Astronomers know when Monet made this painting — to the very minute

Back in the late 19th century, impressionist artist Claude Monet captured this striking sunset on the Normandy Coast. Now, thanks to the work of forensic astronomers, we known the precise moment it happened: February 5th, 1883 — at exactly 4:53 PM. Read more…        

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Astronomers know when Monet made this painting — to the very minute

Gmail Is Down, Everybody Freak Out (Update: Okay We’re Cool)

It’s not just you; Gmail appears to be down. Usually when this sort of thing happens it gets resolved quickly, but for now you might be stuck chatting with a real human person in your physical presence. Read more…        

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Gmail Is Down, Everybody Freak Out (Update: Okay We’re Cool)

The monstrous Sky Whale could be the future of air travel

This concept plane is called the AWWA Sky Whale and it’s the brainchild of Spanish designer Oscar Viñals. Should it ever leave the ground, the three-floor aircraft would hold 755 passengers and be powered by four large hybrid engines. Read more…        

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The monstrous Sky Whale could be the future of air travel

Luminous watercolor comic brings Middle Earth’s creation story to life

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion opens with the Ainulindalë , the story of how the universe of Middle Earth came into existence. Artist Evan Palmer has painted his own adaptation of tale, imagining the radiant forms of Tolkien’s universe taking shape. Read more…        

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Luminous watercolor comic brings Middle Earth’s creation story to life

Netflix Plans to Have a Three-Tiered Pricing Structure

Netflix is gearing up to overhaul it pricing structure. According to a shareholder letter and interviews with Gigaom , the streaming site will introduce a new three-tiered system for its customers. Read more…        

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Netflix Plans to Have a Three-Tiered Pricing Structure

Researchers discover a new sensory ability in humans

“The human sense of smell is far better at guiding us through our everyday lives than we give it credit for, ” said cognitive neuroscientist Johan Lundström. He was referring to what he and a research team just discovered, which is that humans can actually tell how much fat is in their food just by smelling it. Read more…        

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Researchers discover a new sensory ability in humans

A Single Man Spent 53 Years Building This Massive Cathedral

Very few of us will work at a single job our whole lives. Even fewer will work on a single, self-led project our whole lives. Spanish octogenarian Justo Gallego Martinez is an exception: He’s been the sole designer, engineer, and construction worker on a cathedral in Madrid since 1961. Read more…        

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A Single Man Spent 53 Years Building This Massive Cathedral

Scientists Detect Two Dozen Computers Trying To Sabotage Tor Privacy Network

New submitter fynbar writes “Computer scientists have identified almost two dozen computers that were actively working to sabotage the Tor privacy network by carrying out attacks that can degrade encrypted connections between end users and the websites or servers they visit (PDF). ‘Two of the 25 servers appeared to redirect traffic when end users attempted to visit pornography sites, leading the researchers to suspect they were carrying out censorship regimes required by the countries in which they operated. A third server suffered from what researchers said was a configuration error in the OpenDNS server. The remainder carried out so-called man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks designed to degrade encrypted Web or SSH traffic to plaintext traffic. The servers did this by using the well-known sslstrip attack designed by researcher Moxie Marlinspike or another common MitM technique that converts unreadable HTTPS traffic into plaintext HTTP.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Scientists Detect Two Dozen Computers Trying To Sabotage Tor Privacy Network

The Army Wants to Replace Up to 25 Percent of Its Soldiers with Robots

Cash-strapped and somewhat adrift in terms of missions, the U.S. Army is in the midst of an existential crisis . Once ballooning in budget and size, the Army now says it wants to be “a smaller, more lethal, deployable, and agile force.” And it’s going to need robots to do it right. Read more…        

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The Army Wants to Replace Up to 25 Percent of Its Soldiers with Robots

8K (Yes, 8K) Broadcasts Just Took a Major Step Forward

Back in May of 2012 the NHK’s science & Technology Research Lab in Japan successfully broadcasted an 8K, 7680×4320 signal over a distance of 2.7 miles using UHF frequencies. As a proof of concept it showed that 8K TV could be successfully delivered to televisions over the air, but it lacked the distance of traditional TV broadcasts. Read more…        

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8K (Yes, 8K) Broadcasts Just Took a Major Step Forward