Slideshow: The Little Monorail That Could
credit Courtesy of Kim PedersenPedersen's backyard monorail affords a grand view of local commuter trains. credit Courtesy of Kim PedersenAfter a hard day's monorailing, Pedersen can relax in the hot tub. credit Courtesy of Paul M. NewittThe monorail's grand opening attracted a healthy crowd of Pedersen family members and friends. Bunting, banners and fireworks marked […]
Slideshow: How E-Voting Threatens Democracy
credit Courtesy of Avi RubinJohns Hopkins University computer scientist Avi Rubin (center) and grad students Adam Stubblefield (left) and Yoshi Kohno examined the Diebold source code and released a report indicating that the company's touch-screen voting system was badly programmed and vulnerable to hacking by outsiders or manipulation by insiders. Diebold and election officials attacked […]
Slideshow: Engineers Just Wanna Make Art
credit Courtesy of hosfelt gallery, San FranciscoNew-media artist Jim Campbell produced Dynamism of a Cyclist (after Umberto Boccioni), 2001, with a lightbox and Duratrans print. credit Courtesy of hosfelt gallery, San FranciscoThis piece from new-media artist Jim Campbell is Motion and Rest no. 1, 2002, made from custom electronics and LEDs. credit Courtesy of the […]
Slideshow: RFID Keeps Track of Seniors
credit Courtesy of Intel ResearchIntel Research Seattle's portable RFID reader is part of the lab's Caregiver's Assistant project. The reader detects the presence of tagged items at distances of less than an inch, to avoid multiple, simultaneous, readings. The Caregiver's Assistant system infers activities based on the order in which items are detected. Intel Research […]
Slideshow: Turning Energy Into Pretty Things
credit Courtesy of Center for Educational Computing Initiatives, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe runner-up image in the contest was created by MIT physics student David Rush. The equations he used to produce it are:(x,y) = sin(y^2)h(x,y) = cos(x^2). credit Courtesy of Center for Educational Computing Initiatives, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMIT physics student Hyon Lee used the […]
Slideshow: Little Things Could Mean a Lot
credit Courtesy of Dr. John FrangioniA close look at a quantum dot imaging device used by Harvard researchers. The monitor in the background shows the illuminated quantum dots. credit Courtesy of Dr. James Baker, University of MichiganA "tecto-dendrimer," under development at the University of Michigan Center for Biologic Nanotechnology, will deliver medical services to individual […]
Slideshow: With This Rig, I Do Thee Wed
credit Courtesy Michael JohnsonJohnson painted the entire computer case white and covered every wire in lacy wire wrap and strings of pearls. credit Courtesy Michael JohnsonJohnson's previous efforts at custom computer design include this Linux machine, which has the logo of Linux distributor Red Hat cut into the side. credit Courtesy Michael JohnsonWhat woman could […]
Slideshow: Hubble Offers Glimpse of Creation
credit Courtesy NASA, ESA, and R. Thompson (Univ. Arizona)Taken by the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, this image is part of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field survey, the deepest portrait ever taken of the universe. This galaxy-studded view represents a "deep" core sample of the universe, cutting across billions […]
Slideshow: Fertility Frozen in Time
credit Photo courtesy Weill Medical College Cornell UniversityThe first four-cell embryo created using a egg from ovarian tissue that had been frozen for six years. credit Photo courtesy Weill Medical College Cornell UniversityDr. Oktay and Dr. Erkan Buyuk thaw ovarian tissue prior to implanting it in a woman's abdomen. credit Photo courtesy Weill Medical College […]
Slideshow: DNA Report Revives Czar Mystery
credit AP Photo/Alexander ZemlianichenkoAlexei Nikitin, chief of the group of scientists who examined what were thought to be the bones of the last Russian czar, Nicholas II, lays out the vertebrae presumably belonging to the czarina's chambermaid, Anna Demidova, in Ekaterinburg in 1998. In the foreground are what were thought to be the skulls of […]
Slideshow: Shocking Way to Transform Waste
credit Reprinted with permission from Environmental Science & Technology, 2004, 10.1021/es34923g. Copyright 2004 American Chemical Society.The fuel used to power the microbial fuel cell was skimmed from the settling pond of a wastewater treatment plant. credit Courtesy of Greg Grieco, Pennsylvania State UniversityPenn State environmental engineers have shown, for the first time, that a microbial […]
The Homeless Hacker v. The New York Times
By Jennifer Kahn
The Invisible Inner Circle
Forget Gnutella. Frankel's Waste is where it's at. Kazaa and Gnutella are fine for the masses, but real peer-to-peer insiders do their file swapping behind the velvet ropes of Waste – and odds are you're not on the list. Credit file-sharing wunderkind Justin Frankel, who wrote the MP3 player Winamp and the P2P program Gnutella. […]
By Robert Capps
START It's no accident that architect Nicholas Lacey's latest London office complex looks like a Lego creation. The structure consists of 26 bright red shipping containers stacked on top of one another. Lacey bought the 40-foot-long metal crates secondhand for $1,400 each and reconditioned them in his own factory. He hopes the recycled boxes will […]
By Matthew Stibbe
Jedi Knight Rider
By Jon M. Gibson
The Secret Diaries of Hellboy
In a year that'll see no fewer than five comic books turned into movies, the one that's got fanboys most amped is Hellboy – an adaptation of the indie graphic novel about a beast from Hades with a heart of gold. Why the high hopes? The film is the result of a six-year collaboration between […]
By Jennifer Hillner
New World Order & A Side of Fries
PLAY Paragon City Needs You!The Secret Diaries of HellboyYou're With the BandKraftwerk's Tour de StatesNew World Order & A Side of FriesFor an Airtight Alibi, Press 1 NowIn Pursuit of PallorMan of SteelThe Blender FilesReviewsFetishTestDVD Drives That Really RipShopping Cart
You're With the Band
Einstérzende Neubauten has a reputation for being about as accessible as its name (it means "collapsing new buildings" in German). The band makes clanging music using found objects and machinery, and frontman Blixa Bargeld (on keyboards above), with his square frame and chiseled countenance, has always come across as an unapproachable intellectual. So it certainly […]
By Tamara Palmer
Survivor: Behind Bars
By Thomas Hayden
jargon watch
START Quiet Parties No-tech socials at which guests cannot talk or use cell phones and must communicate by note cards. Whispering areas are sometimes provided. Nudist Colony A cluster of nonsecure ("naked") wireless networks. Guac Cops Nickname for the San Diego-area police assigned to track avocado thieves, who grab hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth […]
How to Stop Traffic
START Floor it and say cheese. The Man saw you run that red light and has a picture to prove it. Cops say traffic cameras make intersections safer; opponents say faulty cams nail law-abiding citizens and that better engineering, like longer yellow lights, would actually stop traffic (which is the whole point). Prefer to opt […]
By Brian Lam
In Pursuit of Pallor
PLAY A few years ago, dark skin was in. Japanese ganguro ("black face") girls abused tanning salons to get that just-back-from-Hawaii look. Now the trend is bihaku ("beautiful white"), and products that promote pale complexions are flying off the shelves. Favorites include Pola's Whitissimo White Shot and Shiseido's UV White makeup, which prevents the formation […]
By J. Mark Lytle and Richard Knobbs
Kraftwerk's Tour de States
PLAY For the first time since the '90s, Kraftwerk is planning to tour the US. Its first date in the States: April 26 at Seattle's Paramount Theatre. The German group, whose sterile synth grooves are the DNA of hip hop, techno, and even electroclash, has been hammering out new music in its aptly named Kling […]
By Ethan Brown
Hello, Ningbo
Motorola is losing its hold on China's mobile phone market. The little local startup that has Moto's number: Ningbo Bird. "Cell phone? It's a hand grenade!" cries actor Zhang Guoli at a key moment in China's hit movie Cell Phone, an edgy comedy about a philandering TV talk-show host whose life falls apart after his […]
By Frank Rose