"To paint the Forth bridge" is a modern-day phrase equivalent to a "Sisyphean task": an endless job that can never truly be completed.* The gigantic struggle of maintaining—cleaning, painting, and repairing—the largest structures on earth is an awesome one, and it deserves recognition. That’s the goal of our collection of photos below.
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In this era of pocket computers and 3D printing, one of the most eternally important gadgets can go overlooked: the toilet. Or so it seems. You might still sit on a stupid piece of porcelain, but a very special group of designers is working hard to improve your pooping experience with a new generation of pots.
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At the dawn of rapid prototyping, a common predication was that 3D printing would transform manufacturing, spurring a consumer revolution that would put a printer in every home. That hasn’t quite happened—-and like so many emerging technologies, rapid prototyping has found its foothold in a surprisingly different field: Medicine.
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The stuff we see, touch, and use everyday might not, at first thought, seem museum-worthy, but there are fascinating tales hiding within even the most below-average hunks o’ junk out there. Sometimes all it takes is context to elevate the mundane to legendary status.
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As you curse the rat’s nest of terminals, walkways, and people movers of whatever transit hub you’re using to get home this week, it’s easy to forget how extraordinarily sophisticated the average airport is. They’re works of art, really—but they’re nothing compared to the airport concepts artists have dreamt up over the last 100 years.
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If you’ve ever spent time in the far reaches of the U.S., you’re probably familiar with the deer stand—a uniquely improvised, homemade shelter that gives hunters refuge, warmth, and a clear view. Though they’re designed to be inconspicuous, photographer Jason Vaughn seeks them out, finding and photographing dozens of the structures across rural Wisconsin.
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In October, Dubai’s massive new airport—World Central Airport Dubai—cleared its first commercial flight. It’s expected to become the world’s busiest airport, but, with plenty of other contenders quickly taking shape in Asia and the Middle East, it’s going to have some stiff competition. Welcome to the mega-airport boom.
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In light of accusations that its Smart TVs were sending private data to its servers, LG has admitted that some of its sets are behaving in ways they shouldn’t be. In a statement, the Korean manufacturer conceded that it has been collecting channel, TV platform and broadcast source data from some units, even when the feature was switched off. However, the company said that when the feature operates normally, it helps provide viewing recommendations to other LG Smart TV owners based on what they are watching. In response to claims it was also beaming over names of files located on connected USB keys, LG admits that it actually forms part of an upcoming service that searches the internet for detailed information on a particular film or TV show.
Understandably, both features might leave a nasty taste in your mouth, especially if you own one of the affected Smart TVs. With that in mind, LG says that while it has never stored private data, it is working on a new firmware update that will ensure its data-collection settings adhere to user preferences — that’ll include killing off its file metadata-matching service before it had the chance to live.
LG regrets any concerns these reports may have caused and will continue to strive to meet the expectations of all our customers and the public. We hope this update clears up any confusion.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, LG
Satellites have given us a huge amounts of information about Earth—including the fact that many of our cities are so blinding lit, they’re visible from space. Those radiant cities are the subject of Lux, a photo essay by photographer Christina Seely.
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Where were you when the ISS launched its first module in November of 1998? Some of us watched, others were in school, still other weren’t even alive yet. Either way, it’s hard to believe that today is the International Space Station—the largest cooperative science project ever—is celebrating its 15h birthday today.
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