Unlike its screen-based sibling industries, gaming has seen relatively little technological upheaval in recent years. That's not to say that everything's great—because it is really not—just that games are as popular as ever, if not more so. Perhaps fittingly, game development feels like it's in a better place than just a few years ago; sure, […]
At 7:37 am Eastern time on Saturday, a Cygnus cargo ship jam-packed with over three tons of crew supplies and hardware will blast toward the International Space Station atop Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket. ISS resupply missions aren’t just about making sure astronauts never run out of toilet paper. (Those folks keep a six month stockpile […]
Destiny 2's latest expansion is lush, creative, and a vital shot of energy to a game that has been limping since it released. And I'm just not that into it. Destiny 2: Forsaken begins with a bang, as it kills one of its star characters, Cayde-6, a smart-alec gunslingin' scout who was never as funny […]
Brains, beyond their signature achievements in thinking and problem solving, are paragons of energy efficiency. The human brain’s power consumption resembles that of a 20-watt incandescent lightbulb. In contrast, one of the world’s largest and fastest supercomputers, the K computer in Kobe, Japan, consumes as much as 9.89 megawatts of energy—an amount roughly equivalent to […]
Deep breath. OK, here goes. It would be hard to miss the news, but in case you did, here's the short version: Late Thursday, Jeff Bezos took to (of all places) Medium to detail what he called blackmail by The National Enquirer. In the post, the Amazon CEO alleges that he received threatening messages from […]
When Aleix Segura holds his breath, he thinks about his heart. On land, the focus causes his heart rate to increase—but underwater, it has the opposite effect. "Once my muscles are relaxed and my heart has slowed down, I kind of just … disconnect," says the world champion breath-holder. Sometimes, he relaxes so completely that […]
On Tuesday, Netflix announced that it would raise prices across all of its plans in the US. For most people, that means their $11 monthly rate will hop to $13 over the next few months. New customers will pay the higher price starting today. No one likes a price hike, especially given that Netflix just […]
Zipping around like a bumblebee, the little black-and-yellow tractor claws its bucket into one of San Francisco’s few vacant lots, kicking up a puff of dust. Payload secured, it backs up—beep, beep, beep—whips around, and speeds to its dirt pile, stopping so quickly that it tips forward on two wheels. It drops its quarry and […]
First, I saw the tweet. “I miss having a real connection w/ real people. My Community. From now on you can just text me. I won't be able to respond to everyone but at least we can be real w/ each other & I can share the unedited latest & greatest in my world,” wrote […]
Joseph Herscher's YouTube videos get millions of views. They’d better—Herscher spends a lot of time on them. That’s because Herscher’s channel, Joseph's Machines, isn't just an ongoing vlog or series of simple tutorials (not that there's anything wrong with that). Instead, it's a series of videos in which the comedian demonstrates the overly complex Rube […]