Handplane Hoedown – try out new handplanes for bodysurfing

There is a new trend in surfing, well, rather bodysurfing. A group of environmentalists and shapers have begun crafting the most beautiful handplanes. These items are mini surfboards that you strap to your hand and get low in the water. They let you go fast, real fast and barrel on almost any wave. Ed Lewis …

Amazon has more than tripled it’s workforce since the recession began (and ended)

Amazon.com added 9,400 employees to its payroll in the quarter ended March 31. That’s the biggest single quarter of headcount growth in Amazon’s history. The company now employs 65,600 full- and part-time workers worldwide. With its current trajectory, Amazon is rapidly approaching Microsoft in size. Microsoft employs more than 93,000 but hasn’t been growing as …

Whale Wars confronts slaughter of Pilot whales in the Faroe Islands

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, capitalizing on the tremendous success of their Animal Planet TV show, “Whale Wars,” has now taken on a new battle. With the Japanese fleet’s Antarctic hunt finished for the season, the skull-and-crossbones crew have turned their attention on the Faroe Islands with a new show: “Whale Wars: Viking Shores” In the …

Most of the translation on the planet is now done by Google Translate

“In a given day we translate roughly as much text as you’d find in 1 million books. To put it another way: what all the professional human translators in the world produce in a year, our system translates in roughly a single day. By this estimate, most of the translation on the planet is now …

The Innovation Whiteboard – get your idea published in the New York Times

What innovations have you made in your daily life? Whether it’s a gadget you’ve fashioned, or something less tangible, we want to hear about it. Your submissions will be published on nytimes.com and may be featured in the New York Times Magazine if our judges — Martha Stewart, James Dyson, Paola Antonelli and Ben Kaufman …