This Light Show in Tokyo Is Bewilderingly Pretty

Every year, the Caretta Plaza in Tokyo is adorned with an impressive light show to mark the end of another 365 days. This time, over 270, 000 LEDs are being used to create an elaborate six-minute audiovisual light show that you can see in these images. Read more…

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This Light Show in Tokyo Is Bewilderingly Pretty

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

OS X 10.10 Yosemite: The Ars Technica Review

Aurich Lawson / Thinkstock When the book is finally closed on the product line known as OS X, last year’s release of OS X 10.9 Mavericks may end up getting short shrift. Sure, it brought tangible energy saving benefits to Mac laptop owners, but such gains are quickly taken for granted; internal changes and new frameworks are not as memorable to customers as they may be to developers and technophiles. And while Mavericks included many new user-visible features , and even new bundled applications , the cumulative effect was that of a pleasant upgrade, not a blockbuster. But for all its timidity and awkwardness , Mavericks marked a turning point for OS X—and in more than just naming scheme . It was the first OS X release from the newly unified, post-Forstall Apple. If iOS 7 was the explosive release of Jony Ive’s pent-up software design ethos, then Mavericks was the embodiment of Craig Federighi’s patient engineering discipline. Or maybe Mavericks was just a victim of time constraints and priorities. Either way, in last year’s OS X release, Apple tore down the old . This year, finally, Apple is ready with the new. To signal the Mac’s newfound confidence, Apple has traded 10.9’s obscure surfing location for one of the best known and most beautiful national parks: Yosemite . The new OS’s headline feature is one that’s sure to make for a noteworthy chapter in the annals of OS X: an all-new user interface appearance. Of course, this change comes a year after iOS got its extreme makeover . Read 405 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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OS X 10.10 Yosemite: The Ars Technica Review

Researchers from MIT have developed a camera that can take pictures in almost total darkness.

Researchers from MIT have developed a camera that can take pictures in almost total darkness . It works by mathematically reconstructing 3D images from single photons reflected from dimly lit objects. The achievement could result in stealthy spy cameras, or treat eyes that are easily damaged by excess light. Read more…        

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Researchers from MIT have developed a camera that can take pictures in almost total darkness.

Scientists ‘freeze’ light for an entire minute

In what could prove to be a major breakthrough in quantum memory storage and information processing, German researchers have frozen the fastest thing in the universe: light. And they did so for a record-breaking one minute. Read more…        

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Scientists ‘freeze’ light for an entire minute

Edward Snowden answers your questions

On the Guardian right now NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is answering live questions from the world at large. 1) First, the US Government, just as they did with other whistleblowers, immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home, openly declaring me guilty of treason and that the disclosure of secret, criminal, and even unconstitutional acts is an unforgivable crime. That’s not justice, and it would be foolish to volunteer yourself to it if you can do more good outside of prison than in it. Second, let’s be clear: I did not reveal any US operations against legitimate military targets. I pointed out where the NSA has hacked civilian infrastructure such as universities, hospitals, and private businesses because it is dangerous. These nakedly, aggressively criminal acts are wrong no matter the target. Not only that, when NSA makes a technical mistake during an exploitation operation, critical systems crash. Congress hasn’t declared war on the countries – the majority of them are our allies – but without asking for public permission, NSA is running network operations against them that affect millions of innocent people. And for what? So we can have secret access to a computer in a country we’re not even fighting? So we can potentially reveal a potential terrorist with the potential to kill fewer Americans than our own Police? No, the public needs to know the kinds of things a government does in its name, or the “consent of the governed” is meaningless. The whistleblower behind the biggest intelligence leak in NSA history will be live online at 11am ET/4pm BST to answer your questions about the NSA surveillance revelations        

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Edward Snowden answers your questions