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Popping open an app (and ensuring your mobile device is connected to your home’s wifi network) isn’t always the most convenient way to control Philips’ wireless lighting system. So the company is introducing another physical remote that lets you dim up to 10 of its bulbs at once. Unlike the Hue Tap, Philips’ first physical…
When movies break the fourth wall it’s always a little jarring. Like when you see someone you don’t know try to talk to you and you look behind your shoulder to see if it’s really you they want. But when characters express that awareness of being in their world to you, it can get pretty…
You probably thought you had a nice summer. Maybe you got a little bit of color, maybe you sunk your toes into some sand, maybe you had a drink with an umbrella in it. But no, your summer was not that fun. Because when you see this crazy guy shoot Roman Candle fireworks with dual…
Has your electricity gone out this summer? Did it feel like it was out for a long time? You may not be imagining things: A huge data analysis by a team of Berkeley scientists gives us a glimpse at the future of our drought-addled, storm-riddled electrical system. The analysis (PDF here) looked at 13 years’…
After years of describing red sprites as “rare” and “elusive,” astronauts on the International Space Station are out to prove me wrong. They photographed two entirely unrelated sprites above thunderstorms in the Midwest and Mexico within minutes. What’s going on?! Red sprite over Missouri or Illinois as seen from 2,200 kilometers away over Mexico. Image…
It was 90 degrees at 10:00 a.m. when I stepped off the Orange Line in the LA neighborhood of Van Nuys. A perfect day for the beach, or for the pool, or for positioning yourself directly beneath those little misters you can find at finer restaurants in the Valley. But I was about to embark…
Aerosense, Sony’s new drone business, just released video of its drone prototype flying, and it’s so cool I kind of wish I had the ability to Honey I Shrunk the Kids myself so I could fit inside it. Now, obviously, this isn’t the most original drone design in the world. Sony partnered with an autopilot…
Karma’s a bitch. Hackers recently leaked the inbox of Ashley Madison CEO Noel Biderman (pictured above). Turns out Noel and his cronies have done some hacking of their own. The emails reveal that the company’s CTO hacked into a competing dating site back in November 2012. Biderman even asked him to steal emails. The revelation…
Thanks to advances in marine technology, police are better-equipped than ever to discover submerged evidence, according to dive-safety periodical Alert Diver. Among the evocative examples: the sticky search for a murder weapon within Los Angeles’ La Brea Tar Pits, and a cannibal’s river-tossed trove of hacksaws. Top image by Betsy Weber
Action specs are great at keeping wind and debris out of your eyes through fast-paced sports like mountain biking. But their blade-like styling looks dumb once you slow down. Enter this new range of casually-styled, but high-performance sunglasses from California brands Salt Optics and Aether Apparel. Available in a couple different styles and a bunch…
Our lives today depend largely on systems and infrastructure that is invisible—a hidden landscape of webs and waves that come from cell towers, routers, satellites, and more. We rarely have to grapple with this hidden world, thanks to handy graphical user interfaces that parse all those waves and signals into information that our brains can…
Unmanned aerial vehicles often get a bum rap for being technological troublemakers, and this story ain’t gonna help: Maryland State Police say they’ve arrested two men who suposedly planned to smuggle contraband into a state prison using a drone. The Baltimore Sun reports that, along with the drone, CDs loaded with porn were confiscated, as…
[Note: This short film has been taken down by specific request of its author and has been disqualified from our film festival. Sorry for the inconvenient.] That powerful un-motivating slacker voice inside me thinks that living in a human zoo ruled by aliens wouldn’t be so bad. You don’t have to worry about work, housing,…
Comcast can’t stop talking about all the upgrades it has planned for its internet service. An executive recently told the press that it plans to upgrade its entire network to the DOCSIS 3.1 standard, a move that would enable gigabit speeds for all Comcast customers. Testing is underway now, and it should be done in…
Last week, hackers released a ton of data stolen from Ashley Madison, and scared the shit out of internet users everywhere. Now, with an uncanny sense of timing, an appeals court says the Federal Trade Commission has the power to regulate companies’ cyber security. That’s good news for you! A United States appeals court just…
Sure, the Marvel Legends Phil Coulson had his own giant alien gun to blast people with, but it’s unlikely we’ll ever get to see a Lola in the same scale for him to ride around in. Good job Funko are here to provide their giant-headed Agent Coulson with a flying hot rod to ride then!…
Still uncomfortable in a mummy bag? Worried you might be caught without the ability to disinfect water? Thinking about running with the bulls? Doing your first deer scouting? What’s New Outside has the answers for you. 10 Killed Running With Bulls In 2015: 2015 is already on-par with Spain’s deadliest bull running year to-date, 2009.…
Lego won’t officially make one, but if you head on over to Minifigures.com you can grab this Lego-compatible Minifig version of Mr. Bean—complete with a tweed blazer—that’s ready to wreak havoc on your many sets. At around $15 it’s not a cheap addition to your celebrity Minifig collection, but right now this is the only…
We once considered the Sun a planet, and it took finding Uranus to decide that moons should really be their own category of thing. These are all the places in our solar system that were once planets—but now have far more suitable names. The Sun and the Moon When the Ptolemaic model of an Earth-centric…
Back in April, a retired postal worker named Marianne Winkler discovered a message in a bottle that had washed up on a German beach—and her find may be the oldest message in a bottle ever recovered. Between 1904 and 1906, George Parker Bidder, a researcher for the UK Marine Biological Association (pictured above) tossed about…
