You may have convinced your parents to upgrade to a smartphone or a tablet, but that monstrous ancient stereo system in their living room that served them well in the 1980s isn’t going anywhere. Thankfully, ION Audio’s new Cassette Adapter Bluetooth is a ridiculously easy way to get their old and modern technology to play nice together. Read more…
Taken from:
Easily Update Ancient Stereos With ION Audio’s Bluetooth Cassette
Astronauts have hard jobs. And like anyone with hard jobs, they deserve some french fries and a nice, deep-fried turkey after work. Don’t we all? But there’s bad news. According to a new study, it’s impossible to fry food in zero g . Nooooooooooo! Read more…
Read the article:
Sorry, Astronauts: It’s Impossible to Fry Food in Zero G
The Washington Post is reporting that, according to a newly released internal document, the National Security Agency isn’t just swiping location data from our cell phones ; they actually have the ability to decode private, encrypted data, putting all our texts and calls right at their disposal. Read more…
View original post here:
The NSA Can Decode Private, Encrypted Cellphone Conversations
General piece of advice: don’t go around typing stuff into your computer’s terminal window based on some pictures you found randomly floating on the internet. You’re not very likely to unlock a hidden bitcoin miner in your Mac, and far more likely to brick the thing instead . Read more…
More:
There’s an Apple Bitcoin Prank That’s Hilarious and Devastating
Square has just announced that it has acquired Evenly , a company that was built to make it easy for friends to send and receive payments for splitting bills and other expenses. The company was founded in 2012, and was similar in concept to Venmo, an NYC-based startup that was acquired by Braintree last year . Evenly offered a mobile app that let people send and receive requests for funds from their contacts list, organized around events and experiences. For each participant in a pool, it would list what a user owed and what they’d already paid, if any, and you could see progress towards the total cost of an event displayed visually, as well as send reminders to all parties involved that they have to pay up. There’s also an activity feed that tracks progress and adds a social element to the bill sharing. Evenly will remain open and active until January 15, 2014 for existing users, and the team says on its own blog that it will give existing users “plenty of time” to get money out of the app and finish collections. Users can find out more here at an FAQ designed to guide those who will be transitioning off of the service. The app has been removed from the App Store, however, and new user registrations are turned off completely. On Square’s Engineering blog, the payment company’s Product Engineering Lead Gokul Rajaram says that the Evenly team will be working on “seller initiatives,” and it seems likely this is designed to bring Evenly’s talented five-person engineering and design team into the fold to boost Square Cash and help it continue to ‘square’ off against the now Braintree-owned Venmo and Google Wallet.
Visit site:
Square Acquires Evenly, A Venmo Competitor For Sending And Receiving Payments With Friends
The UK Home Office has clarified the rules against 3D printed guns, finally stating unequivocally that 3D-printed firearms are prohibited under the Firearms Act 1968. According to an informational release, it is an “offence for an individual to possess, purchase or acquire any component part of a firearm without a certificate.” 3D printed guns have yet to be officially criminalized in the US but it is increasingly harder to find and download the plans to the first 3D-printed gun, the Liberator from Defense Distributed. In fact, this original zip-gun style 3D model has been eclipsed by a real, fireable pistol made entirely out of metal and 3D printed using laser sintering . Regardless, the average consumer is miles away from being able to print a real gun at home, but that hasn’t stopped the UK authorities from fully outlawing the practice. The release states: [blockquote]The manufacture, purchase, sale and possession of 3D printed firearms, ammunition or their component parts is fully captured by the provisions in section 57(1) of the Firearms Act 1968. The definition of firearm in the Act includes any component parts. 3D printed firearms are subject to strict control in the following respects: a. under section 1 of the 1968 Act, it is an offence for an individual to possess, purchase or acquire any component part of a firearm without a certificate; b. under section 3 of the 1968 Act, it is an offence for a person to manufacture or possess for sale a component part of a firearm acting by way of trade or business; and c. under section 5 of the 1968 Act, it is an offence for a person to manufacture, possess, purchase, sell, transfer or acquire a component part of a prohibited weapon without the authority of the Secretary of State for the Home Department or by Scottish Ministers in Scotland. [/blockquote] Considering the possible threat from 3D printed guns is approximately zero, it’s brave of the UK Home Office to get out in front of the problem. In fact I’d wager that the moment 3D metal sintering becomes an amateur pursuit we will have far more societal problems to deal with than 3D-printed pop guns. via 3Ders
View post:
UK Home Office Clarifies Rules Against 3D Printed Guns
The China National Space Administration has launched Chang’e 3, a plutonium-powered lunar lander on-board at 185-foot-tall Long March 3B rocket. The lander is on a four-day trajectory for the lunar surface, and will brake and enter lunar orbit on December 6th. It is scheduled to land on December 14th, in the Bay of Rainbows (Sinus Iridum). The rover masses 140kg, with nuclear heaters to keep systems alive during the two-week-long lunar nights, and will use radar to probe the lunascape as it roves during its mission. It is also outfitted with high-resolution panoramic cameras and telescopes. The Chinese space program’s stated goal is to establish a space-station and autonomous landers that can return to Earth with samples. “On behalf of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center and the command headquarters, I would like to extend my gratitude to all those who have been part of the project,” said Zhang Zhenzhong, director of the Xichang launch base. “And my thanks also go to all the friends who have been helping us throughout the whole process. “The Chang’e probe is on the way to the moon. Of course, it’s a symbol of China’s national power and prowess,” Zhang said in post-launch remarks translated into English on China’s state-run television. Over the next few days, Chang’e 3 will adjust its path toward the moon three times to set up for a critical rocket burn to enter lunar orbit Dec. 6. Landing on the moon is scheduled for Dec. 14 in a region known as Bay of Rainbows, or Sinus Iridum, on the upper-left part of the moon as viewed from Earth. Many of the mission’s specifications and objectives remained secret until the week of launch, when China rolled out details in a press briefing and through official state-owned media outlets. The lander carries a bipropellant rocket engine designed to adjust its power level and pivot to control the probe’s descent from an altitude of 15 kilometers, or about 9 miles, according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency. Long March rocket blasts off with Chinese lunar rover [Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now]
We’ve seen fire harnessed to power a phone charger for the great outdoors, with the nifty FlameStower , now meet Hydrobee: another Kickstarter project aiming to provide an off-grid alternative for charging a battery you can then use to juice your phone. But, as its name suggests, Hydrobee is all about water. There’s two parts to Hydrobee. When wearing its ‘Stream Body’, the gizmo can be placed in a river or dragged behind a boat – so long as the water is flowing faster than 1.8m/s (or 4mph+) – and two to four hours later its battery will be fully charged. A smaller inner unit can also be attached directly to a flowing faucet to charge – so could be used as a back-up power generator for your phone during a power outage (so long as your taps don’t require electricity to pump the water to them). Once Hydrobee’s battery is juiced, you can then plug in a USB device to charge it – a secondary charging process that presumably takes several more hours. Hydrobee reminds me of a CDT project I worked on in school, where we stuck a dynamo on a paddle wheel-bearing rig designed to float in a river and stuck a micro bulb on top that we hoped would be powered by it… Long story short it didn’t work on demo day, but that’s technology demos for you. Hydrobee has clearly perfected the hydroelectric tech better than a bunch of schoolkids managed to. The prototype consists of a tiny hydropowered turbine sited in a can with rechargeable batteries and waterproofed electronics, and a USB 2.0 port – so you can juice up your phone or other USB-powered device. The internal batteries are 6 x 1.2V AA NiMH rechargeable cells of 2,500 mAh capacity, yielding a total of 15,000 mAh. It is still a prototype for now. And Hydrobee’s U.S.-based creator has put a call out for Kickstarter users to give him feedback on the sorts of things they’d like to be able to use the device for to help shape the final product. The campaign is looking to raise $48,000 in crowdfunding, with 17 days left to run. If it hits its funding target, Hydrobees will be shipped to backers next March. The Hydrobee turbine generator, which can be used to generate a charge from water from a running faucet or hose, is being offered to early Kickstarter backers for $24. Or it’s $78 for all the kit, including the floating Stream Body.
More:
Hydrobee Lets You Charge A Battery From A Fast-Flowing River To Juice Up USB Devices Off-Grid
Researchers at MIT have developed a handheld milling machine that turns anyone into a skilled sculptor. Like with a 3D printer, users start with a 3D model on a computer, but instead of a machine laying down layers of plastic, the handheld mill removes only what’s needed from a solid block of material to eventually reveal a fully formed 3D object. This could basically turn anyone into a Michelangelo when we’re all able to buy one. Read more…
View original post here:
Whoa, This Handheld Router Only Cuts Where Needed To Reveal 3D Models
Airless—or non-pneumatic tires—have popped up from time to time over the past few years, and while they offer many advantages over traditional air-filled tires, they haven’t been available outside of research labs—until now. Polaris is officially the first company to offer a vehicle with non-pneumatic tires on its new Sportsman WV850 H.O. all-terrain vehicle. Read more…
Read More:
The First Airless-Tire Vehicle You Can Own Is a Wicked ATV