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Memopads and Desk Organizers Were Meant To Be Together

Before you get too excited about this brilliant desk accessory that provides a place to jot notes while organizing your various writing implements, you need to know it has a very dark secret: it’s expensive. Like unjustifiably crazy expensive for what is essentially a stack of paper. After seeing it you have to wonder why…

When blind people hallucinate

There’s a relatively obscure medical condition called Charles Bonnet Syndrome. It happens to people who are either losing their sight, or completely blind. Suddenly, one day, they see vivid and detailed hallucinations. It’s been documented since the 1700s, and even today nobody is quite sure why it happens. Charles Bonnet, according to anyone who knew…

‘Perfect storm’ of geological factors make the Eastern U.S. more susceptible to strong earthquakes than previously thought

As if the folks out on America’s east coast don’t already have enough to worry about after the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy, it now looks like last year’s magnitude-5.8 earthquake in Virginia was no anomaly. According to a report presented this week at the Geological Society of America’s annual meeting, the highly populated area around…

With a Smartphone Dock For a Heart, This Teddy Bear Will Terrorize Your Kids

If Teddy Ruxpin had tried harder to keep up with technology he wouldn’t have risen from the grave using proprietary digital cartridges. Instead, he’d have a smartphone dock embedded in his torso like this Japaese Cocolo Bear does. https://gizmodo.com/teddy-ruxpin-is-back-109304 Available sometime this month for about $62, Cocolo connects to almost any phone using its headphone…

11 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About James Bond

You don’t know all the secrets of James Bond. The swashbuckling, cocktail-sipping superspy has spent over 50 years as a cultural phenomenon, defeating plans for world destruction and riding on insane vehicles — and along the way, he’s had more than his fair share of weird stories and strange interludes. Now that he’s back in…

There’s now a Hulu Kids section, with 43 child-friendly, commercial-free channels. Barney! Spongebob! TV babysitting!

Red Marble: Unreal Portrait of the Sun Eclipsed By Earth

This beautiful, unreal portrait of the Sun was taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory as it was moving into its eclipse season: Twice a year, for three weeks near the vernal and autumnal equinox, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft moves into its eclipse season-a brief spell when Earth blocks its view of the sun…

Your Account Probably Wasn’t Hacked, Twitter Is Just Paranoid

If you got a password reset notice from Twitter last night or this morning, don’t worry, your account wasn’t hacked. When Twitter notices suspicious activity indicating that an account might have been compromised, it resets the password just to be on the safe side. That’s a good thing! But last night the system spazzed. According…

This Prosthetic Hand Could’ve Been Ripped From a Terminator

While we’re still a few years away from Ghost in the Shell-level cybernization, losing an appendage to illness or injury is no longer a liflong condemnation to hook-handedness. And with the recent release of the beBionic 3, we’re all a step closer to being Maj. Kusanagi. Designed and built by UK firm RSL Steeper, the…

Is NASA about to unveil plans for manned moon mission?

Suit up, people — word is we’re heading back to the Moon. According to space policy expert John Logsdon, there’s a decent chance NASA has already cleared plans to establish a manned base on the far side of the Moon with the Obama administration. Thing is, they’ve probably been keeping it under wraps in the…

Secrets, Schemes, and Lots of Guns: Inside John McAfee’s Heart of Darkness

As dawn broke over the interior of Belize on April 30, an elite team of 42 police and soldiers, including members of the country’s SWAT team and Special Forces, converged on a compound on the banks of a jungle river. Within, all was quiet. The police called out through a bullhorn that they were there…

A mysterious, giant hand rises from the Chilean desert

The Atacama is one of several gorgeous, seemingly lifeless deserts that make Chile look like another world. And that’s why it’s been popular with artists since before the days of the Inca. There’s nothing like a blank landscape if you want to create a massive, haunting sculpture. And that’s just what Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrázabal…

Here’s the New Stuff You’ll Get Next Time You Update Your iPhone

The beta version of iOS 6.1 is out, which means the real deal will be yours for the downloading, soon-ish. Get a load of all the kinda-minor updates you’ll be enjoying and/or freaking out over, right now. Let’s break ‘er down. You can now buy movie tickets through Siri. Ask about a movie, if it’s…

The 9 Biggest Wastes of Google’s Time and Money

Google just put out JAM, for Chrome, which is basically Garage Band for your browser. It’s pretty cool! And after today there’s basically zero chance you’re ever going to think about it again. https://gizmodo.com/jam-with-chrome-turns-your-browser-into-a-garage-band-5958771 That seems to happen to Google a lot; it comes up with some novel ideas, throws a ton of money at…

Logos redesigned for the impending zombie apocalypse

Barbie turned Zombie, Goodwill turned to Badwill. Check out a handful of logos rebranded to compete with the oncoming zombie apocalypse. Designed by Ben Fellowes! [via Laughing Squid]

The terrifying discovery of the Lawn Dart Effect

Whenever you see the word “aviation,” you don’t want to see the words “lawn dart” immediately afterwards. They just shouldn’t be linked. And yet, due to a quirk of the human brain, they are. The Lawn Dart Effect is the ultimate example of why you shouldn’t trust your gut — especially when flying. Early planes…

Come to the Mother of All Shooting Challenges’ NYC Gallery Event

Well, it’s time to bid adieu to our fun and photo-filled Intel-Inspired Ultrabook™ Shooting Challenge. In case you were keeping score, we brought you six incredible photographers, six mystery locations, six shooting styles, and six totally free Intel-Inspired Ultrabooks™. But before we say goodbye, we’d like to leave you with this supercut of our photographers’…

How a Reddit Rage Comic Saved a Man’s Life

Four days ago, the rage comic above was posted to Reddit by CappnPoopdeck. It described the true story of her friend, a man who decided to try his ex-girlfriend’s pregnancy test himself. To his surprise and confusion, the results came back positive. Funny? Sure, sort of. But also, Reddit commenters quickly noted, a symptom of…

The Cardboard Box Finally Gets a Genius Upgrade

If you’ve got a big move coming up, you might want to take some inspiration from this Red Dot Design Award-winning update to the lowly cardboard box. The Corner Box adds a small indent to one of the bottom corners giving you a spot to easily lift or drop a box without squashing your fingers.…

Our brains can make fast decisions, and accurate decisions — but not at the same time

When it comes to making decisions on the fly, we sacrifice accuracy for speed. It’s true for humans, and it’s true for most other species — rapid fire answers are less likely to be correct. Called the speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT), and while we know it’s a thing, the scientific basis for it has been poorly…