Future tech

Why the 2011 iPod Nano is still the sexiest smartwatch of all

After reviewing a handful of the latest and greatest smartwatches, I discovered something shocking. Out of my old electronics drawer I pulled out my iPod Nano, the 2011 clip-on MP3 player that's no longer even sold by Apple. It's attached to a Hex Nano metal watchband. I wore this for over a year, and was so in love with the idea of an Apple smartwatch that I was willing to forgive its limitations -- and that it wasn't really all that smart.

All of these smartwatches have arrived, and I've worn them. Yet, when I slip … Read more

The 404 1,252: Where we rock the couch with Ben Hoffman (podcast)

- Check out The Ben Show tonight at 10PM on Comedy Central for the season finale! Then watch his clips on ComedyCentral.com!

- Follow Ben on Twitter.

Episode 1,252

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New teeny-tiny battery charges in less than a second

One of the biggest bugbears of smartphones is just how much juice they drain -- and how long they take to recharge. Batteries are also the reason many devices can't be smaller; after all, the batteries have to fit somewhere (although, given the burgeoning phablet market, that's not exactly a huge problem).

Scientists have made several recent attempts to build a better lithium ion battery. In the latest push, a team of researchers led by mechanical science and engineering professor William P. King at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign has developed a new type of lithium ion battery that's just a fraction of the size of the batteries we use now -- and that can out-power the best supercapacitors. … Read more

Watch a device add a virtual touch screen to paper

We're inching closer to a paperless existence, but until then, a new image-processing development by Fujitsu could make it astonishingly simple to copy content from paper and turn it into digital data.

Merely relying on an ordinary camera and projector, Fujitsu's touch-based interface makes quick work out of copying printed text or images by simply requiring the user to drag across content with a fingertip. The projector shines an illuminated frame that dynamically resizes based on how far the finger travels, and the observing camera scans, crops, and turns that selection into a digital file -- in just a few seconds.… Read more

The 404 1,251: Where we find the cipher in the sound (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Did 4chan just find the Boston Marathon bomber?.

- 4chan's Boston bombing Google Doc culls photos, speculation, and accusations.

- Internet tough guys and girls already pointing fingers at the Middle East. Response: "Please don't let it be a Muslim."

- Beating conspiracy theorists at their own game.

- Using Microsoft Photosynth to recreate a panoramic photo of the bombsite.

- Encode hidden messages in your Facebook pics with "Secretbook" extension.

- Demonic portraits and other evils lurking beneath waves of musical spectrograms.… Read more

Reading on treadmill no sweat with ReadingMate

No diversion can divert me from the fact that treadmills are boring. Even if the weather is bad, I'm not much of a TV viewer -- on or off the treadmill. And I often find the most energizing music to also be the most annoying. Reading on a treadmill can be downright nauseating.

But thanks to an experimental system out of Purdue University, I soon may be able to catch up on my backlog of New Yorker digital issues while clocking time on the dreaded tread.… Read more

The 404 1,250: Where we bet our bottom dollar (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Former 404 guest and Internet Archivist releases Web's largest collection of historical software.

- Judge holds himself in contempt for cell phone going off in court.

- NY Philharmonic phone disruption: A cell-phone etiquette reminder.

- Here's a 90-year-old granny freaking out over Oculus Rift.… Read more

Google Glass Explorer Edition starts shipping now

Google promised last week that Google Glass Explorer Edition prototypes would be in developers' hands within a month. That month-long wait has now turned into just a few days.

The Web giant sent out an e-mail today to everyone on the Glass Explorers list to say that a few of the $1,500 wearable devices had already come off the production line. Anandtech's Brian Klug posted an image of this e-mail on Twitter (see below).

"We've been working hard on the Glass Explorer Edition and we have great news: the hardware and software are now ready for … Read more