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Android L Release Preview: Everything You Need to Know

It’s been years since Google has given its Android platform as fresh a face as this. The mobile platform’s new look doesn’t have a name yet (lollipop?), but it’s here to tie things together. What we’re seeing today are mostly the design highlights from Android L. Android’s Matias Duarte outlined his team’s concept of material…

​When Game Of Thrones Runs Out Of Book Material, What’s Next?!

Hey, post fans! You know, I love answering all your letters, but I actually have a question for you guys: Where the hell do all these tigers keep coming from? I understand seeing a tiger or two in an abandoned city, presumably from the zoo. But I’ve passed like 18 tigers in the last week…

Severed Mafia Toes Battle The Severed Finger Yakuza In This WTF Short

If you’re looking to add a bit of weirdness to your day, check out this short animation. When time freezes, fingers and toes pop off their owners and fight a bizarre gang war. And that’s before the soda can monster shows up. Fingers Tale was directed by Luca Schenato and Sinem Vardarl. [via Vimeo Staff…

This magic land is not a game or a movie but a real place on Earth

Welcome to Cappadocia, Turkey, a land in which elves, hobbits, wizards and good spirits live in harmony and fly in magic balloons across orange, pink and purple skies. A beautiful photo taken by Gypsy Joyce (see more of her photos here.) SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

Watch How OK Go Made Their Latest One-Take Optical Illusion Video

Last week, we showed you OK Go’s new video, “The Writing’s On the Wall,” the latest in the band’s series of impeccably orchestrated one-take videos chock full of optical illusions and visual tricks. Here’s the behind-the-scenes look at how they did it. Short answer: it was frantically precise. Sure, there was plenty of running around…

X-Rays in Perseus May Be the Signature of Dark Matter

Most of the universe is made up out of things we can’t find. While dark matter is just that — dark — an X-ray anomaly in Perseus and 72 other galaxies may finally be a tell-tale signature of a particular form of dark matter releasing light as it decays. A strange X-ray emission line shows…

The Most Important Mathematician You’ve Never Heard Of

Sometimes, even the great, pivotal figures in science don’t get their due. In today’s very special “Ask a Physicist,” I’ll introduce you to Emmy Noether, one of the most important thinkers you might not have heard of. Top image: NASA. My column normally focuses on answering your outstanding (in both senses) questions about space, time,…

Supreme Court: Cops Can’t Search Your Phone Without a Warrant

Turns out, SCOTUS doesn’t like warrantless cell phone snooping. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the police generally need a warrant before searching cell phones or mobile devices of the people they arrest. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote a strident ruling in favor of privacy. “Modern cell phones are not just another…

First Hunger Games: Mockingjay Teaser Has An Upsetting Surprise For You

If you’ve read the books, you already know where the first ever teaser trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is headed. If not, just wait for it. Spoiler talk! We’re still not sure how they are going to squeeze two movies worth of material from Mockingjay (the third book in The Hunger Games…

Soon Your Local Library Could Let You Borrow the Internet

Forget dog-eared copies of Fifty Shades of Grey: Library visitors will soon be able to check the entire Internet out from their local branch. The Knight Foundation announced grants for programs at the Chicago Public Library and the New York Public Library to lend wireless hotspots to residents. If these programs take off, other libraries…

This Is What Space Debris Can Do To Kevlar Shielding

The hole that you are looking at is the “exit wound” from an aluminum bullet — 0.3 inches in diameter — fired at Kevlar-Nextel fabric that shields the European Space Agency’s ATV freighter, which ferries supplies to the International Space Station. The test, which simulated the upper end of the size of debris that the…

Wise mad man gives you the best life advice you will ever get

Listen carefully to the wise words of this seemingly mad man. He explains the meaning of life and gives extremely good advice about the core things you should keep in mind while passing by this little planet of ours. His words are full of truth. But perhaps he’s full of truth because he is not…

The Monstrumologist Books Headed To The Big Screen

More monster movies coming your way! The YA horror Monstrumologist series by Rick Yancey just got picked up by Warner Bros., and we’re rather excited about this adaptation, mostly because it’s horror. Deadline is reporting that Warner Bros. has tapped screenwriter Jessica Postigo (The Mortal Instruments) to adapt this violet horror series for the big…

Aereo Down: Supreme Court Kills the Cord-Cutter’s Dream

Today, the Supreme Court has reversed the decision of the Second Circuit in ABC vs. Aereo. Translation? Aereo lost big. It’s now illegal. And that sucks. Essentially what the Supreme Court determined today is that Aereo, the innovative cloud-based antenna and DVR, violates copyright law. It’s basically a cable company, says the ruling, instead of…

Conductive Foam Darts Turn Your iPad Into a Shooting Gallery

Even with incredibly-realistic first-person shooter video games that make you feel as if you’re in an actual war, toy guns that shoot innocuous foam arrows still remain popular. There’s just something about nailing a target with an actual projectile that’s incredibly satisfying, and that’s why Snipe—a tablet game that interacts with special foam darts—seems like…

Google I/O Wishlist: What We Want (And What We’ll Get)

Google’s biggest day of the year is here: Google I/O! And along with fancy developer seminars with enticing names like “open-source technologies from the Hadoop ecosystem as part of your Cloud toolkit,” we’re also going to get some Fun Announcements. Here’s what we’re expecting, what we’re hoping for, and what’ll have to wait. What’s certain…

Barnes & Noble, whose Nook e-reader once seemed to be the company’s best shot at survival, said today that it will break Nook into a separate public company. The move comes after disappointing Nook sales, especially compared to Amazon’s Kindle. [The New York Times]

Citronella Ink Helps This Clever Newspaper Keep Mosquitoes At Bay

In some parts of the world a mosquito bite is a minor inconvenience that might result in a few days of uncomfortable itching. In other parts, though, the pests spread deadly diseases like malaria and dengue fever. So for the 2014 World Health Day, ad agency Leo Burnett created the world’s first mosquito-repelling newspaper in…

Space Tourism Company Shatters High-Altitude Parafoil Flight Record

Arizona-based World View has conducted a successful test of a scale model of its high-altitude balloon system. It ascended to a height of 120,000 feet (36 km) — a vantage point from where the darkness of space and the curvature of Earth can be seen. The successful flight of the test vehicle, called Tycho, happened…

Watch Google’s I/O Keynote Right Here, Right Now

It may just be a timer countdown for now, but at noon today the video above will turn into a livestream of Google’s I/O keynote. We’ll be liveblogging here as well—the stream usually lags, and doesn’t come with jokes—but for your full A/V experience, check the above. What are we expecting? You can get the…