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BlackBerry Passport Review: When the Best You’ve Got Isn’t Good Enough

When you hear the word “smartphone,” what image pops into your mind? Maybe it’s the phone you own or the one you desperately want. Maybe it’s even a favorite pocket companion from years past. Whatever it may be, one thing is likely certain: it looks nothing like the BlackBerry Passport. That’s because almost no smartphone…

The Mysterious Phenomenon Of “Gravity Darkening”

Astronomy is the one science in which the phrase “the possibilities are endless” really means something. There are all kinds of strange phenomena in space — one of which uses gravity to brighten and darken certain stars. With so much historical emphasis on establishing the fact that the Earth revolves, rotates, precesses, and otherwise acts…

Report: Amazon Wants Your Smart Home To Know What You Need Before You Do

Despite having almost a quarter of a billion active users, Amazon is struggling to find a footing for its hardware in peoples’ homes. You might have ten old Amazon boxes lying around—but did any of them contain a Fire phone? A new report from Reuters details how Jeff Bezos plans to change that by doubling…

For The Walking Dead, here’s a burger made to taste like Human Flesh

The Walking Dead’s fifth season is starting soon – and to “celebrate”, Fox have teamed up with two London food creatives to craft a Burger that is meant to depict the taste of actual human flesh, without being made of human flesh. Ew! The burgers, made by a collaboration between Fox (who broadcast TWD in…

The Latest Game Of Thrones Photos Reveal A Surprising Season 5 Location

Oscar Isaac drops some tantalizing Star Wars hints. The Deadpool writer insists there’s been no decision on the film’s rating. Two Game of Thrones actors join Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. Syfy is making a show about alien terrorists. Plus Person of Interest, Walking Dead and Agent Carter! Spoilers now! Top image: The Walking Dead…

9 of Our Favorite iPhone 6 Cases So Far

Earlier this week, we asked you to help us sort through the (significant) muck for the best iPhone 6 cases you’ve seen thus far. We’ve already had a look at the 6 Plus players out there, but this particular bounty was far more plentiful. By virtue of being made for a smaller phone in general,…

The auction of Ray Bradbury’s sci-fi art collection ends tomorrow, September 25th. Included in the auction are Bradbury’s “The Burning Man” print, which became the cover for Fahrenheit 451; a Charles Addams painting that became the cover for From the Dust Returned, and Bradbury’s collection of animation cels. [Live Science]

Play Spoiler Roulette with Netflix and Ruin Everything For Yourself

Netflix has combed its vast library of films and television shows, snipped out clips of some of the biggest twists there are, and created “Spoil Yourself,” where one click gives you a random spoiler. And they are real, big spoilers. If you’re among those who refuses to see things without spoilers, this is the game…

Report: New Nexus Devices Mid-October, Android L by November 1st

A report from Android Authority combines rumors from venerable Android blogger Paul O’Brien and the ever-present “sources familiar with Google’s plans” to peg two important dates: new Nexus hardware on October 15/16th, and the release of Android L by November 1st. Android Authority is claiming that the new HTC-made Nexus 9 tablet will be unveiled…

Caitlin Russell’s Beautiful Illustrations of Theories of the Universe

Artist Caitlin Russell’s “The Outer Sun” series pairs her carefully composed works with descriptions of theories of the universe, present and past, believable and absurd. For the above image, the caption reads: “fig. 7 ~ The planets travel on elliptical orbits around the sun. (Johannes Kepler, Astronomia nova, 1609)” You can see the rest of…

Canadian Startup Wants to Replace Passwords With Your Heartbeat

Passwords are almost undisputedly broke: seemingly every month, a different major online service gets hacked, along with all your credit card details (and a few celeb’s personal photos). A Canadian startup thinks it has the solution: using your heartbeat as the authentication method. Bionym’s solution relies on a dedicated wearable, which uses an ECG sensor…

Facebook’s Wi-Fi Drones Start Testing Next Year

By this stage, Facebook’s plan to bring internet to the whole world with a fleet of drones and lasers is pretty well documented: what’s a little vague has been the details — until now. Speaking at the Social Good Summit in New York, Yael Maguire, the engineering director at Facebook Connectivity Lab, spilled a few…

Adobe has refreshed the Elements editing-software-on-the-cheap, with updated versions of Photoshop and Premiere. New features include intelligent editing and cropping tools, making it easier than ever to get that perfect Facebook cover/profile photo effect. Prices are $99 apiece, or $149 for the bundle, with discounts for Elements 12 owners. [Mac Rumors]

I could watch these pipes forge together with friction welding forever

Friction welding spins so fast and burns so hot that it looks like the excess orange metal is something that’s not meant for this world. The metal pipes forge together so colorfully (and almost unnaturally) that I never get bored of watching the process. Here are a few more videos of friction welding: And linear…

Colin Firth Is an Action Star in the Second Kingsman Trailer

There were glimpses of this in the first trailer, but the second trailer features pretty much an entire scene of Colin Firth kicking the asses of some kids targeting the film’s protagonist, played by Taron Egerton. https://gizmodo.com/first-secret-service-trailer-has-badass-spies-with-even-1579185608 Also featured in this trailer is a better look at Samuel L. Jackson as a villain concerned about…

India’s Space Probe Successfully Enters Mars Orbit

India just cemented its place as a space power, and put NASA’s billions to shame, with the news that its $74 million space probe just entered Mars orbit. The orbiter, dubbed Mangalyaan, dropped into orbit following a burn at 10:30 EST, making India the first country to successfully reach Mars orbit on the first try.…

Here’s the same picture taken with every iPhone that has existed

Though the new iPhone is called the iPhone 6, we’re actually on the 8th generation of iPhone that has existed. But who cares about that. Let’s just see how much the camera—maybe the most important feature on the iPhone after messaging—has improved over those 8 generations. Hint: a lot. Lisa Bettany compared the new iPhone…

A Bunch of US High-Schoolers Broke the Paper Airplane World Record

A ‘science’ project for high school kids normally involves making a poster of the periodic table, or perhaps torching things with a small gas burner if your science teacher is a bit Walter White. If you’re also a cadet with the Civil Aviation Patrol, on the other hand, you can make a computer-controlled, record-breaking paper…

India Reaches Mars With Mangalyaan’s Safe Arrival

Tonight is a big night for the planet occupied entirely by robots: the Mars Orbiter Mission is the second spacecraft in two days to slip into orbit around the red planet, and the first interplanetary mission from India. Don’t take this accomplishment lightly: the failure rate for Mars missions is still painfully high. The Mars…

Recreating famous portraits with John Malkovich is the best art

All art can stop being made because this is it. This is the best. Photographer Sandro Miller and John Malkovich teamed up to recreate famous portraits from history in their photo series Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters and it’s absolutely perfect. And hilarious. And the best. You’ll recognize so many of these famous…