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Someone Embroidered a Map of ARPANET, the Infant Internet

Random starburst embroidery? No, that’s a map of ARPANET, the early predecessor of the internet as we know it, from 1983. The late-in-life network was immortalized in yarn by the artist and designer Debbie Millman. https://gizmodo.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-arpanet-1969-1989-in-one-gif-1258090851 The map is based on a more exacting atlas of ARPANET, which had declined in the late 1980s. ARPANET…

The First Full Trailer For The Leftovers Will Blow You Away

There’s simply nothing to dislike in the first full trailer for Damon Lindelof’s new Rapture drama The Leftovers. The show is about 2% of the world’s population simply disappearing one day, and how the survivors deal with this inexplicable loss. Spoiler: They don’t handle it very well. The tension, depression and madness just oozes of…

A Praying Mantis Wearing Tiny 3D Glasses for “Scientific Research”

You may have thrown your 3D glasses away a long while back, but not this little critter. After all, this praying mantis has had his glued to his face by scientists in the name of “research.” In fact, this is what Newcastle University scientists in the UK are doing to try and understand the eyes…

Skype just made group video calling available to all users for free instead of being locked under Premium. Looks like someone is catching up to Hangouts.

The Stunning Bluish-Green Sunsets Of Mars

Earlier this month, the Curiosity rover snapped this shot of the sun setting behind the Gale Crater’s western rim. And as you can see, the sunsets on Mars are quite different than what we see here on Earth. Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Daimia Bouic. Republished here with permission.

Comcast Will Drop 3.9 Million Customers To Merge With TWC

The Comcast-TWC merger is a terrifying prospect, but there’s the small chance it might not go through. Comcast is doing everything it can to make sure to minimize that chance though. In a new proposal, it’s offered to drop nearly 4 million customers, so long as the merger goes through. If the merger is approved,…

It’s Official: Superman Vs. Batman Will Lead Right Into Justice League!

And apparently Superman Vs. Batman is the official title. Also, there’s tons of Guardians of the Galaxy info. Matt Reeves explains how the original Planet of the Apes follows from the upcoming Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. And Maisie Willaims talks Arya Stark’s past and future. Spoilers now! Top image: Man of Steel…

Microsoft’s 12 New Original Shows For Xbox, Ranked

Microsoft is going to take its TV seriously. That’s been clear ever since it established its own internal studio and dropped the bombshell that it was working on a live-action Halo series produced by none other than Steven Spielberg. Now, Microsoft is spilling the beans on the rest of its Xbox TV launch line-up, and…

These Glasses Swap Screws for Magnets in Their Hinges

Good news, clutz: these glasses swap the usual screws in their hinges for magnets, allowing you to swap the arms easily—and making them harder to break, too. The brainchild of Japanese studio Nendo, these Magne-hinge spectacles use disk-shaped magnets in the arms to clip neatly between two similar parts on either side of the lens…

A One-String Pen-Sized Guitar That Almost Plays Like the Real Thing

They’re not as awkward to transport as a piano or a cello, but guitars are far from being the easiest instrument to travel with. And if air guitar never really satisfies your desire to play while away from your instrument, this pen-sized single-string playable guitar might be a better traveling companion. Currently trying to raise…

Inside the US Nuclear Silos Where Floppy Disk Are Still High-Tech

It’s not very often you get to see inside a US Air Force nuclear silo—but CBS recently got to take a peek for us. In this video, Lesley Stahl finds that they’re not quite as high-tech as you might like to think. This segment, which you can watch below, appeared on 60 Minutes, and it…

Wave power has the potential to be a massive source of renewable energy, yet it lags behind solar and wind power. An analysis in Yale 360 Environment describes the multiple challenges — including the difficulty of designing a device to capture the energy of waves — that stymie efforts to generate electricity from the sea.

What Google’s Really Working On

Forget Gmail, Maps, Drive, Chrome, Android, Plus or any other Google product you use every day. Really, it’s just working on taking total control of the way you use the internet. Sadly, that may or may not be a joke. [XKCD]

The C-130H Hercules never fails to impress when it drops its heavy equipment payloads. Somehow it seems so easy and simple, despite the fact it requires skill, judgement and a raft of calculations to get right. This majestic shot was taken on April 18, 2014, over South Korea, during exercise Max Thunder–a bilateral air exercise…

You Can Make This Raspberry Pi Cellphone Yourself for $160

There’s something deeply satisfying about building your own gadgets. So when it comes to your next phone, forget Project Ara: how about building your own using a Raspberry Pi? We’ve already seen a Pi-powered tablet, but a phone is truly the next level of crazed determination. Put together using $158 of components, this phone may…

Where Do Insects Go in Winter?

As cold-blooded creatures, insects are particularly susceptible to winter’s freezing temperatures. To survive, this class of animals has developed a wide variety of adaptations, including long migrations, creating their own anti-freeze and even purposely freezing portions of their bodies. Migration Perhaps the best-known migratory insect is the Monarch Butterfly. Each fall, between August and October,…

The Team in Charge of OpenSSL: Two Guys Named Steve

Earlier this month, we found out that OpenSLL was screwed in the worst possible way: we all got Heartbleed. But fortunately there’s an expert team working to solve the problems: err, two guys named Steve. Buzzfeed has an excellent feature about Steve Marquess and Stephen Henson, the two men who have been primarily responsible for…

A Gorgeous Wooden Kitchen Scale That Masquerades as a Cutting Board

Successful baking requires strict adherence to a recipe and precise measurements, which is made easier with a scale at your disposal. But if the last thing you want is another ugly appliance cluttering up your kitchen counters, feast your eyes on the lovely GKILO scale (pronounced kilo) which when not in use looks like another…

Palaeontology in the Gobi Desert

Did you have fun as a first-person palaeontologist uncovering dino-eggs in the Gobi Desert? Here’s another video leading up to that moment, once again from the Google-Glass First-Person Perspective https://amnh.kinja.com/google-glass-in-the-gobi-uncovering-something-big-1567746698

What Is the Single Weirdest Subreddit You’ve Ever Found?

Given enough time, a stomach of steel, and a can-do attitude, a few minutes on Reddit can quickly devolve into hours lost amongst its many bizarre, horrifying, and inexorably fascinating channels. For the web is dark and full of terrors, friends, and each one of those terrors has its own subreddit. Do you perhaps have…