Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Have you seen that photo of a baby moose holding a gay pride flag? It’s adorable. But unfortunately, it’s also fake. Why is the internet so mean? The photo below has been doing the rounds lately with an astonishing number of retweets on Twitter. And probably an untold number of whatever the Canadian equivalent of…
IBM’s Watson can make drinks, detect sarcasm, and kick your ass at Jeopardy. The world’s most famous computer already acts so much more like a human than most people I know. Now transportation startup Local Motors is putting Watson behind the wheel. Olli is a new autonomous electric minibus powered by IBM’s famously friendly AI.…
Las Vegas doesn’t exactly need any help when it comes to looking ridiculous, but this footage, which was shot in infrared by Philip Bloom, makes bits of Vegas look like a cotton candy wonderland (as opposed to its typical styrofoam opulence). Seeing the world in infrared isn’t exactly new, but the odd colors of the…
After seeing a slowly filling glass of meat diarrhea will you ever be hungry again? You can practically taste the refreshingly greasy taste of a liquid dollar menu through the screen. The things people do for our entertainment, am I right? SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
Real life is worse than nightmares because even in my worst dreams, my twisted imagination could never cook up seeing hundreds of thousands of giant spider crabs littered across the ocean floor. Just imagine yourself swimming in the ocean and being swallowed by the horde of crabs. Imagine all those creepy arms entombing you. Gah,…
The world is urbanizing faster than ever, with over half of the planet’s population currently living in cities—more than any time in history. But when did this trend of “urbanization” start? It turns out its roots go back much farther than we thought. An interesting study by Yale University researchers published in Scientific Data last…
According to reports from state media, loan sharks in China have demanded that women provide naked photos of themselves as collateral for lending agreements. The reports—which originally came from sources like Beijing Youth Daily and Southern Metropolis Daily, and which have now been picked up by numerous Western outlets—detail a predatory method of handing out…
One of New York City’s major subway lines connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan will be out of commission for months, maybe years, and some residents are preparing for an end-of-days scenario. A few enterprising New Yorkers have proposed a gondola, but building it will be nearly as pricey and time-consuming as the subway repairs. The city…
Watching a rocket blast into outer space is a remarkable experience. But watching a rocket engine strapped into a test facility release its explosive fury here on Earth is somehow even cooler. It gives you a better idea of the engines’ power, and it’s a better opportunity to hear their deafening roar. This test of…
I’m not sure what I love most about foley artists: is it their wildly creative ways to recreate sound? The totally locked-in concentration they have to follow a scene? The all-around goofiness of the gig? The short film The Secret World of Foley stars foley artists Pete Burgis and Sue Harding and paints a lovely…
“Hey lil’ mama, can I buy Twitter for a few million?” is a thing that Google co-founder Larry Page might have said to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. But Page reportedly whispered an offer to acquire Twitter into Dorsey’s ear in a closed-blinds meeting a few years ago. The fun tidbit is mentioned in a recent…
Media outlets are reporting that a Russian-built robot escaped from its lab and wandered onto the street causing a traffic jam. We’re hoping it’s just a media stunt—otherwise it could be the first sign of an impending robotic revolt. The robot is currently under development at Promobot Labs in Perm, Russia. It’s creators say they’re…
“What would a Trump presidency look like?” many of us have been wondering, in decreasingly hypothetical terms. Now, in all its bubblegum-tinted glory, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if elected, Donald J. Trump will pilot an enormous mecha in his likeness, use it to construct his long-threatened wall, and then destroy…
Watching this footage of talented RC pilots making their planes perform amazing stunts is made all the more impressive when you stop to think about the skills needed to capture these impossible mid-air closeups. Not pictured is the custom RC drone, built on an ImpulseRC Seconds Alien airframe, that’s carrying a GoPro Hero 4 to…
Meet Russel Hawkins. He loves to vape. He grows chilis, and has a freshly ground bag of Carolina Reapers. Do you see where this is going? The Carolina Reaper is widely regarded as the hottest pepper on Earth. It clocks in around 2.2 million Scoville units (for contrast, a jalapeño maxes out at a mere…
A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that Zika-infected women who are in their third trimester have virtually no chance of having children with microcephaly. Troublingly, the same study shows that women who exhibit no symptoms can still give birth to babies with brain abnormalities. The Zika virus has been…
Facebook is getting slammed for twice removing transfeminine rapper Michete’s post expressing solidarity with the Orlando massacre victims. The post was shared thousands of times on the network until Facebook abruptly deleted it. The company also banned the rapper from the network and sent him a notification that bafflingly included a warning about transmitting underage…
Mysterious augmented reality startup Magic Leap announced a partnership today with Industrial Light and Magic’s ILMxLAB., Wired reports. The deal will (hopefully) result in semi-interactive Star Wars experiences coming to a reality near you. Both Magic Leap and ILM are being frustratingly tight-lipped on what form this will take, but a video from ILM gives…
The Zika virus has officially spread to over 50 countries, including the United States. And like public health threats of the past, there are plenty of hucksters trying to sell “natural” remedies for Zika online. But they’re all bullshit. “There are no FDA-approved medical products for the Zika virus,” FDA Press Officer Tara Goodwin told…
Even the most advanced robotic vacuums are only designed to deal with dust, light dirt, and the occasional food scraps. Try to put them to work on the sawdust covered floors in your workshop and you’ll quickly find them clogged and in need of rescue. What you need instead is a robo-vac from a toolmaker…
