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SpaceX Grasshopper Rocket Flies Higher than the Chrysler Building Now

SpaceX’s reusable Grasshopper rocket is growing up. And up and up and up. It just set a new record for height, hovering at over 325 meters (1066 feet)—higher than Manhattan’s Chrysler Building—and hovering there, before coming back down and landing on its launchpad safely. The Grasshopper itself is a 10-story Vertical Takeoff, Vertical Landing rocket.…

Lincoln’s Pyramid: Failed Proposals For DC’s Most Famous Monuments

Retronostalgia is the air. Last week, we looked six New Yorks that could have been. And this week, National Geographic takes a similar look at D.C., for which there are veritable heaps of unbuilt memorials. Ever wondered what the Lincoln Memorial would look like, had it been built by ancient Egyptians? As you might imagine,…

The 15 Most Disturbing MST3K Host Segments

During its 10 years on the air, Mystery Science Theater 3000 was often smart, sometimes mean, and always funny. It was rarely disturbing, but when you have nearly 200 episodes with five host segments to fill — those skits on-board the Satellite of Love not set in the theater — you’re going to encounter some…

How Would You Carry a Jaeger from Pacific Rim?

So you have your awesome giant Jaeger and you want to use it to fight the mean Kaiju that are destroying your city. But there is a problem. Your Jaeger is here and the Kaiju are there. How do you get from here to there? Clearly, you need to fly. Well, not really fly. No,…

What if The Simpsons was invaded by characters from Game of Thrones?

Last year, we witnessed The Simpsons give tribute to Game of Thrones in their introduction. Now, the cast of George R.R. Martin’s series has invaded Springfield, and it is awesome. Created by artist Adrien Noterdaem for the Draw the Simpsons Tumblr,this may be our favorite GoT mashup in sometime. Especially with Tywin Lannister in the…

Celebrate the Roswell UFO incident by playing Google’s doodle game

Today marks the 66th anniversary of the Roswell UFO incident. To commemorate the milestone, Google has put together a fantastic black-and-white interactive doodle in which you have to help a crash-landed alien return home. It’s quite possibly the best Google Doodle yet! At the opening of the game, users watch as a UFO falls out…

A 3D-Printed SLR Makes Us Wish For 3D-Printed Film, Too

Despite the fact that many camera manufacturers have stopped producing non-digital SLRs, fans of film-based photography should be happy to hear that they’ll be able to 3D print a replacement should their beloved hardware ever fail. The OpenReflex camera was created by Léo Marius, a recent design graduate who’s posted the plans and everything you’ll…

The Best Free Apps in Apple’s App Store Anniversary Fire Sale

There have been plenty of App Store sales before, some of them quite extensive. But Apple’s never offered discounts of this magnitude before. Some of the best—and most expensive—games and apps you can find on iOS are free today, presumably in honor of the App Store’s five-year anniversary. Here are the ones you need to…

The Secret Histories of Clippy, Comic Sans, and Other Legends of Early UI

It’s human nature to hate things that remind us of how dumb we used to be; Like teenagers who can’t stand their baby pictures, we prefer to ignore the proof of our humble beginnings. The same goes for artifacts of computing history—for proof, just look at the rage directed at relics of those early days,…

This Week’s TV: Is Batman’s new show as good as the Animated Series?

Did Syfy steal the idea for Sharknado from The Middleman? And just how many memes will Sharknado spawn? Also, the brand new Batman series reinvents Bat-continuity, but will it be worth your Bat-time? Gravity Falls is back! Check out clips and previews of all this week’s television. Top image: Sharknado Today: Defiance (9 PM, Syfy):…

Lauren Beukes is here answering your questions from 12-1 PM today!

In June, the io9 book club read Lauren Beukes’ haunting novel The Shining Girls. Now, Beukes is here today from 12-1 to answer your questions about this book, her previous work (Moxyland and Zoo City), and anything else (on topic!) you want to ask. Start posting your questions in comments below, and Beukes will get…

Nikon: We Want to Change the Concept of Cameras With a Non-Camera

Nikon might be better know for their point-and-shoots, but it seems to be wanting to diversify—and it’s contemplating releasing products that are less camera and more… something else. Talking to Bloomberg, Nikon’s president Makoto Kimura explained that he knew the number of people dropping compacts in favor of smartphones was “exploding”. His solution? To “create…

The world’s deepest diving pool is like an underwater city

Add this to your list of things you never knew existed but, now that you do, you now desperately need: a visit to NEMO33, the deepest pool on Earth. NEMO33 contains over 2.5-million liters of chlorine-free, filtered spring water that’s been heated to 86°F. Much of the pool is between 5- and 10-meters deep, a…

Facebook will berolling out its Graph Search to hundreds of million users in the United States today. Look out for it!

Batman prepares to battle Aquaman and Wonder Woman in Flashpoint clip

The first clip for DC’s direct-to-home video movie Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox has arrived, as Cyborg assembles a team to stop Aquaman and Wonder Woman before the Atlantis/Amazon war kills everyone on the planet, asking a particularly red-eyed Batman to lead it (no spoilers, but he’s not just tired). Comics fans know that this is…

Watch as Grasshopper sets a new record by ‘hopping’ over 1,000 feet

SpaceX’s Grasshopper reusable rocket established a new standard a few weeks ago by climbing to an altitude of 1,066 feet (325 meters) — and then descending back down to Earth for its most accurate landing yet. The previous record, which was set back in April, saw the Vertical Takeoff Vertical Landing (VTVL) rocket reach a…

The HTC One Finally Got Its Android 4.2.2 Upgrade

After promising for ages, then delaying it and killing it off on other phones like the One S, HTC’s finally come through with an Android 4.2.2 update for the much-loved HTC One. What a cracking point update it is too, because HTC’s finally fixed one of the One’s biggest gripes. The free update is available…

Primates shows us what it takes to make it as a scientist

Whether you’re looking for a graphic novel about the early breakthroughs in primate research, an account of the rigors of fieldwork, or just a scientific version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Louis Leakey as a slightly horny Willy Wonka, this is the book for you. The book is called Primates: The Fearless Science…

Could the Lone Ranger still play Batman in the Justice League movie?

There’s a Wolverine poster, the Rock shows off the Hercules set, and James Cameron and Alfonso Cuarón talk Battle Angel and Gravity. Ryan Reynolds talks about the Deadpool movie. Could Russell Crowe star in a Krypton prequel? Plus Ming-Na Wen describes her character on Agents of SHIELD. Spoilers now! The Wolverine Here’s a new image…

This Eternal Flame Burns as a Result of Natural Fracking

This is a light that never goes out: an eternal flame, hidden behind a waterfall in Erie county, New York, which is a result of natural gas seeping out from underground rocks. While gas seeps are extremely common, if the flow concentrates into a “macroseep”—a strong concentrated stream of gas—it can ignite and perhaps never…