Image via eater.com
Decreeing that food is more passionate than “entertainment,” acclaimed Feast Portland food writer Mike Thelin explains why food is more within the realm of religion than a social activity in our society today in this video on Eater from TEDx. Thelin explains that food has become ritualistic in gathering groups and bringing people together.
Food as sociology, err, theology? If that were a major, we’d certainly choose it.
Image via foxnews.com
The guys and girls at Freakonomics are very smart. They analyze all sorts of interesting things, many of which have a great impact on our society and how we view and interact with it.
And now, they’re discussing something even more worthwhile – cronuts.
If you haven’t heard of cronuts, well, you clearly don’t love food. Or delicious things. But that’s not our battle to fight. So briefly, a Cronut is a genius combination of a croissant and a donut, and was created by a humble, modest baker in downtown Manhattan named Dominique Ansel. So what’s the big deal?
Well – and we won’t try to summarize Freakonomics’ arguments because we probably won’t do them justice – more or less, it’s turned into a food craze with a supply-and-demand problem like nothing we’ve ever seen. As the article explains, it’s on the level of ticket scalping, complete with trademarking efforts and legal scandals. Seriously, try to tell us you’re not going to read this thing.
The warm weather has arrived: For some, it signals a time to turn up the A/C, for others, a chance to crank up the adrenaline. WIRED falls into the latter. In the spirit of seasonal parks-and-recreation, the WIRED Spring Camp headed to the Sierras for 72 hours of testing out the latest high-tech gear for conquering mountain trails and river rapids—at the speed of wifi, of course.
These days a slew of specialized adventure gear is making the great outdoors even better (although, if you’re flipping through an e-reader by the camp fire you might be missing the point). Get your spring kicks with Wired and check out kayaks crafted from carbon fiber and titanium, polarized sunglasses coated with hydrophobic microparticles, and underwear woven from synthetic, moisture-wicking fibers.
Hit the trails with the latest in hydration packs, hop on the best mountain bike for the price, and get some advanced footwear engineered for the outdoors. Wired serves up the lowdown on amping up the adrenaline—camp-fire-made lattes included. Tune in for WIRED’s great spring adventure captured by Olympus.
There’s nothing quite like that “just out of the box” feeling and getting your hands on a brand-new smartphone or tablet, right? Except for one problem, once your fingers start swiping away, they leave smudges and prints. Now you’re obviously not going to start wearing touch-screen-friendly gloves all the time—are you? No, you’re not. You’re going to get your hands on some iCloth wipes.
An airline industry secret, iCloth wipes are individually wrapped cleaning wipes used by pilots and airline crews around the world, as well as flight simulator operators, flight schools, and private aircraft and helicopter pilots. Conveniently packed, these ultra-stashable wipes (keep them in your car, your laptop bag, or your backpack) are designed with aerospace-grade materials in the U.S., like Dupont Sontara cloth, not cheap, pulp-based imports.
They’re durable (they won’t rip or dry out) and they’re super-soft, so you can baby your devices and have that “kid on Christmas morning” feel 365 days a year. (Available on Amazon.com.)
Image via aktivioslo
Many of you saw this headline and rolled your eyes, but Justin Bieber’s flight to space is big news. It could be the first concert in space, people! Like Protozoa style. (Yes, that was a Zenon reference.)
Bieber isn’t the first star to go intergalactic. He joins other celebs like Ashton Kutcher and Leonardo DiCaprio who have also signed up for seats on Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space ships, but they can’t sing like Bieber can.
Technically, the concert thing is kind of a rumor, but Bieber tweeted it and then NASA responded and offered help, so it’s almost like it’s real. There are other rumors that the teen heartthrob wants to film a music video in space, but I guess someone has already done that. Regardless of what happens, the launch date hasn’t even been set yet. Maybe Bieber fever will have died down by then… on this planet at least.
Twenty years ago when we first hit newsstands, it was at the height of a renegade era in publishing. Known quite simply as zines, these self-published outlets have since dwindled, or some would say have found new avatars as online blogs and twitterfeeds. However no matter what the medium, this impulse to share and comment on what matters most remains—and fuels our brand.
Now Mercedes-Benz is giving every reader the opportunity to create a custom issue—and share it. Ignite a conversation on the most impactful stories of the last 20 years and craft a digital keepsake. Assemble your content by dragging and dropping up to 20 articles into your issue, choosing a graphic cover, and selecting a Mercedes-Benz spread featuring your favorite E-Class.
From cover to cover, it’s the story of your last 20 years through the digital evolution.
Update your social network on the stories that have mattered most to you in the last 20 years: Engineer your own custom issue sponsored by @Mercedes-Benz USA and then share it with your friends.
Image via g4ll4is
All social networks have security settings that let users essentially put their profiles on strict lock-down—if they know how to do it. Once you figure it out, you can update Facebook with intimate wedding photos that only your family can see or you can accept a friend request, but block them from seeing any of your status updates.
But those who don’t know how to personalize security settings—and those who are afraid to adapt to technology in general—are still scared to use these sites. My uncle doesn’t want employees of his company on LinkedIn because he thinks competitors will cherry pick his best employees. True story. Maybe people like him will be more willing to adapt to these 10 private social networks.
Notabli and 23Snaps lets users privately share photos with specific individuals—perfect for those who are afraid of posting pics of their kids all over the Internet. Couple lets love birds get all mushy discreetly. Path tops off your friend count at 150, forcing you to keep a small network while FamilyWall keeps it, well, in the family. I guess there is a time and a place for exclusive social networks, but when it comes to me, I’m okay with broadcasting my life over the interwebs—in a tasteful way of course.
Image via Melon
You’ve skimmed your Twitter feed, updated your Clash of Clans army, deleted the day’s junk mail, and had your morning coffee hangout in the office kitchen. Alas, it may be time to throw on the earbuds and actually get some work done. If you’re like me, the music selection will probably be something along the lines of some soft house or other nondescript genre. Focus@will is a new iOS app that’s offering to do a bit more with your office soundtrack. Using what they claim is “neuroscience based music”, Focus@will can increase your attention span up to 400% by playing specially-designed soundtracks. Test the results with a three week free trial.
If you’re really into self-optimization, you may want to jump on the Melon Kickstarter project. Melon is an EEG-measuring headband and mobile app that tracks and helps you understand focus. Don’t know about you, but I think I’d be afraid to find out my results.
Mazda’s twin-turbo SKYACTIV®-D Mazda6 race engines: 400 hp, 450 lbs-ft of torque, over 60% production Mazda components by weight. Powered by … chicken guts?!
Image via Etch
People are doing really terrific things with Foursquare’s mountain of personal historical location data. I have no idea how I came across Etch, but it’s one of the most creative projects I’ve seen using the 4SQ API. Simply put, Etch creates a lovely data visualization of your Foursquare checkins and then prints it onto art-quality paper stock.
This is Etch, explained in 4 steps:
1) Go to Etch.cc and connect your Foursquare account.
2) Choose a city—currently San Francisco, Portland, or NY. Keep in mind you don’t necessarily have to live in any of these places, you just need to have visited enough times to rack up a good collection of Foursquare checkins.
3) Choose a color palette. I love the names of these, BTW.
4) Choose a “placemarker”, a kind of home base that you want to highlight on the map. This is optional.
Etch is really just an experiment right now, but if things go well they plan on adding more data sources to create even richer maps.
