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I first heard of Girl Scout Cookies a few years ago, shortly after I got my prescription for cannabis in California. I went into my local dispensary and asked for whatever buds they had that smelled the nicest. “Have you tried Girl Scout Cookies?” the woman behind the counter asked. “It’s famous.” Image by Ry…
Did a retired CIA officer recently admit on his deathbed that he murdered Marilyn Monroe? Nope. It’s all part of a stupid hoax from fake news site World News Daily Report. The story was picked up by conspiracy theory aficionados InfoWars, among a host of other sites. But as Snopes points out, the image used…
Down a stretch of country road in upstate New York there is a shed. The shed itself is nothing spectacular, a whitewash number with years of weathering. But inside sparks fly, fires breathe, and slabs of steel are fashioned into capable killing machines. This is Odinblades, a grimy shrine to the ancient art of swordmaking.…
Ultra-cheap carrier Republic Wireless has been offering one heck of a cheap unlimited data plan for years now. Well, within the next few months, the plan will stop being unlimited. Depending how much data you abuse, that may not be a bad thing though. Republic Wireless, for those unfamiliar, is a low-cost carrier that’s actually…
Recreating the Chitauri Scepter, also known as Loki’s bad ass, brain controlling staff from The Avengers, in real life might be the most impressive build that Man At Arms has ever done. The detail is unbelievable: melting glass and glass casting to create the right infinity stone, perfectly cutting out the design of the scepter…
Thanks to an anonymous tip, earlier today we were pointed towards a listing on the Fat Brain Toys’ website for an official Sphero remote control BB-8 toy coming from Orbotix—the company behind Sphero, and the technology behind the actual droid built for the film. Shortly after reaching out to Orbotix’s representatives about it (who told…
The folks over at Vox have spotted a curious email that was leaked as part of the Sony hack. Back in January 2014, Dr. Oz sent a message to Michael Lynton, the CEO of Sony Entertainment, asking about Sony’s upcoming wearable devices. Since Sony produces his show, Dr. Oz saw an opportunity for good old…
In an effort to bring more functionality and interactivity to a device that is often just a large monolothic touchscreen, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Disney Research have come up with a series of accessories that manipulate sound coming from a smartphone’s speaker to serve as an external controller. Called Acoustruments, the cheap plastic…
Uncontrollable Glee: This is the best. Mass Effect fans are already fond of the alien Elcor, a race of massive creatures that preface all of their sentences with an emotion to convey tone (they also make great Shakespearean actors) — but I can almost guarantee they’ll be even fonder of this adorable plush version. For…
New York and Paris are two of the best cities in the world, both filled with culture, art, food, fashion, people, landmarks, museums, historical significance, quirks and so forth. Naturally, people of one city like to imagine their city as better than the other and vice versa. This fun animation shows how the cities compare,…
If the comic books and movies are any indication, the fact that anyone besides Thor can lift his mighty Mjölnir hammer is reason enough to feel pretty great about yourself. But if that just isn’t enough of an ego boost, Hasbro’s Power Hammer game will let you test your strength against some of the worst…
Apple Watch is finally entering the smartwatch wild this Friday, but Google is updating Android Wear to be an even more compelling competitor with wifi, new hand gestures, always-on apps and yes, even emoji support. Arguably, the Apple Watch’s biggest +1 over Android Wear is its wifi capabilities (since it certainly isn’t battery life.) Now,…
We’re three episodes into The Lizzie Borden Chronicles’ eight-ep run on Lifetime, and last night’s episode, “Flowers,” was full of dramatic twists galore — including some very gory ones that sacrificed some key characters (or seemed to, anyway). Where the hell can this show possibly go next? Spoilers follow! By now, a very clear pattern…
Madame Tussauds wax museum in San Francisco already has wax figures of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. But it’s trying to decide which tech mogul should become the next embodiment of the uncanny valley. And it wants your help! Anyone can nominate their favorite person in tech online. The only real requirement is that they…
The amount of old electronics we throw in the trash is gross, and now a new report from the United Nations University quantifies the extent to which we’re discarding iPods and rusty washing machines. In the US alone, we tossed out 7.1 million metric tons of e-waste, or nearly 16 billion pounds. That means we…
The art of needle felting is creating something 3D from wool by just stabbing it over and over until it achieves the shape you want. Or something like that. Watch as sculptor Stephanie Metz shows you how she makes her ‘Unnatural History’ teddy bear skulls through fascinating needle felting in the video below. Stephanie Metz…
The future is on display today in Japan, where retail workers will work alongside a talking humanoid robot to welcome customers at a major department store. The android’s name is Aiko Chihira, and her job as receptionist is to greet shoppers as they enter the store, give them directions, and make conversation with pre-programmed scripts.…
Google is making a rare change to its search algorithm tomorrow—one that has the power to dramatically alter a site’s ranking in Google’s all-important search results. SOUND THE ALARM. The change is really pretty simple. It’s designed to make Google’s search results more useful for people using it on their phones. Starting tomorrow, the algorithm…
Movies can show so much just from tweaking how a scene looks. Steely, icy, blue, colder looking scenes can mean something much different than bright, warm, golden scenes. Pixels & Frequencies put the two type of visual temperatures right next to each other from various movies in this video below. SPLOID is delicious brain candy.…
The National Security Agency had released a mascot (?) for Earth Day (??) and it’s an anthropomorphized and oddly buff recycling bin named Dunk (???). Earth Day is this Wednesday, and the NSA apparently forged Dunk from the ether of our collective nightmares as part of its STEM education partnership with Maryland schools. I have…
