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Animated GIFs Have Finally Invaded Street Art

If you had to pinpoint one single reason the internet became such an integral part of our day-to-day lives, the obvious answer would be animated GIFs. They’re what make staring at a screen all day long completely worth your morning commute. But now, a couple of artists have finally found a way to put animated…

Every Martha Stewart Tweet About Drones

A Map Of The U.S., If There Had Never Been A Mexican-American War

In 1846, President James Polk, driven by a belief in Manifest Destiny, waged a war to seize land from Mexico and expand the nation’s boundary from Texas to California. But events could have plausibly gone very differently, resulting in a map of the U.S. that would be significantly unlike the one we have today. When…

Sprint’s New Facebook-Only Data Plan Is a Sad Internet Future

Do you love experiencing the internet only through the foggy, noisy lens of Facebook? How about only reading things on Twitter or peeping links on Pinterest or stalking friends on Instagram? Then you’re going to love Sprint’s new hyper-focused data plans. For $12 a month, you can use one of the services as much as…

Which Of Today’s Technologies Will Most Mystify Future Generations?

When new technologies come out they can be awe-inspiring, and then a few generations go by and yesterday’s shiny new toy is today’s stunning inconvenience. Today we want to know about the technologies that will most make future generations go: “Really?” It might be something that will puzzle archaeologists thousands of years from now. Or…

These Maniacs Cooked Steak With Molten Lava and Lightning

What have you grilled on this summer? A propane burner? A charcoal fire? Maybe even a fire pit? How about A RIVER OF LAVA? That’s exactly how the gastronomical adventurers at Bompas & Parr recently cooked up two huge steaks—and then they used lightning. Bompas & Parr, you may recall, make their living doing crazy…

The Awesome Sight Of 14,465 Pounds Of Freight Being Lifted Into Space

Earlier today in French Guiana, the ESA successfully launched an Ariane 5 rocket into space as part of its fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle mission. The vehicle is headed for the International Space Station where it will deposit its precious cargo. The launcher, called Georges Lemaître, is the fifth ATV built and launched by…

Guardians of the Galaxy Review: Shut Up and Go See It

Let’s not mince words here. Guardians of the Galaxy is awesome, hilarious, super fun, and you should go see it. [This review will contain ZERO spoilers, because spoilers are dumb.] My disclaimer is that I’d never read the comics and was going into this completely blind. Although given that the title it’s based on isn’t…

Attack on Tor Has Likely Stripped Users of Anonymity

Tor, the network used specifically for privacy and anonymity, just warned users of an attack meant to deanonymize people on the service. Anyone who used Tor from February 2014 through this July 4 can assume they were impacted. This is very bad news for Tor, which is heralded for its ability to conceal users from…

Square’s New Reader Works With the Smart Credit Cards of the Future

Magnetic strips are an outdated credit card tech. In the future, we’ll hopefully all be on chip-based smart credit cards that help prevent fraud. To that end, Square’s got plans to push out a new version of its mobile credit card reader that can read the EMV smart cards that will be adopted by banks…

5 Smart Playlists That Make iTunes Worth Using

One of the few advantages iTunes (and Winamp and Windows Media Player) has over Spotify, Rdio and other streaming services is support for smart playlists. Thanks to the wealth of metadata stored by Apple’s digital content behemoth, you can juggle your tracks around in all kinds of ways. To set up a smart playlist, open…

The Lifespan Of All Of Doctor Who‘s Doctors, By Screentime

I admit, when I first saw this graph I was hoping someone figured out how many years each incarnation of the Doctor had been puttering around time and space, but this — which shows exactly how long every single Doctor was on the air — is pretty cool too. Not surprisingly, Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor…

You Can Now Get Totally Free Talk, Text, and Data on an iPad

Freedompop, the same folks who have been bringing free talk, text, and data plans to Sprint-friendly phones one at a time, now has a new (awesome) offer: You can get the same plan on a Samsung Tab 3, or any Sprint-compatible iPad. Since these tablets aren’t also phones, Freedompop includes the talk and text part…

12 Monkeys, Once Upon a Time, and Arrow Cast Some Familiar Names!

Zachary Quinto talks the state of Star Trek, Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman preview Doctor Who, and Chris Pratt describes the new park that’s up and running in Jurassic World. Ted 2 starts filming! Plus, what Easter eggs are hiding in Guardians of the Galaxy? Spoilers now! Top image: Arrow Star Trek Even though it…

Movidius’ New Vision Processor Could Make Future Smartphone Cameras Dope

You might remember Movidius as one of the key companies that enable the 3D mapping powers of Google’s Project Tango phone. Today, the company is announcing the second generation of its vision processor, which has the potential to enables a slew of everyday camera enhancements for future smartphones. Like its predecessor, the new Myriad 2…

Virgin Mobile USA now has a no-contract wireless plan, sold through Walmart. It’s customizable, allows you to activate up to five phone lines for a monthly fee of $7 each, and is available from August 9th.

Music-less Turn Down for What video is even creepier and more hilarious

Mario Wienerroither is back with another hilarious videoclip without music. This time Turn Down for What is transformed into a grotesque orgy of bodies twisting and turning with no apparent reason. Which makes it even creepier—yes that’s possible—and funnier than the original. NSFW! Here’s the original so you can compare: SPLOID is a new blog…

The Evolution of Your Desk, Visualized

Over the past twenty years, you entire desk has collapsed in on itself and into your computer. This video, by Best Review at the Harvard Innovation Lab, shows how it happened. The video starts with a classic desk scene from the 80s, replete with everything from fax machine to rolodex. As time progresses, though, the…

Every pop culture icon ever mashed up Terry Gilliam style

Guy Trefler is a synthetic human being made from the DNA of Terry Gilliam and Andy Warhol but without any of their originality. And that’s ok, because he says nothing is original in this seizure-inducing video mashup. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

​Vizio Sound Stand Review: Cheap TV Sound That’s Not Worth It

Vizio’s new Sound Stand aims to be a simple, cheap ($250) solution for your TV’s crappy sound, even simpler and more discreet than a sound bar. But even if it’s cheap and convenient, the Sound Stand is less than you bargain for. What Is It? A $250 sound system you’re supposed to place under a…