New Atlas

Gizmag is now New Atlas:  Why we changed our name WEARABLES Our first day with HoloLens: A tiny window into a magical future After a year and a half of anticipation, we have a Microsoft HoloLens dev kit in house. Our first impressions paint an exciting picture of a future AR landscape.  Read more ENVIRONMENT Folding turbine makes smartphone charging in the wild a breeze Solar chargers are one means of keeping a smartphone charged when in remote locations, but they're dependant on hours of daylight and sunlight intensity. Portable turbines are an alternative and product designer Nils Ferber has created one he says is more portable and effective than any other.   Read more OUTDOORS Roof-top tent greets changing seasons with changing fabric Tepui is on a mission to get people up off the ground and sleeping on top of their cars and trucks. Its latest product line should only help. The light, versatile Baja Series provides three interchangeable fabric options, giving campers year-round comfort.   Read more SCIENCE Biomimicry: 5 really weird animals that have inspired science and tech Science and technology which imitates phenomena from the living natural world have featured in these pages from the beginning. Here, New Atlas takes a look at some of the strangest and most highly-evolved fauna to inspire science and technology.   Read more OUTDOORS WoollyBear camping trailer treads lightly through the wilderness  The new Taxa Outdoors WoollyBear hits the market as one of the slimmest, simplest camping trailers out there. But that doesn't mean it's light on fun or features, preparing campers for a few days of outdoor adventure and comfortable camping.   Read more MUSIC Fire-dancing Bluetooth speaker pulses to your music Most Bluetooth speakers aren't meant to be showy in themselves, but the Fireside Audiobox is designed to be the centerpiece of a room or a party. This Bluetooth speaker pulses fire to the rhythm of your music.   Read more MOTORCYCLES Yamaha Janus scooter debuts in Vietnam with automatic stop/start Yamaha has introduced a fuel-saving stop/start system on its new Janus scooter, a 125cc, slightly retro scoot weighing 97 kg and targeted at female riders in the Vietnamese market, where a massive 2.85 million motorcycles and scoots are sold per year.   Read more AUTOMOTIVE Fisker's gorgeous Karma reincarnated as the Karma Revero When the Fisker Karma launched in 2011, it instantly turned heads. Unfortunately, the financial realities of mass production killed the car before it could truly make an impact. Now, thanks to a fresh injection of Chinese cash, the Karma is back. Thankfully, it looks just as good as ever.​   Read more VR The world's first cross-country virtual reality cycling tour is underway A British coder has bodged together a virtual reality cycle tour from one end of the UK to the other, using a Gear VR headset, an exercise bike, and panoramic images from Google Street View. He's halfway through the world's first long distance VR bike ride.   Read more MOTORCYCLES iTank electrifies the tilting three-wheeler Unlike cars, motorbikes can topple over fairly easily, making the daily commute a riskier proposition than it would be in a four-wheeled vehicle. The fully-electric EV3 iTank splits the difference, using a three-wheeled setup to offer a more stable, silent ride through traffic.   Read more SPACE Are we ahead of our time? The universe is some 13.8 billion years old and the Earth has only been around for 4.5 billion of those years, so it seems there's a fair chance that much older lifeforms than ours are out there somewhere. Not so fast ...   Read more BIOLOGY Greenland shark the world's longest-living vertebrate at 392 years young ​​There are plenty of animals that are pretty good at hanging around, but a new study has revealed that the enigmatic Greenland shark to be the longest-living vertebrate on Earth, with one specimen estimated to be a whopping 392 years of age. ​​  Read more BICYCLES Smart helmet buzzes cyclists' bones with music and communications It's not only bicycles that are getting smarter. The latest smart cycling accessory on its way to streets, the Coros Linx smart helmet pulls those irritating, dangerous earbuds out of the cyclist's ears, using bone conduction for music play, hands-free calling and other audio features.   Read more SPACE Ancient Venus may have looked a whole lot like Earth ​​According to computer modelling, the planet Venus could have once been habitable, hosting a shallow-water ocean, and surface temperatures hospitable to life.   Read more BIOLOGY The goblin shark has a slingshot mouth ​The bizarre-looking goblin shark lives at great depths, where prey isn't always plentiful. So, how does it manage to catch enough to eat? As scientists recently discovered, it's able to shoot its protruding jaws forward faster than any other fish.​   Read more ENVIRONMENT Herbicide gun gives mistletoe the kiss-off ​While most of us may just associate mistletoe with Christmas parties, the fact is that the parasitic plant can be a nuisance in the wild. That's why scientists are taking the offensive, with a system that shoots herbicide up into trees' high branches.​   Read more TINY HOUSES Lightweight tiny house provides a towable home for two The Escapade tiny house, by Baluchon, is a lightweight and contemporary-styled tiny house that sleeps up to two people. It's sold as a turnkey model and costs €42,500 (roughly US$47,500).   Read more ROBOTICS It's only a game: Robots defeat humans on foosball playing field ​A bar, club or community space favorite, table soccer is fast and fun for players of all ages. But if you don't have enough players to get in on the spin action, a table at EFPL may help. The blue shirts are controlled by human players, while robotics powers the whites. And the robots are winning.   Read more ARCHITECTURE Chequered façade has some clever solar gains in the bank A new banking headquarters in Lebanon is set to be both visually striking and community-focused. In addition, the misshapen ​chequered façade ​of the Banque Libano Francaise (BLF) building will actually help to keep the temperature inside comfortable.   Read more MOBILE TECHNOLOGY Samsung Galaxy Note 7 vs. iPhone 6s Plus Every year, after Samsung releases its latest Galaxy Note​, there's a brief period where the Note is the beneficiary of loads of unfair comparisons. That time is now: Let's compare the 2016 Samsung Galaxy Note 7 with the 2015 iPhone 6s Plus​.   Read more ARCHITECTURE Dubai's newest luxury home on the water has an eye-watering price There may be a time in the United Arab Emirates that floating homes become passé, but that time doesn't appear to be now. Following the Floating Seahorse and the Waterlovt, New Living on Water is the latest outfit to offer a luxury waterborne residence.   Read more VR Gear VR public speaking simulator lets you face the crowd ​Horror games are often scarier in VR, but now it can help people face a different type of fear: public speaking. Picturing the audience in their underwear doesn’t help much, so the company’s Gear VR app, Speech Center VR, helps people feel more confident in front of a crowd.  Read more SPECIAL PROMOTION FOR NEW ATLAS READERS Upgrade Your Phone Photography with this 3-in-1 Lens Kit — Now 58% Off Phone cameras these days are certainly impressive, but what's more impressive, is how easily augmented they are. With this Universal 3-in-1 Clip-On Lens Kit, you can dramatically improve the quality and capabilities of your phone's camera in just seconds. It's as simple as clipping either a 180 degree fish eye, wide-angle, or macro lens on to your device and snapping away!   Read more