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Boeing has patented a ‘Star Wars’-style force field

Boeing has won a patent for a protective force field that could stop vehicles from being harmed by explosions, Popular Science reports . It might sound futuristic — and it is. The patent isn’t about stopping bullets or lasers or anything like that, though. Instead, it detects explosions near a vehicle, and then quickly heats up the air or water between the vehicle and the blast. The heat creates a plasma shield that is more dense than normal air, adding to the vehicle’s protection. This diagram from Boeing shows the different parts of the force-field system: Boeing’s patent application shows how the force-field technology could work with a military vehicle: The above diagram shows a military Humvee with a device that can lessen the impact of explosions from bombs like improvised explosive devices (IEDs). But there could be other uses for Boeing’s force-field technology. Boeing notes that it can be used in water as well as air, heating up the area around boats or submarines to less

The five most ignorant media myths about electric cars

We spend more time than we probably should in grumbling at media coverage of plug-in electric cars. Journalists try to get it right, in general, but often the specific and complex issues around electric cars, who buys them, and how they’re really used get lost or ignored in general reporting. At one reader’s suggestion, then, here are the five myths about electric cars we see most often. (1) Gas prices will hurt or kill sales of plug-in electric cars It’s possible that this will happen, but as of yet, there’ll little data to suggest that. And the data from a four-year study by Plug-In America of gas price fluctuations versus sales of plug-in cars shows gasoline costs bouncing around while electric-vehicle sales rise more or less consistently. The recent, sharp, sudden dip in gas prices might have a different effect–although consumers largely don’t trust that prices will stay low. And, indeed, in California, gas prices have recently risen by up to a dollar a gallon from their lows last

iOS 8.3 beta hands-on: See what’s new in Apple’s upcoming release

We’ve been slowly tracking the progress of iOS 8.3 , and now that regular Joes like us can test out the unfinished software, we thought we’d make a video about everything that’s new. With beta releases, it’s more like a game of discovery; Apple doesn’t always outright say what new features it’s implementing, instead focusing on bug fixes and other optimizations. But we’ve found some stuff, which you see check out in the video above. One thing everyone has been talking about is Apple’s inclusion of more diverse emoji. Going forward, you’ll actually be able to pick the skin tone of the emoji you want to send, making the experience more inclusive for everyone. You’ll see what I mean in the examples shown off in the video. Overall, picking emojis should be easier, too, as they’re now on a single scrollable page. There are a few other changes that we’ve highlighted before, including a new “Hey Siri” feature, a change in Safari’s keyboard, and even filtering for messages. See them in actio

Paramount Pictures wants many more Transformers movies

After four consecutive disasters, I think it’s safe to say most people are Transformered out. Not Paramount Pictures. According to Deadline , the studio wants to turn Transformers into its own universe of movies, similar to what we’re seeing with Marvel and DC. The initiative is in the earliest of stages, but Paramount has apparently fast-tracked a program that will encourage writers to come up with potential movie ideas. Akiva Goldsman, who was responsible for penning I am Legend and I, Robot , is reportedly in charge of the program, and will receive guidance from both Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg. The goal right now is to foster more sequels, and even some spin off ideas. Against the odds, Paramount apparently wants a new Transformer film written specifically for Michael Bay to direct, who has said before he likely wouldn’t be involved in the next movie. But, come on, this is Michael Bay we’re talking about; how can he not direct a movie with explosions and robots? The temptati

Hulu adding a ton of TV episodes in April

Apparently Hulu no longer wants to be left out of the guessing game of what it is adding to its service each month, and has now provided a rundown of the new content coming to the service for April. For some time now Netflix’s additions and removals have gotten out to the public via various means so that you can plan your watching accordingly. Imagine our surprise when Hulu just directly emailed us a list of what to expect in April. We’re not going to argue, as you can definitely count us amongst those that like to plan our viewing. While this includes a lot of seasons, in addition to those shows already on Hulu that release episodes as they air. There’s a lot of good stuff coming in April, but we do recommend you don’t try binge watching 14 seasons of CSI in one go. That just won’t end well for anyone. We reached out to Hulu to see if it would also provide us with a list of anything that might be removed, but we have not received a reply as of yet. If we do, we will be sure to updat

Huge Grand Theft Auto V screens show off PC optimized visuals

See full gallery on TechnoBuffalo The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of Grand Theft Auto V are having some graphical difficulties this week (that Rockstar is addressing), but based on these new screenshots recently released, it looks like the PC version is coming along nicely for its release a couple weeks from now. Rockstar released a new batch of screens pulled from its game running on a PC with recommended settings and it’s getting tougher and tougher to resist revisiting San Andreas to see how much it’s changed. These are big, big screens – 4K resolution – so make sure to zoom in to see them as big as possible when scrolling through the gallery. The increased plant density, lighting and atmospheric effects are especially impressive. The wait for it has been long, but it’ll be over soon: Grand Theft Auto V hits PCs on April 14. Order This From Amazon from TechnoBuffalo http://ift.tt/1DamrZB

Periscope for Windows Phone works thanks to Telescope

See full gallery on TechnoBuffalo Periscope may be the hot new app/network this week, but if you don’t own an iPhone it won’t do you much good. The Twitter-owned company is already hard at work on a version for Android, but Windows Phone fans will likely have to rely on third-party apps to get the Periscope experience. Thankfully, one developer has already created a pretty decent Periscope clone for Windows Phone called Telescope. You can download it for free today, though for now the app only lets you sign up, follow other people and watch their live streams. It’s missing a ton of features including search, settings controls, profiles, messages and hearts, and the ability to create your own broadcasts, though Telescope’s creator says that’s all coming soon. Visually it looks like a pretty perfect Periscope clone, but we doubt it’s quite as polished and slick as the real thing. Hopefully Telescope will rollout more features soon, though it’s also possible Twitter could find a way t