Chris Benard

Eyesight stereo cameras provide full-range adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, and low-speed pedestrian braking.

FacebookNow that the euphoria that followed Wendy Davis' Senate filibuster two nights ago has faded, Democrats are back to facing the likelihood that the Republicans' death grip on state government isn't going to loosen easily or soon. As the Texas Tribune's Jay Root explains, Republicans embarrassed themselves, but Governor Rick Perry remains very much in the driver's seat. And he came out swinging today during the National Right to Life's annual convention in Dallas this morning. His speech delivered the type of boilerplate anti-abortion rhetoric everyone expected and reiterated his pledge to get a 20-week abortion ban through the Legislature in the coming special session. Perry, like his Republican colleagues, dismissed the crowd in the Senate gallery Tuesday night who picked up the slack after Davis was forced to stop talking as an unruly mob who carried out a "hijacking of the democratic process." Then he turned his attention to Davis, opening with a prelude about how even children born into poverty can achieve great things.

E-bikes are much-maligned by the cycling community and non-riders alike. They're for lazy people. They're so ugly and clunky looking. But Specialized has come up with an answer for both crowds. You will want to hate the Turbo. You will fail.

This thing is so damn fun.

Welcome to Fitmodo, Gizmodo's gym for your brain and backbone. Don't suffer through life as a sniveling, sickly weakling—brace up, man, get the blood pumping! Check back on Wednesdays for the latest in fitness science, workout gear, exercise techniques, and enough vim and vigor to whip you into shape.

Design

At first glance, it doesn't even look like an e-bike. That's a huge achievement in and of itself. It looks more like a sporty cruiser/road-bike/mountain-bike hybrid. Most e-bikes have big, clunky battery packs that hang off the back, and motor housings that make their presence known. Everything on the Turbo is tucked away. It took Specialized five years of research and development to get to something the company was willing to stand behind, and that effort shows.

The frame itself is wider than you'd find on a normal bike. That's because the cradle for the large 342 watt-hour battery is built right into it. The battery locks snugly into place (you need a key to remove it) right in the middle of the bike, so it doesn't rattle around and it gives you a nice low center of gravity. The battery can be removed and charged in a rapid charger (which takes it from zero to 100 percent changed in two and a half hours), or you can use a mini charger which will juice up your bike via a socket built into the frame. The socket has a magnetic cover, and there's a magnet in the frame so you won't misplace it. Nice detail.

The 250-watt direct-drive electric motor is built directly into the rear hub, but it's done in such a way that someone couldn't steal it without stealing the whole bike. The bike's rims are wider and thicker than your standard street bike because they are reinforced to help offset the bike's not-trivial weight—close to fifty pounds, which mostly comes from the battery. The frame is mostly made of aluminum.

Up front there's a built-in headline which runs off the big internal battery. On the handlebars is a built-in bike computer. It tells you your speed, distance, how much battery you have left, and what mode you're in. It has an ANT+ radio in it, so it can communicate with other devices and smartphone apps. Only a very few smartphones have ANT+ built-in, but you can get a dongle for both Android and iOS devices. It's probably not worth it.

Toward the right side of the handle bars is a standard 10-speed SRAM DoubleTap gear shifter, and a little node with plus and minus buttons. No, those don't control your speed. In fact, there are no hand controls for the motor at all, which is part of what sets this e-bike ahead of the pack.

Using It

When it's time to start riding, you hold down the power button on the battery. The four lights on it then come on one at a time. That's actually a systems check, with each light indicating a different component. So, if the third light doesn't come on, for instance, you'd know something's up with the motor. Once you're all powered up, you select which mode you want to start in—there are four in all, from manual up to Turbo—and go.

Because there's no throttle, speed is controlled entirely by pedaling. The motor has a built-in torque sensor, so when it sees that you're putting more torque on it (either by going up a hill or pedaling harder) it kicks in more. It will help you go to a maximum of 28 miles per hour. You can, of course, go faster than that using leg power, but it will stop assisting you beyond 28.

How much assistance you get from the bike will depend on what mode you select. Turbo mode is essentially maximum assist, where it will use all its resources to get you to that maximum assisted speed (again, 28 MPH). Eco mode gives you a 30-percent boost by default, though it can be customized via the bike computer to help anywhere between 10 and 90 percent. No Assist is what it sounds like—you're doing all of the work yourself. And then there's Regenerate mode, where the bike actually adds resistance and your legs recharge the batteries.

Once the bike's battery gets down to 20 percent, it will automatically switch into Eco mode, and when it get down past six percent, assistance shuts down, and the battery is only used to power your bike's light. There's no set formula for predicting how long your battery will last because it depends on how much the motor has to engage and how much your legs are moving. On flat ground, you could probably get in a 25 mile trip at top speed. If you were going up a steep hill, it would be less than that. The bike also utilizes hydraulic disc brakes and engaging them uses the momentum you've already generated to charge the battery a little bit. It's a cool idea, but you'd probably have to be leaning on that brake down a 8,000 foot mountain in order to get back to a full charge.

Riding It

Earlier this week we took these bikes on a loop around Central Park in NY. Oh man. I fully expected to hate this thing, but it's just so incredibly fun. You stomp down on the pedal that first time and the bike accelerates underneath you, like it has a mind of its own, but you feel glued to it. In Turbo mode you can get up to 28 MPH with hardly any effort at all, and it's really easy to stay there. Suddenly, you're going flying up a hill and whipping by guys in expensive cycling gear like it's nothing. The Turbo is no louder than a standard bike, so there's nothing to interrupt the sound of the wind whipping through you hair.

Turbo mode will spoil you quickly. Switching to Eco mode, there was definitely still a bit of push, but you had to do a lot more work on the hills. Flip to No Assist, and you're doing real work. This bike weights 50 pounds, and you feel that extra weight when you're doing all of the work yourself. After using Turbo, switching into Regen is like a cruel joke. It feels like you're dragging a sailboat on a trailer, except the resistance doesn't ease up once you're up to speed. It took about four minutes of hard pedaling just to raise the battery one percent, which is why you really only want to use Regen while going downhill.

The bike handled really well and felt very stable even at top speed. The hydraulic rear brake worked great, and I was able to quickly stop for tourists who were clearly hoping to suicide on my handlebars. I'll cop to feeling a little guilty while blowing past people that were working much harder than I was, and of course I'd never try to sneak it into a race, but it was an absolute blast to ride.

A Breed Apart

So, we loved the bike and we had a great time on it, but a rather important question remains: Who is this for? At $5,900 we're in the territory of custom-built, carbon-fiber race bikes. Hell, we're in the territory of very decent used motorcycles and cars! It's also not ideal for city life because it accelerates so quickly, and because it's so heavy it's not as maneuverable—you have fifty more pounds carrying your inertia right toward that opening car door ahead of you. Also, you're not going to want to carry this thing up a flight of stairs.

We can see it maybe finding a niche with well-to-do commuters who work within twenty miles or so of their home. People who want to add a little more exercise to their lives, and would like to ride a bike to work, but don't want to be a sweaty mess by the time they arrive. People who don't mind being scorned by the hard-core cycling community.

Honestly, it's a luxury item. And while it might not change your mind about e-bikes, it's an undeniably good time. [Specialized]

Images and video by Nick Stango

NBC News is reporting that retired Marine Gen. James "Hoss" Cartwright, the former second highest ranking officer in the US military, is currently under investigation for leaking classified information about Stuxnet, the US-Israeli computer virus which sabotaged an Iranian nuclear facility in 2010.

According to the New York Times report from last year, Gen. Cartwright, a four-star general and former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was responsible for conceiving and executing "Olympic Games," the operation begun under the Bush administration which eventually built and unleashed the Stuxnet virus in collaboration with Israel. Security researchers first discovered the virus in 2010, when it began spreading to computers across...

Continue reading…

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the FBI's chief suspect in the April 15th Boston Marathon bombings that killed three people and injured scores more, has been formally indicted by a US grand jury on 30 separate counts, including using weapons of mass destruction and killing four people, as the US District Attorney for Massachusetts just announced on Twitter. The DA will be holding a press conference at 3PM EST in Boston to discuss the indictment. The 19-year-old chief suspect was previously charged by the Justice Department with carrying out the bombings with help from his older brother, Tamerlan, who was killed in a subsequent police chase.

The Boston Globe reports that in addition to three victims of the bombing, authorities have accused Dzhokhar...

Continue reading…

If you like hiking and photographing exciting places around the globe, Google has a proposition for you: You can now sign-up to borrow one of the company's Trekkers, special camera-equipped backpacks that act as a personalized version of Google's Street View cars, allowing the wearer to automatically capture a 360-degree view of their surrounds as they move. Google previously only let select employees and a few third-party organizations take the Trekkers out to scenic places including the Grand Canyon and the Canadian Arctic, but now the company is giving any third-party organization the chance to apply online for loaner Trekker backpacks. The footage that winning applicants capture could be added to Google's growing library of Street...

Continue reading…

A live-action adaptation of popular 1990s edutainment cartoon series Captain Planet and the Planeteers could be headed to the silver screen. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony Pictures is in "final negotiations" to acquire the necessary rights for the film. Mark Gordon, Don Murphy, and Susan Montford are all reportedly on board to produce the project.

Captain Planet and the Planeteers was the brainchild of cable executives Ted Turner and Barbara Pyle. The show centered around five teenagers from across the globe, each given a magic ring granting them control of an element of nature. Recruited by Gaia — the spirit of the earth — these Planeteers were tasked with raising public awareness of and battling pollution and other...

Continue reading…

Google Street View has extended its reach to the abandoned island of Hashima, Japan, which served as the setting for Raoul Silva's "Dead City" retreat in 007: Skyfall, the latest James Bond movie. Also known as Gunkanjima (Battleship Island) because of its resemblance to a warship when seen in profile, Hashima retains little hint of its former status as a thriving coal-mining hub. Living conditions deteriorated after the island was used as a labor camp for decades, and the last resident left in 1974, according to a history published in Cabinet.

The island re-opened to tourists in 2009, but certain areas remained off-limits. Google worked with the city of Nagasaki to let its Trekker backpack into the restricted parts, also taking...

Continue reading…

The first images of Google's new London headquarters have emerged. The company recently spent $1 billion on a plot of land for the development, and has enlisted architecture firm Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM) to design its new London home. The proposed headquarters, which are expected to be valued at over $1.6 billion when completed, would stretch 330 meters (the length of three and a half football fields) and rise to eleven storys in height. Like most modern developments, it's designed to be environmentally friendly — the architects are aiming to achieve an "outstanding" certification from BREEAM — and will be constructed with steel framing and cross-laminated timber panels, an unusual technique for a building of this size.

Continue reading…

Microsoft has confirmed that Xbox Live Arcade developers are no longer subject to a fee when updating their titles. Corporate VP of Xbox Live Marc Whitten told Polygon that the policy has been in effect since April of this year, potentially saving companies high charges to fix bugs in their downloadable Xbox 360 games. The news was first reported by Eurogamer.

Phil Fish, the outspoken creator of Fez, raised the issue last year when he decided to re-release a patch containing a bug that could corrupt save files. At the time Fish said that while the patch improved the game for "99 percent of users," his company Polytron could not fix the bug because Microsoft would charge "tens of thousands of dollars" for the resubmission.

Continue reading…

When the Xbox One comes out at the end of 2013, buyers will be able to plug their cable boxes directly into the console for TV. But Xbox 360 owners are still getting some new TV options as well. This morning, Microsoft announced a deal with Time Warner Cable that will bring its live TV options to the Xbox 360. A Time Warner Cable app, set to launch later in the summer, will offer subscribers the option to stream TV directly through the Xbox. Like many of the 360's other features, you'll need an Xbox Live Gold membership in addition to Time Warner Cable credentials; if you have both, you'll be able to access any channel you've paid for through TWC.

Microsoft has already made several deals with other cable TV companies or channels....

Continue reading…

Electricity generated from renewable energy is expected to grow by 40 percent over the next five years, and may surpass natural gas to become the world's second-largest power source by 2016, according to the latest projections from the International Energy Agency (IEA). In its Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report, released Wednesday, the Paris-based IEA said renewables such as wind, solar, and biothermal will comprise a quarter of the world's energy mix by 2018, up from 20 percent in 2011. If the projections hold true, renewables would be second only to coal as the world's leading source of electricity.

The agency attributed much of this growth to an overall decline in costs — particularly for wind and solar technologies —...

Continue reading…

Read on Ars Technica | Comments

Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Earlier this week a New York Times article claimed that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden asked a group of lawyers visiting him to put their cell phones in the refrigerator—the idea being that it would act as a Faraday cage. But does it actually work?

This video, by MAKE's Michael Colombo, suggests it might not be quite as effective as Snowden hoped. But a cocktail shaker? Now you're onto something. [YouTube via BoingBoing]

Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Volkswagen wanted to build a 235 MPG car. Now, 15 years after setting that challenge for themselves, they've exceeded their goals in almost every way. The VW XL1 is built like a supercar, looks like a spacepod, feels like a production model and crosses the Autobahn while using barely 0.004 gallons of fuel every mile. This is what it's like to drive the future.

(Full Disclosure: Volkswagen wanted me to drive the XL1 so badly they flew me business class to Wolfsburg, put me up in a very nice hotel and paid for all my Hendrick's Gin & Tonics. Then, they even let me try out their newest toy.)

When Dr. Ferdinand Piech drove the first prototype of VW's 1 liter car from Wolfsburg to Hamburg for the annual shareholders in 2002, he probably didn't have a great time. Prototypes tend to be noisy and rather uncomfortable on the Autobahn. But that demonstration must have worked since today the diesel-electric hybrid XL1 is entering limited production.

What's for sure is that Piech wanted to have a 235 mpg car and they ended up achieving 261 mpg. That's a remarkable result, even if that number is only achievable in an ideal world where hypermiling is the norm. If you use all its power, the XL1 will still save more fuel for you than most cars out there while it seats two, has enough cargo space for a short trip (around 4.2 cubic feet) and a range of 310 miles if you fill the tiny 2.6 gallon fuel tank to the brim.

If you open it up, it doesn't take long to realize how much work and money went into the development of this futuristic Tatra. There's carbon fiber everywhere and you sit in a one-piece monocoque that VW gets from an Austrian supplier. At 179 lbs, it's super light. It has carbon-ceramic brake discs and pads, polycarbonate windows and a magnesium clutch. This was a project not many could have pulled off apart from Volkswagen, and even they had to think about it for quite a while.

The end result is a car that weighs only 1753 lbs. And while 143 lbs of that is actually down to the batteries, this electric system makes much more sense than the Porsche 918's.

So here we are in Wolfsburg, a town of 50,000 that could be described as the cheerful Death Star of the VW empire. Or the German Bethlehem, whatever you prefer. There are five XL1s in the parking lot, and I'm going to drive one. The moment of truth I've been waiting for since Geneva. VIN number 19 will get floored.

After a few yards, it's obvious that you need to be a car guy (or girl) to get why certain compromises had to be made with the XL1. For example, there is no power steering but you get park assist. It's all about weight and it's all about nerdy details. Let me start from the beginning.

There's a button on the dashboard that says EV. As you may have guessed, that means the XL1 uses only electric power (27hp) until the lithium-ion batteries run out of juice (approximately 31 miles), which causes the 0.8-liter turbodiesel (TDI) engine to kick in. Now, in pure electric mode, the XL1 is slow. It's fine in a crowded city, but the fact remains that you need flammable liquids to get excited.

Volkswagen claims that thanks to its aerodynamic body (0.189 cd), the car only needs 8.4 horsepower in order to cruise at 60 mph. Fair enough, but getting there takes quite a while if you leave it to electricity.

That's why you fire up the big block engine. When you choose combined mode and let the TDI do its job, two things happen. You get an extra 48 horsepower/instant speed and a terrible grinding noise from behind as the diesel is not toned down by any weight-adding soundproofing.

It gets better once the DSG shifts up and the engine warms up, but it's still surprisingly noisy inside, with quite a lot of vibration when you put the pedal to the metal carbon fiber.

But stop thinking of the XL1 as an economy car. Think of it as a radical sports car. The XL1 has no power steering, no soundproofing and lots of carbon fiber. There are no mirrors, just a rear-view camera. And while it doesn't quite go like an F40, it is faster than the efficiency suggests. Cruising at 80 mph using the combined power of 75 hp, the XL1 feels happier than being stuck in city traffic, and while it is limited to a 100 mph, it could do more.

The lack of power steering makes it very direct even with the rather slow steering rack, and the ride is good despite those crazy Michelins optimized for low rolling resistance. You sit in a carbon monocoque, and that translates to the rigidity of a tank.

It's not flawless. It's noisier than your average VW and the sound isn't just from the TDI, but the carbon brakes as well. That's supercar stuff, you get used to it. The VW guy sitting next to me fixed the issue by turning on the radio. German engineering in the haus!

I guess you could also get used to the rear-view camera, but in traffic, it felt weird. The screen is not where you would normally look, so you have to take your eyes off the road for a second. And since there's only two of them, you end up with a whole new sort of blind spot.

Let's put it this way: If somebody stood behind you and stole your license plate, you wouldn't know. There's no rear window. But Volkswagen believes in this technology and Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg told us that since screens are getting cheaper and cheaper, we should expect to see cameras instead of mirrors as soon as they figure out the legal side of it.

The biggest gadget, of course, is the drivetrain that will soon find it's way into the Volkswagen e-up!... without the diesel part. It's great how you know exactly what's going on under the panels. The carbon brakes make a noise, the electric motor's regenerative braking doesn't. So it's clear what's stopping you. The TDI will certainly let you know when it powers up, and in EV mode, there's the usual electric sound giving you the full Jetsons experience. The screen displaying the system gets rid of the rest of your question marks.

On the move, it certainly looks like nothing else on the road.

Unfortunately, when you look around inside, it's much less exciting. In fact, it's standard VW stuff apart from the carbon dashboard and the funky carbon bucket seats. The steering wheel is great and the off-set seating means there's enough shoulder room. But in a car like this, I expect to have holograms and alien colors. Not the Germans. They just don't do that.

So, I'm crawling in traffic in EV mode, saving pandas and looking for the rearview mirrors. Not like anybody is going to crash into an XL1. They might take pictures though. And even sitting lower than anybody else, the carbon fiber's rigidity gives a sense of safety. It's stronger than most small cars out there.

As we head for the Autobahn, I unleash full power, only to realize that the XL1 is much better at highway speeds. Reaching 80 mph is no problem, the DSG does its job, the car is very stable and with the total lack of drag, the only things slowing you down are the bugs you hit on your way. The wind becomes your friend in this one.

When we head back to the parking lot, I realize that overall, the XL1 is much better than I expected. It really feels like a production car instead of a prototype, and that's the biggest compliment for a limited production vehicle. And limited it is.

Volkswagen already made 50 out of the planned 250 run. They will sell them at "important markets" in Europe, with some probably reaching the shores of China too. This first batch of cars will be actually handed to the public for a month long testing session in Germany, and since many are interested, VW had to set up an essay competition to decide who will be the lucky ones to get it.

So, what's the point then? The point is that they could pull it off. It's a technological masterpiece that hints at the future of lightweight mobility. And it works today.

After the drivetrain, the next step might be high volume carbon fiber panels from Volkswagen. They know how much weight can be saved by that, and these people like numbers.

There's no word on pricing, no word on available colors (white, grey and red are for sure), but if the XL1 catches on, we've learned that the very labor-intensive production run can be expanded beyond the 250 units. Only time will tell, but I want one.

Photo credit: Máté Petrány

Broadcasters are understandably sick of the fellas at the freaking FCC. It's 2013, but shows on the public airwaves are still forced to follow a weird pastiche of morality rules seemingly cobbled together from the standards of multiple different generations and interest groups. Not only are these rules extremely questionable in a country with free speech, they are plainly obsolete: everyone has easy access to the whole perverted rainbow of obscenity, and enforcing a moral standard of media is clearly a matter of personal and family responsibility. Public TV networks no longer have the influence on culture that they used to, given competition from cable, online media, and other things over which the FCC has no control — and, surprisingly enough, the broadcasters themselves are now making that very argument:

ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC also say that rules are archaic because the networks have lost so much cultural clout. Fox says in an FCC filing, “Americans today, including children, spend more time engaged with non-broadcast channels delivered by cable and satellite television, the Internet, video games and other media than they do with broadcast media.” In a separate filing, NBCUniversal observes that ”Broadcast TV is not a uniquely pervasive presence in the lives of 21st Century Americans.” Broadcast network affiliates’ total day share of viewing “was just 28 percent in the 2010-2011 television season – compared to the 53 percent viewing share held by ad-supported cable programming networks.” CBS also notes that “the day when a child watching television was almost certain to be watching broadcast television has long since passed.”

Looks like someone at the TV networks realized what year it is too. We may need to update the NBC business model:

Of course, what goes unmentioned is the fact that escaping FCC regulations is clearly part of a plan to regain relevance. Which is entirely fair. There are a bunch of reasons for the decline of network television, primarily technological, but the fact that so many top-level stars, producers and showrunners are flocking to the less-restrictive world of cable and the internet certainly can't be helping. Look at a huge network hit like Seinfeld: after that success, and with a virtual carte-blanche to experiment, of course Larry David would make his next show for a cable network like HBO. And as Julia Louis-Dreyfus once remarked in an episode of said show, "I want to be able to say fuck," so it's hardly a surprise that a show like Veep ends up on HBO too. Plus Veep's creator, Armando Iannucci, hails from the UK with its early watershed hour, at which point broadcast shows can do pretty much whatever they like — it's hard to imagine him wanting to work within the confines of FCC regulations either. That's a whole bunch of talent creating successful, critically-acclaimed shows — and not creating them for NBC, the network that spawned the breakout hit that got the ball rolling in the first place.

Let's hope the FCC listens. The networks have a whole lot of work to do if they want to regain real relevance, and they haven't always been good at it, but I have no desire to see them further hindered by obsolete morality rules pushed by the busybodies at the Parents Television Council (who, it will surprise nobody to learn, vociferously oppose these filings). Let's give NBC a chance to make the next Eastbound & Down or Lucky Louie. Let's let ABC scrap Dancing With The Stars in favor of Katherine Ryan's more innovative The Voice competitor, The Ass. And let's let PTC president Tim Winter squirm in the home theater throne from which he judges all that is wrong on the air, as the epidemic of pixellated nudity becomes an explosion of Game of Thrones-style sexposition. The broadcasters have enough problems already.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

If you haven't learned anything interesting today, watch this fascinating history lesson on how the aspect ratios we know (16:9, 4:3) became the standard of what we see. For any film geek or ratio nerd, it's a lovely trip back into time where things can become standard by just doing it for a long time.

Probably the best wrinkle in aspect ratio history is how 16:9 came about: old 4:3 movie theaters birthed 4:3 television sets which stopped people from going to 4:3 movie theaters which made 4:3 movie theaters go widescreen to offer something different at home (which also eventually gave way to widescreen TVs). [FilmmakerIQ]

Instead of using your typical cartography methods of mapping the world, James Davenport created a world map using just airports, runways and helicopter pads. That way you can see which countries are dotted and outlined with airports (hint: it's the rich ones) and which countries just disappear into the vapor (hint: it's the poor ones).

It's impressive that most of the continents are outlined enough to get a general shape (with North America, South America, Europe and Australia being more apparent) with the USA being almost excessively colored in. The map used a total of 45,132 runways to fill in the world.

See the full map here. [If We Assume via Fast Co Design]

Outside of the fear of flying, the most anxious part of traveling around the world is hoping your bags get to the same destination as you do. The paper tags in use today work, but if they get accidentally torn off your luggage, who knows where it might end up. So starting next month, British Airways will begin testing a brilliant re-usable luggage tag featuring an e-ink display that can be reprogrammed again and again using your smartphone.

Created by a British design shop called Designworks, once you've checked in for a flight the tags will be easily updatable to reflect your current destination, presumably using a low-power wireless NFC connection to your phone. The barcodes on the new e-ink tags can be scanned by existing luggage sorting equipment too, and if they're a success, the reusable tags could be further enhanced with more wireless options making it even easier for airports, and you, to keep track of where your bags are. [Designworks via Engadget]

The Drug Enforcement Agency has seized 11.02 Bitcoins worth $814.22 from an accused drug dealer in South Carolina, according to a government press release spotted by Bitcoin bloggers. It is the first known instance of the government seizing the virtual currency as if it were property or cash.

The DEA arrested Eric Daniel Hughes on April 12th, 2013. One Bitcoin sleuth traced the user name "Casey Jones" to user "Truckin" on the underground drug bazaar Silk Road, where he appears to have been an active buyer and seller. His posts refer to pharmaceutical drugs such as Adderall, Dexedrine, Vyvanse, Klonopin, Clonazepam, and suboxone. One user claims to have bought from Casey Jones and says he was trustworthy but a bit careless.

User...

Continue reading…

Demand for encryption apps has increased dramatically ever since the exposure of massive internet surveillance programs run by US and UK intelligence agencies. Now Facebook is reportedly moving to implement a strong, decades-old encryption technique that's been largely avoided by the online services that need it most.

Forward secrecy (sometimes called "perfect forward secrecy") is a way of encrypting internet traffic — the connection between a website and your browser — so that it's harder for a third party to intercept the pages being viewed, even if the server's key becomes compromised. It's been lauded by encryption experts since its creation in the early 1990's, yet most "secure" online services like banks and webmail still...

Continue reading…

Who likes taking out the trash? Nobody, that's who. We'll do anything we can to avoid trips to the curb, or the garbage chute, including letting it pile up for weeks on end. But a giant mountain of stinking trash in your kitchen isn't the only solution. This stainless steel trash can includes a manual compressor letting you squeeze roughly twice the amount of trash into its 10 gallon capacity.

It's kind of like having your own personal garbage truck, except that it's not waking you up at six o'clock in the morning. At $200 it is a pricey alternative to less capable garbage cans, but you have to factor in all the quality time you'll be gaining with this. Not to mention the sheer joy when you're able to squeeze one more empty chip bag in there, instead of having to empty it. [Frontgate via The Green Head]

We're all familiar with the, uh, pitfalls of Apple's iOS Maps app. But Peder Norrby, the founder of a Stockholm-based tech company called Trapcode, has managed to capture some of the most bizarre 3D mapping glitches in high definition—turning them into lovely, surreal vignettes.

Norrby's project is called Mapglitch, and it's exactly what it sounds like: a series of high-def screen grabs from instances where the map has incorrectly laid 2D aerial imagery onto the 3D map. We got in touch with Norrby to find out what spurred the project, and apparently, it grew out of a Maps-surfing habit. "Ironically, I recently focused on the Mapglitch project because just sitting with iOS Maps looking around relaxes me," he said over email. "And now it got all this attention!"

Norrby is updating his Flickr page with new glitches as he finds them, so keep an eye on that for future images. And for now, enjoy the following finds—from Houses Throwing Up Trees in Barcelona to Hungry Plane Wants to Eat Terminal at JFK—below. [Flickr]

For years, one of Android's biggest problems has been Android skins that weigh down the best hardware the platform has to offer. But now the two bestAndroid phones in the world—the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4—come in pure, stock Google Editions. And after spending some time with both, we can confirm that ditching the skins has made them better than ever.

Since you can buy them as of today, we've broken down how the two compare with each other, and with the skinned versions of themselves.

HTC One: Stock Android vs. Sense

The One with Sense enabled was already pretty much the snappiest phone we've ever used. With stock Android, it's even faster. Apps open just a little bit quicker and swiping around the UI is just a little bit smoother. The biggest difference you'll notice, though, is that it's just cleaner. Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) is a very minimal OS. Apps like the calendar, the clock, and even the apps drawer are more paired back and easier to use. Desktop customization, for example, is much simpler.

You still get the same great phone on the hardware side. From a design standpoint it's still our favorite phone ever, and it's by far the most satisfying to hold. The screen is incredibly sharp and looks just as good as it did on the skinned version. The dual, front-facing speakers still sound incredible (best sounding phone ever), and when you have headphones in you have that same Beats by Dre EQ, which focuses on the bass a little more and sounds very good (the HTC One has a dedicated pre-amp to help with this). Unfortunately, it's not all good news.

The only significant drawback in the Google Edition unit we tested is that the camera doesn't work nearly as well anymore. You might recall how the HTC One's "ultrapixel" sensor took the win in our smartphone camera battle. Clearly, HTC's camera software had something to do with balancing that rather unique sensor, because the stock Android camera app doesn't do nearly as good of a job. Photos tend to be washed out, over-exposed, and under-saturated. Even in low light, it isn't as good.

The new camera app itself is very cleanly laid-out and easy to use, but you lose a lot of the advanced shooting features found in the Sense camera app (though many of these reappear in the editing menu in stock Android's Gallery app), in addition to the specialty modes, though you do gain Google's mega-panoramic PhotoSphere, which is fun but is ultimately a small consolation.

There's a chance, though, that the fault may lie in our unit. A Google spokesperson responded to our inquiries about it as follows:

"The camera hardware and underlying software (image processing, etc.) are the exact same between the Stock and Sense UX versions of HTC One, so there should not be any differences. Our camera tests show that the quality is consistent between the two.

That said, we are seeing differences in your samples. We'll do more testing on our side, and may want to look at your device to see if there are any h/w issues on that particular unit."

So who knows! Hopefully it's just a glitch with our One.

There are a few other quibbles, too, some small things you may have taken for granted with Sense that you don't get with stock. In HTC Sense's dialer app, you can start punching a friend's name into the number pad (using the superscript letters) and it will quickly pull up contacts. The stock dialer doesn't do this, so you have to scroll through your long list of contacts.

HTC Sense also offers built-in profiles—an easy way to switch between Normal, Vibrate, and Silent modes. Not so in stock. Also, the HTC One has a built-in IR blaster for using your phone as a remote control. Not only does the stock version not come with a preinstalled app that lets you use it, but as of right now there are no apps in the Play Store that can take advantage of it, either. We were told that would be coming, but we don't know when (we've reached out for more information).

There's also the rather steep sticker price of $600, but that sounds like a bigger number than it actually is. For an unlocked, unsubsidized phone it's pretty standard. If you're used to paying $200 for a high-end phone and have your wireless carrier subsidize the rest (as a part of a two-year contract, typically) may experience some sticker-shock.

That might sound like it all adds up to a lot of negative, but it's really negligible, especially assuming we were dealing with an abnormal camera. And we haven't even mentioned the biggest advantage of a Google Edition phone yet: Updates. The stock version of the HTC One will all but certainly be upgraded to the newest version of Android right along with (or at least close to) the Nexus program. The One with Sense, by contrast, is still running Android version 4.1.2, which is now more than a year old. For people who want the latest and greatest coming out of Google HQ, this is huge. And trust us, you want the latest and greatest.

The stock HTC One runs on AT&T, T-Mobile, and other GSM carriers (i.e. not Verizon or Sprint), and yes, LTE works. We tested it on AT&T's network in NYC, and when we had four bars of LTE we averaged download speeds of over 20Mbps and upload speeds of over 12Mbps. We did have some problems with our radio, initially, but after talking with Google it appears that was unique to our particular test unit. And once we worked out the bug (it chose the wrong APN, for you geeks out there), it performed flawlessly. So, really, our only major gripe here is the camera. We've reached out to Google about it, and will update if we hear anything back.

Galaxy S4: Stock vs. TouchWiz

In our initial review of the Galaxy S4, almost all of our complaints about it were software-related. So you would think that replacing TouchWiz with stock Android would fix almost all of its problems, right?

Yep. That's pretty much true.

Samsung's TouchWiz is such a heavy skin that it slows things down despite the super-fast 1.9GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor in its belly. But while stock Android makes the HTC One a little faster, it's a serious change in the Galaxy S4. Scrolling through menus and across screens is faster and smoother. Apps generally open more quickly, and most importantly, there is now almost zero shutter lag on the camera, whereas the TouchWiz version can lag behind by as much as a second.

TouchWiz is also just a clusterfrak of settings and bells and whistles, most of which sit there unused, clogging up menus. Stock Android is starkly minimalist by comparison. The stock apps look better and are more intuitive to use almost without exception. Desktop customization is way simpler. We were also able to install and use Google Wallet on it (not so on the HTC One Google Edition), which is typically blocked by AT&T.

On the hardware side, thankfully, photos the 13MP camera took look almost identical to those on the TouchWiz version. Again, the camera app is much simplified, and though you gain PhotoSphere and easier access to HDR, you do lose a lot of the fun camera modes that Samsung came up with, like Drama Shot (which superimposes several images of a subject in motion into a single shot) and animated GIFs. As you know, the Galaxy S4 features a micro SD card slot, and while you can read files off of it (photos, etc.) you can't take full advantage of it. For example, there is no native way to move apps over to your SD card, as there is in the skinned versions of Android.

There are, of course, things you lose that you will miss. Again, TouchWiz's dialer lets you punch in numbers to get to your contacts quickly, stock Android's dialer doesn't (please fix this, guys!), and you lose TouchWiz's profiles feature as well. TouchWiz has some handy shortcuts to settings within the notification screen and some people may miss those, but for our money, the way stock Android handles it is better, and keeps your notification panel looking cleaner and easier to read.

And as with the HTC One, the sticker price might be tough to swallow. At $650, it ain't exactly cheap, but again, that's not bad for a high-end, unlocked, unsubsidized phone. As we suspected, putting stock Android on the Galaxy S4 made one of the very best smartphones even better.

Stock Galaxy S4 vs. Stock HTC One

So, if you've decided you're going to go with one of these stock phones. Now that the software is essentially identical, here's how they compare.

Build

• The HTC One is still arguably the best-designed phone we've ever used, and its build quality is unmatched. It was cut from a solid block of aluminum and it feels amazing. The Galaxy S4 is by no means bad, but with its slippery plastic back, there's no comparison. The One is slightly narrower and is a bit easier to handle, too.

Winner: HTC One

Screen

• The screens are definitely two different looks, as you can see in the video above. They're both 1080p. The S4 is a full 5 inches which gives you a little more real estate, whereas the One's 4.7-inch screen means the pixel density is every so slightly higher, making it look very slightly sharper.
  
• In the whites HTC One skew a bit on the rosy side, whereas the whites on the Galaxy S4 skew blueish-green. Which is "better" is more a matter of personal preference, though we slightly prefer the One.
• In the blacks, there's no contest. The Galaxy S4 is like looking into the cold, black vacuum of space, even at full brightness. At full brightness, the HTC One's blacks are very slightly gray. It's still very good, but it's definitely not as good as the S4.

Winner: Tie

Camera

• As you can see in the video above, the stock HTC One locks focus and snaps shots faster than stock Galaxy S4. But, as we mentioned above, the camera on the stock HTC One was under-performing compared to the original. As a result, the camera on the Galaxy S4 is much sharper, has better color, and better contrast. The One does, however, still stomp the S4 in low light. Hopefully we just got a bum HTC unit, but for now the Galaxy S4's camera is better.

Winner: Galaxy S4 (pending)

Audio

• The HTC One is the hands down winner here. It's not even close. The stereo front-facing speakers are loud and clear. The S4's external speaker (on the back) is quiet and terrible by comparison. Also, the pre-amp in the HTC One makes listening to music through headphones noticeably better.

Winner: HTC One

User Interface

• Unlike full on Nexus phones, the One and the S4 both have hardware navigation buttons. The One has two capacitive buttons: One for Home, and one for Back. You double-tap home to bring up the task-switcher, and you long-press it to bring up Google Now.
• The Galaxy S4 on the other hand has three navigation buttons: Back and Menu are both capitative and there's a home button in the center which is press-able. You press it once to go home, twice quickly for multitasking, and long press for Google Now.
• The capacitive buttons on the HTC (for home and task switching) are simply faster and easier to use. Also, because there is no physical menu button, that puts the menu options on screen in apps, which we find to be more intuitive.

Winner: HTC One

Speed

• Navigating around the OS, the HTC One is just a hair quicker. Considering it has the same software and the same processor but it's clocked 0.2 GHz slower than the S4, that shouldn't be the case. But it is. Go figure. We're talking about a very small difference, though. In benchmarks the S4 wins, but that doesn't really matter unless you're playing a very serious game, and even then, you're probably not going to see the difference.

Winner: HTC One

Options

• You want expandable storage? The S4's got it, the HTC One doesn't. Want a removable battery? Ditto. If you like to tinker, you're going to get frustrated fast with the HTC One's lack of fungibility.
• Similarly, while there are some accessories available for the One, Samsung has built itself a much more robust third-party ecosystem. If you want your phone with a side of stuff, the S4 is the way to go.

Winner: Galaxy S4

Price

• Last but not least, the price. The HTC One is $600, and the Galaxy S4 is $650.

Winner: HTC One

Overall

Honestly, these are both terrific phones, and you'd be happy with either. If an SD card slot and removable battery are a big deal for you, go ahead and get the Galaxy S4. Otherwise, the HTC One is our favorite by a nose. Most of all, though, just be glad that you can finally get the best possible versions of the best possible phones on Android. It's about time.

As Pandora and artists prepare to hold talks to see if they can work out their differences regarding royalty rates, the sides continue to fight for hearts and minds.

Pandora has responded to critical statements made last weekend by members of Pink Floyd, the legendary British rock band. The group accused Pandora of trying to dupe artists into supporting the company's effort to reduce the amount of music royalties it pays.

Continue reading…

Read 22 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Read on Ars Technica | Comments

Batman had one under his mansion outside Gotham. Osama bin Laden was found in one just in Pakistan. Underground lairs are an integral part of pop culture fantasy and real-life current events—but whether they're fake or real, they're always cloaked in intrigue. And frankly, they're cool as hell.

They're also increasingly common. In a Vanity Fair article this month, we learned that in cities where historic preservation is a major issue—like London—more and more homeowners are expanding downward, digging out space under their Victorian homes for "underground recreation centers, golf-simulation rooms, squash courts, bowling alleys, hair salons, ballrooms, and car elevators to the underground garages for their vintage Bentleys."

In other cases, the landscape itself dictates the terms of a lair—for example, in some examples below, you'll see entire buildings carved into the face of boulders and cliffs. And often, an underground space is the perfect place to store sensitive materials—whether it's vintage photos or internet servers.

Below, you'll find a collection of lairs that house everything from luxury homes to public fire brigades.

---

Villa Vals, a home in Switzerland, was built into a mountainside because the village maintains strict rules about homes that disturb the natural beauty around the Alpine valley.

---

This is an entire colony of subterranen homes—also in Switzerland.

---

Pionen Data Center is Sweden's largest ISP, located 100 feet below the ground in Stockholm. It can withstand the impact of a hydrogen bomb.

Image credit: Atlas Obscura

---

This is an abandoned bunked off the coast of Senegal, just south of Dakar. Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, it is known to locals as "la caverne."

Image credit: Atlas Obscura

---

Should the United States befall a nuclear attack, the government will takeover a fallout shelter in the basement of West Virginia's five star Greenbrier Resort. This bunker was kept secret until 1992.

Image credit: Atlas Obscura

---

Wolf's Lair was Hitler's secret hideout in the woods Poland. It served as the Eastern European headquarters for Nazi forces.

Image credit: Wikipedia

---

This was Osama bin Laden's secret compound in Abbottabad.

Image credit: Faisal Mahmood/Reuters

---

This 10,000 square foot former limestone mine is where Corbis stores all its photos, from the iconic image of Rosa Parks sitting on a bus to a picture of Einstein sticking out of his tongue. The facility is kept at 45 degrees Fahrenheit and 37 percent relative humidity at all times.

---

This is Norway's Olavsvern Naval Base. Carved into the side of a mountain, the now-inactive military facility has 145,000 square feet of above-ground real estate, and an additional 270,000 square feet of bombproof space inside the mountain.

---

The Palm Springs Elrod House—and its retractable glass windows— were actually featured in Diamonds are Forever. That's some respectable secret lair street cred right there. It was designed by John Lautner, the architect behind many of LA's most notable homes from the 1960s and 70s.

---

Believe it or not, this is a super energy efficient fire department built into the Italian Alps.

---

Live in the Waterwood Estate in Vermillion, Ohio and you pretty much never have to go outside. Seated on a 160 acre plot, it's made up of a bunch of interconnecting glass pods that mask amenities like five kitchens, an indoor pool, and a helipad. Privacy to the max!

---

To permeate the interior of Point Place in Laguna Beach, California, you enter through a street level hydraulic lift. Then you have to walk through an underground passage way to access the actual house, which is not visible from the road.

---

The Chulo Canyon Cave House in Bisbee, Arizona is another super private lair. Built into the side of a boulder, it sits on 37 acres of land, which also house a guest house and a standalone library building—which houses a full-on panic room. Jodie Foster would approve.

---