NEWS : TECH (NFPC)

Watch All The Planes Land: Gotta-See Video

Growing up, I used to sit at the end of the runway by my local airport with my Dad and watch the planes come in. After 9/11, simply stopping by the fence is enough to get security in a tizzy, but here you can get all your childhood flights in 30 seconds.

Watch all the airplanes that landed at San Diego's airport for a whole day, but in one video. The clever thing is, rather than going with a simple time lapse, the videographers overlayed all the airplanes at regular speed. The shot is not only surreal but beautifully executed. I chuckled when that little plane caught up at the end. via iO9

Have a Gotta-See Video to recommend? Tweet it to @Discovery_News with the hashtag #GottaSeeVideos and don't miss today's Must-Read News Nuggets.

Watch more Discovery Curiosity video here.

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Avatar Girlfriend Goes On Date

As long as woebegone misanthropes continue to satisfy their appetite for affection of any kind by gorging themselves on the smorgasbord of virtual reality, they will continue to starve themselves of human interaction. Well, their waistline just got even thinner. Here's another sad notch in the techie belt of loneliness.

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Using a hacked Kinect sensor and a pair of video glasses sandwiched together, a Japanese man not only created a virtual reality girlfriend, he took her on a date to a playground. Her name is Hatsune Miku and she came pre-made from a Japanese voice synthesizer called Vocaloid.

Capable of overlaying virtual objects in the real world, the video glasses allowed turquoise-haired Miku to tag along with her new found companion. What did the lovely couple do on their hot date? Well, Miku mainly just bounced around looking perky and wide-eyed while her gentleman suitor patted her on the head.

However, her effervescence rightfully soured when her beau bopped her on the noggin, not once but twice. I'm certainly no authority on relationships, but I do know this: Dude, if you're assaulting your avatar girlfriend in the virtual world, it's no wonder you're struggling to find female companionship in the real world. And you're not alone, according to this article from Slate.

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Want to chaperone the awkward couple? Be their guest and check out the video below. However, I do suggest downing a few bottles of sake before you do so. That's about the only way you'll be able to stomach the soundtrack's sugary, pop-techno blast. Otherwise, you will want to jab chopsticks in your ears.

 

via Daily Mail

creadit: YouTube screen grab

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Airport Laser Lets You Keep Your Liquids

So, you're standing in the security line at the airport when you realize that bottle of duty-free Jameson is still in your bag. Also, you just cracked the seal on some not-so-easily-chuggable Kombucha. And that priced-gouged bottle of sunscreen you bought in Tulum? It was almost $10 and it's still nearly full.

Normally, these liquid-filled bottles would need to be surrendered to the trash can held by a smirking TSA agent. But have no fear frequent fliers, new screening methods may soon be clear for take off.

British company Cobalt Light Systems says they've developed a scanning machine that could put an end to those pesky restrictions that ban liquids in carry-on luggage.

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Cobalt says their Insight 100 machine could analyze bottles as big as three liters for explosives and do it in less than five seconds. Here's how:

Bottles are placed inside what looks like a microwave oven, however this machine is no warmer of leftovers. Rather, a laser is shined into the bottle to chemically analyze its contents with a technique known as Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (SORS). Energy levels in the liquid molecules are able to shift the wavelength of the laser light. From these small shifts, bottle contents can be determined.

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Colbalt says the the Insight 100 exceeded the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) standard for use in airports with nearly perfect detection results and few false positives.

"We have worked incredibly hard over the last couple of years to refine the SORS technology and bring the Insight 100 to market," Cobalt's CEO, Paul Loeffen said in a press release. "It is a great achievement to have exceeded the European standards at this stage so that we are in a prime position to supply this unique bottle screener to European airports."

Don't live or frequently travel to Europe? Better double check what's in your bag.

[Via New Scientist]

Credit: Cobalt Light Systems

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Cybercriminals Exploit bin Laden's Death

Cybercriminals have been quick to pounce on Internet users scouring the Internet for information about one of the biggest news events of the last decade: the death of Osama bin Laden.

Within hours of the news that U.S forces had killed the Al Qaeda leader in Pakistan on Sunday, malware began popping up websites optimized to appear on web searchers related to bin Laden's death.

Scammers took advantage of the phrase "Osama bin laden dead" being the most popular Google search on Monday, luring Internet users to links supposedly containing photos, videos and other information surrounding bin Laden's death.

FULL COVERAGE: BIN LADEN KILLED AT LAST

However, many links have been tainted with malware, infecting user's computers when they are prompted to download a file or watch a video.

Image and video searches have been easy targets for scammers as people scramble for visual images of bin Laden. A doctored photo, supposedly taken after bin Laden was killed, was found accompanying a news story and video containing malicious software.

Spammers also tageted Facebook, circulating messages offering fake deals from Subway and Southwest Airlines. When the bogus link is clicked, users are redirected to pages and enticed to enter personal information and email addresses.

Users are urged to be cautious of any links promising photos or videos of bin Laden, as no official photos have been released of bin Laden's body after his death was reported.

Similar scams were reported after the recent earthquake in Japan. Cybercriminals typically exploit significant news events because they encourage users to click on attractive headlines.

Screen grab from an image search for "bin Laden death"

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