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​Sony Xperia Z3v Review: A Fantastic Phone With a Dated Design

More likely than not, you’ve owned at least one Sony product during your short time on Earth. Perhaps you rocked a Walkman, grew up gaming on PlayStation, or watched a favorite movie on… Betamax? You’ll notice there’s not a smartphone in that mix. But perhaps the Xperia Z3v—the v stands for Verizon—might convince you to…

Lil’ Mikey is the most adorable Ninja Turtle in the world

When Mondo revealed they were getting into the Toy business back at SDCC this year, I don’t think anyone expected one of their first figures to be this adorable – but lo and behold, here we are with this lovely take on TMNT’s Michaelangelo. My teeth are hurting just looking at him! The 9″ vinyl…

Understand neuroscience with these neat animations by Harvard University

When I first heard of Harvard’s Fundamentals of Neuroscience online course, I thought it was going to be so hard to understand that I would have a seizure before the end of the first video. But no, thanks to the cool and straightforward animation it is actually very easy to get it. https://vimeo.com/101424066 SPLOID is…

Can You Tell the Time on This Eclipse Clock?

This clock is lovingly made from engraved aluminum plates that overlap, rotating independently as the minutes pass. But can you tell the time using it? Called the Eclipse Clock, this is the brainchild of University of Art and Design Lausanne graduate Rachel Suming. The 1.5 millimeter-thick alumnium plates morphs from a circle into a hexagon…

Short film: The crazy love story of Miss Danger and Mr Chaos

Love. At the beginning is all adventure and excitement. And then, when the years pass, it becomes monotonous and predictable. That happens to everyone, even to Miss Danger and Mr Chaos, the adventurous protagonists of this crazy love story by Michael Lukk Litwak. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

Evil Artist Builds Nightmare Typewriter In Comic Sans

Only a monster would build something that forced you to type in comic sans. I have nightmares of this. They usually end with me being run off the Internet with pitchforks. This is from horror designer Jesse England, who describes it thusly: Sincerity Machine: The Comic Sans typewriter was made after viewing a document with…

China Scrambled 1,226 Troops to Stop a Single Drone

When an unauthorized flight passed near Beijing airport yesterday, China scrambled 1,226 military personnel, 123 military vehicles, 26 radar technicians, two fighter jets and two helicopters to stop it. Turns out, it was a single mapping drone. Police later arrested two men, who work for an aviation technology company, for flying the drone. A third…

Microsoft Is Stopping Free Xbox Music Streaming

From December 1st you will no longer be able to stream Xbox Music for free on your PC, phone or favourite web-accessing device. Information is scarce on exactly why the ad-supported, entry-level music streaming option of Microsoft’s Spotify-a-like has been offed (“We weren’t making enough money” doesn’t tend to go out in sparsely worded corporate…

Google Now cards appear to have started warning us about impending solar eclipses. Which is, uh, useful?

Listen to the Historic Sounds of Space Travel on NASA’s SoundCloud

In space, perhaps nobody can hear your scream—but that doesn’t mean that stellar travel is a silent pursuit. Now, NASA has started compiling mountains of historic space-related audio clips for us all to listen to. And there are some belters. There’s Sputnik’s lit-tle beep; Apollo 8’s charming Christmas greeting; the Space Shuttle launch countdown; and,…

How Many Undiscovered Blood Groups Are There?

You may think that you know your blood type, but did you know that there are in fact 35 blood group systems in humans? These include well-known systems such as ABO and the Rh system (formerly known as ‘Rhesus’). Advances in research technologies in the past few years have made it possible to identify three…

Fox Orders Frankenstein Pilot That Has Nothing to Do with Frankenstein

And they’re pretty confident in it, since they’ve made a “put pilot” commitment on it. That means they either air it or pay a lot of money. The project comes from Rand Ravish (Crisis, Life) and Howard Gordon (Homeland, Tyrant). The former is writing and executive producing and the latter is executive producing. Frankenstein is…

B&O Has a Stunning New High-End Bluetooth Speaker

Bang and Olufsen is usually best known for audio equipment that costs more than your car. But now, it’s decided to create something that normal people can afford—its first ever portable Bluetooth speaker. The BeoPlay A2, presumably squaring up to Bowers & Wilkins’ new offering, claims to be supremely portable—so, despite a reassuring weight, it’s…

This Bench Is Built Using Two Power Mac G5s

The Apple Power Mac G5 was an iconic computer—but, launched back in 2003, it’s since been superseded by the Mac Pro. So what better way to celebrate its long and useful life than using its bold looks elsewhere in the office? Put together by Klaus Geiger, this piece of furniture brings new meaning to the…

Yahoo’s new email app, available for Android and iOS, integrates event and travel notifications alongside all your messages. Sound familiar?

Brand New Isaac Asimov Essay Mulls the Origins of Creativity

In 1959 Issac Asimov wrote an essay on where new ideas come from. It wasn’t found until fifty-five years later, when Arthur Obermayer, scientist and friend of Asimov, cleaned out some of his old files. It is as illuminating now as it was then. In the introduction of the essay, published in full by the…

Good night, Chicago

I like Chicago. The city is clean, the architecture is nice, Wrigley Field is fun, a river cuts through it and the lake is right there. I wanted to make fun of the Bean but it drew me in like a mosquito about to be zapped. And hey, I realized that I don’t really like…

Classic sci-fi spaceships make me nostalgic for a future that never was

French illustrator Manchu is one of the masters of classic sci-fi illustration. His worlds and spaceships are massive, optimistic, colorful, and sometimes even zany on his alien spaceship designs. Masterfully crafted, his work reminds me of another one of the greatest: The British Chris Foss. Seeing these paintings make me happy. Manchu is the alias…

These Paper Masks Are Halloween Costumes Made Easy

And polygonal. While you’re considering making some of your own Halloween decorations, you can also consider getting some of these paper mask patterns from Steve Wintercroft. https://gizmodo.com/the-ultimate-collection-of-clever-halloween-decorations-1649445688 His patterns are available on etsy and his website. You can go minimalist and just leave it the color of the paper you use or you can take…

The new Double Down burger is even more ridiculous than the original

Foodbeast found a new KFC Double Down burger that is even more insane than the original: the Zinger Double Down King at KFCs in Korea. Instead of just sandwiching bacon and cheese with two fried chicken filets, this Double Down uses the same fried chicken for buns but adds a sauced up burger patty in…