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A helium balloon fitted with six telescopes is currently floating over Antarctica. It’s called SPIDER, and it could show what happened during the Big Bang. Scientists will use it to search for patterns of polarization that could have only been made in primordial light in the fractions of seconds after the birth of the Universe.

Misfit and Swarovski Have Created the First Solar-Powered Wearable

A wearable fitness tracker is no good to you if you don’t actually want to wear it. So to ensure its Shine appropriately matches any outfit—whether you’re dressed up or dressed down—Misfit and Swarovski are introducing the Swarovski Shine Collection featuring a crystal face and new accessories. The collection also features an upgraded solar-powered version…

These Batman 66 Talking Dolls Are Equal Parts Brilliant and Terrifying

On the one hand, the explosion of merchandise related to Batman 66 is welcome after years of the show being unfortunately shoved under the rug thanks to licensing disputes – but on the other, dear god look at these things. These plus-sized (17″ tall) dolls kick off later this month with Adam West’s Batman, joined…

This Week’s TV: Iron Man’s Dad Is Framed For War Crimes And Yoda’s Back

Oh, television, how we missed you. Not only have many of our favorite shows returned from winter break, the long-awaited Agent Carter premieres, as does the sixth season of Archer. Neil Patrick Harris joins American Horror Story and Firefly’s Morena Baccarin turns up in Gotham’s Arkham Asylum. Tonight Gotham (8 PM, Fox) Morena Baccarin joins…

Canon Connect Station Lets You Easily View Photos on Your TV 

Canon just announced the Connect Station CS100. It’s a set-top box that interfaces with your camera for viewing all your photos and videos right on your TV. The Connect Station is an attempt by Canon to establish itself as the most super-consumer-friendly camera brand around, and this new piece of hardware is clearly aimed at…

Philips’ Expanding Bluetooth Speaker Promises Much Better Bass

Humanity’s endless march to make gadgets smaller has led to countless compromises in the name of miniaturization. Thinner smartphones mean terrible battery life, and compact wireless speakers seem to completely forget our ears love bass. At least Philips is trying to fix the latter with its new FL3X Bluetooth speaker that expands like a collapsible…

Garmin’s vívofit 2 Fitness Band Shames Your Laziness With Audible Alerts

What really set Garmin’s original vívofit apart from the myriad of other fitness trackers already on the market at the time wasn’t its always-on screen or its battery that was good for an entire year. It was the use of a thin red bar on the display that grew longer and longer while you were…

Syfy Is Making A “Hackers” Reality TV Show

Syfy is diving back into the reality TV biz, and this time it’s with a hackers show, naturally called Hackers. Honestly, we’d be more into a Hackers movie remake than a show about actual “hackers” but okay, sure. Why not? In a press release, Syfy announced that they would be teaming up with Relativity Television…

Archaeologists Have Uncovered The Tomb Of An Unknown Egyptian Queen 

Czech archaeologists working in Egypt have discovered the tomb of a previously unknown queen. Named Khentakawess III, she is thought to have been the wife of Pharaoh Neferefre who reigned 4,500 years ago. The discovery was made by Miroslav Barta and his team from the Czech Institute of Egyptology, reports Agence France-Presse. The tomb is…

Guy invents device to turn 4 revolvers into a machine gun using a drill

While our favorite crazy weapons inventor Joerg Sprave made this drill-powered machine gun using cap guns, he says that you can easily use any .22 revolver because the trigger resistance is the same. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

The Mint Breathalyzer Can Detect Both Dehydration and Bad Breath

The term breathalyzer is most commonly associated with a device used by law enforcement to measure someone’s blood alcohol content after they’ve been pulled over. But with a few tweaks made to the chemicals used in a breathalyzer’s sensor, the device can also be used for detecting other problems. Instead of measuring BAC, Breathometer’s new…

Fans Give Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman A Much Better Superhero Outfit

There’s a lot to look forward to in Batman V. Superman, and the movie debut of Wonder Woman — played by Gal Gadot — is near the top of the list. However, her outfit isn’t one of them. Luckily a group of dedicated artists have taken it upon themselves to give the new Wonder Woman…

HP Stream Mini: A Cute, Cheap Windows Desktop For Just $180

The $200 HP Stream is the bargain-basement laptop to beat. But what if you want a desktop instead? Take a peek at the new HP Stream Mini. At just over 2 inches tall, 1.6 pounds light, and a mere $180 out of your wallet, this tiny pastel blue nettop packs a surprising amount of value…

Alcatel Watch Hands-On: A Wristable for Beginners

A smartphone company launching a smartwatch is in no way original. In fact, we saw five of them last year—and that’s only counting the Android Wear crowd. So Alcatel OneTouch, a company best known for budget-friendly smartphones, is just another marching band in the continuous wearable parade. But with the Watch, the newly announced under-cutting…

First peek into Steve Jobs’ luxury yacht interior

The people at the beautiful Woods Hole Inn* have snapped these photos of Steve Jobs’ yacht in the wild. It’s the first time we have seen Venus open like this, offering a peek at its interior design. It looks like a summer home from this angle. Here are two more views of the starboard and…

Garmin’s epix Puts a Rugged Touchscreen GPS Navigator On Your Wrist

A hike deep into the woods or unexplored territory is only fun if you know you can find your way back out. And to ensure that adventurers can safely get to or from their destinations without a pack weighed down with gadgets, Garmin’s new epix watch straps a full GPS navigator to your wrist, complete…

Garmin’s Slim vívoactive Bridges Smartwatches and Fitness Trackers

At one time we all carried separate cellphones and MP3 players because there just wasn’t a single device that did both well—and then the iPhone arrived. The same problem exists between fitness trackers and smartwatches. Neither does the other one’s job particularly well, but it doesn’t have to be that way. At least according to…

Garmin’s fēnix 3 Multisport GPS Watch Keeps Its Active Side Secret

With the third version of its popular fēnix adventure watch, Garmin has embraced the notion that when someone is spending half a grand on a timepiece, they probably want to be able to wear it all the time. So the fēnix 3 manages to subdue the rugged styling of the previous two versions even further,…

This Coat Lets You Signal Your Turn With Flashing LEDs

This is the Visijax wearable, or, to put it another way: a coat. But it’s got a trick quite literally up it’s sleeve, in the form of embedded LEDs that flash when the rider raises his arm to signal a turn. The orange lights along the back of the arm seams then flash for a…

Short film: Loneliness is the most common illness 

366 Days—an award-winning animation short film written and directed by Johannes Friedrich Schiehsl—tells the story of a young man working in an ambulance during his year of national service. As he gets closer to his patients he realizes they all suffer from the same illness: Loneliness. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook…