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

[MIKA27]

The Mysterious Ending of John Carpenter's The Thing May Finally Have an Answer

There’s a snazzy new Blu-ray of John Carpenter’s monster classic The Thing coming out in October. One of its new features is a commentary track with cinematographer Dean Cundey—who reveals a sly lighting technique used throughout the film to indicate when a character has become no longer human.

Cundey, whose career includes several other Carpenter films (including Big Trouble in Little China), as well as Jurassic Park and Apollo 13, broke it down to Blumhouse’s Rob Galluzzo, who interviews him for the commentary track:

Early on in the commentary track, I asked Cundey if he and John discussed doing a subtle lighting trick to imply who might be “the thing.” He waited until the blood scene to answer my question. As the scene began, he explained, “So we were looking for some kind of a subtle way, to say which one of these (men) might be human. You’ll notice there’s always an eye light, we call it, a little gleam in the eye of the actor. It gives life.”

This is a fun thing to look out for during the blood-test scene—which I usually spend counting down the seconds until I can yell the “TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH” line—but it really gets interesting when you think about The Thing’s final moments. Standing by the flaming wreckage of their base, MacReady (Kurt Russell) and Childs (Keith David), who have absolutely no reason to trust each other, decide to just wait and “see what happens.”

Though Cundey tells Galluzzo that Carpenter wanted to keep the ending ambiguous, anyone who watches the film can’t help but wonder if one of the men has already been overtaken by the alien. Looking for the “little gleam” might best be done on the big screen (or at least on the new Blu-ray, which boasts a brand-new 2K scan of The Thing’s original interpositive film). But as others have pointed out, it sure looks like Childs is the one with something to hide:

 

The Thing Collector’s Edition is out October 11 from Scream Factory.

[Fuzz]

15 minutes ago, MIKA27 said:

This Australian Coffee Drink Is So Effective It Might Just Kill You

 

If you ever wonder why there's so much legislation out there restricting you from doing stuff, look right here for your answer. Irresponsible people offering things like this is just plain stupid. Oh yeah, I put up a warning, so I'm no longer responsible for a customer's actions. Actually, no. Offering a potentially lethal product requires more than just a sign, that in reality, most people will ignore. There's always going to be some idiot that will take up the, "Ass Kicker" coffee challenge. 

9 minutes ago, MIKA27 said:

R2-D2 LIFE SIZED FIGURE

MIKA: @Fuzz could actually fit into this
 

I am not that short!

[MIKA27]

4 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

If you ever wonder why there's so much legislation out there restricting you from doing stuff, look right here for your answer. Irresponsible people offering things like this is just plain stupid. Oh yeah, I put up a warning, so I'm no longer responsible for a customer's actions. Actually, no. Offering a potentially lethal product requires more than just a sign, that in reality, most people will ignore. There's always going to be some idiot that will take up the, "Ass Kicker" coffee challenge. 

I am not that short!

If you drink that Arse kicker coffee, I am certain it will shrink anyone down to that size

[MIKA27]

Researchers Turned Fish Scales Into A Renewable Power Source

We eat fish and throw away the scales. But now researchers have figured out a reason those fish scales might be worth saving.

A new paper out in Applied Physics Letters today details a method for transforming fish scales into an energy harvester. Researchers processed the raw scales to make them flexible and then attached two electrodes to each scale before laminating it. The resulting cell could then harvest energy from movement around it, including motion as simple as just vibrations or even a heartbeat. This has researchers suggesting that they could one day use it to power things like pacemakers.

“In the future, our goal is to implant a bio-piezoelectric nanogenerator into a heart for pacemaker devices, where it will continuously generate power from heartbeats for the device’s operation,” co-author of the paper Dipankar Mandal of Jadavpur University explained in a statement. “Then it will degrade when no longer needed.”

That particular application is fairly far off, but the research is an important reminder that there may be a better use for the incredible amount of food waste we’re generating — four million tonnes every year in Australia alone. A lot of that wasted food is readily-edible stuff that just gets tossed. But there are also inedible byproducts like fish scales and orange peels that could be put to productive use with a little creativity.

“The fish scale is available in large quantity in our society because it is basically bio-waste component and thrown away in food processing,” co-author Sujoy Kumar Ghosh told Gizmodo. To get the scales they used, the researchers simply collected them from a local fish market. Not only is figuring out how to use non-edible food waste for other purposes cost-effective, it gives us a way to use even the parts of food we don’t eat.

[MIKA27]

The PS4 Slim And PS4 Pro Are Here

After months of speculation, rumours, and some excellent reporting, Sony’s latest Playstations are finally here. Sony announced the new consoles at a press event in the Playstation Theatre in New York City today. Hosting a major tech event the same day as Apple day seems like a risky move, but Sony’s event was packed with journalists eager for a break from the House of Cook and a visit to the House of Nathan Drake.

The Playstation Neo, aka Playstation 4.5, is officially on its way. Renamed the Playstation 4 Pro, this guy has a lot of PC-level guts in it. The hard drive is a whopping 1TB, and both the CPU and GPU have been upgraded. This souped up console is the first from Sony to allow you to play games in 4K. That’s a critical necessity as TVs with lower resolutions become increasingly scarce, and PCs capable of 4K gaming become cheaper and more common.

It also provides the games in HDR, which means significantly more detail in areas of extreme brightness and darkness. Things washed out by a pop of light or a deep shadow are not more visible. That said, Sony promises that original PS4 will also be HDR-capable via a patch by the end of the month.

This is the game Infamous: Second Light as it would be seen on an original PS4.

This is the same game, same shot, on the PS4 Pro. Ironically a single image from a still camera is incapable of adequately showing just how improved the details are.

Besides HDR capabilities, upscaling old games to 4K, and playing newer games natively at 4K, the PS4 Pro can also play all your other content in 4K and HDR, including Netflix and Youtube.

But the best part is that the PS4 Pro is the forward compatibility of current titles. The Xbox One S, Microsoft’s competing console, doesn’t yet have games that are compatible with its ability to display in 4K and HDR. But multiple PS4 games will be available at launch and take advantage of the PS4 Pro with a simple patch, and Sony promises that any developer can make their game work with the Pro with a minor tweak. Which means there should be no significant gap between titles available for both the Pro and original PS4.

It also provides better looking games on 1080p and lower resolution screens. In the sample Sony presented, there was clearly more detail on screen, with a character moving through weeds on the PS4 Pro that weren’t present on the original PS4.

The PS4 Pro will be available November 10 for AU$559.95 (US$399).

If all the TVs in your house are only capable of 1080p and lower resolutions, you don’t necessarily need to worry about the PS4 Pro. It’s amazing, but maybe you’re on a budget. You can invest in the newly announced, slimmer Playstation 4, which begins shipping September 15. Inside, the console is virtually identical to the current PS4, with the same ports, capabilities, and 500GB hard drive. It’s just much much smaller than the PS4, which made all our eyes grow big as saucers when it lumbered onto the scene in 2013.

The Slim is smaller all around. It’s half an inch narrower, three-quarters of an inch shorter, and half an inch taller. Yet the biggest and best improvement has nothing to do with size. Sony’s also moved the power and eject buttons and made both actual buttons. The original PS4 had nearly invisible touch zones for powering it on and ejecting media, and those zones were right next to each other, which made for a lot of accidental ejects and power downs.

The PS4 Slim, officially just called the PS4, is available September 15 and will retail for $US299 ($390). If you haven’t already purchased a Playstation and you don’t plan on upgrading your TV to 4K soon, then the Slim is a great (and svelte) deal.

And you’ll want either it or the PS4 Pro to use PS VR, which launches in October. Sony’s answer to the virtual reality systems from HTC and Oculus could easily be the best of the bunch. While some of the technology found in the Vive and Rift may be more astonishing, PS VR has a much better lineup of games ready at launch. Sony has learned a lot about launching video game consoles since the original Playstation 21 years ago. The most important thing at launch, after the cool tech, are the cool games.

Sony just made the specs available. Note how the GPU on the PS4 Pro is clocked to be more than two times faster than that of the PS4.

The PS4 Pro

The new, slimmer, PS4

 

 

[MIKA27]

Here It Is: The New Apple iPhone 7

Apple has a new iPhone. It’s more powerful than ever — the most powerful phone ever. It has longer battery life, and the larger 7 Plus has a unique dual-lens camera. It has no headphone jack. It’s waterproof and dust proof. The home button is brand new. And it runs Apple’s brand new iOS 10 operating system. Here’s everything you need to know.

At its September Special Event in San Francisco, Apple introduced the world to the new iPhone 7, running through a list of 10 features that made it unique and magical and other positive adjectives. We can boil that down to a few less for you.

The Design

The iPhone 7 has the same basic design and layout as the iPhone 6, but makes a few small but significant changes. The chassis, for example, has been redesigned to almost entirely eliminate antenna lines, and integrates the camera bump into the chassis for a smoother, rounder look. Everything looks a little more refined. Oh, and there’s no headphone jack any more.

The phone’s home button has been redesigned, abandoning the classic tactile clicking home button for a Force Touch pressure-sensitive circle. Inside the phone, a larger Taptic Engine vibration engine allows different feelings for short and long press and other interactions. The new iPhone is IP67 water and dust resistant, too.

And then there’s the new colours. The iPhone 7 will be available in the usual silver, gold and rose gold, but abandons Space Grey for a new matte Black and piano Jet Black finish. That super-glossy Jet Black will only be available in the two higher storage capacities, so you’ll have to open your wallets even more than usual to get one.

The Camera

On the smaller iPhone 7, the redesigned 12-megapixel camera gets a faster f/1.8 lens and optical image stabilisation, with a new six-element lens glass setup and a True Tone LED flash that now has four different LED segments that can flash 50 per cent brighter than the old one. It also supports wide colour gamut photography and RAW image capture.

Now, the 7 Plus’ dual-lens camera isn’t unique in that it’s dual lens. The Huawei P9 has that, as does the LG G5. What’s unique about the iPhone 7 is that it mixes features from both those competitors. Like the P9 it has two identical 12-megapixel sensors, one for each lens, giving you shots that look the same from both cameras. Like the G5, you get a wide-angle and a telephoto lens to give you two different creative options.

Apple is talking about the iPhone 7 Plus’ potential to zoom between the two lenses, and up to 10x total zoom using the iPhone’s camera. It’s important to realise that you only have two optical zoom settings — 1x, using the 28mm prime lens’ full 12-megapixel sensor, and 2x, using the 56mm prime lens’ full 12-megapixel sensor. Anything else will introduce a bit of digital cropping.

The Display

Apple’s Retina displays don’t get a resolution bump, but they are 25 per cent brighter than previous phones. That’s a big difference, especially when it comes to outdoor viewing and watching video, both of which can benefit massively from a higher peak brightness level.

The new displays — also identically sized to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s, 6 Plus and 6s Plus — support wide colour gamut, which is one of those incredibly important display technologies that nobody really talks about. WCG means a much broader range of colours can be displayed, and that means smoother gradation in the images and icons you see.

And like the iPhone 6s, the 7 supports 3D Touch. While Apple and its third-party partners haven’t really given 3D Touch a killer hook yet, we happen to think it’s an incredibly important piece of hardware. In the smartphone world, it’s (almost ironically) like giving Apple a second right-click mouse button where its competitors only have left-click.

The Performance

The iPhone 7 uses a new A10 Fusion system-on-chip processor, which is for the first time a quad-core chip. Integrating two performance cores and two efficiency cores, it’s a similar ARM setup to the one that many Android phones have used for some time now, allowing for a compromise between battery life and outright performance.

Apple says the iPhone 7 is the most powerful smartphone ever, though. While we’ll wait for the Geekbench results to tell us that for a fact, it’s definitely faster than the 6s — with 50 per cent more graphics power versus the previous A9, which will make higher frame rates possible for visually interesting games.

More internal storage as standard, too, is a very nice inclusion. 32GB is now the base level — thank God! We told you not to buy a 16GB iPhone — and 128GB and 256GB are the upper-specced variants available. That’s a bunch of storage, and that means a bunch of offline photos and Apple Music downloads without even worrying about an iCloud backup.

Everything Else

The iPhone 7’s speakers are 50 per cent louder than the 6s, and for the first time — a long, long time coming, too — in an iPhone are stereo. The iPhone 7 uses the earpiece for that stereo sound with the same downward-firing speaker in the base, also promising a more extensive dynamic range when you’re using them — but please, don’t use them on the train when I’m around.

The battery is improved over last generation, not through a larger capacity but just by the new A10 Fusion chip’s more efficient processing. Apple says the 7 will get two hours more than the 6s — 13 hours of wireless video watching, let’s say — where the 7 Plus gets one more more than the 6s Plus — 14 hours overall wireless video.

And Apple is also keeping up — for the most part — with ongoing advances in Wi-Fi and 4G mobile network connectivity, with the iPhone 7 supporting 450Mbps downloads over LTE Category 9 with support for LTE-Advanced. And Voice over LTE and Wi-Fi calling are also both included out of the box, as long as Australia’s carriers get their act together for it.

[MIKA27]

The New Underworld: Blood Wars Trailer

The Underworld movies have been pitting vampires and werewolves against each other since 2003, which is kind of amazing. In the fifth instalment, Blood Wars, Kate Beckinsale is back in goth badarse mode as Selene, whose enhanced vampire blood could tip the scales if it falls into the wrong hands… er, claws.

But who really cares about the plot? These movies mostly about catsuits, capes, sneering threats, murky mythology, gun battles, artfully messy hairdos and slo-mo fight scenes. Clearly people are still going to see ’em, otherwise we wouldn’t be getting a fifth instalment.

Beckinsale’s co-stars this time around include series regulars Theo James and Charles Dance, as well as new addition Tobias Menzies (Outlander). Seasoned cinematographer and effects artist Anna Foerster makes her feature directing debut; the film is due in December.

[MIKA27]

Disney World Now Makes Toddlers Get Fingerprint Scans

The Most Magical Place on Earth has started scanning the fingers of three-year-olds in an effort to prevent ticket fraud, because you can never be too careful about tiny babies that have only just started communicating properly.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that children between the ages of three and nine will now have their fingers scanned when they enter Walt Disney World and its theme parks, a practice already in use for guests 10 and older.

A Disney spokesperson told WESH.com that the new policy, which apparently went into effect in August, “ensures a seamless entry experience for our guests, helps protect guests from someone else using their ticket and reduces ticket fraud”. Previously, there were no safeguards in place to prevent ticket swapping between kids under 10.

It doesn’t appear that the policy is mandatory — according to the Sentinel, parents can use their own fingers in place of their children’s, and WESH.com notes that people who don’t want Disney to scan their digits can “visit guest relations”.

The AP reports that Disney’s scanner use has been in place for over a decade. It supposedly uses something called “finger geometry”, or “pictures of several points on people’s fingers”.

Between this and the park’s exploration of “foot tracking” — taking photos of guests’ feet in order to “customise” the park experience — Disney World is sure on track for its transformation into a dystopian wonderland.

[MIKA27]

Is a Serial Killer Behind This Rash of Unsolved Killings in Alaska?

In Anchorage, Alaska, there have been 15 homicides since June; most of them have occurred late at night, and nine took place along trails and isolated areas. In three cases, more than one person was killed.

At present, the strange rash of killings remains unsolved.

The mysterious deaths have become enough of a concern that officials with the Anchorage Police Department issued a statement, advising members of the community be careful while visiting parks and wooded areas in the community:

“A.P.D. wants to remind our citizens to be cautious when they are out during these hours, especially if they are in isolated areas like our parks, bike trails or unoccupied streets,” the Police Department wrote. “If you plan to be out late at night, make sure you travel with several friends and not alone.”

Naturally, the questions surrounding the as-yet unsolved deaths have led to speculation about a serial killer that may be operating in and around Anchorage. New York Times reported that, “Asked if investigators believe that a serial killer could be on the loose, a police spokeswoman, Jennifer Castro, said the police always try to determine if unsolved crimes are related.”

Simply put, law enforcement agencies may not be leaping to call these deaths the work of a serial killer yet, but certainly hope to understand any relationships that may be uncovered between them.

It was further reported that many people involved with programs like Anchorage’s Trail Watch program find the situation very unsettling. John McCleary, one of the program’s former coordinators, called the situation “so abnormal”, further noting that Anchorage no longer feels like the same city.

Alaska Dispatch News reported that Anchorage may soon “break the record for most homicides in one year.” Within the last few days, it was announced that the FBI is now also assisting with the homicides, though a spokeswoman refused to give details about the FBI’s involvement.

The average number of homicides in Anchorage is normally below 12 annually. With 15 deaths since June, and 25 total for 2016, the numbers are already more than double the annual average.

1995 remains the deadliest year on record, with 29 homicide victims reported for that year. Law enforcement agencies state, however, that the majority of the deaths that year could be attributed to gang violence, stemming from the illegal sale of drugs, as reported by the Anchorage Daily News at that time.

While police haven’t attributed the deaths in 2016 to drugs or gang-related violence, police in the city maintain that nothing appears to link the deaths to a serial killer at the present time either.

“Right now we’re having a lot of crimes,” said Anchorage Police Chief Chris Tolley in a recent press conference. “And I’m concerned, and I know the community is concerned.”

Tolley further noted that the majority of the victims were young people. “We’re seeing a trend here where half the victims are under the age of 21,” Tolley said, while loosely suggesting that some of the deaths could be related to drugs, alcohol, or more simply “things going too far.” Tolley also stated that mental health issues had been related to some of the deaths.

Whether 2016 goes on to set a new record for deadliest year is yet to be seen; however, plenty of questions remain about the current spike in homicides in the area, and whether their ultimate cause, and prevalence along trails and other isolated areas in the city, will be revealed to have been connected in some deeper way.

[MIKA27]

‘Hitler Wine’ Has Landed a German Bar Owner in Serious Trouble

Among the dizzying panoply of beverages available in the modern bar, you’d be hard pressed to find a single drink arguably more widespread or inoffensive than wine.

That said, there are still some situations in which age-old wine can be considered a cause for concern.

Case in point: Führer Wine. Yeah—as in Hitler.

A 49-year-old Bavarian pub owner is now facing up to three years in jail thanks to four bottles of Hitler-themed wine, which he allegedly placed on the bar for all to see.

According to Augsburger-Allgemeine, the wine bottles in question had pictures of Hitler on their labels—and one also included the nazi salute, Sieg Heil. A member of the public told the police about the presence of the bottles; the police raided the place and found them.

According to The Local, the pub owner, who is said to have no links to far-right politics in Germany, had been gifted the bottles. He claimed he just put them out on the bar because he found them to be “funny.”

What’s probably not striking him as funny is his arrest. German law contains a provision prohibiting the use of symbols associated with unconstitutional organizations such as the Nazi party. This law—known as Strafgesetzbuch 86a—criminalizes the display of swastikas and other symbols associated with Nazism, as well as the use of terms like “Heil Hitler.”

On the other hand, Italy happens to have no laws halting the sale of Hitler-branded wine and beer, and it’s been alleged that several brands are manufactured throughout Italy.

This isn’t the first time a beverage has been used in a hateful way in Germany. Back in March, we reported that a Bavarian brewery was forced to pull a line of beers it had produced because the labels were filled with Nazi symbolism. The beer branding also contained anti-immigrant sentiments, so it offended Muslims, Jews, and pretty much anyone else who doesn’t have blonde hair and blue eyes.

[MIKA27]

How a Cleaning Lady Became One of Argentina’s Only Female Grill Chefs

Asado. A beef-dominated barbecue extravaganza using the entire spectrum of a cow (including chitlins, sweetbreads, brain, skirt steak, fillet, and short ribs), devouring asado in Argentina is as regular an activity as bowel movements.

Pioneered by Argentina’s gauchos (cowboys), who’d hack up unsuspecting bovines roaming the vast pampas flatlands in the 18th century and now replicated by millions every weekend, it’s an industry still dominated by men. From choosing wood over coal to stoking embers and flipping the enormous racks of meat, manning the parrilla (grill) is very much a “guy” job. Womenfolk get to dally about with lettuce and tomatoes, lay the table, and, ah yes, wash up.

So, how did a humble cleaning lady with no barbecuing experience land the top job of womaning the grill at one of Argentina’s biggest wineries?

It’s not as if the stars were alined in Virginia Lázaro’s favour. A quietly spoken woman who still lives with her parents in Perdriel, Mendoza, the country’s main wine-producing province, Lázaro spent the past 11 years making ends meet as a cleaner.

But when Nieto Senetiner Winery’s head of tourism Marcelo Molina looked into revamping their restaurant four years ago, he gave Lázaro a life-changing opportunity: to assist making the daily parrilla.

“I started out working at the bodega in 2001 and was housekeeper at Villa Blanca, the owners’ farmhouse,” Lázaro tells me. “Then Marcelo suggested I help the gardener out with the asado, that he’d cook while I’d undertake service. I’d never made an asado—though I’d always watched my grandad prepare homemade charcuterie when I was growing up then cook it—so I kept an eye on what the gardener was doing.”

Lázaro’s understanding of the grill soon started to grow.

“The parrilla is like a game: you have to play with it,” she says. “I learnt everything I know here at the restaurant. And it was a really big deal to move up to this position and leave my cleaning days behind. It’s been a big step up but the whole discovery means I’ve grown a lot.”

Lázaro has now been an asadora—the rare term given to female grill chefs—at the winery for three years. She is in extremely select company. In nearby Buenos Aires, Patricia Ramos oversees meat matters at the Four Seasons Nuestro Secreto steakhouse, but even in 2016, taking charge of the parrilla is considered a job for the man of the house.

Regardless, diners at Nieto Senetiner usually have their interest piqued by the sight of a blonde ponytailed lady slicing through vast slabs of meat and moving embers.

“Everyone thinks it’s weird to see a woman at the parrilla, and a woman making great asado at that,” says Lázaro. “People are always interested, though, first commenting that it’s strange but then asking how I got into it. However, I don’t know any other parrilleras here in Mendoza.”

True to form, on my visit to the winery, an elderly couple start nosing around her prep table. The familiar line of questioning commences but Lázaro takes it in all her stride, lightly moving around the double grill and catering to 80 guests’ meat whims a day.

Watching the asadora in motion is a calming, zen-like experience rarely seen in this usually macho environment. Chorizo pork sausage, black pudding, ribs, and flank are all cooked to spec—rare, medium rare, even well done.

But Lázaro’s grilling technique wasn’t always quite so smooth and elegant.

“My first asado was a bit of a disaster—I burnt it!” she remembers. “The ribs were blackened. But the diners liked it anyway. I didn’t know much back then but it turned out I’d used too many embers. It takes time to learn how to do things right and the secret to a good asado is to cook it very slowly and be patient.”

A feminine touch Lázaro does bring to the grill is to add a whole pineapple into the embers, where it slowly cooks, before peeling and slicing it to pair with her pork.

“Agridulce,” she says—sweet meets sour. Going above and way beyond the classic gammon and pineapple combo, the pairing is delicious.

Thanks to the upgrade in job description, life has taken a complete about turn for the Lázaro, who has been able to buy a new car as well as a house.

“I love every part of my job: the satisfaction of enjoying what I do, knowing what I do, helps me to grow plus guests leave happy,” she says. “That’s what being at the parrilla is. I never imagined for one second I’d be doing this, but the truth is I love it and I’m very comfortable.”

But it’s not just about Lázaro’s own professional and personal satisfaction. Her job also means she paves the way for a new generation of female grill masters.

“The girls are learning little by little, though one of them is very anxious and wants to get things done fast,” she says. “Obviously I’m teaching her that the parrilla needs time and patience. They replace me on my day off. But the truth is, I prefer to do everything on my own—I don’t like sharing my parrilla with anyone!”

And what would her grandfather say if he saw her womaning the winery grill today?

“Ah, I’d love it if he could see me. He’d be so proud.”

[MIKA27]

There's a New Most Interesting Man in the World, and He's Very Different

His beard alone experienced more than a lesser man's entire body. Even his enemies listed him as their emergency contact number. His charm was so contagious vaccines were created for it.

He was the most interesting man in the world, and he's just been replaced. But how does a brand replace an ambassador who so unequivocally became the most interesting man in the world? Bros would quote his triumphs at parties, they wanted to be him. They never could be him. No one could be him. And that's what made the most interesting man in the world the most interesting man in the world.

After 10 years reminiscing on his many great accomplishments, actor Jonathan Goldsmith retired as the most interesting man in the world earlier this year at the age of 77.

Already, Dos Equis has revealed the new Most Interesting Man in the world. And this man is both interesting and very different from Goldsmith.

His name name is Augustin Legrand. He's a French actor and he delivers his first line in Spanish. A man in a bar asks, "Think anyone will ever be as interesting as him?" (nodding his head toward a commercial featuring Goldsmith).

"Hard to say," Legrand responds.

We see him chop a melon with his hand, step out of a spacecraft, retrieve a bottle from a well.

At 41, Legrand isn't the grizzled man reminiscing on his life over a beer he doesn't always drink. More interesting (to use the phrase) is that the setting of the ad and the use of Spanish is for the brand to appeal to their growing number of Hispanic consumers. Even though Dos Equis is a brand with a Mexican heritage (owned by Heineken), representatives tell Ad Week that Hispanic consumers make up more of the beer-drinking market than a decade ago.

 

[MIKA27]

APPLE AIRPODS

For years now, wireless headphones have been a kind of aspirational product that scrappy entrepreneurs tried to pursue with the help of crowdfunding sites. No longer. The technology has been brought onto the broader market in a big way thanks to Apple’s release of their brand new Air Pods.

One of the most exciting parts about the headphones is the W1 chip. Up until now, just about every wireless pair of headphones uses Bluetooth technology. Instead of going along with the crowd, Apple has managed to build their own proprietary connection from the ground up so as to deliver high efficiency playback while delivering a consistent connection. Instead of fussing around with buttons in order to turn these on, thanks to infrared sensors the Air Pods will start playing as soon as you put them in your ear. Want to talk to Siri to make a call or check an appointment mid song? An accelerometer in the ear buds makes it so you can just tap them twice and make a call. Calls are surprisingly crisp with these, too, due to new technology that reduces external noise. With 5 hours of charging and a carrying case that has enough power to go all day – you won’t end up compromising on either utility quality of sound. You can get these in late October starting for $160.

 

[MIKA27]

VIZIO CRAVE SPEAKERS

Vizio have introduced two new premium speakers as an alternative to Sonos, the leader in multi-room audio. Both speakers integrate Google Cast, the Crave 360 ($249.99) is a portable speaker with 360° omnidirectional sound, up to 95 dB of sound output, an internal battery that can last up to eight hours, and comes with a wireless charging base. The Crave Pro ($299.99) is a more traditional 2.1 music speaker with custom-crafted dual subwoofers, thats likely to remain wherever you put it in the home. You can connect multiple speakers over Wi-Fi to fill your entire home with music, or play different songs in different rooms.

 

[MIKA27]

Geoff Johns On The Future Of DC Movies: Relax, We're Changing Everything

In their first interview since taking over the DC Films, the men put in charge of righting the ship after Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad admitted that the tone of the previous films has been wrong — and as a result, many changes are being made.

Those men are Geoff Johns and Jon Berg, the DC Comics chief creative officer and Warner Bros. executive, respectively, who are now in charge of the DC Films slate, which includes Justice League, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman and many others.

“n the past, I think the studio has said, ‘Oh, DC films are gritty and dark and that’s what makes them different.’ That couldn’t be more wrong,” Johns told The Wall Street Journal. “It’s a hopeful and optimistic view of life. Even Batman has a glimmer of that in him. If he didn’t think he’d make tomorrow better, he’d stop.”

The pair admitted many of those changes are first going to be first seen in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which is almost done filming for a November 2017 release. Berg admitted after seeing the reactions to Batman v Superman, they “accelerated the [Justice League] story to get to the hope and optimism a little faster.”

That film will also “directly address Batman’s extreme actions in [Batman v Superman], such as torturing criminals and nearly killing the Man of Steel, rather than accept them as par for the course.” That’s similar to what happened in Batman v Superman, which addressed Superman’s inadvertent destruction of the city of Metropolis during Man of Steel for its first act.

In addition to overseeing all the films, Johns is working more directly on a few of them. We already knew he was writing the Batman solo film for Ben Affleck to star and direct, but he also did a rewrite on Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman film, which will be the next one out.

“We’re trying to take a really hard look at everything to make sure we stay true to the characters and tell stories that celebrate them,” Johns said.

Wonder Woman is out June 2, 2017. Justice League (which will now not be a two-part story) is out November 17, 2017.

[MIKA27]

Cliff Jumper Narrowly Avoids A Rocky Death

A diver, jumper and all-around daredevil who goes by 8Booth decided to do a bit of creative trespassing near California’s Crystal Cove.

He leapt from an outcropping known as “el morro”, but apparently misjudged how far the rocks jutted out below. (Because no one would intentionally cut it this close, one hopes.) “I walked away from this jump with a minor scrape on my back. How? I do not know,” the video’s description reads.

What on earth was he thinking? Probably something like: Ohhhhhhhh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit for most of the way down.

 

[MIKA27]

Look At This Magnificent Daft Punk Helmet Replica

Sucks to be anyone who enters a Halloween costume contest and finds themselves up against the ridiculously talented craftsmen at LoveProps. They just completed work on this flawless replica of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo’s Daft Punk helmet that’s as gorgeous as it is fully-functional.

Inside the helmet you’ll find 250 individually wired RGB LEDs, a custom-designed PCB electronics board, Wi-Fi, MIDI and the ability to react to music being played in real-time.

If you think this seems like a great costume and want to build your own, think again. It took the team at LoveProps an entire year, working every day, to realise it. So maybe year you’ll be ready to take the stage, but it isn’t going to happen this year.

[MIKA27]

Here's Just A Bunch Of Awesome Star Trek Art 

Being the 50th anniversary of Star Trek this week, I thought maybe it was time for a change of pace. But how do you do that and also continue to celebrate Star Trek? Cool pictures.

Posters, to be more exact. Below are some of my personal favourite Star Trek posters released in the last several years by the likes of Mondo, Gallery 1988, Hero Complex and many others.

Tyler Stout’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Craig Drake’s Spock

Martin Ansin’s Space Seed

Olly Moss’ The Trouble with Tribbles

Ken Taylor’s Star Trek: First Contact

Tom Whalen’s Journey to Babel

Dan McCarthy’s The City on the Edge of Forever

Mike Saputo’s The Menagerie

Tomer Hanuka’s Mirror Mirror

Tom Whalen’s Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

Daniel Danger’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Craig Drake’s Seven of Nine

Rich Kelly’s A Piece of the Action

Jesse Philips’ I Borg

We Are Your Kids’ Wrath of Khan

Todd Slater’s The Corbomite Manoeuvre

Matt Taylor’s Arena

Bruce Yan’s Spock

Mark Englert’s Star Trek Into Darkness

Jason Liwag’s Punch It

 

 

 

[MIKA27]

Over 50 people stuck in cable cars in French Alps

Around 50 people are stuck in cable cars high above the glaciers of Mont Blanc in the French Alps this evening after a helicopter rescue operation was suspended as night fell, officials said.

The cable cars got stuck at an altitude of 3,800 metres (12,468 feet), initially with 110 people on board, the prefect of the Haute-Savoie region - Georges-Francois Leclerc - told AFP.

Mr Leclerc did not say whether the tourists remaining in the cable cars would have to spend the entire night suspended up there

They connect Aiguille du Midi on the French side of the mountains with Pointe Helbronner on the Italian border.

The problem was caused by cables that got crossed for "unknown reasons" around 4pm local time (3pm Irish time) and the employees of the Mont-Blanc Company were unable to repair them, Mathieu Dechavanne, CEO of the company that manages the cable cars, told AFP.

A rescue operation, including three helicopters from Switzerland, France and Italy, will be undertaken "that will take some time but the weather is good", Mr Dechavanne said.

"We are in contact with the clients [in the cable cars]. They have water and some means of communication but are beginning to find it's taking a long time," he added.

The cable cars, which carry four passengers each, offer a panoramic view of Mont Blanc.

[MIKA27]

New Zealand’s Ruapehu Volcano Is Heating Up Fast

Ruapehu, on the north island of New Zealand, is one of the most restless volcanoes in the island country. However, it has been a quiet (almost) decade for the picturesque volcano. The last confirmed eruption from Ruapehu was back in 2007, and it was a very small explosive eruption. You have to go back over 20 years to get to its last major eruption. Those eruptions, in 1995 and 1996, have had a lasting impact in how Ruapehu is watched … that is, very closely.

You see, Ruapehu isn’t just a nice place to hike. The edifice is covered with ski areas and chairlifts! Yes, an active volcano is littered with ski trails on both sides (see above)—the Turoa, Whakapapa and Tukino ski fields and hiking huts go all the away up to the summit. So, closely monitoring Ruapehu is vital for keeping people safe. They also have a volcanic hazard map to keep people aware of the risk of skiing on an active volcano.

Ruapehu (left) and Tongariro
(right) in New Zealand, seen from the International Space Station in 2013. The summit crater lake (light blue) on Ruapehu is clear in this shot.

Beyond the threat of an eruption, there is the risk of volcanic mudflows (lahars) that stem from the volcano having both an abundance of ice and snow and a crater lake at the top (see above). Any small explosion could melt that ice/snow or breach the lake to send lahars down the sides of the volcano—as has happened numerous times over the past few centuries, including 1953 when a lahar destroyed a bridge and train, killing over 150 people.

GNS Science watches the seismic activity with webicorders at the volcano, along with webcams pointed at its summit. They also observe and sample the water from the crater lake, keeping track of its temperature and composition. This is all to see if new magma is releasing gases and imparting heat into the crater lake—both of which could be early signs of a new eruption.

Longterm Ruapehu crater lake temperature readings, showing the cycle of heating and cooling. This graph was made in August 2016, when the lake was headed towards record low temperatures

Now, the crater lake at Ruapehu had been heating up over the first half of 2016, but then it started to cool back down again. This a common pattern at Ruapehu (see below), as the activity at the volcano waxes and wanes. In fact, the temperature at the crater lake at reached record low readings during August, getting down to 12ºC (54ºF), down from temperatures as high at 46ºC (117ºF) earlier in the year (note: the record high is 60ºC/140ºF in 1968). Things seemed pretty calm at the New Zealand volcano.

Crater lake temperatures at Ruapehu in New Zealand over the past few months.

Now, it has all turned around. Since September 2, the temperature in the lake has risen ~4ºC (~7.2ºF) and is still climbing (see above). This could be the result of either new magma entering the system or merely just readjusting of the hydrothermal system in Ruapehu (although exactly what controls the pattern is not clear). The temperature is a long way from that 2016 peak of 46ºC, but does show a change in the conditions at the volcano. Add elevated volcanic tremor since the heating began, and you have a volcano that is definitely worth watching.

GNS Science has not changed the alert status at Ruapehu at this point. You’d need more heating and likely increased in seismicity at the volcano before they would raise it from its current Alert Level 1/Green. However, even when a volcano is in a decade long slumber, things are happening.

[MIKA27]

APPLE WATCH SERIES 2

Apple’s original Watch completely revolutionized the world of smart watches. What were once simple and seemingly fleeting oddities became a real viable product thanks to the same gusto and careful consideration that Apple gives to all of their products. Despite having come out over a year ago, their original wrist accessory still holds the top spot and there are few in the way of feasible contenders. But that didn’t stop Apple from announcing a new iteration of their device, the Series 2.

Though it looks somewhat similar there are a number of more advanced features that really set this watch apart. For starters, this iteration is far more customizable through Apple themselves. For the athletes, there’s a comprehensive onboard workout app, a heart rate monitor, and built-in GPS which is all available without the need to bring your iPhone along for the ride. But, if you’re tied to your old workout apps, they’ll still work on your new device. They’ll even sync with Apple’s new Air Pods so you can stream music right from your Watch. And, if you like to take to the waves (or even just a kiddie pool), the Series 2 is water resistant up to 50 meters. It’s available for presale now and will be released on September 16th.

 

[MIKA27]

Keemala Resort Phuket 

Keemala, is a magical new resort tucked away in the woodlands of Phuket, Thailand. It looks like one of those mythical villages you’d find described in the pages of a J. R. R. Tolkien or J. K. Rowling novel. At the mind-blowing resort, guests can stay in treehouses, bird’s nests and suspended tents,  each boast outdoor bathtubs and rainfall showers, a private pool and wide open spaces that encourage guests to rebalance, rejuvenate and relax among the trees, streams and waterfalls of the natural landscape. You can also enjoy spa treatments, wellness programs, several gastronomic choices, and many activities. A unique retreat from every day life that welcomes you into an enchanting evergreen wonderland.    

[MIKA27]

Another Previously Undiscovered Asteroid Just Buzzed Past Earth For The Second Time In Two Weeks

Astronomers have discovered a new asteroid — just in time to catch it as it hurtled past us at less than a tenth of the distance between us and the moon. It’s the second time that’s happened in two weeks. 

This most recent asteroid, 2016 RB1, was both slightly smaller and slightly closer than 2016 QA2, the other undiscovered asteroid that brushed by us at the end of August. Still, their specs are pretty similar. 2016 RB1 measured in at somewhere between 25-15.24m and came by us at a distance of 40,234km yesterday. 2016 QA2 was around 80,467km away and measured over 15.24m.

Despite their close approaches, neither asteroid was actually on-course to hit Earth at all. Still, the fact that they are so close — and we had no idea until they were practically on our doorstep — is a little surprising.

Part of it is due to the classic space problem: Space is very big and it’s easy to miss things even when they are about to fly right through our orbit. The other problem is that it gets much harder to predict what asteroids are going to do once they get closer to us, because of a curious effect of nearing the sun on the paths of asteroids.

Asteroids rotate and, as they come closer to the sun, the side closest starts to heat up. This built up heat can then push the asteroid miles into a different and sometimes hard-to-predict path.

Tonight, NASA is going to be launching their first mission to capture some dirt from yet another near Earth asteroid, Bennu. But they also hope the trip will give them a chance to get a better idea of how these sun-powered pushes, called the Yarkovsky effect, work. If they’re successful, we could get a whole lot better at predicting where nearby asteroids are going to go, before they’re right next to us.

[MIKA27]

Divergent Star Shailene Woodley Not Interested In Continuing The Franchise On TV

When the most recent film in the Divergent series, Allegiant, didn’t perform up to expectations, Lionsgate had a surprising reaction. The company said it would like to finish out the series on television. If it does that, it may have to do it without the franchise’s star.

Shailene Woodley, who plays the main character in the series, Tris, was recently asked by Screen Rant what she thought of the situation and it wasn’t very positive.

Last I heard they were trying to make it into a television show. I didn’t sign up to be in a television show. Out of respect to the studio and everyone in involved, they may have changed their mind and may be doing something different, but I’m not necessarily interested in doing a television show.

That’s not her saying she won’t do it, just that she’s “not necessarily interested.” The timing of this quote is actually pretty funny because it came on the same day legendary actress Meryl Streep agreed to be on a television show. TV or film actress isn’t really a distinction anymore, so I’m curious why Woodley — who herself became a star on the TV show The Secret Life of the American Teenager — feels this way.

Maybe it’s because Lionsgate took the final book of the series and split it into two films, thinking Divergent could command that kind of fervor Twilight or Harry Potter did. Obviously, that didn’t happen. Maybe it’s just time to cut and run. Still, you have to think the company wouldn’t have split the book without making sure the actress was contractually obligated to do it. This should be a fun story to follow.

MIKA: I seriously have no idea how they even got to a second movie after the first was so woeful. If they do persist in the TV show and Shailene Woodleyisn't in it, it may actually have a better chance of success.

[MIKA27]

@FuzzThe Best Accessory Of Hot Toys' Batman '66 Joker Figure Is His Painted-Over Moustache

Cesar Romero’s take on the Joker for the Batman ’66 TV show is iconic — but the very obvious moustache he refused to shave for the role, barely obscured with white face paint, is almost as famous as he is. Thankfully, Hot Toys remembered this crucial detail when bringing Romero’s Joker to action figure life.

Revealed at a special Batman-themed Hot Toys event in Japan called Batman 100%, the figure joins Hot Toys’ previously released Batman ’66 Batman and Robin figures. Unsurprisingly for a Hot Toys figure, it looks great — but seriously, the real joy here is that they have kept Romero’s painted moustache in the head sculpt. It’s hilarious, but speaks to the ridiculous detail these figures have.

The delightful-looking upcoming Batman ’66 animated movie has seemingly erased the moustache from the Joker’s look (presumably because it’s no longer going to be Romero playing the character), so it’s nice to see it live on in action figure form. Any other accessory included — even the Total Dehydrator! — is just a bonus on top of this.

No details about when he’ll be available have been released yet, but we’ll let you know when there’s more.