Growing up sucks. Getting older is no fun. Having your body deteriorate to a shell of itself is embarrassing. But wrinkles and brittle bones are a fact of life. But why! PHD Comics and integrative Biologist Joao Pedro de Magalhaes explain in this nifty animated comic on what aging is and how we can use that understanding to extend our lifespan. My brain feels smarter, more wrinkled and I guess, older, just from watching it.
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Smart accessories have certainly been on the rise over the past year as products like Google Glass and the Samsung Galaxy Gear seem to be the topic of many discussions on the subject. One “smart” product we never expected was a “smart wig,” although that is exactly what it looks like Sony is considering according to a patent submitted by the company. (more…)
Who Needs Google Glass When You Can Have The Sony Smart Wig? original content from Ubergizmo. 
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It’s not complicated, really. Public transportation makes more sense than driving. Why? Because driving is an inefficient use of resources. Because driving is soul sucking. Because we can fit an unbelievable number of drivers and would-be cars into one bus. This animated GIF reveals the basic mathematics of it all: more drivers means more cars means more traffic means more pollution means worse everything. But if everyone decided to use public transportation, instead? Watch how much we would be better off.
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Here’s a tip you should file away in your folder for zombie apocalypse preparation and in your brain for future conversations for whoa, I didn’t know it was that easy: opening a can without a can opener. All it takes is some abrasive concrete rubbing of the can’s top and a firm squeeze of the can’s body. As long as you don’t slice your finger when the can opens, you could eat some tasty everlasting goop anytime you want.
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Let’s hope none of us ever have to be put in a situation where we have to evacuate an airplane but this 2006 evacuation test of an Airbus A380 makes our current plane deplaning process look like a complete waste of time. The test incredibly emptied out all 873 passengers of the plane in less than 80 seconds. Typical planes in real life take around 10 minutes. Something is not adding up!
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Math, it’s so boring. Said everyone anytime anyone ever asked them to do basic arithmetic. But it doesn’t have to be! Yann Pineill & Nicolas Lefaucheux of Parachutes.tv has dispelled the notion that math is boring by making it look beautiful. Yes, beautiful. And a little bit like seeing The Matrix.
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We’ve seen a number of ways modern technology can help the blind as well as those with limited vision get around a little easier. Just this week, we saw a robotic cane that can help its user make their way past obstacles, but a new pair of smart glasses could actually help that person with limited vision see obstacles for themselves, as well as other things around them. (more…)
Smart Glasses Use High Contrast Images To Help The Blind See original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Panasonic’s 65-inch Smart VIERA WT600 UHD TV may have hit the market as a “me too” 4K TV, but it sure does look nice — even when placed right next to some of the competition. Thanks to its embedded H.264 decoder, we saw it run 4K content straight off an SDXC card and streamed from the internet (after about 10-15 seconds of loading). Interestingly, while the TV supports the fresh and still-unfamiliar HDMI 2.0 spec, a good chunk our demo session was done over DisplayPort 1.2a to show the display’s ability to pump out 60fps 4K content — unlike existing competitors, which cap out at 30fps. Aside from faster frame rates, it was apparent in our viewing session that the out-of-box settings on a Sony XBR-65X900A ($5,499) had overly boosted reds, while both it and a Samsung F9000 ($5,000) dropped in for the demo showed pronounced haloing. Now we just want to see all of these TVs running 4K content fed from a player using HDMI 2.0 — whenever that’s fully standardized.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
How many times have you burnt your tongue because you sipped too-hot coffee or cocoa from that takeout cup? Aiming to drive that number down are the folks behind the SmartLid.
It’s a disposable beverage lid that changes color, depending on the temperature of the cup’s contents. Just keep a stack of these in your car or at your office, and replace the lid on your cup with this one so you’ll know when it’s safe to take a sip. It’s originally maroon in color, but it changes to bright red when the contents in your cup are still piping hot at the 120°F (48°C) range. It’ll slowly change back to its original color as your drink cools down.
SmartLids available in packs of 40 for $30 (USD). They also offer packs of 1,000 lids that people running cafes or restaurants might want to pick up.
[via The Awesomer]
A year ago, pod-shaped recycling bins were installed all over the UK by Renew London. The so-called “smart bins” definitely look better than your average trash can. Now, you might be wondering, why would trash cans have Wi-Fi capabilities and an LCD installed on front?
The answer, my friends, is advertising. Targeted advertising.
The bin looks for smartphones nearby that have their Wi-Fi turned on. It then logs their MAC address and calculates the “proximity, speed, duration and manufacturer” of each device. It tracks the phone owner’s actions to then display targeted adverts on the screen, which will play as they walk past the bin.
Sounds smart, right? Yeah, definitely, but it’s rubbing a lot of people the wrong way because of privacy issues. To be honest, I’d be pretty irked, too, if this phone was tracking what I was doing just so it could show me an ad or two when I walk past the bin.
So it was only a matter of time before the bins had their Wi-Fi and tracking capabilities pulled. The City of London has called on Renew to stop recording people’s movements, so Londoners can breathe a sigh of relief now.
The City of London released the following statement:
We have already asked the firm concerned to stop this data collection immediately. We have also taken the issue to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Irrespective of what’s technically possible, anything that happens like this on the streets needs to be done carefully, with the backing of an informed public.
[via C|NET]
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