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The Plan to Turn NYC’s Old Payphones Into Free Gigabit Wi-Fi Hot Spots

Today, the New York City mayor’s office announced the winning bid to transform the city’s existing payphone infrastructure. LinkNYC will bring free gigabit Wi-Fi connectivity to some 7000 street towers. It’s one of the largest and most ambitious citywide Wi-Fi networks in the world. Earlier this year, New York put out a request for proposals…

The U.S. Navy’s First Laser Cannon Is Now Deployed in the Persian Gulf

After seven years and $40 million of development, the US Navy has finally sent its prototype laser weapon, one capable of blowing holes clean through UAVs, on patrol throughout the disputed Persian Gulf. https://gizmodo.com/watch-a-navy-laser-gun-blast-a-drone-right-out-of-the-s-5994074 The Laser Weapon System (LaWS) prototype has been affixed to the bow of the USS Ponce, an amphibious transport ship, since…

What Is This Mysterious Black Box That Nokia Is Teasing?

Nokia, after selling off its mobility branch to Microsoft, refuses to give up and is prepared to launch a new product of some sort tomorrow. Earlier today, the Finnish tech company tweeted “Guess what? We’re up to something” and adorned the teaser with just a black box. This isn’t the first instance of Nokia playing…

Spotify Might Be Getting Podcasts

Today in rumors we hope are true, Spotify might be getting podcasts. This could be a great thing to loosen Apple’s stranglehold on the medium. The podcasts feature was hinted at by some code in a developer build of the Spotify app. From the looks of it, podcasts would show up under the Browse tab.…

Exclusive Look At The Cast Of Syfy’s 12 Monkeys Is Full Of Secrets

We have an exclusive gallery from Syfy’s new 12 Monkeys TV series along with official character bios, glimpses at the mysterious time traveling machine and the new face of James Cole looking like a sweet Time Travel Jesus. Back in October, we caught the pilot of Syfy’s TV adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s 1995 film Twelve…

This Phenomenal Magic Trick Was Created By An Artificial Intelligence

Magicians are not supposed to reveal their secrets. But what if that magician is a machine? Recent experiments at Queen Mary University of London show that it’s not only possible to teach a computer program how magic tricks work, but that these systems are capable of designing new and superior versions that can be performed…

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Is Trying To Bring Wi-Fi to More Schools

Tom Wheeler, the FCC Chairman who’s been a bit of an internet villain lately, is expected to announce a pretty good idea later today. He reportedly wants to raise federal funding for in-school Wi-Fi by a whopping $1.5 billion. That brings the annual cap on helping kids learn via Wi-Fi up from $2.4 billion to…

Inside the Chamber Where NASA Recreates Space on Earth

Inside Building 32 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas sits Chamber A, a marvel of engineering, cleanliness, and design. It’s also the closest you can come to being in space without strapping into a rocket. Originally built in the early 1960s for the Apollo program, the chamber is one of the world’s largest…

This Week’s TV: Watch A Serial-Killing Cupid And A Vampire Thanksgiving

We’ve got some interesting comic book characters coming to TV this week, with Gotham focused on Harvey Dent and Cupid bringing her brand of insanity to Arrow. Plus, Sleepy Hollow deals with a ghost haunting the psychiatric hospital and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is in for a violent family reunion. Tonight Gotham (8 PM, Fox) This…

More images of the new Lego modular Detective’s Office

Over the weekend, we posted the box front of the 2,262 piece Detective’s Office (10246), the next modular building that launches in early 2015. Thanks to the forum on PockyLand we now have some decent images of the back of the box that shows the interior detail. It looks like this set will not be…

This “Flying Banana” Keeps Britain’s Trains from Running off the Rails

The UK rail system includes more than 10,000 miles of track which, until relatively recently, had to be inspected at a walking pace. This laser-blasting, track-inspecting locomotive, however, does so faster than a speeding bullet (train). The New Measurement Train (NMT) is one of 17 track-inspecting trains employed by Network Rail, the UK’s government-owned rail…

First Peter Pan Live Clip Gives AMAZING Christopher Walken

NBC’s Peter Pan Live! show is nearing its official air date. In hopes of getting us all very, very excited, the studio has released a snippet of dress rehearsal footage, and Christopher Walken’s Captain Hook is already stealing the show. When we heard that Christopher Walken would be performing the role of Captain Hook for…

16 Things You Can Do In Android Lollipop That You Couldn’t Do In KitKat

After what feels like a long time since we saw the L Preview first appear, Google is now rolling out the final version of Android 5.0 Lollipop to its existing Nexus devices, and it also appears on the brand new Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 gadgets. Get to know the best version of Android yet…

You can now pre-order a OnePlus One until 12pm EST no invite required. As always, you can nab the 16GB silk white version or the 64GB sandstone black version of this popular Chinese handset for $300 and $350 respectively. Click here to get started.

Incredible Images Show Philae As It Drifted Across The Comet Surface

As Philae descended towards Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last Wednesday, the OSIRIS camera aboard the Rosetta satellite tracked its progress. The ESA has now released this stunning mosaic showing the probe as it drifted across and bounced on the surface. These images, which chronicle a 30-minute span prior to first touchdown, were taken from a distance of…

The 110 Year-Old Light Bulb That’s Never Been Turned Off

The oldest lightbulb in continuous use was installed before the Wright Brothers took flight, is 110 years old, and is still as beautiful as the day she was born. In fact, it’s likely the oldest electrical device in continuous use period. Take a moment and consider just how much the world has changed around this…

Leaked Lego sets reveal new evil mutant dinosaurs in Jurassic World

Groove Bricks reports that Chinese Lego store Toabao has put up images of several Lego dinosaurs that allegedly will be included in the 2015 Jurassic World Lego sets. These look like updated molds of the dinosaurs that we saw in the Lego Dino theme so I think they may be right. Will the nemesis in…

Jurassic World‘s brand new Dinosaur, revealed in Lego Form!

It may be next year before we start seeing Lego’s first sets after acquiring the Jurassic Park License – but new pictures of some of the Dinosaurs coming with them are out, including a look at a brand new Dino from Jurassic World. Spoilers beyond the break! UPDATED 11/20 UPDATE: The Images featured in the…

Sometimes The Best Way To Change People’s Minds Is Outright Tyranny

You don’t always have to be a subtly master manipulator in order to change people’s minds and make them your obedient puppets. Sometimes, brute force can be just as persuasive in making people change their own minds for you. Be. Mean. So you want people to believe what you believe, but you lack the Machiavellian…

Smartphone Camera Sensors Are About To Get Even Better

Sony just announced a new sensor for smartphones called the Exmor RS IMX230. This jumbled mess of alphabet soup is a 21-megapixel stacked CMOS imaging sensor that promises higher-quality images to your personal pocket computer. Exactly how will it make your mobile pics more professional? Well, a couple ways. First, it has focus capabilities with…