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

[MIKA27]

GENIE SMART LOCK

If your smartphone is a Harvard graduate, your door lock is still thinking about going for its GED. Why not increase the number of smart devices in your house by starting at its entry?

The Genie Smart Lock is a Bluetooth lock system that lets you lock or unlock it via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, so that booty call of yours doesn’t cause a commotion at 2 in the morning. Oh OK, yeah, it could also be used to let a repairman in too. It’s also different from other similar devices in that it connects to a handle instead of a bolt lock. With Genie you can get into your home without the use of a key, send access codes to friends and family so they can do the same, and see your name, the time, and temperature when you walk up to it. You can also open the lock manually if you need to. Pre-orders start at $249. [Purchase]

[MIKA27]

TSOVET SVT-GR44

The Limited Edition SVT-GR44 Chronograph by TSOVET is one tough watch made for action. The industrial look is characteristic of most of Tsovet’s watches, but is more pronounced on the SVT-GR44. The rugged timepiece features a virtually unbreakable 44mm aerospace-grade stainless steel case, refined sapphire crystal, and is powered by a Valjoux 7750 movement. Each watch is limited and individually numbered 01 to 51.

[MIKA27]

ZOKU ICED COFFEE MAKER

The new Zoku Ice Coffee Maker makes it easier than ever to have a delicious cup of iced coffee. Simply pre-chill the stainless steel mug in the freezer, pour freshly brewed coffee into the innovative stainless steel mug, then slip on the special insulating sleeve. You´re ready to go, no more diluting it down with melting ice! Besides coffee, you can also throw in the Zoku, a nice cup of iced tea. The spill-proof travel mug comes with a tight fitting lid and a durable acrylic sipping straw.

[MIKA27]

How Global Warming Is Changing Wine—and Which Bottles to Snap Up Now Before They're History

EVER SINCE A massive heat wave hit Europe's vineyards in 2003, winegrowers there have been racing to fend off the effects of global warming. Yet even they were stunned by a reportlast year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which predicted that by 2050— well within many of our lifetimes—most of the great wine regions of Europe will have totally lost their charms.

Call it "Grapocalypse Now." Is the future of wine really in jeopardy or is this all a bunch of needless doomsday scrambling?

"Nothing we've heard since publication has made us change our minds," says the paper's lead author, Dr. Lee Hannah, a senior scientist for climate change biology at Conservation International.

"The models we use predict mean climate changes, but bad weather spikes will make some years worse," he adds.

Under the scenario painted by Hannah and his colleagues, Europe's Mediterranean areas (the places where the best wines are now made) will be hardest hit: Tuscany, Bordeaux, the Rhone Valley. "And the French regions are tied to growing certain varieties which they can't change," Hannah notes. "But non-Mediterranean France will do pretty well, as the suitability [for grape production] drop-off won't be as severe."

Northern Europe, including England, Baltic Germany, and even Scandinavia, may become prime wine producers in the decades ahead. Hannah's suitability maps also show dire consequences for parts of California and southern Australia.

Here's the bottom line on how all this will affect your favorite bottles:

Today's great red wines will get more alcoholic or sweeter—or both.

At present, Napa cabs are already on the edge of being overly alcoholic, too fruity and too sweet as grape sugar levels rise. Bordeaux once enjoyed the extra heat, as it used to have problems with grapes ripening, but hot, hot sun is now a problem.

The great white wines will lose some acidity and minerality.

Diurnal changes—warm days and cool nights—are essential to gradual ripening that gives grapes like chardonnay, riesling and sauvignon blanc their structure, mineral tastes and crisp, acidic finish.

Naturally ultra-sweet wines might keep their quality, but their production volume may decline.

Harvest heat with less humidity may retard the needed botrytis infection that causes grapes in Sauternes and Tokaj to shrivel into succulent sweetness.

The great Champagnes will be less affected.

Due to their northern, inland location they are somewhat protected, although shorter growing seasons may affect fruit flavors.

So which wines should you stock up on before it all changes? Here's a shopping list:

Red and white Bordeaux.

Start collecting reds from Pauillac and St. Éstephe, as these areas are the warmest in the Medoc and are most likely to develop elevated alcohols in coming vintages. But Right Bank reds from St. Émilion and Pomerol will be changing flavor profiles, too, as their merlot gets over-ripe more quickly than the Medoc's cabernet sauvignon, and some Right Bank châteaux are already switching their vineyards to less merlot and more cab franc and cab sauvignon. Buy whites from Pessac-Leognan.

Napa Valley cabs and chards.

Already many of the great cabs—Shafer, Robert Mondavi—are registering alcohols over 15%. As the saying goes: Get 'em while they're (not) hot.

Northern Rhone's syrah trophies.

Hermitage and Côte Rotie will get even more alcoholic, so put them on your holiday list this year.

Northern Italy reds.

Buy wines that are predominately based on the nebbiolo grape (such as barolos) or sangioveses (such as chiantis). Some super-Tuscan blends are still adjusting their grape mixes to lessen warming's effects.

Reds from Central Spain.

Toros are now hitting 16 percent alcohol, and Ribeiro del Duero won't be far behind, so ****** them up before they become mini-Ports.

South Australia's big reds.

Barossa and parts of McLaren Vale are especially vulnerable, so buy now if you like these wines or expect a wholly different flavor profile in the coming years.

Burgundy?

Burgundies will be less affected, but the profile of both reds and whites will get bigger and fruitier. An irony is that Burgundy may soon have to add acid instead of sugar to its winemaking.

What's the worst thing that can happen? Even if the hot-weather march towards 2050 slows, and we have a few more "normal" vintages, then you will still have done a great job of building a better wine cellar.

[MIKA27]

Shark-Repelling Fake Kelp Could Prevent Beachside Attacks

A shark-sensing "buoy" and a fake kelp forest that is actually a high tech shark barrier could soon be deployed at beaches to help prevent shark attacks, which led to 10 deaths last year and dozens of serious injuries.

The new inventions could be a win for sharks as well as humans, since both systems do not harm sharks. Shark culling as well as drum lines, which brutally capture large sharks using baited hooks, are still common at beaches around the world, so it’s hoped that more high tech methods will soon replace the very eco-unfriendly practices.

Craig O'Connell, founder of the marine conservation non-profit O’Seas Conservation Foundation, helped to develop the Sharksafe Barrier, which is designed to resemble a kelp forest and includes magnets that deter great white, bull, hammerhead, tiger and other shark species. Its success is documented in a paper that will be published in the November issue of the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology.

"The current Western Australian shark cull is a short-term solution that may have long-term negative consequences on the marine ecosystem," O'Connell, lead author of the paper, told Discovery News. "Our barrier does not use netting or hooks, but rather stimuli that non-invasively deter sharks away from a region, whereas other marine life can simply swim through the barrier."

Testing has determined that marine mammals, such as Cape fur seals, pass through the barrier unimpeded. Abalone, a sea snail whose population has been in global decline, seem to love the Sharksafe Barrier, attaching themselves to it as they would to a rocky substrate.

As for its shark-repelling properties, O’Connell explained that sharks, skates and rays have a unique electro-sensory system known as the ampullae of Lorenzini, whereas most animals do not. The researchers therefore believe that the magnets within the Sharksafe Barrier specifically target sharks and their relatives.

"As a shark approaches the magnet," O'Connell said, "we hypothesize that an electric field is induced that may overwhelm the electro-sensory system of these sharks," causing them to avoid the area and swim in the opposite direction.

Additionally, sharks tend not to enter high-density natural kelp forests, which is why prey of these toothy hunters so often seek refuge in kelp. Just the look of the Sharksafe Barrier, made up of three to five rows of large vertical pipes, can put a shark off.

Clever Buoy is yet another new shark attack deterrent system. The visible part of the device is a bright yellow buoy.

Hamish Jolly, who helped to develop Clever Buoy, explained that it "is a shark detection system, which uses remote sensing in the ocean looking for shark-like objects. When it finds a shark, it sends a signal to shore via satellite through the Optus network."

Jolly, co-founder with Craig Anderson of Shark Mitigation Systems, added that the sensing component utilizes commercial software already used by the oil and gas industry. Instead of being calibrated to look for oil, the system is adjusted to seek out the sonar signature of sharks.

Once a shark is detected, an alert is sent to local lifeguards or other officials, who can see the alert on a smart device. They may then sound an alarm, notifying recreational water users to get out of the water until the shark swims away.

Both the Sharksafe Barrier and Clever Buoy are still in development and testing phases. O'Connell said that "once we finish our final phase of research in South Africa (anticipated completion date is August 2014), we will be searching for funding so we can deploy the barrier at beach sites."

Clever Buoy could be spotted at beaches by mid 2015, which is when Jolly, Anderson and their team hope to commercialize their system.

[MIKA27]

Meet The Guardians Of The Galaxy In This Five-Minute Teaser

Guardians Of The Galaxy is Marvel’s tentpole movie for this year, and it looks like the the comics giant is finally taking a more lighthearted approach to its beloved characters. A five-minute long teaser, sharing a bit of background on the film’s titular ragtag bunch, has appeared on the ‘net a week before the movie’s Australian launch.

The trailer follows our five heroes — Star Lord, Groot, Rocket, Gamora and Drax — into The Kyln, an ultra-high-security prison in the middle of space. By the way, it contains what amounts to probably a minor spoiler or two for the rest of the movie, so don’t watch if you intend on sitting down in the cinema with no preconceptions.

http://youtu.be/EzI-U1Fh9zc

[MIKA27]

India Wants To Kill Little Nemo And Destroy The Great Reef Barrier

Nemo survived an ordeal in the movie, but according to Greenpeace and UNESCO he won’t be able to survive human greed: Indian coal giant Adani wants to dredge and dump three million cubic metres of sea-floor in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area to make way for a new coal terminal.

Obviously, Greenpeace is launching a campaign to try to stop it:

UNESCO cited the dredging and dumping as one of the reasons it is still considering an ‘in danger’ listing for the reef.

The entire ecosystem was inscribed as World Heritage in 1981, covering an area of 348,000 square kilometres.

[MIKA27]

Report: Apple Has A 12-inch MacBook, 4K Desktop In Works

In the midst of updating its operating system to Yosemite, Apple seems to also have some hardware refreshes in mind. According to Mark Gurman at 9to5Mac, sources say that Apple is planning a smaller Macbook (12-inch diagonally) with a high resolution display as well as a pixel-drunk 4K iMac or standalone monitor.

9to5Mac goes on to say that the new Macbook will have a thinner and lighter aluminium body, which would place it somewhere between a MacBook Air or current MacBook Pro weight classes. It will also run on an Intel chip — not the Apple-based A8 processor, according to earlier rumours. Apple has a lot of faith in this TBA MacBook saying it will be a significant step forward in the laptop industry, according to sources. Then again, isn’t that always the case?

This 12-inch laptop has been rumoured since October last year when a reliable analyst released predictions of the coming device. Despite being a little off on the timing (mid-2014), the rumour’s validity is only increasing.

As for the 4K monitors, Apple has had a tendency to upgrade pixel counts on its displays when Mac OS X goes through a refresh. It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if the company decides to follow a similar strategy. Besides, an OS is only as beautiful as the screen displaying it.

[polarbear]

To me it's the same as replacing the Bruce Wayne Batman with **** Grayson (Of course Batman is more of a legacy) or killing off Peter Parker in Amazing Spiderman 700 and having a new one step in.

You also heard about Steve Rogers Captain America being killed off and replaced with Sam Wilson?

Its not really the same thing though

Thor is the characters given name. Thor is not a name the character took when he decided to be a superhero (unlike Spiderman or Batman) Thor is one of the few characters in the marvel universe that has no alias.

I enjoy the fact that the new god of thunder is a women and I love the fact that comic book culture has become so mainstream but it is obvious that Marvel arent as confident this move will be a winner.

If they were prepared to go all-in, they should have cancelled Thor and started a new series call "???- god of thunder rather than keeping the name in the hopes that long time readers wouldnt be to alienated by the change

[MIKA27]

Garage Collides With Fighter Jet During Severe Flood

It is hard to imagine a situation where a garage might collide with a fighter jet — but this is just what happened during severe flooding earlier today in Magadan, a port town on Russia’s east coast.

Flood waters washed away roads, bridges, buildings, and even planes, which are believed to have belonged to a local aviation museum.

[MIKA27]

I Don't Know Where Buildings Start Or End In This Crazy Photo Of Hong Kong

National Geographic’s Photo of the Day — captured by Simon Kwan — shows Hong Kong in all its glorious urban madness. When I first saw it I thought it was a collage made with multiple shots and mirrored images. It’s not. It’s just the city photographed from Beacon Hill.

[MIKA27]

World's Longest Pedestrian Suspension Bridge Opens -- And You Can Jump Off It

The longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world has opened in Russia, with a 550m span. It offers breathtaking views of the Sochi landscape, but it isn’t really designed for your daily commute — it is part of a skypark, and you can bungee jump off it for a 200m drop, as shown in this video.

Eight 52mm cables hold the bridge and the bungee platform in place and can take over 300 tonnes per cable.

There are several different points on the bridge from which you can bungee.

This short video discusses the construction.

[MIKA27]

Lucy’s Based on Bad Science, and 6 More Secrets About the Film

Luc Besson (left) directs Scarlett Johansson in Lucy

Luc Besson’s Lucy is based on a lie.

The general premise is that a young woman named Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) gets abducted by a gang in Taipei and forced to carry a bag of drugs in her abdomen. But when the bag bursts, the drug gives her access to the 90 percent of her brain that most of us never use, making her superhuman. The idea that we only use 10 percent of our brains, however, is a myth—a fact more than a few recent stories recently have taken pride in pointing out. The writer/director, in turn, would like to remind them it’s fiction.

“It’s not true,” Besson says. “The good thing with movies is that you mix up everything and then in the end it looks real.”

There are a few more true tidbits in the film for science buffs, though. Like, for example, the fact that Lucy is named after the skeleton of the Australopithecus afarensis found in 1974 that is our most famous early human ancestor. WIRED got on the phone with Besson to ask him about neuroscience and some of Lucy‘s other secrets.

Besson Knew the ’10 Percent’ Figure Was Wrong, But Used It Anyway

Although it gets bandied around a bit, the idea that we only use 10 percent of our brains is a scientific myth. Still, the brain does have billions of neurons processing a lot of data that we’re basically in the dark about. “The numbers of communication per second is absolutely phenomenal,” Besson says. “And we have no access to this information. So it was very easy to me to say, ‘What happens if one day we have access to our information—if our brain suddenly makes that connection, and then we can have access to it? We could change our blood pressure; we could change everything.”

Lucy Is Intentionally Out of Order So That the Science Makes Sense

The opening of Lucy shows scenes of cell division and prehistoric wildlife intercut with the eponymous heroine being forced into ferrying drugs. Initially, it seems a little out of place, but more than an hour later Besson ties it all things together. “I wanted to de-structure the storytelling, because I wanted the people to be ready at the end to believe something unbelievable,” Besson says. “If I was too straightforward, without cheetahs, without cells, without anything, it would be like a thriller and then the end would be weird. So I needed to prep the audience from the beginning, like ‘You have to be ready for everything.’”

Lucy Would’ve Been Boring with a Male Lead

Going back to his earlier films like 1990′s La Femme Nikita to Léon: The Professional (1994), Besson is known for writing badass female characters. Lucy is no different. From the beginning she’s not particularly tough or intelligent, but when she’s pushed (and drug-enhanced) she uses her brains (and a little brawn) to get back at the gang that abducted her and forced her into smuggling drugs. “I’m not male-oriented, like in the ’80s where you have the big muscle guy and the girl is crying in the back,” Besson says. “You know the story of Achilles? For me Achilles without the tendon is of no interest. His weakness makes him interesting. That’s what I like about women. It’s difficult for a woman to compete with a man because he’s usually stronger, so women have to be more clever, more intelligent, more sneaky, more everything. They have to find another way and that is so attractive.”

Besson Had to Erase a Lot of Scarlett Johansson’s Personality For Lucy

His star was “not joking around” when it came to playing the heroine in Lucy, even though Besson jokes that “she had 500 questions” about the film and the role. That was a good thing; once Lucy reaches a certain level of brain functionality, she loses all her empathy and personality. “There is nothing of Lucy that Scarlett can use,” Besson says. “We had to reinvent how to move, how to talk, expressions. [scarlett] was very concerned and very pragmatic, very much about the work. For this type of film you don’t need a star, you need an actress.”

Lucy Took 9 Years to Make

Besson first got the idea for Lucy nearly a decade ago, after meeting a woman who he thought was trying to be an actress but was actually a neuroscientist. They spoke for hours and “I was fascinated by this subject.” Besson spent the next nine years talking with neuroscientists to learn more and writing the script. “I’m like a sponge, I need to know a lot before I can start to make a feature film” he says. “My first idea was to say, ‘OK, I want to do a thriller, I want to do something entertaining, but I want some food in it.’ You can’t talk about the brain and just be goofy. … But when the script was ready, I really, really loved it. I wanted to do it, there was no way I would give this script to anybody else.”

Besson Waited For Everyone to Leave Paris for a Holy Day to Film the Movie’s Epic Car Chase

It wouldn’t be a Besson movie if there wasn’t at least one balls-to-the-wall action sequence. Lucy‘s takes place in broad daylight, as Lucy leads a wild car chase through the streets of Paris. So how did he send Lucy and friends from the Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Concorde—two of the busiest places in the city—without plowing through huge crowds? He waited until the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, a time in France when everyone leaves the cities—like Fourth of July in the States. “Paris is totally empty for three days, except for some Japanese tourists and Chinese tourists, who wake up at 11 a.m. because they’re jetlagged anyway,” Besson says. “Usually with car chases you can feel that it’s some very specific area or very specific hours of the day or night, and I wanted to a car chase in the very worst place in Paris at noon. That was fun to do.”

Besson Didn’t Want His Movie to Have Heroes—Or Villains

Most thrillers have a quest for power, Besson explains, and there’s usually a bad guy who wants it and a good guy who wants to prevent them. In Lucy, an average woman gets the greatest power imaginable and has no choice but to try and pass on her knowledge (which is virtually infinite by the end). “The first line she has when she knows that she’s going to get all the power, she says, ‘I don’t know what to do with it,’” he says. “Usually they know what they want to do with it. They want to destroy, they want to steal, they want to conquer. But at this level of power, the only thing she can do is pass it on. I think it’s such a lesson, because that’s exactly what the cell—which is the first image of the film—that’s what the cell is doing, just passing on everything she knows to the other one.”

[MIKA27]

India doctors remove 232 teeth from boy's mouth

Ashik Gavai is seen here after the operation, with the teeth that were removed

Doctors in India have extracted 232 teeth from the mouth of a 17-year-old boy in a seven-hour operation.

Ashik Gavai was brought in with a swelling in his right jaw, Dr Sunanda Dhiware, head of Mumbai's JJ Hospital's dental department, told the BBC.

The teenager had been suffering for 18 months and travelled to the city from his village after local doctors failed to identify the cause of the problem.

Doctors have described his condition as "very rare" and "a world record".

'Small white pearls'

"Ashik's malaise was diagnosed as a complex composite odontoma where a single gum forms lots of teeth. It's a sort of benign tumour," Dr Dhiware said.

Ashik Gavai's teeth were put on display by doctors after the operation

The teenager had to endure seven hours of medics pulling teeth from his mouth

"At first, we couldn't cut it out so we had to use the basic chisel and hammer to take it out.

"Once we opened it, little pearl-like teeth started coming out, one-by-one. Initially, we were collecting them, they were really like small white pearls. But then we started to get tired. We counted 232 teeth," she added.

The surgery, conducted on Monday, involved two surgeons and two assistants. Ashik now has 28 teeth.

Describing Ashik's case as "very rare", Dr Dhiware said she had "not seen anything like this before in my 30-year career", but said she was "thrilled to get such an exciting case".

"According to medical literature available on the condition, it is known to affect the upper jaw and a maximum of 37 teeth have been extracted from the tumour in the past. But in Ashik's case, the tumour was found deep in the lower jaw and it had hundreds of teeth."

Ashik's father Suresh Gavai was quoted by the Mumbai Mirror as saying that his son complained of severe pain a month ago.

"I was worried that it may turn out to be cancer so I brought him to Mumbai," he said.

[MIKA27]

Arizona execution takes two hours

US death row inmate Joseph Wood has died after an execution in Arizona took nearly two hours to kill him.

Wood, a double murderer, was executed by lethal injection.

His lawyers filed an appeal for an emergency stay of execution, after he had been "gasping and snorting for more than an hour" in the death chamber.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer says she has ordered a full review of the execution, although she said that Wood "died in a lawful manner".

Wood's lawyers argued the extended execution process violated his right to be executed in the absence of cruel and unusual punishment.

But Ms Brewer said: "By eyewitness and medical accounts he did not suffer. This is in stark comparison to the gruesome, vicious suffering that he inflicted on his two victims, and the lifetime of suffering he has caused their family."

Drug source questions

The execution should have taken 10 minutes, his lawyers said, but Wood, 55, gasped more than 600 times before he died.

It began at 13:52 (20:52 GMT), and Wood was pronounced dead at 15:49, one hour and 57 minutes later, according to the Arizona attorney-general's office.

He was convicted of the 1989 murders of his estranged girlfriend Debra Dietz and her father Eugene Dietz.

Family members of the victims were unconcerned by the way the execution was carried out.

"This man conducted a horrific murder and you guys are going, let's worry about the drugs,'' said Richard Brown.

"Why didn't they give him a bullet?"

Wood's lawyers had sought to force Arizona to name the manufacturers of the drugs used in the execution, but a last-ditch ruling by the US Supreme Court cleared the way for the execution to go ahead.

In communications with Wood's lawyers this year, Arizona officials said they would use a two-drug combination of midazolam and hydromorphone to put him to death.

But they declined to provide further identifying information, including the name of the drug's manufacturer, citing a state confidentiality law aimed at protecting the drug makers from reprisal.

MIKA: Sounds like justice to me...

[MIKA27]

LANCIA STRATOS HF STRADALE BY BERTONE

The Lancia Stratos HF by Bertone is a car so ahead of its time that it almost seems like a Syd Mead illustration that came to life and launched itself off the page – right into the World Rally Championship.

The Stratos was powered by a 192bhp, 2418 cc DOHC Dino V6 engine with triple Weber carburettors, a 5-speed manual transmission, 4-wheel independent suspension with front coil springs and rear MacPherson struts, and 4-wheel ventilated disc brakes. The wrap-around windscreen offered an astonishingly wide field of view for both the driver and co-driver – an important feature for a car that was destined to spend most of its life going sideways at 80+mph.

The “HF” in the name stood for “High Fidelity” and the “Stradale” means that this is the street-legal version of the Stratos – it came with a slightly detuned engine but was still capable of running the 0-60 in under 5 seconds and hitting a top speed in the 150mph range.

This particular Stratos is thought to be one of the most original non-museum examples left anywhere in the world, its odometer reads just 3,236 kilometres and it’s never been restored or even resprayed – this car looks identical to how it did when it rolled out out of the Bertone factory in 1974.

The Stratos HF would go onto win the World Rally Championship in 1974, 1975 and 1976 – further cementing its place in the record books and ensuring it would never be thought of as just another pretty face. The car you see here is due to roll across the auction block with RM Auctions at Monterey on the 15th of August 2014, its estimated value is in the $450,000 to $650,000 USD range – meaning that I could probably sell my house, rob the local bank and start a meth lab, and still not quite be able to afford it.

[MIKA27]

BUNKIE PREFAB TINY HOME

As more individuals are opting for tiny homes, designers are creating more off the shelf prefab options for would-be tiny home dwellers. The latest prefab structure to catch our attention comes to us in the form of the Bunkie.

The Bunkie was designed as a collaboration project between Evan Bare from 608 Design Studio in Canada and BLDG Workshop. The structure was built to integrate with its natural surroundings, and thus has two facades made entirely of glass – which also allows for plenty of natural light to enter the dwelling. There are several different models to choose from, even ones that includes multi functional furniture options, ensuring all you need to do is secure the land, pay for the Bunkie, and let your new life in a tiny home begin. Prices start at $21,900 for the entry level model. [Purchase]

MIKA: Fantastic Cigar room for those who don't smoke indoors at home IMO

[MIKA27]

ORIS BIG CROWN PROPILOT ALTIMETER WATCH

The Swiss team at Oris is well known for their beautifully crafted timepieces, and now they’re looking to introduce a “first” to the world of watches. The Oris Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter is the world’s first automatic watch with a built-in altimeter, and boy is it beautiful.

Sure the timepiece was designed with pilots in mind, but we think the watch’s ability to both tell time and specific altitude at a glance could be beneficial for those who enjoy everything from climbing to mountaineering – or just happen to be flying frequently. Nestled within the 47mm stainless steel crown is a yellow-clad dial displaying the current altitude. There is also a built in barometer used to determine/display atmospheric pressure. The watch is water resistant up to 100 meters, displays altitude in feet or meters, and comes in your choice of canvas, leather or chain link straps

[MIKA27]

8BITDO NES30 GAMEPAD

Nintendo might not be releasing your favorite 8-bit classics on the App Store anytime soon, but you can at least recreate the feeling of the controller with the 8Bitdo NES30 Gamepad. This Bluetooth-powered, iOS, Android, and Mac/PC compatible gamepad was designed to look and feel like the NES controller we all know and love, but with the extra buttons necessary to control more demanding modern games. In other words, it's way more practical than trying to splice that ancient controller onto a Lightning cable.

[Fuzz]

Arizona execution takes two hours

MIKA: Sounds like justice to me...

Sorry, but no. That's not justice... he didn't suffer enough.

[MIKA27]

Here's A Poster For The Next Instalment Of 'The Hobbit'

Here's a new poster for the third Hobbit instalment.

It’s called The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, and it features the giant, terrifying dragon, Smaug, riding a wave of fire towards what looks to be Bard The Bowman, who is armed only with a bow and arrow. You’re going to need a bigger bow!

The poster looks to be a hint that we’ll see new footage of the third Hobbit film at the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con starting tomorrow. Can’t wait!

[MIKA27]

America's Next Big Space Launch Rocket Is A Total Beast

With its forthcoming Space Launch System, NASA hopes to send astronauts farther into space than it ever has ever before — to Mars and beyond. And when the first crew does leave to make interplanetary history, they will do so aboard these rocket engines.

First developed nearly 30 years ago, the RS-25 rocket engine has been hailed as the “most reliable rocket engine ever built.” Aboard the Space Shuttle for all 135 missions, a trio of RS-25 engines mounted on the back end of the orbiter could produce up to 491,000 foot-pounds of thrust each while being fed a mix of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen from the shuttle’s external fuel tank.

But the thrust needed to get a crew to the moon won’t do much good when sending them to Mars or farther, so NASA has spent the better part of the last year upgrading its stock of 16 such rocket engines — each now producing 512,000 foot pounds of thrust.

This recent upgrade requires developmental and flight certification testing before the new rockets can be integrated into the new 70 metric ton SLS. To do that, the set of 16 rockets has been transferred to the Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. As the NASA website explains:

Early tests on the engine will collect data on the performance of its new advanced engine controller and other modifications. The controller regulates valves that direct the flow of propellant to the engine, which determines the amount of thrust generated during an engine test, known as a hotfire test. In flight, propellant flow and engine thrust determine the speed and trajectory of a spacecraft. The controller also regulates the engine startup sequence, which is especially important on an engine as sophisticated as the RS-25. Likewise, the controller determines the engine shutdown sequence, ensuring it will proceed properly under both normal and emergency conditions.

“This test series is a major milestone because it will be our first opportunity to operate the engine with a new controller and to test propellant inlet conditions for SLS that are different than the space shuttle,” Steve Wofford, SLS Liquid Engines Element manager, said in a press statement. “This testing will confirm the RS-25 will be successful at powering SLS.”

Should all testing go according to schedule, NASA hopes to have the SLS shuttling crews to passing asteroids by the middle of the next decade and to Mars by 2030.

[MrGTO]

America's Next Big Space Launch Rocket Is A Total Beast

With its forthcoming Space Launch System, NASA hopes to send astronauts farther into space than it ever has ever before — to Mars and beyond. And when the first crew does leave to make interplanetary history, they will do so aboard these rocket engines.

First developed nearly 30 years ago, the RS-25 rocket engine has been hailed as the “most reliable rocket engine ever built.” Aboard the Space Shuttle for all 135 missions, a trio of RS-25 engines mounted on the back end of the orbiter could produce up to 491,000 foot-pounds of thrust each while being fed a mix of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen from the shuttle’s external fuel tank.

But the thrust needed to get a crew to the moon won’t do much good when sending them to Mars or farther, so NASA has spent the better part of the last year upgrading its stock of 16 such rocket engines — each now producing 512,000 foot pounds of thrust.

This recent upgrade requires developmental and flight certification testing before the new rockets can be integrated into the new 70 metric ton SLS. To do that, the set of 16 rockets has been transferred to the Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. As the NASA website explains:

Early tests on the engine will collect data on the performance of its new advanced engine controller and other modifications. The controller regulates valves that direct the flow of propellant to the engine, which determines the amount of thrust generated during an engine test, known as a hotfire test. In flight, propellant flow and engine thrust determine the speed and trajectory of a spacecraft. The controller also regulates the engine startup sequence, which is especially important on an engine as sophisticated as the RS-25. Likewise, the controller determines the engine shutdown sequence, ensuring it will proceed properly under both normal and emergency conditions.

“This test series is a major milestone because it will be our first opportunity to operate the engine with a new controller and to test propellant inlet conditions for SLS that are different than the space shuttle,” Steve Wofford, SLS Liquid Engines Element manager, said in a press statement. “This testing will confirm the RS-25 will be successful at powering SLS.”

Should all testing go according to schedule, NASA hopes to have the SLS shuttling crews to passing asteroids by the middle of the next decade and to Mars by 2030.

That is a work of art. I would hang that pic on my wall!

[MIKA27]

The Sport of Japanese Apologizing

After losing a game, you might think what this Japanese baseball team did was rather extreme. Then again, you might think this is pretty great.

High school baseball is a big deal in Japan. All the teams hope to make it into the national tournament held at Koshien Stadium, home of the Hanshin Tigers. The tournament is broadcast on television, and many of the star players eventually play professional baseball.

Winning is great, but sore losers suck! And after the Noshiro Shoyo High School baseball team was defeated, losing their chance to appear in the nationwide tournament, the entire team lined up by the side of the road to see off the supporters and fans who wanted them play. To each car, they said, "Thank you" and bowed.

Since there was traffic, the players ended up standing there for around an hour. In the rain.

Japanese baseball is stricter than American baseball. In high school, all the players must shave their heads, so they keep cool in the summer, but also so they belong to a team—a cohesive unit. In professional baseball, you really don't see Japanese players blowing bubble gum or spitting everywhere like Major League players do.

Online in Japan, many people praised their actions, saying they took defeat with honor. "I have such deep respect for this team," wrote Twitter user baseball319_t. Another Twitter user wrote that this was "most polite team" around.

On 2ch, Japan's largest blog, however, there were those who were critical of this, saying the players could have gotten sick, that they were overdoing it, and that this was even strange.

It's worth noting that the same team thanks and bows towards fans on the field (which most, if not all, Japanese teams do) as well as bows and thanks the cars as they leave after the game when it's sunny and the team wins.

Extreme or not, if they are going to thank people when they win and the weather's good, I guess, they should thank people when they lose and the weather's crap.

There's always next year, Noshiro. Best of luck.

[MIKA27]

'Batman V Superman' Batsuit Revealed At Comic-Con

Today is the start of San Diego Comic Con, and the fan frenzy is already off to a rousing start. Warner Bros. has on hand the new Batman costume cowl and cape to be worn by Ben Affleck in the upcoming superhero team-up film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, slated for a May 6th release in 2016.

That date could still change, since currently Marvel has Captain America 3 scheduled to hit theaters the same day, and right now both sides insist they aren’t budging from the coveted calendar slot. As I’ve written before, I don’t believe the studios are crazy enough to really throw away money based on a grudge match. But before we get into more about the current state of the face-off, let’s take a look at the unveiling of the new Batman cowl at Comic-Con.

We saw it already in a dark, moody picture released by director Zack Snyder via Twitter TWTR +2.54%, but here is a nice, clear look at it, courtesy of Modern Myth Media’s Sean Gerber, who supplied these photos.

Notice, it appears this cowl has the sort of neck design that keeps Batman’s head and neck stationary. However, it’s possible the plastic is thin enough to allow some minor head movement to the side. Or perhaps during the film they’ll use different cowls in different scenes, to allow him to move his neck and head. But for now, this is all we have to go on.

Here is a full shot of the cowl and cape together from different angles…

I have to say, this looks pretty awesome! I’ll go on record saying this is the best looking bat-cowl yet, and I say that as a huge fan of the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight trilogy.

We might get a look at the entire batsuit later during the weekend, we’ll just have to wait and see what WB has in store. I suspect we’ll see some exciting stuff from Batman v Superman, even though it’s not listed among the official presentation material. And don’t be surprised if at some point in Hall H, someone “says the word” and conjures up a reveal about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson suiting up in marvelous fashion!

Comic Con helps generate a lot of buzz and anticipation among fandom for these films, and so both Disney-Marvel and WB/DC Entertainment roll out plenty of freebies and presentations to generate as much hype as possible. The press they get from this, and of course the word of mouth among fandom that spreads online and in real life to friends and family (which tends to lead to additional coverage in the press, too), is part of extensive marketing efforts that increasingly depend on social media interactions among fans and the mainstream public to lay the foundation for future marketing pushes reaching ever-broader audiences. So the nature of Comic Con and its role in the marketing and strategies for studios has changed quite a bit over the years.