STUFF: News, Technology, the cool and the plain weird

[MIKA27]

iPhone Thief Hunted Down In An Awesome Subway Chase

The subway is a prime place for phone theft. ******, grab, run. Whether you’re getting on or getting off, you’ll make a quick escape from your target. It doesn’t always work, though. The NYPD managed to catch someone who tried exactly that trick by using Find My iPhone and following along on the ground in a righteous chase.

According to the New York Times, the theft happened on April 15 at Main Street in Flushing, Queens. Some punk kid in a yellow hoodie snatched a phone out of a poor woman’s hand and made off with it. Fortunately, the woman was able to find nearby NYPD officer with an iPhone of his own, and quickly tried to track the phone with Find My iPhone. And our numbskull thief hadn’t turned his prize off. After a brief stop-and-start, the officer realised the thief was on the train.

Luckily for the victim, the seven line runs above-ground in Queens, and the police trailed the snatcher by following the tracks in a cruiser. And with a little help from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the police were able to corner the culprit.

Phone theft is bad in NYC, so bad that the NYPD has an iTheft division. Though this may not be the typical outcome for a story like this, it sure is great to hear a little miscreant got what was coming to him. But chances are that if you get your phone stolen, you won’t be as lucky. So hold on tight.

[MIKA27]

F-16′s Are Even More Awesome From The Inside

Goose only wishes he had moves like these. This stunning dash cam footage from an F-16 attached to the 51st Wing captured some intense aerial action at the recent Red Flag-Alaska exercises — including mid-air refuellings, targeted bomb strikes, low-altitude flybys and even a cameo appearance by a B-2 stealth bomber.

[MIKA27]

This Dead Space Plasma Cutter Blinds And Burns With Lasers Instead

Apparently, today’s theme is dangerous DIY props, because, as a follow-up to the frightening 80,000-volt Thor hammer, we now have an equally terrifying replica of the Dead Space Plasma Cutter. As far as prop design and attention to detail go it’s beautiful, but the use of a pair of 1500-milliwatt burning blue lasers has us cautious about recommending this as a DIY.

Built by Patrick Priebe to be a near exact replica of the weapon used in the game, the Plasma Cutter apparently took over 200 hours to build and includes impressively animated elements in addition to three extra green lasers used for targeting. Thankfully the gun can’t just cut through anything like a lightsaber, but as demonstrated in the video, monsters made from either wood or plastic don’t stand a chance.

[Fuzz]

Geeks always have the coolest toys!

[MIKA27]

This Ad Has A Secret Anti-Abuse Message That Only Kids Can See

In an effort to provide abused children with a safe way to reach out for help, a Spanish organisation called the Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk Foundation (ANAR) created an ad that displays a different message for adults and children at the same time.

The secret behind the ad’s wizardry is a lenticular top later, which shows different images at varying angles. So when an adult — or anyone taller than 135cm — looks at it they only see the image of a sad child and the message: “sometimes, child abuse is only visible to the child suffering it”. But when a child looks at the ad, they see bruises on the boy’s face and a different message: “if somebody hurts you, phone us and we’ll help you” alongside the foundation’s phone number.

The ad is designed to empower kids, particularly if their abuser happens to be standing right next to them. And while this is a great and worthwhile use of lenticular images, how long will it be before toy companies start doing to the same thing to hawk their products directly at kids?

[MIKA27]

Jaeger-LeCoultre & Aston Martin unveils three new watches to mark their anniversaries

Jaeger- LeCoultre had earlier introduced the Antoine LeCoutre 180th anniversary watch to mark its 180 years of watchmaking. Now, the Swiss watchmaker continues its haute horlogerie tradition and its partnership with the luxury car maker Aston Martin, which had earlier given us the AMVOX7 chronograph. This time around, the 2 iconic brands have teamed up to mark the 8-year partnership in their respective arenas. To commemorate the 180th anniversary of the iconic Grande Maison in Valle de Joux, and also a 100-years for Aston Martin cars, 3 new timepieces have been launched to keep the avant grade lifestyle patrons happy.

Master Compressor Extreme W-Alarm Aston Martin watch: Above

Bearing a strong element of similarity with the AMVOX7 chronograph seen previously, this Grade 5 titanium 46.3 mm watch has been limited to just 100 unique pieces worldwide. With a rugged structuring to bear special shock absorbers, and a water resistance of 100 meters, this timepiece is as 'rough-and-tough', as it is a collector's edition item. It houses the 912 caliber which has been made in-house, handcrafted with 23 jewels, and beats at 28,800 vibrations to the hour. Functionality include hours, minutes, seconds date, world time with it's city disc 2-tone red and white color combinations. All major timezones have been marked on these discs. The strapping has been made with black alligator leather stitched with contrasting red threads. One star who is known to wear this watch, is legendary biker, Valentino Rossi.

Master Hometime Aston Martin watch

For those who have a strong affinity for the style statement of an Aston Martin car, this watch resembles that genre of style the closest. This watch has a simplistic looking stainless steel casing measuring 40mm across, and is covered with a sapphire display back, and is covered with the common cambered sapphire crystal covering. The dial is a rhodium treated surface with a sunburst black shade. The Aston Martin logo is seen on the side bezel, and the strapping is slate gray leather with synchronized stitching patterns.

AMVOX5 World Chronograph Cermet Limited Edition

Another of the more rugged, and heavy duty timepieces, the AMVOX5 is a 44mm Titanium cased timepiece of which, only 500 pieces will be available for grabs worldwide. The main attraction is the reinforced cermet seen in high end racing car engines. With an elaborate process of manufacturing, this fabrication is known to have a very light body weight, but is extremely resistant to external shock. With Jaeger-LeCoultre's hunger of horological avant grade, something like this would always be on the cards. However, the timepiece houses the company manufactured and handcrafted 752/1 movement with 39 jewels. It beats at a rate of 28,800 vibrations to the hour, and hence gives out a power reserve of 65 hours. This is however good enough to support the hours, minutes, seconds, day, city disc for world time, and the chronograph. Though the dial is black, the markings are seen clearly under dark. The strapping is black calf-skin, held together the stainless steel buckle.

[MIKA27]

The Littlehand Anglo-Zulu war chess set from Littlehand recreates chapters of military history

For those who love the intellectual game, and for those who love the aesthetics of the designer chess sets, the designer kinds tend to fulfill their need to set themselves apart from the rest. The game may be played by the same rules everywhere, but the style in which they are played, differ from person to person. For those that like the conventional designs, Cristie's auction had some limited edition chess sets, then we saw the Barabara Kruger Chess set which had a talking feature, and then the Geoffrey Parker chess set, which became one of the most expensive at that time at $77,880.00. Now British family run enterprise, Littlehand has bought a historic chapter of the Kingdom alive, with the limited edition Anglo-Zulu brass war chess set. Each figure in this special set, has been individually crafted to perfection, and stand as real members of those were a part of the Anglo-Zulu war.

The man behind this chess set is Steve Timms, who is known to have a knack for delving into the depths of military history, especially the episode of the Anglo-Zulu war in 1879. The Tim Simmons, an expert model maker came in an created this set, which he also calls 'as a labor of love'. Perhaps, this is the reason why only 250 of these sets will ever be made available for sale.

Of the many characters in this special brass chess set, we picked a few of the main ones to show. The first one is that of Lord Chelmsford, who is depicted as the British King and Commander in Chief of invasion of Zululand. The particular chess sees him standing on a single rock, as if surveying the vast open plains of the Zulu Homeland. The British Queen here is Queen Victoria, the longest serving monarch on the British throne. Her reign was seen as a major reason for social and economic advances of Great Britain. However, in this chess set, she is seen wearing an coronet and holding an orb in her left hand, and a scepter in her left hand.

The British Knight in the set, shows a brass figure of Lieutenant Melvill, mounted on the horseback with the Queen's flag in tow. He was the British Knight who crossed the Buffalo river with Lieutenant Coghill, but were killed in action against the Zulu warriors that entrapped them. From the Zulu side of the war figures, King Cetshwayo is seen as a 8.5 cm tall bronze figure, holding an axe across his lap. Wearing the traditional tiger skin garment, the royal figure was the leader of a fighting force which defeated the British forces in 3 wars, but ultimately suffered defeat at the hand of the Natal forces. However, he still managed to have his kingdom restored to him, only to breathe his last the following year. After him, Nomvimibi Msweli is also seen as queen of the Zulu's who was crowned the Great wife she gave birth to a sun and the king's rightful successor.

The various aspects of the 2 nations are depicted in many other bronze figures of the series, including shields, bagpipers, and even animals that were used in the war. For those looking to collect bespoken chess sets, or simply bring alive the days of the British Anglo wars yet again, this limited edition chess set is certainly worth the try.

[MIKA27]

Sylvester Stallone and Montegrappa present the Chaos Automatic Analogue Watch at Baselworld

Fans of Sylvester Stallone will be having a handful of memories in this year's Baselworld event. One of the world's premier pen makers, Montegrappa has presented the Chaos Automatic Analogue watch at the event. Featuring detailed design of serpents and skulls on a choice of gold and silver casing, this watch has been conceived by Sylvester Stallone, who thought of the signature motif of the series. The journey between the Hollywood action star and Montegrappa had started last year with the limited edition Chaos Pen. Also, at Baselworld 2013, some other icons were paid tribute to via limited edition pens, like the King of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis Presley and iconic painter, Salvador Dali. From the iconic series introduced last year, the Analogue watch continues the trend that got the Montegrappa Chaos series started.

The Montegrappa analogue watch is a sight to behold in itself. It has a heavily worked casing which features the Chaos series motifs, involving a series of serpents and skulls. With Sylvester Stallone behind the idea, it had to be something truly outstanding as it looks. The casing by itself is large, measuring 54mm long and 43mm across, but most of the space is occupied the motif, which one can pick in forged silver or gold work. The dial is a multi-level gold and black surface, covered with anti-reflective sapphire crystal, where hours, minutes and seconds are revealed by illuminated gold hands. The power of the watch is derived from ETA 2824 movement , which also controls the date function noticed at the 3 'o'clock position. All numerals are in Roman font, to revoke a sense of nobility from yester years.

But Montegrappa wasn't just about this special edition watch when it participated at the Baselworld 2013 event. It bought alive the spirit of many iconic figures of the past, especially King of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis Presley, and iconic artist, Salvador Dali. The Elvis pens are bejeweled writing instruments, which have bring out various shades of Elvis career beginning from 1956 to 1977. In fact, the colors chosen for each pen, are according to various eras within the time period. For those still addicted to Elvis, and the pocket deep enough to bear the price, these pens are a true object of desire.

[MIKA27]

This Explorable Panorama Of The Aurora Australis Will Make Your Head Spin

I love an explorable panorama. You always see something new every time you look at it. This 180-degree shot of Aurora Australis taken from Hobart in Tasmania is nothing short of incredible.

The beautiful aurora and the Milky Way were snapped in incredible detail by Loic Le Guilly from the Signal Station in Hobart, Tasmania.

Make sure you go check out the interactive, 180-degree panorama, and you can buy a print of the image, too.

MIKA: Guys, click the 180 link, truly AMAZING stuff!

[MIKA27]

An iWatch Concept Has Never Looked This Good

We’ve got just about as much (or really as little) information about Apple’s fabled iWatch as we ever have, but it never stops being fun to fantasise a little. This latest concept whipped up by designer Martin Hajek has got to be the best — and most Apple-like — we’ve seen yet.

Say what you will about stitched leather in your operating system, but it doesn’t look half bad as a watch band. Like Hajek’s last mock-up for MacUser magazine, the watch shies away from some of the most futuristic interpretations, instead leaning on pretty standard watch design. And this concept takes that to its beautiful extreme with a unified all-black look.

Last Mock-up

Of course, as with all concepts, this isn’t based on anything more than rumour — the curved glass — and imagination. But guessing at the future is even more futile than normal, considering WWDC and Jony Ive’s iOS 7 are right around the corner. Ive’s first crack at iOS could very well strip away the skeuomorphic elements of the UI that would make a design like this make sense. Who knows what we’ll be looking at on that face.

Still, it’s a lovely little render of a nice piece of hardware. Hopefully if and when the iWatch does come out, it’ll be equally viable as both a fashion accessory and a device. This design looks like it at least has that first part down.

You can check out more awesome rendering over at Hajek’s site.

[MIKA27]

Will Adobe’s Move To The Cloud Finally Keep The Pirates At Bay?

Today, Adobe announced the latest round of updates to its ubiquitous software suite, with its Creative Cloud subscription service taking center-stage. Not only is the old Creative Suite moniker being dropped completely, but a whole slew of cloud-dependent features were introduced. While the updates will be a boon to a huge number of Adobe customers, it’s going to annoy the hell out of one core Adobe demo: the pirates.

Adobe’s ability to strike just the right balance between being hugely expensive and easily crackable traditionally made it easy prey for software theft. I can remember my early days of scouring Warez chatrooms on AOL, downloading Photoshop 4 and being utterly pleased with myself. Since then, there’s been a low barrier to entry for for any creative adventurer looking to procure Adobe products free of charge, despite the company’s attempts at instituting increasingly convoluted activation methods.

Then, last year, came Creative Cloud. At first, Creative Cloud was just a subscription service and some peripheral online perks. But this year, a host of features are being tied into the service that actually promises to make the Adobe workflow significantly more user-friendly and efficient. Not only can you store your files in the cloud and access them anywhere, but you can also store your app settings online and sync to multiple devices, publish work on the Behance network, and utilise a robust set of sharing features built into the service. And you can be sure that future Adobe updates will only expand on these connected offerings.

What this means is that the dreamy promises of the Creative Cloud are going to make the choice between pirating or buying that much harder, to the point where the odds might finally swing in Adobe’s favour. This should essentially be every software-maker’s goal: Make the prospect of purchase more attractive than the prospect of piracy.

But what about password-sharing? Surely this will occur in some form — whose HBO Go account are you using? — but Adobe hasn’t been shy in instituting clear limitations on Creative Cloud services. You are limited to 2 machines only, and if you want to run an app on a new rig, you must deactivate one of the others first. Of course, there will be attempted cracks, loopholes, and other ways people will try to game the system. And there will be plenty of users perfectly content with a simple cracked download of Photoshop or Illustrator without the bells and whistles of Creative Cloud.

But that doesn’t matter. If Adobe can cut out even a fraction of software pirates by converting them to customers, it will more than justify the move to the cloud.

MIKA: Luck I grabbed me a copy of CS6!

[mazolaman]

An iWatch Concept Has Never Looked This Good

We’ve got just about as much (or really as little) information about Apple’s fabled iWatch as we ever have, but it never stops being fun to fantasise a little. This latest concept whipped up by designer Martin Hajek has got to be the best — and most Apple-like — we’ve seen yet.

Say what you will about stitched leather in your operating system, but it doesn’t look half bad as a watch band. Like Hajek’s last mock-up for MacUser magazine, the watch shies away from some of the most futuristic interpretations, instead leaning on pretty standard watch design. And this concept takes that to its beautiful extreme with a unified all-black look.

Last Mock-up

Of course, as with all concepts, this isn’t based on anything more than rumour — the curved glass — and imagination. But guessing at the future is even more futile than normal, considering WWDC and Jony Ive’s iOS 7 are right around the corner. Ive’s first crack at iOS could very well strip away the skeuomorphic elements of the UI that would make a design like this make sense. Who knows what we’ll be looking at on that face.

Still, it’s a lovely little render of a nice piece of hardware. Hopefully if and when the iWatch does come out, it’ll be equally viable as both a fashion accessory and a device. This design looks like it at least has that first part down.

You can check out more awesome rendering over at Hajek’s site.

I read this with interest.

Looking at my own watch, a Mondaine, nothing flash.

I thought Apple had been successfuly sued by Mondaine, as Apple's watch face design is a blatant rip off of the classic Mondaine design.

i wonder if they are still trying to use it?

[MIKA27]

Navy Drone Completes One Of The Most Difficult Landings Possible

This may look like your average, everyday X-47B drone landing, but the feat in the video above is actually evidence of something far more impressive. Over the weekend, this automated flying beast successfully performed a simulated aircraft carrier landing, which means that the US Navy could actually deploy and operate drones from the sea soon.

The ultimate goal is to have the semi-autonomous, long-windedly-named Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike drone complete these landings with a single mouse click. But when actual living, breathing Top Gun pilots want to touch down on one of the Navy’s carriers, they’re embarking on one of the most difficult maneuvers possible: landing on a moving target while catching hold of something called an MK-7 arresting gear, which is essentially a cable that tethers the aircraft and keeps it (and you) from lurching headlong to a dark and watery grave.

So it’s hard enough to successfully catch the cable when you’re in the front seat much less when you’re controlling the plane from a remote location. Of course, catching the cable on a stationary, grounded simulation of an aircraft carrier’s landing bed and actually safely touching down at sea are still two very different feats. And we’re still someways off from the confidence needed to attempt a landing on the unpredictably turbulent, stormy seas.

According to Capt Jaime Engdahi, the X-47B’s program manager:

Landing an unmanned aircraft on an aircraft carrier will be the greatest singular accomplishment for the UCAS demonstration and will serve as the culmination of over a decade of Navy unmanned carrier integration work. Shore-based arrested landing testing here at NAS [Naval Air Station] Patuxent River is our final check that the X-47B can meet that objective.

Later this month, we’ll see if the X-47B can actually take the US Navy’s drone program into unprecedented, nearly undreamed-of territory by other nations. Today’s statement did exercise some hesitation, though, emphasising that the X-47B will be “catapulting from the carrier deck and potentially completing landings on board.” Key word, of course, being “potentially”. But with this beautifully successful landing on dry land, they at least have plenty to be hopeful about.

[MIKA27]

The Most Crowded Part Of The Whole World Fits In This One Small Circle

East Asia is a crowded place. The crazy-cramped architecture of locales like Hong Kong gives you an idea. But this image puts that population consolidation in a whole new light. And for the most part, it seems pretty accurate.

Of course, it’s all a bit more complicated than this visualisation makes it seem, and the simplest of napkin maths comes up a little short. If you take the list of the 10 most populous countries in 2008, for instance, and add up just the ones that are in that circle (China at 1.3 billion, India at 1.1 , Bangledesh at .2, Indonesia at .2, and Japan at .1) you’ll get roughly 2.9 billion people out of the 2008 world total 6.6 billion. Or 44 per cent. And that’s leaving out all the smaller places that contribute to that whole. Another peer-review gets a little more granular, and takes the number to just over half.

Little bit of peer review..

• World pop: 7 bil
  

So for the post to be correct, the circle must have more than 3.5 bil people in.

• China pop: 1.34 bil
  
• India pop: 1.24 bil
  
• Indonesia pop: 0.24 bil
  
• Japan pop: 0.13 bil
  
• Thailand pop: 0.07 bil
  
• Bangladesh pop: 0.15 bil
  
• Pakistan pop: 0.18 bil
  
• Malaysia pop: 0.03 bil
  
• Philippines pop: 0.094 bil
  
• South Korea pop: 0.05 bil
  

Total from above: 3.524 bil

Checks out. Mind-blowing.

In any event, it’s totally true that that circle (or whatever shape it would be when you smack it on a rounded surface) holds a disproportionately large portion of our planet’s population. As a visualisation, it’s perhaps the best way you make numbingly huge population numbers hit home, by putting them in context with the world at large instead of leaving them in a vacuum. That patch of land (and water) definitely holds more than enough people to beat any combination of landmasses short of “the whole freakin’ world” and that’s way more incredible than just facts and figures.

Wave your arms around a little bit and enjoy that space. You’re lucky to have it.

[MIKA27]

Scientists Create “Psycho Test” To Flush Out Future Ivan Millats

New neurobiological research methods could be used to identify psychopaths before they hit puberty, which could lead to potential serial killers receiving treatment at a young age.

Researchers in the UK have discovered patterns of reduced brain activity in children diagnosed with conduct problems (CP) while viewing photos of others in pain. The children’s brains were scanned via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as they looked at images of hands and feet in painful situations. The non-reactive regions of the brain, which are known to play a role in empathy, are thought to be a neurobiological risk factor for later adult psychopathy.

We conclude that children with CP have atypical neural responses to others’ pain. The negative association between callous traits and AI/ACC response could reflect an early neurobiological marker indexing risk for empathic deficits seen in adult psychopathy.

According to the report, these early warning signs could be used to treat children more effectively and set them on the right path before they reach adulthood. (Currently, psychotic risk factors are mainly measured via incidents of physical aggression, cruelty to others and a lack of empathy, but little is known about the underlying biology.)

“Our findings indicate that children with conduct problems have an atypical brain response to seeing other people in pain,” said head researcher Essi Viding from the University College London.

“It is important to view these findings as an indicator of early vulnerability, rather than biological destiny. We know that children can be very responsive to interventions, and the challenge is to make those interventions even better, so that we can really help the children, their families, and their wider social environment.”

The report also discovered lower brain activation in the children that were deemed to be the most callous, which could allow interventions to be tailored to suit the specific profile of each child.

As fMRI screening methodology is refined and perfected, it’s not inconceivable that scientists will one day be able to accurately predict the likelihood of a child developing into a serial killer at a granular level. If these psychological defects are incurable, could we end up incarcerating high-risk children before they actually commit any crimes? Minority Report might not be that far-fetched after all.

Association of Callous Traits with Reduced Neural Response to Others’ Pain in Children with Conduct Problems [Current Biology]

[MIKA27]

First Ender’s Game Trailer Looks Spectacular

Haven’t had your fill of action blockbusters yet? Good, because here’s one more to get hyped for. It’s the film adaptation of Ender’s Game, the futuristic man-versus-bug in space tale. You know: that old chestnut.

The screen adaptation of Ender’s Game looks pretty awesome, and stars a slew of Oscar-winning or Oscar-nominated actors like Ben Kingsley, Harrison Ford, Viola Davis and Abigail Breslin.

Here’s the synopsis, as told by IMDB:

The Earth was ravaged twice by the Buggers, an alien race seemingly determined to destroy humanity. Seventy years later, the people of Earth remain banded together to prevent their own annihilation from this technologically superior alien species. Ender Wiggin, a quiet but brilliant boy, may become the savior of the human race. He is separated from his beloved sister and his terrifying brother and brought to battle school in orbit around earth. He will be tested and honed into an empathetic killer who begins to despise himself as he learns to fight in hopes of saving Earth and his family.

Get ready for Ender’s Game in November.

MIKA: This looks brilliant, love the cast and a HUGE Harrison Ford fan (Not that there's anything wrong with that hey Ken? )

[MIKA27]

Watch A Sand Storm From The Top Of The Tallest Building In The World

Dubai-based photographer Gerald Donovan went to the top of the tallest skyscraper in the world — the 830m tall Burj Khalifa — just in time to watch a sand storm engulfing the city. It wasn’t a pleasant experience, but he captured it on this video.

[MIKA27]

Meet The Badass Sidecar Riders Of Shanghai

Of Shanghai’s 24 million inhabitants, just 250 are supposedly registered sidecar drivers. Photographer Aurelien Chauvaud introduces you to the riders of these badass wartime bikes in this amazingly juxtapositional photo series.

The photographer stumbled across this small group of riders, which is made up of people from all different professions and walks of life, by accident. But the similar composition of each photo puts them on a level playing field:

My photographic approach is situated between reportage photography and conceptual photography. I wanted to create images that are at the same time portraits and landscapes, which are engrained in reality and in an imaginary. I never interfered with the appearance of the protagonists that I photographed; their bikes, clothes and style are entirely their own.

And the results are some pretty amazing photos.

[CanuckSARTech]

First Ender’s Game Trailer Looks Spectacular

Haven’t had your fill of action blockbusters yet? Good, because here’s one more to get hyped for. It’s the film adaptation of Ender’s Game, the futuristic man-versus-bug in space tale. You know: that old chestnut.

The screen adaptation of Ender’s Game looks pretty awesome, and stars a slew of Oscar-winning or Oscar-nominated actors like Ben Kingsley, Harrison Ford, Viola Davis and Abigail Breslin.

Here’s the synopsis, as told by IMDB:

The Earth was ravaged twice by the Buggers, an alien race seemingly determined to destroy humanity. Seventy years later, the people of Earth remain banded together to prevent their own annihilation from this technologically superior alien species. Ender Wiggin, a quiet but brilliant boy, may become the savior of the human race. He is separated from his beloved sister and his terrifying brother and brought to battle school in orbit around earth. He will be tested and honed into an empathetic killer who begins to despise himself as he learns to fight in hopes of saving Earth and his family.

Get ready for Ender’s Game in November.

MIKA: This looks brilliant, love the cast and a HUGE Harrison Ford fan (Not that there's anything wrong with that hey Ken? )

I've been SOOOOOOOOOOOO looking forward to this movie.

I remember reading the book series in the early/mid 90's, when I was in my teens, and just thinking that this would be an awesome movie, and that Hollywood must surely do it soon. I'm sad to say it took this many years, but it looks to be well worth the wait. Orson Scott Card was/is a great author, and these books are really well thought out.

[MIKA27]

This Audi Ad With Young Spock And Old Spock Is Freaking Hilarious

http://youtu.be/WPkByAkAdZs

The best thing about the last Star Trek movie was the extended Leonard Nimoy cameo alongside young Spock, played by Zachary Quinto. Now Quinto and Nimoy are back in this ad for Audi, and it’s so good.

This two-minute ad has it all: multi-dimensional chess, USS Enterprise-like comparisons of the new Audi S7 Sportback, Nimoy singing the Ballad Of Bilbo Baggins again and even a look at the new robotic Audi TT.Fascinating.

Seriously, watch this ad. I want to hang out with these two Spocks.

[OZCUBAN]

This Audi Ad With Young Spock And Old Spock Is Freaking Hilarious

http://youtu.be/WPkByAkAdZs

The best thing about the last Star Trek movie was the extended Leonard Nimoy cameo alongside young Spock, played by Zachary Quinto. Now Quinto and Nimoy are back in this ad for Audi, and it’s so good.

This two-minute ad has it all: multi-dimensional chess, USS Enterprise-like comparisons of the new Audi S7 Sportback, Nimoy singing the Ballad Of Bilbo Baggins again and even a look at the new robotic Audi TT.Fascinating.

Seriously, watch this ad. I want to hang out with these two Spocks.

Brilliant

[MIKA27]

At Least Antarctica’s Last Sunset For Three Months Is A Stunner

Snapped from Concordia Research Station in Antarctica, this is a photo of the last sunset the base will see for the next three months of permanent darkness.

Concordia is one of three permanent research bases in Antarctica, from which crew members study glaciology, seismology, and astronomy. It’s just about the coldest spot in the world — temperatures barely rise over negative -10 degrees Celcius in the summer, and they can drop down to -80 C in the winter, which begins in July and lasts until September. Concordia is also one of the most remote places in the world, 965 kilometres from the nearest humans at Russia’s Vostok base.

The crew just began what might seem like the longest night of their lives. For the next three months, the team at Concordia will work under artificial light, when they’ll finally be greeted by a more refreshing sunset than any of us has ever seen.

[MIKA27]

5 Remarkable Ghost Towns Drowned By Damming

Dams are as old as civilisation itself, but it’s only been within the last century that humans harnessed the construction savvy to build structures that could submerge valleys and create lakes.

In America alone, engineers have flooded hundreds of now-forgotten towns in a bid to create power-generating and fresh water-supplying reservoirs. But now, thanks to water shortages caused by a changing climate and increasing demand, many of the so-called “downed towns” are reemerging, broken and dusty, from the water.

Slate and Atlas Obscura take us to a small artificial lake at the nothernmost tip of Italy, where a 700-year-old belltower peeks above the waters. The photos were cause to look into the history of other drowned towns — and boy did we find a glut of dramatic images. In fact, submerged towns are so common, it’s fairly likely you live near a reservoir that’s concealing the remains of one. A few of the most interesting follow.

St Thomas Beneath Lake Mead

There are actually multiple submerged towns dotting Lake Mead, including the most famous, St Thomas. When droughts drain the 80-year-old artificial lake, foundations and sometimes even walls emerge from the sands.

Vilarinho das Furna

Vilarinho das Furnas, a town dating back to Roman times, was submerged by engineers in 1972. Interestingly, the tiny community of 300 had been almost forgotten by Portuguese authorities — when it was scouted by engineers in the early 1970s, they found a community governed by an unusual communal political system that some historians speculate dated back to the Visigoth occupation.

The Drowned Church of Potosi

The town of Táchira, Venezuela, was flooded in 1985 to generate hydroelectric power for nearby developments. But a water crisis in Venezuela is laying the ruins of the town bare — starting with the church steeple that once marked its pinnacle.

Old Petrolandia

Petrolandia is home to one of Brazil’s largest hydroelectric power plants — during construction, entire towns were moved to higher ground. One vestige of the old landscape still remains: the arches of a church that was left, abandoned, to the flood.

The Belltower of Campanile Di Curon

This 700-year-old belltower was restored to its original site in 2009, after the entire village of Curon Venosta was flooded after World War II. In winter, you can walk right up to its walls.

[MIKA27]

Batman Is Apparently Racing Across The US In A Street-Legal Tumbler

Having captured the Joker, offed Two-Face, faked his own death and passed the crimefighting torch to a new generation, Bruce Wayne is a man with a lot of time on his hands. So what better way to enjoy retirement race this street-legal Tumbler across the US in the annual Gumball 3000 rally?

Designed by Team Galag and built by Parker Brothers Concepts, this replica of the famous film vehicle is fit for the 3000-mile (4800km) cross-country supercar trek. It’s packing a 450bhp, 6.2-litre V8 with a triple-digit top speed under the hood.

“The main reason behind doing the Tumbler was that we wanted to bring back a little originality and fun to the Gumball 3000, something it was always known for,” Team Galag wrote on their website. “We wanted to capture the spirit of movies and cartoons such as Cannonball and Wacky Races, while keeping with the cool and rock and roll image of the rally.”

Although, at 2.3 tonnes and wider than a Hummer H2, the team will need Bruce Wayne’s checkbook to get that beast across the finish line.

[MIKA27]

South Korean Newspaper May Have Just Printed The Worst Photoshop Ever

President Obama met with South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye at the White House this past Tuesday, and as major world leaders are wont to do in each other’s presence, handshakes abounded. This three-handed, two-roomed, Photoshop monstrosity, however, was not one of them.

What makes this not just bad but inexplicable is that there were plenty of photos taken in which the pair of presidents actually shake hands (see below). Yet Yonhap, South Korea’s largest news provider, decided to take this opportunity to go for something, oh, a little more whimsical.

And while you may assume that there’s no way they could possibly expect anyone to believe that Geun-hye is shaking Obama’s third, disembodied floating hand, the caption underneath the photo begs to differ:

So what do we take away here? Are the clearly disparate backdrops symbolic of a cultural divide? Is that divisive third hand the manifestation of Kim Jong-Un? Did a toddler get loose in Yonhap’s office right before press and wreak havoc? All questions to which we may never have answers — but then again, true art is supposed to challenge you.