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Personal computing has changed a lot in the last 30 years, as this episode segment from 80s tech show Database will no doubt prove. For example, what the heck is the Micronet? Micronet was an early Information Provider available through the Prestel service in the United Kingdom during the 70s and 80s. URLs hadn’t been…
Last week I watched the last five minutes of the new season of House of Cards. As I explained at the time, I’d grown tired of the show, and didn’t mind having it spoiled in the interest of just seeing the last five minutes out of context. But now I’ve done something even worse. If…
The sketchy van is a mainstay of many things: kidnapping plots, horror movies, pornography. Starting on Monday, however, the sketchy van will have a brand new driver: Google. For whatever reason—Sergey and Larry got bored? Google wanted to start competing with Bangbros?—the Google van will drive around the country for six weeks and see what…
As we blew straight past spring and into summer this week, I found myself longing for nothing more than to kick back on a porch with a lime margarita. Instead, two nights ago, I sat on my roof eating a tangy, lightly salted jello shot with a plastic spoon. It was a shockingly good alternative.…
What looks like a prop from a steampunk movie is actually a partially decellularized heart in a bioreactor. And this heart has the potential to save the lives of heart attack patients, and, one day, people who need heart transplants too. In a new paper in Circulation Research, scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital describe a…
On Wednesday, Google launched Android Beta, a program designed to give developers (and other Android obsessives) a look at what’s next for the world’s most popular mobile operating system. For now, that means people can use the program to try Android N, the newest (and unreleased) version of Android. Although the software is still six…
RocketJump Film School put together this really great video that shows us the different kinds of cuts and transitions that filmmakers use in their movies. By showing examples from both classic and modern movies, we get to see the tricks they employ. Cutting on action, cutting away, cross cutting back and forth, jump cuts, and…
Over 80,000 people are expected to arrive in Austin over the next week for the mesquite-scented, queso-chugging festival SXSW—including the president of the US, who will be delivering the keynote for the tech portion of the nerd circus today. And you can watch President Obama in conversation with Texas Tribune editor-in-chief Evan Smith right here,…
Staminus Communications, a hosting provider that specializes in DDoS protection, was the target of a massive hack that exposed sensitive customer data, including credit card information. One of the company’s clients is the Ku Klux Klan, so there’s that. The hack isn’t a huge surprise, though it’s a remarkably embarrassing turn of events for Staminus.…
Even if you don’t know the Dire Straits song “Walk of Life” by name you’ll recognize it immediately when you hear it. Fun fact: It’s the perfect song to end any movie. At least that’s the contention of the Walk of Life Project, the brainchild of Peter Salomone, a freelance video editor and writer. And…
Hong Kong bartender Rajendra Limbu is bringing the intoxicating effects of high art to the more pedestrian world of alcohol with cocktails that take influence from Vincent Van Gogh, Salvador Dalí, and Piet Mondrian. Each artistic recreation is hand-painted into egg white foam that floats atop these delectable drinks. How do they taste? The ingredient…
The state of Florida is currently considering the use of genetically modified mosquitoes to thwart the transmission of diseases like Zika and dengue. The FDA now says these mutated mosquitoes are safe, taking Florida a significant step closer to an actual field trial. The federal agency said that a bioengineered mosquito developed by British biotech…
Well, this certainly makes you think. About how emptily delicious and briefly satisfying a Big Mac from McDonald’s is. Oh that Big Mac Sauce. Oh that middle bun. Oh those double patties. Eat it with some fries. Slurp it down with some Coke. Wonder if the Big Mac is actually an edible food thing because…
Holy stuff! Lego’s Ideas program lets amateur builders submit ideas for new sets, and if it gets 10,000 votes from fans, the company will consider making it a reality. And this morning Lego revealed one of the next sets it’s officially putting into production is aBetterMonkey’s Adventure Time creation. At this point there are absolutely…
Closeups on hands might seem like too small a detail to become a trademark of a director’s visual style, but looking back on Nolan’s oeuvre shows just how much they reveal about his characters. Over the course of Nolan’s nine feature films, he uses hands to show in practice what dialog would only be able…
Available starting in June for $9, the 8-bit version of Mario a lot of us grew up with has been turned into a keychain-friendly multi-tool. Although Mario is best known as a plumber, this tool is more designed for opening bottles, tightening screws, and tearing open Fedex boxes, instead of unclogging sinks. The tool is…
In yet another sign that driverless cars are just over the horizon, General Motors announced today that the company is buying Cruise Automation—a Silicon Valley start-up that’s developing autonomous vehicle technology. According to Fortune, the deal cost GM over $1 billion in cash and stocks. GM hasn’t been shy about dipping its tire iron into…
Rollercoasters make people puke. VR makes people puke. Previously, we wondered what kind of monster would try to combine these two things. But now that we have our first hands-on video of the new Occulus-augmented coaster at Six Flags and… it actually looks like a lot of fun. The ride basically involves flying around and…
What started as an entry for last year’s Fantastic Fest is now inching closer to being a real NES game you can buy because Andrew Reitano and Mike Dooley’s Super Russian Roulette, which allows you to safely play the world’s most dangerous game, is now on Kickstarter. The game trades the original’s loaded revolver for…
Adobe just announced that its Flash player has yet another major security flaw—one that’s already wild and could let hackers take over your entire computer. Adobe’s urging Windows, Mac, Android, iOS and ChromeOS users to download the patch immediately. AGAIN. Sound familiar? It’s because this keeps happening over and over and over. Plus, a lot…
