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Why Is It So Hard For Robots to Pick Up Fruit?

Sure, this new fruit-handling robot looks cool, but what can one do with a fruit-handling robot, really? Maybe not much right now—but figuring out how to let robots pick up fruit has some interesting potential. Farming has become more and more automated, at almost every possible entry point. And yet, still, there are parts that…

Jeb Bush: A Moon Colony Would Be “Pretty Cool”

During campaign stops this week, Jeb Bush proclaimed his zeal for space exploration, defending Newt Gingrich’s widely mocked plan to colonize the moon. While it’s fun to see a candidate come out in favor of space, don’t get too excited. According to The New York Times’ Matt Flegenheimer, Bush was asked at a town hall…

A look into how restaurant napkins are made

The very best thing about dining fine at fancy restaurants is getting treated like royalty with the impeccable service. The second best thing about eating at a nice place is that you get to wipe your mouth with napkins that are perfectly threaded to wipe away mess and so luxurious that you feel guilty your…

Grab a drink and sit by me: A Disney’s Descendants sequel is officially in the works. And thankfully(?) the writers of the first one will back. [Deadline]

Bask In The Gothic Glory Of This Amazing First Look At Crimson Peak: The Art Of Darkness

Guillermo Del Toro’s Crimson Peak is just jam packed with amazing visuals. If you want a look at some of that stunning imagery close up, you’re in luck: Crimson Peak: The Art of Darkness is out this week, and we’re exclusively revealing some gorgeous pictures from it—well as giving away a copy signed by Del…

If You’re Going to Call This a Hoverboard At Least Have The Decency to Make It One Word

We may not have real hoverboards yet. But if you’re going to call these things hoverboards, at least have the goddamn common decency to make it one word. It’s not a “hover board” it’s a hoverboard, for fuck’s sake. Also, Swagway should probably be two words. But that’s just the humble opinion of a lone…

Unsurprisingly, The Ratchet & Clank Movie Looks A Lot Like The Ratchet & Clank Games

One repeated bit of praise for the cartoon sci-fi platforming game series Ratchet & Clank was that they (almost) looked like animated movies that you could actually play. So it’s no surprise that when you take the franchise and turn it into a movie, it already looks pretty damn fun. The irreverent series follows the…

I Pay For Cable TV, and Don’t Care Who Knows It

I turn 30 this month, and it feels like I am one of the few people my age who watches cable TV and is willing to pay for it. Truth is, I hate watching shows on my computer—or worse, my phone. Give me new episodes in real-time, on a real TV. I know I’m on…

We’re One Step Closer To Creating Artificial Skin With a Sense of Touch

Cutting-edge prosthesis are amazing, but they lack one very important feature: a sense of touch. Now a research team from Stanford University has developed artificial skin that can sense force exerted by objects—and then transmit those sensory signals to brain cells. Inadequate sensory feedback is a serious limitation of current prosthetic limbs, whether they be…

When Is It Time to Let Your Main Characters Go?

Long-running series have an aversion to change. Which makes sense, since it’s hard to ditch the actors and plots that were working. But it is important to see the signs that they aren’t working anymore. There are times when a character’s arc has come to an end. They’ve served their plot purpose and now it’s…

Chromecast Audio Review: A Cheap Way to Teach Your Old Speakers New, Wireless Tricks

In 2013, Chromecast was a revelation. For $35 you could transport virtually anything you could watch on a computer or phone to a television. Easy! Chromecast Audio performs a parallel magic trick for audio and speakers. It’s a similar tech magic trick that’s lost its shock and awe. What Is It? A little $35 dongle…

Watch A Great White Shark Jump A Seal In San Francisco

This happened just off the dock for the Alcatraz Island ferry in downtown San Francisco. Waters surrounding the city are some of the most great white infested in the world. And below is another video of the aftermath, possibly containing the greatest narration ever delivered by a child, “This is the best thing I’ve ever…

The Futuristic Bridge Rolls-Royce Designed For Its New Ships Looks Like a Spacecraft Cockpit 

Norwegian shipping company Simon Møkster Shipping got a brand new offshore platform supply vessel back in August. That might not mean anything to you, but the ship’s bridge is the first to tout a new type of ergonomic design created Rolls-Royce–and it looks like an amazing place to work. The ship, named Stril Luna, was…

Video: The red hot burn that is testing F1 brakes

Hot, hot, hot. That’s what happens when something—like say, the wheel of an F1 car—is spinning so impossibly fast and then gets immediately clamped down by the brakes. It glows and pulsates a wonderful orange that looks like molten steel. This footage from Brembo testing their brakes shows how it all happens. SPLOID is delicious…

Dropbox Wants To Take On Google Docs… Good Luck!

You probably know Dropbox for one thing, and one thing only: storing shit. Maybe you’ve used its acquired Mailbox app or even Carousel, but storing photos, videos, spreadsheets, or other digital ephemera is what Dropbox is known for. Now the company wants to expand — into Google Docs territory. Dropbox is rolling out an online…

10 of the Scariest Ongoing Horror Comics You Should Absolutely Read This Month

It’s October, the universally-recognized month of all things scary. But while there are perennial books like The Walking Dead out there, as you count down to Halloween, you’ll need a lot of entertaining reading material to keep your spine thoroughly chilled. So why not sit down and spook yourself with some of the best horror…

Shooting Challenge: Wheels

It’s one of the six simple machines, and quite definitely the most important invention of all time (because c’mon, fire so doesn’t count). It’s the wheel. And for this week’s Shooting Challenge, let’s pay it a worthy tribute. The Challenge Take a photograph of a wheel—any wheel you spot in the environment. The Method So…

Star Wars Completists Will Want To Add Luke’s Lost Hand To Their Collections

Some Star Wars collectors only hunt down the figures for characters they like, while others strictly go after the rare finds. But for those who consider themselves completists, and want the action figure for every last character in their collection, Luke’s severed hand is finally up for grabs. After Darth Vader cuts off Luke’s hand…

How a Former Video Game Designer Created the Best Intersection For Bikes

Riding through a city on a bike lane that’s separated from cars feels great. But when you roll up to a light, the infrastructure often vanishes, leaving you feeling vulnerable as you cross busy lanes of traffic. Now a new type of intersection might keep cyclists safer and more visible. And it was created by…

Everything That Could go Wrong for Hayabusa Did, and Yet it Still Succeeded

Just about everything that could go wrong happened to the Hayabusa mission, yet it still made it back to Earth while carefully protecting 1,500 precious samples from asteroid Itokawa’s surface. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched the Hayabusa on May 9, 2003. It landed on the asteroid’s surface on November 25 and 27, 2005, and…