Modding you XBox 360, or whatever your console of choice may be, is a fun way of making your expensive toy your own. This video will show you how to install some cool mods: a Talismoon Whisper Max fan upgrade, LED strips for your drive door, and a clear fan tunnel. This is all ...more
Jostled in the airport, someone is coughing in line. The air looks empty but it is loaded with microbes that make their way into your body. You get sick. You give it to your family, and that's pretty much it. But what if you were so contagious that you spread it to your entire ...more
If you ever imagined turning the surface of your desk into one large augmented computer, well the future might not be far off, my friends. Lampix, the company that transforms any surface into a smart surface, is currently working on a portable and quite fashionable lamp to pro ...more
It's what every astronomy-loving geek has always wanted... a beautiful, twinkling home galaxy. As Instructables user MrTrick rightly warns, this project is no small feat. Be prepared to get schooled in: Basic woodworking skills How to handle a soldering iron How to design LED ...more
Bone loss and belly fat may no longer be certain fates of menopause, thanks to new research from an international team of scientists. Researcher Mone Zaidi from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sina and colleagues describe the discovery of an antibody that reduced fat and in ...more
It is a tutorial that explains the basic guidelines of Nikon D40 and D40x cameras. This enables everyone to take photographs successfully and prepare the camera for use. Attach the lens of the camera by rotating towards the right; make sure that no dust gets into the camera. T ...more
With smartphone cameras and software getting better and better every year, more and more users are getting passionate about photography. So when you're shopping for a gift to get someone, if they have a smartphone, chances are they'll more than appreciate some tools and access ...more
Despite their sometimes fluffy reputations and occasionally ethically compromised viewpoints, tech evangelists are important, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The right passionate voice behind the right technology platform or piece of hardware can sometimes spell the diffe ...more
When the mosquito that carries the malaria parasite (Plasmodium falciparum) bites someone, the parasite must travel to the liver where it undergoes part of its lifecycle before infecting red blood cells and spreading to its next host. Until now, the first step of how the paras ...more
Update: The LG G8 ThinQ has been announced. You can read all of the official specs at our full article on the new phone. 2018 was another rough year for LG. The mobile division lost over $700 million last year despite releasing four flagship-caliber phones. LG, however, remai ...more
We're inching closer towards the singularity—that point where technology advances to the steepest slope of the logistic function S-curve and simply skyrockets at a rate we've never seen before. Somewhere along the way, the line between humans and the tech we rely on will becom ...more
Whenever you need a flashlight, your iPhone's LED flash may be enough to break through the darkness, and you don't even need to unlock your screen to use it. But your LED flash's brightness level may be too strong or not powerful enough. It's not immediately obvious how one wo ...more
In this article, I'll be continuing my series on microcontrollers. If you haven't read part one, I'd recommend heading over there and reading it! So How Does Arduino Think? Arduino is programmed with ones and zeros, but hopefully that's not how we programmers have to write t ...more
For those of you who don't know, a brain machine is a machine that controls your brain waves. This particular brain machine puts your brain in a meditative state and then brings you back out via brain waves. This gadget, invented by Mitch Altman, pulses at the rate of differe ...more
The New Yorker profiles Shigeru Miyamoto, the father of modern video games, whose spawn includes world-changing classics such as Mario and Legend of Zelda: "One day, when Miyamoto was seven or eight, he came across a hole in the ground. He peered inside and saw nothing but da ...more
Japan is in the process of curbing its aging population and mature workforce. According to The Diplomat, the country's population has been declining at a steady rate. To meet future productivity demands in commercial and industrial sectors, local officials are turning to self- ...more
Getting money to make a AAA game is hard. When anyone is lucky enough to get the funds they need, it usually comes from a giant game publishing company that wants the rights to the game, not to mention complete control. Those publishers have shareholders who demand a high retu ...more
When Facebook launched its first hardware products last year, the Portal and Portal+ smart displays, the company mostly touted its video-calling features as it faced off against Amazon and its Echo Show. But Facebook also had an interesting feature that mostly flew under the ...more
With the first installment of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" out, don't be surprised if you find yourself more than ever wanting to whip out a twelve inch phoenix feather wand and wrist twirl your way to defeating your own personal Voldemort. While this video won't tea ...more
In the past 25 years, there have been five generations of home video games systems. Since Nintendo changed the world by releasing the NES in 1987, there has always been at least two consoles competing for dominance in the wild west of the games industry. This competition— coup ...more
Ecosystem changes caused by agricultural choices in Brazil are creating a dangerous microbe mix in exploding populations of vampire bats and feral pigs. Even as human-influenced climate warming is tipping the tables on ecosystems around the world, choices made by landowners i ...more
If you're like me (and everybody else probably), you probably have a few nights of reckless drinking that you wish your could take back, or at least turn down a notch. Just by drinking a little slower or only consuming one kind of alcohol might have made it a more memorable n ...more
The iPhone doesn't stop at last year's excellent iPhone 12 lineup. Apple's been developing its iPhone 13 models for a while now, and there are a lot of rumors already with eight or nine months still to go until a release. This year, we're expecting four new models with similar ...more
People have been transforming mud into art, aka pottery, for thousands of years. This is not a new phenomenon, but often the finished product has a certain utilitarian aesthetic, such as a bowl or vase. Bruce Gardner takes balls of mud and turns them into... shiny, more polis ...more
You can use a Korg MicroKorg synthesizer / vocoder to play all sorts of electronic music, and you might actually be able to get one without spending your life savings. If you like dirty electric synth bass parts, watch this video and you'll learn how to program one on your Mic ...more
Two new and radically different ARGs (Alternate Reality Games) have burst into the news in the last week, and illustrate the very best of an innovative phenomenon: the commercial tie-in ARG, and the public service ARG. After video games grew beyond "fad phase" and entered the ...more
Illustrator Lisa Hanawalt innovates the typical gossip rag by rendering wicked rumors of Devil Wears Prada villain Anna Wintour as clever cartoon drawings. Though akin to political cartoons, the result is more US Magazine (if US was prettier to look at). As usual, Wintour is d ...more
It is almost indisputable that smartglasses and head-worn displays are the future of augmented reality. However, at this precise moment, they are still a very niche market. Those who have been in the presence of a HoloLens, Meta 2, or Magic Leap One have witnessed how powerfu ...more
If you or someone you know has younger kids and you're looking for an augmented reality toy, Pai Technology has just the educational option for you. For $199, the toy maker offers Augie, a spherical robot that uses augmented reality to teach children the basics of programming ...more
Are you a follower or a leader? No matter how you respond, we all know that leader is a more desirable position to hold. Great leaders typically share a few qualities—confidence, intelligence, and strength, to name a few—but one of the most intriguing is their appearance. With ...more
Choosing the right axe for you There are many choices and factors when it comes to buying a new electric guitar. Price, style, quality and comfort are major players. Many new guitarists start off with a box set, one that includes a guitar, amp and cable. These are good for t ...more
The search is on to find antibiotics that will work against superbugs — bacteria that are rapidly becoming resistant to many drugs in our antibiotic arsenal. By carefully choosing antibiotics that killed bacteria in different ways, a team of researchers found that combination ...more
We learn how to throw a cast net. There are many different ways to do this since everyone develops their own personal technique. The way we're shown is this way: First choose your bait. Then get all the rope up in your hand. Lay your hand on the top. Come down about halfway. L ...more
You can mod every aspect of your phone's software with root, but if you want to make changes at the hardware level, you'll need a custom kernel. If you've looked into custom kernels before, one name undoubtedly kept coming up: ElementalX. It's easily the best custom kernel out ...more
Each morning, we spend a significant portion of our time staring into the mirror. From choosing clothes and accessories to perfecting our hair, we try to make ourselves attractive. Yet catching others' attention doesn't have to rely on preening and primping. There's some truth ...more
Watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to make a lithium thionyl chloride battery, which is capable of generating 2.8v with enough current to power a LED. Warning: Thionyl Chloride is EXTREMELY toxic and this experiment must be performed in a fumehood by an e ...more
A new medical development is going to change the way many of us look at getting the flu vaccine. A painless flu vaccine skin patch is making needles and vials a thing of the past. Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University have shown that a flu v ...more
While Meta Company has agreed to a settlement in its lawsuit against a former employee and his company, they find the tables have now turned on them in the form of patent infringement allegations from another entity. Recent court filings show that Meta Company has reached a s ...more
The tradition of using cutting edge technology to prepare for missions in space, in this case, augmented reality, continues with a new team of international astronauts slated to board the International Space Station (ISS) later this year. On Tuesday, European Space Agency ast ...more
Putting lights on the Christmas tree may not be the most glamorous part of tree decorating, but the glittering results are worth the effort. Tip: When choosing lights for your Christmas tree this year, consider buying LED lights. They cost a bit more, but they stay cool to th ...more
One could argue that, at least for the moment, software development is more important to the augmented reality experience than hardware. Since a viable augmented reality headset has yet to emerge for the broader, mainstream consumer market, currently, the same devices that mak ...more
On the airplane, in the middle of cold and flu season, your seatmate is spewing, despite the clutch of tissues in their lap. Your proximity to an infectious person probably leaves you daydreaming (or is it a nightmare?) of pandemics and estimating how likely it is that this se ...more
Cancer cells do a pretty good job of flying under the radar of our immune system. They don't raise the alarm bells signaling they are a foreign invader the way viruses do. That might be something scientists can change, though. A team of researchers has built non-infectious ar ...more
We've already taught you how to clench your fist to make healthier food choices, and how to make sure you eat healthily at a restaurant, but it turns out there are even more mind hacks we can use in our never-ending quest to control our appetites. Imagining You're Eating Food ...more
Already one of the leaders in augmented reality for cosmetics, L'Oréal is extending the reach of its ModiFace virtual try-on platform through a partnership with Facebook. The cosmetics company will be integrating the augmented reality experiences built with Modiface into Face ...more
Who likes to buy apps? The answer is no one, of course. Unfortunately, as in life, the best apps and games don't come free. That's why it makes sense to wait until those apps go on sale before handing over your hard-earned cash. And what better day to find discounts in the iOS ...more
Get started with the LilyPad Arduino! It's a sewable microcontroller that lets you embed lights, sounds, sensors, and much more into your wearables, perfect for clothing and accessories. In this Make Magazine intermediate, soft circuit, video tutorial, you'll see how to sew up ...more
Wow, hair school gets crazy-awesome at CuldeSac and Studio Marisol. How do I enroll? "In cooperation with Vitra Design Museum and the Centre Georges Pompidou, C.I.R.E.C.A. (Centre International de Recherche et d'Education Culturelle et Agricole) has been putting on an interna ...more
What Is Graphene? Graphene is a very thin layer of graphite. Graphite is made out of carbon (the mother of all elements), and is normally used in pencils. Graphite is also used for brake padding in larger vehicles, the batteries in laptops or portable gaming systems, and in t ...more
As the premiere app for chatting and video calls, it only makes sense for Skype to provide a dark theme to help prevent eye strain and minimize battery drain. Not only that, it has to also keep pace with popular messaging apps like Facebook Messenger that also have the feature ...more
When you drive along the deceptively sedate streets of Silicon Valley, there are few hints that all those nondescript office parks and low-rise buildings contain the very future of the planet, but they really do. On a recent trip to tech's epicenter, I found that out firsthand ...more
The research team at Google has found yet another way for machine learning to simplify time-intensive tasks, and this one could eventually facilitate Star Wars-like holographic video. In a recent blog post, Google researchers demonstrated how a neural network is able to separ ...more
My autistic son loves music. One afternoon, when he was nine, I downloaded GarageBand to his iPhone to help with the boredom of a long wait at a doctor's office. Instead of pacing or escalating into a meltdown, he spent the entire hour and a half practicing, learning, and comp ...more
OnePlus, whose phones always challenge for the title of best spec-to-price ratio, releases two main devices every year. There's the primary flagship in late spring, then an iterative update with the "T" suffix in fall. Typically, there's not much difference between the two, bu ...more
"Chef" Marilyn isn't the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of the infamous blond bombshell. Yet a recipe featured in Fragments, a compendium of handwritten Marilyn artifacts, has led Marilyn-o-philes to believe the icon was in fact more domesticated than one may thi ...more
The Pixel 4 isn't for everyone, but it does have its appeal in several specific use cases. Thanks to Instagram, YouTube, and other social media platforms, the fitness industry and smartphone world are now intertwined like never before, and it appears Google's aware of this. W ...more
Peach trees and other related plants are susceptible to the devastation caused by fire blight, a contagious bacterial disease. Once contracted, infected trees have to be burned to contain the disease and prevent spread to nearby trees. Increasing resistance to antibiotic treat ...more
As I've mentioned in recent days, it was refreshing to discover that Microsoft's HoloLens 2 stage production was every bit as accurate as presented (check out my hands-on test of the device for more on that). But beyond watching Microsoft's deft HoloLens 2 stagecraft, and try ...more
Android Nougat included a feature that made it significantly easier for users to switch between recent apps, giving them the ability to quickly go to and fro like never before. This relatively unknown feature has carried over to the Galaxy S8, and it's sure to make multitaskin ...more
We fight cancer in a variety of ways, but no matter whether drugs, biologics, or our immune cells are part of the battle, they can do a better job fighting back cancer if we can help them find the tumors. Scientists from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) have ...more