Well, how about that! Someone on Reddit discovered that Google Chrome now supports the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. As of version 66.0.3359.117, you can load up the browser’s “flags” settings (type “chrome://flags” in the address bar) and see the new “Oculus browser support” listing. If enabled, Google Chrome will use Facebook’s VR device for virtual reality. It’s typically […]
Jeff Bezos is understandably all sorts of self-congratulatory in the annual shareholder letter Amazon released today. The note is full of all manner of large numbers, including, perhaps most notably, 100 million. Amazon has exceeded that number of Prime subscribers globally, 13 years after the service launched as a free shipping offering. It’s no surprise, […]
In space, no one can hear you scream — because sound doesn’t travel in a vacuum, but also because you would need some sort of radio relay to carry the message, what with the distances being so extreme. And this goes for any sort of communication. Snapshots of Pluto’s heart, photos from Mars, images of […]
Automakers occasionally construct life-size versions of their vehicles using standard Lego bricks, but Porsche’s latest addition to its museum took a very unique angle on this practice. The Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany recently unveiled a new installation. It’s a life-size original 911 Turbo constructed out of Lego bricks — but instead of using actual […]
The BMW M2 is dead, but now there’s the BMW M2 Competition, which is better. Better in the sense that it’s the M2 Coupe but with the engine out of an M3 making over 400 horsepower. Where the BMW M2 Coupe always had a performance-tuned version of the N55 inline-six cylinder from the 2 Series, […]
SpaceX will build its “BFR” spaceship at a new facility in the Port of Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced yesterday (April 16). The company plans to use this ambitious new vessel — whose acronym name stands for “Big Falcon Rocket” (or a less-family-friendly version of that name) — to send people to Mars by […]
A partnership between Stratasys, Lockheed Martin and PADT is bringing 3D printing to a US-led manned spaceflight for the first time. 3D printing is headed for deep space. Stratasys, Phoenix Analysis & Design Technologies (PADT) and Lockheed Martin said Tuesday that they’re teaming up to manufacture and deploy 3D-printed parts for NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which […]
Security researchers have found two separate instances of hackers using Android apps to conduct highly targeted surveillance in the Middle East. The apps are built from two separate families of surveillance-focused malware, both targeting around a thousand unsuspecting users. The so-called ViperRAT malware was incorporated into two apps, and it has previously targeted members of […]
After addressing the Spectre and Meltdown design flaws, Intel is using its chips to boost cybersecurity software at Microsoft and Cisco. Intel wants you to know its chips have security baked into them. The computer processor giant unveiled on Monday two new features designed to improve the efficiency of computers running security programs that detect […]
Lea Kissner is back at her alma mater, the University of California at Berkeley, armed with a crisp gray blazer, a slide deck, and a laptop with a ‘My Other Car Is A Pynchon Novel’ sticker on it. Since graduating in 2002, she’s earned a PhD at Carnegie Mellon in cryptography and worked her way […]
SAN FRANCISCO — As publicity stunts go, raising money by selling flame throwers is tough to beat. But when it comes to real fundraising, Elon Musk has opted to dig in the old fashioned way: by raising capital from investors for his tunnel-burrowing enterprise, The Boring Company. Musk’s latest enterprise raised $113 million from 31 […]
Tesla isn’t even close to putting its recently revealed Tesla Roadster into production and yet there’s already a wave of companies trying to outpace it. On one end, you have Rimac, with a more traditional electric road car, and now on the other end there’s this Taiwanese company called Xing with a cute little off-road […]
