Hasta La Gadget!

If you own a 55-inch 3DTV, chances are you’ve invested in at least a cheap soundbar to match the power of the picture on the screen. You basically have to; the built-in sound on most sets is horrendous. The sound system in the new 55-inch JVC BlackSapphire 3DTV is way burlier than the sound in comparable TVs, and from what we just heard in a hotel room in New York, it may be good enough not to need a soundbar boost. More »

NASA and its partners keep making progress in their quest to design a new passenger airliner that can fly supersonic without making a lot of noise, one of the main problems with the Concorde. And that progress looks space-age awesome. More »

If you’re looking for a lovely video to watch today while you eat lunch, journalist Christoph Malin has just what you’re seeking – a “Star Trails” video showing time-lapse imagery captured by the International Space Station. The video you’re about to see captures a collection of photos snapped by the ISS and places one image on top of another and another on another, making “Tron trails” through space. Accompanying this lovely set of images is music from a set of rather talented artists as well, starting with “Eileen” by Lee Rosevere and moving on to “Window #3″ by Two Bicycles.

The video shows photos taken by none other than your favorite astronaut Don Pettit, a celebrity in his own right, as well as several other space-bound photographers aboard the space station. Thanks to these ISS residents photographing space in their spare time, we’re able to see several artifacts in this video including the comet “Lovejoy” rising in at about 1:42. See if you can see any other fabulous moments of light convergence now!

This video was edited using Apple Motion as well as Final Cut Pro X. Malin also notes that he used the app StarStax to make the lights line up, one on top of another. In addition to stars making lines, the video includes Iridium Flashes – aka satellite tracks, meteors of several sizes, and lightning corridors within clouds. If all that isn’t enough, heed this: the concept for this video comes from Malin’s love of Tron, of course, as he notes here:

“Do you remember 1982′s “TRON”? The Plot: A computer programmer (epic: Jeff Bridges) is digitized inside the software world of a mainframe computer, where he interacts with various programs in his attempt to get back out. I always loved the Light Cycle races and the Solar Ships…

In a way, the ISS is a solar ship, constantly rotating around us. A tiny white spot, as it can be seen racing over the sky from time to time, when illuminated by the sunset (and sunrise ;).” – Malin

Keep your eyes to the skies and hit up our science tag portal as well as our space tag portal for all the ISS news you can handle – and our ever-growing science archive, too!

[via Christoph Malin]

Smartphone cases are a mixed bag nowadays — some are great, some are good, and some are just pretty awful. On top of the fact that cases are a hotly-debated item in the first place, it’s pretty difficult for case manufacturers to get the attention of smartphone users, and only a few have done it successfully. Loop Attachment has made a pretty unique silicone case called the Mummy, and it’s arrived just in time for Halloween. I ended up trying one out for myself to get a first impression and see how well it worked.

Personally, I don’t use a case on my phone since I’m not a huge fan of them to begin with. However, the Mummy case got my attention pretty quickly, and it’s one of the few cases that I was excited to actually try out. Obviously, right away you’ll notice the back of the case makes it look like the phone is wrapped with mummy wrappings (hence the name). The Apple logo and the “iPhone” are still visible, which is some clever design work to say the least. The mummy wrappings also serve another purpose besides just looking cool. You can stick credit cards, IDs, or cash in between the case and the phone, which also makes it a great makeshift wallet.

As with any silicone case, it can be a little difficult to slide your phone in and out of your pocket due to the rubbery texture, but the Mummy actually felt less rubbery, and it slid into my pocket a lot easier than most cases would. However, just like with any case, the Mummy does add a little bit of thickness to the iPhone, which gets rid of one of the features that makes the iPhone appealing in the first place. It can take time to get used to the size difference, but if you love the thinness of the iPhone, you’re probably not even using a case anyway.

The button “extenders,” so to speak, for the volume and power buttons work surprisingly well; they don’t take any more effort to push than normal, which can’t be said with most other iPhone silicone cases sadly. The opening for the ring/silent switch just above the volume buttons is a bit off, but that’s only because the case is catered towards both the iPhone 4 and 4S, which have slightly different placements when it comes to that small switch — not a huge deal there.

I did find it a bit of a nuisance trying to fit a credit card into the back of the case. Loop didn’t make it easy, since you kind of have to jimmy it in pretty good. There were even times where I was afraid I was going to scratch up the back of my iPhone with my credit card. Cash is even worse, since it’s more flimsy than a card. The trick is just to lift up the flaps and slide it in as best you can.

Overall, if you’re looking to get a minimalist and stylish silicone case for your iPhone, I’d probably tell you to get this one, despite the couple of very minor flaws. The case is well built, looks great, and has a one-of-a-kind unique Halloween theme that also works year-round.

Loop Attachment makes the Mummy case for the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and the new iPhone 5 (pre-order only). The iPhone 5 version will be available early next month for a special introductory price of $20. The iPhone 4/4S version costs $25, or you can get a bundle of three Mummy cases for $60.

I clearly remember this geeky door mat that had the phrase “There’s no place like 127.0.0.1” emblazoned across it. Well, Google has allowed the masses to take a peek into their data centers via Street View magic in the YouTube video above, which is something worth looking into since Google places utmost emphasis on the privacy and security of your data in their data centers, and will do all things possible to protect it. In fact, since 2008, only a tiny set of employees have access to the server floor itself, which can be deemed to be where the Internet lives.

Connie Zhou is the person behind the stunning photos of Google’s data centers, where in the video above, you can grab a closer look at the kind of technology, people and places work together in tandem to make sure that Google continues running without a hitch. The Lenoir, North Carolina data center is depicted in the video above, where you can explore it at your own pace in Street View. Were you impressed with what you saw?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Google Calendar app available from Google Play now, Google sends out invites to Android event for the 29th of October,