Thomas Edison

Elon Musk Says (🤑) Kevin McCarthy (🤑) Should Be Speaker

Musk has donated to McCarthy five times and attended the would-be House Speaker's donors' retreat as his personal guest.

Say Goodbye to Incandescent Light Bulbs

A phase out of the incandescent light bulb begins today.

9 Inventors Who Were Killed by Their Own Inventions

Inventing can be kind of a dangerous business—as these pioneers show.

GE Breaking Up Into Three Separate Public Businesses

The company plans to spin off its healthcare unit in 2023 followed by its energy business the next year in an effort to trim down and pay off debt.

Elon Musk Longs for the Days When Trump Would Invite Him to the White House

The Tesla CEO isn't a fan of the new White House and its commitment to not totally eviscerating worker protections.

Incredible Never-Miss Auto-Aiming Bow Puts Robin Hood to Shame

Learning to shoot a bow isn't as fun as letting engineering and electronics do all the work for you.

America: The Motion Picture Adds Badly Needed RoboCop-Centaur to the Revolutionary War

Oh, and that RoboCop-centaur? He’s Paul Revere, because that’s what happens when you let the makers of Archer retell the founding of the United States. Revere-cop isn’t the only twist that director Matt Thompson and writer Dave Callaham are bringing to America, as you can see in the image above. In the center is a…

See What Some of History’s Most Important Scientists Look Like With the DeepNostalgia Treatment

Deepfakes are getting better and better, but instead of wearing Tom Cruise’s face on a golf course, we decided to commemorate some amazing scientists (and one science fiction writer) by bringing them back to fleeting life using DeepNostaglia, a tool created by MyHeritage that breathes movement into old photos.

Steven Universe‘s Latest Anti-Racism PSA Is for All the History Buffs Out There

Keeping in-theme with thefirst PSA’s self-awareness, the newest Steven Universe short features Pearl of the Crystal Gems as she breaks character while recording an educational video about the inventive minds behind the lightbulb. While most everyone knows Thomas Edison to be the inventor of the light bulb, the reality is that the innovation wouldn’t have…

How Thomas Edison Used a Fake Electric Chair Execution Film to Fight the Electricity War

You’ve probably heard about Thomas Edison’s infamous 1903 film where he electrocuted an elephant. It’s just as horrifying as you’d imagine. But fewer people know that this wasn’t actually Edison’s first electrocution film. Two years earlier, in 1901, he produced a film re-enacting a famous execution. Perversely, it also served as a national advertisement for…

Thomas Edison Predicted Nobody Would Be Able to Make Phone Calls Across the Atlantic Ocean

Never say never. Thomas Edison was both a great inventor and an amusing prognosticator. But nobody, no matter how smart, knows the future. And that goes for Edison as well. Back in 1894, Edison predicted that transatlantic phone calls would be impossible. But his doubts would prove silly roughly 30 years later when the first…

Benedict Cumberbatch Plays Thomas Edison in the New Trailer For The Current War

We’re all familiar with Nikola Tesla and his brilliant work helping to invent the electric technologies that we live with today. But did you know that there’s a guy named Thomas Edison who also helped invent some of that tech? If you didn’t, you should check out the new trailer for the upcoming movie, The…

The Untold Story of Napoleon Hill, the Greatest Self-Help Scammer of All Time

The author of Think and Grow Rich was running countless scams before making it big.

This Photo of Thomas Edison’s Hands Was Clickbait in 1919

Ever wonder what a hot journalistic exclusive looked like in 1919? Well, you’re looking at it. Not just a pair of hands—it’s the only authentic photograph of Mr. [Thomas] Edison’s hands ever taken publisht here for the first time. At least that’s what the December 1919 issue of Electrical Experimenter magazine said. Why was a…

The Very American History of Christmas Lights

Christmas lights are a uniquely American tradition. That’s not just because the first electric Christmas lights appeared in America. The tradition embodies a certain American-ness, an ingenuity and hunger for innovation, that’s easily overlooked. America doesn’t just make things. America makes things spectacular. The tradition of light and Christmas dates further back than America and…

In 1890, Thomas Edison created some of the world’s first “talking” dolls. The vocal components were recently restored to reveal insanely eerie, shrill intonations (even their inventor found them “unpleasant.”) The not-easily-spooked may listen to “Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep” here … if you dare.

Listen to Thomas Edison’s Scary Talking Dolls and Never Sleep Again

Thomas Edison’s phonograph company came out with a line of groundbreaking “talking” dolls in 1890. They lasted only six weeks before being yanked from stores, because the dolls sound like the risen Satan singing a lullaby. Now with the help of new technology, you too can listen to the dolls’ voices and never be at…

New Board Game Pits Tesla Against Edison, History’s Greatest Underdog

Everybody knows that Nikola Tesla was a genius. But with all the attention being paid to Tesla here in the 21st century, many kids today must wonder what happened to his rival, Thomas Edison. Well, soon everybody will have a chance to tinker with technology history by putting their (fake) money behind inventors like Tesla…

Take The Intelligence Test That Thomas Edison Gave to Job Seekers

Today tech companies are infamous for asking silly questions at job interviews. How would I move Mount Fuji? If I knew that I probably wouldn’t be sitting here for this job interview, would I, Microsoft? But companies like Apple and Facebook don’t put employees through anything quite as exhausting as Thomas Edison’s test for potential…

J.J. Abrams Is Making A Thomas Edison Movie, But What About Tesla? 

J.J. Abrams’ production company Bad Robot is secretly working away on a Thomas Edison biopic. But will it show him electrocuting an elephant? TheWrap is reporting that Paramount and Bad Robot are teaming up yet again to make a Thomas Edison film that will “depict the legendary inventor as a rugged eccentric genius.” Honestly, the…