IBM and National Geographic Kids hold Guinness World Records title for smallest printed magazine cover

IBM and National Geographic Kids aim to show the power of nanotechnology with the latest Guinness World Records title it garnered. The publication and tech company combined forces to print the world's smallest magazine cover at 11 x 14 micrometers. It is so miniscule that a grain of salt can hold 2,000 cover images. IBM scientists created a tiny "chisel" with a heatable silicon tip that is 100,000 times smaller than a sharpened pencil point. The scientists printed the March 2014 cover (which was voted online by National Geographic Kids' readers) in under 10 minutes onto a polymer.

IBM wanted to demonstrate how this new capability may impact prototyping of new transistor devices, which will help create more energy-efficient and faster electronics for different devices. It can even be used to create nano-sized security tags to help prevent document forgery for items such as passports, currency, and even priceless works of art. 

Transcend's JetDrive SSD upgrade for MacBook Airs and Retina MacBooks offer up to 960GBs of storage

Transcend is giving MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro users SSD storage expansion with their new JetDrive SSD kits which include tools, the drives themselves and an alumium USB 3.0 enclosure to hold your old SSD. Ranging from 240GB, 480GB and 960GB, the JetDrive SSDs come in various models to fit a variety of MacBook generations and models.

Upstart OnePlus' 'Smash your Phone' gimmick is wasteful and stupid

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

OnePlus is a new Android smartphone manufacturer that has shown a very promising flagship device, but it's gimmick is earning it some notoriety as being a wasteful and stupid. OnePlus is giving 100 of their new "One" smartphones for $1.00 to anyone who smashes their current smartphone.

The idiocy is spelled out as a 3 step process:

1. Apply - Fill out the application form and send it in.

2. Stand Out - We'll choose 100 applicants to be our smashers.

3. Smash & Share - Share a video of your smash on YouTube and the OnePlus One will be yours!

This coming from a fledgling company pushing their first product and which has zero reputation for support and reliability.

The phones the OnePlus hopes interested buyers will 'Smash' include the iPhone 5c, the iPhone 5c, the HTC One and One (M8) and the latest Samsung Galaxies, Sony Xperias and even some BlackBerry devices.

Oh, and you can select your method of destruction which can range from hammer, baseball bat, blender, fire and screwdriver.  How about just giving away phones to lucky contestants? 

Many of these listed smashable phones have a $300-$500 resale value if sold or traded. They can be handed down to family members, donated to charity, sold for cash.  A smashed smartphone is of no use to anyone. 

OnePlus began their promotion of the "One" as an exclusive, by invitation only affair. No one cared so now this is their approach.

Google’s PhoneBloks concept is exciting and it’s never going to work (for the mass market)

By Simon Cohen

When you love tech (sometimes just for tech’s sake), it can be pretty heady stuff to read up on the projects that Google has on the go. Consider this incomplete list, it’s really quite extraordinary:

• Android@home
• Google “X” Robots
• Driverless cars
• Space elevators
• Clean energy
• Extending human lifespan
• Android Wear

You’ve got to hand it to Larry and Sergei. When they dream, they dream big. How cool is it that a couple of guys who came up with a better way to index the web are now in a position to influence the course of human history?

But when you roll the dice on monster concepts, you’ve got to be prepared when some of them don’t pan out. Of the items on the list above, there’s a good chance that all but the space elevator and human lifespan will make it from concept to reality. Even the driverless car–an idea that we were scoffing at less than 6 years ago–is real, and it works and they’re even legal in some places.

What I like about all of these projects is that there is a strong chance that if they work out as planned, they will see mass adoption. A lot of people are going to want the benefits these projects will offer.

But I can’t say the same for Google’s most recent foray into the future: Project Ara.

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