gadgets – Page 8

Air Force torch cuts through locks like a hot knife through butter

Firefighters, police and soldiers don’t have many good options when they want to breach a door: blowtorches and lock picks are usually slow, while battering rams, explosives and guns aren’t exactly subtle. The US Air Force and EMPI recently crafted a far better solution, though. Their TEC Torch creates a brief but super-hot (5, 000F) metal vapor jet that cuts through steel in less than a second, making short work of virtually any lock. In some ways, it’s like Star Wars ‘ Qui-Gon Jinn cutting through doors with a lightsaber — it’s just faster and less dramatic. Via: We Are the Mighty , Business Insider Source: US Air Force (PDF) , EMPI

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Air Force torch cuts through locks like a hot knife through butter

Seiko Is Re-issuing the Futuristic Watch Ripley Wore In Aliens

Sometimes a unique design isn’t enough to make a product a hit, but then it makes an appearance in a major motion picture and suddenly everyone wants one. Let’s call it the DeLorean BTTF effect, and that’s exactly what happened with the Seiko Giugiaro 7A28-7000 once Ripley wore it in Aliens . Read more…

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Seiko Is Re-issuing the Futuristic Watch Ripley Wore In Aliens

5Gbps broadband is coming to Britain, for £399 per month

Words like “superfast” and “ultrafast” are thrown around all the time to describe home broadband in the UK. Of course, what we really want to know are the cold, hard numbers. Download and upload speeds, man. That’s why Gigaclear has us chomping at the bit with its latest announcement — 5Gbps broadband , which it’s trialling right now with a small batch of UK customers. If you’ve never heard of Gigaclear before, we don’t blame you. The company was founded in 2010 and only operates in 36 rural communities, spread across five English counties. You can check your postcode here , but the chances of you falling under its fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network are pretty slim. Even if you own one of the 10, 000 homes with Gigaclear access, you’ll have to pay some serious cash for the new speeds. The company will be charging £399 per month for homeowners and £1, 500 for businesses when the trial expands to all Gigaclear customers next year. Got a Scrooge McDuck pile of cash in your basement? Otherwise, this is all just a pipe dream. Source: Gigaclear

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5Gbps broadband is coming to Britain, for £399 per month

Google’s cars have driven 1.2 million miles without getting a ticket

This afternoon Aleksandr Milewski posted a picture that suggested the ticket-less streak might come to an end, but now Google says its car was flagged down because it was going so slowly. These new prototype models are classified as “Neighborhood Electric Vehicles” and have their speeds capped at 25mph, so they stick to slower-moving streets. The officer had some questions about the car, which is apparently common for the cartoony vehicles. According to Google, its self-driving vehicles have driven 1.2 million miles, or the equivalent of 90 years of experience for an average person — and probably still can’t get an insurance discount. Source: Aleksandr Milewski (Facebook) , Google Self-Driving Car Project (G+)

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Google’s cars have driven 1.2 million miles without getting a ticket

A startup is growing faux shrimp meat in the lab using algae

Someday, you might be able to throw a lab-grown meat party with not only burgers , but also tempura on the menu. A startup called New Wave Foods is developing artificial shrimp meat in the laboratory, urged by environmental destruction and the other troubles brought about by commercial fishing. According to Motherboard , the team is currently testing different ways of extracting proteins from algae that the crustaceans eat, mixing and mashing them together with protein gels to create the meat. So far, they’ve already nailed the taste, but mimicking the seafood’s texture is proving to a bit more difficult. Source: Motherboard , New Wave Foods

Uber signs up TomTom to provide navigation for its drivers

After losing out to a consortium of Germany’s biggest car makers over the purchase of Nokia’s HERE Maps , Uber has set about building its own mapping and navigation services . They’re not quite ready for prime time, so the company has had to rely upon a number of popular mapping services, including Google (which also serves as an investor), to help both users and drivers understand exactly where they are. Today, Uber has added TomTom to the list, with the Dutch company confirming that it will also support the private hire taxi firm. Source: TomTom (Businesswire)

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Uber signs up TomTom to provide navigation for its drivers

T-Mobile’s ‘Binge On’ lets you stream video, leave your data untouched

T-Mobile CEO John Legere is on a bit of a tear over in Los Angeles right now — after doubling the amount of mobile data T-Mo customers will get as part of the carrier’s Simple Choice Amped plans, he confirmed the existence of a Music Freedom -like feature for video services. Long story short, T-Mobile customers will be able to watch video at “DVD quality or better” (480p and above) from 24 streaming services without eating into their high-speed data buckets. And the price? As usual, it’ll cost you a whopping zero additional dollars starting on Sunday for people who switch to the company’s new Simple Choice Amped plans. Source: T-Mobile

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T-Mobile’s ‘Binge On’ lets you stream video, leave your data untouched

Sony’s first 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray releases will arrive early next year

If you were hoping Ultra HD Blu-ray discs would be here in time for the holidays, you’re going to have to wait a bit longer. Well, as far as Sony Pictures content is concerned anyway. The company announced today that its 4K Ultra HD discs will go on sale “in early 2016, ” missing the end-of-the-year estimate the Blu-ray Disc Association revealed back in August. When Sony’s catalog does arrive, you can expect The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Salt, Hancock, Chappie, Pineapple Express, and The Smurfs 2 to be included in the first wave of releases. Newer movies like Fury and Captain Philips are in the works as well, and after being restored from the original film, the likes of Ghostbusters and The Fifth Element will make the leap to 4K , too.

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Sony’s first 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray releases will arrive early next year

easyJet’s new cabin crew uniforms are covered in LEDs

Whether it’s recon drones , VR training or 3D-printed plane parts , easyJet is quick to embrace new technologies. The company’s latest experiment is a little more garish — to mark its 20th birthday, cabin crew and engineers are getting brand-new uniforms littered with colourful LEDs. With the cabin crew, you’ll notice tiny lights on their jacket lapels that illuminate to reveal flight numbers, destinations and other useful tidbits. Extra LEDs have been sewn onto the shoulders which, along with some illuminated hems, are designed to help staff and travellers in the event of an emergency. Finally, there are built-in microphones so the crew can communicate with one another and the passengers.

Doctor dubbed ‘the father of cyborgs’ tested implants in his own brain

How far would you go to create a brain-controlled speech decoder? Doctor Philip Kennedy already helped blaze a trail in brain-computer interfaces back in the 80s. Now, a report in MIT Technology Review explains how the neurosurgeon decided to crank his research up a notch. Well, several notches, really, by having implants put into his own brain to better learn how neurons function with speech. What’s more, Kennedy paid $25, 000 and underwent highly invasive surgery — including the removal of the top of his skull — for the privilege. Source: MIT Technology Review

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Doctor dubbed ‘the father of cyborgs’ tested implants in his own brain

Ken May

Tag: gadgets