Hasta La Gadget!

The Museum of Fine Arts Boston recently received a collection of extremely rare sculptures from Benin, adding new depth to their African art collection. Until now, the museum only owned a single piece from Benin — though it opened its African Art section over twenty years ago. The pieces are prized for their sharp detail and scarcity, as a majority of the works were destroyed during colonialism. Now the Boston MFA is the proud owner of 28 bronze statues and six ivory pieces.

New York banker and collector Robert Owen Lehman, great-grandson of a founder of Lehman Brothers, is behind the gift. He purchased the Benin pieces in the 1950s and 1970s, and ultimately chose to part with his prized collection, according to the Wall Street Journal, because they “would make a real difference in Boston.”

With great skill and clarity the works give a realistic view of West African history through its people’s own traditional artwork. Metalworking was a key component of the King’s court during Benin reign, and Benin people were especially fond of working with brass, which symbolized the continuity of kinship because its resistance to corrosion. The musical instruments, weapons and ornaments on display shed new light on a rich history that is rarely discussed in America today.

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From Mother Nature Network’s Morieka Johnson:

While Lulu has issues traveling by car, loud noises don’t seem to bother my 8-year-old pooch. But Fourth of July festivities can be stressful for some cats and dogs. If your dog has trouble embracing the concept of bombs bursting in air, take measures now to help make the holiday a bit more tolerable. Certified dog behavior consultants Amber Burckhalter and Chris Redenbach offer a few training tips for calming anxious pets.

List and captions courtesy of Mother Nature Network

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Gaming laptops are strange beasts. While they may have been lugged all the way to the LAN party, they aren’t too much fun to use on a plane. That was, until the advent of Alienware’s 11-inch M11x, which kept the fast internals at the expense of weight and battery life. When it was unceremoniously yanked by parent company Dell, it left a gap in the market for people who really did need a gaming laptop on the go.

Fortunately, Clevo stepped in with its W110ER, an 11-inch laptop that companies like Maingear and others have tweaked to sell as their own. Packing an Ivy Bridge CPU, NVIDIA’s Kepler-based GeForce GT 650M and the same 1366 x 768 display as the M11x, it’s obviously trying to step into Alienware’s shoes. So, is this the new standard-bearer for small-yet-powerful gaming laptops? Does it really blow us away with its power? Will you want to part with a minimum of $999 to get hold of one? Read on to find out.

Continue reading Maingear Pulse 11 review: a small and surprisingly powerful gaming laptop

Maingear Pulse 11 review: a small and surprisingly powerful gaming laptop originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jun 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This isn’t mind reading, per say. Instead Bettina Sorger, Joel Reithler, Brigitte Dahmen and Rainer Goebel at Universiteit Maastricht have figured out a way to monitor the flow of blood in the brain and associate the images captured using an MRI with the letters of the alphabet. The whole system takes about an hour to learn and configure for each individual. Trials focused on healthy individuals, but clearly its the paralyzed and people suffering from diseases like ALS that have the most to gain. Sorger hopes to enable “locked-in” patients to finally be able to communicate with the outside world by thinking out letter at a time. Obviously, patients aren’t going to be able to install an MRI in their homes, much less lug one around with them. The data collected could be used to finely tailor less accurate but more portable systems for patients that monitor electrical or light signals. If you’re interested in the real nitty-gritty you can check out the complete research paper at the source link.

New system lets you type with your brain using MRIs originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jun 2012 13:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gizmodo  |  Current Biology, University of Maastricht  | Email this | Comments

Google’s Chrome browser for iOS has already hit the top spot for most popular free apps in iTunes. Chrome for iOS was released just yesterday after Google announced at its I/O developer conference that it would be bringing its browser and cloud drive to the iPad and iPhone.

As of this writing, Chrome for iOS is listed as the top free app for both the iPhone and iPad. There are close to 4,000 reviews for the app, which have all been overwhelmingly positive. About 80 percent of the reviews posted give a five-star rating, while the overall rating is 4.5 stars.

The browser on iOS is very similar to the desktop experience, bringing features like Incognito Mode for private mobile browsing, tab syncing, and more. However, due to limitations set by Apple, Chrome for iOS is really like a skin on top of Safari, which actually means slower rendering of JavaScript.

[via ComputerWorld]

Chrome for iOS already top free app in iTunes is written by Rue Liu & originally posted on SlashGear.
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