Author: Brian Barrett

Apparently bored with abducting yokels and being shot at by Will Smith, some erudite extraterrestrial has deposited a crop circle in England that puts our left brains to the test. What you’re looking at, Earthlings, is a complex mathematical theorem. More »










Paranormal – Crop circle – Researchers – Circlemakers – England

Everything old is new again. And while the graphics of games like Super Mario Bros. and Zelda were blocky by necessity, the pixel has been reborn as an art form unto itself. Meet the Picassos of pixel art. More »

“Fifty percent of kills happen on the corners,” according to SmartSight inventor Matthew Hagerty. And his creation—a rifle sight camera that wirelessly transmits real-time video back to its soldier—will help ensure that our soldiers win those battles. More »

When we’re not using the Large Hadron Collider to smash particle beams together or daydream about time travel, we might as well turn it into a musical instrument right? Great! Except that its tunes are purely hellspawn. More »

Intel expanded its processor family today with six new chips, each designed to make ultraportable notebooks thinner, lighter, and with 32% better performance. We’re talking laptops less than an inch thick with ULV Core i7 inside. That’s just beautiful. More »










Ultra low voltage – Hardware – Intel – Intel Core – Components

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has written a carefully crafted near-apology in today’s Washington Post. And while his promises of coming improvements are welcome, the essay’s not so much a grand gesture as calculated damage control. More »










Facebook – Mark Zuckerberg – Privacy – Social network – Washington Post

Amazon had set a target of late May for their Facebook-friendly Kindle 2.5 update, and it looks as though they’re on schedule. Reports from users have started trickling in—at least for Kindle DX—meaning that the broad OTA release has begun. More »










Facebook – Amazon Kindle – Recreation – Radio – Citizen Band

Take a few of my favorite subjects: quantum dots, satellites, and gold. Mix them together, and what do you get? A breakthrough from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute that could revolutionize infrared detection. Somewhere, the Predator is jealous. More »










Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – United States – New York – Education – Colleges and Universities

In 1851, Leon Foucault demonstrated the Earth’s rotation to the world with a magnificent pendulum in the Paris Pantheon. In 2010, that pendulum crashed to the Musée des Arts et Métiers’ marble floor. The damage, as they say, is irreparable. More »










Paris – France – Ile-de-France – Arts et Métiers – Business and Economy

Tired/scared of Facebook? No worries, guys: Gink is the next big social network, and it’s got all the Gorks and Quimbles you’ve ever wanted. Welcome back, Derrick! You were missed. [Derrick Comedy via Laughing Squid] More »

Facebook seems to know they’ve stepped over a line—first came the internal privacy powows and second-guesses. Now Facebook’s public policy honcho says that the site will be introducing “simplistic” privacy choices. Oh good! Now what’s that mean, exactly? More »

Hurt Locker producer Nicolas Chartier—you know, the guy who wants to sue tens of thousands of people for downloading his movie—has made two things very clear over email: pirates are morons, and let’s hope their kids are jailed. More »










Hurt Locker – Nicolas Chartier – AcademyAward – Email – Business

The company that brought you the comedy gold of Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates gabbing about footwear has solved humor forever, the end. Meet Microsoft’s education competency guide to humor, and please remember to tip your waitress: More »

The problem with walking through a virtual reality world is that you’re subject to the physical world’s spatial limitations. That’s why the Enterprise‘s holodeck always gave me headaches. But I get it now: they had a CyberWalk. More »

On April 1st, Sony’s PS3 3.21 firmware update removed the ability to run other operating systems on the device—most notably Linux. Three weeks later, they’re facing a class action suit. Good. More »

Is flatulence ruining your love life? My friends, look no further than the Better Marriage Blanket, a fart-absorbing wünderspread that means you’ll never again have to blame it on the dog. This is a real thing! More »

This may not be the most glowing endorsement a product’s ever gotten, but I think it’s clear that the best part about an office in an aluminum box is that you can eventually be buried in it. More »

Mother’s Day‘s just around the corner, and NewEgg’s got “gift ideas for every mom.” Let’s see… we’ve got an HDTV for her programs, DVDs for her movies. Oh, and a vibrator for her “home.” Obviously. [NewEgg via The Daily What] More »

When you first see this Chinese military shovel in action, you may be tempted to think you’re just watching variations on digging. Impertinent fool! That “shovel” is about to chop down a tree. And row a boat. And saw. And… More »