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This Week’s Top Web Comedy Video: Meet the Band

The bassist! The guitarist! The drummer! The roadie! The… sea captain? Sure, why not! There’s more to a band than just the musicians. Or at least, there should be, as you’ll quickly learn here. The rest of this week’s top web comedy videos, including Guy Talk, Mitt’s Veeps, and J.B. Smoove can be found over…

Tech News Splitsider Jun 29 '12

Can Stereomood, the Emotion-Based Playlister, Make Me Angry?

The details often vary, but most streaming radio apps function in the same general way – cue up an artist station, start giving feedback in the form of “likes” and “dislikes,” and let the app respond by giving you music that fits the profile of what you’ve told it you’re into. The technology behind the…

Tech News Andy Cush - Evolver.fm Jun 29 '12

Microscopic machines could produce medicine directly inside your body

Futurists have long speculated that nanotechnology — the engineering of materials and devices at the molecular scale — will eventually revolutionize virtually every field it touches. While we’re not there yet, we’re reminded every once in a while of the tremendous potential that nanotechnology holds, especially when it comes to medicine. One of these reminders…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 29 '12

A Self-Heating Butter Knife: Genius or Overkill?

At first, I thought that this electric butter knife—which heats itself to an optimum temperature (41 degrees celsius) in under 20 seconds—was nothing more than a frivolous byproduct of first-world culture. But the more I think of my epic struggles with a cold stick of butter sometimes, the more I think I like it. What…

Tech News Adrian Covert Jun 29 '12

My Art Nouveau Vision of George R.R. Martin’s Fiery Sorceress, Melisandre

June is almost over, and when you flip your 2012 A Song of Ice and Fire Calendar to July, you’ll find Melisandre. My artwork for her is the focus of today’s exclusive process feature here at io9. How did the flame-loving sorceress from Asshai become the icon for the hottest month of the year? Read…

Television John Picacio Jun 29 '12

An Amazing 1920s Ghost Hunters Movie, Starring The Wire‘s McNulty

When we first heard about The Awakening, we weren’t that impressed. But then we saw this trailer which features Rebecca Hall running around calling people charlatans and exposing phony ghost seances. It looks amazing, plus Dominic West is in it. Let’s hope he gets drunk and crashes his car into a ghost. Here’s the synopsis:…

Trailers Meredith Woerner Jun 29 '12

Courts Side with Apple to Block Samsung Galaxy Nexus

First the Galaxy Tab 10.1, now the Galaxy Nexus. Apple has, for the second time in two weeks, convinced the court to bar the sale of a competing Samsung product for patent infringement. U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh ruled in favor of Apple late today, granting a preliminary injunction against Samsung’s Google-designed smartphone. Koh…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola Jun 29 '12

Technicolor ferrofluids are a magnetic acid trip

Oil, watercolors and nanoscale iron particles make for some of the most psychedelic imagery this side of an LSD trip — and we’ve got the hi-res macro photographs to prove it. “I really like using scientific phenomena in my work, because every one of us is surrounded by them in our daily lives,” Switzerland-based art…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jun 29 '12

How to Host a Dinner Party In Space

Like any other person, Don Pettit tweets, uploads YouTube videos, and maintains a blog. But unlike the rest of us, Don is doing it from the International Space Station. Blogging for Smithsonian’s Air and Space magazine, Pettit tells us how to host dinner guests in Space. It does not matter that you’ve seen the same…

Space & Spaceflight Don Pettit - Smithsonian Air & Space Jun 29 '12

A Modernist Clock That’s Bad For Telling Time, but Beautiful on Your Wall

Clocks can be so totally boring, but not this one. This sleek, modernist time piece is a beautiful, complex addition to your wall. Designed by Alberto Sala for Progetti, it looks chaotic at first glance. But the comely ticker is really quite easy to follow, with white and red lines leading from numbers spelled out…

Tech News Leslie Horn Jun 29 '12

What’s the future of having multiple personas online?

Everybody’s probably experimented, at one time or another, with creating alternate personas. After all, one of the big promises of the internet was always that you could reinvent yourself — and that different iterations of your “self” could coexist at the same time. The uses for alternate personas are almost as numerous as the number…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jun 29 '12

Swing Table, Bamboo Globe, and More

There are some gorgeous things that made this week’s most beautiful items of the week. Whether it’s stackable dressers, a private island, or a ballon-supported coffee table, there’s a whole buffet for your eyes. This Bamboo Globe Is As Gorgeous As It Wants The Planet to Be https://gizmodo.com/this-bamboo-globe-is-as-gorgeous-as-it-wants-the-planet-5922185 If you want to raise worldwide awareness…

Tech News Leslie Horn Jun 29 '12

Why do humans laugh?

Neuroscientist Sophie Scott explores the neurobiology of laughter in this wonderful short film about perception, communication and cognitive development. We rarely think about it, but laughter — whether it’s a quick smile or an uncontrollable giggle-fit — is tangled up with all of these things. Take a few minutes to enjoy this — it’s remarkable…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jun 29 '12

What’s the Worst Picture of You on Facebook?

For many of us, Facebook was around in college. Which means there are some awful, awful pictures of us circulating on the internet. I’m one of the guiltiest offenders. But that’s all right. Because a lot of these images taken at bad angles, in weird costumes, and blind drunk are great memories and make for…

Social Media Leslie Horn Jun 29 '12

Low-Tech Geohacking Methods that Changed The World

Geohacking may well be the science of the 21st century — with ambitious schemes like turning the Sahara Desert into a forest being bandied about. But we’ve actually been terraforming our own planet for thousands of years — and some of the most low-tech geohacking methods have had the most profound effects on the planet.…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jun 29 '12

The New Essential Apps June 2012

iPhones. iPads. Android. We’ve updated all of our essential apps lists to include a few forgotten favorites, some long awaited arrivals and, as always, even more amazing apps. Check them out! If you want to jump to see the best apps in a specific platform, click here: iPhone | Android | iPad The Best iPhone…

Tech News Leslie Horn Jun 29 '12

After you’ve defeated the alien invaders, the hard part begins

In “Sovereign,” the final act of Mac Rogers’ epic alien-bugs vs. humanity Honeycomb Trilogy of plays, we learn that rebuilding the world from the ashes is much harder than leading the resistance. What happens after you’ve won the battle for the post-apocalypse? I was thrilled by the trilogy’s middle chapter, “Blast Radius,” a production that…

io9 Kaila Hale-Stern Jun 29 '12

Does Microsoft Even Need Hardware Partners for Windows 8 Tablets?

If you missed the news, HP will not be making any tablets that only run the WinRT (aka Metro) part of Windows 8. It says the decision came before the unveiling of Microsoft’s Surface tablet, but others say HP decided against it because it was miffed that Microsoft decided to compete with its own partners.…

Tech News Adrian Covert Jun 29 '12

A bizarre student film about the hidden number that exists between 3 and 4

This is The Secret Number, a psychological drama by filmmakers at the Savannah College of Art and Design. This film delves into a trippy topic — that is, a mathematician who believes he’s discovered an integer (“bleem”) between three and four that humans have yet to comprehend. It’s some enjoyably mind-warping stuff — here’s the…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar Jun 29 '12

Deep sea ‘zombie worms’ consume bone by drilling with acid

Earlier this month we reported on the discovery of ‘phlegmy’ worms that feed on the bones of dead sea creatures. The biggest question? Exactly how they were able to accomplish this feat, given that they have no mouths or stomachs. But now there’s a new clue to this maritime mystery: They’re drilling through bone, using…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 29 '12

This Week’s Top Web Comedy Video: Meet the Band

Can Stereomood, the Emotion-Based Playlister, Make Me Angry?

Microscopic machines could produce medicine directly inside your body

A Self-Heating Butter Knife: Genius or Overkill?

My Art Nouveau Vision of George R.R. Martin’s Fiery Sorceress, Melisandre

An Amazing 1920s Ghost Hunters Movie, Starring The Wire‘s McNulty

Courts Side with Apple to Block Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Technicolor ferrofluids are a magnetic acid trip

How to Host a Dinner Party In Space

A Modernist Clock That’s Bad For Telling Time, but Beautiful on Your Wall

What’s the future of having multiple personas online?

Swing Table, Bamboo Globe, and More

Why do humans laugh?

What’s the Worst Picture of You on Facebook?

Low-Tech Geohacking Methods that Changed The World

The New Essential Apps June 2012

After you’ve defeated the alien invaders, the hard part begins

Does Microsoft Even Need Hardware Partners for Windows 8 Tablets?

A bizarre student film about the hidden number that exists between 3 and 4

Deep sea ‘zombie worms’ consume bone by drilling with acid

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