Reality Bites
Using high-resolution scans of real human embryos, the BBC has created this somewhat terrifying animation of a fish-like, one-month-old embryo rapidly developing a face up to the 10-week mark. Yes, we all started out resembling Admiral Ackbar. More »
What’s that eerie light shining in the night sky over this city? That is the Soyuz carrier rocket launching from the Plesetsk cosmodrome near the city of Ekaterinburg, the largest city in Russia’s Ural Mountains. More »
Fire in the Sky is a 1993 alien abduction melodrama based on the true story of Travis Walton, a forestry worker who was allegedly abducted for five days in 1975 after an alien encounter in Arizona’s Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. More »
Intelligence officials released five “home videos” of Osama Bin Laden recovered from the Al Qaeda leader’s compound after he was killed by U.S. forces on Sunday. We know what you’re wondering: None of them, so far, are sex tapes. More »
Is your life really your life, or is it actually the dream of a butterfly? Or is it a complex computer simulation indistinguishable from “real” reality? Don’t worry, it’s just a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something. More »
Many have tried and failed to bring a 3D desktop interface to an otherwise 2D operating system, but that certainly hasn’t stopped others from trying. The latest example to crop up comes courtesy of none other than Microsoft, which recently received a patent for what it describes as a “method and apparatus for providing a three-dimensional task gallery computer interface.” In other words, it’s an interface intended to help you better manage multiple tasks, which the patent suggests could be done in a 3D environment with a floor, walls and a ceiling. Apparently, you’d be able to group multiple windows at various spots in the “room,” which would let you rely on your spatial memory to easily find a given task — with the room getting deeper and deeper to accommodate more tasks. In the patent’s claims, the only means described for navigating around that room is a set of icons that would adjust to suit the 3D environment, although it certainly seems like it could easily be adapted to accommodate gesture controls as well. Hit up the source link below for plenty more line drawings where this one came from.
Microsoft patent details a 3D desktop interface with a room for your windows originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 May 2011 12:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
Technology Review | 
Google Patents | Email this | Comments
There is a rumor that Keanu Reves is in talks with Warner Bros. over the possibility of taking the role of Kaneda in the American film adaptation of the classic Manga, Akira.
I’m sure you’ve no doubt heard that Google was nice enough to finally release an update to Gingerbread that gives Nexus S users the ability to video-chat using the native Google Talk app. Pretty sweet of them. Even if only 4 percent of people in the world are actually running Android 2.3 Gingerbread on their phone’s and even less actually own the Nexus S.
So what about the rest of us? Well, you could either be a sad panda and wait around for – oh say, 4 more months for your carrier to push out the Android 2.3.4 OTA. Or you can take matters into your own hands and flash a handy zip file that installs the all new and improved GTalk app with video chat onto your phone.
There is a catch however. One, you need to be rooted. Two, you need to already be running a Gingerbread ROM (doesn’t matter which version). If you’re one of those lucky people then watch this video to see exactly what this Google video chatting business is all about. Or, if you hate looking at my face (like I do), you can always just follow the steps below:
[Via XDA]
On September 1, 2009, a 19-year-old woman from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada was the victim of a random shooting. Charlotte Dawn Jolly was shot and killed on the streets of Saskatoon while she was out celebrating her birthday with friends. The suspect was 16 years old at the time, and cannot…
Physicists have long studied the nature of the universe. But some go a step further into the unknown (and probably unknowable), contemplating what lies outside the boundaries of our universe. More »
Canada asked the U.S. to help plan against a nuclear threat during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, plus aid in everything from mail screening to troop transportation, diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks reveal.
Researchers from Queen’s University in Ontario Canada this week unveiled a prototype of their “paperphone,” a smartphone that has a flexible e-paper display instead of an LCD/TFT touchscreen.
As much as we all love Portal 2, I know that every single one of you has, at one time or another, wished in your heart of hearts that the game were a little bit more like a Logan’s Run-meets- Super Fly 1970s sci-fi action exploitation extravaganza. It's a story that's just begging for that kind of treatment.
While the folks at Valve are unlikely to grant you your greatest of wishes in playable form, one of the studio’s artists, Tristan Reidford, whipped up a completely amazing ’70s-style movie poster featuring the game’s various characters. While your immediate reaction might just be to make it your desktop background, you can actually do yourself one better and put it on your real life, non-computerized wall, as the poster will be going on sale in the Steam store in a couple of weeks.
As our own Ryan Davis histrionically pointed out over Twitter this morning, yes, there are a few spoilers floating around inside that poster. We're going to drop the main poster below If you haven't played yet, so maybe don't stare at it too hard? As for me, I know I'll be grabbing one as soon as they go on sale.
As a Googler I often take my work home with me—in a good way. With two young boys at home, life is always busy, so my husband and I are always looking for ways to save time, get organized and enrich our lives in simple ways. Because the products I beta test and use in the office have become an integral part of my own family life, for Mother’s Day this weekend I’d like to share some favorite tips, including a few from other Googler parents.
Capturing and sharing memories
Communicating and entertaining
Organizing and planning
I hope these tips inspire moms (and dads) to celebrate your family this weekend. Here’s hoping you can save time and energy to focus on having fun with your kids!
Posted by Cathy Cheng, Webmaster Manager and proud mom of Kai (3 years) and Jin (10 months)
Washing your hands regularly can help you stay healthy. But could it also get you sick?
Windows: We’ve shown you how to add a second layer of encryption to Dropbox, but if you’re looking for a simpler way to secure your synced files, free app SecretSync encrypts any Dropbox files you want before sending them to the cloud. More »
Saskatchewan teachers were back in the classroom Friday following a one-day strike in support of contract demands.
ASUS: Eee Pad Transformer delays due to demand, not component shortages originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 10:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Android/Chrome: No one likes texting on small, autocorrect-prone phone keyboards. Texty connects your phone to Google Chrome, letting you send and receive SMS messages right from the extension bar. More »
The House of Representatives Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade continues to seek answers regarding last month’s breach of the PlayStation Network’s security. The one it got yesterday from Purdue professor and security expert Dr. Gene Spafford is troubling, to say the least, if the situation he detailed actually played out as described.
Spafford told the subcommittee that, according to security mailing lists he subscribes to, “individuals who work in security and participate in the Sony network” had learned “several months ago” that PSN was hosted on servers running “very old versions of Apache software that were unpatched and had no firewall installed.”
The professor continued, “they had reported these [issues] in an open forum that was monitored by Sony employees, but had seen no response and no change or update to the software.” The timeframe for these events was “two to three months prior to the incident where the break-ins occurred,” according to Spafford.
It’s important to note that his account of the situation and information is second-hand. Still, the potential for this testimony to cause the subcommittee, headed by representative Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), to demand more answers from Sony — and, more specifically, the individuals mentioned by Spafford — does exist.
Sony could not be reached for comment.
PSN servers were ‘unpatched and had no firewall installed,’ security expert testifies originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 05 May 2011 18:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
