The National Ecological Observatory is a network of more than 100 sensors located across the country that will give scientists an 'EKG' for planet Earth, a crucial tool for monitoring environmental health in a changing global climate.
Image: Kevin Gill Read more...
Brewing your own beer is a complicated and scientific process that requires patience and a bit of training
One company, however, is attempting to simplify the process with an appliance that automates home brewing. Called Brewbot, the device turns you into a brewmaster — without any training.
Simply set up a recipe within Brewbot's app, and then pair your phone with the device. Brewbot connects to your phone via Bluetooth, and does everything from measuring the water for your brew to ensuring it’s at the right temperature.
The UK-based team behind Brewbot, which is currently in prototype form, has relocated to Portland, Ore. to finalize the project. What's more, it launched a Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds. Read more...
Lady Gaga, Eminem and Arcade Fire are among the artists who will perform at the first YouTube Music Awards, a new global event that will air live on YouTube on Nov. 3.
Google's 8-year-old video sharing service announced the 90-minute awards show Monday night, saying YouTube will reveal six award categories in mid-October. Data from YouTube users will drive the nominations, and users will vote for the winners.
SEE ALSO: 13 Must-Follow Musicians on Instagram
Leading up to the live show in November, YouTube will showcase hours of pre-recorded performances across the world, including Seoul, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro and London. Those will lead to the live event at Pier 36 in New York City. Read more...
Delta Air Lines announced Monday that it would purchase up to 11,000 Microsoft Surface 2 tablets to replace pilots’ flight bags.
Starting with Boeing 757 and Boeing 767 aircraft, pilots on 700 planes will leave behind their 35-pound flight kit in favor of the second generation of Microsoft’s tablet product. The move to tablets will help the airline save on fuel costs, as well as cut carbon emissions by 26 million pounds, according to the airline. Delta also said that all cockpits will be paper-free by the end of 2014.
In Delta’s news release and corresponding video announcing the purchase, the company touted the tablet’s ability to multitask as a selling point. “Pilots will be able to open two applications side-by-side, offering, for example, the opportunity to assess weather information alongside proposed flight paths,” the company said. Read more...
As stargazers keep their hopes up for an awesome show from ISON, dubbed the "comet of the century," a balloon NASA sent into space is intended to bring back more information about the celestial event
But this is not your average balloon. At 671 feet tall, NASA's balloon — named BRRISON, which stands for Balloon Rapid Response for ISON — can carry up to 8,000 pounds.
The comet ISON will whiz by the sun on Nov. 28 and it may light up brightly enough that we Earthlings can see it during the day, and without using telescopes. NASA hoped to gather more data about the comet through BRRISON, including images. According to a tweet from Sept. 28, the balloon launched successfully, and would float as high as 140,000 feet in the air. Read more...
Dom Tiberi is a longtime sports anchor at Columbus, Ohio, station 10TV. His 21-year-old daughter Maria was killed in an auto accident after her car hit a tractor trailer on Sept. 17.
The tragedy led to one nice moment this past Saturday, however, when the Ohio State Buckeyes football team welcomed Tiberi back to his first day covering a game since his daughter's death. As shown in the video, above, seemingly every member of the Buckeyes gave Tiberi a hug after leaving the field following their crucial win over Wisconsin. Tiberi is visibly touched by the gesture at the clip's end
Name: Shyp
One-Liner Pitch: Shyp borrows from the Uber playbook to make it easier for customers to ship random items.
Why It's Taking Off: Users can scan an item they want to ship using Shyp's app; then the startup sends over a driver to pick up the item, package it and mail it to your chosen destination
Mail delivery may not exactly sound like the sexiest space for new businesses, but in recent months, we've seen a slew of new same-day delivery services, including a company that aims to digitize snail mail and even a startup from a former FedEx employee that helps customers get refunds on late deliveries. Now, we can another company to that list: Shyp. Read more...
As Americans consider the ominous specter of a government shutdown, here, below, is a list of Twitter accounts that will keep you informed
But before we get to that, here's a bit of background on what exactly a "government shutdown" means, and how Washington's political gridlock reached this point
Like so much of modern American political theater, this predicament has its roots in the debate over Obamacare, U.S. President Barack Obama's law aiming to restructure the American healthcare system
Against that backdrop, we have the U.S. government's standard fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. Among the most basic duties of Congress is passing spending bills to keep the government running for the next fiscal year. From the military to the National Zoo, these annual spending bills pay for a wide range of public services and government institutions Read more...
As email clients get better at detecting and filtering spam, spammers are moving to social networks, where they have better chances of going undetected. That's why, on a typical social media account, spam has risen 355% in the first half of 2013, according to a new study.
Spam is spreading on social networks so much that 1 in 200 social media posts is spam, and 5% of all social media apps are spammy (meaning they promise a potentially useful service and then send spam updates instead). These are some of the numbers revealed by Nexgate's State of Social Media Spam Report (.PDF), which was released last week. Read more...
In the midst of a possible government shut down Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama delivered a speech on Monday filled with warnings about the possible consequences — one of which would be the furlough of most of NASA’s 18,000 employees
Fuelled by a budget stuck in limbo over disagreements related to the new healthcare law, the governmental impasse could cripple a number of federal institutions, including the Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the National Park Service.
But for those focused on the future of science and technology, the potential interruption of NASA's operations is just the latest in a series of budget woes that continue to stifle its development. Read more...
Ahoy, Instagram mateys — shake the paw of Yogurt the Pirate Dog.
The rest of your filtered feed can walk the plank because this 5-year-old chihuahua doesn't need two eyes to recognize her cuteness
Yogurt's human friend posted the first photo of this adorable buccaneer in May. She took a five-month hiatus before reappearing on Instagram with a new set of awww-worthy snapshots
Follow Yogurt now while she only has 1,000 followers — soon enough, she'll be co-hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live, and endorsing wooden legs.
Image: Instagram, Yogurt the Pirate Dog Read more...
The iPhone has been a boon to journalists worldwide — so much so that universities now teach courses on how to use the Apple gadget as a reporting and storytelling tool
But all the iPhone's journalism benefits come with a downside, as evidenced in hilarious fashion during a Monday press conference held by Northwestern University football coach Pat Fitzgerald.
One unlucky reporter had set his iPhone on the table in front of Fitzgerald to record the coach's remarks, leading into the nationally ranked Wildcats' Saturday showdown against powerhouse Ohio State. But the coach was interrupted mid-sentence by a caller named "Graham." Read more...
If you’re interested in losing weight and aren’t afraid of having your brain controlled by a laser beam through your eyeballs, then science has the perfect solution for you. In a recent study involving mice, scientists think they have discovered the part of the brain that allows for overeating – and how to turn it off.
Given that over one-third of American adults are obese, neuroscientists have been attempting to discover which part of the brain makes us so prone to eating, say, a whole tub of delicious chocolately hazelnut spread, instead of just half. So these scientists did what scientists usually do and messed with some mice to find the answers. Read more...
A Thai soymilk company has figured out what to do with your old, dead batteries.
Vitamilk has teamed up with BBDO Proximity Thailand, an organization that focuses on brand and consumer relationships, to create "Dead Batteries for Dead Batteries."
Using the leftover power of 1,500 used batteries donated by the public, the team created a wall of batteries with the ability to charge 140 smartphones. A video shows the batteries being placed in a large wall in sections of threes, before users approach the structure and plug in their phones.
Vitamilk estimates that over the course of two months, the wall has provided smartphones with an additional 3,328 hours of talk time Read more...
Given Jack Dorsey's Vine activity this morning, it's safe to say the Square CEO is excited about his company's new office space
Holding true to his roots as Twitter's co-founder, Dorsey to took Vine this morning to post a handful of videos commemorating his new commute, the company's rooftop patio, and the all-staff photo celebrating the new space. (Twitter acquired the 6-second video service in January of 2013.)
Monday was Square's first day in its new San Francisco headquarters, an office nearly three times larger than the company's old space less than one mile up the road. The new digs span four floors and take up approximately 150,000 square feet, according to a spokesperson Read more...
Writer Marina Shifrin sure knows how to quit a job in style.
In an epic video uploaded to YouTube, Shifrin busts a move to Kanye West's "Gone" while alone in her office at 4:30 a.m in the morning. As she does this, her reasons for resigning appear across the bottom of the video
Prior to quitting, Shifrin worked at Next Media Animation, a Taiwanese company that produces news videos
"I have put my entire life into this job, but my boss only cares about quantity, how fast we write and how many views each video gets," she wrote in the video description. "I believe it's more important to focus on the quality of the content. When you learn to improve this, the views will come." Read more...
He may have retired and sold his Star Wars franchise nearly a year ago, but George Lucas isn't done building his legacy yet. In fact, the most lasting part may be yet to come
Lucas has been planning for years to build a Cultural Arts Museum, celebrating CGI and other digital arts alongside the storytelling paintings he's collected over his career (Norman Rockwell, Maxfield Parrish, et al.). He says the museum was part of the deal when he moved Lucasfilm into the Presidio, San Francisco's national park, in 2005
But the Presidio Trust remembered differently, instituting a contest for museum proposals earlier this year — and now Lucas finds himself in competition with two other bidders, including the organization that runs the Presidio park itself. So the billionaire came out swinging in a New York Times article two weeks ago Read more...
