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Inside the Design of the New Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball

The bright ball that hovers over Times Square on New Year’s Eve is a little bit reborn this year. Sure, it’s iconic and colorful and mesmerizing as it always is. This year, however, the ball captivates the world with 288 more newly designed Waterford crystals. And, boy, are they pretty. The History The ball drop…

Syfy’s renewed The Expanse, the TV show based on a series of novels by James S.A. Corey, for a second season. The first four episodes have already aired, and The Expanse is already one of our favorite new shows. Watch it here.

Oculus Touch Delayed Which Is a Total Bummer

Oculus Touch, the innovative controllers designed for use with the Oculus Rift VR headset, has been delayed until the second half of 2016. The final consumer version of the Rift is still expected to ship in the first quarter of 2016. In a blog post Oculus explained that the Touch just wasn’t ready for prime…

Star Trek Fan Film Makers Didn’t Know They Were Being Sued … Until They Read the News

Yesterday, Star Trek fans were up in arms at the news that CBS had filed a lawsuit seeking to shut down the hugely successful crowdfunded fan production Axanar, after a year of tolerating the project’s development. Also surprised? Axanar producer Alec Peters, who found out about it by reading said news. Ooh err. https://gizmodo.com/cbs-suddenly-wants-to-put-a-stop-to-axanar-the-crowdfu-1750290696 Following…

The World’s First Dengue Fever Vaccine Is Coming to Three Countries

A third of the world’s population is at risk of contracting Dengue Fever, a miserable virus that’s a leading cause of illness and death in the tropics. Now, for the first time ever, three countries have approved a promising new vaccine. To say that Dengue Fever is a global health concern is a gross understatement.…

This Venomous Snake is the First Animal Suspected to Be Completely Scentless

There are a lot of animals that blend in visually with their environment; there are relatively few that can mask their smell. One exception is the puff adder. Recent research shows that this venomous snake is virtually scentless, the better to hunt for prey and elude predators. Bitis arietans, otherwise known as the puff adder,…

Packed Full of Wilderness Survival Tools This Card Is More Useful Than a Visa

If your vacation has you visiting one of the world’s great metropolitan cities, your credit card is probably the most valuable tool in your pocket. But if the great outdoors is your preferred way to relax, this Wilderness Survival Card is far more useful in the event of an emergency. The lightweight metal card breaks…

Soon, Your Mail Will Boldly Go Where No Person Has Gone Before

It goes without saying the gap between the fake exploration on Star Trek and the actual exploration at NASA is huge. But next year, they’ll be worth exactly the same at the post office. The United States Postal Service has revealed some of their new 2016 stamps and there are four commemorating Star Trek, which…

The Absolute Coolest Pop Culture Art of 2015

The word “art” can mean many things but most think of it as paintings and drawings. Visual media. In that broad topic, one of our favorite sub-categories is pop culture art, visual art based on movies and TV shows. And below we’ve picked some great ones. What you see here are some of our favorite…

A Not-So-Brief History of George Lucas Talking Shit About Disney’s Star Wars

There’s suddenly a storm of outburts about a week-old interview that George Lucas had with Charlie Rose. It’s the one where he compared selling Lucasfilm to Disney as selling his children to “white slavers.” This was a stupid thing to say, but not really a new note for Lucas to hit. There’s been tension in…

The Nerdy Explanation for Facebook’s ’46 Years Ago’ Glitch

Notice anything weird about your News Feed today? Scores of users are confused by typically smarmy “Friends on Facebook” messages that are celebrating 46 years of friendship. It appears to be a Unix glitch of colossal proportions. Don’t freak out. The world is not going to end because Facebook’s servers are confused about the New…

These Cross Sections of Spaceships and Vehicles from Star Wars Are Simply Incredible

The best thing about the world of Star Wars (other than it being the world of Star Wars) is how incredibly detailed it is. Everything you see on screen has a backstory, everything basically has an explanation, anything can be nerded out on. So here are the backstories and explanations for the vehicles and spaceships…

Yes, You’re Allowed to Describe This Evil Dead II Figure As “Groovy”

Because let’s be honest—this is a damn groovy figure indeed. Sideshow Collectibles have revealed their latest 1:6 scale figure, and this time it’s the delightful Ash of Evil Dead, or more specifically, Ash as he appears in 1987’s Evil Dead II. Aside from a surprisingly great likeness of Bruce Campbell (right down to the slightly…

They Somehow Squeezed a Live-Streaming Camera Into This Impossibly Tiny RC Drone

The Axis Aerius is considered to be the smallest RC quadcopter you can buy, even smaller than the company’s new Vidius drone. But that’s because Axis has managed to fit a live-streaming wi-fi video camera inside the new Vidius, giving pilots a first-person view of their flights. At just 1.7-inches in size, the Vidius quadcopter…

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Here’s Your Prerequisite “Explain The Whole Story” Trailer For Zootopia

Disney’s new animal-packed animated film Zootopia has already put out a few funny teasers—but we didn’t really know a lot about the story of this world populated exclusively by anthropomorphic animals. But don’t worry: the traditional trailer that basically covers the whole plot has arrived. It’s still pretty fun though. Seriously, this pretty much covers…

Twitter Changed Its Mind on Politiwoops 

Politiwoops, a watchdog tool that tracks politicians’ deleted tweets, was unceremoniously killed by Twitter earlier this year. Today, Twitter reversed its ban. Last July, Twitter revoked Politiwoops’ API access, which made it impossible for the Sunlight Foundation-funded site’s ability to monitor the foibles and fuck-ups of politicians on social media. It was an odd decision,…

Lighting Up 10,000 Sparklers All at Once Creates a Spectacular Giant Flame

I highly recommend doing this once in your life if you can somehow figure out a way to not get hurt. Actually, igniting 10,000 sparklers in a barrel at one time is so visually spectacular that it might be worth getting hurt over. The sparklers combine to make a flame that shoots up to a…

In a Very Short Short, a Raccoon Steals a Mysterious Artifact

In “Jack and the Mysterious Lost Orb,” Jack, who appears to be a relative of Rocket Raccoon, steals a glowing ball. Which of course leads to him being chased by the object’s guardian, a giant shadow monster. With “Jack and the Mysterious Orb,” Pierre-Marie Adnet, Coralie Bruschi, Mylène Cominotti, Marion Coudert, and Valentin Lucas remind…

Microsoft Got Hacked and Didn’t Tell Anyone

Microsoft knew that Chinese spies hacked Hotmail users—and didn’t tell any of the people who were hacked, even though it knew for years. Today, Reuters confirmed that Microsoft had agreed to change its hush-up policy about state-sponsored hacks: Microsoft Corp experts concluded several years ago that Chinese authorities had hacked into more than a thousand…