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Less-than-lethal weapons like rubber bullets and bean-bag rounds are a bad compromise, using a projectile that’s too slow to kill, and too big and heavy for real accuracy. A bullet that can change its velocity based on how far it has to travel would be a good solution, even if it looks weird as hell.…
It’s January, which means it’s already time for the merchandising market to start salivating over the next Marvel movie, Captain America: Civil War. Kicking of the proceedings in the battle for whether or not Team Cap or Team Iron Man gets to rummage through your wallet and make your earnings disappear is Bandai! The Japanese…
Following the introduction of new turntables from both Technics and Sony, Audio-Technica is getting into the fray with a low-cost record player that’ll beam tunes to your Bluetooth speakers. Audio-Technica has been making affordable quality record players—try the LP-120—for ages, and unlike other brands didn’t abandon making them even though the market collapsed. Now that…
The internet streaming company that’s promising 600 hours of new original content next year has just taken a huge leap in its march toward global domination. CEO Reed Hastings made the announcement today in Las Vegas: Netflix is now available in 130 additional countries as of today, including emerging markets like India, Indonesia, Russia, Azerbaijan,…
The day after Texas experienced weirdly warm temperatures and Christmas tornadoes, a blizzard slammed across the western part of the state. A dozen people were killed by the storms, and now, another tragic death toll has been reported: More than 35,000 dairy cows lost their lives. The New York Times reports that it was not…
Who’s a good doggie? NOT this GRUNGE PUNK PORCUPINE DOG! This dog is a weapon. Coyotes are vicious, omnivorous scamps who do NOT respect the bonds between man and dog. I know this from experience: In 2008, I spent a week on my friend Rosanna’s parents’ farm. They had recently acquired a delightful poodle puppy…
Whether you’re gasping at the beauty of Earth or the wonder of modern-day architecture (or both), there may well be times when you need to quickly download all of the pictures on a particular page—even if you just want some new phone backgrounds to use. One such tool for the job is the I’m A…
While it’s easy to forget just how many things are actually in the public domain, the New York Public Library is very much into making sure that its collection is as available as possible. Which is why over 187,000 public domain images were put online today. All of the public domain works—that is, ones no…
Over the past few days I’ve heard top executives from two massive electronics companies brag about the design of their television. Normal! Well, it would be if they weren’t talking about the backs of their televisions. The photo below was taken at the Sony booth at CES just a short while after the Sony North…
Want an Oculus Rift? Go order one. They cost $600, plus the price of whatever powerful computer you’ll need for VR. (Your dusty old PC probably won’t work, by the way.) Preorders are open right now, and the device will start shipping on March 28. Note: The Oculus website is understandably flooded with eager nerds…
A lot of news outlets are enraged about tweets by Ammon Bundy, the leader of a group that’s currently “occupying” a bird sanctuary building in Oregon. The only problem? Bundy doesn’t have a Twitter account. Last night an account called @Ammon_Bundy compared the Bundy militia’s campaign to Rosa Parks. Yes, it would be a shocking…
The DMCA takedown and counter-takedown procedures has been a mess for a while now. And it didn’t look like anyone who could fix it cared to. Which made it a surprise when the Copyright Office asked for public comment on the issue on New Year’s Eve. If you think DMCA takedowns are bullshit—and they often…
The hundreds of different smart home platforms premiering at CES 2016 is a perfect summation of that technology: it’s kind of a mess right now. But with its new SR20 Smart Home Router, TP-Link might have just helped to streamline the smart home and make all the connected devices in your home finally play nicely…
For three decades, humans have searched for signs of intelligent life beyond Earth, and yet we’ve only sampled a tiny drop of our vast cosmic ocean. If we’re ever to find a radio-hot, spacefaring civilization, we need to know where to point our telescopes. But the answer may be simpler than we thought. According to…
Chipotle has been at the center of a number of outbreaks of food-related sicknesses this year—and now one of them may be about to land them in court. The AP revealed that the FDA and California’s US Attorney’s Office had launched a criminal investigation into Chipotle and subpoenaed a host of information from them. The…
iPin was the first company to use the iPhone’s headphone jack as an accessory port for a compact laser pointer. And not to diminish the fun you can have with a laser, but the company’s latest product is considerably more useful since it turns your smartphone into a full-on laser measure. Based on the company’s…
The medical profession has long dreamed of an ideal delivery system for getting drugs to wherever in the body they’re needed most. Nanoscientists at the University of San Diego have come up with a novel means of doing so: why not fire the drugs at the intended targets, using tiny little cannons? Early in the…
For those who equally enjoy U.S. Navy photography and atmospheric optics, this photo is a gem. This is the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group in formation with Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ships, shrouded in a fog-based light show. Thanks to the phenomenon called solar glory, you can see on the right side of the picture…
Facebook’s Messenger has recently started dabbling with chat bots, such as the one used by Uber to help you order a ride. Now, reports suggest that Zuckerberg & Co. may be about to open up such possibilities much more widely. TechCrunch reports that it believes Facebook is offering a special software development kit to some…
It’s been a long time coming but, as of January 12th, Microsoft will no longer support Internet Explorer 8, 9 or 10. Rest in peace, IE. Microsoft points out that version 11 will continue to cling on to its dear little life for at least a while, receiving security updates, compatibility fixes, and technical support…
