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We're getting closer to real invisibility cloaks
We've been inching closer to real-life invisibility cloaks for a bit now, but going full on Harry Potter in the Hogwarts library is probably still a ways off. The latest advancement in metamaterial-based vanishing tech from Iowa State University guards whatever it's placed on from cameras, according to a paper published in Nature. The naked eye? Not so much. And even those cameras can't hide it from a human viewing a video feed, only other machines or perhaps radar. The researchers achieved this by embedding split ring resonators filled with galinstan into silicone sheets. Stretching those sheets is a form of tuning of sorts, and allowed the scientists to suppress certain radar waves up to about 75 percent. This type of tech could be used in a stealth fighter jet for example, as everything RF notes.
Stretchy circuits will make for better wearables and robots
Smart clothing and robots alike might soon get better thanks to a breakthrough from a team of Swiss researchers. They created relatively thin electronic circuits that can be stretched like rubber up to four times their original length in any direction. In addition, it can be cycled that way nearly a million times without cracking or losing conductivity. That makes it perfect for biological sensors, artificial skin, prosthetics or for electronics that can easily be sewn into fabrics.
Music streaming now counts towards gold and platinum certification
Music streaming has been all the rage for years now, but the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) had yet weigh its merits. However, that's about to change. Starting today, the RIAA will take into account audio and video streaming numbers in addition to sales when certifying an album gold or platinum. Back in 2013, the music industry's governing body began tallying individual songs towards its so-called Digital Single Award, but this new change will be the first time streaming is factored in to the main Album Award process.
Huawei just brought the gold Nexus 6P to the US
The Nexus 6P is our favorite Android phone on the market right now, but let's face it: the Aluminum, Graphite and Frost finish options don't have enough pizazz for everyone. To help up the phone's baller quotient, Huawei just announced that the matte Gold version of the phone will see the light of day in the United States. Yep, its days as a Japan and India exclusive are over — the thing will be available at Best Buy stores and Google's starting at 1PM Pacific time today, also known as right now. Consider it a CES miracle.
Nanoparticle-based windows could switch colors on demand
One day, you might not need special bulbs to give your room's lighting a different hue -- you'd just tell the windows themselves to change. Rice University researchers have discovered that you can change the colors transmitted through glass by sending a voltage through pairs of gold and silver nanoparticles, which you frequently find in stained glass windows. Jolt a window one way and you'd get a bright red; reverse the voltage and you'd get blue. All you're really doing is forming or removing chemical bridges between the particles.
The AfterMath: A week of excesses
Too much food? Too many bargains? With a handful of antacids nearby, we hope you've enjoyed this Thanksgiving week. Following in tradition of all that indulgence, we're all about size and excess here at TAM. Nuclear-powered data centers, puffy nuggets of gold, huge numbers of user names hacked... and a suggestion for next year's Thanksgiving dessert. We'd suggest you start making room now.
Scientists create gold nuggets that are 98 percent air
Researchers at ETH Zurich have accomplished a bit of modern-day alchemy, transforming 20 carat gold into a lightweight foam. Well, technically it's an aerogel: an exceedingly light and porous matrix of material. It's so porous, in fact, that the foam doesn't conduct electricity because, at atmospheric pressure, the gold atoms within the structure don't actually touch. "The so-called aerogel is a thousand times lighter than conventional gold alloys. It is lighter than water and almost as light as air," Raffaele Mezzenga, Professor of Food and Soft Materials at ETHZ, said in a statement.
Recommended Reading: Marvel's 'Jessica Jones' is a different kind of hero
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Marvel's Astounding 'Jessica Jones' Rewrites the Definition of Superhuman Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times Marvel's Jessica Jones is now streaming on Netflix, and to properly prep for your marathon viewing season, take a look at a review from the Los Angeles Times. We've all heard the details about how this series differs from previous Marvel shows and movies, but it looks like what makes this show unique is also what makes it so good. Plus, we get a look at Luke Cage before he his own series.
The only way to win a gold PS4 bundle is to eat a lot of Taco Bell
If you like to fill your pie hole with Big Boxes from Taco Bell, you could leverage your habit for a new console. Starting September 24th, the fast-food chain is giving away 6,000 limited-edition gold PlayStation 4 bundles. For a chance to win, though, you'll have to have to suffer through enjoy any of the restaurant's Big Boxes before November 4th. One bundle will be given away every 10 minutes, and the package includes a gold DualShock 4, Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, and one year of PlayStation Plus. Of course, if you really want to win one, you'll have to buy a lot of fourth meals.
Army scientists build smaller, tougher, cheaper solar cells
Army researchers at the Redstone Arsenal have announced a significant breakthrough in solar energy production. They've created a photovoltaic solar panel that is smaller, more robust and less expensive to build and operate than any other panel currently available. Virtually every solar panel currently in existence relies on a pure silicon construction, however the band gap (the wavelength of light that it can actually be absorbed and converted into electricity) of single crystal silicon is exceedingly narrow compared to the full spectrum shining down from the Sun. Not only does this mean that conventional panels are missing out on potential power, the ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths actively damage the panels by causing them to heat, warp and crack.
Silver Mario Amiibo will drive collectors insane this month
Nintendo has already released a gold version of its Mario Amiibo, so guess what's coming next? A silver version, of course. We suspected as much after both figurines leaked back in February, but today the console maker has made it official. The special statue -- which is identical to the Amiibo figure from Mario Party 10, albeit painted silver -- will arrive in stores on May 29th for $12.99. When the gold version debuted, it was available exclusively in Walmart stores across the US. That made it something of a collector's item, riling fans that were desperately trying to maintain a complete set. This time around, it seems Nintendo has opted for a more conventional release. The company is still struggling to keep up with the demand for Amiibos however, so if you're interested, act fast on May 29th.
Someone's built a bitcoin-like system for real gold
There's no short, elegant way to describe bitcoin, but if you put a gun to our heads, we'd say that it was digital gold. That's because the cryptocurrency is based on a limited quantity of a resource that is then used as a method of exchange. Unfortunately, bitcoin's popularity within the high-minded financial sector has grown to such an extent that honest-to-goodness real gold is getting in on the act. BitGold (yup) is the brainchild of Toronto-based Roy Sebag, who has cooked up a digital payments platform that connects real-world vaults with online customers.
Apple Watch Edition buyers will get the red carpet treatment
When you're buying a $10,000 watch, you expect first-class service -- and Apple is apparently ready to deliver. Sources for 9to5Mac claim that people who buy the gold Apple Watch Edition will get to skip the queues whenever they need help. They'll be bumped to the front of the line when buying, and they'll have an hour to spend trying out watches in a private area (complete with an expert) instead of 15 minutes at a table like the hoi polloi. And if the worst happens, they'll get at least two years of access to a dedicated Edition phone support line that operates around the clock. This kind of bend-over-backwards help isn't unusual in the luxury world, where concierges and other one-on-one services are common, but it's not exactly standard fare for a company that will gladly sell you a $50 music player.
Apple's new 12-inch MacBook will start from £1,049 in the UK
Want a laptop that's even thinner than a MacBook Air? What about one that's available in gold? If your answer to either of the above is yes, then Apple has a new notebook that could be right up your alley. Simply called the "MacBook," it's a 12-inch laptop that's just 13.1mm thick (24 percent thinner than the 11-inch MacBook Air). It has a new trackpad with "Force Click" gestures, a redesigned keyboard and a 2304 x 1440 resolution Retina display. If you live in the UK, by now you're probably wondering how much all of this is going to cost you. Well, here's the skinny: When Apple launches its new MacBook on April 10, the cheapest model will ship with a 1.1 GHz dual-core Intel Core M processor (with Turbo Boost speeds up to 2.4 GHz), 8GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage for £1,049.
Microscopic gold tubes can both detect and destroy cancer cells
There's no doubt that doctors would prefer to treat cancer as soon as they spot it, and it looks like nanotechnology might give them that chance. Researchers at the University of Leeds have successfully tested gold nanotubes that are useful for both imaging and destroying cancer cells. Since the tubes absorb near-infrared light frequencies, which both generate heat and render human skin transparent, you only need to zap them with lasers of varying brightness to achieve multiple ends. You can use a relatively low brightness to reveal tumors, while high brightness will heat the tubes enough to kill nearby tumorous cells. The shape also has room for drugs, so you can deliver medicine at the same time.
BlackBerry's gold-hued Passport is even more audacious than usual
BlackBerry's Passport is already a fairly exclusive device by dint of the company's small market share, but the Canadian smartphone maker just kicked things up a notch. It's now selling a very limited edition (just 50 units) Black & Gold Passport that lets you flout convention with more gusto than usual. The gold-colored trim, while eye-catching, sadly isn't real like we've seen in some third-party mods -- c'mon, BlackBerry! However, you do get both a real soft leather back and an engraving that lets everyone know how rare your phone is. And despite the tiny production run, this is decidedly more affordable than the Porsche Design BlackBerrys aimed at celebrities and oil barons. It'll cost you a (relatively) modest $899 to score the Black & Gold Passport in the US, and $999 in Canada.
Microsoft goes gold with special edition Lumia 830 and 930
Microsoft has jumped on that hot new gold-hued phone craze with special edition models of its Lumia 830 and 930 handsets. Yes, we're mocking Redmond a bit for being late to a nearly two-year old trend, but we'd add that the subtle gold accenting on the phones' edges actually looks great. Both are at the top of the Lumia food chain and still sport Nokia branding, which Microsoft already dropped on the Lumia 535. It no doubt introduced the new models to maintain interest and sales in its top models, since it may not introduce a new flagship anytime soon. Alas, they're limited to Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa for now, with no sign that they'll come to North America. Prices will vary by operator, but the Nokia 830 and 930 run about $400 (€330) and $580 (€500), respectively.
Is this the most efficient way to make gold?
I was watching this video from Bellular Gaming and it got me thinking - is that really the most efficient way to make gold in Warlords of Draenor? What they're doing is fairly simple. They're going into Cataclysm raids Bastion of Twilight, Blackwing Descent and Firelands on 25 heroic. Then they vendor everything. It seems like the exact kind of thing that we were doing back before they nerfed raid boss gold for soloing, but it works with the current rules for dungeons in that you basically have to collect every single thing that drops and vendor it. Still, it will net you 4000 gold in around an hour or two, and for every level 100 you have that's another 4000 gold you can farm up. That's not bad at all, really. I'm not sure it'll remain so lucrative. It does work with the new gold normalization system, which was implemented because you could collect all the trash and vendor it, and it's a series of raids from two expansion ago, so being able to solo them isn't unexpected. For now, if you're gold strapped, keep it in mind. [Via Kotaku]
Samsung made a 78-inch curved TV and decided to cover the back in gold
Do you want to see the TV or do you want to see the gold?
Gold Moto 360 makes a brief appearance at Amazon
When it comes to jewelry, some folks prefer gold to silver. After debuting its Moto 360 smartwatch in black and silver options, it appears a champagne-hued model is on the way from Motorola. Tipped a brief appearance on Amazon, the $300 wearable sports a matching metal band to complete the look. It appears that two versions with different band widths (18mm and 23mm) will be available when the gadget is properly introduced. Black and silver metal bands also popped up for $80 each before getting pulled, as did a silver Moto 360 with a brown leather strap. The entire lot was showing a 1-2 month shipping time, so we should be seeing the group arrive soon enough. If you'll recall, when the smartwatch first went on sale, Motorola announced plans to debut a pricier option with a metal band this fall, but seems a new color is on the way, too.
