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Airbus’s X3 Prototype Uses Three Rotors to Break Airspeed Records

In the chimeric world of vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) aircraft, the most common hybrid one finds are tiltrotor planes with helicopter-like abilities. But the X3 prototype from Airbus took the opposite approach. It transformed a traditional helicopter into a high-speed turboprop. There’s always been a distinction between airplanes and helicopters in that planes can fly farther and…

Hulu Won’t Be Resurrecting Community

Hulu will not be bringing us all back to Greendale. Bummer. TV Line broke the news that all talks between Hulu and Community have now been abandoned. But there still may be hope, as one Sony source spilled that “A lot can happen in one week.” Honestly? I feel like we had a great conclusion…

One Weird Trick For Cutting Down Your Novel

Book doctors don’t want you to read this advice! They don’t want you to know about this foolproof advice for reducing the excess verbiage in your novel (or short story). But I’m going to share it with you, for free. Revising a work of fiction can be a nightmare, especially if your story has a…

This Spotify Tool Makes a Playlist From Your Favorite Band’s Last Show

Going to concerts is fun no matter what, but it’s a million times more fun if you know all the songs. Sadly, sometimes if you only know a cut or two, it can be hard to brush up on an artist’s whole catalog before the show. Spotify’s new Set Listener tool is here to help.…

Strap A Go-Pro Onto A Polar Bear And Get The Most Amazing Footage Ever

Filmmaker Adam Ravetch of Arctic Bear Productions likes telling visual stories about polar wildlife. By strapping a Go-Pro camera onto one of a group of four polar bears, he managed to capture some of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful footage of these creatures I’ve ever seen. Put on your headphones, set the quality to HD, enlarge…

Behold the Phoenix Towers, a proposed 47-hectare complex designed for the Chinese city of Wuhan. The tallest tower will reach one kilometer in height, making it the tallest structure in the world. The “blatantly iconic” towers will also purify the city’s polluted air and lakes. You may also enjoy:

The FAA Will Not Allow Delivery Drones (For Now)

In a document seeking feedback on new drone policies, the FAA indicated that it does not want unmanned aircraft “delivering packages to people for a fee.” Even if a company doesn’t collect a fee—as Amazon has proposed—drone deliveries count as commercial activity, the agency says. And that’s against the rules. (Updated below) The move is…

Beautiful calligraphy video may cause pleasure overdrive

Last Friday I published a video that caused many to discover autonomous sensory meridian response, a perceptual phenomenon that gives a pleasing tingling sensation. Some said they got it watching people writing. Well, put your headphones on, because this is the mother of all calligraphy ASMR videos. It’s a demonstration of a fountain pen—a Namiki…

The Painstaking Work That Went Into Empire Strikes Back‘s AT-AT Scenes

The legendary Joe Johnston just revealed this classic behind-the-scenes video of the making of one — one of the shots from Empire Strikes Back featuring the AT-ATs as they lumber across Hoth. It’s amazing how slow and low-tech this process was, but also how fantastically the special effects still hold up. Here’s Johnston himself commenting…

Is Second Life About to Become a Ghost World?

Second Life, one of the most hyped virtual worlds in history, is heading towards ghost town status. Intrepid tech reporter Wagner James Au broke the story over the weekend, noting that Second Life makers Linden Lab are at work on a top-secret new virtual world. It’s possible that this new virtual world is part of…

I want to eat the Bill Murray burger every day for the rest of eternity

It doesn’t have anything to do with Bill Murray, but I want to eat it anyway: The patty is “seared on the outside, medium rare on the inside, with a molten core of melted cheese and creamy sous vide egg yolk.” I want to get sucked into a Groundhog Day time warp hole and eat…

Adventure Tested: Argo 8×8 ATV

Need to haul a 1,300lbs bull moose off the Alaskan tundra? You’re going to need an Argo. The world’s only eight-wheel-drive, amphibious ATV can literally go anywhere. What’re they supposed to do? Where a typical ATV or other wheeled vehicle would get bogged down, an Argo is designed to get you through tough situations while…

It’s Freakishly Easy To Steal Phone PINs With Google Glass

Not feeling paranoid enough today? Here you go: Your phone lock screen might actually make it easier for nefarious cyber bandits to steal your passwords. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Lowell recently conducted a study illustrating how easy it is to steal phone PINS, even from across the room. They used cameras on Google…

The Washington Post and Twitter users are reporting a massive outage of Microsoft Outlook, Office 365, and other services. Are you experiencing problems? Share them here! [WP]

How We Deliberately Used Radiation to Eradicate a Species

Fortunately, they’re not a very pleasant species. Screw worms enjoy laying eggs in the mucus membranes of mammals, and telling their friends to do the same. A little applied radiation really helped. Perhaps. Above, a screw worm fly larvae under an electron microscope. The Unpleasant Habits of Infant Screw Worms It was in the 1950s…

How Dolby Vision Works, and How It Could Revolutionize TVs Forever

There are three ways that television displays can be improved, two of which you’re probably already familiar with: you can up the density of the pixels, or increase the refresh rate. But Dolby has taken to improving the third factor: They’re building a better and brighter pixel. What Is Dolby Vision? There’s currently a disconnect…

Android’s Next Named Release (Lollipop?) Will Be Announced at Google I/O

Going into Google’s big developer conference, one of the biggest questions was whether or not we would see a whole new version—the “L” version—of Android. The answer is yes, and it comes from Android frontman Sundar Pichai via Bloomberg Businessweek. From Businessweek: This year, Pichai will preview the next release (Lollipop? Lemonhead?) for the first…

Did Decorations Make This Ancient King Think He Was A Cow?

Nebuchadnezzar was not a good guy, by Biblical standards. He was also unpleasant company for a few years when he came to believe he was a cow and ate grass. What caused this madness? It might have been how he chose to decorate his palace. King Nebuchadnezzar, in history, overthrew Jerusalem, put out the reigning…

Science Fiction Does Something Way Better Than Predict The Future

People get stuck on the idea that science fiction predicts the future, and that we should look to SF books to find out what we’ll be doing 20 years from now. But actually, says Questionable Practices author Eileen Gunn, science fiction does something way more valuable: teach us that change is inevitable. Top image: Oliver…

The Most Fun Zombie Movie We’ve Seen In Ages Was Made By High Schoolers

The students at Oak Park High in Winnipeg turned their high school into ground zero for the apocalypse in this short zombie romantic comedy. What this film lacks in budget, it more than makes up for in a sense of wild fun. Zombie High was produced by Oak Park High’s Independent Film company, and for…