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What do you know now that you wish you’d known back then?

Advice from the future is hard to come by, but if you could do it all over again, what do you know now that you would like to tell your past self? Whether it’s something that you’ve learned over the years or just a useful fact that’s only come to light recently, share with us…

From Dream to 3D Reality: The Fascinating Origins of Pixar

Before a story about toys, before monsters went corporate, before anyone went searching for Nemo, and before twenty seven Academy Awards, Pixar was a high-end computer hardware company whose clients included the government and the medical community. The story of Pixar isn’t exactly full of superheroes, adorable robots, or talking bugs. The tale of the…

The Lazarus sign can convince you that brain-dead people are alive

People who are brain dead make certain motions that make it look like they are aware of their surroundings. The most horrifying motion of all is the Lazarus sign — it can convince people that their loved one has literally come back from the dead. The Lazarus sign is an example of a spinal reflex…

Toy offers best look at the brand-new Godzilla design yet

Forget the shadowy glimpse of the big G fromthe teaser trailer, forget the artist’s rendering on this model package. Here’s an actual action figure of the new Godzilla design, shown in good lighting, that reveals the King of the Monsters in full, clear detail from the top of his head to his massive toes. We…

Two Espressos Enhance Your Long-Term Memory

Many of us would he hard-pressed to function without our morning coffee, but now there’s compelling evidencethat it could actually help enhance your long-term memory. A study led by Michael Yassa from the University of California, Irvine, sought to establish the effects of small quantities of caffeine on memory function in adults. His 160 participants…

Could the Amazing Spider-Man movies really set up the Clone Saga?

Breaking Bad’s Jesse Plemons might be playing a very crucial Star Wars character. Sony might be looking for a director to bring the Masters of the Universe film out of limbo. Find out who could be playing Kyle Reese in Terminator 5. Damon Lindelof hopes that character trumps mythology in The Leftovers. Plus, sneak peeks…

Just four months after its introduction, Sprint is axing its ‘One Up’ early upgrade plan, instead pushing its new “Framily” plan (which doesn’t offer any option for early upgrades without paying for unlimited data). That didn’t last long.

How Computers Create Convincing Light and Shade in Graphics

Creating rich, lush computer-generated images is no mean feat, and one of the most fundamental aspects is light and shade. This video explains how programmers and designers tackle that crucial problem. It’s a question of rolling together all kinds of data—from information about lighting sources to material properties and geometry—to create a convincing effect. Listen…

Netflix scored its first Golden Globe win last night, with Robin Wright scooping Best Actress in a TV Drama for her work in House of Cards.

The Privacy Paradox: How US Surveillance Acts Contradict Each Other

The report from the President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies on the U.S. government’s mass spying—domestically and around the globe— has much that’s good in it. As the folks handling the only ongoing case where National Security Letters have been declared unconstitutional, we also especially appreciate the recommendation that NSLs may only be…

In an interview with Bloomberg, Blackberry’s CEO John Chen said that the future of the brand is in hardware keyboards. “I personally love the keyboards,” he said, “so you will look to Blackberry going forward to do keyboards — I wouldn’t use the word exclusively, but predominantly.” Welcome to the past!

Sometimes the Only Explanation For Your Computer Fault Is Witchcraft

Despite being so user-friendly on the whole, computers are incredibly complex systems. So complex that sometimes—just sometimes—the only explanation for a fault is that it must be haunted or something. Just blame the ghost in the machine. [XKCD]

This postcard took 44 years to reach its recipient because of the Stasi

In 1969, Günter Zettl was a 18-year-old student in Waren an der Müritz, a little town in East Germany. Zettl liked to listen to prohibited Western radio stations and one day he decided to participate in a music contest by sending a postcard. Unfortunately, the communist version of the NSA got it first. The postcard…

This Disco Ball Floor Lamp Is A Classy Take On A Kitschy Icon

Attention all sophisticated super freaks: this one’s for you. Say hello to the Disco Dish, a flashy light fixture from the off-kilter creative mind of Dutch designer Bertjan Pot. The series is a new take on his Disco Dome pendants, that flipped the familiar glitter ball inside out; these are two new models—floor and pendant—and…

First Game of Thrones season 4 trailer is out—and it looks awesome

The first official Game of Thrones season 4 trailer is out at last, and it looks fantastic. April 6 seems so far away. Now I need another shot of House of Cards. I just look at it and my excitement grows as I anticipate all the moments that I know are going to happen—because I…

This is how the US Air Force showers its giant cargo planes

Ever wondered how the US Air Force cleans its planes? Here’s one way: They use a giant shower on a runway—or a planewash if you must. Here you can see it cleaning the salt accumulated on a Lockheed Martin WC-130 Hercules after flying through storms over the Gulf of Mexico. One of the best USAF…

The XX: Shelter

After six days straight of a gadget deluge at CES, I’ve been laying low all weekend, listening to calming music. For some reason, I’ve found comfort in the soothing sounds of the XX. Shelter? Please, give it to me. I need it. And I’m finding it alone and in the dark where there are no…

Google Street View Uses an Insane Neural Network To ID House Numbers

Google Street View is brilliant. It finds us when we’re lost, it shows us where we are, it reveals places we’ll never get to visit, and so on and so forth. But you know what’s even more amazing? The crazy neural network that Street View is built on. Take, for example, the conundrum of house…

First Game of Thrones season 4 trailer shows why Westeros is hell

Here it is — your first real glimpse of Game of Thrones season four, filled with the lovely sound of various characters having their worlds shattered, and the fragments ground into bloody dust. Readers of the books by George R.R. Martin will recognize many scenes in this promo — but there’s plenty of new awesomeness…

This Amazing, Light-Bending Metamaterial Can Do Calculus

When we last saw metamaterials, they were helping us create real-life invisibility cloaks. But, in even more exciting news for true nerds, light-bending metamaterial can also do math. Not just simple math, but calculus. Metamaterials are artificial materials that bend light in all types of weird and unnatural ways. Scientists have now devised a theoretical…