YouTuber BreaksBricks has created a delightful stop-motion Lego animation featuring a couple of retro ‘80s toy robots having a break-dancing competition—which eventually gets a little over-competitive.
Source: Gizmodo – Classic ’80s Toy Robots Breakdancing Is a Fun Nostalgia Trip
It’s the question that every movie fan asks in summer: why are there so many remakes and sequels and reboots? It turns out that science may have an answer. Unfortunately, if you’re hoping for more original stories, the prognosis is not good.
Two network theorists in the Netherlands, Folgert Karsdorp and Antal van den Bosch, just published a study on story networks in Royal Society Open Science. Story networks, they write, are “streams of retellings in which retellers modify and adapt retellings in a gradual and accumulative way.” There is also a basic structure that seems to underly how these networks function. To explore retellings, the researchers looked at more than 200 versions of the Little Red Riding Hood story, which had been retold over the past two centuries. They measured the stories’ similarity to one another with the amusingly named “bag-of-words” technique, which reveals how many words two texts have in common. Then they created a network diagram showing relatedness between stories over time. Earlier stories became what the researchers called “pre-texts” that inspired later retellings.
Translated into movie terms, you can think of Bram Stoker’s original Dracula novel from 1897 as a pre-text, and all of the subsequent movies and TV series as retellings. A story network grows out of Dracula as people retell the story, then retell the retellings, modifying it as they go. What the researchers found was that retellers rarely went back to the earliest pre-texts but instead preferred to retell more recent versions. In the case of the Dracula story, that would explain why a terrifying, barely human monster in the late nineteenth century is commonly represented today as an ultra-hot guy with sexual magnetism who occasionally goes fangy. As the story got retold throughout the twentieth century, you can see Dracula getting more and more handsome with each retelling, until we expect that Dracula is a suave and charming man with a tragic past. As retellers gravitated toward the most recent retelling, certain aspects of the story were magnified (such as Dracula’s hotness) while others were forgotten (for example, we have yet to see a single Dracula retelling that deals with a forgotten aspect of the novel, which is that Dracula’s love interest, Mina, is a geek who uses all the latest Victorian recording technology to do research on vampires).
Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – New study could explain why we remake certain movies over and over again
These are the Game Of Thrones house sigil cookie cutters available from (you probably guessed it!) ThinkGeek. The $15 set includes Baratheon, Greyjoy, Lannister, Stark, Targaryen, and Tyrell and is perfect for people who want to make cookies that look like Game Of Thrones house sigils but will turn out looking like shitty lumps because that is way too much detail for anything but the lamest of sugar cookies. If you can’t put chocolate or butterscotch chips or peanut butter or caramel or coconut in a cookie it isn’t worth eating. Keep going for two more shots, one of some cookies cut but not baked, and one of the cookies baked but expertly decorated so you can’t even see what’s underneath. How convenient.
Hit the jump for the other shots.
Source: Geekologie – Game Of Thrones House Sigil Cookie Cutters
The next season of Game of Thrones already has its directors. The Ghostbusters have an arsenal of new weapons. Star Trek’s new alien ally gets her Riker on. Plus… more! Let the spoilers into your heart.
Source: Gizmodo – Transformers: The Last Knight Has Put Out a Very Strange Casting Call
An anonymous reader writes from a report via The Guardian: U.S. Republican congressional staff said in a report released Wednesday that previous efforts to regulate privacy technology were flawed and that lawmakers need to learn more about technology before trying to regulate it. The 25-page white paper is entitled Going Dark, Going Forward: A Primer on the Encryption Debate and it does not provide any solution to the encryption fight. However, it is notable for its criticism of other lawmakers who have tried to legislate their way out of the encryption debate. It also sets a new starting point for Congress as it mulls whether to legislate on encryption during the Clinton or Trump administration. “Lawmakers need to develop a far deeper understanding of this complex issue before they attempt a legislative fix,” the committee staff wrote in their report. The committee calls for more dialogue on the topic and for more interviews with experts, even though they claim to have already held more than 100 such briefings, some of which are classified. The report says in the first line that public interest in encryption has surged once it was revealed that terrorists behind the Paris and San Bernardino attacks “used encrypted communications to evade detection.” Congressman Ted Lieu is pushing the federal government to treat ransomware attacks on medical facilities as data breaches and require notifications of patients.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – US Efforts To Regulate Encryption Have Been Flawed, Government Report Finds
Today on In Case You Missed It: Pinterest wants users to shop for items by taking pictures, then uploading to the site to find similar items. Carnegie Mellon University invented an exoskeleton component that would lighten suits and make them far e…
Source: Engadget – ICYMI: Pinterest’s photo recognition and light exosuits
Last week I published my review of the OnePlus 3. I reviewed the OnePlus 2 for AnandTech, and given that the OnePlus 2 had many problems it seemed appropriate that I should examine the improvements that OnePlus made with their latest smartphone. As I used the phone, I was glad to see that OnePlus had clearly taken feedback from the reviews of the OnePlus 2 to heart and spent the year since then working on creating a truly great phone. From the chassis, to the camera, to the SoC, the OnePlus 3 really delivered a level of quality comparable to phones that cost significantly more. Unfortunately, the display seemed to be an exception to this trend, with a level of inaccuracy that I haven’t seen before. Not long after the review OnePlus created a beta update that introduced an sRGB gamut mode, which promised to fix the issues I noted in my review. Read on to see whether these changes were enough to make my recommendation of the OnePlus 3 an unconditional one.
Source: AnandTech – Revisiting The OnePlus 3: sRGB, Memory Management, & More
IKEA has voluntarily recalled multiple product lines of their chests and dressers, including MALM, due to tip-over safety hazards that have been linked to the deaths of three children
. You may be eligible for a full or partial refund if you bought your dresser or chest any time through June 2016. Here’s how.
Source: LifeHacker – Here’s How to Get Your Money Back If You Own a Recalled IKEA Dresser or Chest
Keep your feet cool and stylish with high-quality footwear this summer, thanks to the following environmentally minded brands.
Source: TreeHugger – A guide to ethical and sustainable summer sandals
Welcome back for the latest installment of HOT deals, direct from our friends at TechBargains. On tap for you all today, we have deals on a Dell Inspiron 3650 Intel Core i7-6700 based desktop system, a set of Bluedio R+ Legend Wireless Bluetooth Headphones, a Dell S2317HWi 23″ IPS 1080p LED-backLit Monitor, and more. Full details for all of
Source: Hot Hardware – Just 9 for Dell Core i7 Skylake Gaming Desktop, 25% Off Dell Wireless Connect Monitor And More
Deadspin Report: Joakim Noah Is “Almost Certainly” Signing With The Knicks
| Jezebel Woman Screams Racial Slurs At Reporter As She Delivers Broadcast in Iowa
| Gizmodo American Women Sure Do Love Grooming Down There
| Gawker Boris Johnson Fakes Everyone Out, Announces He Will Not Run for Prime Minister
|
Source: LifeHacker – Deadspin Report: Joakim Noah Is “Almost Certainly” Signing With The Knicks | Jezebel Woman Screams R
The newest
, big-screen Nest Learning Thermostat 3.0 is down to $199 today on Amazon, which is a match for the best discount we’ve ever seen. These don’t go on sale all that often, so if you have one on your wishlist, I wouldn’t hesitate.
Source: LifeHacker – Here’s a Rare Discount on Nest’s Newest Thermostat
Haven’t you heard? The Amazon Echo is actually really great (and only getting better over time), and you can save $40 on yours if you buy it refurbished from Woot, an Amazon subsidiary.
Source: Gizmodo – You Can Save on an Amazon Echo Today, If You Don’t Mind Buying a Refurb
NASA’s Juno spacecraft is diving into Jupiter’s orbit in a few days’ time, five years after it blasted off its launching pad in Cape Canaveral. The gas giant is merely a stone’s throw away, and this image captured by the probe’s camera, the JunoCam,…
Source: Engadget – Juno snaps a pic of Jupiter before it reaches the gas giant
We’ve talked at length about how to legally and safely fly your drone in the United States. Globally, however, the rules can vary quite a bit. This guide helps you find out what the rules are in your country.
Source: LifeHacker – Research the Drone Flight Laws In Your Country With This Guide
With yesterday’s lengthy AMD Radeon RX 480 Linux review and the follow-up posts for this Polaris graphics card launch, I didn’t have too much time to run OpenCL compute tests. However, here are some fresh OpenCL Polaris numbers with the AMDGPU-PRO driver stack for those curious about the compute potential of this $199+ graphics card…
Source: Phoronix – For Those Interested In GPGPU Compute, Here Are Many Radeon RX 480 OpenCL Tests
I have no idea what you would use tires like this for, except maybe get a set for friends and family that have a hard time parallel parking. I would probably just do crazy burnouts with them.
Comments
Source: [H]ardOCP – Whacky Wheels Video of the Day
Since January, case modders young and old have been busy in their basements, driveways, kitchens and bathrooms, taking over just about any place they can find. Many spent hundreds of hours putting both craft and creation to the test in pursuit of a title in the world’s largest modding competition. We held events on four continents introducing people to local modders, gear, and training in the art. All of this culminated in over 120 worklogs and entries, of which 82 made the final submissions. Scratch-built demons, giant critters, cyborgs, orbs, and monsters roamed among the many high-class tower mods trimmed and dressed with the best materials and sharp designs. The scene’s biggest names – Peter Brands, Richard Keirsgieter, Richard Surroz, Ronnie Hara, Brian Farrell, Ermanno Bonandini, and Antony Leather – gave scores that came down to the decimal point. Over 21,000 votes also piled up in just a week for this year’s two People’s Choice Award winners.
Comments
Source: [H]ardOCP – Winners of Cooler Master’s ‘Case Mod World Series 2016’
Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC and Luna Mobile announced a new patent partnership that will expand smartphone and tablet technology for customers around the world. This patent collaboration comes as Luna Mobile prepares to release a new line of smartphones and telecommunication services later this year. While the contents of the deal are confidential, the companies said Microsoft will receive royalties from Luna under the agreement. The patent agreement is another example of the important role intellectual property (IP) plays in ensuring a healthy and vibrant technology ecosystem. Since Microsoft launched its IP licensing program in December 2003, it has entered into more than 1,200 licensing agreements.
Comments
Source: [H]ardOCP – Luna Mobile And Microsoft Partner On Mobile Technology
Video shot/edited by Jennifer Hahn. (video link)
Your smartphone isn’t the only thing that companies are obsessed with making thinner. Focus has turned to laptops as well, with the belief that making thin-as-paper and light-as-air notebooks will draw in more of the forever-on-the-go working professionals. Thinness also lends itself to design challenges that both excite and loom over OEMs—on one hand, thin laptops should be inherently sexy, but on the other hand, it can be a challenge to make a truly powerful, performance-driven pancake notebook.
Enter HP’s new Spectre 13 laptop. The company bills it as the thinnest notebook in the world, and its sleek, metallic-accented design complements that title. However, unlike Apple’s newest MacBook, HP managed to fit full Core i5 and i7 processors into the Spectre, in addition to three USB Type-C ports and a 4-cell battery. While it doesn’t come cheap with a starting price of $1,169, it does do its best to offer more power and a fresh design in comparison to the likes of the MacBook and Dell’s XPS 13.
Read 17 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – HP Spectre 13 reviewed: Remarkably thin, but not light on power
