boarding

For some people, old circuit boards and computer components needlessly fill up space, awaiting a proper sendoff to the electronics recycling facility. Italian artist Franco Recchia sees opportunity in those old parts, though, and instead creates fascinating miniature city skylines with the pieces of forgotten technology.

The artist covers an array of major cities, including New York, Chicago, Detroit, and more. In an interview with the Agora art gallery, Recchia reveals that he often finds parts in "trash heaps" and that it takes four different styles of welding to make the techno cities. … Read more

Boosted Boards is promoting its electric-powered skateboard as the world's lightest electric vehicle. The Kickstarter project packs 2.6 horsepower onto a 12-pound longboard.

The skateboard is powered by lithium batteries, giving the rider up to 6 miles of range. It takes two hours to fully recharge the batteries and manages a top speed of 20mph. Regenerative braking helps the battery along when you're riding.

The skateboard works with a handheld remote control with a throttle, brake, and battery gauge. The remote is designed to tuck a finger through so you can hang onto it even while doing ollies.… Read more

Space is always a concern in the kitchen; it can also be an issue in the great outdoors. While that might not make much sense at first considering that the great outdoors is both great and outdoors, people who enjoy their time in nature tend not to want to get bogged down with stuff. But getting away from it all doesn't have to mean getting away from everything.

No matter if hiking or camping, everybody has to stop sometime to eat. And that means, cutting, slicing, and dicing. For those looking to trek beyond gorp, the Snow Peak Set M Chopping Board … Read more

The New York Port Authority had egg on its face recently when a stranded jet skier managed to breach JFK International Airport's security perimeter and walk across several runways.

Raytheon, maker of the $100 million Perimeter Intrusion Detection System, has some explaining to do.

But it's not all bad. Inspired by the breach (and Shark Week), Justin Huynh and friends at engineering firm Liquidware have concocted their own intruder alert system for far fewer bucks.

Essentially, it's a simple laser tripwire that sends alerts to Twitter when activated. So far, it works with toy sharks and not hapless jet skiers. … Read more

Symantec's CEO Enrique Salem stepped down today after the company's board of directors designated chairman of the board Steve Bennett as the new president and CEO.

This executive switch-over comes as the security software giant reported an abysmal year for revenue -- second-quarter growth was just 1 percent to $1.67 billion, and profits decreased by 10 percent to $172 million, according to Bloomberg.

"Enrique Salem has been a significant contributor during his 19 years' associated with Symantec, including the last three years as CEO," Bennett said in a statement. "While progress has been made … Read more

Former Yahoo executive Ellen Siminoff has been appointed to Zynga's board of directors, the first woman to sit on the social-game publisher's board.

Siminoff, who is the CEO of educational publishing company Shmoop University, will also join Zynga's audit committee, the San Francisco-based publisher said today.

"Ellen has great experience and insights operating Web businesses at scale and brings a passion for consumer Internet products," Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said in a statement. "Ellen has also been a longtime Words With Friends player with her family and shares our mission to connect the world … Read more

DogVacay, a startup that matches people who need a dog sitter with people who are interested in caring for dogs in their homes, is getting additional first round venture capital funding, the company was set to announce on Thursday.

The site, which reminds me of an Airbnb for boarding dogs, has received an undisclosed amount from Andreessen Horowitz, a VC firm that led a $112 million investment in Airbnb almost a year ago and has also invested in Facebook, Twitter and Zynga. DogVacay raised more than $1 million in a seed round of funding in March from First Round Capital, … Read more

More than a year after it was first launched exclusively for Macs, the Thunderbolt standard is now officially available for PCs, too. And by "officially," I mean you can literally buy a motherboard and build a system on your own that supports Thunderbolt.

There's been a lot of talk about Thunderbolt getting to PCs since the standard was first launched. Rumor had it Intel would show off PC motherboards that supported Thunderbolt at CES 2012 (which it didn't). On Monday, however, Intel quietly launched the standard for the PC platform, and today I have in my hand the Intel Desktop Board DZ77RE-75K, the first Thunderbolt-certified motherboard that comes with a built-in Thunderbolt port. The wait is finally over.… Read more