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The Full List of Dark Net Markets Shut Down by Operation Onymous

Last week, a coalition of international law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Europol, carried out a widespread digital sting, arresting the alleged operator of the deep web black market Silk Road 2.0 and seizing over 400 URLs of other darknet bazaars. At least 27 sites have been confirmed as shuttered. Silk Road 2.0 was…

How to Create a Cult Atmosphere in Which No One Questions You

Are you sick of the people around you doing their own thinking? Here’s a psychological concept you can exploit. It’s called pluralistic ignorance, and it ensures that everyone goes along with an idea that no one wanted in the first place. Just occasionally, the world could do with a little more selfishness. Not in the…

io9 Newsstand: Best Stories of the Week for November 1 – 8

November ushers in darker days, the saving of daylight, and some all-new fiction. In addition to new issues of the magazines you already know and love, there’s one making its debut: Uncanny Magazine. More venues for short fiction are always welcome, especially said venues offer fresh and different perspectives on the SFF conversation. Speaking of:…

Remembering Hedy Lamarr, the Hollywood Star Who Helped Make Wi-Fi

Inventor and actress Hedy Lamarr would be 100 years old today, which is a perfect excuse to celebrate her contributions to the field of wireless communications. Lamarr was best known in her lifetime for her job as an MGM film star in the 1930s and 1940s, often playing a smoky-eyed glamor girl. But her most…

Australian Batman has a Street-Legal Batmobile to cheer sick Kids up

First we had Japanese Batman, prowling the streets of Chiba to cheer his fellow citizens up – and now the International League of Batmen has expanded southwards to Australia thanks to the awesome work of one man and his customised Batmobile. Unlike Chibatman, Australia’s Dark Knight has revealed his identity to the public – he’s…

52 Of The World’s Most Widespread Myths And Misconceptions, Debunked

A dropped penny won’t kill you, alcohol doesn’t keep you warm, and swallowed gum doesn’t take seven years to digest. These are just three of the more than fifty rumors debunked in this compendious collection of common myths and misconceptions. Created by London-based data journalist and information designer David McCandless, the chart is organized by…

Why Are Some People Left Handed?

Joe Hanson dives into the science of the southpaw in the latest installment of It’s Okay To Be Smart. For more, check out this in-depth primer on left-handedness.

Auroras Are Colourful Reminders To Upgrade Our Infrastructure

While beautiful, aurorascan also be the harbinger of the collapse of civilization. If a sufficiently large flare and coronal mass ejection spawns a massive solar storm that hits the Earth, the geomagnetic storm could be capable of knocking our electrical infrastructure offline for a long, long time. Top image: An aurora on seen in Yellowknife…

Watch The Pentagon Wars Because Bureaucracy Sucks

After spending my entire week wrestling with the Kafka double-whammy of healthcare and taxes, I feel like I’m about to drown in paperwork. But no matter how bad the from-filling gets, The Pentagon Wars is living (and hilarious) proof that things can always get worse. The film is an account of the development of the…

Even Robert Baratheon Bows Down To This George R. R. Martin Cosplay

Did you do a double take? Because at first glance, we didn’t even realize there were two cosplayers in this picture. “A friend of mine does cosplay as Robert Baratheon,” writes redditor wheeliejuice. “He ran into another cosplayer today. I think they both nailed it.” No kidding. That is damn impressive. H/t /r/pics

All Of Doctor Who‘s Big Thematic Arcs Pay Off, With Clara’s Final Test

This season of Doctor Who has been pretty tightly structured around a few big themes, and all of them were tied up in the season finale. A lot of them, not surprisingly, had to do with Clara Oswald — and we finally found out why she was chosen as the Doctor’s companion. Spoilers! So all…

Celebrate Queen‘s Anniversary With Panic at the Disco‘s Sublime Cover

Today marks the 40th anniversary of Sheer Heart Attack, the album which, by most accounts, launched Queen to international tight-leather-clad stardom. But rather than watching a fur-covered Freddie Mercury doing his thing (excellent though that would be), here’s Panic at the Disco’s cover of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, which provides a pretty fitting homage. Sheer Heart Attack…

BMW Is Developing Street Lights That Also Charge Your Electric Car

One of the frequently-cited problems with electric cars is a lack of places to charge up when you’re away from home. Rather than create an entire standalone network, BMW is looking to combine charging docks with another common, electricity-powered street fixture: lampposts. According to a Reuters report, BMW has developed two prototypes that meld a…

Primecast Disabled After Just 36 Hours Of Life

Welp, that was pretty fast: just two days after springing into life on the Play Store, Primecast, a $2.99 app that put Amazon Instant Video-streaming capability onto your Chromecast, has ceased to be. The devs have confirmed in a blog post that they were ‘locked out’ of the streaming functionality, and have pulled their (now…

The CIA Is Auctioning Its Creepy Osama Dolls

In one of its more bizarre PR ideas ever, the CIA toyed with using heat-sensitive Osama dolls that turned into demons to scare little kiddies away from joining al-Qaeda. Although someone in the chain of command saw sense and shut the project down, three prototypes were made, and they’re now being auctioned off. The dolls…

If you paid for an Office 365 subscription so that you could spreadsheet on the go, and then were understandably miffed when Microsoft offered up editing capabilities for iOS for free, never fear: Microsoft will refund you your subscription on a pro-rata basis, which is nice of them. [Electronista]

Sharing Night-Time Photos Of The Eiffel Tower Is Illegal

Here’s a fun but depressing Saturday afternoon fact: taking and sharing photos of the Eiffel tower at night is a copyright violation that could land you with a hefty fine (not that it’s stopped the selfie-snapping masses, of course). Torrent Freak explains that although the building itself is in the public domain, the light show…

Withing’s Activité Is One Of the Most Expensive Wearables Yet

Pre-orders have opened for the Withings Activité, the beautiful-looking watch that also happens to be a fitness tracker. Unfortunately, the price is right in line with other quality watches: four hundred and fifty of your finest American dollars. If you remember, Withings debuted theActivité back in June, along with a tentative $390 price point. That…

Watch The First Teaser For The Doctor Who Christmas Special!

Here’s our first peek at the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special – including a good look at Nick Frost in his surprising new role! Spoilers below… Yup, Nick Frost is playing Saint Nick. Also, there’s a glimpse of whatever the hell this thing is: [BBC]

Email Scams Are Still Depressingly Effective

It is the Year Of Our Lord two thousand and fourteen, but somehow, nearly half of all people on this email-infested landfill we call ‘Earth’ are still falling for simple phishing scams. The stats come courtesy of a Google study, which looked into the success rate of ‘manual hijacking’ emails, which try and trick users…