Practical Concept Search Results

How To: Give Your Android Phone Some “Material Design” with Google's New Calculator App

With Google's latest version of their mobile OS, Android L, the most notable aesthetic difference is the newly introduced Material Design concept that will soon be ever-present through the interface. The objective of this bold design is to create "hierarchy, meaning, and focus," as described by Google, and the deliberate choices of color and white space "to create immersion and clarity."

News: Google's Self-Driving Car Is Here & You've Gotta See This Thing in Action

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past five years, you've at least heard murmurs of Google's self-driving car, with Big G even getting California and Nevada to sign off on legislation to allow these motorist-less vehicles on the road. But now, Google is showing off their in-house manufactured vehicle, as opposed to the Prius' that doned their hardware in the past. And it's...well, it's something.

News: Apple's iPhone 6 Might End Up as Big as the Samsung Galaxy S5

If new leaked images are to be trusted, an iPhone with a display around 5 inches will be released later this year. From Italian site Macitynet, images show a device that's stated to be the new iPhone 6 side-by-side with the new Samsung Galaxy S5. A couple of weeks ago, I showed you leaked internal emails and memos that suggested Apple was concerned with not only Samsung's marketing strategy, but about the industry trend towards larger devices.

How To: 9 Ways to Cut an Onion Without Shedding Tears

Is it possible to cut or chop onions in the kitchen without stinging eyes and looking as if you just watched the saddest movie ever? Before we get to that answer, it's important to know why we tear up when cutting raw onions in the first place. What is this irritant? Are you reacting to the odor? The answer to the latter question is "no," and the irritant responsible is amino acid sulfoxides.

How To: Make Your Favorite Song Last Forever with Infinite Jukebox

The first album I ever bought with my own money was Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York. It featured mainly lesser-known songs and covers, but was on constant repeat on my Walkman. While the whole album was fantastic, there was one song that stood out the most to me—"The Man Who Sold The World." The song (originally written by David Bowie) kept me under a spell, which had me replaying the song over and over and over and over. As I got older, I found myself sharing this relationship with a han...

News: This Real-Life Star Wars Hover Bike Could Be the Future of Personal Transportation

Admit it—at some point or another, you've wished that you had your own personal hovercraft. Don't worry, we've all been there. Well, a company called Aerofex wants to make a hovercraft that's way more than your standard leaf-blower-powered one, taking a queue from the swoop and speeder bikes from the Star Wars franchise, building their own sort of repulsorlift. This hover bike may not be quite as fast as the ones from Star Wars, but if the company has its way, it could be on sale by the end o...

News: This Giant Glass Globe Turns Moon and Sunlight into Power—Possibly Even Solar Death Rays!

André Broessel of rawlemon has developed a solar energy generator that can use both sun and moonlight to create usable power. Oh... and it's gorgeous. The device is essentially a huge glass sphere filled with water that uses a ball lens to refract light in a way that increases energy efficiency by 35 percent. It's completely weatherproof and has an optical tracking device, meaning that it can be incorporated into architecture. Here's a concept design of how it could be used to power buildings...

How To: Block RFID Signals, Build an RFID Reader Detector, and Make Custom RFID Tags

RFID chips are everywhere. They're in passports, credit cards, and tons of items you've bought in the last 5 years or so. Big retailers like Walmart started using tracking products with RFID as early as 2004, and today, they're used in everything from mobile payments to hospital record systems. Chances are, unless you're a hermit (in which case you wouldn't be reading this anyway), there's an RFID tag within a few feet of you. Photo by sridgway