Kate Knibbs

Snowpiercer Is Out On Demand Today, Just Weeks After Hitting Theaters

Snowpiercer looks like a badass movie. Like if Blade Runner had sex with Speed. The sci-fi film has great reviews, an intriguing plot about hardscrabble future people engaging in class warfare on a really fast cold-weather train, and Tilda Swinton. But with a limited theatrical release, it hasn’t been very easy to see. That’s about…

Behold the All Time Best/Worst Movie About the Internet

There are many movies about the internet. Some are good. Some are bad. And now comedian Nathan Fielder has made a movie about the internet so bad that it is the best. Unfortunately, it’s not quite real. But the part of it that exists is great. On Comedy Central’s Nathan For You, Fielder hand-holds small…

Orphan Black Got Stiffed At The Emmys, But You Should Still Watch It

The 2014 Emmy Award nominations came out today, and fans of BBC America’s Orphan Black were understandably upset when lead actress Tatiana Maslany didn’t get nominated. Maslany, after all, plays seven distinct characters on the thrilling, original, weird clone drama. I started watching Orphan Black last week after friends recommended it, and I can see…

FTC: Amazon Billed Parents Millions for Kids’ Unauthorized App Buys

The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Amazon demanding refunds for parents billed for millions of dollars in app purchases. The FTC alleges that Amazon profited from charging parents for unauthorized in-app purchases their children made. If the FTC wins its lawsuit, Amazon will have to refund the money it made. It would…

Screw It, The Song of Summer for 2014 Is the Song of Summer from 2004

It is July 9, which means we’re entering Deep Summer. This is mosquito season. Barbecue season. Our jeans have been jorted and our coffees have ice in them. We should have a definitive Song of Summer by this point. Yet we do not. The default frontrunner is the irritating/overdone “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea, and we…

These Smart Appliances Could Power Your Future Home

Electrolux is known for its bold and sometimes ridiculous concepts, and the Swedish appliance manufacturer holds a contest every year to encourage young designers to submit their innovative/cockamamie ideas. And this year’s finalists? Well, they’re just as bonkers as you’d expect. This year, the focus of the competition was food enjoyment, air purification, and fabric…

The Best (And Worst) Famous Works of Art You Can 3D-Print At Home

Last month, Scott Kildall and Bryan Cera published a 3D digital model of artist Marcel Duchamp’s chess kit. The original, hand-carved by Duchamp, is gone—but now anyone with a 3D printer can recreate the artist’s kings and rooks at home. As it turns out, this is far from the only piece of great art you…

Amazon Is Baiting Hachette Authors With 100 Percent Profits

Amazon and publishing company Hachette remain in negotiations after a very public brawl over ebook pricing, and Amazon’s pulling out some down and dirty trick to win its battle, including jacking up Hachette book prices. Amazon’s latest gambit is more carrot than stick: Amazon executive David Naggar sent a letter to a number of Hachette…

“I Was Terrified:” The World’s Tallest Waterslide’s Engineer Fesses Up

The world’s tallest water slide is located at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, and also in my nightmares. It’s called Verrückt—which means “insane” in German—with good reason: At 168 feet and 7 inches, it’s taller than the Statue of Liberty, Niagara Falls, and 23 Shaquille O’Neals stacked on top of each other. We…

Hard Drive-Sniffing Police Dogs Are Helping Hunt Down Child Porn Fiends

Police departments have long used dogs in their work, training canine squads to detect bombs and drugs. The Connecticut State Police have recently trained dogs to sniff out electronics as part of a new strategy to go after child pornographers. Dogs are pretty bad at a lot of stuff. Ask a dog to do math,…

Be a Patriot: Rewatch Independence Day This Fourth of July Weekend

It is America’s birthday party and you should probably be standing in a backyard, eating a hot dog and drinking a shandy, looking at a flag if not actively waving one, as expensive fireworks crackle in the distance and strains of Bruce Springsteen play through your neighbor’s ostentatiously expensive new stereo system. But you are…

These Paper Models of Microbes and Cells Are Beautiful

Some artists find inspiration from the grand and vast, painting galaxies and taking photos of expansive landscapes. ButRogan Brown finds his inspiration through a microscope, focusing on the infinite mystery of nature’s smallest parts. Brown’s latest piece, Outbreak, is a series of hand-cut paper sculptures in transparent domes, depicting neurons, pathogens, cells, and microbes, a…

Raspberry Pi Has a Tiny $45 PC Competitor

The Hummingboard, a personal ARM computer the size of a mouse, is available for pre-order today, starting at $45 from SolidRun. It looks like a toy for a child with small, delicate hands, but it’s really a toy for adults of all hand sizes who like to rig up their own media centers. Finally, Raspberry…

This Clever App Turns Your Chromecast Into a Bootleg Wii

Chromecast’s new mirroring feature lets users pull up an Android phone screen onto a TV. And why would you want to put your little screen on your bigger screen? If game maker Rolocule has its way, to play Nintendo Wii-like games without bothering with a console. Rolocule has introduced its Motion Tennis to the Googlesphere.…

Silk Road Bitcoin Auctioned Off to Guy Who Wants to Split Up California

When the FBI shut down illegal online marketplace the Silk Road, it seized a stash of 30,000 Bitcoin from the underground website and announced plans to auction the supply off. This week, venture capitalist and would-be California-splitter-upper Tim Draper won all of it, gaining an estimated $17.7 million in illicit cryptocurrency. To qualify for the…

FTC: T-Mobile Took Hundreds of Millions of Bogus Charges on Phone Bills

The Federal Trade Commission has accused T-Mobile of placing hundreds of millions of dollars of bogus charges onto its customers’ phone bills. The FTC alleges T-Mobile engaged in a shady practice known as “third party billing,” or “cramming.” Customers would get charged from shifty “premium texting” third party services, like the kinds that send horoscopes…

Stealing My Brother’s Walkman

The Walkman turns 35 today. If you own one still, it is probably dusty, and maybe moldy, and definitely gross and old. But for a while, a Walkman was the thing. Especially in my house. When I was young I wanted nothing to do with a Walkman. At 10-years-old I wanted what every other kid…

The Bricks That Built This Tower Were Grown From Fungus

It looks like an illustration from a Dr. Seuss book, but the circular tower made of leftover cornhusks and fungus strings in the courtyard of the Museum of Modern Art’s P.S.1 building in Queens is as practical as it is whimsical. As part of MoMA’s Young Architects program, Brooklyn firm The Living designed the outdoor…

Yo, Hodor App Is Very Hodor

Already bored with Yo but eager to experiment with a copycat app using the popularity of a prestige drama as its hook? Then you’ll love Yo, Hodor, the Game of Thrones-themed parody of the single-word novelty app. It’s the same thing as Yo except you send the word “Hodor” to your friends instead of the…

Google will shut down Orkut on September 30. If you’re wondering what Orkut is, you’re probably not in Rio de Janeiro: Orkut was Google’s first attempt at a social network, ignored by everyone but a surprisingly fervent sector of Brazilians. Orkut users will be able to export their photo albums to Google+.