” Daft Pianists (cover of Get Lucky) ,” the latest musical experiment by Joe Sabia ‘s wonderful CDZA (Collective Cadenza) YouTube project .        

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Daft Punk’s "Get Lucky" played by 5 pianists on one piano, all at once

This New York Times WELL column should do the trick. Probably why it’s currently the most-shared item on nytimes.com. It’s about a thousand words of sciencey science stuff, but the tl;dr is: go the fuck to sleep.        

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Looking for a sciencey article to email your sleep-deprived loved ones, to remind them why they need sleep?

Eric Steuer shares this wonderful videogame-themed rap video , made for Music Video Race , a project in which 20 Bay Area musical acts were randomly paired up with 20 filmmakers, and each pair was given 48 hours to conceive, shoot, and edit a music video). The song is by Not the 1s, “You Can’t Scare Me” (prod. by Edison Victrola).        

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Not the 1s: You Can’t Scare Me

The mind behind BioShock ‘s Big Daddies and BioShock Infinite ‘s Songbird is apparently also getting behind the script for a Logan’s Run film remake. Irrational Games creative director and head Ken Levine is working on a Logan’s Run remake script, Irrational confirmed to Engadget today, which he was tapped to pen by Warner Bros. “I can confirm that the information is indeed correct, but unfortunately there is no other information we can share or comment to be given at this point,” the rep told us. According to a Deadline report that surfaced earlier this week, Levine is continuing his work at Irrational in the meantime — the studio’s working on a few content packs for its latest BioShock release, and assuredly other things — while Jon Berg oversees the Logan’s Run project

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BioShock creator confirmed as scriptwriter for Logan’s Run remake

Underground power-boxes nestled beneath the pavements* of London keep blowing the hell up. In its defense, UK Power Networks reminds us that there’s a lot of these boxes, and only a few of them explode catastrophically every year, blowing huge, dramatic holes in the streetscene.        

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London’s exploding pavements*

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything out of the gTar camp — nearly half a year in fact, when the company announced pre-orders the week of CES. This morning the Kickstarted instrument manufacturer broke the silence by announcing that it’ll be opening up its SDK for both iOS and Javascript, letting developers create apps for browsers and Apple’s mobile operating system. The learning-friendly instrument already has a bit of a head start, as it’s presently compatible with more than 150 apps, according to the company. Compatibility also extends to Ableton Live, via an “unofficial custom script” that makes it possible to use the gTar’s fretboard as a control panel for the popular DJ software. Filed under: Misc Comments Source: gTar

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gTar opens up iOS and Javascript SDK, adds Ableton Live compatibility

The Alliance for Wireless Power ( A4WP ), a consortium working to establish a new wireless charging standard, hasn’t been around for terribly long — Samsung and Qualcomm joined forces to create the organization just over a year ago — but it’s planning to make waves as quickly as possible. One of the most effective ways to do exactly that, then, would be to persuade large players in the mobile industry to join along, and Intel certainly meets that qualification. The company announced this afternoon that it has officially joined the A4WP’s Board of Directors.

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Intel joins Alliance for Wireless Power’s Board of Directors

Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH many Fun Facts about NYC, the Biggest City In The World*, are crudely illustrated!        

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TOM THE DANCING BUG: Did You Know – Fun Facts About NYC!

The European Commission and officials in several countries are asking Google executive Eric Schmidt whether Google is equipped to deal with the privacy implications of its Glass heads-up display. In an open letter , privacy commissioners from Israel, Switzerland, Mexico, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as a representative of the EU’s privacy-focused Article 29 Working Party, raised questions about Project Glass’ privacy policy and asked whether they could test its capabilities first-hand. “To date, what information we have about Google Glass … largely comes from media reports, which contain a great deal of speculation, as well as Google’s own publicizing of the device,” wrote the officials

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European Commission and others question Google about Glass privacy issues

Dolphins’ relentless smiles aren’t smiles at all. According to researcher Lori Marino , the animal’s jaw structure just happens to make it look that way — but that hasn’t stopped humans from associating their apparently tireless grins with joy, healing, and divinity for millennia. Over the past several decades, that association has led people to believe in a supposed therapeutic relief that comes alongside swimming with dolphins, and healing seminars have popped up to capitalize on the notion. The therapies are marketed heavily toward helping autistic children and can cost thousands of dollars for a session. But as it turns out, there’s no more benefit to swimming with dolphins than to running around with a dog

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Dolphins aren’t smiling and definitely won’t heal you

Anyone who’s tried to tether to their iPhone or iPad will recall how iOS manages to craft its own passwords when used as a personal hotspot. The aim is to ensure that anyone sharing their data connection will get some degree of security, regardless of whether they tinker with the password themselves. However, three researchers from FAU in Germany have now worked the structure behind these auto-generated keys — a combination of a short english word and a series or random numbers — and managed to crack that hotspot protection in under a minute. To start, the word list is listed to around 52,500 entries, and once the testers are able to capture a WiFi connection, they used an AMD Radeon HD 6990 GPU to cycle through all those words with number codes, taking just under 50 minutes to crack with rote entry. Following that, they realized that only a small subset (just 1,842) of the word list was being used.

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Researchers able to predict iOS-generated hotspot passwords, takes under a minute

As part of Late Night ‘s “Video Game Week,” Jimmy Fallon has had the opportunity to play with both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4. But while Monday night’s Xbox One demo ran through the console’s multimedia features and showed off Killer Instinct and Forza , Sony Tuesday night took the opportunity to highlight its competitor’s complex online and used game policies. Continue reading…

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PS4 appearance on Jimmy Fallon highlights Microsoft’s struggle to explain Xbox One policies

Behold, a ready-made answer for those who own a Linux-powered fruit machine but who are still looking for new ways to use it. It’s a simple media center starter kit, fresh out and shipping today, which makes it easy to hook your Raspberry Pi up to an HDMI display and use it to play video or music from the internet or your home network through the wonders of XBMC . Known simply as “XBMC Solution,” it consists of the Raspbmc software on a bootable SD card (this is an all-in-one install that combines XBMC with a lightweight Linux distro), a rechargeable RF controller with a small keyboard and touchpad to aid navigation (it’s generic, unbranded, and even has a “Win” key, but it works fine), plus Ethernet and HDMI cables in case you don’t have any going spare. Read on for more. Gallery: Raspberry Pi XBMC Solution Filed under: Home Entertainment , Networking , Internet , Software , HD Comments Source: Element14

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Raspberry Pi gets its own media center kit: £46 for easy XBMC and controller (hands-on)

How’s about this for a coincidence? We’ve just benchmarked the Snapdragon 800 reference tablet , with some very nice results, and now Bloomberg is reporting that Microsoft will use a Qualcomm chip in its next refresh of the Surface RT . The report, based on insider sources, doesn’t stretch to detailing whether we’ll be looking at the flagship 800 processor specifically, but that’d seem like a logical upgrade for the current hybrid which runs on NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 and already feels underpowered. As for NVIDIA, the same unconfirmed report suggests that the company will still have a role to play as a supplier “for some versions” of Microsoft’s product. That’s a curious notion, because it implies we might see multiple iterations of the Surface RT to suit different price points or markets (e.g., those with or without LTE), and at least one version of those could house a Tegra 4 .

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Bloomberg: Next Surface RT will use Qualcomm chip, may come in multiple versions

Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston has taken to Reddit for an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session . As expected, the majority of questions center around his work on the hit TV show and his portrayal of meth kingpin Walter White, but Cranston also confirms he was once a voiceover artist for the Power Rangers , talks about his charity commitments, and offers some very dark responses in his examination by Reddit users. If you can’t wait for the final season of Breaking Bad to begin, Cranston’s AMA may help tide you over until Heisenberg returns to wreak havoc on our screens on August 11th. Continue reading…

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‘Breaking Bad’ star Bryan Cranston shows his dark side in Reddit AMA

Tesla is recalling some Model S vehicles manufactured between May 10th and June 8th 2013. In a PSA on the company’s website, Tesla founder Elon Musk notes that an incorrectly-welded mounting bracket for the left-hand latch of the rear seats “could be weaker than intended.” The defect could cause the seat back to come loose in the event of a crash. Musk stresses that there have been no complaints, no injuries (that the company is aware of), and no weld failures. Customers affected by the fault will be contacted by Tesla, which will pick up the car from “a location of the owner’s convenience” and provide a Model S loaner while the issue is addressed, which Musk says will take “a few hours.” Continue reading…

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Tesla issues partial recall of Model S electric sedan

No need to envy your iPhone- and iPad-toting friends anymore just because they can catch the latest episodes of Bates Motel or Dance Moms on the go. Streaming apps from A&E , History Channel and Lifetime have just arrived on Android, and you can access content even if you’re not a cable subscriber. Naturally, the entire roster of shows and episodes isn’t available — in some cases, you can only watch clips instead of full episodes — but Comcast or DirecTV subscribers who log in will have more to choose from. Should you need new companions for solitary nights, hit the source links below to download the apps on your device. Filed under: Misc , HD , Mobile Comments Via: Android Police Source: Google Play 1 , 2 , 3

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A&E, Lifetime and History Channel streaming apps land on Google Play

Following last year’s first expansion into Europe , Netflix is stepping into another nearby market: The Netherlands. Later this year, the low-altitude nation will be getting access to Hollywood fare, local and global TV and films, and Netflix’s own original series like House of Cards and Arrested Development, but so far the company hasn’t announced any pricing information. Branching out into new markets has been a key goal for CEO Reed Hastings, who has overseen an expansion into over 40 countries over the past two years, including much of Latin America, the Nordic countries, the UK and Ireland. Last month, reports in the Belgian press indicated that Netflix was planning to move into not only The Netherlands, but also France and..

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Netflix to launch in the Netherlands in late 2013, France and Belgium next?

Netflix mentioned another European country was in its sights for this year and tonight it’s announced the new region it will service is the Netherlands. As is its custom, it will be offering Dutch viewers a package of movies and TV shows for one low price, including its ever-growing slate of original series . There’s no word yet on what that price will be, an exact launch date or what devices will be supported, but interested residents can sign up for alerts at Netflix.nl starting today. Filed under: Home Entertainment , HD Comments Source: Netflix

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Netflix streaming coming to the Netherlands later this year

The latest software update for Sony’s PlayStation 3 appears to be locking up some people’s systems, leaving them unusable. Polygon reports that Version 4.45 of the PS3 firmware was just released on Tuesday, but already, 23 pages of responses related to the issue have been posted to the PlayStation Community Forums . While not everyone that has the new software is reporting the error, it does appear to be widespread, and we’d advise holding off on that latest software update until Sony responds. We’ve reached out to the company for comment and will let you know as soon as we hear anything.

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PSA: PlayStation 3 owners report update 4.45 locks up their machines

Planning on turning on your PS3 for some The Last of Us action tonight? According to a thread on the PlayStation Support forums, if you’re prompted to install the latest firmware update version 4.45 then you may want to hold off for now. A number of owners are reporting their systems locks up while booting, although the problem may only affect users with hard drives installed that are 500GBs or larger. According to the changelog, it was supposed to allow users to select whether or not they want an in-game notification when a trophy is earned.

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PS3 users report 4.45 update locks up systems, may be tied to large HDDs

Jelly Bean has been making its way to ever cheaper phones in recent months, and that’s very conspicuous with the launch of Virgin Mobile’s new Samsung Galaxy Ring. For $180, you’re getting Android 4.1 in a price range where 4.0 is still common . You’re also getting a surprisingly capable device under the hood — while there’s no LTE, the prepaid handset carries a reasonably quick 1.4GHz processor, a 4-inch screen, a 5MP rear camera and a 1.3MP front-facing sensor. We’d still consider shelling out a little more cash for a future-ready 4G device , but Virgin users determined to scrimp and save can pick up the Galaxy Ring today

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Samsung Galaxy Ring arrives at Virgin Mobile, delivers Jelly Bean for $180

The “other shoe” in the Edward Snowden NSA leaks has been the potential effect of all these disclosures on the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s efforts to force the government to account for itself in court.        

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How the NSA leaks may help EFF sue the government into defending its bulk surveillance programs

“The only thing you can’t have in this perfect world of total pleasure is your 30th birthday . . . Logan is 29. Welcome to the 23rd Century

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NSA, Tesla, and ‘Logan’s Run’ by Ken Levine: 90 Seconds on The Verge

The US and Russian governments have agreed to repurpose a Cold War-era hotline in a new pact that they say will prevent any chance of cyberwar between the two countries. As a part of the agreement, formalized on Tuesday at a G-8 Summit in Ireland, the two nations said they will regularly share information on hacking incidents and other cyber attacks seen in their countries, both electronically and by way of a pre-existing direct phone line. The alliance comes after more than two years of negotiations between the US and Russia over what information should be shared and how, the White House said in a statement . Continue reading…

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US and Russia agree to use Cold War-era hotline to stave off cyberwar