle of beaujolais, but instead it has decided to fight…

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