Latest

Philips’ Prototype LED Could Replace Fluorescents and Save the US Billions Annually

Office parks and convenience stores across the country rely on fluorescent lights. These flickering gas-filled tubes suck down far less energy than the incandescent bulbs they replaced but still consume some 200 TWh of electricity every year. This new super-efficient LED prototype from Philips, however, puts florescents to shame. It’s a matter of lighting efficiency—how…

In this adorable short filled with pop-up, paper craft monsters, our only defense is a match

This adorable little short called Waste re-imagines our world as secretly populated by pop-up monsters. Watch as adorable little beasts pop out of the bin or glovebox like a kiddie book. Directed by Anton Groves, perhaps the best part of this clever little film are the video tutorials that teach us how to make our…

How to Deal With Your Google Data After You’re Dead

Google just launched an “Inactive Account Manager” to help you deal with your data after you die. The tool lets you decide what to do with you data after your account has been inactive for three, six, nine or 12 months. This is Google’s death tool. The Inactive Account Manager is designed to either grant…

The Sun Just Shot Off the Biggest, Most Spectacular Solar Flare of the Year

Early this morning, while most of us were resting peacefully in our beds, everyone’s favorite flaming ball of plasma decided to give NASA’s cameras a little show. More specifically, the Solar Dynamics Observatory managed to capture our sun’s biggest solar flare of the year thus far. Classified as an M6.5, it’s not the hugest solar…

Interested in 50GB of free, encrypted storage? Head on over to Lifehacker to claim your share.

One World Government and the War of Tomorrow

A bright rainbow hangs in the sky, descending just over the horizon. The many people of Earth march slowly toward it, leaving behind the crumbling fist of war, oppression and international borders. Nothing less than the future is over that horizon; a future that is defined by a new world order where people are able…

The episode of Xena: Warrior Princess that set women, TV and comedy back 20 years

Xena: Warrior Princess isn’t just a cult TV success, but a feminist icon. The tough warrior fought for the good of the realm in the show, but the show itself helped pave the way for a new generation of female action stars and entertainment. Which makes the show’s decision to chuck Xena to put Gabrielle…

When the laws of science fiction and economics intersect

The collective effort of two economists and an anthropologist, Goodhart’s Law illustrates in real-life economic systems what authors often illustrate in science fiction. You can use measurement to understand a system, but when you try to control it, that measurement becomes meaningless. Goodhart’s Law has a long history. Its most general form comes from Robert…

This Gorgeous Kettle Is How Iron Man Boils Water

It looks like KitchenAid has finally learned a trick from sportscar manufacturers like Ferrari, and even Iron Man. The company’s newest addition to its Pro Line of appliances is this lustworthy electric kettle that comes with an optional candy apple red color scheme that makes it look like it could boil water in three seconds.…

These Tiny Electronic Blocks Can Make Huge, Moving Works of Art

The smallest of chunks can become something much bigger with careful construction and a bit of planning. LittleBits—an awesome little building tool that sits somewhere on the spectrum between Lego and arduino, incorporating the best parts of both—is showing off that potential big time in the windows of NYC’s MoMa Design Stores this month. We…

This man shaved two dinosaurs into his beard. That is all.

Apatosaurus on the left cheek, Raptor on the right. Rarely is beard-art this inspired (though it’s been known to happen). The hair-artist in question is Sean Sweeney. The Philadelphia-based high school math teacher said in a recent reddit post that his two-faced dino-beard was the winning entry in his school’s beard competition, which a) of…

Scary Clowns and Snake-Haired Monstresses: Two Artists’ Visions of the Next Robert Rodriguez Villain

Robert Rodriguez knows a thing or two about villains and monsters. With a resume that includes films like Sin City, Grindhouse, and Predators, Rodriguez knows that to make a good villain, you need to dig deep and develop a great monster. But now, he wants you to help him create the monster that will be…

Can You Find All the Memes in This Internet Orgy of a Poster?

Created by illustrator H. Caldwell Tanner, this wonderful, mind-numbing visualization of the internet’s very essence brings together more past and current memes than you probably ever knew existed. Fortunately, Tanner takes that fact into consideration and provides an accompanying key to this unholy union. Before you hover over each character for the answers, though, try…

Don’t Worry Cyclists, There’s a Swiss Army Knife For You Now Too

Weighing just 99 grams and folding away into a compact package that’s easy to pocket, Victorinox’s new Swiss Army Bike Tool is the perfect weapon against misaligned handlebars and other on-the-road cycling emergencies. Instead of a folding design, the tool disassembles into an L-wrench with an adapter for eight included bits, a set of tire…

Scientists Succeed In Objectively Measuring Pain

In a much needed breakthrough, neuroscientists have developed a technique to predict how much physical pain people are feeling by looking at images of their brain scans. Until this point, the only way for doctors to “measure” pain is by using a pain scale. This typically involves patient self-reporting — like ranking pain on a…

Watchmaker Girard-Perregaux’s Constant Force Escapement Is a Mechanical Work of Art

What’s great about mechanical watches is that you don’t have to understand what all the visible gears and other mechanisms inside actually do to appreciate them, they’re still utterly fascinating to watch. But the revolutionary constant force escapement in Girard-Perregaux’s new timepiece is worthy of note because it’s a straight-up mechanical masterpiece. As Hodinkee explains,…

New photos and details from Man of Steel reveal two massive changes for Superman

We’ve got a crop of amazing new images from Man of Steel — plus find out about the one massive detail director Zack Snyder stripped from Superman. In the most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly, Snyder revealed his first big chance, “I’ll be honest with you, there’s no Kryptonite in the movie.” No ultimate weakness…

The psychological principle every parent has already discovered

Some of the most powerful observations in science, the ones that grand theories are built on, are the ones that cause people to say, “I could have told you that!” The Premack Principle is undoubtedly one of these observations. It’s a simple idea that’s been used forever, but was only spelled out in the 1950s.…

Samsung’s New 6.3-Inch Phone Is Bigger Than 75 Percent of Human Penises

Samsung’s Galaxy Mega is pretty big. (You: How big is it?) So big that it’s bigger than about 75 percent of the full grown human penises on planet Earth. Full stop. Last year, noted penis blogger John Herrman alerted us to the phone-penis size crash course we were on. Smartphones surpassed dicks last summer—a bit…

Memory Rug Puts a PC’s Guts On Your Floor

Had the Persian Empire had access to modern electronics, particularly the intricately etched circuit boards found in most devices, their famous woven rug designs might have ended up looking more like Lukas Scherrer’s Memory Rug. Made from multiple layers of felt so it’s more comfortable under foot than silicon and solder, the rug is adorned…