In the following video, Alain de Botton, author of the highly enjoyable The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, examines our ideas of success and failure — and questions the assumptions underlying these two judgments. Is success always earned? Is failure? He makes an eloquent, witty case to move beyond snobbery to find true pleasure in […]
A fun little experiment you can try at home using a simple round plastic container, a strip of cloth, some dry ice, and a soapy solution. Check it out:
In the following video, Bobby McFerrin, best known for his 1988 hit song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”, demonstrates the power of the pentatonic scale, using audience participation, at the event “Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus”, from the 2009 World Science Festival, June 12, 2009. [Via Neatorama]
Researchers from the University of Washington have developed a new encryption system that allows users to take control over the lifetime of their data. After the user-specified auto-destruct time has gone by, the encrypted data will then become unreadable. If you wish to use the system online, Vanish is available via an easy to use […]
A Dutch court has ordered three of the Pirate Bay’s founders to block traffic to and from its site to the Netherlands within 10 days or face stiff penalties. It caps a week that will have left the owners feeling a little seasick. Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg are now responsible for […]
If this isn’t enough to convince you, here’s another good reason why we think the robot apocalypse is quickly approaching. [Via BotJunkie]
I know that kids can sometimes be a real pain when you bring them shopping, but it’s not a reason to drag them along by a leash, especially if they’re on the floor when you’re doing so. […] She was charged with felony first-degree cruelty to children. Police say she was observed by customers and […]
By Casey Lynn Contributing Writer, [GAS] So, speaking of e-books… you may have heard that in a twist of Orwellian irony, Amazon recently wirelessly deleted copies of 1984 and Animal Farm from customers’ Kindles. Apparently there was a copyright issue, in that the third party distributor who okayed the e-versions of the books did not […]
Engineered and built by Found, a Scottish musical collective, Cybraphon is a robot that performs music according to its mood. Its mood changes according to what people say about it online: When lots of people talk about him, he’s happy, and when all he hears is silence, he gets melodramatic. Check it out in the […]
Apple has claimed that jailbreaking iPhones – that is, altering their software to allow the user to run applications without restrictions – could turn them into tools for deliberately bringing down cellphone networks. The claims come in a response to a government review which takes place every three years to decide which situations should be […]