The Future Is Now

If you ever wondered why Apple is banking on software to set the iPhone apart from other smartphones, take a look at the new iPhone app “Nearest Tube.”

When you launch this app, the screen shows a live video feed of whatever’s in front of you, as if you were looking through the viewfinder of a camera, for example.  Except, superimposed over that video are arrows showing where and how far away the nearest Tube stations are (it was developed for the London Underground). As you turn your iPhone, the program adjusts and shows you other Tube stations, always organized by distance and color-coded to match the Tube line.

Dope. Dope. Dope.

Nearest Tube is currently waiting approval from the App Store. Via Gizmodo.

Missed Connection: Christian Slater. Kind Of.

Oh, Williamsburg.

Source.

The Science Behind The Sears Tower “Ledge”

Today’s Science Times features an interesting article on the science behind the increasingly boundary-pushing uses of glass in building construction, using the Sears Tower Ledge (above) as a stepping-off point.

There’s also a slideshow that highlights some other great achievements in glass construction, including those spiral staircases at your local Apple store.

For better or for worse, many designers who work with glass are trying to realize a future where structures are  “unmarked by metal or other materials.”

Take, for example, this glass dome constructed with glass and a glass-to-glass adhesive:

Although the article doesn’t note this, many of the coatings applied to glass to give it steel-like strength also render it un-recyclable.

Marriage Equality Flag

This flag’s been around for a while but was recently updated.

The stars are arranged by the date of the state’s entry into the Union and represent, of course, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Iowa.

It’s a little depressing when put this way, isn’t it?

Via Box Turtle Bulletin.

New Whitney!

Whitney’s loooong-awaited comeback album, titled “I Look To You”, will drop September 1 and the first single is here.

The song is a slow tempo ballad that doesn’t take her voice out of the middle range or feature any decent climax. On the up-side, her voice does sound good, it’s not super-over-produced, and there’s no auto-tune! (I have such low standards for the music industry these days.)

Hopefully the remixers can work their magic on this.

Whitney Houston – I Didn’t Know My Own Strength