Gadgets

Given the fevered pace of China's infrastructure development, 16 years is ancient. That's why the two-lane concrete Zhuan-yang viaduct running through the town of Wuhan, Hubei in central China had to go—a bigger and better six-lane freeway was in the works. But to demolish the original roadway without harming the surrounding homes, engineers smothered the blast under a blanket.Read more...

Recent activity on the Web site. Buying Tumblr isn't the only big thing that Yahoo has done today. Flickr, the photo storage and sharing site bought by Yahoo way back in 2005, has been brought into the 21st century with a new look, new pricing, and a new Android app. Gone is the old Flickr interface of small thumbnails, gobs of whitespace, and lots of metadata. In its place, the site has big thumbnails, full-screen pictures by default, and metadata for each image tucked below the fold. Flickr's Lightbox view, that removes the clutter around the page and shows pictures on their own, remains available. The home page now shows photos of everyone you subscribe to with the most recent handful of pictures that your contacts have uploaded. Each user's photostream displays a big tiled view of their pictures. This isn't entirely new to Flickr—it was a feature of the site's Explore page—but it's new to individual user pages. Read 11 remaining paragraphs | Comments

A completely unknown guy in the world of math has made a breakthrough discovery that will help us understand numbers better. Basically, a guy who once struggled to find a job and had to work at Subway, is helping math geniuses understand the twin prime conjecture, one of math's oldest problems. Read more...

Lockheed Martin has revealed that an F-35B fighter jet made its first vertical takeoff on May 10 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. This follows on the heels of its first vertical night landing on April 2 at the same location. The vertical takeoff capability is designed for moving the strike fighter over short distances in an emergency when a runway isn't available, but it is not seen as a combat feature due to its heavy use of fuel... Continue Reading F-35B makes first vertical takeoff Section: Aircraft Tags: Aircraft, F-35 JSF, Lockheed Martin, Marines Related Articles: F-35 Lightning II nails first vertical landing First F-35 full mission simulator delivered Lockheed Martin F-35B prepares for vertical takeoff and landings First night time vertical landing for F-35B F-35A makes first night flight F-35B completes first vertical landing at sea

While Peavey regularly releases electric guitars, like the excellent AT-200 for example, it's perhaps best known for its amplifiers. Five years after unleashing its Vypyr line of modeling amps, the company debuted three new additions at NAMM earlier this year. The first to sport a variable instrument input technology that allows them to be used for bass, acoustic or electric guitars, the Vypyr VIP amps are now shipping... Continue Reading Peavey ships Vypyr VIP amps with variable instrument input Section: Music Tags: Amplifiers, Bass guitar, Guitar, Guitar Effects Related Articles: VOX Amps creates bass versions of the Apache travel guitars Eric Buell designs for a different kind of shredding Peavey's AT-200 guitar featuring AutoTune technology now available DigiTech announces BP355 multi-effects pedal for bass players Alesis ends electric envy with AcousticLink digital interface IK Multimedia announces the iRig HD guitar interface for iPhone

Leap Motion is on its way. With the clock ticking down to the PC gesture controller’s July 22 launch, Leap has a brand new teaser video that showcases the device’s interaction with Windows. If you'd forgotten how exciting Leap was when we first got the chance to play with it, this might be enough to get your blood pumping again... Continue Reading Leap Motion previews its gesture control magic on Windows Section: Computers Tags: Gesture Control, Leap Motion, Motion Controller, Motion sensor, PC, Windows, Windows 8 Related Articles: Leap Motion sensor offers 3D gesture control at an affordable price Leap Motion to be integrated into HP devices Leap Motion's 3D motion control tech to be bundled with ASUS systems Leap Motion gets a release date ... and an app store Hands on with the Leap Motion Controller Control Google Earth like a Jedi with Leap Motion

If you go camping down in the wild woods, the chances of happening upon a conveniently-placed power outlet for blowing up your mattress with an electric air pump are pretty remote. Unless you have a hand or foot pump in your backpack, you'll have to wrap your lips around a tiny valve that likely has a history of being dragged through all sorts of unmentionable nastiness, and then spend the next long while taking deep breaths and blowing. Ryan Frayne's Windcatcher system inflates in just a few seconds with a valve that never touches your mouth. .. Continue Reading Blow me down: Windcatcher inflation system amplifies lung power Section: Outdoors Tags: Bed, Camping, Inflatable, Kickstarter Related Articles: Self-inflating tire keeps the pressure up for cyclists Valve to open Steam to non-game software Toyota develops next-generation engine valve mechanism The self-inflating tire Valve's Gabe Newell confirms Steam Box games system in development Camless combustion engine may improve ICE efficiency

A Congressional investigation found that Apple has avoided BILLIONS in taxes. Senator John McCain said, “Apple claims to be the largest U.S. corporate taxpayer, but by sheer size and scale, it is also among America’s largest tax avoiders.” [NY Times]Read more...

High-end smartphones sure are fun. But the smartphone market is inching closer to saturation in the countries that care the most about the high-end. That will leave much of the market’s future growth coming from emerging countries where the focus isn't necessarily on the latest announcement from Apple, Samsung, or HTC. Nokia is already a big player in these markets, but it’s hoping to take the next step with its new Asha 501 smartphone... Continue Reading Nokia's $99 Asha 501 smartphone targets emerging markets Section: Mobile Technology Tags: Nokia, smartphone, Smartphones Related Articles: Nokia invites community to phone design party Free turn-by-turn navigation coming to all Nokia smartphones Nokia introduces budget-friendly Lumia 510 Nokia 808 PureView packs a 41-megapixel camera Nokia 500 - first 1GHz Symbian smartphone announced Nokia's new flagship N8 smartphone

In theory, social networks are supposed to make you feel closer to everybody. Oh, look! Jim is driving a tractor on Instagram. Wow, Sarah just invited me to her baby shower on Facebook. But the truth is, social networks do a really good job at making you feel left out too. Wait... why did my friends all check-in at the same spot on Foursquare? How come these drunken Instagram pictures look so fun? WTF, Thanks for the invite!Read more...