This Foldable Scooter Could Almost Be Your Carry On

Most folding scooters are missing something. You know, like a seat or actual portability. But the MOVEO from Turkish nonprofit Antro has a true mounted seat and folds to the size of a wheely suitcase. Intriguing.

The MOVEO has a carbon-composite body and weighs about 55 pounds, heavy as luggage goes, but pretty light for a scooter. It tops out at 28 miles per hour. The battery is only good for about 22 miles, though, and takes an hour to charge from empty.

The MOVEO has been in development for five years, and Antro has only recently been able to produce a prototype. Actual production is supposed to start in early 2014 with a run of either 4,000 or 15,000 units depending on funding. A MOVEO is projected to cost between $3,100 and $4,600 depending on how things play out, but at this rate it may be awhile. More here.

Microsoft Sells out of 128GB Surface Pro Models Online and in Some Stores

If you were wondering how well the public would take to a Microsoft-made tablet costing $899 or more... quite well, at least from initial impressions. The 128GB Surface Pro has sold out at Microsoft's US online store, and checks suggest a lack of stock at both the company's retail stores as well as Best Buy and Staples. Canada is facing similar shortages at Best Buy and Future Shop. 

Not surprisingly, storage worries (since partly alleviated) have left the 64GB tablet as the only one in consistent supply, and we suspect that the 128GB model in Microsoft's Canadian store won't last for much longer. There's no word on how many units each store had, and Microsoft has refrained from reporting Surface sale numbers to date. Still, the early uptake is good news for Microsoft's first foray into designing an x86 PC, and it shows that many early adopters aren't hung up on the price. More here.

How Many Heartbeats Does Each Species Get in a Lifetime?

Have you ever wondered how many heartbeats an average person has in their lifetime? What about for cats or dogs or other animals? Turns out because of metabolic rates and size of different species, each animal gets around a billion beats.

Around being the operative word, of course. Humans and chickens are outliers in that we get 2.21 billion and chicken gets 2.17 billiion beats. But a lot of other animals teeter the 1 billion line: horses, pigs, rabbits, elephants, cats, whales, etc. Animals big or small, fat or strong, fast or slow—it seems like there is a magic number for us all. Other than small dogs. They got the short end of the stick. More here.

This Single Molecule Drives Cancer Cells to Suicide

A team of researchers has identified a single molecule, called TIC10, that kick-starts the body's tumor-destroying systems—causing a chain reaction that can kill cancer dead.

In a series of experiments in mice the researchers, from Pennsylvania State University, found that TIC10 activities the gene for a protein called TRAIL—that's short for tumour-necrosis-factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand—which causes cancerous cells to commit suicide. Wafik El-Deiry, one of the researchers explains:

"TRAIL is a part of our immune system: all of us with functional immune systems use this molecule to keep tumours from forming or spreading, so boosting this will not be as toxic as chemotherapy."

A series of experiments provided evidence that TIC10 works on a wide range of tumors, including breast, lymphatic, colon and lung cancer. While the TRAIL protein has been targeted in the past, it's never been exploited as successfully—something the researchers put down to the small size of the molecule TIC10. There's a hidden benefit, too, because TIC10 seems to cause healthy cells to join in the fight, too. Nature explains:

[I]t seems that TIC10 activates the TRAIL gene not only in cancerous cells, but also in healthy ones. This gives it enormous potential to create a 'bystander effect', in which apoptosis - or cell death - is induced in cancer cells immediately next to healthy ones. Healthy cells are also stimulated to increase the amount of TRAIL receptors on their cell surface. These receptors can then bind to the adjacent cancerous cells, triggering their demise. "It's almost like TRAIL-plus - it does so much more," says El-Deiry.

Of course, this initial testing has all been done in mice—and it remains to be seen if it will work as well as in other creature. That's why the next step is to test the molecule in humans. Keep those fingers crossed. More here.

New Ancient Evidence Confirms That An Asteroid Killed All the Dinosaurs

For most of us laypeople, it's an accepted truth the dinosaurs were wiped out by a big ol' asteroid that smashed into the Earth, easy as that. For scientists, however, there's always been some question as to whether or not that was actually the case. But some new revelations have proven that we dummies were right in our gross over-simplification all along.

It's been known for a while that there was a catastrophic asteroid collision millions of years ago while dinosaurs roamed the Earth. It was definitely about 9-miles wide, and definitely hurtled into Chicxulub, Mexico, leaving a 110-mile crater. Likewise, it definitely caused an explosion two million times bigger than the biggest thermonuclear device ever, launching an epic dust cloud that blocked out the sun. But—but but but—according to previous evidence, all that could have happened as early as 300,000 years before the actual extinction of dinosaurs, meaning there might have been different/additional cause.

Turns out probably not. Go figure, but that catastrophic impact was enough to do the trick, according to a new paper published in Science. Scientists from Europe and the US have been able to look at the crater's dust and narrow the impact down to a mere 11,000 year window, which is incredibly small in geological terms. As it happens, the impact was practically simultaneous with the mass extinction. Sure, Earth hadn't been at its strongest immediately before impact, but it was definitely the asteroid that kicked off all the dying.

So that's that. Mystery (re)solved, and lucky for us, the story hasn't changed. Good thing too; it's such a good one. More here.

Buy This Glowing Antler Lamp Instead Of Shooting Bambi’s Mom

Looking for that perfect home accent to hang over your fireplace? Instead of grabbin' yer guns and heading out into the woods to bag a trophy buck, you might want to consider trying to coerce artist Chen Bikovski to start selling her brilliant deer lamps that recreate a set of antlers using shafts of light.

Inspired by the origami used in children's pop-up books, the lamp features a large pull tab on the bottom that causes the deer's ears to extend and its internal lighting to turn on. It's light enough to hang on any wall, and more importantly, there's no taxidermy fees involved and you don't have to spend a week cleaning blood off the roof of your car. More here.

Secretly We All Want This Toilet-Paper-Holding iPad Stand

We all use our smartphones and tablets in the bathroom, but there's an unwritten rule that you do it discreetly, and don't really brag about touching your device while touching your... well, you get the idea. So while on one hand it's easy to be disgusted by CTA Digital's toilet paper/iPad stand, on the other we're probably all quietly reaching for our credit cards.

Even at $45 the iPad Pedestal Stand is a steal since it keeps the two most important things we've come to rely on in the bathroom in easy reach. And a gooseneck mount means it's easy to position your tablet at the optimal viewing angle. The only thing missing is a much needed splashguard, and a bottle of touchscreen-friendly disinfectant. More here.

Why Bother Boiling When You Can Toast Your Eggs Instead?

For all the Wi-Fi enhanced, Facebook-integrated appliances that are slowly invading our kitchens, most people still employ the same method of cooking their eggs that their heathen ancestors in the 1920's did: a pot of roiling water. But filling a pan, bringing it to boil, and setting the timer are all hassles we'll never again have to face once the Eggxactly hits market later this year.

The Eggxactly is a single-serving cooker that boils eggs in their shells, without water or open flame. According to the product website, you simply load an egg into the device, set the dial for your desired level of firmness, and tap the top to start. It reportedly uses just one percent of the energy used by conventional boiling and prevents yolk browning due to overcooking.

The Eggxactly is currently undergoing CE testing and should start shipping by the second half of 2013. There is no firm ship date or price set (its estimated to be about £25 plus shipping and handling) but you can pre-order one off the Eggxactly website here.

Ionizing Blaster Stops Dust From Sticking To Your Camera’s Sensor

If you're tired of 'dust-busting' every single photo you take in Photoshop, you can solve the problem at its source with this ionizing FireFly air blaster that promises to neutralize the static charge on dust particles so they easily fall off your camera's sensor.

FireFly's $130 DSC-2000 comes with a Giottos Rocket Blower so it packs plenty of oomph, but the secret sauce here is a 9-volt battery-powered box that produces negative and positively charged ions. So it neutralizes the dust particles' staying power while blasting them away. It isn't the perfect solution, though; the dust is still inside your camera and has the potential of sticking to the sensor again. But the blower includes a 20 micron filter so you aren't blasting in more dust during the process, and the touch-free approach certainly reduces the potential of damaging your camera's most crucial component. More here.

Will Nokia’s Next Lumia Get a 41-Megapixel PureView Image Sensor?

Released last year, the PureView 808 was essentially a prototype phone. It ran Nokia's dying—and now officially dead—Symbian operating system but its 41-megapixel, one-inch image sensor was a beast. Now, The Guardian reports what people have been speculating and rumoring since Nokia dropped the PureView 808 nearly a year ago: The 41-Megapixel sensor is destined for a Nokia Windows Phone.

According to the Guardian, a new Windows Phone 8 handset with the large image sensor is on the way. It will be called EOS, and it will arrive at the end of the month at the MWC trade show in Barcelona. Now the first part of that rumor is pretty ridiculous and hard to swallow. Canon has been using the EOS name for 25 years for its system of interchangeable lens cameras. It would be foolish—and possibly illegal—for Nokia to use the same name for an imaging-heavy phone. More here.

Evasi0n iOS 6.1 Jailbreak Tutorial

evasi0n 1.0 is an untethered jailbreak for all iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and iPad mini models running iOS 6.0 through 6.1

>>DOWNLOAD LINK<<

More links in case they are too crouded:

evasi0n-win-1_0_rar

evasi0n-win-1_0_rar

evasi0n-win-1_0_rar

evasi0n-win-1_0_rar

evasi0n-win-1_0_rar

Links for Mac and Linux HERE.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

- MacOSX 10.5/10.6/10.7/10.8

- Windows (XP minimum)

- Linux x86/x86_64 (Kernel >= 2.6.24, libgtk+-2.0 >= 2.24.13)

SUPPORTED FIRMWARES:

- iOS 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2, and 6.1

INSTRUCTIONS:

- Backup your device using iTunes (or iCloud) before using evasi0n. If something breaks, you'll always be able to recover your data.

- Those who use backup passwords in iTunes must disable them for now.  After doing so, iTunes makes a brand new backup.  Please wait for that backup to complete before proceeding!  Feel free to re-enable your backup password after jailbreaking.

- Please disable the lock passcode of your iOS device before using evasi0n. It can cause issues.

- Launch evasi0n, plug in your device, and click "Jailbreak". Just sit back and observe its progress.  Watch for any steps you may be asked to perform.

- Avoid all iOS and iTunes related tasks until evasi0n is complete. Why not just enjoy a brief break from the computer to stretch your legs?

- If the process gets stuck somewhere, it's safe to restart the program, reboot the device (if necessary by holding down Power and Home until it shuts down), and rerun the process.

FAQ:

If you have any questions regarding the jailbreak process or jailbreaking in general 

please go to the Jailbreak QA dedicated website: http://www.jailbreakqa.com

or see their help page for evasi0n: http://www.jailbreakqa.com/pages/evasi0n-help

or try /r/jailbreak on Reddit: http://reddit.com/r/jailbreak

CREDITS:

evasi0n is a production of @evad3rs. http://evad3rs.com

iOS 6.1 Jailbreak for iPhone 5, iPad 4/Mini and All Other Devices

The new evasi0n untethered jailbreak tool takes just 5 minutes to liberate your iOS device and allowing you to install the third party applications, themes, cydia tweaks and more. All you need is a computer, running Windows (XP minimum), Mac OS X (10.5 minimum) or Linux (x86 / x86_64), an iPhone, iPad or iPod running iOS 6.0 through 6.1 (you may check in Settings / General / About => Version) and a USB cable to connect the device to the computer. Download link here.

Supported Devices:

1. iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS on iOS 6.0 and above.
2. iPad 4, iPad 3 (The New iPad), iPad 2 and iPad 1G on iOS 6.0 and above (All WiFi/GSM/CDMA models).
3. iPod touch 5G, iPod touch 4G on iOS 6.0 stock IPSW and above.

Evasi0n - iOS 6.x Jailbreak Noon EST

We probably have the release time for the evasi0n jailbreak. The progress bar on the evasi0n website is now showing the status as 98% complete.

An eagle-eyed reddit user has noticed that the progress bar is increasing ~0.0091/min. This means that at that pace, the progress bar will hit 100% at February 4th, 2013 at 17:00 UTC (or February 4th, 12:00 pm EST, which could be the possible release time for the evasi0n jailbreak.

Please note that this is just a speculation, there has been no confirmations from the evad3rs dev team.

If the release time is indeed 12:00 noon EST, then check out the table below to find out when evasi0n jailbreak will be released in your time zone:

More here and here.

Is the PlayStation 4 Arriving on February 20th?

Well here's something we weren't expecting. Sony just teased us with a super secret, super mysterious, super probably a new PlayStation (because, what else?) event next month. Let's start speculating and freaking out about a new console war.

Scientists Have Created Crystals That Are Almost Alive

Man-made life is a thing of fiction, relegated to things like Frankenstein. But scientists are coming close to something almost like it. New light-affected crystals developed by scientists at New York University are very close to being alive, so close it makes you question what "being alive" really means.

The crystals are microscopic cubes of hematite that can conduct electricity under certain wavelengths of blue light. As a result, when they're in a hydrogen peroxide soup, the right light can make them swim around, merging into larger crystals, breaking apart, and doing it all again. And then, when the light goes out, they stop.

Paul Chaikin, one of the authors of the paper recently published in Science, notes that this gives the little things metabolism and mobility, two of the criteria required to be considered "alive." They just happen to lack the ability to reproduce, for now. Another of the authors, Jérémie Palacci, put it this way to Wired:

[We] show that with a simple, synthetic active system, we can reproduce some features of living systems. I do not think this makes our systems alive, but it stresses the fact that the limit between the two is somewhat arbitrary.

There's nothing really to suggest that these crystals might suddenly learn to replicate, but they do provide something of a window back in time, when the building blocks of life may have been quite similar to this, before they began to multiply and become actual life. In the meantime, Chaikin and Palacci are working on a different particle that has metabolism and can replicate, but not move. If these two projects manage to learn from each other, we could be in for something really wild. More here.

Kim Dotcom’s Offering a Cash Reward If You Can Smash Mega’s Encryption

A few weeks into its existence, Mega is holding up pretty well. It's fended off its first round of takedown requests and is still crouched safely behind its wall of protective encryption. In fact, Dotcom is so confident in that encryption, he's offering free money to anyone who can break it.

The €10,000 ($13,850) reward was announced by way of a tweet, with a blog post on the subject promised later today. From the get-go, Mega has been taking a lot of tips from the cryptography community, which has been picking apart the service's security and providing what amounts to a pro bono encryption spell-check. This challenge should serve as an effective solicitation for a little more.

Google, Dropbox, Firefox and others also offer money for bugs, but Kim Dotcom is being pretty singularly antagonistic in his approach; this is a challenge. And if a hacker could find his or her way through Mega's encryption, it would be well worth the 13 grand, considering that's really the linchpin of this whole service. But the real question is: does that also apply to the US government? More here.

This Smart Mirror Lights Up at Your Very Presence

You're so beautiful. That is, at least according to Simple Human's newest sensor mirror that automatically lights up when it sees your face.

That's kind of poetic, but don't get all narcissistic weirdo and fall in love with a cordless electronic looking glass. Not after what happened last time. Still, the USB-charging, $200 sensor mirror makes for a quirky addition to your bathroom vanity, with a system called tru-lux that mimics natural light, so you don't look as ghastly as you might under harsh fluorescent bulbs. Besides, it's ok to be a little bit into yourself. This is just extra validation. More here.

This Sleeping Bag Is Every Sub-Zero Camper’s Dream/Nightmare

Whether you prefer to spend your summers in the Arctic or simply miss the suffocating warmth of a mother's womb, Nemo's newly launched Canon -40 sleeping bag may just cure what ails you (unless it's the latter in which case please seek professional assistance).

The 850-fill goose down sarcophagus features two vented "gills" on the front of the bag along with zippered arm hole openings on either side, which could come in handy when cooking, moving around base camp, or escaping from your heat-smothering nightmare.

The PrimaLoft insulated Stove Pipe hood design, however, is really what sets the Canon -40 apart from other sub-zero sleepers. Nemo apparently looked towards the Inuit communities of the high north for inspiration, and the questionably sufficient air hole mimics their centuries-old design by essentially pre-warming the freezing air before you inhale. Given the all-encapsulating design, it's hard not to wonder how someone prone to tossing and turning would fare and/or live to see morning. We'll be left wondering for a while longer, as the Canon -40 won't hit the market until fall of 2013 for a cool $1000 a pop. More here.

A Heart-Shaped USB Hub Is Full of Love and Ports

Hearts are cheesy, sure, but they're also fun and adorable—especially this time of year. Buy into the silliness of Valentine's Day with these cute little USB hubs.

They're made by GreenHouse, which you could surmise is a Japanese company, based on the fact that the hubs are so kawaii! Each one has four USB 2.0 ports a piece and come in pink, red, and gold for $26 a piece. They might be girly and sappy, but don't lie, you want to embrace that part of yourself. More here.

The 64GB Surface Pro Will Have Just 23GB of Usable Space

The Verge has learned that the 64GB version will offer up just 23GB of space to the user.

It seems the Windows 8 install, built-in apps, and a recovery partition will consume 41GB of the total storage space, leaving just 23GB—that's 36 percent—of storage for the user. Perhaps it's time manufacturers started quoting available storage space in their ads, too? More here.

iPhone Owners Run Up the Biggest Bills

A new report by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners reveals that iPhone owners run up the biggest cell phone bills—spending far more than other smartphone users.

The report reveals that 60 percent of iPhone users—or at least, those who were polled—spend more than $100 per month on their plans. Above that, 10 percent spend $200 or more—and only 6 percent spend $50 or less. Compare that to Android, where 12 percent pay less than $50.

So, why do iPhone users spend more? It's almost certainly down to the fact that, through necessity, iPhone users tend to be on more expensive data plans to begin with. More here. 

A Beautiful Look at the Galaxy that Will Collide With Us In 4 Billion Years

In four billion years, Andromeda will collide with the Milky Way. That will be an amazing view—but until then we have to look at it from a distance. This new photo by the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory shows a beautiful view. From NASA:

The glow seen here comes from the longer-wavelength, or far, end of the infrared spectrum, giving astronomers the chance to identify the very coldest dust in our galactic neighbor. These light wavelengths span from 250 to 500 microns, which are a quarter to half of a millimeter in size. Herschel's ability to detect the light allows astronomers to see clouds of dust at temperatures of only a few tens of degrees above absolute zero. These clouds are dark and opaque at shorter wavelengths. The Herschel view also highlights spokes of dust between the concentric rings.

I just can look at these space images all day long. More here.

The 128GB iPad Is Real and It’s Here

As expected, Apple let a 128GB iPad out of the bag today. And there's almost zero chance you should buy it.

The new iPad has the same retina display as its brothers, and the same design, and the same guts, with one notable exception: a metric crap-ton of storage. More storage than any decent or sane human being could ever want from a pure tablet, at a cost—$800 for Wi-Fi only and $930 for 4G—that no decent or sane human being could ever want to spend on one. Do you know how much laptop that kind of money can buy you? You're almost at Surface Pro/MacBook Air levels of expenditure for an A6X chip and Temple Run 2.

Even if you're the type of person who flocked to the mega-storage iPods of yore, don't be lured in by Big Poppa iPad's siren song. Unlike the heady days of 2007, your music and movies andDon't Trust the B— downloads live in the cloud now, not on your device. That's where Apple and everyone else has been pushing people for years, precisely because gigundo-storage devices are expensive and absurd and absurdly expensive for the common man.

And that's okay! Apple doesn't expect you to buy a 128GB iPad, not unless you're a professional-grade buyer, like an architect or a supervillain, with all the resources and massive AutoCAD storage needs that implies. The 128GB iPad is like a $300/head steakhouse dinner. It goes on the corporate account.

Like all the other iPads, the new kids come in black and white, and you can buy them starting next Tuesday. Or rather, your IT manager can. More here.

Does Apple Have a Fancier iPad 4 Up Its Sleeve

Scraps of evidence are appearing across the internet, so 9to5mac claims, that point towards Apple maybe, possibly, perhaps readying an update for the iPad.

9to5mac has reported that devs are finding code in the soon-to-be-released iOS 6.1 that point towards a new device, featuring 128GB of storage. Adding some fuel to that fire is a new set of SKUs, leaked by a "high-profile U.S. retailer", which point to a new "ultimate" version of the iPad.

In the past Apple has referred to its storage options as "Good," "Better," and "Best", so the use of the "Ultimate" signifier could suggest a premium iPad is waiting in the wings—potentially offering up that rumored 128GB of storage.

It's possible, then, that Apple is adding an extra model to its existing iPad range—perhaps for special customers or internal use, given its large capacity, which is expensive and doesn't fit with the growing trend of migrating to the cloud. Another possibility is that Apple is giving its whole iPad range a light spring-time spruce up—though that seems rather less likely.

The final option, of course, is that it's all speculation that amounts to nothing. We'll have to hold on and see. More here. 

This DSLR Really Is Good Enough to Eat

Valentine's is just round the corner, and what better sweet treat to get your gadget-loving partner than a full-size replica of a Canon D60 made from chocolate?

Nothing, that's what. This amazing model was made by Etsy seller Hans Chung, who has hand-crafted a mold in the shape of a D60 so that he can make solid chocolate versions of the camera. It's intricately detailed; an amazing likeness. So far he's made three of the things for friends and family—one has already been eaten—but he plans to make a further five and sell them as a limited-edition run.

The limited edition chocolate cameras will be maufactured in the buyer's choice of chocolate from the Guittard Chocolate Company product line, and come presented in an acrylic display case. They'll also be chilled while they travel by FedEx—or if you live in San Francisco, you can pick one up in person.

The only downside: the chocolate cameras will cost a cool $500 each. For which you could actually buy quite a nice real camera. More here.

You Can Run Android 4.0 in Its Entirety Right on Your PC

Running certain Android apps on your desktop is nothing new with Bluestacks, but now you can get the whole dang OS running on your PC as a native application thanks to a little program called WindowsAndroid.

Developed by a start-up in Bejing called SocketeQ, WindowsAndroid not only lets you mess with Android apps on your computer, but emulate an entire 4.0 ICS device on there, complete with all the settings and everything else. It's available for download from SocketeQ's site, if you'll give them your email address and—as you should be able to guess—it runs on Windows Vista, 7, and 8 exclusively.

WindowsAndroid will also make good use of the computer it's running on. It supports big resolutions, cranks up performance using your PC's guts, and can make use of your mouse and keyboard in addition to a touchscreen monitor if you have one. You can also side-load apps by dropping the .apks in the right folder. But for the moment, that's the only reliable way to get fun stuff on it, because Google Play doesn't recognize the hardware. More here.

This Tiny Pet Quadcopter Could Be Your Own Personal Cameraman

Who doesn't want to be the star of their own reality TV show? Well OK, sane people. But if you count yourself among the former, there's good news for you. A new, tiny quadcopter called the MeCam is just begging to be your ever-present cameraman. And you best take it up on the offer, there's no way you could find a human that willing.

MeCam is an upcoming product from the San Francisco-based company Always Innovating, and it promises to change self-centered video documentation forever, potentially. The copter would have a battery of 14 sensors to keep it from running into walls and other people, and would be voice controlled. You could shout at it to go "up" or "down" or just tell it to follow you like a flying, robotic member of the paparazzi (or a flying puppy), and call it a day. During its acrobatics, it'd be recording you, of course, and you could beam that footage to your smartphone and have it stream there, or shunt it over to YouTube or Facebook if that's your cup of tea.

There's no word on what kind of camera the MeCam would have, but that's probably because Always Innovating doesn't plan to build them itself, but rather to license out the technology to others. Still, when all is said and done, AI expects that the little guys could be as cheap as $49, which is frankly a steal for a pet quadcopter that doesn't constantly film you. The video is almost just a bonus. It's a little way off, but AI predicts the first licensed copters could hit shelves in 2014. Does it sound a little to good to be true, especially at that price-point? Sure. But here's to hoping. Who wouldn't want a pet quady, right? More here.

Researchers Will Restore Damaged Depth Perception with Electronic Eyes

Our depth perception doesn't work without two eyes. However an estimated 285 million people worldwide suffer from some form of visual impairment in at least one theirs. The loss of sight in just one eye also means the loss of one's ability to accurately judge short distances. However, a team of researchers have devised an ingenious solution to restore binocular vision.

With natural binocular vision, our eyes view objects at slightly varying angles from one another to produce a pair of distinct perspectives which our brains then interpret as a single 3-D image. The Mono-glass system, developed by a team from the University of Yamanashi, replicates this process using commercially available components as stand-ins for the non-functional fleshy bits.

The current design iteration of Mono-glass relies on Wrap 920AR augmented reality glasses, normally used for working in Autodesk 3ds Max, to act as artificial eyes, generating images with a pair of integrated cameras. The team's custom software then processes this information to calculate the relative distance of each item in the field of view and synthesize the data into a single image. This image is then displayed in the patient's good eye with close objects appearing in focus while progressively distant items grow increasingly blurry, like the one below. More here.

A Wearable Sleeping Bag That You Might Actually Wear

This wearable sleeping bag isn't the first time someone's designed bedding you can stay in all day long—that honor probably goes to Selk. But it is the first sleeping bag you can wear that doesn't make you look like you're wrapped in a ridiculous puffy spacesuit.

At night, Doppleganger Outdoors' wearable sleeping bag entombs you in a cocoon of fiber filled polyester, keeping the cold out with sealable sleeves and a bag that wraps around your legs and feet. But the bottom half of the $130 sleeping bag can actually be removed in sections, turning it into a long winter coat, or a shorter jacket when you need the freedom to move around. Not only is it a more comfortable approach, but you can also roll up and compress the bottom section so it's small enough to stash in a pocket, helping keep your camping kit as minimal as possible. More here.

An All-Wool Beanie Makes Single-Digit Temps Almost Bearable

It's so cold you have to duck when you walk down the street to block the wind from freezing your face. Oh wait, then your head's iced over. You know what'll keep it warm? This all merino wool knit cap from Best Made.

This cozy hat gets its cred from tests on the frigid streets of New York City and snowy mountains of St. Elias National Park in Alaska. Both cold places, both places where you're screwed without a some head protection. A hat makes you instantly warmer. When you're comfortable and toasty, nine degrees with a wind chill isn't as bad. More here.

You Can Squeeze 2.2 Petabytes of Data Into One Gram of DNA

Scientists from the European Bioinformatics Institute are squeezing unparalleled amounts of data in to synthetic DNA, and now they've achieved something absolutely amazing: they can store 2.2 petabytes of information in a single gram of DNA, and recover it with 100 percent accuracy.

The researchers have encoded an MP3 of Martin Luther King's 1963 "I have a dream" speech, along with all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets, into a string of DNA. Scaled up, that represents a storage density of 2.2 petabytes per gram. What's amazing, though, is that they've managed to achieve that whilst also implementing error correction in the complex chains of molecules, allowing them to retrieve content with 100 per cent accuracy.

The technique uses the four bases of DNA—A, T, C and G—to achieve the high information density. It is, understandably, still incredibly expensive: creating synthetic DNA and then sequencing it to read off the data is getting far easier, but it's still a time- and cash-consuming business. Keep hold of your hard drives for now, but DNA could represent a viable storage solution in the future. More here.

Would You Wear These Crazy Shoes?

These sneakers are, according to Reebok, the "the first all-terrain athletic shoe". They're supposed to echo the utility of an all-terrain vehicle, and take mud, snow, grass, and sand in their stride. But let's not ignore the fact that they look completely and utterly weird.

In many ways they have all the trappings of a normal sneaker: padded tongue, supportive collar for ankle protection, nicely breathable upper and... oh my God look at those lugged soles.

These things seem to be designed to make the wearer look like a clown. Or a space explorer. Perhaps even an alien. They were certainly not designed to make you look normal. More here.

It’s Impossible To Wake Up Grumpy With This Sunny Silicone Egg Mold

No matter how bad your morning is going, this adorable $12 Sunnyside egg mold is sure to brighten your day—unless you're some kind of monster. Its clever design traps and holds an egg's yolk so it cooks in the shape of the sun, while the egg whites are free to flow and solidify into the shape of a fluffy cloud.

Just add some bacon seagulls, and maybe some hash brown mountains, and you've got yourself a picture perfect breakfast. More here.

Nobody Would See You Coming on This Beautiful Transparent Bike

From certain angles you can barely see this beautiful bicycle—because it's made from the same strong, lighthtweight and transparent plastic used in fighter jet canopies. It's the perfect stealth bike.

A concept put together by Designaffairs, this bicycle—aptly called Clarity Bike—is built from a polymer called Trivex. First used in helicopter windscreens and then in fighter jet canopies, the material is incredibly light but can withstand major shocks. It's also resistant to extremes of heat and cold, and can be injection moulded—so it would be perfect for making a bicycle.Designaffairs explain:

We believe that the Clarity Bike could be a giant leap forward in bicycle frame engineering and production. The design takes advantage of an advanced polymer which combines high impact resistance, lightweight properties and a gentle flexibility that usually would only be expected on an old Italian steel frame.

If this thing could be made affordably, they could sell an absolute ton—and I, for one, would be at the front of the queue. More here.

The Mathematically Most Efficient Way to Sort Socks

Computer scientists around the world have been stumped by a vexing mathematical problem for ages: How does one go about sorting a large pile of socks when said socks are different? How does one model the plane of possibilities? The solution has arrived, and it's much simpler than you think.

Mr. Kottke reports the findings of his own personal study, which it turns out is simpler than anything science has otherwise come up with. More here.

1) Throw all your socks out.

2) Go to Uniqlo and buy 15 identical pairs of black socks.

3) When you want to wear socks, pick any two out of the drawer.

4) When you notice your socks are wearing out, goto step 1.

Suction Cup Viewfinder Makes Your iPhone Slightly More DSLR-Like

If you're a professional photographer who's reluctantly embraced the iPhone as an occasional alternative to your DSLR, you're gonna love Photojojo's latest smartphone accessory. It's a suction cup viewfinder that sticks your iPhone's display letting you block out all the distractions around you and frame your shots the same way you would with your full-sized camera.

For $30 it includes a complementary app that generates a smaller preview window on the iPhone's display that the viewfinder is designed to cover, as well as an easy on-screen guide so you know exactly where to position it. It even works with iPads, as long as you're willing to deal with everyone around you shaking their head in disbelief while you hold your giant tablet up against your face. More here.

Who Cares If They’re Probably Impractical? These Wooden Knives Are Stunning

There's probably a good reason the master knife makers of the world traditionally choose steel and other metals for their blades, instead of maple. But even if these wooden knives, designed by The Federal, aren't as durable or lack the heft of a traditional blade, they'd still make a gorgeous addition to any kitchen, particularly one sporting a butcher block counter.

So that the knives are safe to use on foods, easy to clean, and won't become visible histories of the meals you've prepared through stains, the wood is sealed . And the thin steel edge that serves as the blade is actually about twice as wide as it appears, with the opposing side invisibly sliding into the wooden part of the blade where it's secured with flush-mounted rivets. More here.

A 3D-Printed Hamburger Would Cost You $300,000

Making fake meat in a lab sure isn't easy, but 3D printing promises to revolutionize the process. The only downside: a 3D-printed hamburger will set you back $300,000.

Growing meat in the lab is a long-studied avenue of research. But now 3D printing could make the process quicker. The BBC explains:

Instead of traditional ink or a material like plastic, the 3D printer cartridge contains something called bioink made of hundreds of thousands of live cells. Once printed in the desired shape, the bioink particles naturally fuse to form living tissue. This process of bioprinting biomaterials is similar to attempts to print artificial organs for transplants - but the result could well end up in your frying pan.

The real benefit is related to the shape of the meat we eat, though: burgers, steaks and plenty of other cuts have lateral dimensions that are much bigger than their thickness. That makes them perfect candidates for 3D printing, which could theoretically speed up the process of making lab-grown meat. But just like the devices used for prototyping products using plastics, bio-printing is still in its infancy—and so incredibly expensive.

So while there's certainly promise—after all, a Dutch team has already showcased a small piece of 3D-printed artificial meat which was 2cm long, 1cm wide and about 1mm thick—current estimates suggest a whole hamburger created in this way would cost $300,000. Not quite competing with McDonald's yet, then. More here.

Google’s Making Moves to Kill the Password

Passwords are long and complicated and hard to remember. And that's only if they're good passwords. No matter how you slice it, passwords are annoying and on top of that, they're not even all that secure. Google knows that all too well, and it's pushing for the next big thing. A ring maybe. Like for your finger.

Google's been getting behind two-step verification for a while, and although that's more secure than a standard password, it's also more annoying. Hardly a perfect solution. In a paper to be published later this month in IEEE Security & Privacy Magazine, Google's President of Security Eric Grosse and Engineer Mayank Upadhyay are pitching alternatives like cryptographic card for your USB, or some kind of (presumably NFC) ring.

Google's got some software in the making that'd allow this kind of stuff to log you into a browser without involving any sort of software in the middle, just you and your browser. But even in the best possible future, it won't kill passwords completely. So long as your little key can be separated from you, you'll have to have a PIN or something, and the more conveniently short the PIN, the more important it is you don't loose that key. Still, it beats straight passwords and two-step verification annoyances. And the sooner the password can finally be laid to rest, the better. More here.

Kim Dotcom’s Mega Is Now Open To the Public

Mega, Kim Dotcom's big, flashy new copyright-dismantling file-sharing/storage site with encryption up the wazoo has finally launched. You can head on over and sign up right now. That is, so long as the site can hold under the crazy traffic. So far, it looks like it's getting crushed. But different people are experiencing different things.

Angled Lens Case Turns Your Smartphone Into a GoPro

G-Form's made a name for itself with extreme phone and tablet cases that can protect a gadget during falls from over 100,000 feet. But since rarely are any of us in a situation where we fumble and drop our toys from space, the company's new G90 case that turns your phone into a GoPro-like action cam is a little more exciting.

The case is of course completely waterproof, and designed to protect your device against falls, collisions, and other run-ins with gravity. But it's biggest innovation is a 90-degree angled lens and mirror that makes it easier to mount your protected phone length-wise. It's a more aerodynamic approach, and the larger lens also expands your smartphone camera's view to a full 140 degrees, depending on its own lens.

Expected to drop—safely—in June, the G90 will actually be available for a wide variety of devices including the iPhone 5, the Samsung Galaxy S4 (oh really?), and even the latest iPod Touch. More here.

Ticking Teeth Skull Watch Walks the Line Between Clever and Morbid

Skull-based accessories are usually only popular with a certain demographic who've embraced the morbid side of life. But damned if this Last Laugh watch from Mr. Jones hasn't crossed the border into mainstream territories with a clever mechanism that shows the hour and minutes on the skull's teeth.

Powered by an automatic mechanical movement that basically means just wearing the watch keeps it wound, the Last Laugh is a little pricey at $260 for what is essentially a clever sight gag. More here.

A 3D Printer That Actually Looks Like it Belongs in Your Home

Cubify's colorful 3D printers look like coffee makers, and that's exactly the point—they're a natural fit for your home. And they might be just the ticket to making this 3D printing thing stick with normal people.

The Cube is kind of the opposite of Makerbot's at-home 3D printer, the Replicator, which is a big bulky 32-pound industrial beast. The Cube, on the other hand, is a 19-pound, adorable sewing machine-sized apparatus, and it's totally something that fits right in with your other appliances. To top it off, it's $1400, compared to the Replicator's $1750 starting point. For $50 more you get Cubify's design software to make the printable creations of your dreams. (Real talk: They should include the software for free.)

As a company, Cubify might actually have the right understanding—its founder, Chuck Hull, was actually the first person to patent a 3D printer all the way back in 1983. Though it took him a good 30 years to have a product on the market, the Cube looks really promising. More here.

Patent Hints at Laser-Controlled Google Glasses

With Google's Project Glass still very much in its awkward developmental stages, the best method of controlling it remains up for debate. This patent, though, suggests that a laser-projected control pad might be in the running.

Currently, Project Glass uses a touch pad that runs down the side of one of its arms. Trouble is, that means reaching up every time you need to adjust a setting. This idea, though, would use a laser projector to throw a control pad onto any surface that you're looking at: wall, desk, arm, whatever. Then, a small camera would interpret finger movements in the region of those buttons and turn them into commands. Simple.

This is well-trodden ground, of course: there have been oh-so-many laser projectors designed to throw a keyboard onto a desk in front of you. But they were static; Google's offering would be much trickier to pull off and use. More here.

There Are Easier Ways to Stack Chairs, But Come On: These Are Awesome

These new chairs by designer Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance disassemble for storage. No, this isn't the most efficient way to stow furniture away, but it's a neat idea.

Instead of folding up, the "Market" chair's curtain of slats rolls up like a blanket, leaving the frame bare so that it'll fit neatly together with another. If you want chairs that simply stack, you can stick to aluminum. More here.

Vacuums Double as Ponytail-Making Machines

Dads of the world, take note: you don't have to leave the hairstyling to mom. Got a vacuum? Great. Got one of those snakey tube attachments? Perfect. Pop a rubber band on that bad boy, suck your daughter's hair up in the tube, and voilà! A perfect ponytail. Cue touchdown dance.

Be careful, though. One false move and, instead of a cleanly coifed child, you could have a very bald, very upset kid on your hands. Regardless, whoever thought of this is dad of the year. More here.

Apple Stock Hits a Nine Month Low

Apple's stock took a sharp jump downwards at the opening bell this morning, continuing the rough slide it's been on since the last quarter of 2012. The stock is currently trading around $488 a share. Back in September of 2012, at its peak price of $705 a share, Apple was far and away the world's most valuable company, a crowning achievement for a company that had its share of dark days in the 1990s. But with the loss of its iconic leader, Steve Jobs, and recent flubs on software such as new Maps app, investors seem to have lost much of their confidence in Apple.

"The company has never traded on its profit, it's the exact opposite of Amazon," said trader and Stocktwits founder Howard Lindzon. "Apple has been rewarded for its innovation. The market is expecting more magic. Apple is kind of stuck, for a company that executes so flawlessly. They are printing money, and the market doesn't care." More here.