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Visualized: Curiosity rover takes us back to the surface of Mars
Been a while since you last took a trip to Mars? Once again, photographer Andrew Bodrov has stitched together the latest shots from the Curiosity rover so that you can spend a little time on another world. As before, the 360 Cities controls aren't the most intuitive, but hey -- it's a lot cheaper than building your own space program just for a trip across Holst's favorite planet.
10 years of social media's biggest players and payouts by the numbers
Facebook launched ten years ago in February 2004. A month later, so did this site. Social media hasn't, doesn't and won't stay still. As Myspace rises, Friendster declines. The pattern's repeated itself a few times already, and even Google hasn't quite cracked the magic social network formula, at least not yet. The crown currently belongs to Facebook, a company that's made some big, big startup purchases on the way, although Twitter continues to pack (arguably) more influence. A whole lot has happened in the last decade, but we've tried to squeeze the more interesting parts into something a little more visual. Check out the full 'graphic, right after the break.
Visualized: Saturn's relentless 'hexagon' storm
This isn't the first we've seen of Saturn's six-sided jet stream, but NASA's calling the GIF after the break "the first hexagon movie of its kind." The "movie" is made from a compilation of images taken by the Cassini spacecraft, and depicts a hurricane-like storm at the center of the "hexagon" that has populated the planet's north pole for decades, if not centuries. For more check out the press release at the source link below.
Visualized: Inside the Vertu workshop, where phones are made by hand (video)
While not everyone's comfortable with splashing out on a fancy Vertu phone, there's no stopping us from appreciating the company's craftsmanship and engineering expertise since its Nokia days. We're talking about dealing with various luxurious materials -- pearl, ruby, sapphire, titanium, gold, alutex, alligator skin and more -- while making sure that each device is mechanically built to last. As such, it's perhaps a slight surprise that Vertu phones are actually "handmade in England." Courtesy of our buddy and CEO Max Pogliani, we got to see the process up close and personal at his 60-strong workshop in Church Crookham. (And in case your butler isn't around to read this article to you, we've also got a video tour after the break.)
Visualized: Pebble's insides exposed in rare transparent casing (hands-on)
Once upon a time, Pebble engineers crafted a small number of watches with a completely transparent casing. They were never intended to be used for public consumption (hence the discoloration from the product's glue), but rather were conjured up as internal validation devices. After enduring heaps of strenuous testing, only one of the watches is still functional -- and our old friend Myriam Joire brought it with her to Expand. After taking a peek at the watch, it's easy to see why it would've been so ideal for internal testing purposes: you can see virtually every part of the watch, both inside and out. The gallery below won't feature any new information that the iFixit teardown hasn't already revealed, but it's fascinating to have a closer look at a different kind of Pebble that we haven't seen before. Update: We've been told there are actually a couple other functional ones floating around the ranks of Pebble, but they're still quite rare.
Visualized: Marty McFly impersonator shows off ZBoards' hoverboard-inspired creation
It's Back to the Future-inspired, it's for charity and it's an electric freaking skateboard. What's not to like? Oh, and it's at Expand New York, of course, being demoed by one of ZBoard's cofounders, dressed to the nines in the latest 2015 fashion. It's no Pitbull, but it'll do in a pinch.
Visualized: VIA's versatile video wall signage solution (video)
VIA Technologies isn't a name that often pops up on Engadget, but its latest video wall signage solution deserves a shout-out. The idea's simple: you can output a 4K x 2K footage to an array of thin-bezel 1080p LCDs -- powered by S3 Graphics cards -- arranged in any way you like, including the orientation of each monitor. While the Taiwanese company wasn't keen to show off too much of its backend system, we were given a glimpse of its S3 MagicView software, which lets you easily fit one or multiple clips across a carefully aligned canvas corresponding to the LCDs. Check out our video after the break and you'll get the idea. (HTC and VIA are both chaired by Cher Wang, so it's no surprise to see the latter displaying HTC ads for its signage demo. Wang's husband, Wen-Chi Chen, is the President and CEO of VIA.) A complete system similar to the above two -- either with eight 46-inch panels or fifteen 42-inch panels -- could cost between NT$3 million (about US$102,000) to NT$4 million (US$136,000), and it's also available for rental. VIA said it's targeting the likes of churches, schools, cinemas and shops with its range of signage solutions, some of which can be powered by the company's Android PCs to reduce costs.
Visualized: Qualcomm takes the red pill, uses 130 HTC Ones to capture slo-mo Matrix moves
Don't lie: we know that at least once in the last fourteen years, each and every one of you have pretended you were in the middle of an action scene from The Matrix -- y'know, the slo-mo "bullet time" pan shots that circle around Neo as he fights Agent Smith. Even if you can't bring yourself to admit it, our friends at Qualcomm seem especially inspired by this cinematic effect; enough, at least, to collaborate with HTC to create the "Snapdragon Ultimate Photo Booth." This rig, which is a result of daisy-chaining 130 One devices together, is meant to showcase the power of Qualcomm's SoCs to mimic the sci-fi masterpiece. While bullet time is now frequently used in today's movies, it's not every day that we get to see the concept recreated using nothing but smartphones. Check out the minute-long video below, which features break dancers, fire breathers and plenty of other creative ideas.
Visualized: Inside the Moto X factory
This is where the Moto X magic happens: a 455,000 square-foot factory in Fort Worth, Texas that formerly manufactured devices for Nokia. From start to finish, these human-manned assembly banks are where your Moto X Moto Maker creations are born, assembled, tested for quality and then shipped off. We'll have more to come from our big Texas excursion, but for now feast your eyes on this bit of mobile Americana.
Visualized: F-35B fighter's vertical landing, in the dark (video)
The jury's still out on Lockheed Martin's F-35B fighter. The aircraft is expected to cost the US more than $1.5 trillion over its lifetime, and it's been described as being too heavy and too sluggish -- one critic has gone so far as to call the jet a "dog." One thing's for sure, though: the F-35 looks mighty impressive, especially when it's landing vertically on an aircraft carrier. In the dark. Click past the break for a look at Lockheed's trillion-dollar light show, courtesy of Uncle Sam.
Visualized: the inside of Nokia Lumia 1020's six-element, 41-megapixel camera
Optical engineering is something that we take for granted these days, with almost every smartphone packing its very own camera for our convenience. But if you take a look at the delicate structure inside a mobile camera module, you may appreciate the technology more every time you snap a shot. Like this cut-out diagram of the Nokia Lumia 1020's camera, for instance: you can see how the six lens elements and other tiny parts are tightly packed together above the 41-megapixel sensor. The elements are actually a combination of five plastic lenses plus one glass lens, with the reason being a taller module would've been made if all the lenses were made of glass. And to enable optical image stabilization, ball bearings are used to counteract hand movement -- there's one near the bottom right corner of the above image. Luckily, the module is also designed to withstand normal drops, so neither the bearings nor lenses would fall out of place unless you try really hard. One more shot after the break to compare sensor sizes. Check out all the news from today's Nokia event at our hub!
Topographic maps illustrate where Twitter's bird flies highest
Not every Twitter user geotags their musings, but there are enough who do to generate some very insightful data. On its blog today, Twitter shared images from Data Visualization Scientist Nicolas Belmonte, who created topographic maps visualizing the density of geotagged tweets. The result is striking, as tweets clearly correlate with roads, geographic features and even lines of public transit. In addition to the blog's stills, you can futz around with interactive maps of New York, San Francisco and... Istanbul. When you realize the implications of all those tweets from the Bay Bridge, it's frightening enough to consider taking BART across the Bay instead.
Visualized: The Lumia wall at Build 2013
What happens when you take 200 Lumia 820s and pin them to a wall? You get a 12,000 x 6,400-pixel display, natch. This week at Build 2013 in San Francisco, Nokia and Microsoft teamed up to show this tiled monitor made of identical phones each running the same custom-built app. A master handset is used to control what's on the wall by communicating with each phone over WiFi (IP multicast). One demo was showing a massive animated grid of live tiles representing a selection of apps from the Windows Phone store. In another demo, the wall was displaying Bing Maps (using Here data) and being controlled interactively by the master handset. Take a look at our gallery below. %Gallery-192569%
Visualized: The $15,000 Westinghouse 4K Whiteboard
We like dry erase whiteboards just as much as the next guy, but $15,000 like? Not so much. Of course, when we're given a chance to check out an 84-inch 4K LED whiteboard for free, we're more than happy to. And that's how we ended up here at Westinghouse's Consumer Electronics Week booth, playing around with an unbelievably expensive toy. Yes, of course the multimillion dollar corporations of the world use stuff like this for work -- we used our time to draw an Engadget symbol. Do you expect any less?%Gallery-192394%
Visualized: SpaceX Dragon capsule at E3
There's plenty to look at around the E3 show floor this year, but few if any of the shiny new products have actually been to space. Pretty sad, if you ask us. Thankfully, SpaceX was on hand, showing off one of its Dragon capsules in the parking lot of the Los Angeles Convention Center. The unit that was on display was the first to reach the ISS, bringing along some sundries for the crew, but nothing particularly vital -- after all, it was a sort of test run. All went well, and the unit landed in the Pacific Ocean, within five kilometers of the company's calculations. Not too shabby. Of course, the thing burnt to a crisp in the process, with a marshmallow-like blackening of its edges (which is pretty evident in the gallery below). We couldn't get too close, sadly, due to the protective ropes bearing a "Don't Pet the Dragon" sign. After all, we don't want any showgoers turning into the Fantastic Four.%Gallery-191161%
Visualized: The lunacy of E3, live from Nintendo
Instead of its typical pre-show E3 press conference, Nintendo opted to open up its exhibition booth to journalists a bit early this year, teasing a few Wii U games, such as Pikmin 3 and the long-awaited Super Mario 3D World. Much to the amusement of attendees, Koichi Hayashida, the director of that latter title, joined journalists "dressed as a cat," as you can see in the image above. There were meows and everything. Such is our reward for an unusually long wait for the abbreviated event to kick off.
Visualized: a history of augmented and virtual reality eyewear
We've seen the prototypes that led Google to Glass, but there are many devices that predate Mountain View's smart specs, and Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, California was able to gather and display a historic number of such headsets this week. From Steve Mann's handmade WearComp 1 and EyeTap prototypes to Glass-like precursors from Optinvent and Vuzix, it's quite the comprehensive collection -- over thirty devices in all. While they may make their way into a museum some day, we're bringing pictures of them all to your screen right now. Enjoy.
Visualized: The Jolla phone's 'other half' kaleidoscope
Following some important pricing details, preorder launches and some concrete hardware specs, we've just got to play with the new Jolla phone. Sure, we've already toyed with the software, but today's event is all about the new physical home for the Sailfish OS. It could be a difficult sell in the cutthroat world of smartphones, there's certainly something compelling in Jolla's split design and all those of color options, regardless of what functionality they might add in the future. %Gallery-188868%
Visualized: Google Glass prototypes
As a part of the 7 Techmakers and a Microphone panel tonight at Google I/O, Project Glass Staff Hardware Engineer Jean Wang dropped in this slide reflecting on the process of developing the headset. We've seen pictures of a few early Glass prototypes before, but as she describes, this shows off the full process from strapping a cellphone to a pair of goggles along with a pico projector shining directly into the wearer's eyes. The jump from off the shelf components to custom 3D-printed materials is represented in the third version (top right), and allowed the progress seen along the bottom row. She also got a laugh pointing out that the Glass-inspired SNL skit starring our friend Fred Armisen wasn't "too far off" the team's initial efforts in gesture and voice control. The panel itself focused on a series of TED-style segments featuring seven women discussing being technical leaders inside their company. You can check out the entire thing embedded after the break or just zoom to the Google Glass part (6:13) for more details.
Visualized: Google I/O's colorful circle of ChromeBook Pixels
Google loves to use I/O as a platform for sharing its creativity with the world. This year, one of the masterpieces is a circular edifice consisting of two lines of Chromebook Pixels, with each keyboard on the outside. Ultimately, the artistic monument appears to highlight the Pixel's touchscreen and high-def display, as it flashes a wide variety of colorful imagery and music as you interact with each monitor. We have a gallery of images and a brief video below, showing off some of what this clever spheroid of Chrome OS can do. Update: we learned that the company in charge of designing and building the Pixel circle is Obscura Digital. %Gallery-188491%
