This Spider Catches Prey With a Web of Electrically Charged Silk 

Not all spider silk is created equal. Some spiders spin webs of wet, sticky silk. Others like the Uloborus spider have fluffy webs made of nanoscale filaments. But those fluffy webs are just as good at catching prey, likely thanks to their electrostatic charge. Read more…

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This Spider Catches Prey With a Web of Electrically Charged Silk 

New Google Fiber Cities Announced

New submitter plate_o_shrimp sends word that Google has announced the next group of cities set to receive gigabit fiber infrastructure. They’re concentrating on cities around four metro areas: Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, and Raleigh-Durham. “We’ve been working closely with city leaders over the past year on a joint planning process to get their communities ready for Google Fiber—and now the really hard work begins. Our next step is to work with cities to create a detailed map of where we can put our thousands of miles of fiber, using existing infrastructure such as utility poles and underground conduit, and making sure to avoid things like gas and water lines. Then a team of surveyors and engineers will hit the streets to fill in missing details. Once we’re done designing the network (which we expect to wrap up in a few months), we’ll start construction.” Google also said they’re currently looking into Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, and San Jose. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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New Google Fiber Cities Announced

John Deere’s New Ride-On Mower Is One of the First To Have Airless Tires

Michelin and Bridgestone have been racing to take the air out of everyone’s tires—but in a good way. Both companies have been developing open-air wheels that will never puncture or deflate, and while they’ve mostly seen use in research and military vehicles to date, John Deere will finally offer a ride-on mower that uses Michelin’s see-through Tweels . Read more…

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John Deere’s New Ride-On Mower Is One of the First To Have Airless Tires

YouTube Ditches Flash For HTML5 Video By Default

An anonymous reader writes: YouTube today announced it has finally stopped using Adobe Flash by default. The site now uses its HTML5 video player by default in Google’s Chrome, Microsoft’s IE11, Apple’s Safari 8, and in beta versions of Mozilla’s Firefox browser. At the same time, YouTube is now also defaulting to its HTML5 player on the web. In fact, the company is deprecating the “old style” Flash object embeds and its Flash API, pointing users to the iFrame API instead, since the latter can adapt depending on the device and browser you’re using. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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YouTube Ditches Flash For HTML5 Video By Default

Watch This Reflected Laser Pulse’s Entire Flight Path at 20bn FPS

The technology available to image light as it moves through space continues to advance. Recently, we saw a new high-speed camera capture a small pulse reflected from a mirror ; now, it’s possible to image the entire flight path of a laser as it bounces around a laboratory. Read more…

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Watch This Reflected Laser Pulse’s Entire Flight Path at 20bn FPS

uBlock, the Memory-Friendly Ad-Blocker, Is Now Available for Firefox

Firefox: The last time we highlighted uBlock, a fast and lightweight alternative to AdBlock Plus , it was Chrome only. Now the add-on is available for Firefox as well, and it works well, even though it’s still in beta. Read more…

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uBlock, the Memory-Friendly Ad-Blocker, Is Now Available for Firefox

A Magician Used The First Pirate Radio Station To Troll A Scientist

Everyone knows Marconi was one of the world’s most disagreeable scientists. What they don’t know is he was surrounded by people nearly as disagreeable as himself. And that a famous demonstration of his “wireless” was taken over by a magician-turned-skeptic-turned-pirate. Read more…

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A Magician Used The First Pirate Radio Station To Troll A Scientist

Cuba’s Illegal Underground Internet Is Thriving

In Old Havana’s last remaining internet cafe, an hour online costs about almost a quarter of an average monthly salary. But armed with some piecemeal networking equipment and rebellious sensibilities, some Cuban youths have taken connectivity into their own hands . Read more…

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Cuba’s Illegal Underground Internet Is Thriving