38 Cute Baby Animal Photos

 

h/t - Tanya Torello

Puppy

 

 

Hedgehog

 

Cheetah Cub

Cute Pup

 

Squirrel

 

Kitten

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The Snow Leopard - Photos, Video - Mascot of The Sochi Olympics

Native to the Central Asian mountains, the snow leopard is a rare sight, with only about 6,000 left in the wild. They are hunted for their beautiful, warm fur and for their organs, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Photograph by Michael Nichols, National Geographic

National Geographic - These rare, beautiful gray leopards live in the mountains of Central Asia. They are insulated by thick hair, and their wide, fur-covered feet act as natural snowshoes. Snow leopards have powerful legs and are tremendous leapers, able to jump as far as 50 feet (15 meters). They use their long tails for balance and as blankets to cover sensitive body parts against the severe mountain chill.

Snow leopards prey upon the blue sheep (bharal) of Tibet and the Himalaya, as well as the mountain ibex found over most of the rest of their range. Though these powerful predators can kill animals three times their weight, they also eat smaller fare, such as marmots, hares, and game birds.   Read More

Putin gets close with snow leopard

Mars Express: 10 years of capturing the Red Planet - Photos

CNET - Mars Express, the first planetary explorer for the European Space Agency, is celebrating 10 years of taking images of the Red Planet. Using data obtained from the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard, the spacecraft has returned hundreds of images since the mission began.

The HRSC has been imaging the planet in color and 3D with a resolution of about 10 meters. Selected areas have been imaged in even greater detail, at a 2-meter resolution. One of the camera's greatest strengths is the pointing accuracy achieved by combining images at the two different resolutions, along with the perspective view of the 3D imaging created with the MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding) which has revealed the topography of Mars in full color.

"As the 2-metre resolution image is nested in a 10-metre resolution swath, we will know precisely where we are looking. The 2-metre resolution channel will allow us to pick out great detail on the surface," says Gerhard Neukum, HRSC principal investigator from Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.

Here, Mars Express offers a close-up view of the mesa inside Hebes Chasma. Material has slumped down onto the floor of the valley below, and along the side of the mound fine horizontal layering is seen, likely a mix of wind-blown dust and ancient lake sediments, along with remnants of more ancient plateaus.

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Tech billionaires chase their wildest dreams, including Elon Musk's James Bond submarine car (pictures)

CNET - Technology's richest can't seem to stay away from wacky desires -- to live forever, to colonize other planets, to recreate the plot line of "Deep Impact," minus the apocalypse. Here's a quick tour of some of the most far-out pet projects of the tech billionaires club.

Tesla Motors and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk isn't content with being a real-life inspiration for "Iron Man's" Tony Stark. No, he'd like to expand from superhero to secret agent, specifically James Bond. So he purchased a Lotus Esprit submarine from the 1979 film, "The Spy Who Loved Me," for $1 million at auction. He hopes to infuse it with some Tesla magic and a dash of millionaire mad genius.

"It was amazing as a little kid in South Africa to watch James Bond in 'The Spy Who Loved Me' drive his Lotus Esprit off a pier, press a button, and have it transform into a submarine underwater. I was disappointed to learn that it can't actually transform," Musk said. "What I'm going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric powertrain and try to make it transform for real."

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32 of the Most Popular Toys From the Last 145 Years

via Wired

• 
  Zoetrope reel, 1870s — Before there was Pixar, there was the Zoetrope. The optical illusion was first demonstrated in 1836, over a hundred years before the first Saturday morning cartoons. The device was patented in 1867 by Milton Bradley, the man, not the company, and in many ways can be considered one of the first mass-market toys. Photo: Andy Brown
• 
  Sindy, 1960s — While she doesn't have the name recognition of Barbie, this doll has friends in important places. "My favorites are the Sindy doll—I had one myself—and any of the teddy bears," says Howell who helped curate the photo subjects. "I always preferred soft toys to dolls and now I get to look after them in the Museum." Photo: Andy Brown
• 
  Paper soldiers, 1890s — "This is my favorite image," says Brown. "I love how camp they look today." Photo: Andy Brown
• 
  Clackers, 1970s — Paradoxically, some of the best selling toys were the hardest to track down. Clackers were a popular noise making toy in the 1970s, but was fairly cheap, disposable, and liable to crack. "Loads of people can remember them," says Brown. "But very few people thought to hang on to them." As children's playthings become more ephemeral, this lack of a cultural record will only be exacerbated. Photo: Andy Brown

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BMW roadsters: A journey from 1929 - 2013

BMW is a company that pretty much everyone loves. The cars it produces are regarded as some of the best in the world, and as it covers all niches there's a BMW for pretty much everyone. We took a look at the history of its roadsters to see just how far the firm's come since the early 20th century.

CNET - Drew and Alex love their sports cars - the freedom they afford the driver combined with speed and eye catching looks are, all told, rather lovely. BMW does roadsters really very well indeed.

Using traditional BMW design cues and engineering to create fast, good looking, brilliant to drive cars that are attainable dreams for the vast majority of people. The boys decided to look at BMW's roadster background, Drew casting a bearded eye over the classics and Alex looking at the more modern 'Z' cars. There's some real unicorn cars in there. The 328, for example, is a pre-war race car that boasts a 2.0-litre six cylinder engine and a 90mph top speed. However, it's also achingly beautiful and is an utter joy to drive.

BMW's roofless legacy: The roadsters - Picture Gallery

 

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The Hottest Upcoming Products at Berlin's IFA

 

The IFA trade show kicks off in Berlin this week. Check out what we expect to see. 


The tech world will descend on the Berlin convention center this week for a glimpse of what major gadget makers have in store for the holiday season and beyond. IFA is basically the European version of CES, and features all the major players usually seen in Las Vegas – Samsung, Sony, LG, and more.

Sony and Samsung kick things off on Tuesday, Sept. 4 with dueling press conferences that likely see the launch of new smartphones, as well as a wearable gadget and intriguing camera accessory. Last year, Samsung brought us the Galaxy Note II phablet as well as the Galaxy Camera, so we expect more from the Korean gadget maker's Galaxy lineup, and possibly a few surprises. In 2012, Sony also bulked up its Xperia lineup and we expect the same to happen this year.    Read More

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Live Blog

Nat Geo - 18 Amazing, Intimate Camera Trap GIFs of Serengeti Animals

Nat Geo - Biologist Craig Packer has headed the Serengeti Lion Project since 1978. The director of the Lion Research Center and Distinguished McKnight University Professor at the University of Minnesota has spent countless hours on the Serengeti plains, studying lion ecology, genetics, health, and other factors. (Hear some of Packer’s expert commentary in the interactive Serengeti Lion experience and read more in “The Short Happy Life of a Serengeti Lion.”)

Packer spoke to National Geographic on the phone from Zanzibar, where a Muslim call to prayer could be heard in the background. “I was always puzzled as to how lions fit into the broader context of the Serengeti,” Packer said.

“They have the reputation as the king of the beasts, but what does that really mean?” he asked.

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Aston Martin reveals Batmobile-like anniversary speedster

 

To celebrate 100 years of Aston Martin, the car company has unveiled the CC100 concept car, which looks like something Adam West's Batman might drive in 2013.

It looks strangely like something Adam West's Batman might drive in 2013, but Aston Martin's 100th anniversary CC100 speedster wasn't designed with superheroes in mind, camp or otherwise. Instead, the yellow-and-blue-gray speedster is an homage to the company's heritage as a manufacturer of luxury sports cars.      More

Aston Martin's crazy concept speedster (pictures)

 

  

Products that seemed so weird...at first (pictures)

CNET - New technology may seem bizarre at first, but it can very quickly become integrated into our daily lives.

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Nat Geo, 125 Year Celebration - The Highest Points of Exploration (Photos)

In 1960 Joseph Kittinger jumped from an open-air gondola 18.5 miles high wearing a duct-taped suit. He set a record for the highest jump and lived to tell the tale in the December 1960 issue of National Geographic.

Photograph by Volkmar K. Wentzel, National Geographic

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28 Glimpses Into North Korea’s Technological… Prowess?

 

Gizmodo - By now you may think that North Korea is only good for nuclear bluster and general insanity. But! Beneath that strange veneer lies actual technology, architecture, and design. Some of it's just a little more polished than others.

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Nat Geo Pictures - Wolves

Photograph by Joel Sartore

The wolf is the largest member of the dog family. With thick, shaggy hair and a bushy tail, it looks a lot like a German shepherd dog. Wolves have long legs to run great distances and powerful jaws to grab prey and hold it. The gray wolf pictured here lives at the International Wolf Center in Ely, Minnesota.

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'Star Trek Into Darkness' - Trailer & Pics

Digital Spy - Another of the images highlights Benedict Cumberbatch as villain John Harrison, standing amidst a crowd of Starfleet cadets.

Director JJ Abrams has promised that the sequel, which sees the Enterprise crew struggling to protect the Earth from a force of terror from within their own organization, will be a tearjerker.

Abrams has also spoken on several occasions about the decision to post-convert the film into 3D,
admitting that he was forced into the decision by Paramount.    More

Official Website

Trailer

Nat Geo - Excellent Vintage Photos

 

Great Pyramid and Sphinx, Giza

Photograph by Hans Hildenbrand, National Geographic

Men on camelback ride past the Sphinx and Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt.

 

Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.

Photograph by Walter Edwards, National Geographic

A man and woman look out at the Reflecting Pool and Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial.

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Nat Geo - Top 25 Photographs from the Wilderness

 "Curious cub" by guide Kyle de Nobrega at Lion Sands Private Game Reserve. "Nothing quite like the curiosity of a cat."

 

 

Kyle de Nobrega

 

Explore the wilderness with us… Within the next 10-15 years we will see the last-remaining wilderness area on earth dominated by the demands of growing human populations and undermined by accelerated climate change. When the earth’s last wild places are gone, all we will have are fenced off protected areas dependent on constant intervention to persist and marginalized by the demands of sustained development in emerging markets. Guides, rangers, researchers, ecotourists, photographers, artists and conservationists around the world apply themselves everyday to sharing, studying, photographing, writing about, protecting, conserving and celebrating the “wild” with their guests, co-workers, colleagues, and local communities. These amazing photographs are a window into their world, a world where the lions, elephants, orangutans and leopards still reign supreme and we can dream of that perfect morning in the wilderness…View the Pics!

BMW Concept 4 Coupe takes over where 3 Series left off (pictures)

 

DETROIT--At the 2013 North American International Auto Show auto show, BMW's Concept 4 Series Coupe indicates a future design direction for the company, and fills a hole in the lineup. The car serves as a more focused sport vehicle than the current 3 Series, which became watered down when BMW attempted to make it suitable for both performance and luxury seekers. Design cues seen on the front are the light pipes around the headlights and machined, inset pieces on the intake.

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Per These Leaked CES Pics, Sony Is Actually Capable Of Making A Memorable Android Phone

 

TechCrunch - Quick! What’s Sony’s current high-end Android phone? Anyone? Yeah, Sony has a problem with brand recognition, one it likely hopes will be resolved with a big CES debut next week. While that could still happen, Sony’s Japanese press site just prematurely posted pics of the Xperia Z “Yuga” and the Xperia ZL “Odin”. And, surprisingly, the phones actually look worth remembering.

Sony, and before that, Sony Ericsson, has long floundered about in the mobile waters. Besides the Sony Ericsson gaming phone, none have been particularly interesting. Somehow Sony manages to make forgettable phones even though past models looked great and packed top-notch specs. Hopefully, and I mean that, these upcoming phones will hit the market with a bit more pizzazz.

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Nat Geo Big Cat Week - Snow Leopard of Afghanistan

 

The Snow Leopard

Photograph by Tom Brakefield / Getty Images

A Snow Leopard walking on snow.  This big cat lives in the mountains of Central Asia.

 

Lovely Leopard

Photograph by Stuart Berman / Getty Images

A closer look at the Snow Leopard's face.  This type of leopard's fur is long and thick.

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Nat Geo - Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week

 

Black-headed herons are found throughout sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. They differ from their closest congener, the Grey Heron, in that they prefer to hunt well away from water, taking large insects, small mammals, and birds.

Rodnick Clifton Biljon

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Cape parrot sitting in a Cape lilac tree whose yellow fruits are reputed to be poisonous. These Endangered parrots feed on this fruit from India, SE Asia and Australia when local food resources become depleted. There are less than 1,000 of these shining, amazing parrots left on earth. Please watch this informative National Geographic video on the Cape Parrot Project: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/specials/in-the-field-specials/boyes-cape-parrot/

Rodnick Clifton Biljon

The little-known spectacled barwing is found in China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, where they prefer subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. Photographed here in Thailand.

Trevor Hardaker

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