Researchers have shown they can achieve some control over what people are dreaming, bringing a theme that has been frequently explored in sci-fi and horror genres off the page and into the lab.
Category: Body and Mind
Tags: Dreams, Sleep, Mind Control, Northwestern University
A few years ago, I wrote a review of the Dodge Durango SRT, a 6.4-liter monster of an SUV that I said would cause parents at the school drop-off to question their life choices. Well, SRT drivers can now question their life choices as the 700+ hp (515+ kW) Hellcat model outsqueals them exiting the school zone.
Category: Automotive, Transport
HMD's new phone is purpose-built for military personnel, law enforcement agents, first responders, and infrastructure operators who find themselves in super hot or cold environments on the job. It's all about essential features for tough conditions with this one – starting from how you interact with it.
Category: Mobile Technology, Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Phone, Hmd, Rugged, smartphones
In a world first, the US Department of Defense (aka the Department of War) airlifted a complete 5-MW nuclear reactor using a C-17 Globemaster III transport from March Air Reserve Base, California to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, for assembly and operation.
Category: Military, Technology
Tags: US Air Force, Aircraft, Nuclear, Small Modular Nuclear Reactor
For roughly a decade, Microsoft has been perfecting a high-density storage technology that uses glass, lasers, and cameras, and ensures it stays intact for millennia. That's a huge improvement over existing magnetic tape and hard drives used for archiving data, which are good for only up to a decade at the most.
Category: Technology
Tags: Data Storage, Microsoft, Glass, Data Center, Archiving
Modern camera tech lets me, an occasionally decent photographer, get a photo like this (and 20 others before and after it that are just as in-focus).
Canon EOS R1 | Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8 L IS USM Z | 200mm | F4| 1/1000 sec | ISO 3200
People much smarter than I have long noted that the creative ideas that make for great art often come from limitations, be they budgetary, technological, or otherwise. But as photography gear advances, some of the limitations we've previously had to work around have been lifted, raising the question: Is it time to start thinking about what limits we impose on our own photography?
It feels like it's an idea that's been swirling around me for a while, as I've covered new cameras that intentionally impose limited shooting styles onto you, either with software like the X half's Film Camera mode, or physically, like with the colorless sensors in the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome and Leica Q3 Monochrom. It's also shown up in the countless videos I've seen in my recommendations from people who have gone out shooting with older cameras.
"They know you can do anything. So the question is, what don't you do?"What brought it to the front of my mind was a video discussing the dos and don'ts of videography, where the host talks about the trap of shooting everything on a gimbal at high framerates and sorting it all out in post. It reminded me of a quote from acclaimed filmmaker David Fincher that was included in one of Every Frame A Painting's videos: "They know you can do anything. So the question is, what don't you do?"
It's a sentiment that's understandable in filmmaking, where advancements in CGI mean you can put anything imaginable on screen (and where doing so has become so ubiquitous that some audiences are getting tired of it). But I'd argue that, to a certain extent, the same applies to cameras. With how capable modern mirrorless cameras are in terms of image quality, dynamic range, and autofocus, many casual and hobbyist photographers can now reliably capture images that would've previously required immense luck or years of practice.
Asking "what don't you do" is essentially coming at limitations from the other direction.The result of this, combined with the interconnectedness that social media allows, is that we get to see more incredible images in a week than we'd once have seen in our entire lifetimes*. While that's undoubtedly useful for those of us seeking inspiration, it also makes it difficult to distinguish yourself. There's little more heartbreaking than thinking you've had an original idea and working hard to realize it, only to find out that someone else has already done it. (It's even worse if you discover they've done it better.)
That brings us back to the idea of self-imposed limitations. Now that almost everyone can take incredible photos of fast-moving athletes, birds in flight, or breathtaking landscapes, stripping things down to their essentials can help hone your skills and take photos that will stick with those who see them.
I often find myself exclusively taking photos of inanimate objects; buildings, landscapes, out of place items. What would I learn if I decided to not take a picture of something unless it had a pulse for a few weeks?
Sony a7R V | Sigma 200mm F2 DG OS Sports | F2 | 1/400 sec | ISO 100
Photo: Mitchell Clark
There are so many ways to do this that, ironically, you're limited only by your imagination. It's essentially coming at limitations from the other direction. You could challenge yourself to only take pictures of things that other photographers would find boring, forcing yourself to find something interesting in the mundane or everyday. You could shoot with an antiquated camera and process, or maybe only a cell phone, refrain from using zoom lenses, let go of technical perfection, avoid using a flash (or just relying on available light), try to get everything perfect in-camera without any need for editing or, sure, choose to only shoot black and white. You can shoot anything, but what will you choose to shoot?
I don't want to imply that everyone should immediately get rid of their do-anything cameras, or that you always need to shoot in a totally minimalist mindset. But I do think it's worth occasionally exploring different restrictions, perhaps by taking on a photo project.
Doing so won't guarantee that you'll end up with breathtaking photos, but at the very least, it'll give you something new to think about and sharpen your basic skills, helping make your photography even better if you go back to the latest and greatest. Because while everyone may be able to access gear that lets them shoot anything, it still takes skill to capture memorable moments and to frame the scene in a way that tells the story you want to be told.
* Brought to you by the Department of Probable Made-Up Statistics
Less than two years since it was founded, San Francisco-based startup Weave Robotics is accepting pre-orders for its first home robot, which promises to do one thing well: fold your laundry.
Category: Robotics, Technology
Tags: Robots, Tele-operation, assistant robot
Through most of my motorcycling experience, I’ve stood by one notion: nobody does hypernakeds quite like MV Agusta. The new limited-edition Rush Titanio only reinforces that belief.
Category: Motorcycles, Transport
Tags: MV Agusta, Inline skates, Naked bike, Superbike, Titanium
Times they are a-changin, and what was once deemed as a set of “optional” safety features on cars that one could simply disable may now soon be permanent – whether you like it or not.
Category: Automotive, Transport
Tags: Toyota, Safety, Road Safety, Autonomous Vehicles, Lexus
Inclement weather, lack of a back yard, or Draconian HOA (homeowner association) rules may no longer be barriers to enjoying perfectly cooked meats without constant vigilance. SmoqeX, a countertop-sized 3-in-1 indoor smoker, air fryer and grill is now on Kickstarter.
Category: Around The Home, Lifestyle
Sony’s 1000X series has been the benchmark for consumer-grade noise-cancelling earbuds for years, sitting at the very top of the premium audio market, alongside Bose and Apple. So when leaks and rumors about the WF-1000XM6 began circulating a few months back, expectations were, naturally, high.
Category: Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Sony, Noise-Canceling, Earphones
California's Inspired Overland (IO) has quickly made a name for itself in the crowded US rooftop tent (RTT) market by launching some of the slimmest, lightest rooftop tents the vehicle-top camping world has ever seen. Its Trailpeak tent is still slim and ultralight but offers more living space by flipping to the side to open up a cube-like base camp that maximizes headroom and interior volume. So this tent lives every bit as comfortably as it travels.
Category: Tents, Gear, Outdoors
Tags: roof-top tent, Tent, Camping, Lightweight
The electric motorcycle industry is in an exciting stage right now. There are tons of new motorcycles launching each week across the globe, and with each launch, words like "bikes" and "motorcycles" are thrown around as loosely as possible.
Category: Motorcycles, Transport
Tags: Electric Vehicles, Electric Motorcycles, ebikes, Bicycle, urban transport
Living in a smaller space saves money, but often comes at the cost of comfort: in a tiny studio apartment, a full-size bed can take up 80% of the room. Today’s market offers some solutions, but none seem perfect: inflatable mattresses are time-consuming, Murphy beds occupy an entire wall, and sleeper sofas are notoriously mediocre couches and even worse beds.
Category: Around The Home, Lifestyle
Tags: Bed, Kickstarter
Few photographers are as synonymous with richly saturated color as William Eggleston, but the complexity behind making his prints is often underappreciated. In this behind-the-scenes look, longtime collaborators and master printers Guy Stricherz and Irene Malli walk through every stage of his dye-transfer process, revealing just how much work goes into each print.
Eggleston discovered the dye-transfer process in the 1970s, a crucial step that enabled him to move from black-and-white to color photography. Stricherz and Malli have been printing his photographs for the last 25 years, and the video reveals their meticulous workflow that turns a single transparency into three color-separation negatives and, ultimately, one luminous final print.
Over the course of the video, you see how laboratory immersion oil, spotless glass, and carefully controlled enlarger exposures give way to Kodak Matrix film, darkroom processing, and delicate gelatin reliefs that hold each dye. From there, Stricherz and Malli move into inking, rinsing, and rolling the magenta, cyan, and yellow layers in sequence, relying on timing and chemistry adjustments to fine-tune density, contrast, and color balance. The result is a fascinating view into the analog process that powered Eggleston’s shift into the deeply saturated color work that helped redefine art photography.
A portable, rechargeable light that can illuminate outdoor adventures for up to 12 nights is the latest example of how far, and how fast, rechargeable battery technology is advancing. California-based BougeRV is best known for selling solar panels and portable fridges, but its latest product is a lot more fun: a carry-anywhere light that just keeps going. It promises a whole catalog of nighttime adventures, socializing, and comfort.
Tags: Camping, Lighting, Portable, Multi-functional
With its corrugated metal exterior, the Zinc Studio Cabin looks almost like an agricultural shed at first glance. The home combines its durable design with an open interior that maximizes living space in a comfortable single-level layout.
Category: Tiny Houses, Outdoors
Tags: Building and Construction, Tiny Footprint, Micro-House, House, Home
For those of us who weren't paying attention, over the last few years, scientists around the world have been one-upping each other in a bid to create the smallest QR code that can be reliably read. Now, Austria-based researchers have set the bar real high with a QR code so tiny, you'll need an electron microscope to see it.
Category: Technology
Tags: QR code, TU Wien, Data Storage, Ceramics
Watch as a team of drones destroys their target in a demonstration of Fury. That is, the Fury Autonomous Vehicle Orchestrator by Scout AI that uses proprietary AI software to carry out autonomous combat based on simple verbal orders from a human.
Category: Military, Technology
Tags: drones, LLM (Large Language Model), Artificial Intelligence
Who had a Ducati café racer on their 2026 wishlist? Not me, for sure. The Italian bikemaker is celebrating its 100th year, and what better motorcycle to do it with than the one that was pivotal in its historical journey: the Super Sport 750 Desmo.
Category: Motorcycles, Transport
Tags: Ducati, cafe racer, Retro, Racing, History
