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The Obscure Loophole That Explains Why Thieves Prefer Old, Junky Cars

Who wants to steal crappy old cars better suited for the junkyard than the road? Car thieves with a fine understanding of New York law, of course. While car thefts have gone way down in New York, thefts of junky old cars has gone up—all because a quirk in the state’s laws makes it easier…

Photographer captures awesome halo projected behind his fighter jet

Professional photographer Blair Bunting takes some really awesome photos. He’s also an aviation freak. So much that he has flown in a F-16 twice—and he’s the honorary commander of the USAF 425th FS (Singaporean Air Force). He captured the incredible shot above in his latest flight with the Thunderbirds. Here are some of his photos:…

These Buildings Have Animated Screens Instead of Walls

Cities are getting more colorful all the time. Just check out these cutting-edge buildings, which use giant LEDs to display cool animations — and turn your cities into massive Lite Brites. Here are the most outstanding LED facades in the world. The National Library of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus, designed by Mihail Vinogradov and Viktor Kramarenko,…

Bad News: E-Cigs Alter Cells a Lot Like Tobacco Does

A new cancer study brings more bad news to the e-cigarette industry. Scientists exposed human bronchial cells to e-cig vapor and found that it altered the cells in a way not dissimilar to tobacco. In other words, that delicious, seemingly risk-free nicotine vapor might not be so benign, after all. Don’t worry too much, though,…

What If Swallowing All The Helium In A Balloon Would Let You Fly?

Need a quick smile? In this charming short, young Harvey swallows a ballon’s worth of helium and becomes a high-flying, butt crack-baring blimp gliding through a beautifully animated landscape. Daniel Savage wrote, directed, and animated Helium Harvey, and it is pure fun. I’m jealous of any little boy—even a fictional one—who can use his powers…

Luckiest man alive survives spectacular full frontal truck crash

Amazingly enough, everyone involved in this accident survived almost unscathed. It was recorded by the dashcam of Dr. Guan Zhu, a professor at Texas A&M University.

What Are the Odds That You Might See a Meteoroid While Skydiving?

You’ve seen the footage of a rock falling past a skydiver. It looks like this particular object might be a rock accidentallypackedin his parachute. So we’ve done the statistical analysis to figure out what the real chances are that a skydiver would eventually see a meteoroid. The following is some hardcore estimating and order-of-magnitude geekery…

How Heartbleed Works: The Code Behind the Internet’s Security Nightmare

By now you’ve surely heard of Heartbleed, the hole in the internet’s security that exposed countless encrypted transactions to any attacker who knew how to abuse it. But how did it actually work? Once you break it down, it’s actually incredibly simple. And a little hilarious. But mostly terrifying. You can read our overview of…

Professional Violinists Can’t Tell a Stradivarius From a Modern Violin

The violins of 18th Century craftsman Antonio Stradivari are legendary. The most perfect violins ever made. They’re so perfect, in fact, that renowned violin soloists not only can’t tell the difference between a Stradivarius and a modern violin, they actually tend to prefer the latter. Wait, what? Crap. The Strad (“Essential Reading for the String…

Astronomers Release Gorgeous Image of a “Celestial Diamond Ring”

The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile has captured this stunning image of planetary nebula that, by chance, is aligned with a foreground star, and thus bears an uncanny resemblance to a diamond ring. This cosmic gem is unusually symmetrical, appearing to be almost perfectly circular. The nebula, known as Abell 33, is…

Paramount Making A TV Series Out Of Truman Show

Andrew Niccol’s meta reality TV movie, The Truman Show is absolutely ripe for a television adaptation. And now, it’s actually going to happen. The Wrap revealed the new TV agenda over at Paramount includes The Truman Show, although it is officially not in production. And you could easily see how this could be a great…

“I Hate This Movie So Much, I Had To Watch It FIVE TIMES”

You don’t have to love a movie to rewatch it obsessively. In fact, hate-watching may be the most compulsive reason for endless rewatches. Sometimes you don’t fully appreciate a film’s awfulness until the sixth (or 30th viewing). Which science fiction or fantasy film do you hate, but rewatch over and over? Please include a picture,…

That Beeping Sound You Hear Is The Future

Today’s modern automobile often comes with high-tech crash-avoidance systems. Parallel parking is a breeze when your car beeps to let you know when you’re about to hit something. The people of yesteryear couldn’t have imagined something like that, right? Think again. In today’s edition of There’s Nothing New Under the Sun, we have a Jazz…

Self-Destructing Electronics Are Here and They Are Awesome

A renegade professor and his team at Iowa State just unveiled a mind-bending new technology. Put bluntly, they’ve created self-destructing electronics: gadgets that disappear with the flip of a switch. And, yes, it’s just like Mission Impossible. It seems like we’ve been hearing about self-destructing electronics for ages now, and not just in cheesy TV…

Bluetooth Earbuds You Won’t Hate, Your New Flagship Drone, Samsungs

These Jaybird earbuds are about as small as Bluetooth headphones can possibly be, and they’ll only set you back $40 today. We’ve never seen them for less than $60 prior to this sale. Jaybird Freedom Stereo Bluetooth Earbuds | $40 Today on Woot, you can upgrade your home theater with a variety of refurbished Samsung…

Insane ’80s Space Fantasy Comic Dreadstar Is Also Getting A Movie

Huh. Jim Starlin’s cult favorite comic Dreadstar, published back in the ’80s under Marvel’s creator-owned imprint Epic, is inexplicably — but happily! — coming to the big screen. We wen’te expecting this, but it’s definitely good news. Here’s the Wikipedia description of the comic, which doesn’t really do its craziness justice: The series centered on…

Could This Be the Clean New Look For Android’s Built-In Calendar App?

The folks over at Geek.com got this sneak peek at a significantly updated test design for Timely, Google’s stock calendar app. If this is the final version that Android users will see, it’ll be a nice update. Over at Geek.com, Russell Holly got the chance to play with an Android device running this purported new…

Mailbox, the delightful email tool that Dropbox bought a little over a year ago, will finally be available on Android and desktops. The Android version should hit Google Play today, with desktop available as a limited beta for now. Update: Here’s your Google Play download link.

Need A Scorecard For All The Game Of Thrones Characters? Here It Is

Struggling to remember the affiliations of all the different characters on Game of Thrones and whether they’re still alive? This massive chart keeps track of who is who on the show and what their current status is. Graphic designer Nigel Evan Dennis created Where have all the Wildlings gone? (spoilers for the show within), a…

Let This Song Ruin Your Childhood

Few things are more sacred than your childhood. It’s a formative time where you learn to love all manner of things, from movies, to books, to toys. And now that you’re grown up, you often look back on those times with fondness, remembering how wonderful everything was as a child. Despite all the annoyances and…