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This week, Starbucks started testing alcohol service at two New York City locations. “Wouldn’t it be funny to get drunk at Starbucks?” I thought. It didn’t take long to figure out that I should stick to drinking at bars. Going to the new Starbucks in Williamsburg is weird. The Brooklyn neighborhood smugly eschewed chains of…
Since it’s already dirty, there’s really no reason not to just throw all your laundry on the floor, right? But if you’ve got a partner or roommate who says otherwise, Wham-O’s got a pretty sweet laundry bag with a basketball hoop attached so putting away dirty laundry is just like making free-throws. For $20 it’s…
Police in Fargo, North Dakota have started livestreaming traffic stops via Periscope in an experiment for all the world to see. And so far, it’s been an embarrassing failure. But the Fargo PD doesn’t see it that way. “We just learned about the app a couple of nights ago so we thought, ‘let’s just get…
Fetch Robotics is best known for its warehouse bots that can autonomously fill orders. But soon the company might actually be better known for its Weaponized Plastic Fighting League that sees its engineers designing and building plastic toy battle bots that fight to the death. The company’s private league is like a smaller scale, and…
In a perfect world—or at least in the perfect world I have in my mind—kids would learn about chemistry, history, or human evolution theory through claymation short films as cute and clever as this one. Actually, adults would learn like this too. Everything could use more claymation. The short film, Ape, was directed by Anita…
Despite being Doctor Who’s Doctor a whole year now, Peter Capaldi’s not had much luck getting a decent figure of himself—the first one was absolutely dreadful, and although there’s a pretty decent 1/6th scale version on the way, it’s a lot pricier than most people are willing to pay. Enter this new, 5” figure… that’s…
People are the worst. An unknown number of assholes are threatening to expose Ashley Madison users, presumably ruining their marriages. The hacking victims must pay the extortionists “exactly 1.0000001 Bitcoins” or the spouse gets notified. Ugh. This is an unnerving but not unpredictable turn of events. The data that the Ashley Madison hackers released early…
So far, the most practical use man has found for ferrofluid—the mesmerizing black goo that reacts to magnets in cool ways—is as gorgeous eye candy. And that’s totally OK, because how else would have Nike realized this slick animated display for its new Kevin Durant sneakers? The in-store display was created by a design studio…
Ever since the shuttle program ended, NASA has been paying Russia to ferry U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station. But the price-per-seat aboard Russia’s spacecraft has gotten ridiculous. The solution is clear and cost-effective: The US needs its own space taxis. So why won’t Congress pay for it? When the Space Shuttles retired, NASA…
The stethoscope is a staple of modern medicine; but in parts of the developing world, off-the-shelf models are prohibitively expensive. That’s why a team of doctors and hackers in Gaza has started 3D printing their own. All told, their stethoscope—which reportedly offers better sound quality than industry models—costs less than five bucks to build. Following…
Ever wonder why beer never comes in plastic bottles? It’s because it affects the brew’s quality. But a major Japanese beer company has new plans to make a beer-friendly plastic bottle. Earlier this week, Mitsubishi Plastics announced it’s teaming with Kirin Co. to make one-liter plastic bottles specifically built for beer. It’ll be coated with…
Apple has come to Dr. Dre’s defense in light of a recent essay by Dee Barnes, a woman who Dre assaulted 25 years ago. The essay published by Gawker.com was cast as a review of Straight Outta Compton, a biopic about the rise and fall of Dr. Dre’s group NWA. In the review Barnes, a…
We’ve known for years that China’s military is spearheading one of the biggest land reclamation projects ever in the middle of the South China Sea. But a report from the Pentagon yesterday says that the project is far larger than previously thought: 2,900 acres of new land has been created—roughly tripling the size of the…
Guys, imagine for a moment what life would be like if you couldn’t feel your penis. That can happen to men with some kinds of spinal injuries, or who were born with a condition called spina bifida. Their penises can still sense touch, but a break in the spinal cord means the signal never makes…
Researchers have confirmed that these five wolf pups — born this spring — are the first born wild in California in over 100 years. Along with their mommy and daddy, they form the newly dubbed “Shasta Pack.” Wolves now call California home again. The pups are thought to be four months old and, like their…
One day 3D printers will be able to churn out working electronics and fully-functional machines, instead of just plastic parts. And that day is now slightly closer with MIT CSAIL’s MultiFab 3D printer that can use ten different materials to build working devices in a single print run. For 3D printers to fully realize their…
The Alphabet family just gained a member, after Sergey Brin announced that the zany, experimental life sciences group from Google X would become its own company. This is the same group of nerds that’s been building smart contact lenses. And it sounds like more crazy new inventions are on the way. Brin didn’t say what…
The Sploid Short Film Festival is all about featuring filmmakers and celebrating storytellers and helping creators show off their work. If you think you have something special and want to share your short film, please feel free to submit your film for consideration in the Sploid Short Film Festival 2015. We’re constantly accepting submissions and…
North Korea is one of the most isolated countries in the world. But a new interview with a telecommunications employee who worked inside the country is full of surprises about what kind of phone and internet access the average North Korean has. NK News interviewed Ahmed El-Noamany, a former technical director who worked on North…
The cello is a gigantic instrument so it’s really no surprise that it basically takes an entire tree to make. What is impressive about the process of making a cello by hand though is just how long it takes to carve the wood down, to precisely cut out the shape, and to put all the…
