Gadgets

After the stir several weeks ago, the buzz surrounding Defense Distributed's 3D-printed gun has begun to (somewhat) die down. This is probably due in part to Kim Dotcom's removal of the gun's blueprint from Mega and the fact that, frankly, the gun itself isn't much of an immediate threat. But as one potential threat dissipates, just like clockwork, a new one has appeared on the horizon. And any fear creeping up on you with this newest incarnation of the 3D-printed gun might actually be warranted.Read more...

The Galaxy S4 Active gets a metal back and bolts, to boot! (Credit: GSMArena) If you've ever described yourself or any of your favorite activities as "hard core," you may want to hold off on buying the Samsung Galaxy S4 until its rumored ruggedized sibling debuts. GSMArena apparently got its hands on some leaked shots of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active edition. As I've reported in the past, this Galaxy S4 variant is meant to be resistant to dust and water, which is fortunate for those times when you feel compelled to tweet while rolling down a sand dune into a rushing river. Related storiesSamsung plans a hard-core Galaxy S4, says reportSamsung unveils rugged Galaxy phone for the outdoor typeBest Samsung Galaxy S4 cases (pictures) The Samsung model GT-i9295 boasts a quad-core ARM processor a... [Read more]Related Links:Samsung plans a hard-core Galaxy S4, says reportRadioShack sells Samsung Galaxy S4 on April 27Verizon opens preorders for Galaxy S4 16GBVerizon Galaxy S4 may be shipping earlyGalaxy S4 shot of pure Android boosts relationships, not sales

If you’ve decided that your Galaxy S3 is good enough and you don’t need to move to the S4 just yet, a look at the firmware that is on the way to your…

(Credit: Hooked Digital Media) In recent years, we've seen people dabble in bringing a narrative film experience to mobile phones. It makes sense -- there's an interactive personal screen in your pocket that allows you to pick up content wherever you go. But neither the interactive film "Tender Loving Care" (starring John Hurt) nor the Dutch film "App," which interacted with your iOS or Android device during cinematic screenings, picked up much traction. "Haunting Melissa," by film producer Neal Edelstein, might have what it takes. Available globally as a free app on iOS, the film is accessible, and it's using the flexibility of mobile devices to experiment with the genre. The film is actually split into 11 episodes (as far as we can tell), and you'll never know when the next episode will be delivered to your phone. At the time of this writing, only the first episode has been released -- and, interestingly, the app seems to have disabled both a timer on the video (so you have no idea how long each one will be) and fast-forwarding (so, no matter how tense it gets, you have to either keep going or stop entirely). Related stories ... [Read more]Related Links:Decades later, Luke Skywalker's 'Star Wars' home stands'Star Trek' musical goes where no school has gone beforeNetflix shares explode as revenue tops $1 billionTribeca Vine film contest winners are delightful, disturbingPolice accused of erasing cell phone footage of fatal beating

AT&T has caught a lot of flak for being excruciatingly picky about what apps can do video chat over data on what kind of plans. It's been equal parts annoying and confusing for everyone involved. But now, the carrier is about to simplify it by letting everyone do everything by the end of this year. Finally.Read more...

This morning Yahoo announced it bought Tumblr for $1.1 billion, along with a GIF and a promise "not to screw it up." The Mayer-ship is hosting a "product-related" event in New York City tonight. We'll be there covering it live. But just what's the company talking about? Here's what we've heard so far:Read more...

If you've cut the cable cord, you've probably found that live sports are the hardest type of content to replace. Normally you have to be a DirectTV subscriber to stream NFL games on your laptop or phone, but there's a very interesting Madden 25 bundle currently on Amazon that'll get you access.Read more...

Laptops are the new desktops. While you can buy a solid tower PC for about $500, this price represents how little manufacturers care about the desktop world. Barring a few huge gaming rigs, laptops are where it’s at. We have been arguably remiss in avoiding formal laptop reviews and so we’re trying to remedy that with a series we’re calling Laptop Week. This week we will focus on some of the best laptops available today alongside a few gems that popped up over the past year or so. We will run the gamut from Chromebooks to Windows 8 and take a few detours on the way. You can read all of our Laptop Week coverage here and feel free to contact me if you’d like to see us look at anything in particular on the market or in the laptops we’re testing. Look for a few Laptop Week posts per day, starting with an amazing Ubuntu laptop that I think could easily replace a MacBook Air for those in the right frame of mind. We’ve created a quick and easy rating method for each laptop we address and take into consideration the needs of designers, entrepreneurs, and programmers. Because you mostly don’t care about speeds and feeds, these will be high-level assessments of each laptop from a practical perspective. Welcome to Laptop Week. We hope you enjoy your stay.

Top winner Ionut Budisteanu, 19, of Romania (center) with second-place winners Eesha Khare, 18, of Saratoga, Calif., (left) and Henry Lin, 17, of Shreveport, La., celebrate their awards at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. (Credit: Intel/Chris Ayers) My high school science project looked at how row covers could help plants grow in cold weather. Not a bad idea, but not nearly as cool as high school student Eesha Khare's science project, the creation of a supercapacitor that could potentially be used to fully charge a cell phone within 20 to 30 seconds. Khare, an 18-year-old from California, won the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award and $50,000 for her participation in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair run by the Society for Science & the Public. Think of it as the world's largest science fair. Khare took home one of the top prizes for "a tiny device that fits inside cell phone batteries, allowing them to fully charge within 20-30 seconds." The official title of Khare's project is "Design and Synthesis of Hydrogenated TiO2-Polyaniline Nanorods for Flexible High-Performance Supercapacitors." Her objective reads (PDF): With the rapid growth of portable electronics, it has become necessary to dev... [Read more]Related Links:Bill Nye, LeVar Burton in first White House VineCarrier GIV Mobile promises 8 percent of revenue to charityNew 'smart skin' so sensitive it rivals the real thingPeter Thiel funds next round of under-20 entrepreneursExpelled girl's 'bomb': Toilet cleaner and foil

Google updated its Google+ for Android app today and many were stunned to discover the update was not compatible with most popular Android headsets running Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean. so, just paste this over that: Google's Bradley Horowitz said...