Astronomers Found a Star Almost as Old as the Universe Itself

The universe is a big, ancient place, and we've barely scratched the surface of what it contains. We've also found some real gems, like this one: a star that's almost as old as the universe itself.

Sitting 190 lightyears from our solar system, HD 140283 was found almost a hundred years ago, and has been studied by astronomers ever since. Scientists knew the star was old due to it's composition of primarily helium and hydrogen, but it wasn't until now that they were able to narrow down its age and come up with any sort of number. It turns out that is roughtly 13.9 billion years, actually older than the universe—but there's a 700-million-year margin of error, which gives it plenty of room on the right side of the universe's birth.

Astronomers knew of another star that was almost this old, but the reading on this star in particular is far more likely to be accurate. It almost definitely is the oldest star we've ever seen. More here.

Asus Claims the Title of World’s Smallest Wi-Fi Router

Amongst all of its Windows 8 PCs and tablet announcements, Asus also quietly revealed what it's boasting as the world's smallest Wi-Fi router. And with a form factor only slightly larger than a well-equipped flash drive, the WL-330NUL Pocket Router is the perfect accessory for minimalist road warriors.

Weighing in at just 25 grams, the 802.11b/g/n router includes an ethernet port on one end for sharing a wired connection, and a USB cable on the other for stealing power from a computer. It can also be plugged into an outlet if you want to spare your laptop's battery. For ultra-thin notebooks lacking an ethernet port, the WL-330NUL doubles as a USB ethernet adapter too. As for pricing and availability, that's still to be announced. More here.

Puregear’s Retro Game Cases Completely Justify Covering Your iPhone 5

In February they'll be available in three different versions for $30 a pop: a traditional boxy maze, a circular maze, and a pseudo-pinball machine that works more like The Price Is Right's Plinko.

They look about a hundred times more addictive than Angry Birds, don't require a Wi-Fi connection, Bluetooth, or a battery. And they'll help keep your iPhone 5 from getting all dinged up when you get frustrated at navigating that tiny ball and throw your smartphone across the room. More here.

Whoever Had the Idea to Make Bread Knives That Look Like the Alps Is a Genius

Commemorate your recent European travels and turn any loaf of bread into a pile of shredded crumbs with this trio of knives that feature serrated edges mirroring the silhouettes of the Alps. Pricing and availability haven't been locked down yet, but the famous peaks include the Zurich Panorama, the Lake of Constance Panorama, and the Berner Alps Panorama. They're all about form, not function, so make sure you have a way to display them instead of burying the set in a knife block. More here.

This Fork Yells at You When You Overeat

Forget smartphones, 2013 is the year of the smartfork. A company called HAPILABS has just introduced their tech-laden HAPIfork. What’s the point in squeezing a bunch of microchips into a utensil, you ask? Why, to keep a watch over you as you shovel food in your mouth, of course.

This fork checks how fast and how much you are eating. If it starts to think you are overdoing it, it’ll let you know by administering a vibrating jolt. It’s like having a really mean, four-tined friend with you at the dinner table. It’ll then shoot that information to your phone so you can never forget what a glutton you were. Cool!

In all seriousness, wrapping your brain around portion control can be tricky so if this fork wants to help with that, more power to it. HAPIfork will launch in 2014 at a suggested price of around $100. More here.

Here’s Your iPhone 5 Battery Case

Mophie tends to be the first to market but it looks like iBattz might squeak one in first. With two 2200mAh batteries, both the Mojo Refuel and rugged Moro Armor can recharge your iPhone 5 up to three times, says the company.

The Refuel is expected to be available next month for $89.90, while the Armor will be available in March for $99.90.

A third case, the AquaSeal Hi5 is waterproof and comes with a detachable 2500mAh battery. No word on pricing or date. More here.

This Wireless Blender Is Your First Step to a Cord-Free Kitchen

Magnets can do more than just heat your meals—they can power the rest of your cooking gadgets as well.

The Haier Cordless Blender is the first such device to part ways with power outlets. Instead, you install a power transmitter (read: induction coil) in your kitchen counter top and place the blender on that. More here.

This Is the Most Embarrassing Furniture Ever

If you really hate your guests, looks no further than Jay Watson Design's thermochromic furniture. Before they sit down it looks like any normal old table and bench—but when they rise, their sweaty ass will leave a large bright patch that would make any man blush.

Made of solid oak, its surface is coated with thermochromic paint, so that when it's exposed to heat its color changes temporarily. Yes, just like those Hypercolor shirts you wish you could forget. At $1,850 it might be a little expensive for a practical joke—but then maybe you liked your Hypercolor all those years ago? More here.

Kingston’s HyperX Predator Flash Drive Is the Easiest Way To Misplace a Terabyte Of Data

Last year at CES Victorinox surprised everyone with a one terabyte flash drive that the company estimated would sell for almost $3,000. It sounded too good to be true, and given there's been no sign of it since last January, it apparently was. So can Kingston fill the void left in our hearts with its new HyperX Predator one terabyte USB 3 flash drive? Let's hope so.

With promised read and write speeds topping out at 240MB/s and 160MB/s respectively, filling the HyperX Predator with your data won't be a week-long chore. And availability is promised to be as soon as the first quarter of 2013, although pricing info hasn't been revealed just yet. But with the company's 512 gigabyte model coming in at $1,750, you can safely expect it cost a small fortune. More here.

USB 3.0 Is Going To Double Speeds

USB data transfer is about to get a hell of a lot faster. The USB Promoter Group is rolling out SuperSpeed USB, a supplement to USB 3.0 due out later this year that should surge your speeds two-fold.

SuperSpeed USB is supposed to give you 10 Gbps USB data rate, which is the same as Thunderbolt. It's also expected to feature better data encoding for transfers, more efficiency power efficient ports, and best of all, compatibility with existing devices. Later this year when you download a movie or a CD, it could take much less time thanks to the new standard. More here.

The Messier You Are, the Harder This Dust-Detecting Samsung Vacuum Sucks

Samsung shows it's still in the housecleaning game with a trio of new stealthy vacs, including the champagne-tinted SC96 which uses a multi-chamber design that's promised to deliver longer suction while being a lot quieter than its predecessors.

The sound dampening is made possible through a customized airflow design which keeps the rushing wind to a dull roar, but the vacuum is also able to automatically adjust its suction level on the fly thanks to sensors that detect the amount of dust and dirt that's being drawn in. So if you're a neat freak, you'll be rewarded with a whisper-quiet cleaning routine. And if you're a real-life version of pig pen, the $450 SC96 will ramp up the suction in an attempt to tackle your mess. More here.

Move Over GPS, a New Positioning System Has You in Its Sights

GPS is now so widespread that we take it for granted. But it's not always perfect—so what if a new technology could achieve more than those triangulated military satellites in the sky?

In fact, a team of researchers has been mulling exactly that, and come up with a new positioning technology called Locata. New Scientist explains:

Instead of satellites, Locata uses ground-based equipment to project a radio signal over a localized area that is a million times stronger on arrival than GPS. It can work indoors as well as out, and the makers claim the receivers can be shrunk to fit inside a regular cellphone. Even the US military, which invented GPS technology, signed a contract last month agreeing to a large-scale test of Locata at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

You see, GPS often struggles with indoor environments and big cities: towering concrete buildings make it hard to get a signal, and tight road and pedestrian networks mean inaccuracy is problematic. By contrast, Locata already has accuracy of 18 centimeters along any axis, and claims to be able to get that number down to 5. Crazy.

The technology is, however, still in its early days, and it would take some impressive performance and marketing if it's ever to supersede GPS. Chances are, then, that it would work alongside GPS, creating a hybrid system which combines the best features of both technologies. In fact, such a thing already exists: Leica is trialling a briefcase-size Jigsaw Positioning Systemwhich is being used to guide drilling in the gold mines in Western Australia. How quickly that can translate into a consumer product, though, remains to be seen. More here.

This Is Supposedly a Photo of a Photo of Samsung’s Galaxy S IV

So this really horribly shot picture is supposedly a press photo of the Galaxy S IV. There's a small chance it's Samsung's next smartphone, but to be quite honest, it looks like someone snapped a picture of something that was Photoshopped.

But in the off chance it actually is the S IV, what are we actually looking at? The bezel is slimmer, the home button is gone, and the phone looks thinner overall. SamMobile, the source of the photo, also claimed the new phone will have a 5-inch display, 13-megapixel camera, and Jelly Bean out of the box. Obviously Samsung is going to release a follow up to the S III—it's a good phone and it continues to sell well.  More here.

Best Buy Lost $65K In One Day Trying to Price Match Walmart’s iPhone Discount

Best Buy dropped the price of the 16GB iPhone 5 to $150 last month, and Walmart bested that with a $127 iPhone. Now Best Buy says lost a whole $65,000 on this one product in just one day because it was forced go meet that lower price.

In a recent WSJ article, Best Buy alleges that Walmart's offer wasn't made in good faith; it didn't, Best Buy claims, have enough stock to meet the obvious demand. So when people came running from allegedly empty handed Walmart to the electronics retailer to claim their new Apple phone, Best Buy had to match the price, which made the store lose out on that extra $23 per phone. Walmart says Best Buy is just jealous, and claims it had 98 percent availability at all of its locations. But the whole thing really isn't that surprising, because this is exactly the kind of move you'd expect from Walmart. More here.

Relax Your Body and Melt Your Mind In This Möbius Chair

It might provide a place to rest your legs, but this United Colors for Benetton chair designed and built by Pereira Miguel Architects will give your brain a good workout as you try and and comprehend where its curvy frame begins and ends.

It's technically not a true möbius strip, though, lacking the requisite twist that would give the bent plywood frame a continuous single side. But the effect is convincing enough. The use of rope webbing instead of a cushion also provides a lovely hammock-like effect, not too mention a means for crumbs, remotes, and lost currency to simply fall through to the floor. More here.

Can Chainmail Sneakers Possibly Be Comfy?

In medieval times when everyone was taking swings at everyone else with swords, chainmail was pretty much a wardrobe requisite. These days the threat of sword attacks are few and far between, but a German company called Gost thinks there's still a place for chainmail in modern society. At least for athletes who've embraced the whole barefoot running trend.

Made from actual interlinked rings of stainless steel, the PaleoBarefoots promise the same near barefoot experience as other minimalist running shoes, but with increased protection and better breathability. But, you're still paying for shoes—around $250 to be exact—made of cold stainless steel that will most certainly not be as light as your New Balances. Is this company onto something here? Were our forefathers right about chainmail? Or are these just an easy way to get a discounted admission to a renaissance fair as a simple period costume? More here.

Easy-Going Emergency Flashlight Accepts Whatever Batteries You’ve Got

After the disastrous earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last year, local companies have been working hard to create products that will be useful in an emergency. Including big corporations like Panasonic, which has created a brilliant LED flashlight that will run on almost any battery you've got on hand.

AAA, AA, C, or D-sized batteries can all be accommodated at the same time, and while the flashlight's LED bulb won't be blinding when relying on a single AAA, it will still provide ample light to get around.

To keep the Any Battery Light cheap—just $24 when it goes on sale in January—the flashlight's lacking the requisite hardware to use the different-sized batteries all at the same time. Instead, a rotating power switch lets you choose which battery you want to use. But with every battery slot filled, Panasonic claims the flashlight will run for up to 86 hours straight, making it a must-have for any emergency kit. More here.

Samsung Offers Free Flip Covers and TecTiles for GS III and Note II Device Registrations

If you just received a Galaxy S III or a Note II this holiday season, you could do yourself a favor and register it on Samsung's Facebook page to get even more goodies from Santa Sammy. What do you get in exchange for handing over some personal details and giving the Korean company access to your timeline? Why, a free flip cover and six TecTiles, which usually go for about $15 for a pack of five. More here.

How To Set Off New Years Fireworks Without Losing a Hand

Every occasion is a good occasion for fireworks—The 4th of July, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Guy Fawkes Day, Chinese New Year, your birthday, your anniversary, a home run, a touchdown, graduation, Tuesday... Unfortunately, such an abundance of occasions also resulted in more than 8,000 fireworks-related injuries in 2011. Four of them fatal. Here's how to properly handle your celebratory explosives without hosting the after party in the ER.

Only purchase fireworks from reputable, licensed retailers as they, by default, carry products that meet government safety standards. Per the US Consumer Product Safety Commission,

CPSC staff received reports of four fireworks-related deaths during 2011. In the first incident, a 31-year-old male died of substantial head and chest trauma caused by an illegal 1.3G aerial firework device.1 In the second incident, a 47-year-old male perished when a 1.3G illegal 3-inch display firework device exploded in his face. In the third incident, a 41-year-old male was decapitated by an illegal firework device. A 51-year-old male died of severe head and face injuries caused by a homemade firework device in the fourth incident.

Also avoid buying last season's close-outs, no matter how big the discount. Older fireworks are more likely to ignite improperly (read: in your hand), if they do so at all.

As such, you should try to store your fireworks somewhere cool and dry and preferably not near other fireworks. The elevated temperatures inside, say, a car trunk in July or next to your home furnace, could potentially cause spontaneous ignition. And if one firework goes off in a big box of fireworks, all of them will go off, so be smart and store them in smaller piles around the house.

Exposure to small amounts of moisture, on the other hand, can prevent a firework from fully igniting. If you do find yourself faced with a half-exploded firework, don't go near it and certainly don't be "that guy"—the one that tries to relight it and blows his face off in the delayed explosion. Instead, douse it with water to ensure its dead, then retrieve it.

Also, do not carry fireworks in your pockets. They are surprisingly fragile devices that can easily be damaged while tumbling about with your keys and loose change. What's more, the static electricity you generate just by walking around could cause a spark. And despite what MTV says, having a firework conflagrate against your leg is neither fun nor profitable.

So, where to set up. Well, somewhere open and nonflammable should suffice, perhaps on a green lawn or spacious concrete driveway—basically anywhere that won't immediately go up like Southern California in August if it's showered in sparks. The site should be as level as possible and, if your locality allows for small rockets, equipped with a short length of pipe half-sunken into the ground to act as a stable launch platform.

Despite all your best laid plans, somebody is invariably going to get hurt, hopefully only superficially. Make sure you've got a proper first aid kid—clean water, bandages, and ice—on hand, as well as someone sober to drive to the ER if necessary. Minor burns (first and second degree injuries under 3 inches in diameter) should be placed under cool running water for 15 minutes, then loosely wrapped in medical gauze. Apply aloe vera or hydrocortisone cream to the afflicted area and take a couple of aspirin for the pain. Any burns over 3 inches or on the face, eye, groin, buttocks, hands, feet, or joints dictate a trip to the hospital or a call to 911 depending on the severity of the damage. More here.

The End of an Age: Hackulous Shuts Down Installous

Today’s news will undoubtedly lead to many cheers and snickers within Apple’s security team, as long-time piracy app collective Hackulous has announced the shut down of its site and most popular piracy tools, Installous and AppSync.

Hackulous has not made clear exactly why its services have shut down, but a statement on its site blames a lackluster forum community and the inability to keep it effectively moderated. The statement reads as follows:

Goodnight, sweet prince.

We are very sad to announce that Hackulous is shutting down. After many years, our community has become stagnant and our forums are a bit of a ghost town. It has become difficult to keep them online and well-moderated, despite the devotion of our staff. We’re incredibly thankful for the support we’ve had over the years and hope that new, greater communities blossom out of our absence. With lots of love, Hackulous TeamGoodnight, sweet prince. We are very sad to announce that Hackulous is shutting down. After many years, our community has become stagnant and our forums are a bit of a ghost town. It has become difficult to keep them online and well-moderated, despite the devotion of our staff. We’re incredibly thankful for the support we’ve had over the years and hope that new, greater communities blossom out of our absence.

With lots of love, Hackulous Team

This is not the end of piracy on iOS however, because while Installous may no longer be available from Hackulous themself, the app — or similar apps — will surely live on. The demand for apps that do what Installous did will continue, and a developer somewhere will almost certainly take advantage of this situation to release utilities that serve a similar purpose.

With no jailbreak currently available for iPhone 5, the platform that Installous depends on — jailbreaking — could have been a possible cause of its demise. It goes without saying that the ability to illegally pirate apps was — and continues to be — a driving force behind the want to jailbreak, and with no such jailbreak available on the latest iOS devices, many people have no access to Installous.

Whatever the case, today’s news can only be good for developers and Apple alike. Piracy is one of the biggest problems hampering the Android ecosystem, and it appears that both waning jailbreak interest in general, as well as Apple’s security efforts, have today proven successful. Here’s to hoping developers will continue making creative and amazing apps for iOS, especially in light of the news that one of their biggest enemies will be today close its doors. More here.