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

[MIKA27]

ESEE KNIVES CL1 OUTDOOR CLEAVER

To a casual outdoorsman, the need for food preparation tools might seem extraneous out in the wilds. The most hardened explorers, however, know differently. If you really want to prove your mettle out amongst nature, you’re going to need a particular set of tools to get the job done right. And if any part of your outdoor enjoyment lies in hunting of any sort – and you don’t plan to immediately carry your kill home – you might want to carry something with which you can prepare proper cuts of meat out in the field. Like the newly-announced ESEE Knives CL1 Outdoor Cleaver.

Though hardly a household name, ESEE is renowned in the knife world for making hard-use outdoor blades. And the CL1 is no different. This 11.5-inch cleaver is made to thrive in the outdoors. The unconventionally shaped blade is made from black oxide tumbled 1095 high-carbon steel and is paired with a lightweight – but incredibly tough – G10 handle. Weighing in at 25.5 ounces, the end result is an incredibly capable knife that can be relied upon for everything from skinning game to chopping up firewood. Pricing has yet to be announced, but we can expect to hear more when this blade is unveiled at this year’s SHOT show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

[MIKA27]

EMKO PILL WALL MOUNTED DESK

If living in small apartments has taught us anything it is the importance of finding creative ways to save space. A foot here and a foot there can go a long way to making a limited floor plan feel more manageable and out of all the desks out there, the Pill Wall Mounted Desk by Emko may be among the best at doing just that.

A kind of modern secretary’s desk, this work space fits flush against the wall when you need room to move around, and folds out when you are ready to put your nose to the grindstone. More than just a surface to work on, this Lithuanian designed desk also features shelves on both the top section and lower two sections in which you can store important notes, files, and books. To top it all off, the Pill also boasts integrated sockets and LED lighting for power and light when you end up burning the midnight oil on those harder projects. Hang one on your wall for $2,200. [Purchase]

[MIKA27]

LINK by Fasetto - Storage Device

LINK by Fasetto, is the industry´s first ultra-compact SSD, it puts 2TB of storage in the palm of your hand. The tiny, two by two-inch device lets you connect to up to 20 devices, and stream content to-and-from up to seven devices simultaneously, regardless of platform.  Available in three sizes - 256GB, 512GB, and 2TB - the Link uses Wi-Fi to wirelessly connect with smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other supported gadgets, letting you access your files and seamlessly back up content from anywhere. You can also choose to make your LINK memory automatically backup to your preferred cloud service. It generates its own Wi-Fi network to stream content that´s stored on it, and the fast read/write speeds will also enable you to download 5GB HD movies in seconds. LINK is shockproof, waterproof and bump-proof, making it perfect to be your on-the-go digital storage solution for the years to come.

 

[MIKA27]

SIERRA NEVADA TRIP IN THE WOODS BEER

One of the standouts in a wide array of great beer in the Sierra Nevada lineup is Bigfoot — an American Barleywine they've brewed since the 1980s. Sierra Nevada Trip In The Woods: Ginger Bigfoot is a special version of barrel-aged Bigfoot, and part of the Trip In The Woods series of special releases. In addition to the time the beer spends in barrels, ginger is added to help mellow out the hop bite and add a perfect amount of sweetness. Previously only available in Sierra Nevada taprooms, it's been bottled for the first time at 11.6% ABV.

[MIKA27]

TOMBOW AIRPRESS PEN

Having a great pen you can rely on no matter where you take it isn't as common as you might think. That's why the reliability of pens like this Tombow Airpress Pen are so amazing. It's a pressure-refill pen that gives you the ability to toss it in your bag and be sure it will write consistently each time you reach for it thanks to the patented pressurized technology it employs. You also get a comfortable rubberized grip and a metal clip to attach it wherever you want it to stay. One click pressurizes the refill for 492 feet of upside-down writing, making it a great choice for folks that work outdoors, write on wet paper, or just need a tough lightweight pen to get their thoughts on paper at a moment's notice.

[MIKA27]

MARTIS VALLEY SKI RETREAT

Clad in charred cedar and black steel panels, the Martis Valley Ski Retreat is inspired by its alpine forest surroundings. The home is comprised of a pair of two-story structures, bridged by a glazed single-story living and dining area with undisrupted views of the pine and fir tree forest bed. The focal point of the room is a travertine marble slab fireplace, a material that can also be found on the kitchen workspace. The cedar facade was treated with an ancient Japanese technique called Shou Sugi Ban to blend in with the hues of the plot's evergreen tree trunks. Located at the foot of Northstar California, skiing is the main attraction with access to the runs of Lookout Mountain.

 

[MIKA27]

BIG KAHUNA BURGER

It's the unicorn of fast-food burgers — the Big Kahuna from Pulp Fiction. While the Big Kahuna in the film might very well be a tasty burger, Andrew Rea wasn't content with a usual burger. Andrew puts his own tropical spin on the sandwich that is deserving of the name Big Kahuna.

[MIKA27]

NVIDIA's GeForce Now Will Let You Stream PC Games

NVIDIA, picking up on the reality that most PC users don't have the absolute latest in tech, have announced at CES a revamp of their Geforce Now service, which will let anyone with a PC or Mac stream games from "a Pascal PC in the cloud" (Pascal is the name given to the technology found on graphics cards like the Titan).

Geforce Now, which launched in 2015, was previously only available for the company's Shield devices, and only supported a handful of titles. This new service looks much more ambitious.

NVIDIA says "GeForce NOW is basically a GeForce gaming PC on-demand", and the service will enter early access in March.

Of course, it won't be free. There's a subscription that will cost you $US25 ($34) for 20 hours of gameplay.

You've got to wonder how NVIDIA is going to make this work when so many other companies have come and gone in the online streaming space.

The service was announced alongside the reveal of a new Nvidia Shield unit, which looks a lot like the last Nvidia Shield, only this one can do 4K. It will be $US199 ($274), and will be out later in January.

[MIKA27]

Alien: Covenant is getting a VR experience to guarantee you'll never sleep again

In virtual reality, everyone can hear you scream. Because horror and VR go together like chest-bursting xenomorphs and white T-shirts, the Fox Innovation Lab has been hard at work on an Alien: Covenant virtual reality experience. As reported by Variety, the team has worked closely with director Ridley Scott to create “a dread-inducing journey into the depths of the Alien universe.” Great. Just what we've always wanted. Bear in mind that Alien Isolation in VR almost killed our very own Andy Hartup when he braved it on Oculus Rift.

“Viewers will discover the true meaning of terror as they navigate through horrifying alien environments and a story where every decision could mean the difference between life and death,” continues the description from the dev team. Even though the word 'experience' is being thrown around, the fact it's talking about story and decisions means this is clearly much more than just a quick ten-minute wander around an alien-infested ship. Expect much standing in corridors and not being brave enough to move in any direction. This might be one headphone-off material. 

There's no release date just yet but the experience will be available to buy on "major VR platforms" so let's cross our fingers for PlayStation VR as well as HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.  Fox's previous project, The Martian VR Experience, was available across all three so things are looking hopeful if you want to be scared silly on PS4.

[MIKA27]

General Leia Was Going To Play A Large Role In Star Wars: Episode IX

Reportedly, Lucasfilm and Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow will meet soon to discuss their options moving forward.

According to The Hollywood Reporter's sources, Leia had two key scenes planned out for Episodes VIII and IX, and they're both pretty much what you'd expect (and want): A reunion with her brother, Luke, and a confrontation with her son, Kylo Ren. There's no word on which, if either, of these were scripted for Episode VIII (which Carrie Fisher had finished filming before her death) or were planned for the ninth Saga film.

However, The Hollywood Reporter also claims that Leia was going to have a larger role in the ninth movie than the eighth. That backs up a December 30 report about the amount Disney might get as a result of an insurance policy taken out if Fisher couldn't finish filming on Star Wars. Plus, it seems likely to me that if one of those scenes was in Episode VIII, it would be the brother-sister reunion.

Trevorrow, who is writing and directing Episode IX, is set to meet with Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy next week to talk through what to do. It seems like the options are a) write Leia out, either by death or by some convenience or B create a CG Leia, like they did for Rogue One. The latter isn't going to be without controversy, since it barely worked for the cameo there and, to many, it still feels wrong to resurrect dead actors this way. The former leaves us with either conveniently putting Leia out of touch with the main storyline or having her die, in-universe. But I have to say, an off-screen death also seems like a poor way for Leia to go out.

There's really no good option here and decisions have to be made by people still grieving.

MIKA: I agree, there's no tasteful way to do it but my opinion would be to Kill her off at either the end of episode VIII using CGI and or Kill her off at the beginning of Episode IX and then using CGI have her return in spirit as the force much like Yoda, Anakin and Obi Wan and assist Luke et al that way. There is no way around it, something has to be done and I believe recasting her role would be worse than using CGI IMO.

Episode VIII isn't even out yet, what's to say they do something like re-shoot some scenes now to change the story line, even a little to make the above happen or commence to happen leading up to episode IX?

[MIKA27]

WILLIAMS SONOMA SPATULA & KNIFE KITCHEN TOOLS

We see a lot of different knife designs floating around out there, but this Williams Sonoma Concept By Juan Restrepo stood out from the crowd.

Restrepo, an industrial designer from Columbia living and working in Texas, took an interesting approach in reimagining these kitchen stalwarts. For the knife, he drew much of his inspiration from the actual knife blocks and cutting boards. The wooden handle of the kitchen knife swoops out over the bolster and well onto the cheek of the full tang blade and prominently displays the kitchen ware company’s name across its side. The spatula takes a similar approach. The pointed handle continues well down onto the rubber section of the kitchen tool for a striking and futuristic look. We can’t say how well these would preform in the kitchen, but they sure pass the “does it look cool?” test. Props to you, Juan.

[MIKA27]

PLUM WINE APPLIANCE

Plum is a state-of-the-art wine appliance that preserves your favorite bottles for up to 90 days, plus it keeps them at the perfect temperature to be served. You can store two different bottles within its two separate compartments and you can have a chilled white in one side and a warmer red on the other. It uses high-tech cameras that instantly recognize the label of the bottle and adjust it to the winemaker’s suggested temperature. It also features a touchscreen that will display your bottle’s label and with one tap on it you get one serving in your glass. Make no mistake, this is a high end product, designed to enhance your wine tasting experience for days after you’ve opened your bottle. It features two potent needles that can perforate any artificial or natural cork or even metal, and instantly after the serving the bottle is inflated with a neutral gas for preservation.

 

[MIKA27]

Faraday Future FF91 Supercar

Faraday Future, an electric car startup, looks to take on Tesla with the new all-electric FF91 supercar. Announced at the CES technology show in Las Vegas, the FF91 fuses exceptionally high performance with precise handling, ultra-luxury, and futuristic intelligence features. Its powertrain produces a total of 1,050 hp and is capable of hitting a staggering 0-60 in 2.39 seconds (faster than the current record holder, the Tesla Model X P100D). Furthermore, the high-tech vehicle includes a 130 kWh battery that achieves a range of 378 miles, and is fitted with an array of sensors, cameras, radar, 3D lidar system for autonomous driving, and even facial recognition (it doesn’t have a key). There’s also a driverless valet feature which means if you hate parking, simply get out of the vehicle, press a button on the Faraday mobile app, and the car will go to park itself.

 

[Fuzz]

3 hours ago, MIKA27 said:

General Leia Was Going To Play A Large Role In Star Wars: Episode IX

 

MIKA: I agree, there's no tasteful way to do it but my opinion would be to Kill her off at either the end of episode VIII using CGI and or Kill her off at the beginning of Episode IX and then using CGI have her return in spirit as the force much like Yoda, Anakin and Obi Wan and assist Luke et al that way. There is no way around it, something has to be done and I believe recasting her role would be worse than using CGI IMO.

Episode VIII isn't even out yet, what's to say they do something like re-shoot some scenes now to change the story line, even a little to make the above happen or commence to happen leading up to episode IX?

Best to kill off the character. Leia without Han just isn't right.

[MIKA27]

Honda's New Experimental Motorcycle Can Balance All By Itself Like Magic

If you've ever pushed a bike down a hill, you know that two-wheeled vehicles can balance themselves when travelling at higher speeds. It's when you're riding slower that balancing gets a little more challenging, unless your motorcycle's equipped with Honda's new experimental Riding Assist technology so it automatically balances itself.

Based on technology developed for Honda's ASIMO robot and its self-balancing scooter called the UNI-CUB, the Honda Riding Assist technology doesn't use traditional gyroscopes for balance since they can add a lot of weight to a vehicle.

Instead, when the experimental motorcycle Honda has developed is moving at speeds of less than 5km/h — like when pulling out of a garage or starting and stopping at a street light — the angle of the front fork is automatically lowered to help improve stability. At the same time, minute left and right steering adjustments are automatically made to the front wheel to ensure the motorcycle always maintains its balance — with or without a rider on board.

There's no word on when the Honda Riding Assist technology will be available on the Honda's motorcycles — if ever. But it does help explain why companies spend so much money on R&D projects like ASIMO or the UNI-CUB, allowing them to develop new and unique technologies that eventually trickle down to consumer-available products.

 

[MIKA27]

Hilarious! Someone Dubbed The Entire Chinese Bootleg Of Revenge Of The Sith

The Star Wars prequels aren't known for having the most insightful dialogue, but one Chinese bootleg could turn that all around. In the words of our favourite Lord Vader: "Do not want!"

Last year, YouTuber GratefulDeadpool dubbed a Chinese bootleg of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, based on a machine's poorly translated English subtitles from the bootleg's Mandarin. Several months later, Star Wars The Third Gathers: Backstroke of the West is starting to make the rounds...and for good reason. It's basically the greatest thing on Earth. I know what I'm watching tonight. In full.

Seriously, nothing about that isn't gloriousness defined. It actually makes some of the scenes make more sense than they did before! I'm joking, of course, but it at least makes them entertaining. And if you thought Yoda was already sometimes hard to understand, just imagine what he's like after 3+ rounds of translation. Spoilers: It's actually no worse than anyone else. Except for that part where he calls Padme an "intimate friend." Creepy.

 

[MIKA27]

A Huge Chunk Of Antarctic Ice Is On The Cusp Of Breaking Away

Scientists have been watching a giant rift in Antarctica's Larsen C ice shelf for many years, but the crack grew substantially this past December, prompting concerns that it's about to break free. The resulting iceberg is expected to be one of largest ever recorded.

According to geologists with the MIDAS project, a mere 20km now separates the western most point of the crack to the ocean. The rift has been advancing steadily over the past few months, but it grew by a whopping 18km during the second half of December. A calving event, in which the 5000 square km ice shelf will break free from its parent shelf, is now all but inevitable, and it could even happen this year.

"When it calves, the Larsen C Ice Shelf will lose more than 10% of its area to leave the ice front at its most retreated position ever recorded," note the MIDAS geologists in a statement. "This event will fundamentally change the landscape of the Antarctic Peninsula."

Speaking to the BBC, project leader Adrian Luckman said he'd "be amazed" if it doesn't break free in the next few months, proclaiming, "I think it's inevitable."

The resulting 350m-thick iceberg is expected to float on the seas at the edge of West Antarctica, where it could wallow for years, slowly breaking up into smaller and smaller pieces. The iceberg is expected to be one of the 10 largest ever recorded, and nearly twice the size of Rhode Island. The event would be reminiscent of the collapse of Larsen B in 2002.

This could leave the remaining ice shelf vulnerable to future break-ups, but the researchers caution that climate change may not be the driving factor (more research is needed); calving is a natural, cyclical process. Should it happen, the calving of Larsen C could seriously destabilise the remaining ice shelf, causing the whole thing to collapse in the coming years and decades. If that happens, global waters would rise by 10cm.

[MIKA27]

This Incredible Sports Car Was 3D Printed From Laser-Melted Metal

The hype around consumer 3D printers has mostly died down, but that hasn't stopped the startup Divergent 3D from barrelling full steam ahead in the industrial printing world. The company debuted the first 3D-printed supercar — the Blade — two years ago and has since continued developing its printing methods. Now, it's working with major industry players like Peugeot and SLM Solutions to use its printing methods at mass scale.

The reason why Divergent 3D is so committed to industrial printing (despite the ridiculously high and costly risks) is that the benefits of printing car parts appears to be obvious: Printing components, rather than stamping them out using traditional injection moulding or casting, lets carmakers customise every detail of a car part. It also lets engineers turn out ideas more quickly. Printing car components, at least in theory, will reduce the cost of retooling factory machines every time an engineer wants to try out a new idea. That will hopefully lead to more adventurous and more ambitious projects — exactly like The Blade.

One of the big benefits to Divergent 3D's printing methods is that it allows engineers to customise car components, essentially giving them even greater control over how a car is assembled. For example, they can add more material to specific stress points or leave holes in areas where it's possible to reduce weight (something that makes the car way faster). The benefits can often be startling. That's why The Blade's chassis weighs only 635kg — about three times lighter than a Tesla Model S.

Because of these advantages, carmaker Peugeot has finally jumped on the 3D-printing bandwagon. The new strategic partnership between Peugeot and Divergent 3D is basically just the first step in a slow march for major carmakers that will more than likely take many years to be widespread.

Still, it's the first sign that a major carmaker is willing to give 3D printing parts a chance. The companies haven't given any specifics about how many parts it will print and haven't stated any specific goals for the partnership — but it's clear that Peugeot is at least interested in exploring the cost savings.

Now for the drawbacks: You don't see more car companies 3D printing components for two big reasons. One is the rate of printing, or basically the speed at which they can print car components. Right now, the process is way too slow — much like desktop printers — so it wouldn't make sense for the biggest car companies to try to mass produce something like a Ford Taurus using a 3D printer.

The other major obstruction is the reliability of the materials. The printers used in industrial settings require lasers to melt metal powders, layer by layer, on top of each other until an object is complete. The problem is that it's hard to guarantee that you'll get quality materials every single time. This is obviously a huge risk for big carmakers and one that's unjustifiable for now.

Of course, this will all change as long as companies like Divergent 3D continue developing new partnerships and methods to increase reliability. Much like desktop printers, industrial-sized ones will also get faster. The materials will also become more reliable as companies begin to adopt these new methods.

It might be a long time from now, but if Divergent 3D — and other companies like it — keep refining this technology, it's hard to imagine why the biggest players in the car world wouldn't want to adopt this production method in some capacity.

[Bohn007]

On 1/3/2017 at 5:06 PM, MIKA27 said:

28 VINTAGE ADS THAT WOULD BE TOTALLY ILLEGAL NOW

There's no denying it. This collection of vintage ads is absolutely inappropriate. There's no way they would see the light of day nowadays.

If nothing else, these slightly shocking ads reveal just how sexist, racist, or generally inappropriate the world of advertising used to be. You know Mad Men, right? Well, there you go.

The world of advertising used to be a great career to be in if you were a straight, white man.

Keep scrolling to understand just how inappropriate these vintage advertisements really were and I do hope some of these do not offend our members. Remember, this is a glimpse into the past and are not in any way my own opinion

This one gave me the best laugh of the day. Thanks for all you do!

[MIKA27]

Justice League Photo Finally Unites The Team

Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, The Flash and Aquaman are finally side-by-side and in action in the latest image from Justice League. And since it's a Zack Snyder movie, obviously it's going to have a bunch of looming fog. Still, Snyder's right to call them a bunch of badarses.

"It was all about the filling-out of this massive comic-book pantheon with the biggest and coolest heroes we could," Snyder said.

The image was shared as part of USA Today's 2017 film preview of the upcoming film, about Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) bringing together a group of superheroes to fight the world's latest threat after Superman's death. Now, obviously Superman's coming back at some point, but for the most part, it will be this team of five against Steppenwolf.

Justice League comes out November 16, after Wonder Woman makes her solo debut on June 1.

[MIKA27]

The Game Boy Is Being Brought Back From The Dead With Some Awesome Upgrades

Though there were several iterations and updates to Nintendo's insanely popular handheld gaming system, the Game Boy was officially retired just over a decade ago. And while Nintendo has no plans to revive the portable console, a company called Retro-Bit is stepping up to bring the Game Boy back from the dead.
The Super Retro Boy is essentially a clone of the original Game Boy, carrying forward its highly-recognisable compact form factor. But that's where the similarities between the two end.

In addition to playing all of your original Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance cartridges, the Super Retro Boy will come equipped with a 2500 mAh rechargeable battery keeping it powered for up to 10 hours, a scratch and shatter-resistant TFT HD display and an easy-to-swallow $US80 ($109) price tag when it hits North America in August later this year. Australian pricing and availability has not yet been confirmed.

In order to accommodate Game Boy Advance titles that rely on shoulder buttons, the Super Retro Boy features an extra pair of buttons on the face, just below the standard A and B set. That might make playing certain titles a little more challenging, but it's a small price to pay for having the Game Boy back again.

[MIKA27]

THIS COLLECTION OF NASA'S BEST PHOTOS OF THE YEAR ARE UTTERLY AMAZING

Now that 2016 is over and done with, let's wrap it all up with this collection of top NASA photos from the year. If your New Year's party was the crowning moment of the year, then these 20 photos are the jewels in the crown.

This collection comes directly from the NASA Instagram account. Most of them were taken with the Hubble space telescope while a few were also shot from the International Space Station.

“This past year marked record-breaking progress in our exploration objectives,” says NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

“We advanced the capabilities we’ll need to travel farther into the solar system while increasing observations of our home and the universe, learning more about how to continuously live and work in space, and, of course, inspiring the next generation of leaders to take up our Journey to Mars and make their own discoveries.”

We hope you enjoy this collection of images as much as we did. Cheers to all the cool things we'll hopefully discover in space this year!

 

[MIKA27]

Earth Was Almost Hit By An Asteroid and No One Saw it Coming

Asteroid 2017 AG13 was only spotted by scientists at the last minute.

On Monday, while you were watching Meryl Streep's viral Globes speech or doing whatever else to fill the void, planet Earth came dangerously close to being hit by a small, sneaky asteroid. Asteroid 2017 AG13—as it has since been dubbed—is roughly the size of a multi-storey apartment building, and just scraped by without making contact with the planet we're living on. And, somewhat disturbingly, scientists only realised it was coming at the very last minute.

Travelling at a relative velocity of more than 57,600 kilometres per hour, the asteroid missed Earth by about 160,000 kilometres. Which may sound like a lot, but it's actually a bit too close for comfort. It's two times closer than the distance between the Earth and the moon.

AG13 was spotted over the weekend by astronomers at the Slooh Observatory, who organised a last minute live broadcast of the fly-by. So there was only a two-day buffer between us knowing about the asteroid, and the asteroid passing us by. For reference, NASA scientists had an 18-day asteroid warning in the movie Armageddon.

While you were hitting snooze, we nearly hit an asteroid! At 7:47 AM EST an asteroid we only first spotted Saturday gave us a wake up call.

While the space rock wasn't large enough to destroy the planet, or require the services of Bruce Willis, it would likely have caused significant damage to whatever populated area it hit. In 2013, the Russian town of Chelyabinsk was hit by a fireball, blowing out windows and causing thousands of minor injuries.

So why wasn't AG13 spotted? Well, the asteroid was about half the size of those that are usually detected by NASA's infrared telescope Near Earth Object Camera (NEOCam), which is designed to search the skies for potentially devastating asteroid threats. The NEOCam program is currently operating only with limited funding, with NASA choosing to instead prioritise asteroid exploration missions on Jupiter.

If the imminent threat of space rock destruction worries you, check out the official White House strategy on detecting and deflecting asteroids here. As the document outlines, "in an ideal situation, an Earth-bound NEO can be deflected or disrupted well before it reaches Earth" but "scenarios may occur in which a NEO impact cannot be prevented because there is not enough time between detection and impact to deflect or disrupt it."

Unfortunately, asteroid detection funding is so low that asteroids the size of AG13 will continue to go undetected by NASA. Which sucks, because they can potentially cause major harm to cities. As for the Armageddon-sized NEOs, well—we'll probably see them coming, but the question of when will determine how well we can respond.

[rckymtn22]

Wow those NASA pictures a fantastic. Some new backgrounds to rotate through!

[Fuzz]

20 hours ago, MIKA27 said:

Hilarious! Someone Dubbed The Entire Chinese Bootleg Of Revenge Of The Sith

 

I think I'm watching the wrong video.....