Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
The memorial is finished, the tower replacing it is occupied, and the museum is open—for better or for worse. Today, several of the largest remaining pieces of World Trade Center infrastructure from the 9/11 terrorist attacks were pulled out of storage to leave New York City. Hundreds of pieces from the site were placed in…
Perhaps the best way to prove that the US is indeed a country of immigrants is to watch the data speak for itself in this beautiful interactive map. Starting in 1850, the foreign-born population swells in the US, first from European countries, then Mexico and Central America, and in the last decade, dozens of Asian…
Earlier this year, the International Astronomical Union asked us to vote on the names for 32 exoplanets orbiting 15 stars. This could have been a trainwreck, but the planet christening actually went pretty smoothly. Now, with half a million votes tallied from 182 countries, a handful of celestial bodies have shiny new appellations. The NameExoWorlds…
Two theories, from the always knowledgable Kurz Gesagt: you die a quick death or you die a very quick death. No one knows for sure but you probably don’t want to be the first person to find out. If you do, you’ll notice that time moves slower inside the black hole. But once you’re in…
If you’re lucky enough to be able to choose your hospital and have time to research your choices, you’d naturally take mortality rate into account. There’s a problem with that, and one change in how mortality rates are calculated could help solve it. Hospital rankings according to mortality rate are needed to identify those that…
Rarely seen by women, this little tablet is a part of many men’s daily lives. What the hell is in a urinal cake, why does it work, and could it possibly be used to make a deadly poison? Those disgusting little things that sit in urinals are something that men see every day, but few…
Censorship blows. Drones are fun! So what happens when drones are the ones censoring? That’s what happens in this spot for Japanese retailer Buyma. Naked dancers dance and prance around the floor without any clothes on while flying drones with sheets of paper censor their modesty. It could totally have been faked with CG and…
Who wants the hassle and maintenance of a real fireplace when Netflix serves up a convincing yule log you can just stream to your living room TV? Or better yet, why not just give in to all the Star Wars mania and curl up next to Anakin Skywalker’s burning corpse on a cold winter’s night.…
Even if the entire world says you can’t do something, even if you yourself think it might be impossible, and even if it sounds totally crazy to do, with enough effort and skill and talent and tools and hard work, you can do it. That’s the lesson of this video where Kevin of krtwood turns…
Are we, the American people, gluttons for punishment? Tonight is the fifth Republican debate and, thankfully, the final debate of 2015. We’re headed to LAS VEGAS BABY, where the citizens of this fine nation will get one step closer to deciding which candidate they might like to roll the dice with when it comes to…
Project Fi, Google’s carrier service, is a great idea currently stymied by a limited rollout. Only owners of Nexus 5X, 6, and 6P devices can test drive what it’s like to have Google as a carrier, for good or bad. Google’s now loosening that tight gadget grip a teeny bit and letting in data-only tablets…
We were cruising at around 10,000 feet, somewhere above the Midwest, when two pizza-shaped antennas on top of the plane finally connected with the satellite. Within seconds, I was streaming a movie on Netflix in full HD while the man next to me waved at his iPhone. Our in-flight wifi, I realized, was faster than…
Every year hospitals and patients worry about the “July Effect,” a rumored increase in complications and deaths in that mid-summer month. Learn why the July Effect supposedly exists, and why it may not be as bad as people fear. Every July, medical students pour into hospitals to start their life as interns. Meanwhile, last year’s…
Ever since I learned the best music site on the internet is being acquired by Pandora, I’ve been sick about losing the amazing Christmas playlist that I’ve been carefully curating for years. Thankfully, Rdio and Spotify have made it really easy to export and re-import my playlists. Here’s how to do it. If you’re an…
For nearly a decade, marginalized individuals—from transgender people to victims of abuse—have begged Facebook to change its “real name” policy. Over a year after apologizing for the controversy, Facebook definitively said it would not change the rules. But it will offer a workaround for some users. In announcing the changes, Facebook was very clear about…
Pebble has been the “little wearable that could” ever since it debuted its first smartwatch on Kickstarter in 2012. Since then, the company’s added impressive hardware and software piecemeal over the last three years, and its latest addition is Pebble Health. Building off of Pebble’s 24/7 step and sleep tracking introduced last year via Jawbone…
The newest forecast on El Niño and California’s drought suggests the state could be in for a very wet winter. Does this mean the drought will finally be fixed and we can go back to filling up our swimming pools with pounds and pounds of almonds? Nope, not even close. Here’s why. California needs a…
Chinese giant salamanders are incredible amphibious beasts that look more like monsters from a movie than something that could exist in real life on this here Earth. They are comically huge, like brown boulder-sized beings who are unaware of how big they are. This one, discovered outside a cave near Chongqing, China, is over 4…
Putting a couple of chocolate Santas in a stocking on Christmas eve is apparently no longer enough. McLaren, makers of some of the most expensive sports cars in the world, suggests slipping a 1:8-scale replica of the company’s P1 in a stocking for a truly memorable Christmas morning. As of last week McLaren officially stopped…
Here’s a really cool art project that transformed Kat Von D into a living sculpture that’s constantly changing. The effects were done with facial recognition software and live projection mapping and it’s always so impressive how quickly the technology adapts and creates art. Some if it is really beautiful, some of it is really haunting,…
