Latest

This Inflatable Tent Makes the Car Part of the Canopy

This tent takes car camping to the next level. Its inflatable structure can stand by itself, but it can also be attached to the back of an Audi Q3—to offer more robust shelter and storage if you need it. The tent is developed by Heimplanet—the folks who make the cool inflatable tents—in conjunction with Audi.…

Verizon Claims Public Utility Status on Broadband For Government Perks

The biggest Internet service providers in the U.S. hate the idea of being treated like utilities companies—but a new report reveals that Verizon’s FiOS service uses public utility rules to get a raft of government perks. https://gizmodo.com/fcc-says-itll-treat-internet-like-telephones-if-propose-1569529319 The FCC classifies broadband—like FiOS—under Title I of the Communications Act, which has less strict rules than Title…

This Chinese farmer is recycling suitcases into electric scooters

This farmer wants to recycle old suitcases into inexpensive small-sized scooters. After ten years of work he came up with this invention, capable of carrying two people and run up to 12.5 Mph (20 km/h) for 37 miles on one charge. It even includes a navigation system. Hopefully it will catch on. China is not…

Could You Get Drunk By Drinking a Drunk Person’s Blood?

The average adult contains about 5 liters of blood. The average drunk contains lots of alcohol. So could you, in theory, have a cheap—if messy—night out by turning vampiric for the evening? Fortunately, Randall Munroe has contemplated this question at length. He first works out how much alcohol might be in the blood: given 50%…

How a Slave Had to Build the Freedom Statue in Washington DC

The Statue of Freedom sitting atop the dome of the U.S. Capitol building in Washing D.C. has more alternate names than the obscure half of the Wu Tang Clan. Over the years, the names attributed to it have ranged from things like “Freedom Triumphant in War and Peace” to the far simpler, “Armed Freedom”. However,…

Watch a Biplane Fly Through the Arc de Triomphe. In 1919.

This is a five-second video from 1919 showing Charles Godefroy flying his biplane through the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to commemorate the end of World War I. Apparently, the French Air Force found the plan for them to march on foot in a parade as insulting, and a group of them decided that an…

How Much Time the World Spends Looking at Screens, Visualized

Ever wondered how much time the average person spends looking at their TV, computer, phone or laptop? Well, this chart shows exactly that, broken down by country. Produced by Mary Meeker for her annual presentation on internet trends, the chart reveals some interesting insights. Clearly Indonesia and the Philippines are glued to their screens, but…

San Francisco Is Using GPS-Tagged Bikes to Bait Thieves

Bike theft in San Francisco is high and rising, so the city’s decided to take a technological approach to catching the culprits: tagging expensive bikes with GPS trackers so it can find out who’s stealing them—and then charge them with felony. The New York Times reports that a small team at the San Francisco Police…

If You Drink Milk and Don’t Get Sick, You’re a Mutant

Milk is full of a sugar called lactose, which needs a special enzyme called lactase to break it down. But children used to stop producing the enzyme around the age of 4 or 5—and those of us who still make it are, in fact, mutants. We’re talking mutants in the scientific, genetic sense of the…

The National Football League has announced that its new digital network, NFL Now—which launches August— will be available on Amazon Fire devices and Roku as well as iOS, Android and Windows.

Man Keeps His Home Safe With a Dragon Hedge

John Brooker sculpted this out of the 10ft-high hedge at his rented cottage in East Rudham, Norfolk. Brooker’s reasoning? “I was standing at my kitchen sink one day and thought the hedge was boring so decided to do something with it.” Fair enough. BBC via Colossal

Hulu Is in Talks to Revive Community!

Hope for six seasons and a movie is still alive! Deadline reports that the talks are very preliminary, but both sides are apparently willing. This comes after Dan Harmon walked back earlier comments that he wouldn’t bring back the show, saying “I’m not going to be the guy that re-cancels cancelled Community.”

Korean War memorial is a historical photoshop horror

A new Korean War monument was unveiled on Memorial Day in Chillicothe, Ohio—an 8- by 6-foot black monolith etched with a collage of war scenes and the names of local soldiers fallen in that war. It’s also a disgraceful insult to every American serviceman who fought in Korea and every other war. If you haven’t…

Isa Looks Way More Ambitious Than Your Average Syfy Movie

Syfy is best known for showing original films like Mansquito, Sharktopus and Sharknado… so it’s kind of an odd surprise to see the trailer for Isa, a dreamlike and tense movie airing on Syfy on June 11. In which a girl seems to have a mysterious brain implant and she can make things… happen. Isa…

Nocturnal Transmissions: What Are You Watching?

It’s the middle of the week, so what are you watching? This is Nocturnal Transmissions, your nightly open thread.

This Must Be What Watching Acid Punk on Acid Looks Like (NSFW)

Acid Punk rockers Bo Ningen crank their weirdness amps up to 11 in this demented music video from Marie Schuller. They’ve got it all: sexy naked ladies, rumbling burly guys, androgenous musicians, and lots of intense staring directly into the camera. Drop a tab, wait 30 minutes, and enjoy!

At Last We Have a Technology That Can Stop Volcanoes

It may look bulky, and it may block out the light sometimes, but the magma accumulators saved our civilization. Plus, they turned every eruption into a source of energy to power our factories. That’s what finally defeated the anti-geoengineering lobby and ushered in the modern age. This incredible illustration is by Juan Carlos Barquet, a…

We Want To See More Fairy Tales Like This One

Sure, retellings of familiar princess stories can be fun, but we’d like to see more original fairy tale stories like the one in this haunting short film—a surreal story about a lonely woodcarver whose job is to fish for moonlight. Moonfishing is the work of David Michael Friend, and it is definitely worth a watch.…

One of Pixar’s Most Talented Composers Will Score Inside Out

On the heels of Pixar’s announcement about Inside Out’s story, there’s some good news. Michael Giacchino, the man who composed the beautiful scores for The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and the short film La Luna. The news came along with Giacchino’s announcement that he’ll score Jurassic World and Tomorrowland. Giacchino will be a busy man with all…

Edward Snowden Wants to Know If He’s Hurt You

The much anticipated interview between Brian Williams and Edward Snowden aired on Wednesday night. It’s interesting. It’s also revealing in a nuanced way, bringing flashbacks to 9/11 and vignettes of this past year’s worth of NSA revelations. Most of all, though, it’s a rare peek into the whistleblower’s mind. At the top of the hour,…