Volleyball Decides the War for Cybertron, and More of the Weirdest Toys of the Week
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9’s regular round up of the coolest toys and merch on the internet lately. This week: as San Diego Comic-Con draws (virtually) ever nearer, we’ve got tasty exclusives from robot volleyball to New Asgard. Plus, Lego gets artistic again, and Mario manages to make Jenga somehow even more stressful. Hasbro…
The Art of Disguising Cellphone Towers
What would you rather have: crappy cellphone service, or cellular towers scarring every visible surface? The two are at odds, but, thankfully, there are companies whose entire business is making those radio-wave spreaders disappear. And they’re great at it. We don’t want to see the angular metal giants that serve us bandwidth. The feeling is…
How Do You Boost Weak Water Pressure?
Low water pressure sucks. You hop in expecting a wonderful deluge, but you get a pathetic drizzle. It can be a day-breaker. But the good news is, you’re not helpless. Before we start, some background: SO WHAT IS WATER PRESSURE, EXACTLY? Well, as Jeff Cruickshank, a senior associate at environmental engineering firm Hazen and Sawyer…
The Proper Way to Talk with an Internet Helpbot
The self service world is a beautiful thing. Self-checkout lines. Vending machines. Amazon. Long gone are the days of being afraid to buy, say, a carton of whipped cream chargers, an oversized balloon and the newest Glee Soundtrack, because some dowdy employee’s gonna give you the stinkeye. Also gone: the days of dialing customer service…
One Man’s Nearly Impossible Quest to Make a Toaster From Scratch
In 2008, designer Thomas Thwaites decided to build a toaster from scratch-and not the “from scratch” that would land him in Home Depot for a couple of hours. He was interested in the seemingly magical process that turns what we pull out of the earth into the stuff that litters our houses. So Thwaites decided…
Unlocking the Mystery of Paris’ Most Secret Underground Society (combined)
Part I: Entrances On August 23, 2004, they discovered a cinema 60 feet beneath Paris. The sun was shining on the Trocadéro, the Eiffel Tower gleamed across the Seine, and deep belowground, police came across a sign. The officers were on a training mission, exploring the 4.3 miles of catacombs that twist beneath the 16…