Eric Limer

A Whole Ton of Megaupload Data Just Got Obliterated

If you had your heart set on getting back some of the data you had stored on Megaupload, now would be a good time to stop hoping. According to Kim Dotcom, petabytes of user data have already been deleted off old Megaupload servers. Thousands of pirated movies cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.…

3D Printing Graduates from Plastic Chunks to Incredible Micro-Batteries

3D printing is great for building lifeless husks out of plastic, but soon we’ll be able to start printing guts as well. Scientists have figured out how to coax a fully functioning lithium-ion battery out of nothing but some paste, and those small batteries could have big applications. Developed by researchers from Harvard and the…

The Periodic Table of Muppets Brings Order to Wocka Wocka

Not everybody’s into chemistry but you have to be a special kind of insane to not have a fondness for the Muppets. This periodic table of Muppetry is a wonderfully organized and colorful take on the history of the form than anyone (with a soul) can appreciate, chem-geek or not. Designed by Mike BaBoon, the…

Every Child Millionaire Needs To Own a Pedal-Porsche

Power Wheels? Yeah right. The real upper-class twerps set their sights a little higher, and pester hedge-fund manager parents for something along this lines of this kids-only Porsche. “It’s oooooonly $900. Pretty please?” The deceptively named “Porsche Driver’s Selection Go-Kart” is of the pedal-powered variety, and is actually a bit late to the high-class pedal-powered…

NSA Whistleblower: “Truth Is Coming, and It Cannot Be Stopped”

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is one of the most wanted men on the planet, both by folks that want him to spill more beans, the powerful people who want him to stop. Today, he granted the Guardian an exclusive Q&A, and he’s already making it clear that this whistle-blowing won’t end with him. In response…

The Massive Facial Recognition Database That’s Hiding in Plain Sight

It’s only natural to be a little skeeved out by the idea that the government is slurping up your private data behind the scenes, but there’s a very public piece of your data being collected as well: the look on your face. There’s already a national database of over 120 million faces, and the Washington…

The Old-School Tech from the NSA’s Past

The NSA’s high-tech, new school surveillance system has been getting a whole lot of attention lately, but their old-school digs are worth a look as well. The agency has been around since the 1950s, originally tasked with cracking wartime codes, the NSA’s gear has always been cutting edge, and the old stuff is amazing and…

Pavement: The Sutcliffe Catering Song

The days are getting longer, the weather’s getting warmer. It’s this time of year that anyone and everyone could use some killer strollin’ music to strut to. Might I suggest the hidden Pavement not-exactly-a-classic-but-damn-well-should-be “The Sutcliffe Catering Song”? You just have to like it. The final track off the second disc of the enhanced version…

The Ballpoint Pen Turns 75 Years Old Today

You’ve probably never used a fountain pen, or accidentally spilled a jar of refil ink and ruined your favorite pants. And for that, you have the ballpoint pen to thank. The handy gadget is having its 75th birthday today, so go sign away your rights to something to celebrate! Back in 1888, a guy by…

Scientists Have Found the Ancient Secret of Indestructible Concrete

For the most part, we humans are better at things than we were thousands of years ago. But there are some things the ancients had down pat. Roman concrete, for instance, is just way better than anything we can whip up today. Finally, after some 2,000 years, modern-day scientists have figured it out. And it’s…

Great news: half our senators skipped out on a briefing about NSA snooping so they could get home sooner!

Oh God, What’s a Good Last-Second Gift for a Dad?

Well, tomorrow’s Father’s Day and while it’s almost too late to get a gift, it’s not late enough to brush it off entirely without at least spending a minute or two trying to come up with something quick. Whaddoya got? Last year we hit you with a list of last-minute winners, but we’re always game…

Watch One of Cinema’s Wildest Drug Trips in a Minute of Crazy Animation

The folks at 1A4STUDIO have hit most of the main sci-milestones with their animation distillation, like A New Hope, The Matrix, Back to the Future, and Aliens. But now they’re tackling a whole different kind of weird. Behold, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in just 60 seconds of chaos. https://gizmodo.com/watch-star-wars-episode-iv-distilled-down-to-60-awesom-5995140 Finally, a chance to…

Everything Shown at WWDC, The DRM-Free PS4, Flat-tastic iOS 7 and More

There are big weeks, and then there are huge weeks. This week was both, times two. WWDC brought us a new OS X, a new iOS, and a new Mac Pro, and E3 brought us all the details on the next generation of gaming. Between the two, we’ve got a lot to cover, but you’ll…

Airborne Laser Scans Just Uncovered a City Lost for a Millenium

Forget trowels and tiny little brushes. The new must-have tool for archaeology is lasers. Just last month, researchers in the Honduran rainforest used them to find a lost city of gold, and now archaeologists in Cambodia have found a forgotten city that’s even older. Welcome to Mahendraparvata, a metropolis unknown for the past millenium. https://gizmodo.com/how-lasers-may-have-revealed-a-legendary-lost-city-of-g-507460219…

Sharing Your Web Browser with Random Strangers Is Horrible and Awesome

You’re never really alone on the Internet. Chances are if you’re on a webpage, someone else is there too; you just don’t see them. It doesn’t have to be that way though. “We See in Every Direction” is a web browser you can share with dozens of other Internet denizens all at once. It is…

Meet the Crazy Army of Space-Cameras Curiosity Brought to Mars

Mars rover Curiosity has doubtlessly been doing a whole lot of important science up there on the red planet, but it’s also been sending back a ton of pictures to keep us simpler, non-scientist folks amused by all the pretty colors red. But what kind of cameras does that thing have anyways? JPL explains. Curiosity…

Watch Fake Telekinesis Make Mind-Controlled Water

Telekinesis isn’t real, but you can fake it if you really put your mind to it. Conceptual artist Lisa Park did just that and surrounded herself with vibrating pools of her own brainwaves. But her final trick, total brain silence, turned out to be just a little too hard to fake. For her performance art…

The Good News About Xbox One That Microsoft Brushed Right Over

E3 is over, but that doesn’t mean the fun has to stop. An internal, seemingly official Microsoft PR document about the Xbox One just leaked out, but it’s not full of horrible secrets, or general shadiness. Nope, it’s actually full of good news that Microsoft just didn’t bother to stress. With gamers up in arms…

First Active Noise-Canceling Computer Fan Will Finally Shut Your Computer Up

If you’ve got a powerful desktop, it probably sounds like a jet engine. You could opt for watercooling, but if you stick with fans you’re out of luck. They’re just loud. Until you bolt on some active noise canceling. Produced by enthusiast CPU-cooler pros, Noctua, with some help from RotoSub, the cooling unit is only…