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An R2-D2 Airplane, and Everything Else You Missed Yesterday

R2-D2 soars to the skies, Instagram takes off the kid gloves, and the US Navy goes full autonomous. Bitstream is all the news and rumors you missed in the past 24 hours. Have you had enough Star Wars in the last 24 hours? The correct answer is no! Go watch the new trailer a dozen…

New Geo-Inference Attack Uses Browser Cache to Identify Your Location

Who knows where you are? According to a team of researchers from the National University of Singapore many websites could—using what they call a “geo-inference attack” to identify your location In what the researchers describe as a “new attack” with a “big impact” to the Daily Dot, such attacks can mine your browser cache to…

Should Professions Like Pilots Have Less Medical Privacy?

Since it was revealed that Andreas Lubitz – the co-pilot who purposefully crashed Germanwings Flight 9525, killing 150 people – had been treated for psychiatric illness, a debate has ensued over whether privacy laws regarding medical records should be less strict when it comes to professions that carry special responsibilities. It has been widely argued…

Daredevil bikes somehow ride themselves in this visually stunning video

This neat commercial for Cycling Canada—an organization for the promotion of cycling in Canada—shows a bunch of bikes riding themselves and having fun. The cyclist-less bikes appear drifting on dirt roads, descending mountains full speed, and zooming across the city. The commercial was made by director Mark Zibert and the effects house Alter Ego. They…

This Little Device Turns Your Thumb Nail Into a Track Pad

Sometimes your hands are completely tied up when you need to use a device the most—so even gesture recognition is no use, let alone a touchscreen. MIT’s latest input device though, which turns your thumbnail into a track pad, could help. NailO is inspired, apparently, by decorative nail stickers—but it seems a little more useful…

Today, We Are All a Dog Letting a Door Hit Him In the Head Repeatedly

Forget an exhausting week, this has been an exhausting day. We all just want to collapse into a nice spot and sleep. What’s that? There’s an automatic door here? Whatever. I’ll wait it out. [via Tastefully Offensive]

This Is Ceres’ North Pole

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has spent a month in the shadow of Ceres. But now, the highest resolution images of the dwarf planet to date reveal its north pole. The images, acquired by NASA on April 10th, were captured from a distance of 21,000 miles above the surface of the planet. While future images will show…

What You Need to Know If You’re Going to Record the Cops

There are some very disturbing videos circulating the Internet right now, depicting the deaths of unarmed civilians at the hands of trained, armed men. Many of these videos even show individuals being shot in the back, or as they try to flee. These are videos of police officers in America killing unarmed black men like…

NBC Has Un-Canceled Its Never-Made Wizard of Oz Series

After ordering ten-episodes of a modern take on The Wizard of Oz, then canceling the show, NBC has re-ordered and un-canceled Emerald City. Dorothy got home easier than this show got on the air. The show stalled when executive producer and writer Josh Friedman (The Sarah Connor Chronicles) left due to the usual creative differences.…

How Cell Phones Work (By a Non-Engineer)

“Once your voice is translated, the zeroes and ones literally fly through the air until they reach a cell tower… Now, the code gets translated into electric charges which run from one cell tower to another in tubes filled with stuff that does that kind of thing.” All sounds pretty plausible, right? [Doghouse Diaries]

US Navy Secretary Wants to Stop Using Fighter Pilots in Favor of Drones

Manned fighter jets may have a limited future. The secretary of the US Navy has announced that the new F-35 Lightning II “should be, and almost certainly will be, the last manned strike fighter aircraft the Department of the Navy will ever buy or fly.” The Register reports that the Navy’s secretary Ray Mabus made…

In 2013, George Kourounis became the first person to travel into Turkmenistan’s “Door to Hell.” The Darvaza Crater is a manmade burning sinkhole of gas which has burned for 40 years. See images of his descent atScribol.

Everybody Hates Superman in the First Batman v Superman Trailer

The first Batman v Superman trailer arrived a few days before it was set to premiere at a special IMAX event on Monday. And what we get seems to be an all-fronts attack on Superman from the press right on to an eye-glowing, voice-growling Batman. UPDATED with official HD trailer. Feel free to spend the…

A Geeky Good Cause: Help 3-D Print Prosthetic Arms For People In Need

Penguicon is a convention dedicated to science fiction and open-source software, happening the weekend after next. And this year, the convention is supporting a really worthy cause: Enabling the Future, a charity that aims to 3-D print arms for people who need one. The video above shows a cute volunteer testing out a 3-D printed…

Leaked Barge Video Reminds SpaceX How Close To Perfect The Landing Was

By now, you’ve probably heard that SpaceX’s third attempt at landing a rocket on a drone barge met the same watery fate as numbers one and two. And, you’ve probably seen the long-distance video of the landing attempt. But to rub just a little more salt in Elon Musk’s wound, here’s the leaked video shot…

Gamera Has Never Looked More Badass Than He Does In This Stunning Art

He may not be as famous as Godzilla, but Gamera is still one of the most awesome creatures ever created. And he’s celebrating his 50th anniversary this month. To celebrate, Famous Monsters Magazine crafted a new cover by award-winning artist Bob Eggleton. See the whole thing below. The new issue of FM has a whole…

The Massive Proving Ground Where Extraordinary New Trains Are Tested

General Electric’s development team just completed a year of field-testing for the new Evolution Series Tier 4 locomotive. Some of the tests took place at the Federal Railroad Administration’s high-altitude testing circuit near Pueblo, Colorado at an elevation of 5,000 feet. These photographs capture the train’s grueling journey. This harsh desert testing ground is considered…

What Happens To Someone Standing Next To Plutonium That Goes Critical?

A horrible accident at Los Alamos in 1958 illustrates what happens to a person’s body when they stand next to plutonium during a chain reaction. Cecil Kelley was an experienced and knowledgeable lab technician. This is one of the reasons why what happened to him is so inexplicable. He was sifting traces of plutonium from…

The Forgotten Reason Why Alien Is Such A Classic Movie

What makes Alien such a classic? Is it the iconic monsters? The story? The way it was shot? Sure, it’s all of those. But there’s also another reason it became a classic in the ’70s — and it’s not one of the reasons we still think of today. In response to this piece on surprising…

Astronomers Are Furious About the Roomba Lawnmower

I know, right? What could the makers of Roomba and astronomers possibly be arguing over? This is the story of how an obscure slice of the electromagnetic spectrum become the object of one bitter fight. iRobot, the company behind the Roomba, has been looking to bring its little robot technology to the outdoors, according to…