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Watch as the first-ever human-powered helicopter takes flight

What you’re about to see has never been done before in the history of aeronautics. A team of engineers from the University of Toronto have claimed a $250,000 prize after building and flying the first-ever human-powered hover bike. After remaining unclaimed for the past 33 years, the Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition (or…

Is This 5-Inch Phone BlackBerry’s New Hope?

Looks like BlackBerry’s might be interested in getting in on the enormo-phone scene, with the first leaked image of a phone destined to be known as the A10 seemingly confirming the existence of a 5-inch model—that could upgrade the Z10 with curvier lines and a newer version of BB’s mobile software. According to the image,…

Major Reveals for Wolverine, Agents of SHIELD… and Pacific Rim 2?

Take a look behind the scenes of Godzilla and R.I.P.D. The Strain has cast an ancient vampire. S.H.I.E.L.D. will directly pick up a movie story line, but not the one you think. Sam Mendes is directing the next James Bond film. Plus see new images from Seventh Son, Frozen and Spider-Man 2. Spoilers ahead! Top…

How to Confuse Any Smartphone User

If you’re ever prompted to scan a QR code while you’re installing an app, either someone is playing a cruel practical joke on you, or something has gone very, very wrong. Especially if it’s a QR reader app. [XKCD]

Transit Times in NYC, Visualized

As cities grow and populations expand, people move further and further away from the center. That’s definitely happened in New York—and this visualization shows how the shift to more distant neighbourhoods affects travel time. The interactive maps lets you click on a location and then gives a color-coded insight into transit times across the entire…

And yet another one bites the dust: Google has announced that its local recommendation service Alfred, purchased from Clever Sense back in 2011, is shuttering on July 19th.

Nokia’s Pro Camera App Is Headed to the Lumia 920, 925, and 928 Too

Along with the launch of Nokia’s new Lumia 1020, the first proper camera-phone hybrid that seems to make sense, came an amazing piece of photographic software in the shape of Pro Camera. The good news: it’s coming to other Lumias, too. Our very own Kyle Wagner was certainly impressed when heused the new app yesterday:…

Ctrl Shift: If Computers Were Alive They’d Just Want to Bone You (NSFW)

Thank God computers are satisfied with the one-way relationship we have with them. We put them to work every single day, asking them to check our e-mail, using them to follow the news, play with them by going on Facebook and making them creep to the darker corners of the Internet. What do they get…

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet: Wild Casting

And that’s why you don’t walk into the lion house 15 minutes before feeding time, smelling of ham. I mean, really. The a team of six talented student animators at GOBELINS l’école de l’image, a 50-year-old Parisian school of digital communication and interactive design, created this entertaining romp across an unnamed American city skyline. Well,…

The Rise of Artificial Intelligence Is Absolutely Fascinating

We poke fun at Siri and pretend to get scared by Humanoid robots and make our neck hair stand up straight by watching quadrocopters do amazing things but the truth is, artificial intelligence is still pretty dumb. But that’s going to change! The rise of artificial intelligence is happening and they’re learning a lot more…

Microsoft responded to the report of how Microsoft gave the NSA access to emails, video calls and more by saying that it didn’t give direct access (there’s that phrase again) to SkyDrive, Outlook.com, Skype or any Microsoft product. [Microsoft]

Netflix Might Give Us Another Season of Arrested Development

Though some people weren’t as fanatical about Netflix’s Season 4 of Arrested Development, I loved it (especially once it got rolling). So I’m ecstatic that Netflix is currently in talks to do another season of Arrested Development. As awesome as a movie has sounded in the past, more episodic puzzles in the name of Arrested…

How Typography Moved from the Paper to the Screen

Typography is something most of us see almost everyday but only few of us really pay attention to the details. It’s all around us that it’s sometime easy to gloss over. This lovely little animation describes its importance and how we’ve had our fun with it, first by showing the basic rules of typesetting and…

What We Did Before the Internet

I have absolutely no idea how I’m going to explain to my future kids what life was like before the Internet. Those stories of a pre-YouTube, pre-Wikipedia, pre-Google, pre-iPhone, pre-iPad day will be the modern day equivalent of my parents’ stories about walking a mile to school barefoot in the snow with two barrels of…

Best Buy Will Give You At Least $200 for Your Old iPad 2 or iPad 3

That old iPad 2 of yours too blurry for your precious eyes? That fantastically beautiful screen on the iPad 3 too heavy to lift for your puny muscles? Best Buy is willing to take those old tablets off your hands for at least 200 bucks. This Friday June 12th and Saturday June 13th, Best Buy…

The Kleptones: Shout My Name

All that’s old is new again. In this raucous, high-tempo mash-up, Ezra Kleptone smashes three dissonant musical acts—the Ting Tings, Lulu, and Green Day— together like recombinant digital DNA. The result is an awesome new breed of auditory animal.

Nintendo says Wii U won’t get a software update to fix performance issues until later this fall. So try and enjoy those sloooow load times while you can! [Nintendo via Polygon]

Groopic for iOS: Photographers Can Finally Be Part of Their Own Shots

The group shot dilemma—it’s the bane of both narcissists and scrapbooking enthusiasts alike. But what are you supposed to do when you want to snap a pic of a precious moment between friends, but the only person around to take the picture is, well, you? Fortunately for you, Groopic has taken it upon itself to…

For Just $250 a Week You Can Rent Your Very Own Satellite

On August 4, a resupply mission is scheduled to take off for the International Space Station carrying a satellite for hire with it. It’s actually a nanosatellite, since it’s only 10 centimeters wide, and it’s yours to use if you’ve got the cash. Dubbed “ArduSat,” the soon-to-be-launched satellite will connect with the servers at NanoSatisfi,…

The Middleman will return at last, as a graphic novel

The brilliant but gone-too-soon Middleman series will return yet again. Series creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach announced the triumphant return on his Tumblr,explaining that Middleman would return as a graphic novel that links the comic book to the TV series: it will be a brand spankin’ new graphic novel bringing together the comic book and tv continuities.…