Secret Software Is Probably Tracking Everything You Do On Your Phone
The Carrier IQ software, installed on most modern Android, Blackberry and Nokia phones, is supposed to record some of the things phones do so manufacturers can do quality control. Except it’s also been logging everybody’s text messages, web searches, and phone calls. Which is pretty bad.
Now Google Wants To Map Your Floor Plan Too
Last month, Google Maps’ Street View functionality started displaying photos of retail spaces’ interiors; now Google Maps itself is headed indoors, too, with a proposed Google Maps Floor Plans feature. This would mean Google maps of airports, shopping malls, and other buildings that you might somehow be able to get lost in.
American Universities Purchasing ‘.XXX’ Porn Domain Names
The .xxx domain, set to launch by the end of the year, is meant to be the domain of choice for porn sites. Which is dandy, but means that opportunists could register ‘google.xxx,’ for instance, and capitalize on Google’s popularity – so American universities are purchasing .xxx domains to keep people from making porn sites with their names in them.
Nokia’s New Flexible Phone [VIDEO]
Nokia has released a concept video for their new HumanForm phone – which isn’t so much human-shaped as it is oblong. What’s interesting about it is that the casing is meant to be flexible, and the entire surface is meant to run off of touch recognition, which is fairly rad.
RIM Offers Free Apps To Apologize For That Whole BlackBerry Crash Thing
While Mike Lazaridis, co-CEO of RIM, has already publicly apologized for last week’s three-day BlackBerry outage, the PR guys figured that that probably wasn’t enough. Which is why they’ve announced that they’re offering BlackBerry customers a bunch of free “premium apps,” in the hopes of winning back some love. Check the app list after the jump.
China Space Shuttle Prepped For Launch For Tonight
The unmanned spacecraft, Tiangong-1, which translates awesomely to Heavenly Palace, is set to blast off tonight from China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gansu province, marking the start of China’s first rendezvous and docking mission. That guy is set to take off between 13h16 and 13h31 GMT.
Scientists Can Reconstruct The Pictures In Our Heads Now [VIDEO]
It’s always nice when the world catches up with 80’s sci-fi films. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have succeeded in reconstructing people’s visual experiences using MRI and image libraries. Which means that if you click on the link you can see somebody’s brain try to replicate the Pink Panther film trailer.
Facebook Employee Accidentally Reveals Upcoming ‘Listen With Friends’ Feature
Look, it’s nice to know Apple isn’t the only company that knows how to create buzz by accidentally leaking information. Ji Lee, Facebook’s creative director, tweeted about Facebook Music, which is set to launch tomorrow. The post was quickly deleted, but not before the Internet had time to get all excited about it.
Now There’s Vaguely Terrifying Face-Stealing Technology [VIDEO]
Watch developer Arturo Castro shows off his fancy new FaceTracker API, which allows users to harvest photographs of other folks’ faces, and project them onto their own. Here we see Castro variously becoming Vladimir Lenin, Chairman Mao, and Steve Jobs. Because, why not?
NASA Unveils Launch Vehicle To Take Astronauts To Mars
Because what every good recession needs is a plan to go to space. NASA today announced their new launch vehicle, the Space Launch System (SLS), which should be able to take astronauts past the moon to near-Earth asteroids, and eventually to Mars some time in the 2030s.
Google Wants To Be Your Travel Agent, Too
I’m not clear on why we would still need travel agents or anything, but if we do, Google Flights, launching today, is up to the task. Initially only available in a couple of US cities, Google Flights is the first result we’ve seen of Google’s acquisition of travel software company ITA back in April.
Liberate Your Data With Google Takeout
Hello, internet people. Google Takeout has been launched for you – a “data liberation platform” that lets users export their data from a number of Google products. It’s an importance service! If all your information is on Google without a backup, then you don’t have much control over it. Click through and learn things.
The Award-Winning Invisible Cycling Helmet [VIDEO]
Swedish designers have made a cycling helmet that isn’t totally obnoxious, which is pretty great. It won an award. Understand that no matter how nice this helmet is, it still isn’t okay to wear this guy indoors, because that’s rude. Still, it just won the Index:Award, the largest monetary prize for design in the world.
Today’s Google Doodle Is The Greatest Doodle That Ever There Was [VIDEO]
Do you know what day today is? Google knows what day today is – which is why their latest animated doodle pays tribute to the legendary Freddie Mercury, who would have turned 65 today, had he not made an early exit. Click through to take a look. Please insert your favourite Queen song title here.
Got A Secret To Share? Now There’s An App For That [VIDEO]
I love Postsecret. I’ll just put that right there. It’s an ongoing community art project that started in the States in 2005. Now, after almost seven years of receiving the secrets, Postsecret are releasing their very own app for iPhone.
Hello, Future: Wacom’s New ‘Inkling’ Is An Ink Pen, And A Computer Pen
It’s pretty neat – the new pen by Wacom draws like a regular pen, but has a pressure-sensitive receiver that records your actual drawings for digital import and computer manipulation. So when you doodle obscene images, they show up directly onto your screen. Welcome to the future.
Is That A USB Inside Your TV, Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?
Remember the sad old days when the only screens that came with USB inputs in them were 15 inches wide, and you and 12 friends were forced to watch that awesome viral video on that single tiny screen, and inevitably there was a heated argument afterwards, because one of the guys who was watching from […]
Chinese Propaganda Video Accidentally Reveals Cyber Attack Against US.
Screenshots from a Chinese military propaganda video uploaded to YouTube last month reveal a cyberwarfare app designed to make attacks look like they’re coming from any IP address. In the video, the Chinese government can be seen sending attacks from an IP address belonging to the University of Alabama.
This 13-Year-Old Designed A New Solar Array After Looking At Some Trees
What did you do today? New York elementary school student Aidan Dwyer has designed and constructed a solar array based on the Fibonacci sequence that stores and generates energy between 20% and 50% more effectively than existing setups. He got the idea after noticing growth patterns in oak trees.
Annoy The World With The Awesome RC Air Swimmers
How unfair is this shit. When I was a kid, if you wanted something to fly you had to chuck it off a three-storie building, or tie it to a string and trail it out the back of your mom’s car, Napolean Dynamite style. These remote controlled badboys are super realistic,with actual moving fins to propel them through the air. And you get to choose between evil shark or cute clown-fish.
Oh Hey, Google’s Buying Motorola
And for the first time in years I actually have a reason to want a Motorola. Google today agreed to acquire the handset division of Motorola, Motorola Mobility, for $12.5 billion (around 90 billion ZAR). It’s always nice to have money lying around for these little impulse buys.
These Guys Made A Robot Bird [VIDEO]
They made a robot seagull. It flies by flapping its robot seagull wings. I mean yes this is a huge breakthrough in terms of flight engineering, but even if that’s not your jam, you’re going to want to take a look at the awesome two-metre wide flying robot on display at TEDGlobal.
We Live In The Future: Electronic Temporary Tattoos
I know temporary tattoos are usually pretty lame, but the ones they’re making over at the University of Illinois are looking pretty rad. Because unlike regular temporary tattoos that fade within two days and look like awful birthmarks, these guys come with diagnostic sensors, LEDs, wireless antennas, and solar cells for power. Take that, Kinder Surprise.
US Military Hypersonic Jet Is So Fast, Even They Can’t Find It
The Falcon Hypersonic Test Vehicle is not only 22 times faster than a commercial jetliner, it’s also capable of reaching Mach 20, which is roughly 21 000 kph. So basically it’s kak fast. It’s so fast that the company that created it, The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), have lost it at sea. Again.
Crowdsourcing London’s Riot Clean-Up
There is something encouraging coming out of the past three days of rioting and looting, even if it is a remote silver lining: the online mobilization of volunteer clean-up operations, mostly organized via Twitter and Facebook. By this time yesterday, #riotcleanup, was the second-highest trending topic worldwide.
“Swallowable Parfum” Makes Your Skin Emit Perfume
Australian artist and ‘body architect’ Lucy McRae, in collaboration with Harvard biologist Sheref Mansy, is releasing these little digestible capsules that make human skin emit perfume scents. Which is nice and futuristic, I think. And by futuristic I mean I have no idea how this thing works.
Swede Jailed For Trying To Build Nuclear Reactor In Kitchen
A 31-year-old Swedish man, known only as ‘Richard’, was attempting to build a nuclear reactor in his kitchen and was arrested and had his experiment shut down after he contacted the Swedish Radiation Authority (Strålsäkerhetsmyndigheten) to ask whether or not his pet project was legal.
We Live In The Future: GM’s Smartphone-Controlled Pod Cars
GM’s Electric Networked-Vehicle (EN-V), the pod-shaped hands-free electric vehicle unveiled last year, is set for release soon. Confined to metropolitan areas, we should be able to live out our Jetsons inspired fantasies a little sooner than we’d planned, once GPS technology catches up a little.
How Much Is That Robo-Seal In The Window?
The future is officially nuts. It’s getting to a point where stuff like this probably won’t shock you anymore. It should. Be shocked. These robo-seals, called ‘Paro’, not only bring comfort to recovering Japanese tsunami patients, they also sing, clap, and even take part in the residents daily exercise routines.
Foxconn Increases Reliance On Robots For Manufacturing
Because robots can’t get depressed over awful working conditions and commit suicide, you see. Also we don’t have a robot union yet, so Foxconn (the guys who manufacture the iPhone and iPad) won’t need to worry about the slowly increasing factory worker wages in Taiwan, which are driving overhead costs upwards throughout the fancy-technology-making-industry.