Andrew Tarantola

LED Tubes Will Make Fluorescents Seem Old-Fashioned

Cree, front-runners in the scramble to replace traditional forms of illumination with greener LED sources, has just announced the release of a new type of tube light designed to tackle one of the biggest energy hogs in Corporate America: fluorescent overhead lights. The new Cree T8 bulb looks very much like the traditional T-8 fluorescent…

How to Set Up a Remote Desktop and Control Your Computer from Anywhere

Desktop computers aren’t just antiquated behemoths quietly gathering dust in your parent’s house. They also offer an often overlooked processing resource for mobile users and a viable alternative to cloud-based storage. All you need is a means of accessing it remotely. For three of the most common consumer operating systems—Windows, Mac, and Chrome—the initial setup…

Further Proof that Kanye Makes Everything Better (or Maybe Worse)

The formula is simple: take one or more already successful intellectual properties, shamelessly rip off some sick beats remix the soundtrack using an existing Kanye West joint, then just sit back and wait for the shitstorm of Kanye fanbois and haters to eviscerate one another’s musical tastes in the discussion section. Hairless cats and maniacal…

The Carl-Gustaf Looks Like a Bazooka But Shoots Like a Rifle

Sometimes, small arms fire just doesn’t cut it. So when special forces teams around the world need more long-range, tank-stopping punch than a conventional bazooka or panzerschreck can deliver, they give Carl a call. The M3 Carl Gustaf Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon System (MAAWS) is a shoulder fired, recoilless rifle—yes it’s a rifle—originally devised by…

This Second Life Ballet Is the Geocities of Digital Erotica (NSFW)

So many avatars. Such nakedness and stark beauty. Wow, and this goes on for nearly 10 minutes. Who does that, who has time?

They may seem photoshopped, but these two F-15 Eagles are real

Rich Cooper took this impressive photo of two American F-15s flying over the Baltic. With diplomatic tensions reaching a fevered pitch and Russian military actions becoming more aggressive, NATO is increasing its presence in the Baltic, Poland and other member nations bordering with Russia. See, the job of defending the airspace of Lithuania, Latvia, and…

The Antarctic Neutrino Camera Is About to Get Much, Much Bigger

The University of Wisconsin’s IceCube neutrino detection system has been quietly operating amid Antarctica’s barren tundra for more than four years now. In that time, the fledgling detector has captured more than 100 cosmic neutrinos, many of which originated far outside our Milky Way galaxy. And if project leaders get their way, its imaging quality…

Adorable Stop Motion Man Discovers Life on Mars

Because, really, who among us hasn’t come home from a grueling day at the office to find a magical miniature man made of aluminum foil sitting in the living room, watching classic films and listening to a bit of Bowie? What, seriously, just me? Animator Austin Harvey Stock put this interesting piece together back in…

What It Will Take to Farm Sunlight from Space

Whether they’re producing voltage directly from solar rays or focusing them to melt salt like Ivanpah, even Earth’s biggest and baddest solar power plants are hamstrung by all this damnable atmosphere getting in the way. But a new kind of off-world solar energy plant could soon provide the whole planet with plenty of power—we just…

Saturn’s rings contain soaring towers of ice

Here’s something you don’t see everyday—or even every 15 years for that matter. These towering structures of ice and rock on the edge of Saturn’s middle rings are an incredible and rarely-captured sight visible only during the planet’s equinox. These structures rise as far as 1.6 miles out of the edge of Saturn’s B ring,…

Scientists Discovered the Egyptian Secret to Moving Huge Pyramid Stones

The question of just how an ancient civilization—without the help of modern technology—moved the 2.5 ton stones that made up their famed pyramids has long plagued Egyptologists and mechanical engineers alike. But now, a team from the University of Amsterdam believes they’ve figured it out, even though the solution was staring them in the face…

This Floating Lab Can Sequence DNA in Real Time, Anywhere in the World

Until now, sequencing the genomes of many marine animal species has been all but impossible, what with the need to transport delicate specimens thousands of miles back to a terrestrial laboratory. But thanks to this mobile genomics lab created by the University of Florida, researchers will be able to run a specimen’s DNA without returning…

The Squishy Side of Vigilante Justice Is Still No Place for Kids

If you thought The Raid was a white-knuckle thrill ride, just wait until the fur starts to fly in The Mega Plush II (The Stuffening?). Armed with nothing but his blades and the reflexes of a jungle cat, Mega Tiger decimates a corrupt SOC monkey hit squad faster than Sly Stallone can mumble “Why no…

The Davy Crockett Tac-Nuke: King of the Wild Cold War Frontier

There was a time when the U.S. Army foresaw the need to launch more than 400 nuclear weapons in a single day should Soviet Russia attempt to invade Western Europe at the height of the Cold War. It was with this doomsday scenario in mind that army researchers developed a recoilless, truck-mounted rifle capable of…

Google Field Trip, the company’s hyperlocal recommendation engine for nearby sights and destinations, has found a new home in Google Glass. Users simply say, “OK Google, explore nearby” to pull up information about the area around them—from history to art to food. Hopefully without getting punched in the face.

Why You Should Always Bring a Spare Rocket When Exploring the Cosmos

One extraterrestrial explorer gets more than he planned for when an accidental fall into a black hole becomes a time-shifting trip through the dimensional looking glass. Pretty sure his head always looked like a pencil eraser though.

The Giant Sparking Globes that Dominate Boston’s Museum of Science

Visitors to the Museum of Science in Boston are always in for a hair-raising treat when they enter the facility’s Theater of Electricity. This small amphitheater is actually the permanent home of the largest air-insulated Van de Graaff generator on the planet—a pair of 40-foot high spheres crackling with up to 5,000,000 volts of electricity.…

How to Enjoy Nature Without Getting Yourself Eaten

Ah, the great outdoors, how I loathe thee. What with all that sunshine, fresh air, and hordes of ravenous apex predators lurking around every trail bend. But if you do insist on communing with Mother Nature, here’s what you need to know to keep from becoming a part of the food chain. Surviving a Cougar…

The Thinkings You Think Must Not Be Thought (NSFW)

A short animated film about boobs. And sex. And happiness and life and the unbearable amounts of soul-crushing stress that all these wonderful things will cause you.

The Raid: A Bloody Romp through Jakarta’s Deadliest High Rise (NSFW)

While American audiences must endure summer snoozefests starring ’80s action heros rehashing their glory days, a number of East Asian studios are filling the void with a graphic reimagining of the genre. The bloody jewel atop this brutal cinematic crown is Merantu Film’s The Raid: Redemption. It’s Old Boy meets Man from Nowhere times a…