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Your next urban fantasy TV or movie obsession? The other day, we reviewedDaniel Jose Older’s fun, inventive Half-Resurrection Blues. Now, the book’s been optioned for TV or movies by Tony Award-winning actor Anika Noni Rose (who also costars in The Good Wife).

Smart Home Security Guard Piper Now Has Night Vision

Piper is many things in a tiny package. The pint-sized home security device—it’s literally the size of a pint glass—watches over your house, automates your connected devices, and helps you keep in touch with friends. And now, with night vision too. In case you’re not familiar, Piper is an all-in-one home security device that lets…

This Is How a Plane Will Navigate Earth Using Solar Power Alone

Last year, the team behind Solar Impulse 2 revealed the design of a plane that it hopes will be able to traverse the world without refuelling. Now, it’s revealed the route it will take when it takes off—which will hopefully be in March. https://gizmodo.com/this-plane-will-circle-the-world-using-only-the-power-o-1561304864 The world tour will see the craft take off from Abu…

Even our underwater forests are dying off. Kelp forests have been undergoing huge losses in the last 75 years. So what’s causing the disappearance? NASA’s Earth Observatory identifies three of the biggest problemsas warmer oceans, more intense storms, and invasive species moving into the area.

Ad shows how Facebook would’ve been if it existed in the 90s

Comedian Brent Weinbach made this great fake commercial showing how The Facebook—as Mark Zuckerberg originally called it—would have been if it existed in 1995. It’s almost an identical copy of this classic America Online commercial. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

For anyone who’s been wondering what that odd white spot on the surface of Ceres is, Randall Munroe thinks he has the answer. [XKCD]

“TL;DR Jurassic Park” Is Three Minutes of Pure Geeky Plot Dissection

Max Knoblauch and Bob Al-Greene devote about three minutes — that’s one per film — to summarizing/questioning the plots of the three Jurassic Park movies. Also, they spend some time proving their dinosaur knowledge. And they are correct that the baby T-Rex is the most memorable part of The Lost World. [via Tastefully Offensive]

How Fat the World Is, Visualized

Obesity has hit the United States hard in recent years—but how do American waistlines compare to those around the world? This map, put together from recent obesity data obtained by the CIA, shows that the U.S. is not alone. https://gizmodo.com/fat-maps-show-where-the-obesity-epidemic-has-hit-the-5934298 The map, put together by Clinic Compare, shows that the percentage of the population that…

A limited edition of Red Velvet Cake Oreo will arrive on February 2

We are all doomed! The new Red Velvet Oreo is here. A limited edition of the new flavor will be released on February 2. If you can’t wait 12 days you can go to oreoredvelvetrope.com over the next three days and win the chance to get a free package. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow…

This is the amazing town of Epecuén. Once a booming resort city, it was drowned in 10 metres of water for 25 years after the dam protecting the town was destroyed. Only recently dried up, you can read more about the place in our photo essay from last year. [AP viaNew Scientist]

Conan O’Brien gets animated to fight Russian mob with Archer

Conan O’Brien joins international secret agent Archer in his battle against the Russian mafia. The neat animated sketch shows Conan shooting a gun, throwing a grenade, and getting really excited in his new role as a badass spy. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

Acer’s Tough New Chromebooks Are Built to Survive Your Children

Chromebooks are popular among families and schools because they’re… well, cheap. Now, Acer’s line of Chromebooks adds another feature that will appeal to anyone handing a computer to a child: durability. Two new laptops, the 15.6-inch C910 (above) and 11.6-inch C740 (below), have shells designed to withstand 132 pounds of force. Their corners are specially…

The Walking Dead Spinoff Is a Prequel Where the Threat of Zombies Looms

Bleeding Cool has a copy of what looks like a September 2014 version of the pilot script for the Walking Dead spinoff, and it’s full of people refusing to believe that the end we all know is coming is actually coming. Take a look at the brand new trailer for the flagship show’s February return…

HealthCare.gov Sends Personal Data to Dozens of Tracking Websites

EFF researchers have independently confirmed that healthcare.gov is sending personal health information to at least 14 third party domains, even if the user has enabled Do Not Track. The information is sent via the referrer header, which contains the URL of the page requesting a third party resource. The referrer header is an essential part…

Bloomberg: Samsung Is Dropping Qualcomm Chips for the Galaxy S6

Samsung has long used Qualcomm chips to powers it flagship phones. But now a report from Bloomberg suggests that the company is to drop Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips in its new Galaxy S6 due to overheating issues. The report from Bloomberg explains that Samsung will be “dropping its use of a Qualcomm Inc. chip that overheated…

The Solar Dynamics Observatory Has Captured 100 Million Sun Images

On January 19th, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) released its 100 millionth image of the sun. This image is a processed multiwavelength blend made from the images taken on the 19th to honor the milestone. Credit: NASA/Goddard/SDO You can see more of the SDO’s images — which takes eight images of the sun every twelve…

Star Wars Could Be Genius, Might Cast Tatiana Maslany Or Rooney Mara

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany is testing for the female lead in the Gareth Edwards Star Wars spinoff. Come on, Lucasfilm, this one’s easy. Joining her is Rooney Mara and a few others. It’s kind of unclear in the original report if they’re all testing for the same role,…

Obama Dreams of Space, But Where’s the Money for a Mars Expedition?

During the State of the Union address, President Obama said stirring things about human spaceflight and the future. But these are the same dreams we’ve been talking about for years, and without more funding for NASA these dreams will fizzle instead of coming true. Top Image: Who will be the first human to join our…

The Originals Wields Irony Like A F–ing Straight Razor

To most people, The Originals is a wacky spinoff of the “vampire love triangle” show The Vampire Diaries — in which the ancient vamps from TVD go to New Orleans, have a magic baby, and get caught up in endless power struggles. But to devotees, The Originals is a reliable supplier of hilariously bitter irony.…

What Obama Gets Wrong About Cybersecurity

So there’s good news, and there’s bad news. The good news is that Obama mentioned a sprawling set of cybersecurity initiatives at the State of the Union tonight. The bad news is that they suck. Improving the country’s cybersecurity is important. However, the president’s new proposals could act to erode Americans’ civil liberties and further…