The Coolest Attractions Coming to Shanghai Disneyland

The new Disneyland in Shanghai doesn’t open until June 16th, but we’ve got a new drone’s-eye view of the progress at the new park. It will be the first Disney park in mainland China, and we can expect three things from it: It’s going to be busy; it’s going to have some cool new rides; and it’s going to make Disney a ton of money. Read more…

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The Coolest Attractions Coming to Shanghai Disneyland

Samsung’s 16TB SSD Is Now an Actual Thing People Can Buy

Last year, Samsung made the rest of the world feel mighy inadequate by announcing a world-record 16TB SSD. Turns out that was more than just talk—Samsung is shipping drives to (very wealthy) customers today. Read more…

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Samsung’s 16TB SSD Is Now an Actual Thing People Can Buy

Ikea Is Growing New Eco-Friendly Mushroom Packaging

To stop all those $20 side tables getting banged up, Ikea has to use a lot of polystyrene packaging every year. Unfortunately, polystyrene isn’t biodegradable, and people are bad at recycling, leaving Ikea looking for a better material to stick between sheets of ply. Read more…

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Ikea Is Growing New Eco-Friendly Mushroom Packaging

“Problematic” fossil turns out to be oldest known example of life on land

Martin Smith Detail of the Tortotubus fungus, which lived 440 million years ago in Sweden. 4 more images in gallery Life oozed out of the seas onto land somewhere between 450 and 500 million years ago, but we have almost no fossils from this period on land. That may be about to change. A scientist in the UK believes he’s identified the oldest terrestrial organism yet discovered, after careful analysis of 440-million-year-old microfossils gathered in Scotland and Sweden in the 1980s. Durham University Earth scientist Martin Smith suggests in a new paper published in the  Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society that a few fossilized filaments discovered in Scotland and Sweden are actually part of a root-like system used by fungus to gather nutrients from soil. They were long known as “problematic” fossils because nobody was sure what they were, nor where they fit into fungal evolution. Smith identified the filaments as part of an ancient fungus called  Tortotubus,  which bears some resemblance to modern mushrooms—though we have no fossils that could prove that the fungus had fruiting bodies like mushrooms do. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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“Problematic” fossil turns out to be oldest known example of life on land

Kanye, Champion of Paid Streaming Music, Got Caught Torrenting Software

Kanye has tried repeatedly and often to made artist-friendly streaming service Tidal happen. The premise is that Tidal is a “fair” way to stream music , an artist-friendly experience that gives back money to the creators. Which is great, but it appears Kanye can’t be bothered to pay $200 for music software. Read more…

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Kanye, Champion of Paid Streaming Music, Got Caught Torrenting Software

Business card with built-in ECG is perfect for cardiologists

Some people can make business cards that stand out and show off their skills. Take for example, that one engineer who created a card that lights up and that programmer who designed one that can play Tetris . But what if you’re a medical professional, specifically a cardiologist? A company called MobilECG has created a business card that’s directly connected to your field: it has a built-in ECG that actually works. According to its blog post , the device has sensors that measure “the real ECG signal between the users’ hands, ” so long as their thumbs are touching the finger pads. Of course, you’ll have to explain to patients that while it works, MobilECG created it as a toy. The Hungarian startup clearly states that it’s “not suitable for diagnostic purposes, ” so they can’t abstain from getting an actual ECG done. The company is gauging people’s interest in the card at the moment and is planning to sell it for a rather hefty price of $29 per if it ever decides to release it. If you have the skills to make small electronic devices from scratch, though, you can try to create your own version. The card is open source, and MobilECG posted all its codes and schematics (PDF) online. Via: Gizmodo , Damn Geeky Source: mobilecg

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Business card with built-in ECG is perfect for cardiologists

Remains of the Day: TaskRabbit Promises to Complete Certain Tasks in 90 Minutes

Has your Tuesday been super? Maybe TaskRabbit can help with their new real-time option to connect you with taskers and get some chores done on demand. Read more…

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Remains of the Day: TaskRabbit Promises to Complete Certain Tasks in 90 Minutes

Vivo Xplay5 boasts 6GB RAM and a familiar curved screen

If you need an excuse to acquire a new exotic Chinese smartphone, then how about 6GB of RAM? Not only is Vivo’s new Xplay5 the first mobile device to announce this spec, but it’s also the second non-Samsung device — following the BlackBerry Priv — to pack a screen that’s curved on both sides. Judging by its familiar metallic design, you’d easily think that the Xplay5 is the bastard child of the Galaxy S6 Edge (front) and the iPhone (back) after a one night stand in Dongguan (the S7 Edge’s chamfer isn’t as shiny). Despite the unfortunate similarities, this is still a surprisingly decent product in terms of hardware and specs — much like how its predecessor, the Xplay3S , managed to wow us a little over two years ago. The dual-SIM Xplay5 comes in two flavors. The “Flagship Edition” features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 chipset, 6GB of speedy LPDDR4 RAM, 128GB of internal storage and a “HiFi 3.0” package consisting of two ES9028 SABRE Mobile DAC chips plus three OPA1612 amplifiers for improved audio quality overall. As for the regular model, you get the mid-range Snapdragon 652 , a “mere” 4GB of RAM, also 128GB of storage and a different combination of audio chips (CS4398 plus AD45257). Both versions sport a 5.43-inch Super AMOLED display with QHD resolution (2, 560 x 1, 440) along with a fingerprint reader on the back. For photography, a 16-megapixel f/2.0 Sony IMX298-powered main camera with phase detection auto-focus plus dual-tone LED flash, and a generous 8-megapixel f/2.4 front-facing camera for you selfie addicts. The built-in 3, 600mAh battery should be plentiful, and the rapid charging support comes in handy (we’ve yet to confirm whether it’s the Quick Charge 2.0 or 3.0 standard). What’s a bit disappointing is the lack of NFC and USB Type-C here, as well as the fact that the Xplay5 only comes with Android 5.1 (under Vivo’s skin, of course). While no date has been mentioned for the “Flagship Edition” just yet, the regular model is already up for pre-order. It’s no Xiaomi; you’ll need to pay up 3, 698 yuan or about $560, or you can wait for a while to save up 4, 288 yuan or about $650 for that beast of a phone. Both are available in gold and pink. Source: Vivo

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Vivo Xplay5 boasts 6GB RAM and a familiar curved screen

New York Judge Rules US Can’t Force Apple to Help Unlock an iPhone 

On the eve of a Congressional hearing about the Department of Justice’s fight with Apple over a locked iPhone, a Brooklyn judge has ruled that the DOJ cannot force Apple to assist in unlocking an iPhone in a separate New York drug case . Read more…

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New York Judge Rules US Can’t Force Apple to Help Unlock an iPhone 

Giant Viruses Feature Their Own Built-In Antivirus Software 

Mimiviruses are viruses so big they can actually be seen with the naked eye. European scientists have now learned that these bizarre organisms have their own immune system that makes them virtually invulnerable to predatory viruses, suggesting these creatures may actually represent a new branch in the tree of life. Read more…

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Giant Viruses Feature Their Own Built-In Antivirus Software