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How China’s Web Censorship Is Driving Traffic to a Miami Pet Spa Website

China’s well-known for its long and illustrious history of censoring the web. But rather than just blocking sites, it’s now employing some rather strange techniques—which means the online home of a small pet spa in Miami is receiving an insane number of hits every day. New Scientist has taken a peek inside the sinister world…

AT&T Is the Worst Carrier Again, Says Consumer Reports

For as long as we can remember, AT&T has been rated the worst carrier of all carriers by Consumer Reports. This annual report placing AT&T last is as consistent as Christmas being on December 25th every year. So yes, for this year, it’s the same story. AT&T is the worst again. And Christmas is on…

Qualcomm’s Amazing Wall of Patents

Qualcomm sure is proud of its patent collection. Just like a proud mother hangs up pictures of her children, the company shows off 1,395 of its favorite patents in the entrance to its San Diego HQ. These images were snapped by Engadget. Still, it’s just a small slice of the Qualcomm patent portfolio: in total,…

Sharp Is Pleading With US Firms to Help It Out

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Japanese manufacturer Sharp is in serious talks with a number of US companies to try and save its finances. It plans to offer up stakes in the business in return for a “stable supply of breakthrough display technology”. The Journal reports that Dell, in particular, has been a…

Amazon’s Maps API is out of beta, which means developers will be adding it into plenty of new apps from now on. [Amazon]

Time Warner Can’t Wait for Apple to Build a TV

Apple’s longed-for à la carte channels-as-apps TV is proving remarkably slow to arrive. But Time Warner’s CEO, Jeff Bewkes, can’t wait to get one. https://gizmodo.com/why-apple-tv-just-became-apples-most-important-product-5931185 It seems a little unusual that the head honcho of a cable TV company would be so keen to get his hands on Cook and co’s competition—but he is. Speaking…

Julian Assange Is Suffering From a “Chronic Lung Condition”

For the past five months, Julian Assange has been holed up in a tiny room within the Embassy of Ecuador in London. It’s the only place in the city he can avoid extradition to Sweden—but it’s having some serious implications on his health. The Guardian reports that Assange has a “chronic lung condition”—it doesn’t say…

Running Around Bangkok with Light Suits Looks So Damn Fun

Freerunners are already freaking insane. I mean, it’s a bunch of dudes turning the world into some sort of video game. How insane is that, right? But when you deck them out in LED lights and have them run around at night in Bangkok? It starts to really look like a video game. The three…

The Stoner Channel: Armored Pipes, Smart Stash Boxes, and Idiot-Proof Lighter Storage

PSA: Marijuana Is Fun and Enjoyable and Therefore Is the Devil Oh god, people smoking pot, dancing, and generally enjoying themselves. THE HORROR. [Buzzfeed] The Bowl Band Keeps Lighters Handy When Not in Your Hands Lighters have an uncanny ability to disappear the second you take your eyes off of them. Down the couch cushions,…

The Most Popular Songs on Spotify of 2012

If the best way to listen to music is to stream it these days, then Spotify has its finger on the pulse of what’s hot and popping in music. And looking at the most popular Spotify songs of 2012, well, that must mean our collective music taste is terribly poppy and probably horrible. Here are…

Seeing Leaves Change Colors with the Seasons Is So Amazing

Mother Nature, you are so beautiful. One of the best things about New York City (or any east coast city, really) is seeing the seasons change. The colors, the temperature, the feel. Jamie Scott created a timelapse of Central Park by choosing 15 locations in the park and then visiting those spots 2 days a…

It’s Probably Not a Good Idea to Kill a Giant Spider with Brass Knuckles

I can’t stop watching this video. This lovable guy came up with the genius idea to kill a gigantic spider on the wall with brass knuckles. Um, it doesn’t end well. Or well, it ends up exactly like how you would imagine. [YouTube]

Who Is Eddy Cue? The Guy Who Fixes All of Apple’s Problems

Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services and Ferrari board member, is Apple’s do everything, fix any problem man. According to WSJ, he’s the guy who’s in charge of fixing Apple Maps and Siri. https://gizmodo.com/apples-icloud-chief-jumps-on-the-board-of-ferrari-5958576 Because Scott Forstall is out at the company, Apple has tapped Cue to fix two of…

Håkan Lidbo (and 56 Other Producers): The World Record Record

Ah, yes, the Internet: Wondrous world of colaboration! But is it possible that too much collaboration can turn a project into a muddled mess of confusion? That’s exactly what producer Håkan Lidbo set out to find out with “The World Record Record”—His attempt, with the help fo 56 other producers, at breaking the Guinness World…

The Rise of the Backdoor Fantasy Story

One of the best books I read this year was a fantasy novel that wasn’t a fantasy novel, called Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. Written by Robin Sloan, it’s about a secret society devoted to translating a mythical book about immortality, and features several long passages devoted to the awesomeness of dragons. But the dragons were…

Look at These Two Pilots Barely Escape Death

This is completely terrifying. These guys were probably about one second from blowing up in a jet fuel fireball, but they managed to eject with only a hair standing between them and oblivion. Barely. Photographer Erwin Fuguet Gedde captured the incredible moment at a Venezuelan air show, where the country’s air force was celebrating its…

Help Us Make National Geographic’s Photo Contest Entries Even Better

With the deadline hitting at the end of this week, there’s just a few days left to enter National Geographic’s 2012 photo contest. So far the submissions are, not surprisingly, stunning, and The Atlantic has rounded up some of the most beautiful entries so far. Choosing a single winner is going to be a daunting…

First look at Primer director’s next film Upstream Color

Good news everybody! The director of Primer, Shane Carruth, is making another movie, and it sounds strangely scifi. Let the freakout dancing commence! The movie is titled Upstream Color and will be premiering at the next Sundance festival in 2013. Check out the collection of odd images (starring the director himself) and an even more…

And now, a reading from the best undead novel of our time: Z is for Zombie

Last night on New Girl, Nick finally finished his long-awaited zombie novel, Z is for Zombie. And here are the first few pages from that undead tome, read by Winston. We’re seeing a spin-off movie deal for this, Mike Senior WHO SUCKS.

Here is how animals survive beneath the thick ice of the Antarctic

There are a number of amazing things about this video, including the absolutely breathtaking close-ups of a jellyfish that lives in the strange world beneath the thick ice that covers the waters around the Antarctic. What’s truly incredible is that one of these divers is the brilliant composer and musician Henry Kaiser, who has spent…