The man who made one of the most popular TV and movie technologies work has died at the age of 96. Petro Vlahos did not invent “bluescreening” but was responsible for making it work smoothly. The technique, known colloquially as chroma key compositing, is now widely used for special effects, both in a genuine attempt […]
If you want to find a geek in a British shopping center and you don’t fancy braving Games Workshop, one of your best options is Maplin. It’s a specialist electronic products and components store that is roughly equivalent to Radio Shack. Maplin is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and has marked the occasion in […]
Intel has officially announced it will be launching an internet-based television service — and it will use cameras to monitor your viewing habits. The set-top box will combine access to cable and satellite connections with an internet feed. The main selling point will be the ability to get a more specific choice of channels to […]
Journalist John Broder’s test drive of the Tesla S electric car may not have gone the distance, but the subsequent dispute is showing no signs of running out of power. As we covered yesterday, he wrote a scathing report saying the car repeatedly failed to live up to its claimed operating range, eventually coming to […]
Tesla and the New York Times are engaged in a war of words — and numbers — about the performance of the Model S electric vehicle. Tesla disputes a test report that suggested the range was far below what was advertised and says it has car data to prove its case. The controversy kicked off […]
A University of Central Missouri professor has discovered a 17 million digit prime number, far exceeding the previous record of just under 13 million digits. The number in question is 2 to the power of 57,885,161 minus 1. It’s so big that a file containing the number takes up 22.5MB. It was discovered by Dr […]
Here’s what the Mac looked like when it first arrived on the scene in 1984: And here’s what artist Chris McVeigh built from LEGO: Super-cool, eh?? [Source: Chris McVeigh | Via HiConsumption]
Many of us would argue that using a smartphone in a theatre would be a social faux pas, but one theatre is now offering free seats to anybody prepared to tweet during the performance. The Providence Performing Arts Center in Rhode Island has designated the back two rows as special “tweet seats.” Tickets for these […]
Unlocking your cellphone without the permission of the original service provider will technically become a crime in the US tomorrow. That said, the chance of a prosecution taking place, let alone being successful, seem slim. The legalities are covered by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which brought in the principle that it’s illegal to circumvent […]
If you are more paranoid than fashion conscious, researchers in Japan have got you covered. They’ve developed a pair of spectacles specially designed to stop you being caught out by facial-recognition software on security cameras. The National Institute of Informatics put out a press release on their work last month but it appears their ability […]