Did you know that Netflix is cropping the hell out of movies? I didn’t. But even if you had noticed, it’s unlikely you realize just how bad it gets. A semi-new Tumblr called What Netflix Does has pointed out the extent of the trimming. And it’s atrocious. Read more…
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You Won’t Believe How Much Netflix Crops Your Movies
By CRACKED Readers Published: July 17th, 2013 We’ve all come out of a sci-fi movie wishing we had whatever cool gadget the hero was killing aliens with. Fortunately, our readers dug up some technologies that will soon be available for you to use as irresponsibly as you see fit. The most awesome
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15 Real Sci-Fi Technologies About to Change the World
BitTorrent Sync Alpha isn’t ready to equal rivals like Dropbox or Google Drive without a mobile component. It’s a good thing that BitTorrent just launched Sync Beta, then — the more polished release includes an Android app that syncs with computers and shares files with fellow Android users. The update also brings versioning through SyncArchive, which stores previous file iterations in a folder. Sync Beta is available on both Android and the desktop today, and BitTorrent promises that an iOS equivalent is coming in the near future. Filed under: Storage , Internet Comments Source: BitTorrent Labs , Google Play
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BitTorrent Sync Beta launches with Android app, file versioning
Charging time is the bane of every EV driver; even the half-hour for a partial fuel-up at a Tesla Supercharger station can feel like an eternity next to the few minutes required for gasoline. Tesla CTO JB Straubel sees this as just a temporary obstacle, however — he tells MIT Technology Review that his company could shrink recharge times to between “five to 10 minutes.” The primary challenge is optimizing the charger’s delivery rates to avoid cooking the battery, he says. While this won’t happen overnight, Straubel reminds us that today’s Superchargers seemed far-fetched a decade ago. We may not need those battery swapping stations for very long. Filed under: Transportation Comments Source: MIT Technology Review
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Tesla CTO hopes to reduce EV charging times to 10 minutes or less
New submitter Landy DeField was the first of many of write in about Network Solutions’ website and DNS outage: “If your website does not load this morning you need to ask yourself do we use Network Solutions? Because all of their servers are all currently down. You can confirm this by visiting http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/networksolutions.com.html.” The only solid information from Network Solutions is a post on their Facebook page: “Network Solutions is experiencing a Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack that is impacting our customers as well as the Network Solutions site. Our technology team is working to mitigate the situation. Please check back for updates.” There have been several reports that the outage is causing hosted DNS to fail, leading to a number of unresolvable websites. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Network Solutions Hit With DDoS
Automatic license plate readers are the most widespread location tracking technology you’ve probably never heard of. Mounted on patrol cars or stationary objects like bridges, they snap photos of every passing car, recording their plate numbers, times, and locations. At first the captured plate data was used just to check against lists of cars law enforcement hoped to locate for various reasons (to act on arrest warrants, find stolen cars, etc.). But increasingly, all of this data is being fed into massive databases that contain the location information of many millions of innocent Americans stretching back for months or even years. Read more…
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The Government Uses License Plate Scanners to Track Your Every Move
Reading sign language has always been in the cards for Kinect, ever since that showed up as a feature in some of the early patents. A while ago, it managed to read two of the most sweeping, exaggerated arm-based gestures. But since then, it’s gotten good. Like, really, really good . Read more…
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Kinect Has Gotten Super Good at Reading Sign Language
Lignum Vitae, Latin for “Tree of Life, ” is the national tree of the Bahamas. It’s also the world’s densest wood, and has such unusual properties that the USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, has its aft main shaft strut bearings made out of the stuff. In addition to being strong, hard, heavy, dense, water- and salt-water-resistant, Lignum Vitae contains natural oils that make the bearings self-lubricating. The USS Nautilus isn’t an anomaly; Lignum Vitae has been used as propellor shaft bearings in conventional ships, and hydroelectric plants dating back to the 1920s have used bearings for their turbines made out of the stuff. Virginia-based Lignum Vitae Bearings calls their product “the world’s only renewable (and greenest) bearing on the market.” Company President Bob Shortridge has acquired land in the Bahamas, one of the tree’s native origin islands, and plants at least one Lignum Vitae tree for every block of the stuff that passes through his facility. “Although Lignum Vitae has been harvested for over 500 years before I was born, ” Shortridge writes, “I feel an obligation to replace it… I wish for this incredibly useful wood to be available for generations to come.” Here’s Shortridge himself explaining Lignum Vitae’s properties and applications: (more…)
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Lignum Vitae: Wood So Bad-Ass, It’s Used to Make Shaft Bearings for Nuclear Submarines (and More)
CNet’s Declan McCullagh reports on a rumor that Google is testing a system for encrypting its users’ files on Google Drive; they are reportedly considering the move as a means of making it harder for government spies to harvest user-data.
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Google experimenting with spy-resistant encrypted Google Drive
One of the most common and beloved packing materials now comes in a metal form. Bubble wrap—first invented as three-dimensional wallpaper, believe it or not—started protecting valuables in 1960 and is branded by the Sealed Air company. It’s typically made from polyethylene, where a bubble-shaped side is bonded to a flat side. The new metallic form can offer protection in very, very tight spaces, only a few millimeters thick. So packaging can be made very, very small and much stronger than the plastic variety. Computer and cell phone cases could be made much more thin and sleek. Computer parts could be protected with very little space used. Even helmets would not need to be as bulky. The protection offered is more heat and chemical resistant and more flexible than any other bubble wrap. Making the metallic wrap is surprisingly simple. Afsaneh Rabiei , professor of engineering North Carolina State University, and her team started with a thin sheet of aluminum and used a studded roller to form small indents in the sheet. Instead of capturing air in these indentations, she filled them with a foaming agent like calcium carbonate or titanium hydrate. When such agents are heated they form bubbles within the metal, as you can see here: (more…)
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New Metallic Bubble Wrap: Thinner, Stronger, Better