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Two US federal marshals raided the booth of a Chinese hoverboard company earlier today at CES. The badged law enforcement agents collected all of the company’s one-wheeled “Trotter” electric skateboards, as well as all related marketing materials. It was dramatic. This all happened despite the Trotter’s apparent popularity with trade show attendees. But the reason…
Lenovo and Google have been working together for a year to find a mainstream use for Google’s experimental Project Tango technology. Today we’re getting information about the very first Google Tango device for consumers. They’re actually gonna do it. This is very ambitious. Ever since Google first showed the world its 3D-aware technology about two…
Silicon Valley executives will meet with top government officials in a private meeting tomorrow to eke out better strategies to counter the Islamic State’s online influence. The meeting, first reported by Reuters, will put even more pressure on technology companies to crack down on ISIS’ social media recruiting and propaganda. According to The Guardian, executives…
Pixar movies are great because of their characters and their storylines but also because they pay homage to the great movies that came before it. And they’re not even’t imitating animation movies, it’s a tribute to cinema, it’s live action films that get paid the form of flattery. Many of the scenes you can recognize…
No need to be alarmed, this is just an extremely fascinating infrastructural feature—which also happens to look extremely beautiful under the right circumstances. The Ladybower Reservoir is located in Derbyshire, England where it provides drinking water and hydroelectricity to the region. But it’s most famous for its dam—rather, it’s known for a particular feature of…
Like oversized fishing bobbers used as flower vases, these 20 trees planted in colorful buoys are designed to add whimsy and nature to Rotterdam’s industrial waterfront. The installation, named Dobberend Bos, or “bobbing forest” in Dutch, will be released into the city’s harbor in March. The idea was prompted by the work of sculptor Jorge…
Good plumbing is an overlooked, but vital, part of modern life. One of the first civilizations to really get a handle on it was the Romans. So why did the prevalence of parasites during Roman times increase compared to the Iron Age? Research just published in the journal Parasitology indicates that Roman toilets and bath…
In the starless void of intergalactic space, there are clouds of cosmic gas as old as the Milky Way. They produce no visible light, and they barely radiate heat. Now, for the first time, astronomers have determined their size. These shadowy structures are as big as galaxies. That’s according to Jeffrey Cooke of Swinburne University…
The 5,300-year-old natural mummy dubbed Ötzi the Iceman, discovered in 1991, is still teaching us things. A multidisciplinary team of scientists at European Academy of Bozen have studied Ötzi’s gut bacteria to learn more about early human migration patterns. Ötzi the Iceman did not have a lucky life. He had hardened arteries, he was infected…
“Who the fuck are you anyways, EFF?” Guitar-rockin’ telecom BAD BOY John Legere is lashing out against the Electronic Frontier Foundation following an EFF investigation claimed that T-Mobile’s new Binge On program throttles data. My guess is Legere is hoping his whole rebel-with-an-unlimited-roaming-clause schtick will distract T-Mobile users from the fact that a well-respected, consumer-defending…
I’m not what you would call a “car guy,” but upon strolling up to Ford’s flashy new autonomous research vehicle today, I found myself nodding my head with great satisfaction like, “huh, this shit’s really gonna work!” The tricked-out Fusion Hybrid is on display at CES, and it’s set up to illustrate the technology that’s…
Boston’s own Biz “Stonecold” Stone—founder of Twitter, author of Who Let The Blogs Out?—is bringing back his short-lived Q&A/search engine app Jelly for some fucking reason. Jelly was Stone’s post-Twitter project, an app that let you anonymously ask other users questions and anonymously answer questions they posed. It had a buzzy launch, buoyed by Stone…
Have you seen those two-wheeled, self-balancing scooter things that all the kids are crazy about? They’re called hoverboards. Get over it. Many people take issue with the name “hoverboard.” But here in 2016, we find ourselves futilely debating over the inevitable. This is a fight that has already been decided. The fix is in. The…
CES had an unspoken but closely-followed theme this year, and that theme was “Could definitely also be a sex toy.” One of the best themes yet, good job to everyone involved! What it really is: FLIR Scout TK thermal camera What it looks like: Dildo camera What it really is: Smart remote What it looks…
I mean, just look at them. Sure, one’s a heavily armored angry dude and the other is a space alien with glowing red eyes that are about to shoot out hot laser beams of death. But still, babies! Hot Toys have unveiled the cutesy little “Cosbaby” toys as the latest in their line of Batman…
Traffic cameras aren’t really known for taking particularly interesting images of the local wildlife (or anything interesting for that matter), but as this jaw-dropping photo attests, sometimes the nature comes to you. The image, one of three jaw-dropping frames captured on January 3, 2016, shows the owl in flight, spreading its white and black-spotted wings…
Did you need another existential risk to keep you up at night? Probably not, but here it is anyway: galaxy quakes. We’ve known about ‘em for years, and we hadn’t a clue what causes them—until now. The culprit, unveiled today at the 227th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, is about as weird as you’d…
You could say that, historically, televisions are the star of CES. After all, it was at CES in 1998 that the world saw the first ever high-definition TVs. Plasma TVs debuted at CES in 2001, and OLEDs appeared in 2008. This year, however, everything was pretty damn boring. That’s not a bad thing. The most…
The record-breaking El Niño-fueled storms that swept through California the past two days brought never-before-seen phenomena to our doors: Floating trash cans, tornado warnings, more floating trash cans. But none of these were more symbolic of our struggle with the wicked weather pattern than this Lamborghini that dared to drive where SUVs would not tread.…
This morning, the USDA and the Department of Health and Human services finally issued a new set of American dietary guidelines. Just a few hours later, the first lawsuit over those same dietary recommendations was announced. So, what’s in these new guidelines that has people so upset less than 24 hours in? Really, not that…
