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I Used the New 3DS On a Train and Didn’t Want to Throw Up

Years ago, I mastered the art of playing Nintendo 3DS—finding and holding my head in the perfect position to peer through the console’s 3D parallax barrier display and drink in its stereoscopic worlds. I’m so proud of this skill that I even use it to inflate my ego: yes, I am the best at looking…

Fran Kranz Takes On Oberyn Martell In The Bloodsucking Bastards

Cabin in the Woods’ Fran Kranz as a soulless office drone? Check. Game of Thrones’ Pedro Pascal as evil middle-management? Check. Here’s the first trailer for Bloodsucking Bastards, an Office Space meets Fright Night movie where Kranz and his co-workers realize their bosses aren’t just assholes, they’re vampires. Hmm. The trailer is definitely solid, although…

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Is Now He-Who-Must-Be-Added-To-Your-Collection

We’re all happy that Harry Potter and friends were able to defeat Voldemort and his minions at the end of all those books, but deep down who of us wasn’t rooting for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named just a little bit? And although he was ultimately defeated, at least there’s now this sixth-scale wonderfully-detailed Voldemort figure from Star Ace…

Read the Web Hands-Free with These Automatic Scrolling Tools

You’ve got a coffee in one hand, a mobile phone in the other—who’s got the fingers free to actually scroll down a web page manually? Not us, so we’ve rounded up the best browser extensions and plug-ins that can help provide a solution. Sit back, relax, and let your favorite sites flow before your eyes…

The 2015 Oscar Nominations Have A Lot Of Good And A Lot Of Bad

The 2015 Academy Award nominations are out, and they are actually pretty surprising. How the hell did The Lego Movie not get best animated feature? Meanwhile, Birdman is cleaning house with nine nominations, while it looks like Selma got the big snub. I’m equally surprised the Birdman score wasn’t nominated for an Oscar (although I…

The Alaskan Town Living Under One Roof

An impossibly long, single-lane tunnel is your only way into Whittier, and your only way out. Make it to the other end of those dimly lit miles, and you’ll find all the ingredients of a city. Except instead of a sprawling, urban center, this town has been scaled to fit almost entirely into one lonely…

Which Real Historical Figure’s Life Do You Most Want To See On Screen?

Our movie theaters and television screens have been filled with real historical figures (or at least characters who share their name and a couple of loosely related characteristics) lately. But whose life do you most want to see (accurately!) unfold on screen? Would you pick someone from long, long ago whose life held little in…

Verizon Won’t Stop Using the Tracking Cookie That You Can’t Kill

An online advertising clearinghouse relied on by Google, Yahoo and Facebook is using controversial cookies that come back from the dead to track the web surfing of Verizon customers. The company, called Turn, is taking advantage of a hidden undeletable number that Verizon uses to monitor customers’ habits on their smartphones and tablets. Turn uses…

This Adidas short film is made of pure visual pleasure

This beautiful Adidas’ commercial directed by Karim Huu Do—featuring Pharrell Williams, David Beckham, Rita Ora and Damian Lillard—questions what a superstar really is. So we have to buy their shoes I guess? Ah, leave the shoes, take the canoli. Who cares. It’s a pleasure to watch. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook…

Record-Breaking Sperm Storage In Sharks Explains This “Virgin Birth”

Back in 2012, a baby brownbanded bamboo shark was born in tank even though the mother hadn’t been exposed to a male for 45 months. Scientists have now figured out how this so-called “virgin birth” was possible. To photo: Pup of Chiloscyllium punctatum born at the Steinhart Aquarium of the California Academy of Sciences. Photograph…

Adobe’s Lightroom Mobile app is now available for Android phones (not tablets) running Jellybean, Kit Kat, or Lollipop. It has all the features of the iOS version, which we reviewed last year. Get it here at the Google Play store.

These Failures Are the Worst Sports Mascots Ever Designed 

Creating a good, crowd-rousing, kid-pleasing mascot is more difficult than it might appear. Some just look too goofy. Others fall into the lowest crevasse in Uncanny Valley and scare the shit out of people. Most Olympic mascots end up being oddly sexual, creepy, scary, or all three. Olympic mascots aren’t the only offenders. Sports history…

This Ode To Batman From A Starlog Contest Winner Is Poetic Genius

The team over Comics Alliance dug through old copies of Starlog Magazine recently (as you do) and came across the best piece of Batman poetry since… well, ever. The Dark Knight has inspired many creatives over the years, but perhaps never so strangely brilliant as this. Header image via Comics Alliance. Back in 1988, Starlog…

Michael Keaton’s Advice On Beetlejuice 2, And A New Walking Dead Actor

Help yourself to a giant pile of speculation about Marvel’s Phase 3. James Cameron explains why the Avatar sequels have been pushed back. Gotham adds yet another villain’s origin story to its line-up. And that 21 Jump Street/Men In Black crossover is still a possibility. Spoilers now! Top image: Walking Dead Marvel/Spider-Man As usual, take…

Calligraphic robot imitates your handwriting using a fountain pen

There are a couple of companies that use robots to send handwritten messages on paper from your phone. The only bad thing is that they have been using canned typefaces until now: Bond has a new robot that can write notes in your own handwriting using a fountain pen. It’s really cool, check it out:…

Cree’s Cheap New Smart Bulb Is a Long-Lasting LED Dream

Cree’s always impressed us with good-looking LED lightbulbs at wonderfully affordable prices. Now, the North Carolina company is raising the stakes with a new connected bulb that’s not only dimmable and programmable; it also lasts for 25,000 hours, just like its less-smart sibling. The best part? It’s still a bargain. The new Connected Cree LED…

Mr. Potato Head Finally Fulfills His Jedi Destiny as Luke Frywalker

Not everyone can pull off the blonde look, but it suits Mr. Potato Head just fine. The fashion-forward spud, renowned for his near-infinite wardrobe and instantaneous facelifts, has finally accepted his destiny as one of the good guys, donning Luke Skywalker’s—or Frywalker’s—mop of blonde hair, stylish black glove, and green-bladed lightsaber. Available this fall from…

Could We Halt the Ebola Epidemic This Year?

The Ebola epidemic continues to rage in west Africa, despite the fact that news coverage has all but dried up. Here, Beth Skwarecki speaks to researchers from the University of Georgia to find out if we could stop the epidemic within the year. Although the Ebola epidemic is still raging in west Africa, US and…

The mind-boggling manufacturing process of electronic phone switchers

The Hello Machine is a fascinating short film directed in 1974 by Carroll Ballard. It shows the mind-boggling process of making AT&T’s Electronic Switch System mainframe by hand, a formidable machine was built after 20 years of research and spending 500 million dollars—2,4 billion in 2014 dollars! “That was 10 times its original budget,” says…

Google Is Already Building Its Driverless Cars in Detroit

Google is teaming up with auto builders in Detroit to build its driverless cars, according to Chris Urmson, director of Self-Driving Cars for Google. The Detroit Free Press reports that the pod-like prototypes first unveiled by Google last May are now “being developed and assembled at a Roush facility.” These are iterated,”more refined” versions of…