Groundwater pollution is a big problem in developing countries. Ramakrishna Mallampati discovered an ingenious way to make tainted water potable: drop in some fruit peels.
7:20 pm
'Quantified Self' Movement Now Lets You Track Your Money Too
Products that are meant to serve the world's neediest often have trouble taking off, despite their creators' best intentions. What keeps these helpful inventions from becoming blockbusters?
8:28 pm
FDA Scrutinizes Antibacterial Products for Hormonal Disruption, Bacterial Resistance
More news today out of the Food and Drug Administration ? so while I'm still writing my follow-up to last week's news on growth promoters, I want to toss this up first. The latest: The FDA has announced that it is formally reconsidering "antibacterial" soaps and other personal-care products, charging that the antibacterial ingredients confer no benefit over regular soap and water while carrying extra risks.
8:53 pm
Court Says NSA Bulk Telephone Spying Is Unconstitutional
America's founding fathers would be "aghast" at the NSA's bulk telephone metadata spying, a federal judge today said, finding that the program violates the Fourth Amendment and the legal argument justifying it is "the stuff of science fiction."
8:55 pm
Porsche Is Racing Back to Le Mans With a 919 Hybrid
After a 16-year hiatus, Porsche is returning to the greatest endurance race in the world, and the machine that's bringing them back to Le Mans is a four-cylinder hybrid that could set the bar in 2014.
9:29 pm
The Hyperlocal Web Bleeds as AOL Pushes Patch to the Curb
AOL is poised to throw in the towel on its local news network Patch. It's just the latest evidence that running a local startup is a terrible slog. So why are so many people trying?
9:56 pm
60 Minutes</em> Puff Piece Claims NSA Saved U.S. From Cyberterrorism
Well, don't we feel just a little bit ashamed today. While we've been whining about trivia like the frightening scope of the NSA's domestic spying programs - scooping up all our cell phone records, wiretapping American tech companies - the criminally poor oversight provided by rubber stamp lawmakers, and the flagrant lies of top level ...
10:11 pm
Your Next Plane Ride Could Help Scientists Predict the Weather
Predicting weather is still a dark art, right up there with picking the right anniversary gift or the fast-moving line at a grocery store. But a new sensor installed on a fleet of Southwest airplanes will provide an avalanche of new weather data, and do it in real-time.
Tuesday, December 17th, 2013
12:33 am
Shia LaBeouf Accused of Plagiarizing Cartoonist in Short Film
Critics loved Shia LeBeouf's short movie "HowardCantor.com" when it debuted at film festivals. Unfortunately, they didn't realize that it lifted significantly from an uncredited Dan Clowes comic.
Monday, December 16th, 2013
2:30 pm
In This Silicon Valley Tech Culture and Class War, We're Fighting About the Wrong Things
The fake (Alper's fake Google employee street theater rant) felt real and the real (Gopman's rant about the homeless) felt fake because all logic has been lost in the midst of a cultural upheaval between those in tech and those outside of it. The problem, though, is that those sides don't necessarily correlate to 'tech' vs. 'non-tech'. But there's no doubt this will be a fight. It's just in everyone's best interest that it's the right one.
2:30 pm
Darpa Cracks Radio Incompatibility Problem Once and for All
After more than 10 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon's research group has announced a new system that could help U.S. troops and multinational forces communicate ? a problem that frequently plagued the countries' cooperation in the field.
2:30 pm
The Beautiful UI Design Behind Automatic, a Driving App That Saves You Gas
This amazing microscope image of a carnivorous bladderwort is this year's winner of the Olympus BioScapes digital imaging competition. The close-ups that landed in the top 10 of the competition are a stunning collection of tiny living things. From a glassworm to a bat embryo, these images are pretty incredible, but the winning shot is a standout.
No one really likes waiting in an airport. When I'm there stuck in a sort of travel purgatory, I try to do something fun. For me, fun is video analysis. I just find something and make a video. It's easy now that I almost always have a video camera with me (my phone). Let me give you a couple of tips in case you want do this yourself.
6:45 pm
A Lamp With a Mind of Its Own, Inspired by Charles Darwin
Scientists may have spotted the first evidence for active plate tectonics on another world. Jupiter's moon Europa is covered in an ice crust bearing scars that may reveal movement similar to that of Earth's rocky plates.
5:15 pm
Could You Stay Sane Inside This Cellphone-Blocking Cage?
One of the top software engineers behind Bitcoin wants to the put the popular digital currency in space. And at today's bitcoin prices, he might actually scrape together the funds to pull it off.