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A 56-page document handwritten by Alan Turing will be auctioned off in April,with part of the proceeds (it’s expected to fetch over $1 million) going to charity. The manuscript dates from 1942, Turing’s Enigma Code-breaking days, and contains musings on mathematics and computer science.

iPhone 6 Battery Case for $30, Inflatable Hot Tub, and More Deals

External battery packs are fine and dandy, but nothing beats a battery case for convenience and portability on long days where your phone might need a little bit of extra juice. Typically, they’ll set you back $60 or more, but this one is only $30 today with code BH9VVFFN. Update: Sold Out I’ll level with…

20% Off At the HBO Online Store, Fox Searchlight Films, and More Deals

Sure there are exclusions, but diehard fans may find the perfect gift (for themselves) with this HBO Shop coupon. 20% off Sitewide | HBO Shop | Promo code THANKS20. Excludes DVDs, books, soundtracks, Game of Thrones console games, bundles, and replica weapons. The Fox Searchlight 20th Anniversary Collection packs in 20 critically acclaimed movies in…

Star Wars duel takes the weird shape lightsaber debate to the limit

The debate on the lightsaber/broadsword from Star Wars: The Force Awakens continues. This hilariously absurd video is perhaps the most rabid criticism to JJ Abram’s new lightsaber idea (which, quite frankly, I like very much even if it doesn’t make sense.) And it’s really well made too. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on…

The ​11 Most Horrifying Redesigns Of Childhood Classics

Last week we gazed into the abyss, and the cold, dead eyes of the new International Rescue team from Thunderbirds gazed back. As movies and TV constantly seek to strip-mine your nostalgia for profit, redesigns like this are common. And sometimes, they go very wrong. Here are 11 awful makeovers of our childhood favourites. 11.…

You Can Finally Build a Robot Army Using Cheap Plastic Drinking Straws

Early last year a Kickstarter project for a product called Strawbees that turned ordinary drinking straws into a giant building toy rocketed past its modest funding goal. And in the same way that Mindstorms brings ordinary Lego to life, the Quirkbot wants to bring those Strawbees to life, letting kids build robots and other animated…

The Idaho Government Once Forced Beavers to Skydive With WWII Parachutes

“The Saga of the Skydiving Beavers” sounds like the title for a quirky children’s book, but it’s also a fitting epitaph for a strange, true story of an unconventional approach to habitat resettlement. In 1948, Idaho’s Fish and Game service decided the best way to keep beavers away from growing urban centers was to strap…

New nightmare crosswind landing videos will haunt my flights forever

We’ve seen insane landings before—those videos haunt my thoughts vividly every time I’m on a plane. And yet, I want to see more. Here are two new videos showing the terrifying wind conditions over Birmingham’s airport in England. I just added it to my list of places I don’t want to fly to. SPLOID is…

No, This Artificially Intelligent Super Mario Is Not Self-Aware

German researchers have created a version of Nintendo’s Super Mario Advance in which the videogame hero can learn and venture through the game according to his “feelings.” It’s an exciting advance, but the claim that Super Mario is now “self-aware” is grossly overstated. There’s definitely some cringe-worthy reporting going on about this University of Tubingen…

Brian Michael Bendis’ Powers TV Series Gets A Release Date 

The live-action series adaptation of the comic book Powers, created by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming, finally has an air date. And the first episode will be free! As PlayStation Network’s first original series, Powers will premiere on March 10th. The pilot episode will be free for one and all, but every episode…

Rare Promo Art For Joss Whedon’s Wonder Woman Movie That Never Was

While we never did get to see Joss Whedon’s movie take on Wonder Woman, at least one piece of artwork was made to promote the film. And now this poster and the original sketch have been put up for auction for a good cause. Several pieces of artwork are up on eBay right now to…

A GoPro For Kids Captures How Those Skinned Knees Happened

The outlandish stunts of even the most extreme athletes still can’t compare to the exploits of a bored six-year-old on a Saturday afternoon. And the only thing more thrilling than jumping a tricycle off a makeshift ramp is watching the replay of the resulting crash again and again. So VTech has made a kid-friendly GoPro-like…

Here’s What Happened When A Rainmaker Ended Up In Court

Charles Hatfield was a celebrated rainmaker, but when one of his rainmaking schemes worked too well, he became a notorious rainmaker. Here’s how a flooded city refused to pay the man who claimed to have flooded it. Charles Hatfield, The Rainmaker San Diego created Charley Hatfield, and it had cause to regret doing so. Hatfield…

GE’s New Sensor Turns Induction Cooktops Into Compact Sous Vide Machines

Revived sometime in the mid-1960s, sous vide is a method of evenly cooking food using an airtight vacuum-sealed plastic bag submerged in a temperature-controlled water bath, and it’s become increasingly popular for home use in recent years. But instead of requiring yet another appliance that occupies precious kitchen counter real estate, GE has developed a…

The photo is actually an oil painting made by a 23-year-old dude

When I first saw the work of Michael Sydney Moore I thought he was a photographer. After some research I realized I was wrong. The realism of his oil paintings is impressive but the fact that he already masters the technique at the age of 23 is completely mind-blowing. Michael Sydney Moore is an oil…

A Map Of The Different Ways People Get To Work All Over America

How did you get to work this morning? Did you hop into your car? Venture down into your city’s metro? Flag down a co-worker for a rideshare? Or did you simply open up your laptop and get to work? Nathan Yau over at FlowingData put together this interactive map using data from the Census Bureau’s…

The World War Z Movie Sequel Will Start With A “Clean Slate” 

The World War Z film adaptation of the hit book made a lot of money, but let’s get real, it was nothing like the fantastic source material. Which is why we’re happy that the sequel is going to be a “clean slate”… or maybe we’re just cautiously optimistic. In an interview with Indie Wire, sequel…

The New ATLAS Is Stronger, Faster, Scarier, and Battery-Powered

As if the original version of Boston Dynamics’ ATLAS robot wasn’t unsettling enough, ahead of the upcoming DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals in June about 75 percent of the robot has been redesigned and rebuilt to make it stronger, faster, quieter, and less encumbered by cables thanks to a battery-filled backpack that will now keep it…

HP’s New 12-Inch Tablet Has a Hybrid Pen-Stylus That Writes on Anything

Tablets are getting bigger. Several rumors have now detailed Apple’s intention on getting into the giant tab game with the iPad Pro, and over the weekend, several websites reported that Apple could also be debuting its first stylus. Today, HP’s newly announced tablets are hoping to stay ahead of Cupertino’s plans. Today, HP announced a…

10 Tricks to Make Youself a Firefox Master

Firefox 35 is out with improvements large and small. If you’ve never tried out Mozilla’s alternative web browser, or you’re tempted to come back to it after a break, here are 10 software tips that will make your experience with Firefox all the more productive and rewarding. You can download the latest version of the…