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The 10 Types of Fictional Apocalypses (And What They Mean)

The Apocalypse rules pop culture. Half the biggest literary novels these days are apocalyptic, and meanwhile The Walking Dead is a huge hit. Post-apocalyptic stories are what space opera was in the Space Age. But what are they about? Here are 10 types of apocalypses, and what they each signify. Before we get started, a…

A Built-In Color Picker Lets You Tint This Lamp To Any Shade You Want

Now that a trio of red, blue, and green LEDs can reproduce almost any color you can imagine, tinted mood lighting has become a hot trend. But why settle for manually dialing in a specific shade when this ColorUp lamp includes a built-in color picker that can sample and reproduce any color you so desire?…

James Bond’s Secret Origin Will Be Revealed In New Comic Book Series

Dynamite Entertainment has announced the worldwide rights to the James Bond comic book license. The world’s greatest spy will star not only new adaptations of Ian Fleming’s original novels, but new canonical adventures as well — including Bond’s life prior to his first official mission. Dynamite’s press release specifies their first comic will detail Bond’s……

This Supercard Wants to Replace All of Your Credit Cards and Then Some

Remember Coin, the card that promised to put all your credit cards on one handy chunk of plastic, and then suffered from substantial setbacks that may make it useless by the time it comes out? Well now it has a competitor. This is Plastc, another upcoming supercard with some seriously big promises that will be…

Dubbing Dragon Ball’s fights is as intense as the actual fights

When Sean Schemmel and Jason Douglas record the English voices for a Dragon Ball Z fight, they get so much in character that I was expecting them to get covered in yellow flames too. The energy they display is as interesting to watch as the fight itself. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff.…

A 7-Year-Old Could Build This Computer That Fits Together Like Lego

Kano is a new kind of computer company, a startup that’s totally devoted to teaching a new generation about the craft of silicon. Its first product, a Raspberry Pi-based system so easy a child could build it, makes it easy to build a PC practically from scratch. The idea behind Kano is focused on educating…

Chickens are getting bigger. A lot bigger. A new study charts the growth of the bird to almost 5 times its size from less than 50 years ago. That change, due mostly to changes in breeding, has brought not only a meatier bird, though, but also one with some new health issues. Image by Poultry…

9 of the Coolest Buildings of the Year, Chosen by Architects

The World Architecture Festival wrapped up last week and a whole new batch of buildings—both completed and “future” (aka not yet real)—were given the nod as this year’s best. Let’s take a look at some of the winners, shall we? What’s really fun about the awards is that they’re chosen by architects themselves, since the…

Toshiba’s Eerie Sign Language Robot Will Silently Stare Into Your Soul

Proving its engineers are just as capable as anyone at developing a creepy human-like robot that embraces the Uncanny Valley, Toshiba has developed an android that specializes in sign language thanks to a pair of highly articulated hands. One day the company hopes it could serve as an artificial receptionist, but it’s probably going to…

Watch 25 years of Simpsons Couch Gags evolve before your Eyes

In 25 years of The Simpsons, there’s been an awful lot of couch gags – there are gags at the start of 544 episodes, to be exact. What happens you play all of them at once? Well… you might want to turn your speakers down a bit first. Enterprising youtuber Omni Verse has spliced every…

Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M: A Graphical Leap For Gaming Laptops

The dirty little secret of GPU marketing is that laptop graphics chips are never as powerful as you’d think. Think you’re going to run a game maxed out at 2K resolution with the GeForce GTX 880M in your laptop? Think again—even if it’s no trouble for a desktop-grade GTX 780. But this year, Nvidia may…

Finally, Foolproof Teleconferencing (I Hope)

How much do you hate Polycom? GoToMeeting? Vidyo? Skype? Or whatever the hell else you use to hold meetings with distant colleagues? Well, I’m here to tell you that somebody may have finally figured out a foolproof way to make teleconferencing actually work. “May” because I only spent ten minutes with the so-called solution, but…

The D&D 5th Edition Monster Manual Is a Cornucopia of Classic Creatures

You like monsters, right? Of course you do. What about a whole book full of monsters? That sounds cool. What if I told you about the best book of monsters ever? The 5E Monster Manual just might be the one. I have a predisposition to liking books full of monsters. Bring out your creature catalogs,…

Terrifyingly Brilliant Spider Creates Stunningly Advanced Web

A European garden spider recently stumbled upon a rather amazing solution to a serious problem. It wanted to weave its web across the top of a garage, but the angle of the roof was too shallow for anchoring. So it did what any industrious spider would do — it suspended a rock to anchor the…

Is Sony Thinking About Letting Marvel Use Spider-Man In Its Movies?

Do you have still have some of that salt from yesterday’s rumors? Then pull it back out because word is that Sony may be discussing the possibility of sharing Spider-Man with Marvel, so both companies can make movies starring the webslinger. But here’s why you don’t need to consider Spidey an Avenger just yet. Besides…

How Much Coffee You Need Is a Genetic Trait

For some, three double espressos is barely enough to get them out of bed; for others, the whiff of weak latte is enough to have them jittering. Now, it turns out that those differing reactions are genetic. New researchreveals six new genetic variants that are associated with coffee consumption—brining the total to eight that are…

This beauty is a delicious lamb burger in disguise

The Pornburger of the weekmight not have the appearance of a proper burger, but who cares when it’s so delicious: A gorgeous braised lamb patty, sauced with lamb demi glace, stuffed inside a golden yorkshire pudding, and topped with potato and parsnip gratin, crispy onion rings, and mustard caviar. SPLOID is a new blog about…

New York Times Apologizes For Racist Cartoon On India’s Space Program

India is basking in the success of sending a probe to Mars, so it comes as little surprise that the country’s media was offended by a political cartoon published in the New York Times that commemorated this technical achievement by portraying Indians as stereotypical, cattle-rearing rubes. The cartoon — showing a turban-clad Indian, accompanied by…

Syfy’s Next TV Series Is About Famous Ghosts Who Help Hunt For Treasure

Lately Syfy has been ramping up the press for their new 12 Monkeys series and Ascension, but what will come after these debuts? Well, wait no more, because the channel has optioned the comic book series Five Ghosts, which is apparently about using famous ghosts (including Dracula!) for monetary gains. Syfy announced via press release…

This Inverted Ice Pyramid Grew Out of a Bird Bath

The pyramid-shaped ice formation you see here growing from a bird bath in England is a natural variation on a phenomenon known as “ice spikes.” Most spikes are thin lances growing from ice cube trays and, occasionally, small ponds. Ice pyramids are more rare – and harder to form. Ice Spikes If you go out…