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A Gift Guide for the Transit-Obsessed

This one’s for the people who give you more reliable subway directions than HopStop, who can describe to you, in detail, the metro map in any given city, and who want to ride the bus “just because.” These transportation-themed gifts will fare well for any and all overzealous public transit enthusiasts in your life. Just…

The Worst Thing That Has Ever Happened on American Horror Story

This scene was easily the worst thing I ever had to endure while watching American Horror Story. Ever. Spoilers ahead… Other than the above scene, not too much happened last night on AHS. But that doesn’t mean it was without its delicious charm. I particularly liked Fiona’s Bewitched line: “Every day I look less like…

This Pretty Box of Paints Is Actually Filled With Delicious Chocolates

Looking for the perfect gift for the artist in your family? Look no further than this new paint kit designed by the Japanese product and furniturestudio Nendo. Except it’s not really a paint kit. Instead of foil, the tubes are made chocolate, and instead of being filled with paint, they’re filled with yummy syrups. The…

George R.R. Martin shows what happens when dragons go to war

While you’re anxiously awaiting the sixth Westeros book from George R.R. Martin, there’s something to tide you over. This week, Martin released a new novella set in the past of Westeros, and it shows just what happens when there’s a war with tons of dragons. Top image: Tomasz Jedruszek/CG Society Spoilers ahead… Martin’s story “The…

The Last Days of the DSLR

The DSLR is everywhere. You see it around the necks of tourists, against the faces of pro photographers. Since Canon introduced the Digital Rebel in 2003, the DSLR has come to dominate photography outright. That ubiquity is about to come to an end so abrupt, you might not even have time to notice it. No,…

Further Automate Your Home And Clean It, $5 Off $35 On Amazon [Deals]

The Home Automation deals continue with the Belkin WeMo Switch, which allows you to toggle on and off whatever device you decide to plug into it using that handy smartphone you have, and is marked down to $40 today. [Amazon] If you missed our $40 deal on the Belkin WeMo Light Switch yesterday, Newegg has…

Oh Good, a Magical Internet Machine That Guesses your Passwords

Got a super-secure password? Maybe you shouldn’t be so sure.Telepathwords can help you find out, and practically read your mind in the process. The new project from Microsoft Research has a simple premise: you start typing one of your favorite passwords in its little text box, and it tries to guess what the next character…

The best world photos of 2013

If there’s an authority on which are the best photographs of people, nature and places every year that is, without a doubt, theNational Geographic Photo Contest, now in its 2013 edition. I don’t even care about the winners because the selected entries are all equally incredible. I’ve picked my favorite nine. “The fennec, or desert…

Cyborg card players of the 1920s. Hermann Peschel, seated at right, lost his left arm and his right arm below the elbow in the First World War. The grip of these super-early artificial arms could be controlled by shoulder movements. [Via Retronaut/Europeana 1914-1918]

Transparent prisons are everywhere. See for yourself!

If you’ve seen a big-budget movie lately, you’ve seen someone in a clear prison, made of glass or plastic. It’s an unavoidable trope, because it’s so hard to film people fighting from behind bars. Don’t believe us? Here’s our complete round-up of see-through prisons in pop culture. The Blacklist (2013) Prisoner: Raymond “Red” Reddington Crime:…

The First Watch to Climb Mount Everest

As a watch is handed down from generation to generation, the stories behind its life make it more and more valuable. And as far as past lives go, this Rolex, currently on display at the Beyer Watch and Clock Museum in Zürich, Switzerland, could top them all. It accompanied Sir Edmund Hillary on one of…

Forget Mouse and Keyboard: Play Your Next PC Game with Tongue and Butt

With Steam Boxes looming large in the future, game-peddlers-cum-hardware-makers over at Valve have been experimenting with some new ways to control your PC. Yeah, there’s the weird joystick-less Steam Controller, but Valve designer Ben Krasnow has some even weirder stuff: a tongue mouse and a butt controller. Both experiments—which Krasnow explains in depth in a…

Time Capsule Mystery in Michigan Nearly Solved

A church in Michigan recently opened a time capsule from 1912 and discovered a mysterious package inside. The parcel was addressed to the descendants of a man named Reverend Foote, but nobody at the church knew who he was or what could be inside. Until now. Church officials at Trinity Episcopal tell the Lansing State…

Don’t Freak Out About Ultrasonic Malware (Yet)

The Internet’s been abuzz lately with news that computer scientists have found a way to transmit malware using ultrasonic audio signals. If true, this means that you’d never be safe from the hackers, as long as your computer has a microphone and speakers. But don’t freak out just yet. We reached out to the cybersecurity…

This looks ‘shopped, but it’s actually an optical illusion

For French artist George Rousse, color is clearly important, but space, depth and perspective are everything. For a little over three decades, Rousse has been creating art out of the crumbling walls, warped ceilings and cracked spandrels of derelict structures and abandoned buildings. To infuse these forgotten places with color is a statement in and…

Screencaps Reveal All the Secrets in the Amazing Spider-Man 2 Trailer!

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 trailer pretty much overwhelmed us with spectacle. And supervillains. Did you catch all of the amazing villain reveals, and weird clues? We’ve got you covered, with our complete roundup of screencaps! First, let’s pause and check out this high-res banner — we showed you a blurry version of it last week…

An Algorithmic Newspaper Published For Just One Coffeeshop in London

Perhaps the future of newspapers is all about local distribution—very local distribution, as in a whole newspaper printed for just one coffeeshop in London. The Newspaper Club has teamed up with the Guardian to launch what they call an “algorithmic newspaper,” published only for one location, its content mathematically harvested according to level of interest…

​A male birth control pill that causes a temporary vasectomy

It’s the 21st century and men still don’t have a birth control pill to call their own. But now, scientists from Britain and Australia have figured out a way to prevent sperm from escaping during the moment of ejaculation — and without affecting sexual function. To date, most attempts at creating a male birth control…

Science Has Created the Hardest Tongue Twister Known to Man

Bad news for the seashell sellers and pepper picklers among us; you’ve officially been de-throned. MIT researchers have found the hardest, most frustrating tongue twister to ever grace our lips: “Pad kid poured curd pulled cold.” Oy. Before they could come up with such tongue-numbing verbiage, though, the researchers spent hours upon hours pouring through…

If you look back fondly at old emails, Google’s got you covered: you’ll soon be able to download a copy of all your Gmail and Google Calendar data and keep it filed away for posterity. The feature is available for Calendar today and will be rolled out to Gmail over the next month. [Google]