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9 of Our Favorite Gadget Travel Companions

Traveling nowadays doesn’t require much technological preparation. If you’ve got your smartphone, you’re pretty much good to go. But there are still tons of gadgets that can make your trip from point A to point B—whether by plane, train, or automobile—more enjoyable. Last week, I asked you what were some of your favorite gadgets to…

Review: Lego Friends, City, Star Wars advent calendars–day 7

Day 7 of the 2014 Lego advent calendars gives us some furniture, a window ledge and a turret that actually shoots. See the review of the 7th day of mini builds after the jump! Friends Advent Calendar (41040) The Friends calendar today is a simple table. I’m guessing the next several days will be chairs…

You Can Now 3D Print Star Wars’ New Lightsaber

Soon Disney will begin lining its commercial Star Wars coffers with plastic action figures, T-shirts, and collapsible lightsabers. But one French 3D printing outfit took more of a “screw it, I’ll do it myself” approach by creating a 3D-printed version of the new Star Wars lightsaber. One of the many things to love about widespread…

NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Awakens To Begin Pluto Mission

After nine years and a journey of nearly 3-billion miles (4.8 billion km), NASA’s Pluto-bound New Horizons robotic probe has awoken from its hibernation in preparation for a unprecedented flyby of Pluto and other celestial bodies in the Kuiper Belt. Above: Artist’s concept of the New Horizons spacecraft as it approaches Pluto and its largest…

This Funeral Director Can Teach You A Lot About Embracing Death

Caleb Wilde, a sixth-generation mortician and creator of the hugely popular blog Confessions Of A Funeral Director, has a unique perspective on death – but he’s trying to change that. Photo Credit: Matt Eich via Matter | CC BY 2.0 Over atMatter, Eric Puchner serves up one of the more captivating profiles we’ve read in…

Dolby Wants Its IMAX Competitor to Be The Future of Cinema

The advent of the internet, torrenting, and legally dubious streaming sites have threatened theaters for years, but cinemas are still big business and Dolby is investing in its future with Dolby Cinema. Dolby Cinema is the well-known audio company’s take on the IMAX movie-going experience. As you’d expect, the cinema will be completely powered by…

What Would Life Be Like On A Flat Earth?

Earth is round, but that shouldn’t keep us from speculating about the implications of a flat planet. The latest episode of Vsauce is all about a hypothetically flat planet called Earth, and the very real people who believe in that planet’s existence. It’s a good one: See also: [Vsauce]

One Does Not Simply Assume That Sean Bean Always Dies

So, Sean Bean dies a lot, right? You’ve seen the supercuts. We all assumethe moment he’s cast in something, the poor guy he’s playing will get offed at some point. But does Sean Bean really always die? Has he even died the most? Good job Nerdist’s Kyle Hill is here with a chart to help…

This Tweak Puts CarPlay On Your iPhone Without An External Screen

The CarPlay interface is undoubtedly better for using while driving than the regular ‘ole screen. But unless you’ve got a shiny new car (or one of the expensive aftermarket dashes), chances are you don’t have anything to pair your iPhone with. But this tweak gives you an idea of what CarPlay would look like running…

Heath Ledger’s Greatest Movie Wasn’t The Dark Knight

Heath Ledger was probably best known for his roles in Brokeback Mountain and The Dark Knight — and quite rightly so, given his stellar performances. But let’s be honest. His best work was really a predictable, badly scripted but hilariously funny medieval comedy. In case you’re not familiar, A Knight’s Tale is basically Rocky with…

You Didn’t Really Need An Excuse To Relisten To London Calling

It’s the 35th anniversary of the release of The Clash’s seminal third album, London Calling. But honestly, you don’t need any excuse to re-listen to the entire thing, cover to cover. The title track of London Calling is (rightly) the most famous — inspired by the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania, it riffs off…

These Women Have Done Incredible Things For Science In Canada

On December 6th, 1989, women were targeted, shot, and killed for being engineering students. Today is a day to honour women scientists and engineers living and working in Canada. Honouring women scientists working above Canada is good, too. Julie Payette and Ellen Ochoa between 27 May and 6 June 1999. Image credit: NASA Fourteen women…

Even Japan’s Crappiest Robot Tournament Is Still Amazing To Watch

Home Made Robots battling each other for our entertainment is nothing new – hello, Robot Wars – but what if you pit one crappy Robot against another in a battle to determine who is the least awful? Don’t worry, Japan’s got us covered. Late last month ‘Hebocon’ saw 31 (well, 30 actually, one contestant actually…

These Microneedles Would Be So Much Better Than Injections

Injections kinda suck for regular adults, but for babies — who need a lot of them! — they can be downright dangerous. But by using many more, much smaller needles, life could be made better for fragile babies and scaredy-cat adults alike. A research team from Queens University Belfast have developed a tiny patch that…

Anyone Can Now Use IBM’s Watson To Crunch Data For Free

You probably know IBM’s Watson platform best from its winning performance onJeopardy. But the supercomputer is more than just a mechanism for IBM to publicly shame smart people. It’s arguably the most powerful natural-language supercomputer in the world, and thanks to a new public beta, its number-crunching abilities are open to all. Specifically, IBM has…

These Traffic Lights Let You Play Pong With Random Strangers

Two years ago, three German design students set out to solve the most first-world problem that ever was: what to do when waiting to cross the street. Their solution? A system that lets you play Pong with pedestrians on the other side of the street. A few years and one re-branding later, their system is…

No-One Needs A Solar-Powered Jacket

By this stage, I think we’ve all more or less accepted that ‘wearable technology’ means something like a watch or glasses or ring or earpiece that measures your heartbeat and talks to your phone. But this memo unfortunately hasn’t reached certain fashion brands. Tommy Hilfiger is the guilty party here — guilty of releasing two…

Oh hey look! Yet another retail store has had its payment terminals hacked and customer data stolen. This time it’s Bebe, the women’s clothing store, with Krebs on Security confirming that customers’ credit card details were for sale online. As per usual, Bebe is warning anyone who’s shopped at a physical store to check their…

The Best, Most Iconic National Geographic Covers

National Geographic has published nearly 1500 covers in its 126-year run. Here are five of the best – and how they came to be. Above: The eyes of Sharbat Gula, who would become known simply as “The Afghan Girl.” Gula appeared on the cover of the June 1985 issue of National Geographic. Photographed by Steve…

You Can Help Bring Even More Female Scientists To Lego

The Lego designer that brought us the fabulous Lego Research Institute earlier this year has returned to Lego’s crowdsourced set creation project Lego Ideas with another trio of awesome Lego scientists – and you can help get it suggested to be turned into a real Lego set! Alatariel’s latest set includes minifigures representing 3 new…