Kony 2012 Is the "Most Viral" Video of All Time

Kony 2012 was unleashed on the internet just six days ago, and it has already been viewed more than 100 million times. By some accounts that makes it the most rapidly spreading video ever, beating out the likes of Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Rebecca Black, Beyoncé, and Miley Cyrus.

No matter how you feel about the controversial documentary about Ugandan general Joseph Kony, you've got to admit its reach is remarkable. Just read some of these stats reported by the video metrics firm Visible Measures:

As of this morning, the Kony campaign has generated well over 100 million views, 112 million to be exact. The views come from over 750 clips across the web, most coming from video responses to the campaign. There are even translated and subtitled versions of the documentary popping up in Spanish, Italian, French, and Chinese. There are over 860,000 comments for the campaign.

Does this really make Kony 2012 the "most viral" video of all time? It's hard to argue with that assessment. The video's passed through our collective feeds and inboxes so many times that more than a shocking documentary, it's starting to feel more like chain mail. The filmmakers clearly accomplished the goal of raising awareness about Joseph Kony's war crimes. Now we need assess whether the documentary will succeed in accomplishing any good. Will this documentary make the world a better place? Or will Kony 2012 just be the latest video to top the charts until Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber take the top spot again.

Instagram Hits 27 Million User Milestone, Teases Android app

Rejoice, photo filter fans, Instagram is heading to Android "very soon," according to founder Kevin Systrom. Speaking at South by Southwest, Systrom raved about the app's growth, boasting of its 27 million registered users. "They're not excited about it because it makes your photos look beautiful," he says, "They're excited because it networks people across the world and it's the single fastest growing thing in mobile period." The Android version is currently being tested in a private beta, and it's reported to be superior than its iOS counterpart. "It's really, really fast," Systrom said. Don't look so surprised, he did tell us, after all, that iOS was just the beginning.

 

 

Windows 7 on a Smartphone

It's only equipped with a 1.3-megapixel front-facing webcam instead. You'll also find two call buttons and a power button around the top right corner, whereas the HDMI Micro socket is located on the left along the bottom side. There's no 3.5mm headphone jack, so here's hoping there'll at least be an adapter of some sort. Likewise, hopefully ITG will add volume adjustment function into the call buttons.

On the back there's a loudspeaker along with a small monochrome LCD for showing the phone's various statuses, caller number and eventually text messages (ITG's still working on Chinese compatibility). The battery cover and most of the body is made out of a smooth, sturdy magnesium alloy -- a huge improvement from the original xpPhone's cheap plastic body -- though we hope the final product will have finer seams. Inside it sits a huge 11.1Wh battery, which is almost twice as much juice as those on a regular smartphone these days. ITG has yet to confirm the phone's final weight, but you can imagine it being the equivalent of a slightly larger smartphone with an extra standard battery.

The China-exclusive xpPhone 2 won't be cheap when it launches in a month or two: its various flavors (with either silver or gold highlight) will cost between ¥7,000 ($1,110) and ¥12,000 ($1,900), so it's not the kind of phone that you'd want to accidentally drop into the toilet.

 

 

Researchers Capture First-Ever Images of Atoms Moving Inside a Molecule

That ripple effect you see in that photo up there represents any changes the molecule went through during the quadrillionth of a second that transpired between laser pulses. Yes, that's the kind of rare, psychedelic shot that's sure to earn DiMauro and team bragging rights, but the scientists also say this technique could have practical implications for observing -- and ultimately manipulating -- chemical reactions at an atomic level. 

Of course, it could be a long time yet before scientists analyze complex proteins in such detail: for the purposes of this experiment, the researchers stuck with simple nitrogen and oxygen molecules, with which chemistry scholars are already quite familiar. In fact, the researchers don't elaborate at all on specific studies where this technique might be useful, but you might want to hit up the source link nonetheless for some of the more technical details of how they pulled off this experiment in the first place. More here.

 

 

Self-Standing Pens Are Easier To Grab

Designed by Gustav Widström and Marcus Heneen, the Slända pens always remain standing when you put them down so they're easier to grab the next time you need them. Solving a particular problem that, let's be honest, doesn't really exist.

Technically they'll let you rid your desk of organizers and pen holders, but the Slända's unique design also means it's never going to roll off a table. Which could be its biggest selling point. Either way, for around $30 it should at least stand out enough (get it?) in your office for no one to try and steal it. More here.

 

 

The Sombrero Bottle Juicer Will Zestify Your Spring Water

For only five bucks the convenient Sombrero Bottle Juicer can be yours. Apparently it was invented because the designer saw a friend trying and failing to squeeze a lemon into his bottled water. This is a very clever solution to that problem, but the juicer can also be a clever kitchen accessory for squeezing and storing fresh juices for cooking. There's nothing like a little lime-juice zip to make your taste buds do the Mexican Hat Dance. Get it here.

 

 

Motorola's MOTOACTV gets Software Update March 9th, Brings 40 new Fitness Activities Into the Fold

Late last year, Motorola announced its MOTOACTV device for fitness fanatics. Since then, the wrist-mounted gadget got a firmware update for better battery life, and on March 9th it's getting another fresh dose of code that brings even more functionality. The update adds 40 new custom activities including yoga, handball, skiing and dancing, so you can track all your fitness endeavors individually.

The new code also allows users to activate the display with a flick of the wrist (instead of pressing the power button) and configure WiFi connections right on the device. Not a moment too soon, Moto, summer's closing in and this should help us get that beach (as opposed to blogger) body we've always wanted. More here.

Start8 Download Resurrects the Start Button on Windows 8

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview is available and has taken the Windows interface to a whole new level. Unfortunately, the preview did not come with a desktop feature that the world makes use of billions times a day, the “Start” menu. Luckily, we have a solution!

Start8 brings the “Start” menu back to Windows 8. This product is free and is available now! Enter your email address below to receive a download link.

Features

- Adds a “Start” menu to the Windows 8 taskbar
- Enables quick access and searching of your installed applications
- Adds Run... option via right-click menu
- Adds Shutdown... option via right-click menu
- Choose a custom Start button image

System requirements

- Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Even the Pedestrian You Accidentally Hit Now Gets Their Own Airbag

Volvo has always built some of the safest cars on the road, protecting the vehicle's passengers when the unthinkable happens. But now the company has added anadditional airbag to its V40 that could save the life of a pedestrian.

In addition to a long list of new features designed to protect the passengers, the new V40 wants to make sure the chances of you hitting a pedestrian are lessened, and if you do, their chances of survival are increased.

First there's its new Pedestrian Detection system which uses a combination of grill-mounted radar and a video camera to detect and recognize a person in the vehicle's path. It can also gauge if they're moving and based on the car's current speed, whether the two are on a collision course. If there is a risk of the pedestrian being hit, an audible alarm will alert the driver. And if there's not enough time for them to react, the vehicle will automatically brake on its own.

But sometimes there's not enough time to avoid hitting someone who darts out in front of your car. So to minimize injuries, the V40 includes an external airbag designed specifically for passengers. Sensors in the bumper register the impact at which point the hood is released and automatically raised by an inflating airbag that extends far enough to provide a cushion as the person rolls up onto the vehicle.

The severity of the accident is dependent on the vehicle's speed and how the person was hit. But if I was a pedestrian who accidentally stepped out in front of a moving vehicle, I sincerely hope there was a Volvo logo on its grill. More here.

 

 

Huge Solar Flare to Hit Earth Today, Disrupting Power and Communications

NASA reports that two massive solar flares erupted from the sun on Tuesday which are expected to hit Earth this morning—and they could affect power, communication and GPS systems.

The flares are a result of Coronal Mass Ejections; events where the sun spits out huge amounts of energy in the from of plasma. The resulting flares send clouds of charged particles racing through space and, in this case, we're in the way. The first cloud—due to hit the planet at around 7am EST—is travelling at over 1,300 miles per second, while the second is traveling at about 1,100 miles per second. The video shows footage of the flares recorded by NASA.

Earth will probably be bombarded by particles until sometime on Friday. But while NASA haswarned that the event could disrupt power, communications and GPS services, in reality there's not too much to worry about. While satellites and electronics might be temporarily affected, no lasting severe damage should occur.

In fact, there's one upshot: these events increase the chances of spotting auroras, reports the Telegraph. So while you might not be able to check-in on Four Square for a while, you might see something pretty this evening. More here, here and here.

The New iPad 3 How It Stacks Up to Other Leading Tablets

Well, it's finally here, Apple's new hotness. But how does it compare to the new hotness from Asus, Samsung, Amazon, BlackBerry, or heck, the iPad 2?

Clearly the toughest competitor in this chart is the Asus Transformer Infinity. The new iPad has it beaten on pixels per inch, but not by a ton. On paper it looks like the Transformer Infinity crushes the new iPad in terms of guts—the quad-core Tegra 3 is one mean mother—but we'll have to wait and see how Apple's new A5X performs in benchmark tests. Similarly spec'd Android tablets will be coming out all year, which means, considering this is a new product, Apple may not be as far of the curve (technology wise) as one would hope. At the same time, Apple products have a long history of outperforming their specs so let's not jump to conclusions just yet.

The new iPad pretty much beats everything else in the chart. It's hard to see a single compelling reason to take the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 over it or the Transformer (other than price). Amazon's Kindle Fire and BlackBerry's Playbook likewise get chomped, but here at least there is a significant difference in price. $200 is very cheap. For people who primarily want a tablet for reading books and watching the occasional movie, the Kindle Fire might just be a more frugal investment.

iPad starts is $500, $600, or $700 for the 16GB Wi-Fi only version at 16, 32, and 64GB, respectively. For Wi-Fi plus 4G it's $630, $730, and $830, for the the 16, 32, and 64GB versions, respectively.

*Note the forthcoming 4G LTE version of the Transformer Infinity will feature Qualcomm's dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor in stead of the quad-core Tegra 3. You might think that's a step down, but initial benchmarking of the S4 has been extremely good, so in most contexts performance is likely to be just as solid.

P.S. Note that while Tim Cook spent a lot of time talking about the new iPad's four core GPU, that does not make it a "quad-core tablet." That's the graphics processor. The CPU (the main processor) is dual-core. By comparison, the Transformer Infinity has a quad-core CPU and at 12 core GPU. And yes, they were deliberately sneaky about that, knowing that only geeks would know the difference.

 

 

The Most Advanced Fake Meat in the World Is Still Gross

I've never understood the desire of some vegetarians to make their food resemble meat; it's creepy and seems to contradict their love of vegetables. Sadly, the practice shows now sign of stopping so, with some reluctance, I present to you the most advanced fake meat in the world.

What you're looking at here is the product of the LikeMeat research project—a collaboration designed to make the meatiest fake meats the world has ever seen. From a rather wonderful press release:

"It looks like a cutlet, it's juicy and fibrous like a cutlet, and it even chews with the consistency of a real cutlet — but the ingredients are 100 percent vegetable."

But enough talk. I know you're dying to know how they make it. Oh boy, it sounds tasty:

"The main ingredients — water and plant proteins — are brought to a boil and slowly cooled down... As the temperature sinks, the protein molecules start to form chains. This gives rise to a fibrous structure that is quite similar to that of meat."

Yum. Sadly, the researchers are only able to produce 60 to 70 kilos of the meat substitute per hour at the moment, but Florian Wild, one of the team, reassures us that its "consistency and texture are already superb."

While I can't deny that a modest reduction in meat consumption might be a good thing for the planet, the solution isn't to eat the products of LikeMeat; the solution is just to eat a few more vegetables. In the meantime, fake meat might be more advanced, but it's still gross. More here.

Why You Have Your Best Ideas When You’re Least Productive

We all have our favorite times to power through work; some of us are up at the crack of dawn toiling away, while others feel more productive when the sun's setting. But a new study suggests that out best ideas actually come to us when we're not at our best.

Researchers have been studying how innovation and creativity varies with circadian rhythms—the natural patterns that make you a morning person or an evening type—and the findings are suprising.

A lot of studies have shown that we perform best—or at least, get most done—during peak times in our circadian rhythms when we're most alert. But the new study, by Mareike Wieth and Rose Zacks, reveals that during the lulls in productivity we're more easily distracted, and that those distractions can help aid creativity. Their conclusion: you have your best ideas when you're least productive.

To establish that, they asked participants a mixture of analytic and insight questions. The analytic questions required laborious, tedious working to establish an answer; the insight questions required a flash of inspiration to crack. The result? Insight questions were completed more effectively when participants were stuck in a circadian rhythm rut.

You see, being less focused on a task makes you more open to distraction, and in turn to exploring new ideas. So, depending on what kind of work you do, you may well be better served by shifting your schedule around a little. If you can pound through work in the morning, take advantage of it and get your tedious, mechanical work done then. That way, you can save lulls for your more thoughtful, idea-based labors. More here.

Nokia’s Insane 41-Megapixel Phone Isn’t Coming to the US

If you've lusted over the prospect of owning Nokia's new 808 PureView—despite the fact that its pixel count is rather needless—you're out of luck.

According to Nokia's developer site, the phone will enjoy global release... excluding North America. But you'll still be able to pick up an unlocked handset, and who knows, it might makes its way to these shores officially at some point. More here.

’90s-Inspired Case Gives You the Flip iPhone that Apple Never Will

Last year ThumbsUp! created an '80s iPhone case transforming your fancy Apple creation into the clunky bricks of that era. This year the company's back with a '90s iPhone casethat instead gives it the flip-style functionality that none of us actually miss.

While I can't see someone using this for anything other than irony, I will give ThumbsUp! credit since the case—designed to fit the iPhone 4 and 4S—has a working speaker in the lid and an aerial that can be pushed to lock the phone. It should be available sometime in the fall for about $24, sadly without the stylish belt clip that would certainly complete the '90s look. More here.

Turn a Pile Of Dishes Into a Designer Clock

Tired of being nagged about the ever-growing pile of dishes next to your kitchen sink? With Kyouei Design's Water Clock you can just turn them into a stylish timepiece, and not worry about prepping them for the dishwasher like you're supposed to.

For a ridiculous $325 all you actually get is the square base which you stack a plate and cup on top, fill with water, and then float a couple of small balls in. I'm assuming the magic of magnets once again comes into play here, positioning each ball so they indicate the hour and minutes. But as cool as the effect is, just remember that it will stop telling time once all the water evaporates. More here.

Galaxy Player 70 Plus: Samsung's First Dual-Core Media Player

Samsung's barely finished packing up from its recent stint in Barcelona, but that hasn't stopped another device surfacing on the Korean peninsula. The Galaxy Player 70 Plus appears to be a powered-up version of its 5-inch device from last year, side-stepping the design tweaks we saw last week on theGalaxy S WiFi 4.2 -- the other new (similarly long-winded) Android PMP from Samsung.

Alongside a dual-core 1GHz processor, other hardware improvements include a (Korea-only) DMB TV tuner, 5-megapixel camera and a 2,500mAh battery to keep that expansive screen running for longer. The media player will arrive in both 16GB and 32GB capacities, priced up at 399,000 won ($356) and 469,000 won ($418) respectively, although there's no news just yet on whether the wider world will get to wrap their hands around that substantial 5-inch screen.

Beef Straws Will Obviously Make Any Beverage Better

They're designed to be used with more savory drinks like a bloody mary, but there's no way these edible beef straws—made from hollowed out Slim Jims—won't improve the flavor of any beverage.

A pack of 30 will cost you $34, so Benny's Bloody Mary Beef Straws certainly aren't a cheaper alternative to regular plastic drinking straws. But like licorice, they're completely edible. And unlike licorice, they're made from more delicious seasoned beef.

I would also like to point out that I've taken the high road with this post, since the suggestion of sucking on a beef straw is ripe for more childish jokes and wordplay than my mind can comprehend. More here.

Smartphones Spread out: 46 Percent of US Adults Now Own One

Our master plan is slowly working, and soon every man and woman in our great nation will own a smartphone. Pew Research Center reports that just under half of adult Americans, or 46 percent, own smartphones currently, meaning that smartphone owners now outnumber their feature phone counterparts by five percent. Pew polled multiple demographics to get its numbers, and there was growth across the board over the last nine months. 

Of particular interest is the rise in ownership in the study's lowest income demographic -- under $30,000 a year -- which spiked 12 percent to 34 percent. Additionally, it showed that Android and Apple are neck and neck, with 20 and 19 percent market share of mobile owners, respectively, and Blackberry ownership declined from ten percent to six percent. The largest growth came from the 18-24 age group, up 18 to 67 percent. More here.

YouTube Android app Update Brings HD Video Streaming to 'capable' 2.2+ Devices

Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich Android-running hardware has had access to HD resolution YouTube streams since launch (as seen above), but an update to the app that rolled out yesterday finally brings HD to some devices running Froyo or Gingerbread. 

The catch is that YouTube HD res won't work on every Android 2.2 or 2.3 phone or tablet, it is set dynamically based on screen size and resolution. Another quirk is that some devices still won't install the updated version directly from the Market, like our Epic 4G Touch. Still, assuming you can snag the update -- through official or unofficial means -- if you have the pixels to spare you should see upgraded video quality from now on. Get it here.