Adam Clark Estes

A Sneak Peek at Five Brand-New Products In Next Year’s Ikea Catalog

It’s that time of the year, folks. The new Ikea catalog is heading towards mailboxes around the world, and it’s full of neat little tweaks to the lines you’ve come to love. There’s also a handful of completely new products that you’ll love even more. Ikea offered a peek at the new products (and some…

How New York Could Stop the Comcast-TWC Merger

This week, the world was reminded of just how awful Comcast can be, thanks to the recording of one appalling customer service call. But that flare-up was also a reminder of how many people could find themselves trapped in similar situations, with fewer ways out, if Comcast’s merger with Time Warner Cable goes through. Fortunately,…

Snapchat’s Thinking About Getting Into the Mobile Payment Business

It looks like Snapchat, everybody’s favorite disappearing message app, is getting ready to handle mobile payments. This week, the company filed two payments-related trademarks that seem to signal a shift in its business. But don’t get any bright ideas about Snapchat the disappearing money app. There’s probably a simpler explanation. The trademarks themselves are incredibly…

In the wake of the EU decision that people have a “right to be forgotten” on Google, Microsoft is now offering Bing users in Europe the chance to request that certain links in search results be removed. And evidently, Yahoo will be next.

Chicago Wants To Install Superconducting Cable To End Power Outages

With the threat of terrorism and extreme weather perennially perched on the horizon, Chicago’s getting creative with its infrastructure upgrades. The city’s primary power company, Commercial Edison,is planning to install superconducting cables to prevent outages in the city center. Why doesn’t every city do this? The job sounds pretty simple. ComEd will lay superconducting cable…

DARPA’S Turning to Bezos and Branson For Help Building Its Spaceplanes

We’ve known about DARPA’s plan to build a reusable, unmanned space plane for quite some time, but the agency just announced the companies that will help. Unsurprisingly, two feature famous billionaires who love space. DARPA awarded contracts to Boeing, Masten Space Systems, and Northrop Grumman to lead the first phase of its Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1)…

The World’s First Family Robot Could Be Like HAL in Your Home

Meet Jibo. On track to exist next year, Jibo is being marketed as “the world’s first family robot.” The bulbous little guy can read to kids in the living room, recite recipes in the kitchen, take photos in the yard, and perform a handful of other simple tasks. Jibo is also a little bit creepy.…

What Scratched Records Look Like Through a Microscope

Everybody knows the sound of a scratched record. But have you ever wondered what that maddening little blemish looks like up close? Well, you’re in luck, because Zammuto’s music video for “Great Equator” featuring scratched records was filmed entirely with a microscope. And it’s more interesting than you might think. Up close, vinyl records look…

Scientists Engineered Mutant Worms That Can’t Get Drunk

A team of researchers in Texas recently did something extraordinary. They made a genetic tweak to worms’ brains that made it impossible for them to get drunk. More specifically, the scientists modified the worms’ genes so that a molecular channel that binds alcohol to their brains would no longer work. And humans have a similar…

Nest and Friends Are Giving the Internet of Things a Fresh Start

A consortium of companies just announced a new wireless networking protocol for the home called Thread. It’s designed to help build low-power, wireless mesh networks so that devices can seamlessly connect to form a true internet of things. In a way, Thread promises to create little mini internet for your home. Based on the players…

Watch Footage of an Armed Palestinian Drone Flying Over Gaza

The military wing of Hamas just posted a five-minute-long video of an apparently fully armed drone flying over the Gaza Strip. It’s impossible to know if the four, real-looking missiles attached to the drone’s wings are armed. They sure look like they are. The video was posted and blasted across social media not long after…

Bloomberg Terminals Have a Secret Craigslist for Crazy Rich People

For about $2,000 a month, Bloomberg Terminals seem like a tremendous waste of money for anyone but the avid trader. But! Did you know that insane price comes with access to a special classifieds section, populated exclusively with stuff from other overpaid Bloomberg subscribers? It’s called POSH, and it’s kind of amazing. BuzzFeed recently took…

See How Much of NYC a Taxi Driver Sees in a Single Day

Everybody’s wondered what it’s like to be a taxi driver. Whether riding in the back of a cab contemplating your existence or watching a Robert De Niro movie, we’ve all contemplated how many passengers it takes to make a day’s wages. Now, thanks to some clever code, you can watch it play out before your…

Explore New York City According to the Music It Inspired

New York City has not only provided the backdrop for a countless songs, but it’s also birthed entire genres of music. So when you start to plot where each of these moments happened, you’re soon left with a pretty exciting guided tour of one of the world’s biggest cultural capitals. YouTube links make it even…

You Have Until Midnight to Yell at the FCC About Net Neutrality… Sort Of

With nearly 700,000 rants already filed, the public comment period for the FCC proposed net neutrality rules is up at midnight on July 15. That means you only have a few hours left to submit your original thoughts. Reply comments*, however, will be accepted until September 10. * As the name implies, reply comments are…

First Palestinian Drone to Enter Israel Is Promptly Shot Down

As it braced for more rocket attacks, Israel’s military says it intercepted a Palestinian drone on Monday. According to media reports, this is the first time that a drone flying from Gaza has entered Israeli air space. And according to the Israelis, the drone did not last long at all. “It was shot to smithereens,”…

Astronomers Invent New Telescope by Tying Telephoto Lenses Together

A team of Yale astronomers got a little crafty recently. In an attempt to see parts of space that their big fancy telescopes weren’t showing them, they tied eight telephoto lenses together to create their own little homemade array. And then, thanks to their new invention, they quickly discovered seven new galaxies. “These are the…

This Ad for a Homeless Shelter Turns Into a Mini Homeless Shelter

A curious ad campaign recently popped up in Vancouver. The backs of park benches have become billboards for Raincity Housing, a nonprofit that helps the homeless. But they’re not just advertisements for a homeless shelter. Some of the ads actually transform into little shelters. “Find Shelter Here” reads the convertible billboard. When you flip it…

The Government Just Told Thousands of Dead Men to Register for the Draft

Thanks to a computer glitch, the Selective Service System recently reminded over 14,000 men born between the years of 1893 and 1897 to register for the draft. This was a silly thing to do since the youngest of these men is 117-years-old and surely not battlefield-ready. America! Starting on June 30, a “computer error” caused…

Each of These Images Is Smaller Than the Width of a Human Hair

Oxford scientistsjust revealed a new kind of display technology that can render images smaller than the width of a human hair. The detailed images you see above were rendered on these flexible, nano-pixel displays. Would you believe that each one is smaller than the width of a human hair? And that’s only the beginning. Like…