Before J.F. Daniell develops a much improved battery, the devices were impractical and downright dangerous. His innovations enable the telegraph and other technology to take off.
Shortly after the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the new organization sent 100 photographers out to document the human and natural environments. After a lively few years, the Documerica project was canceled and the photos were archived. Now, this incredible portrait of America in the mid-1970s is making its way onto Flickr.
Minnesota seeks to distinguish itself in the increasingly reality TV-esque race to convince Google to build a high-speed fiber optic network there with a video featuring junior US Senator (and former comedian) Al Franken. It's funny stuff, but also serious business as Google shakes up the notoriously uncompetitive ISP business just by showing up.
The key to your health may be the feedback loop that a lot of new health data-gathering gadgets can create. It's like a game where your stats are the score, and a better score means better health.
A co-conspirator in the TJX hack was sentenced Thursday to 3 years and 10 months in prison for laundering money on behalf of TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez.
After a second jury is hopelessly deadlocked, hate blogger Hal Turner is granted a another mistrial in the government's quest to imprison him on accusations he threatened to "kill" judges.
A Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the future of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter finds the next-generation stealth aircraft years behind schedule and soaring over budget.
A British judge is siding with Pink Floyd, ruling its EMI label must protect artist integrity and stop selling single digital tracks. The acid-inspired band, known for concept albums, said single-song sales were an injustice to their art.
A unique Antarctic killer whale population is declining, and scientists think it is related to demand for Antarctic tooothfish, known on menus as Chilean Sea Bass. This could be the first sign of the ecological downfall of what some consider Earth's last pristine ecosystem.
The FCC posts some tools to help you test your broadband speed. The crowdsourcing effort is an attempt to assemble data that the telecoms don't want to share with the feds.
A Transportation Security Administration worker is being charged with planting a logic bomb in the no-fly list network to sabotage the terrorist screening database.
Unveiling the final version of PlayStation Move, Sony's Wii-like motion controller for PlayStation 3, at Game Developers Conference is a big deal to Sony. But the games aren't that hot.
Google has added an iPad-friendly version of its RSS aggregator, called Google Reader Play. According to the Official Google Reader Blog, the new full-screen slide-show is for people who “aren’t interested in taking the time to get Reader set up”. It is also perfect for viewing on tablet PCs, including the upcoming iPad.
Five paragliders are flying and hiking the length of the Himalayas all the way through Nepal, and they’re sharing the once-in-a-lifetime experience with anyone who has a computer.
Some folks who don’t seem to listen may just have a lazy ear. A new study in rats shows that short-term hearing impairments at any stage of life can lead to rewiring in the part of the brain that processes sounds, making the ear seem as if it is loafing on its duty to make sense from noise
Conservative activist and guerrilla filmmaker James O'Keefe has a habit of posing as someone he's not in order to get "news" about politicians and others he wants to paint as dirty. Yes, he's the same guy who taped Acorn workers, so Andrew Breitbart, the ex-Drudge crony and conservative media provocateur, could smear the organization.
Arctic reindeer survive the continuous summers and never-ending winters by turning off the genes that run their circadian clock. Other species (such as humans) that can't turn off the clock often suffer from summer insomnia and winter depression in the northern latitudes.
The U.K. Statistics Authority's Richard Alldritt is an expert in how governments fudge the numbers. He and his math-police squad are rooting out the truth, whether it's to reveal the real gender pay gap or the actual rate of knife crime.
A Connecticut telephone company starts the first local, public packet-switching network. It paves the way for the always-on internet access we know today.
Street Fighter gets bendy. Ms. Pac-Man hops a tandem bike. And plenty of other classic characters get similarly strange treatments in Giant Robot's videogame-inspired exhibit.
Angry users sue Classmates.com after it decides to make previously private data public, just as Facebook did in December. Will its defense be, "I learned it from watching you, Zuck?"
With its heady mix of heavy themes and technology, The Dark Side of the Moon remains the best concept album ever, even 37 years after its release. Plus: 10 more concept albums in Dark Side's shadow that deserve a slice of the spotlight.
