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Outfitting your roof with solar panels can be a great way to save energy and money. Right? Well, you won’t save as much money in California, where new rules will force rooftop panel owners to shell over some extra money to their local energy provider—even if they don’t need them at all. In a vote…
Tremors felt by residents of New Jersey Shore and Long Island today prompted speculation that an earthquake had occurred—but the US Geological Survey confirmed that the rumbling sensations were caused by a sonic boom. A sonic boom is a shock wave felt when something travels faster than the speed of sound. When asked what had…
The sounds bamboo chopsticks emit when they’re snapped in half are remarkably similar to the laws that govern the magnitude and frequency of earthquakes. Such insights could one day help engineers determine more precisely when a bridge or dam, for instance, might be about to fail. There’s a thriving community of researchers who study how…
Scientists discovered a trench at the bottom of Loch Ness where a prehistoric creature could hide, but when it comes to sightings of the famed monster, you can probably expect reports to skyrocket in the UK, right around tea time, as a result of OTOTO Design’s new Baby Nessie tea infuser. Joining OTOTO’s Nessie Ladle…
LISA Pathfinder, a major effort to search for gravitational waves beyond Earth, launched on December 3rd, 2015. But those few minutes of space inferno actually takes much, much longer to prepare. Thankfully, the European Space Agency lets us see the three-week process boiled down to about three minutes with crews busily prepping Lisa for its…
Here’s a fantastic shot of US Airforce Airmen flying off the back of a C-130J Hercules. The angle is pretty damn perfect as the airman with the camera captures the fearlessness of the parachute jumpers and gets the entire giant transport aircraft in the background. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter,…
Blood testing startup Theranos is having a terrible week. First, the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent the company a letter saying its California facility poses “immediate jeopardy to patient safety.” Now, Walgreens will no longer send its lab tests to Theranos’ Newark, California location. Walgreens was an early champion for Theranos, offering…
Michael Moore says don’t send bottled water to Flint. The group that pushed to have Flint’s water tested in the first place says don’t send bottled water to Flint. But still, people are using their Amazon Prime accounts to send pallets of bottled water to Flint. Don’t do this. In addition to corporations trucking their…
I don’t really realize the skill of professional athletes until I see them up close. The speed in which they do things, the control they have over their bodies, the hand eye coordination, it’s all ridiculously superhuman. Just check out this video of hockey players running through exercises and tricks. You get to see some…
Usually when you hear “drone” and “airplane” in the same sentence, what comes next is a moralistic tale about how irresponsible drone pilots pose serious threats to airlines. That’s why it’s kind of weird when one of Europe’s largest airlines partners with arguably the biggest civilian drone maker in the world. German-operated Lufthansa and DJI…
Altria Group, America’s biggest tobacco company and makers of the iconic Marlboro brand, is laying off workers to save $300 million per year. Where are they going to put all that money? Into a true growth market: Electronic cigarettes. Today Altria, formerly known as Philip Morris, controls just over half of the traditional cigarette market…
If your weekend plans include stopping by PAX South in San Antonio, you might want to a make a beeline for Capcom’s booth to get your hands on—and in—these over-sized plush Ryu fists that let you Hadoken and Shoryuken anyone who dares cross you. The official Street Fighter collectibles are just $25 for the pair,…
A new gym-goer finds an exercise routine, sticks with it, and the pounds start coming off at a regular clip—until something changes. Not the person; they’re still exercising as hard as ever, sometimes harder, but the weight loss has stopped. What happened? A new study in Current Biology looks at the problem that’s plagued some…
Adding friends on Snapchat can be a pain in the ass: You have to open the app, pull down the menu bar to reveal your personalized Snapcode, have your friend open their Snapchat app, focus the camera on your (more than likely) smudged screen, and have them take a photo. Now, you can just send…
Today, Apple announced a recall of AC wall plug adapters found in several countries, due to risks of electrical shock. The two-pronged plugs in question were shipped to Continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Argentina, and Brazil, and are liable to break and shock you if you touch them. It’s a huge window not just…
OnePlus’ $250 glass-and-metal OnePlus X is finally off the invite system, meaning you can now buy it like any other phone. Read our review from last November to see if the OnePlus X is the cheap smartphone miracle you’ve been looking for.
You unfortunately don’t get to choose your neighbors, but you do get to choose how you deal with them. A YouTuber named Jamil went with a more passive-aggressive approach for dealing with his loud neighbors. Jamil built an Arduino-controlled stereo that automatically blasts annoying music right back at them. Watch it shred above. Heroes come…
Bowing to public pressure, Lego has finally released its first minifig in a wheelchair. The latest Lego figurine was one of several recently showcased at the Nuremberg Toy Fair. Lego’s decision to create a minifg in a wheelchair did not arise spontaneously from the goodness of this company’s heart. In fact, Lego initially resisted requests…
Did you know that Amazon Prime comes with a pretty crappy streaming music service? Maybe not, and Jeff Bezos reportedly wants to try again with a new standalone, Spotify-killing music offering. The kicker: Amazon can make it really easy to buy your favorite records, too. The New York Post reports that Amazon plans to launch…
If you’ve visited Disneyland, you may have seen a small plane fly overhead at one point. The OC is full of rich-ass people, might be a Newport Beach golfer, no big deal, right? Except, as it turns out, the Anaheim police department had access to military-grade dragnet phone spying equipment, the kind that can suck…
