finland

1,250 LEDs Shimmer On the Surface of This Abandoned Oil Tank

The shift in season reminded me of this cool old project in cold Helsinki, where a team of designers turned an abandoned oil tank into a lovely, year-round public art project. The silo is located outside of Helsinki in Kruunuvuorenranta, a residential area across the water from the city. The neighborhood’s old harbor and terminal…

A young Finnish man and his dog get stuck in a fox spirit’s dream

While guiding the Aurora Borealis across the sky, a mischievous young fox spirit accidentally traps an entire Finnish town in a land of slumber. Now the only hope for restoring everything to normal is Hannu, a grouchy young slacker, and his faithful dog Ville, who must convince their fellow villagers to return to the waking…

This Trash-Sorting Robot Could Revolutionize Recycling

We’ve seen a lot of frivolous applications for robotic arms: Artisanal cocktail making. Slow pit stops. Whatever’s going on here. Meanwhile, in Finland, a precociously-named company called ZenRobotics has figured out how use them to solve one of the biggest problems with recycling: automatic sorting. https://gizmodo.com/watch-darpas-robot-arms-perform-the-worlds-slowest-pit-5993293 You see, a big problem with recycling—and in particular,…

These Machines Eat Forests

At the turn of the 20th century, the logging industry relied on armies of lumberjacks swinging axes and band saws to fell a forest. These days, we just send in Harvesters. A Harvester is a multi-function forestry machine used to fell, de-limb, and stack trees for transport to processing. Development of what would become the…

No fandom is safe from the relentless assault of Winnie the Pooh

We all know Winnie the Pooh as a beloved children’s book character, a Disney icon and, of course, a honey fetishist. But the “willy nilly silly old bear” and his friends have made three recent incursions into nerd-dom that may indicate a more concerted effort by the denizens of Hundred Acre Wood to take over…

Nokia is reportedly planning to sell its Finnish HQ. Clearly primary-color phones don’t quite pay the rent. [Reuters]

Finns Set a Record by Flinging Phones at Their Crazy Competition

The Finnish might have a background in making phones, but they’re also into throwing them. This year, at the 13th annual Mobile Phone Throwing World Championship, Finnish Ere Karjalainen set a new record by launching an old Nokia 332 feet. While the Finns are hailing this throw as a new world record, Engadget found that…

Finland’s brilliant plan for dealing with nuclear waste: pulling a Keyser Söze

After decades of planning and $12 billions of investment, the United States grand plan to dispose of the nation’s nuclear waste in Nevada’s remote Yucca Mountain melted down in political rancor like… well, kind of like a nuclear plant melting down. The Obama Administration pulled the plug on funding the project without specifying any technical…

New research demonstrates how humans are still evolving

Since the dawn of agriculture, humans have been making technological advances that insulate us more and more from the selective pressures that once shaped our evolution — but they’ve also made the question of whether and how human populations are still affected by Darwinian evolution increasingly unclear. Now, newly published research has painted one of…

Nokia and Microsoft Launch $24 Million App Development Center

Microsoft and Nokia are continuing their love-in, today announcing plans to invest a cool $24 million into a new app development center, to be based in Finland. Called AppCampus, the initiative will launch in May under the management of Finland’s Aalto University. The plan is to attract students, developers and entrepreneurs to Windows Phone and…

How the Quest for the Perfect Calendar Accidentally Created February 30

A year is almost exactly 365 days…almost, but not quite. For millennia, people have tried to create calendars that account for that “not quite” bit. It’s why we have leap days and why, just once, there was a February 30. The Moon’s Calendar It’s only relatively recently – say, the last 2,500 years or so…

Ice-fishing in scuba gear in Finland is a trippy experience

Ice-fishing may seem like a waiting game, but in Finland, it’s a dynamic, gorgeous process. Here’s a sublime short film about three scuba divers on a fishing expedition under Lake Saarijärvi near the town of Vaala. It may take you a second to figure out what’s going on here. See also: the vaudeville version of…

This Igloo Resort Lets You Watch the Northern Lights in Pure Luxury

These glowing, glorious igloos are the centerpiece of Kakslauttanen, Finland’s Igloo Village. They do everything to keep you warm and pampered while offering a breathtaking view of the Northern sky. Each igloo is equipped with thermal glass, which keeps the view clear even in sub-zero temperatures. And inside, you’re treated to every amenity, including your…

Here’s a reason not to go spelunking in the Helsinki train tunnels

You might run into this 12-meter-long dragon and have to do that cartwheel-legged, Scooby Doo run off the premises. This sculpture was constructed by Valve, a Finnish LARPing group who built (and left) it there last month. Between this and the Wizard Quest in Wisconsin, we have a good case for building more dragons in…

The Creepiest Psychic Visions of the Future Drawn by Little Kids

Creepy children who can see the future are a mainstay of movies and television — and a surprising number of them are artistically gifted. Put a crayon or magic marker in the hands of a little prophet, and he/she will draw you a deathly masterpiece every time. Here are some of our favorite scary drawings…

Is the Venerable “I’m Feeling Lucky” Button Going to Be Zapped?

Finnish Googlers were greeted with a search page sans the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button today. The omission, present only in Finland at the moment, might indicate the 1990s-era button’s luck has finally run out. *groan* [CNET]

Cartons Made From E-Paper Could Tell Us When Milk Goes Bad

Rotten milk must be the most disappointing thing in the world; unless you have another carton lurking in the back of your fridge. Small sensors could change your morning disappointment in the future, with information about the milk’s quality. It’d make cartons of milk a heck of a lot more expensive, sure, but displaying the…

Lightpainting Goes Spooky For Halloween

We saw some amazing examples of lightpainting in our Shooting Challenge back in July, but Flickr user Jannepaint has come along and eclipsed them all with his pro-shooting. It’s all done in front of the camera, with no after-trickery involved. https://gizmodo.com/46-people-painted-with-light-5590916 This particular one, Serotonia, is my favorite—it was shot using a Sony DSLR-A200. It…

One Man’s VCR Player Collection Earns My “Best Video of the Month” Badge

Unbeknown to us, the Finnish YouTube user “markorepairs” is quite the video legend with 988 videos showing…well, not much! Except for this recent corker, which features his entire VCR player collection and the most amazing bowlcut seen since Friar Tuck. The YouTube description is a particular gem, too: “If you likes my collection show me…

VP of MeeGo, Nokia’s Upcoming OS, Is Next to Leave

Blood won’t stop gushing out of the Nokia wound. Ari Jaaksi, who was the Vice President of MeeGo devices, has reportedly left Nokia. It’s not known whether he jumped or was pushed, but his departure follows Chairman Jorma Ollila, Executive Vice President Anssi Vanjoki and CEO and President Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who’ve all left/are leaving the…