Ice Cream Sandwich Maker

Slapping a dollop of ice cream between two cookies is the best thing to happen to that frozen treat since chocolate syrup. But there's nothing quite as satisfying as the soggy chocolate wafers of an ice cream sandwich, which this brilliant machine lets you churn out by the hundreds.

It might look like one of George Foreman's grills, but this machine is all about packing on the pounds with indents for making round or rectangular chocolate wafers. For $25 it also comes with moulds for your ice cream so it's perfectly shaped to sit between the cookies. More here.

Solar Impulse Takes off for Morocco on First Sun-powered Transcontinental Flight

The sun-powered Solar Impulse plane is gradually working up to a trip around the globe, with the most recent benchmark being its first international flight in 2011. Now Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg are taking the jumbo jet-size plane on its first transcontinental journey. The Solar Impulse set off for Morocco, and its pilots will stop in Madrid along the way. 

The goal is to complete the 1,554-mile trip by next week, and the big challenge will be crossing cloudy regions like the Pyrenees mountains separating France and Spain. In a 2010 test flight, the Impulse's 12,000 solar cells soaked up enough rays to keep the plane going through the night, but in case something goes wrong this time, the pilots are prepared with parachutes. If all goes well on this trial run, Piccard and Borschberg will be just one step away from their goal of circumnavigating the world in 2014. More here.

iOS 5.1.1 Untethered Jailbreak Is Out Now

So here's some good news: The Chronic Dev Team has released the untethered jailbreak tools for all of the post-A4 Apple devices. That means your iPhone 4S, 2012 iPad, iPad 2, and other, older devices can be jailbroken without having to boot into "tethered" mode (connecting to your computer) every time you restart.

Untethered jailbreaks are much more convenient, but also take longer to code after a release. Further, the newer devices like the iPad 2 and 2012 model, and the iPhone 4S, do not have the same hardware defect that allows super fast tethered cracks for older devices. That means folks with newer phones and tablets have to wait longer for their jailbreaks.

As always, back up your phone and data before moving to a new jailbreak. Full instructions for the process can be found here.

Behold the Meatiest Sandwich in Human History

Genghis Khan. Alexander the Great. Dagwood. Men of insatiable appetites, all. But none of them came close to creating—much less consuming—a sandwich of this magnitude.

British chef/madman Tristan Welch created the flesh-pile in honor of the UK debut of Man Versus Food, a popularish US show that features a large, affable man who travels from town to town, engaging in food challenges while being cheered on by locals who are excited to be on television. It's a triumph of conspicuous consumption, and there really couldn't be a more fitting tribute than a sandwich the size of a three year-old human person. More here.

The full rundown of ingredients:

120g Ndjua
260g roast beef
120g boiled ham
160g Proscuitto
150g honey-roast ham
90g cooked turkey
155g cooked chicken
155g garlic chicken
180g smoked duck breast
120g cooked pork
120g roast ham
280g corned beef
150g German salami
150g Italian sausage
240g cured ham
80g French peppercorn salami
70g Saucisson Sec de Provence
70g herbed Saucisson Sec de Provence
360g chorizo
70g serrano ham
80g pastrami
140g pancetta
150g bacon
70g garlic salami
70g Italian salami
80g dry-cured Proscuitto
380g Bratwurst sausage
150g breaded ham
100g Mortadella
100g Speck
150 Parma ham
65g Jambon Iberico de Bellota
140g Finocchiona
70g wild boar pork salami
100g smoked venison
250g beetroot, sliced
110g assorted salad leaves
1 large red onion, sliced into rings
680g gherkins, sliced
1 large loaf of bread

A Single Strap Can Turn Your Bike’s Frame Into a Basket

If you've ever wished for some more storage space on your bike without resorting to adding a hipster basket on your handlebars, you'll appreciate this alternative solution from designer Yeongkeun Jeong. It's a simple strap system that turns the bike's own frame into extra storage.

A long elastic strap is strategically woven around the inner triangle formed by the bike's frame, which creates a basket that's flexible enough to let you insert and remove items, but strong enough to keep them secure while you're riding. And to ensure the straps don't shift over time, a set of soft silicone stickers are used wherever it makes contact with the frame so they aren't able to slide around. As long as you don't overstuff it so it interferes with your pedaling, it's a rather brilliant idea. More here.

Calcium Supplements Double Your Risk of Heart Attack

Calcium supplements—previously thought to help prevent heart disease and stroke—have now been shown to almost double the risk of heart attack. Doctors are now warning that such supplements should be taken with caution, and even then only for vital medical reasons.

The new finding is based on a large-scale study of 23,980 men and women in Heidelberg, Germany. The participants were part of a cancer and nutrition study, but the results also allowed researchers to assess how calcium supplements were linked to heart disease.

The team of researchers, from Zurich University's institute of social and preventative medicine, found that people who used calcium supplements regularly were 86 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack than those who did not. Those who obtained their calcium just from supplements were 2.7 times more likely than non-users to experience a heart attack. The results are published in the journal Heart.

While calcium is required for bone growth, it is also used by other organs such as the heart. While there is clear evidence that some calcium supplements should be taken to protect bones—in certain medical situations—this new research points to the fact that such action should be taken only under close consultation with a doctor. Dr Claire Bowring, of the UK's National Osteoporosis Society, explained to the Guardian:

"This study further highlights the need for care when considering taking calcium supplements. If you get all of the calcium that you need from your diet then a supplement will not be necessary. Boosting calcium beyond recommended levels has no extra benefit for bones.

"Supplementation may be warranted if you are unable to get enough calcium in your diet, but it needs to be done with consideration."

The message is clear that patients should consult a physician before taking calcium supplements—especially if they are at risk of a heart disease or heart attack. More here.

R2-D2 Hoodie

Some Star Wars apparel requires a bit of 'courage in a bottle' to purchase and wear in public. But not this forthcoming R2-D2 hoodie from Mad Engine apparel.

Available sometime near the end of August for $70, the hoodie features a full-zip design so you can even recreate R2-D2's cyclops dome when it's completely done up. But how you're actually supposed to walk around dressed like that without avoiding objects using the force is a mystery. More here.

The Curious Case of the Upside Down Apple Logo

Joe Moreno spent nine years working at Apple during the Steve Jobs era. Today, he writes about something that bothered Steve Jobs for a long time: the problem of the upside down Apple logo.

Why was upside down from the user's perspective an issue? Because the design group noticed that users constantly tried to open the laptop from the wrong end. Steve Jobs always focuses on providing the best possible user experience and believed that it was more important to satisfy the user than the onlooker.

Obviously, after a few years, Steve reversed his decision.

Opening a laptop from the wrong end is a self-correcting problem that only lasts for a few seconds. However, viewing the upside logo is a problem that lasts indefinitely. More here.

Grow an Indoor Garden on Your Wall With a Sleek, Magnetic Planter System

From its humble beginnings as an—ahem—Kickstarter project, Urbio has parlayed a successful fundraising drive into actual indoor gardening products that actual people can buy.

On display at ICFF 2012, the Urbio system makes use of planter bins and wall tiles formed of polypropylene, and held together by neodymium magnets, the Urbio system combines a clean look with modern lines, resulting in a product that will fit in most homes. Fill em with your favorite succulents, or inanimate objects; either way, it'll look great. More here.

Google Chrome Just Beat Out Internet Explorer as the Most Used Browser

It appears that Google Chrome finally overtook Microsoft Internet Explorer as the world's most popular browser last week—at least according to statistics fromthe web analytics service Statcounter. As TNW points out, measuring this kind of usage is hardly a perfect science, but as you can see from the trend line in the graph above, this is the way things have been going for some time now. Rats! Just when Internet Explorer was starting to get good.

Why Real Men Eat Red Meat

We know eating red meat can kill us andmake us feel happy but the real reason guys eat it? It makes them feel manly. According to scientists, red meat is synonymous with masculinity making it desirable for guys who view themselves as masculine.
According to the paper in the Journal of Consumer Research, both men and women view red meat as "macho and masculine". In one of their studies, "the top 5 most masculine foods were, in order of most to least masculine: medium-rare steak, hamburger, well-done steak, beef chili and chicken. And the most feminine foods, from most to least, were: chocolate, peach, chicken salad, sushi and chicken."

Brian Wansink, the study researcher and director of the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, said that the masculine association with red meat matters to red-eating masculine men:

"To the strong, traditional, macho, bicep-flexing, all-American male, red meat is a strong, traditional, macho, bicep-flexing, all-American food."

Basically, if those who view themselves as masculine or feminine associate certain food with masculinity or femininity, it makes sense to eat said masculine or feminine food. So don't blame yourself for loving red meat, guys. Blame gender roles! Blame society!

A Sofa That Encourages You To Lose Things Between the Cushions

Even though the cushions on your couch can be a black hole for everything from pocket change to the TV remote, they're also a handy place to quickly hide stuff when company visits. And it's that exact idea that inspired Jess Fügler's Jam Sofa.

A set of stacked cushions provide a deep crevasse in the middle where you can store magazines, various remotes, and probably even a sandwich and a handful of Doritos for later. The possibilities are endless. The sofa—or lounge to be more exact—also does away with the need for a coffee table as a place to keep coffee table books. And even standing lamps are no longer necessary thanks to a custom lighting accessory that can slide between the cushions. More here.

The Pixar Avengers Looks Like the Best Pixar Movie Ever

Sulley as the Hulk and the Incredibles as Captain America and Black Widow? Wonderful. But seriously, mashing up Pixar characters with The Avengers is beautiful. J. M. Walter created this Pixar/Avengers combo and I've decided that it'd be the funnest superhero movie ever. Or best cartoon I've ever seen. More here.

This Couch Is the Only Place It’s Ever Ok To Fall Asleep At the Wheel

At some point in your life you're going to have to give up the dream of sleeping in an awesome car bed. So as an alternative, you might want to consider a car-shaped couch instead.

Created by design and fashion studio Bless, the No35 Automatica Carcanapé couch is stitched and stuffed to look like a run-of-the-mill hatchback—and that coupled with its soft gray fabric might actually make it seem not so outlandish if added to your living room suite. The attention to detail is remarkable, right down to side mirrors and wiper blades. More here.

Raspberry Pi Team Shows off pics of Prototype Camera add-on

While the main thing that would make Raspberry Pi's diminutive $25 / $35 Linux setups better would be if we could get our hands on them faster, the team behind it is already working on improvements like this prototype camera seen above. The add-on is slated to ship later this year and plugs into the CSI pins left exposed right in the middle of each unit. According to the accompanying blog post, the specs may be downgraded from the prototype's 14MP sensor to keep things affordable, although there's no word on an exact price yet. Possible applications include robotics and home automation. More here.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Newest Facebook Status: I’m a Real Billionaire

In case you just woke from a coma at the center of the earth's core, Facebook's IPO blasts off today. And here's a casually obnoxious reminder from Mark Zuckerberg, who has something to do with this, if you weren't sure.

The status update—Mark Zuckerberg listed a company on NASDAQ. — with Chris Cox and 4 others—demonstrates the dynamic flexibility of the Facebook Timeline™, which allows you to share the moments of your life that matter most, and include those Friends™ who were along for The Ride™ with you. It was also rigged by a team of Facebook engineers to trigger at the exact moment Zuck activated the NASDAQ opening button bell, further making him the least relatable 28-year-old in the history of people in their 20s. More here.

How Many Screws Does It Take to Get to the Center of an Exploded Fuji X100?

Looking at this dismantled Fuji X100, it quickly becomes apparent that staring at exploded gadgets will never get old. Left for dead after suffering fatal water damage, the X100 donated it's body to the internet, providing eye candy for us all to ogle at.

Photographer James Maher took the camera apart piece by piece—which involved removing 130 screws and 152 parts—and photographed every step of the process, which you can check out here.

Steve Jobs Was Closely Involved With Development of Larger iPhone 5

First the Wall Street Journal said the next iPhone will have a four-inch screen, then Reuters agreed, and now Bloomberg's sources are saying the same thing. Bloomberg are also reporting, however, that Steve Jobs was closely involved with the design process.

In some ways that's a little surprising because, back in 2010, Jobs famously criticized large phones. He didn't think anybody would ever want to carry a big phone, going as far as saying that "no one's going to buy" one. The market has since proved him wrong and, if we're to believe Bloomberg's reporting, clearly Jobs had changed his mind before his death in October last year.

With so many reports floating around about Apple's shift to a four-inch screen, it's beginning to seem inevitable. If you're a small-screen fan, now might be a good time to brace yourself. More here.

Scientists Invent Grow-in-the-Dark Plants

The Sun's rays power virtually all vegetative growth on the face of the Earth, or at least they used to. A new discovery by a team at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany will coerce plants into growing in total darkness.

Sunlight actually does more than simply provide plants with metabolic energy—it also activates photoreceptor cells called Phytochromes that, in turn, switch on physical processes like germination and blossoming. The study, which was just published in The Plant Cell journal, has devised an alternative means of jump-starting these same processes—relying on chemicals rather than the sun. The team discovered that feeding the substance "15Ea-phycocyanobilin" to seedlings chemically activates the same photoreceptors that natural light would, inducing the same development as those in a control group that were grown normally.

This discovery of course is still far from commercially viable but, if it does pan out, Tilman Lamparter, the director of the study, believes that it could have vast applications throughout the agriculture and research sciences. "Blossoming of flowers or development of the photosynthesis system may be controlled much better in the future," Lamparter told R&D Mag. "These findings would be of high use for agricultural industry in the cultivation of flowers or biomass production, for instance." More here.

Coffee Drinkers Live Longer

Millions of us start the morning with a coffee and think nothing of it. But new medical research suggests that it could be helping you live longer—if you drink enough of it.

The large-scale study, which is published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that men who drank six cups of coffee or more every day were 10 per cent less likely to die during the 14 years of the study. Women who drank six cups or more were 15 per cent less likely to die over that same period. The result, fairly obviously, suggests that coffee drinkers live longer.

The researchers have also shown that the effect is seen across almost all causes of death, including heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes, and infections. The effect, however, seems to decline with lower consumption—and a single cup of coffee a day was found to have negligible effect.

Dr Neal Freedman, one of the researchers from the National Cancer Institute, Department of Health and Human Services, in Rockville in Maryland, USA, explains:

"Coffee contains more than 1000 compounds that might affect the risk of death. The most well-studied compound is caffeine, although similar associations for caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee in the current study and a previous study suggest that, if the relationship between coffee consumption and mortality were causal, other compounds in coffee—for example, antioxidants, including polyphenols—might be important."

All of which means, of course, that next time someone says you're drinking too much coffee, you know exactly what to say. More here.