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50 Things Cortana Can Do Right Now (Compared To Siri and Google Now)

Cortana is Windows Phone’s answer to Siri and Google Now: A voice-activated artificially intelligent personal assistant with an only slightly off-putting robot voice. Technically, she’s still in beta on Windows 8.1, but PhoneBuff is here to show us 50 things Cortana can already do. Looks like Cortana’s got some seriously handy capabilities—and a pretty cheeky…

The Biggest Gaming News from Gen Con 2014

The hobby game industry makes their biggest announcements and releases flagship products every year at Gen Con. Check out this year’s rundown of the new games we’re most excited about playing. Dungeons & Dragons The biggest news, of course, was the official launch of 5E, with the release of the Player’s Handbook. They seemed to…

Why NASA Launched One of the Blackest Materials Ever Made Into Space

A few years ago, we looked at NASA’s long project to design a paint so black, it would absorb nearly every bit of light around it (that’s it above, in the “D” spot). Now, NASA has finally launched the stuff into space—which means that the six-year effort to make it is finally paying off. So,…

A new analysis of U.S. court rulings shows that judges are rejecting claims that acoustic pulses triggered by wind turbines are making people sick. “That’s a big deal, because claims about that are used across the globe…to try to slow the development of wind farms,” says Gabe Elsner, at the Energy and Policy Institute.

Welcome Back, GIF Party

After its brief hiatus, in which we exchanged delightful tidbits of scientific and artistic knowledge as befits A Very Fancy Party, the GIF Party is back! You remember what to do. Send your GIFs, your news, and your updates about your week into the comments. This party begins now!

Here’s What Sin City Looks Like Before They Add Any Special Effects

It takes a whole lot of special effects to bring a comic book to life on the big screen. So what does a movie like Sin City: A Dame for Kill look like before all the after effects are applied? The answer is basically nothing like the actual film. Sin City, which opens in theaters…

Remembering the Designer Who Made Our Cities More Colorful

The graphic designer Deborah Sussman died at the age of 83 this week, leaving behind a technicolor legacy. She was perhaps most famous for designing the graphics and signage for the 1984 Summer Olympics, which transformed Los Angeles into a dazzling playground of magenta and teal. But Sussman also left her mark on cities around…

See A Potato Create The Universe In The Life After #3 Comic Preview

The Bible says God created the universe in six days. It doesn’t mention him being a potato. But in Joshua Hale Fialkov’s new Oni Press comic The Life After, God happens to be a Cosmic Potato, and as you’ll see in this 4-page preview, even Cosmic Potatoes have needs… “So, at it’s core, I don’t…

Robots aren’t taking our jobs — but they are creating a wider gap between the haves and have-nots. This is the intriguing argument of MIT economics professor David Autor, which you can read about in the Wall Street Journal today.

This champagne glass is shaped after Kate Moss’ left breast (NSFW)

A (false) legend says that the first champagne glass was molded using the left breast of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France till her head rolled. It was actually created in England, like this new champagne glass modeled after the left breast of Kate Moss, the modern Queen of Fashion. Let’s compare with the real thing…

Snowshoes For Texas? The Most Bizarre Things The Pentagon Gave Police

Using data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Government Executive magazine looked at the type and cost of equipment that police departments received from the Defense Department since 2006. If you think the items couldn’t be crazier than what you’ve read about already, think again. The entire article is worth reading in full, but…

Scientists Are Building a Tomato That Grows 24 Hours a Day

Scientists already know how to make a tasty tomato, but in the quest for mass production, there’s another barrier to overcome: how to make a tomato that grows 24 hours a day. Thing is, if tomato plants don’t enjoy eight hours of darkness—which sees them stop growing—they become covered in yellow spots and, if it…

Watch the remote-controlled flight of a cyborg moth

Researchers at North Carolina State University implanted electrodes in the muscles of moths—Manduca sexta—so they can remote-control their flight. This technique could lead to a new generation of small-sized biobots that can be used for both military and civil purposes. The electrodes are implanted during the insect’s early metamorphic stages. So they are perfectly compatible…

9 Images of How Kids Played Before Modern Playgrounds Existed

“Playground.” The word evokes visions of brightly colored jungle gyms and swing-sets, fenced-off or otherwise protected from dangers of the surrounding real world. But before these kinds of site-specific joy zones, kids kept busy: Playing. On the ground. ” Reinventing the Square” is an exhibition that looks at the evolution of public places created specifically…

Catch Up On Batman v Superman, The Ring 3, Resident Evil 6 And Avatar 2

The Star Wars Expanded Universe may not be as dead as some people believed. The Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts gets a veteran Potter director. A major Marvel villain comes to Agents of SHIELD, and Syfy’s The Expanse gets two more stars. Plus a startling Doctor Who hint. Spoilers right now! Top image: The Flash…

How the Hell Does Quantum Mechanics Work Anyway?

People that know about quantum mechanics tend to talk about it very breezily, leaving us mortals behind. Be left behind no longer, though, with this wonderful little video. Taking a cue from Schrödinger’s famous cat thought experiment, Josh Samani walks us through the basics of quantum mechanics and entanglement. It’s still not easy—you’re going to…

F-16s flying over Greenland look like snowspeeders over Hoth

Enjoy this cool video of some Royal Danish Air Force’s F-16s flying low level over Greenland. I imagine the pilots wearing rebel helmets looking for Imperial AT-AT walkers. Pew pew. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

Google’s Testing Self-Driving Cars In a Matrix-Style Simulation

Somewhere in the Googleplex, Google has a digital simulation of the entire Californian road system to test its self-driving cars. This, says Google, allows it to perform “decades worth of testing” in just hours. Indeed, Google has such confidence in its system that is now lobbying the California’s government to certify these self-driving vehicles based…

This video of the evolution of Nike shoes since 1971 is pretty damn cool

Polish design and creative studio Hello Mono made this cool video that shows four decades of Nike shoes evolution. While watching it I found myself trying to spot all the Nike sneakers I ever owned. All of them were from the company’s first decade. HELLO MONO is an initiative of Creative and Art Director Wojtek…

Reuters: iPhone 6 Display Redesign Could Limit Availability

Whether it’s made of sapphire or not the display of the next iPhone is rumored to be causing some trouble.Reuters reports that Apple suppliers are “scrambling to get enough screens ready” for the new phone as a last-minute redesign has disrupted production. https://gizmodo.com/whats-sapphire-glass-and-why-would-apple-want-it-in-yo-1603457905 The newswire explains that two supply chain sources have told it that…