Mini-review: Intel’s powered-up Core i7 Broadwell mini PC

Earlier this week, Intel sent us its latest variation of its growing line of NUC mini PCs. This is Intel’s first NUC to ship with one of its top-end Core i7 chips inside—it’s not the fastest desktop like this you can buy (that’s probably still Gigabyte’s quad-core Haswell Brix Pro), but it’s the fastest one you can get with Intel’s solid driver support and three-year warranty. If you read our review of the Core i5 Broadwell NUC, you already know a lot of what there is to know about this box. The primary difference is the faster CPU and GPU and an extra $100 or so—Intel says the street price should be around $500, compared to the $400-ish that the i5 version costs. We took the newest NUC and ran it through our standard tests to get an idea of how it stacks up. If you spend the extra money, here’s what you get. Read 17 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Mini-review: Intel’s powered-up Core i7 Broadwell mini PC

Commercial Flamethrower Successfully Crowdfunded

ColdWetDog writes: You’ve always wanted one, of course. Zombies, the occasional alien infestation. The neighbor’s smelly roses. You just need to be prepared for things. You can get freeze dried food, AR15’s, enough ammo to start a small police action (at least here in the U.S. — YMMV), but it has been difficult to get a modern, portable flamethrower until now. CNET has a brief explanation on the XM42, which doubled its Indiegogo funding target in just a few days. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Commercial Flamethrower Successfully Crowdfunded

William Gibson After Trying VR for the First Time: "They Did It"

After years of speculating about possible futures in his writing, William Gibson recently tried out one the world’s contemporary science fictions come true. At SXSW, he strapped on a Gear VR headset for the first time. Read more…

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William Gibson After Trying VR for the First Time: "They Did It"

The Dying Aral Sea Is Like an Abstract Depiction of Human Stupidity

This beautiful satellite image shows one of the most saddening long-term natural disasters on Earth. The black patch in the upper left corner is the remaining body of the Aral Sea, located on the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia—which has lost around 90 percent of its water volume since 1960 because of Soviet-era irrigation schemes. Read more…

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The Dying Aral Sea Is Like an Abstract Depiction of Human Stupidity

The Origin of Color Bars on TV, and Other Standard Test Files 

Occasionally, we get to catch a glimpse of the hidden tests that ensure our technology-infused world runs smoothly: color bars on TV or blocks of “lorem ipsum” gibberish text. There’s a fascinating story behind how each of these tests came to be and how they work. Read more…

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The Origin of Color Bars on TV, and Other Standard Test Files 

GNOME 3.16 Released

kthreadd writes Version 3.16 of GNOME, the primary desktop environment for GNU/Linux operating systems has been released. Some major new features in this release include a overhauled notification system, an updated design of the calendar drop down and support for overlay scrollbars. Also, the grid view in Files has been improved with bigger thumbnail icons, making the appearance more attractive and the rows easier to read. A video is available which demonstrates the new version. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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GNOME 3.16 Released

Hyperpolyglot Is a Side-by-Side Reference Sheet for Programming

Once you’ve learned one programming language or programming tool, it’s pretty easy to get into another similar one. Sometimes, though, the fine differences are hard to remember. Hyperpolyglot is an awesome tool for looking up the differences and similarities between programming languages and tools. Read more…

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Hyperpolyglot Is a Side-by-Side Reference Sheet for Programming

30 Previously-Unknown Species of Fly Discovered in Los Angeles

Nature doesn’t end at the borders of a city — it’s just transformed. That’s why scientists are finding new animal species in urban areas, where the ecosystems favor scavengers, hardy weeds, and junk-eaters. It probably comes as no surprise that the sprawling city of Los Angeles is home to its own unique fly species. Read more…

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30 Previously-Unknown Species of Fly Discovered in Los Angeles

The UN Just Ordered 10,000 of Ikea’s Brilliant Flatpack Refugee Shelters

A few years ago, Ikea announced it had designed a better refugee shelter, using its flatpack furniture as a basis for engineering. As great an idea as it was, it wasn’t clear how the concept would ever find its way to reality. Now, these Ikea refugee shelters will be deployed— by the thousands . Read more…

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The UN Just Ordered 10,000 of Ikea’s Brilliant Flatpack Refugee Shelters