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7 Ingenious Trains That Slide Up the Slopes So You Don’t Have to

Walk? Like up that giant hill? Yeah, no. This ain’t the 15th century, we have funiculars for that now. In fact, here are seven of the swankiest ground-based gondolas to ever put the “fun” in “climbing steep-ass inclines without breaking a sweat.” Wait, What the Hell Is a Funicular? A funicular is a mechanical, ground-based…

What Animal Gets The Most REM Sleep?

Do you think its dogs? Dogs sleep a lot. Guess again. What about cats? Not them either. It isn’t a primate, so that rules out humans, apes, and monkeys. Sleep researchers divide the phases of sleep into two broad categories: REM and NREM. In REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, your muscles are almost completely paralyzed,…

As if owning one wasn’t bad enough, Nokia has suspended the sale of its Lumia 2520 tablet due to electric shock risk. (It’s actually the charger that is dangerous.)

Watch the IRS Defend Its Use of Computers in the 1960s

When the IRS began using computers in the early 60s, there was national outrage: how could a machine be trusted to look after our finances? This 10-minute video, fresh from the archives, was an attempt to convince people that everything would be OK. There was plenty of opinion to change, after all: some tax experts…

This Is What Tablets Looked Like in 2001

It’s probably for the best that tablets didn’t really enter the mainstream until Apple launched the iPad, at least if the Nokia M510 Web Tablet was anything to go by. The Nokia M510 entered limited production in 2001, with around 1,000 of them built for testing purposes. It ran a version of Symbian on what…

A Co-Working Table With Hidden Depths

Co-working can be tough: regular users of a space have their natural sprawl, while those spending just a few hours at a desk would prefer a minimum of clutter. This desk has hidden depths to cater for all. The ‘Co-Worker’ table is the brainchild of German designer Tobias Lugmeier, and it’s based around a neat…

What Will Happen When the Earth’s Magnetic Field Switches

The Earth’s magnetic field protects life on Earth, shielding it from damaging radiation and moderating our climate. So the idea that it could completely flip around, or collapse altogether, should cause us to worry, right? Well, yes and no. Magnetosphere Basics The result of electrical currents generated deep within the Earth through dynamic action, the…

Samsung Galaxy Owners Now Have a Custom Kindle Store With Free Stuff

Got a Samsung Galaxy device? You’re in for a treat: Amazon is building a custom Kindle store for you and your device—and it comes with perks. The new store, announced this morning, will provide Galaxy users—initially just those with an S5, but more will follow—twelve free books a year. You’ll get to choose from four…

​Eyefi Cloud Syncs Photos From Your Camera to the Internet in a Flash

Basically every new camera that comes out these days has Wi-Fi on-board, but the technology hasn’t progressed to the point that it’s seamless. There’s still a little friction when you’re trying to get photos from your camera to another device—and that’s still one step removed from the internet. Wi-Fi enabled SD card maker Eyefi is…

This Google App Lets You Control Your Computer From Your Phone

Remote desktops are nothing new, but Google has now released a slick app that makes the process a pleasure rather than wildly frustrating. The new software will let you control your Mac or PC from any Android device. Chrome Remote Desktop app for Android—snappy!—is an extension of existing Google software that allows to control your…

Bloomberg: iOS 8 Will Have Shazam’s Song Identification Baked In

Can’t name that tune? No worry: Bloomberg is reporting that Apple is partnering with Shazam to embed song identification software right into its forthcoming iOS 8. The news agency reports that two of its sources believe Apple is “planning to unveil a song-discovery feature in an update of its iOS mobile software that will let…

This drone footage showing the aftermath of a fire is so heartbreaking

A fire in Valparaíso, Chile has destroyed more than 2,500 homes, left 11,000 people homeless and killed at least 15 people. It’s an unfathomable tragedy that has destroyed an entire community. This drone footage from Skyfilms attempts to show the extent of the damage caused by the fire’s wrath. It looks like a set of…

Careful, This 8-Bit Pop Anthem Is Ear-Splittingly Addictive

Oh man, I totally have no idea what is going on but I do not want it to stop. “Ryusei Girl”, the latest single from Megu & Patron’s upcoming mini album, will have you tapping your toes and hankering for some nostalgic Asteroids action, even if you can’t figure out what’s being said.

Chromecast just keeps getting better. You can now cast livestreaming baseball through the MLB.TV app. The only catch is that you’ll have to have a premium subscription. If you do, it’s time to play ball!

Stunning Paintings Of Mermaids Inspired By Real Underwater Life (NSFW)

Renee Nault‘s lovely watercolor mermaid paintings often depict full underwater scenes, showing off not just her mythological creatures, but also the real life creatures swimming and growing beneath the surface. Each Friday, Nault posts a new mermaid to her blog and website (where you can find many, many more mermaids), and she sells originals and…

Hogwarts Is Now Offering A Way To Get Your Magical Education Online

This isn’t official, but it’s so very impressive: Hogwarts Is Here is an online LARP in which players basically get an education, just like the students of Hogwarts. There are no battles and no mayhem; just classes to take, digital textbooks to “buy”, and homework to do. Which sounds like a nightmare to me, but…

Your New Desktop Wallpaper: The First Spacewalk of the Shuttle Program

From the archives: On June 7th, 1983, Astronauts Story Musgrave (left) and Don Peterson orbit the Earth at over 17,000 miles per hour, tethered to the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on the inaugural spacewalk of NASA’s Space Shuttle program. How’s that for breathtaking? Photo Credit: NASA I will never get over the…

Science explains why babies are so darn cute

What makes adult sized humans go gaga and coo coo and ooh ooh when they see a little baby? Their adorable cuteness! But are babies really that cute to make people forget how to speak? They are! And it’s scientifically proven. ASAP Science says we love round faces, big eyes, protruding cheeks, big forehead and…

A 400 Year Old Utopia That Includes Polygamy And Eugenics

City of the Sun by Tommaso Campanella is one of the earliest utopian novels — and one of the rarest, since only 20 copies exist. One of those has just come into the library at UC Riverside, where you can read it if you have California ID. (And read Latin.) Completed in 1602 during Campanella’s…

The Hollywood Bowl Started as a Natural Amphitheater Named Daisy Dell

From the back benches of the Hollywood Bowl, with the sounds of the Los Angeles Philharmonic floating through the warm air of a summer evening, it might seem hard to believe that this L.A. landmark is anything but a masterpiece of engineering. And to be sure, the venue’s iconic band shell, speakers, and other improvements…