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How Scientists Suck the Salt Out of Seawater With Electricity

Potable water is both a finite and renewable resource. While it is infinitely recyclable, the Earth’s stores of fresh water at any point are limited. So when humanity’s booming populations drain these reserves faster than they can be replenished, shit gets real. And this is how we fix it. The best way to overcome our…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola May 14

Time Warner Cable CEO Somehow Has No Idea What AirPlay Is

You’d think the head of a gigantic company that makes money from technology and TV would know what AirPlay is, right? Or how an Apple TV works? One or the other? No? Enjoy today’s edition of Oblivious Rich White Guy. Glenn A. Britt, quasi-monopolist and “enthusiastic Apple customer” confessed his frustration with cable TV to…

Tech News Sam Biddle May 14

Is the U.K. the world’s most advanced country when it comes to digital music?

It’s inevitable that digital music you access online is eventually going to replace most CDs. But when is the shift going to happen? Apparently, it’s happening in some countries a lot faster than others. Over at paidContent, a site devoted to analyzing the economics of digital content, Robert Andrews breaks down digital music sales country-by-country,…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 14

Is This the Trippiest Image Ever Taken In Space? Most Probably

This image made at the International Space Station is not your usual ISS image. No firing auroras. No gleaming cities. No fuming catastrophes or crispy deserts or psychedelic rivers or turquoise seas. It looks as if the ISS were about to jump into hyperspace. I look at it and I’m expecting the rest of a…

Space & Spaceflight Jesus Diaz May 14

Let’s Give Plywood the Respect It Deserves

Mundane but essential materials like plywood rarely get the recognition they deserve. Why shouldn’t something so ubiquitous and just damn useful get its own short film? The usage and handling of plywood is the subject of this short fim by artist Tom Sachs. Watch it to learn about the essential characteristics and proper handling of…

Tech News Michael Hession May 14

The Brontosaurus model from the original King Kong looks cooler today than it did 80 years ago

Over on Dinosaur Tracking, Brian Switek has posted this most excellent photograph of the robo-zombified head of the Brontosaurus model from the original, 1933 King Kong. The mock-up now resides at The Dinosaur Museum in Blanding, Utah. Call us crazy, but we think this model looks even cooler in its decomposed state than it did…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez May 14

This Week’s TV: The One Hour of Television You Definitely Shouldn’t Miss! Plus 6 Season Finales!

This week on television, there are six huge season finales. Tron: Uprising’s first episode gets its television debut! Syfy has its most ridiculous “mockbuster” TV movie of all time. And there’s one hour of television that we’re recommending you absolutely must not miss, under any circumstances. Click through for details — including clips from the…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders May 14

Unedited: When Everyone Told Me I Was Super Dumb for Loving This ‘Idiotic’ Dip Bowl

Sometimes an invention comes along that’s ahead of its time. It presents a different way of looking at things that many find scary, hard to accept, or just downright confusing. Such was the case with the Dip Clip. A simple $12 clip-on bowl that attaches to a larger bowl of chips, ensuring a delicious dip…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski May 14

Here’s the New Fastest Wireless Router You Can Buy For Your House

Buffalo just put a new Wi-Fi router on store shelves, and it’s so fast you can’t really use it with anything. But on paper it is so great and fast. The AirStation WZR-D1800H (sexy!) router uses the brand new 802.11ac spec, which is a big technical step beyond 802.11n, the current obscurely named wireless champion…

Tech News Sam Biddle May 14

Hard Drive-Annihilating Microwave Blasts Your Data With a Single Zap

We already know how the DoD wipes its hard drives. It’s effective, but it takes time. This weapons-grade data nuke instantaneously sends your disks back to the Stone Age in a flash with the push of a button. https://gizmodo.com/wipe-your-hard-drive-dod-clean-5905223 Developed by Platform of Japan, Data Killer whitewashes a hard drives—or any other magnetic media like…

Privacy & Security Mario Aguilar May 14

The Solar Power Eye Implant Which Restores Sight

Electronic implants which restore sight to the blind aren’t anything new, but one of their major stumbling blocks has been the need for an external power source. Now, that’s about to change, because a team of researchers has built a digital implant out of infrared-slurping photovoltaic pixels—so it can power itself. https://gizmodo.com/electronic-implant-allows-the-blind-to-see-5680086 Digital eye implants…

Health Jamie Condliffe May 14

After the Singularity, heaven will be filled with pop-up ads

Taking cues from Jim Munroe’s Everyone in Silico and Rudy Rucker’s Postsingular, Tom Scott (previously) put together this deliciously twisted short animation Welcome to Life. Scott describes this film as “a science fiction story about what you see when you die. Or: the Singularity, ruined by lawyers.” I’m loving the bit about memories of copyrighted…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 14

Stream Music to Every Radio in the House—Cheap!

You can broadcast streaming Internet music throughout a house over Wi-Fi using products from Sonos or Grace Digital. But it gets expensive. Instead, why not make send the tunes to the basic FM radios you already own? The simplest way of accomplishing a task is usually the best way to do it. Sound familiar? To…

Tech News William Gurstelle May 14

Game of Thrones Week 7: The More People You Love, the Weaker You Are

Leave it to Queen Cersei to come out with a brilliant bit of life advice. You have no choice but to love your children, but you should love as few other people as possible, if you want to be powerful and free. Last night’s Game of Thrones saw several characters flirting with huge betrayals —…

Television Charlie Jane Anders May 14

Why are these trees made of uranium?

Buried in the deserts of the world are fossils of trees and animals that died millions of years ago. Those fossils are often made of packed sediment. Occasionally, that sediment is uranium. Fossil hunters can find their quarries a number of ways. They can go where other finds have been discovered, and dig deeper. They…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell May 14

A chic survival kit for the impending apocalypse

Mexican branding firm Menosunocerouno shows off its eschatological advertising with this elegant little “survival gift kit” celebrating the end of the world in 2012. From the makers of the kit, who call it “Modern Mexican design for the end of times”: If the world ends this year, we better be happily ready. Expecting a beautiful…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 14

A Water Droplet and a Space Station Are the Ultimate Way To Visualize Sound

You might think the trippy animated visualizations in your media player are the best way to see your music. But astronaut Don Pettit has found a better way—and all it requires is a small set of speakers, a blob of water, and a space station 250 miles above the Earth. On the planet’s surface the…

Space & Spaceflight Andrew Liszewski May 14

The Foosball Table So Stylish, It Doesn’t Have to Hide in the Garage

Because they’re commonly banished to rec rooms and basements and bars, foosball tables are rarely judged for their looks. In fact, the vast majority of them are very ugly. But after seeing this fine piece of design work by RS Barcelona, maybe it’s time to reconsider. The RS#3 Wood isn’t the first foosball table RS…

Tech News Adrian Covert May 14

The stupidest statistic you’ll see this week

Godzilla failed in his apparent goal (at least in the first movie) to crush all the people of Japan under his big reptilian foot. But what the radiation-blasting monster couldn’t achieve by brute force, the Japanese may themselves bring about by their own habits of reproduction—or lack thereof. A new study from a group at…

io9 Julian Whitcrosse May 14

Dear Sports Fans: Your iPhone’s Flash Is Ruining Your Photos

This is a screenshot from yesterday’s NBA playoff game between the Heat and the Pacers. In the background you’ll see a man taking a photo of David West and LeBron James with his iPhone, and its flash. That is very stupid. Here’s why: Flashes are almost entirely useless at large sporting events. If you want…

Tech News Kyle Wagner May 14

How Scientists Suck the Salt Out of Seawater With Electricity

Time Warner Cable CEO Somehow Has No Idea What AirPlay Is

Is the U.K. the world’s most advanced country when it comes to digital music?

Is This the Trippiest Image Ever Taken In Space? Most Probably

Let’s Give Plywood the Respect It Deserves

The Brontosaurus model from the original King Kong looks cooler today than it did 80 years ago

This Week’s TV: The One Hour of Television You Definitely Shouldn’t Miss! Plus 6 Season Finales!

Unedited: When Everyone Told Me I Was Super Dumb for Loving This ‘Idiotic’ Dip Bowl

Here’s the New Fastest Wireless Router You Can Buy For Your House

Hard Drive-Annihilating Microwave Blasts Your Data With a Single Zap

The Solar Power Eye Implant Which Restores Sight

After the Singularity, heaven will be filled with pop-up ads

Stream Music to Every Radio in the House—Cheap!

Game of Thrones Week 7: The More People You Love, the Weaker You Are

Why are these trees made of uranium?

A chic survival kit for the impending apocalypse

A Water Droplet and a Space Station Are the Ultimate Way To Visualize Sound

The Foosball Table So Stylish, It Doesn’t Have to Hide in the Garage

The stupidest statistic you’ll see this week

Dear Sports Fans: Your iPhone’s Flash Is Ruining Your Photos

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