Current Events – Page 33

Google Snags PushLife (for music on your Android phone?)

April 10, 2011

At last year’s Google I/O we were tantalizingly teased with the idea of music streaming to our mobile devices. Since then, there have been hints and leaks, but nothing official from Google on when or how this new service would be rolled out. Well, now we can add a big piece to that puzzle with the news that Google has acquired mobile entertainment company PushLife, which has been developing a music app of its own for the Android and BlackBerry platforms…

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Analysis, Business, Current Events, Entertainment, Historical Perspectives

StumbleUpon Hits 1 Billion Stumbles Per Month

April 9, 2011

StumbleUpon is hot.

The discovery and recommendation engine that makes web browsing a lot like channel surfing just announced it’s now handling 1 billion stumbles per month.

On top of that impressive number, StumbleUpon just closed a second round of funding in March, wrapping up $17 million of series B financing.

That 1 million stumbles-per-month statistic represents explosive growth, especially when you consider that since just a month ago, that number has grown by 200 million, judging from the fact that StumbleUpon publicized 800 million stumbles just last month, according to Business Insider…

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Analysis, Animals, Big Problems, Breakthrough Thinking, Current Events, Education, Food, Historical Perspectives

Training Sharks to Eat Lionfish

April 8, 2011

Lionfish need predators to balance out their ecosystem.

Lionfish are pretty, but they belong in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. They lack natural predators in the Caribbean, so lionfish have become quite the invasive species since they escaped from aquariums ten years ago to breed in the waters off the US and Central America. In Honduras, divers are not only hunting them, they are also training sharks to eat the lionfish!

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Current Events, Entertainment, Great New Product, Historical Perspectives, Latest News

The Commodore 64 is Back

April 7, 2011

A blast from the past set to make a comeback?

The Commodore 64 was a great 8-bit machine, and the second computer of my youth (Commodore 16 was the first). The C64 managed to out perform business class computers of the day on graphics while remaining relatively affordable. That meant kids got them for Christmas and video games were a favorite on the system. For some it was also the first time they got a taste for programming by entering BASIC code and getting simplistic programs running.

The machine went through a number of revamps ending with the C64 Games System in 1990 which was meant to take on the NES and Master System. After that, it became a part of history never to be put on sale again, or so we thought…

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Crazy Stuff, Culture, Current Events, Historical Perspectives, Internet, Latest News

European Commission Wants ISPs and Online Services to Act as Copyright Cops, Snoops and Censors

April 6, 2011

French Commissioner Michel Barnier

The European Commissioners are meeting today to decide the future of EU copyright policy. French Commissioner Michel Barnier is pushing for a set of control measures aimed at ISPs, web-hosts, social networking services, and related services that would force them to act as private police for the entertainment lobby, who would be able to direct them to spy on and block domains and users without judicial oversight or due process…

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Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Current Events, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues

Scientists Journey Into An Active Volcano Crater

April 5, 2011

Active Volcano’s are a unique place to study.

This is not a special-effects still from an upcoming movie. Instead, it’s a photo taken at Nyiragongo Volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, and National Geographic has the story of a team of Congolese seismologists who journeyed into Nyiragongo’s crater to study the volcano’s massive lava lake, and try to learn more about what’s going on inside a mountain that could potentially kill thousands…

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Robotic Swiss Quadrocopters Playing Tennis

April 4, 2011

A quadrocopter is an aircraft that is lifted and propelled by four rotors. Zurich’s Flying Machine Arena hosted a quadrocopter tennis match, involving a human-robot volley, a doubles match and an impressive robot-to-robot juggling act. The robots were outfitted with tennis rackets, allowing them to fly toward the ball and return a human’s serve.

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Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Current Events, Historical Perspectives

Scientists Are A Step Closer To Conquering The ‘Magic’ Of Invisibility

April 1, 2011

Now you see it, now you don’t.

Many earlier cloaking systems turned objects invisible only under wavelengths of light that the human eye can’t see. Others could conceal only microscopic objects. But a new system, developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology Centre, works in visible light and can hide objects big enough to see with the naked eye.

The cloak is made from two pieces of calcite crystal stuck together in a certain configuration.

Calcite is highly anisotropic, which means that light coming from one side will exit at a different angle than light entering from another side. By using two different pieces of calcite, the researchers were able to bend light around a solid object placed between the crystals. Whatever is put under this gap, it looks from the outside like it is not there.

VIA The Presurfer

Analysis, Crazy Stuff, Current Events, Entertainment, Human Behavior, Humor

Top 100 April Fools Pranks and Gadgets

April 1, 2011

April Fools Day is TODAY, and this is when you could get back at all those people who were not really nice to you; however, you could still go ahead and play some pranks on those you like and love as well, making April Fools Day one of the best holidays every year.

It is celebrated in most parts of the world and people either hate it or love it, but they just can’t ignore it. Now that the holiday is today, you certainly need to get hopping on all the wonderful pranks that might turn your loved or detested ones into gullible fools…

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Alternative Transportation, Breakthrough Thinking, Current Events, Ecological Products, government, Great New Product, Green Friendly, Historical Perspectives, Science & Technology News

UK’s First Fuel Cell-Powered Black Cab Hits the Streets of London

March 31, 2011

The First Fuel Cell-Powered Black Cab

It may not look much different than your average black cab on the outside (decals aside), but it’s quite a different story under the hood of this taxi, which has just been deemed road legal in the UK. Developed by Intelligent Energy, the cab actually includes both a fuel cell with a 30 kW net output and a 14 kWh lithium polymer battery pack, which combined promise to provide enough juice for a full day of operation — along with a top speed of 81 MPH and acceleration from zero to sixty in fourteen seconds. Londoners won’t be seeing them everywhere just yet, however, as the company only expects the first fleet to be ready sometime next year in time for the 2012 Olympics.

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Animals, Current Events, Historical Perspectives, Latest News

Egyptian “Dog Catacomb” Has 8 Million Mummified Dogs

March 31, 2011

Egyptologist Hendrikje Nouwens examines a dog buried in a special wall niche –
the remains of the wooden coffin can be seen. Many of the dogs
would have been offered to the gods when they were just hours old.

In a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the Egyptian desert lies a truly remarkable catacomb containing the mummified remains of dogs and jackals.

Now, since this is Egypt, mummies aren’t exactly unusual – what made the Dog Catacomb so different is that it contains an immense amount of mummified puppies:

They estimate the catacombs contain the remains of 8 million animals. Given the sheer numbers of animals, it is likely they were bred by the thousands in puppy farms around the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis, according to the researchers. The Dog Catacombs are located at Saqqara, the burial ground for the ancient capital Memphis…

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Animals, Crazy Stuff, Current Events, Food, government, Health & Fitness, Hot Issues, Latest News, Latest Trend, New Discoveries, Science & Technology News

Is Your Meat Made With Meat Glue?

March 31, 2011

If you see “composite meat product” on the label, it might be fish slurry slapped together with an enzyme from cow’s blood.

Almost every country in the EU last week approved the use of Meat Glue in food. Technically called thrombian, or transglutaminase (TG), it is an enzyme that food processors use to hold different kinds of meat together.

Imitation crab meat is one of the more common applications: it’s made from surimi, a “fish-based food product” made by pulverizing white fish like pollock or hake into a paste, which is then mixed with meat glue so that the shreds stick together and hold the shape wanted for it by its creator…

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