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Acer Aspire R7 Hands On: We’re Not Quite Ready for This Kind of Crazy

Can we start by saying that Acer’s new R7 convertible is nuts, and that that’s totally great? Because it is, it’s great that Acer’s doing this weird new thing that doesn’t exactly make sense, just to see if it works. The very first thing you notice about the R7 becomes is also the most and…

Perform Pachelbel On a Pint-Sized Playable Pop-up Paper Piano

Taking those electronic music playing greeting cards to a whole new level, Antonella Nonnis created a playable paper piano that she eventually hopes to turn into one of the awesomest pop-up books you’ve ever seen. The paper keys are all lined with a strip of copper foil that’s wired to a series of megaohm resistors…

This Is How Space Exploration Was Imagined Before Sputnik

Artists’ impressions always played key role in promoting the ideas of space travel, forming our view of future, preparing people for the upcoming of manned or unmanned cosmic missions, spreading the visions of astronomical scientists and aerospace engineers. I found the following illustrations in several Hungarian scientific journals, most of them are from the early…

Acer Aspire R7: The Craziest Thing to Happen to Laptops in Years

This is either brilliant or absolutely insane. Acer’s new R7 ultrabook is the weirdest change to laptop design in years. For our hands-on look at the R7 today, head here. The R7 switches the touchpad and keyboard placement on laptop’s body, with the keyboard in front of the touchpad. This is to make using touch…

DARPA’s new robotic hand can lift kettlebells as well as tweezers

It can also palm a basketball, pinch a BB-pellet, manipulate a cordless power drill and withstand being cudgeled with a freaking baseball bat… which… well… most hands can only do two of those things. The hand is part of DARPA’s Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (Arm-H) program, and a collaboration between robotics company iRobot and Harvard and…

All Things D is reporting that Spotify has acquired Tunigo, a music discovery engine with a popular Spotify app, for an undisclosed sum. Basically, hopefully, one day soon Spotify will offer up its own killer recs for new music.

Breeze Through Grade School With Multiplication Cheat Sheet Socks

They say cheaters never prosper, but those people obviously never managed to score an A+ by looking at someone else’s exam. So if you’re having a bit of a rough time mastering your multiplication tables, just grab a pair of these Cheat Feet socks and don’t sweat your next test. All you need is $14…

8 Game of Thrones characters who are better on TV than in the books

We’ve talked before about the many ways the Game of Thrones TV series has improved upon George R.R. Martin’s beloved fantasy books, but there’s something we haven’t mentioned — the characters. There are performances on-screen which enhance their literary inspirations, and here are just a few! 1) Margaery Tyrell We begin with what is probably…

10 DIY Iron Man Suits That Give Tony Stark a Run for His Money

Iron Man has finally returned to theaters across the country, inevitably leaving a lot of us lusting for our own set of red and gold armor. But it turns out that billions of dollars, a genius IQ, and the magic of Hollywood aren’t required to realize that dream. At least, not for these brilliant amateur…

This Kinect-Powered Installation Makes Humans Into Monsters

In this video installation by artist Bego M. Santiago, participants are projected onto little boxes through a Kinect like inhabitants of a small city. They react in terror when a visitor enters the room, because that person towers over them like Godzilla or King Kong. And that’s very literally the point. Santiago said he wanted…

What if the Earth had no moon?

We recently watched Oblivion, prompting us to ask the question: What if the Earth had no large moon? Mild spoiler(s) and graphic depictions of shattered satellites ahead! In the movie, aliens destroy the Earth’s moon, presumably to throw our planet into chaos. You’d think we’d already be outclassed by the very definition of a species…

Iron Man 3: The Fall (and Rise) of Tony Stark

The first Iron Man movie uses Tony Stark as a metaphor for American power, with Tony’s near-lethal chest wound signifying his remorse at spreading weapons around Afghanistan. The brilliant Iron Man 3 makes this connection even more explicit, giving us an elaborate fable of post-9/11 America and a paranoid-but-cocky Tony. Spoilers ahead… And as usual,…

The inspiration behind Darwin’s evolutionary theory, seen from space

The Galápagos Islands look downright stunning from low-Earth orbit. The volcanic islands are famous for their uncanny number of endemic species, many of which Charles Darwin studied during the voyage of the Beagle. These observations would help the famed naturalist formulate his theory of evolution by natural selection. The photo was captured a few days…

I’m Not Sure I Trust This Guy With an 80,000 Volt Thor Hammer

We support authentic cosplay as much as the next superhero-loving blog, but this recreation of Thor’s Mjolnir hammer that’s capable of generating 80,000 arcing volts is just straight up scary. Instead of mystical powers, the hammer’s lightning is generated by a tiny Tesla coil inside. And if you’re wondering what those sparks could do to…

Louisiana senators vote to keep creationism in science class — again

Teen activist Zack Kopplin has lost his third bid to see a repeal of Louisiana’s Science Education Act — a highly controversial piece of legislation that allows teachers to bring creationist textbooks and other instructional materials into the classroom. Bill 26, which was sponsored by Senator Carter Peterson (D-New Orleans), was defeated by a narrow…

Exclusive: The Mandarin figure readies his war on Iron Man

Sir Ben Kingsley the ACTION FIGURE! We’ve got the exclusive sneak peek at Tony Stark’s new nemesis from Iron Man 3, The Mandarin. Complete with camo pants, rings, weapons and a fabulous pair of stomping boots, come get a face full of Mandarin. The 6-inch scale “Mandarin” figure is part of Hasbro’s Iron Man 3…

KITT learns about the magic of music in the dumbest Knight Rider ever

Given David Hasslehoff’s bizarre European musical career, you might think that a Knight Rider episode centered around a very special concert would feature Hasslehoff singing and that it would be completely terrible. As it turns out, you’d be half right — “Knight Song” (sigh) is completely terrible, but at least Hasslehoff stays off stage. The…

Netflix: Where We Set Up Shop, Torrenting Drops

The Chief Content Officer of streaming giant Netflix claims the modern trend for easily streaming legal content is impacting on the more hardcore Bittorrent scene, with pirate traffic dropping in countries when Netflix switches on its servers. According to Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, this is because “…people are mostly honest.” Sarandos went on to tell Stuff…

Rare Caterpillar Resembles Donald Trump’s Hair

A recently videotaped caterpillar bears an uncanny resemblance to bigwig Donald Trump‘s hair. The insect, a rare yellow-colored caterpillar of the flannel moth, now has the nickname “Donald Trump Caterpillar.” Wildlife photographer Jeff Cremer and conservation biologist Phil Torres spotted the caterpillar in an Amazon rainforest, according to a Daily Mail report. The two men…

Watch the first ever footage from Ender’s Game

Get a glimpse of what awaits you in the movie adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s novel Ender’s Game. And yes, there’s brief battle room footage. Sure it’s a teaser for a trailer, which is a thing now apparently. But it’s also the first ever moving footage from the movie we’ve been waiting most of our…