Apple’s newest iMac has the best display ever on a computing device. Let’s just get that out the way right at the start: You won’t find a better screen anywhere else, period. The 27-inch, 5120×2880 screen has a PPI of 218, or roughly equivalent to that of the MacBook Pro with Retina display, but the specs on paper, while impressive in their own right, can’t convey the experience of actually using the thing. Apple’s price of admission for 5K goodness is steep, with prices starting at $2,499 (plus additional fees for custom configurations) but it’s worth every penny.

 Nathan Gray, a 10-year-old boy from Greenwood, Nova Scotia, Canada, discovered a supernova in the field of the galaxy PGC 61330 which lies in the constellation of Draco (the dragon). The discovery has been confirmed by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC). Nathan is the son of RASC member Paul Gray, and may pip his sister, Kathryn Aurora Gray, to the title of youngest supernova discoverer, by 33 days.

A team of engineers have developed an incredibly thin electric generator, only one atom thick. This study also provided the first experimental evidence that the material is piezoelectric, or capable of producing electricity through pressure. The paper was published in Nature, and the lead author is Wenzhuo Wu of the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Samsung has released a new version of its Chromebook 2,  but instead of an Exynos processor used in the existing models, the new Chromebook is equipped with an Intel Celeron processor. The new Chromebook 2 features an 11.6-inch FWXGA display, a 2.58GHz Intel Celeron N2840 Bay-Trail processor, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage space. The device features faux leather finish on its back, similar to that of the Galaxy Note 4. There are a couple of USB (3.0 and 2.0) ports and nine hours of battery life under typical usage stress.

 Lexus has released prices for its upcoming NX compact crossover, and they’re as ambitious as its styling is outspoken. Base MSRP is $35,405 for the NX200t with front-wheel drive; the equivalent AWD model starts at $36,805. The hybrid NX300h is priced from $40,645, while adding AWD takes it up to a cool $42,235. The standard engine is a 235-hp 2.0-liter twin-scroll turbo four-cylinder—the first turbo, ever, in a Lexus—while the hybrid employs a 2.5-liter Atkinson-cycle four. A six-speed automatic transmission is standard with the turbo, while the 194-hp hybrid gets a continuously variable automatic with a “kickdown” feature for passing power.

Fresh off the hackathon dungeon, Laplock is a nifty little app developed at our TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon in London. Martin Saint-Macary and Ivan Maeder worked tirelessly for the past 24 hours to build an easy-to-use software lock for your Mac. Here’s how it works.

Rainy days typically mean lugging around a soggy, wet umbrella - but that might not always be the case. Air Umbrella, which was developed by a company in China with the same name, uses forced air, not fabric, to make a canopy that keeps the raindrops from falling on your head. Once you have arrived at your destination, you can place the dry device in your bag until you’re ready to go out again.

Nearly one billion people around the globe are homeless or live in substandard housing. In the era of 3D printing, some have addressed this crisis through quickly built concrete buildings. While this method would create a secure dwelling, delivering the raw materials and bulky printer increases the cost significantly, reducing its feasibility. The Italian 3D printing company WASP may have solved this problem by developing an easily-transportable machine that can quickly create dwellings out of mud and natural fibers—materials already available where the houses will be built.

It takes about an hour to fully charge a cell phone, and the battery lasts about two to three years over 500 charge cycles. However, a new design could reduce charge time to only a few minutes and the battery is expected to last for 10,000 charge cycles over a 20 year lifespan. In addition to revolutionizing the technology that powers mobile devices, this has huge implications for the performance and longevity of batteries used in electric cars as well. The battery design was invented by Chen Xiaodong of Nanyang Technology University, and it was described in the journal Advanced Materials.

Severe epilepsy is sometimes treated surgically by cutting through the skull and performing a lobectomy in the area causing seizures, which understandably comes with a bit of risk. However, a team of engineers led by Eric Barth of Vanderbilt University have developed a new technique in which a robot performs the surgery by entering through the cheek. This could minimize how invasive the procedure is and reduce recovery time.

Verizon has just started sending out press invites for an event it will hold on October 28. As you can see, these plainly state that during that event the next Droid-branded handset will be unveiled.

If Skype was invented today, what would it look like? This morning, a small team within Skype is attempting to answer that question with the launch of a new video messaging application called Skype Qik, which reimagines how the Skype experience would work if Skype had been built for mobile first.

After last week’s Snapchat photo hack, it’s cloud storage provider Dropbox’s turn in the unsavory insecurity spotlight. An anonymous Pastebin user has claimed to have compromised almost seven million Dropbox account credentials (emails and passwords), posting the first 400 direct to Pastebin with a call for Bitcoin donations to leak more.

Following the bell, Intel reported its third quarter financial performance, including revenue of $14.55 billion and earnings per share of $0.66. Analysts and the street had expected that Intel would earn $0.65 per share on total top line of $14.45 billion.

 It has been a tradition at TechCrunch to dedicate an entire week (or, in this case, a truncated week) to bags. Big bags. Small bags. Little bags. Tall bags. All bags, (almost) all the time. With that in mind, we present to you Bag Week 2014, our annual celebration of things that hold things.

Last year, tens of thousands of hackers signed up to receive Hack Design, a newsletter teaching the principles of design so that those used to focusing on how things work behind the scenes could start at a point that also considers aesthetics and user-friendliness.

London-based HighQ is opening a new data center in Australia, growing its bid to provide locally supported enterprise collaboration and file-sharing products. The company has quickly expanding revenues, and a key offering: If you use HighQ, the U.S. government will likely have a harder time than usual getting its hands on your data than if you use a U.S.-based provider.

It's great to get a new computer, but it takes hours to actually get the thing set up so you can use it. If you're a developer, Lapwing Laps has a guide to automate the whole process, including setting up special default settings.

The first bionic eyes are giving vision to people who have been blind for decades. While recipients remain legally blind, it can still be transformative for the recipient's lives. Moreover, the technology is expected to improve rapidly.

This is the closest we’ve come to robotic arms and hands that function and feel like the real thing. Two new neuroprosthetic developments, published as a pair of studies in Science Translational Medicine this week, use implanted electrodes to help mimic the control, freedom of movement, and sense of touch that many of us might take for granted. One development restored the ability to discern familiar sensations, and the other recreated reliable motor control—both have been subjected to long-term, real-world use by amputees.