Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Next week is St. Patrick’s Day, which means the celebrations will be in full swing by the weekend. For this week’s Shooting Challenge, let’s embrace the most iconic part of the holiday: the green. The Challenge Photograph something where green is the subject—it can be St. Patrick’s related, or it can be its own green…
When motion graphics artist Yvon Lan visited New York for the first time four things grabbed his attention and filled the memory card of his camera: Brownstones, yellow caps, stressed people, and, of course, the omnipresent Starbucks. He then took all those pictures and compiled them in this neat time lapse. SPLOID is delicious brain…
Right now, Apple reigns as the premium brand for mobile products; its monopoly on status symbol status is way too secure. Look upon at how excited people got about the Apple Watch when Android Wear does almost exactly the same damn thing. Spectators fawned over the new gold Macbook even though it’s a $1,300 laptop…
Utah lawmakers are prepared to strap condemned criminals to this horrible chair and shoot them if they need to. They’ve just approved a bill that would allow the state to execute people by firing squad if there’s a shortage of lethal injection chemicals needed to kill people the socially acceptable way. The New York Times…
Frei Otto, architect behind some of the most important structures and engineering ideas of the last century, has died just two weeks before he was to receive the Pritzker Prize—the award that people often describe as the Nobel Prize for architecture. Maybe you’ve never heard of Otto. That’s OK. He kept himself outside the fray…
This dude figured it out. While the rest of us foolish adults stopped playing with bubbles after the 4th grade, Su Chung Tai kept on going and became awesome at it. So awesome that he holds Guinness World Records for bubble blowing and can pull of tricks that probably involve sorcery and a heavy control…
You can find just about anything you want on eBay, from duct tape to Kim Kardashian’s old clothes. It’s a magical place! It’s also an online retailer violating its own rules, and helping buyers sidestep California law, because you can easily buy and sell assault weapons parts on the website. No need for DIY assault…
Did you know that Quebec City has a waterfall that’s taller than Niagara? And did you know it freezes over every winter? And did you know you could climb it when it does? We just did that and here’s how you can too. The main falls at Montmorency are 361 feet high, taller than Niagara’s…
What If Doctor Who’s Cybermen found themselves upgrading to stone bodies rather than metal ones? It seems highly impractical from a movement perspective, but at least we know it’d look downright beautiful thanks to this new bust from Edge Sculpture. Based on the Cyberman design first introduced in Neil Gaiman’s Nightmare In Silver, the 18″…
Every ball of dough holds the potential to transform into something else. Usually that something else is something you can eat! But in this twisted stop-motion video, a ball of dough turns into terrifying frog and lizard and fish creatures. After watching these things come to life, I can never look at a ball of…
Everybody’s MacBook breaks. At some point or another, the hard drive will shudder to a stop; the display hinge won’t hold up anymore; the logic board will cease to function. It’s only a matter of time. Fortunately, you can fix most of it yourself. Here’s how. Despite the prices at the Apple Store, MacBooks are…
When Cards Against Humanity was first released to the world, it was made available under a Creative Commons license that meant that anyone could simply print our their own copy of the game. Or, as designer Dawson Whitfield did, turn it into an online browser-based web app so that anyone can play it against their…
Here Maps, finally loosed from the confines of Windows Phone, has been trickling out on other mobile operating systems for the last few months. First Samsung, then Android. Now, iOS finally gets this scrappy underdog in the maps app fight against Google Maps. HERE Maps claim to fame is its awesome offline maps, so you…
There ain’t no power in the verse that can stop you from passing go and collecting 200 credits, apparently. Yes, the slightly weird trend of Firefly board gaming products cropping out of nowhere has continued. It started off at least pretty creatively with a card game based on the Tall Card game from the show,…
When a paper notebook also doubles as the archive for all of your hand-written notes, it makes sense to buy a new one once it’s full. But when that paper notebook can be easily digitized and backed up to the cloud using a smartphone, there’s no reason not to reuse it. So the Rocketbook notebook…
Pocket Casts has long been one of our favorite cross-platform podcasting tools, and there’s a new Android version out today with a Material Design overhaul and even more ways to cut down the amount of time it takes to burn through your podcast queue. You can also get statistics on the amount of listening time…
A laptop bag can protect all of your electronics as you bump into other passengers on a crowded subway, or simply get caught in the rain. But the MTS Multi-Threat Shield briefcase goes much way further than that—it can also protect you from gunshots, knives, and even physical attacks when unfurled into a three-foot long…
An LG G4 leak, Apple’s disruptive music streaming services, and PS4’s trip to China. This is all the oh-so-great news and rumors you might have missed, and it’s all on BitStream. We’ve just seen the best that HTC and Samsung have to offer, now it’s LG’s turn. This leaked photo from @onleaks gives us a…
The changing color of a chameleon’s body is an impressive sight—but how it happens has long been a significant scientific question without a compelling answer. Now, researchers have identified a thin layer of deformable nanocyrstals in their skin which gives rise to the phenomenon. A team of scientists from the University of Geneva has observed…
There is no shortage of tiny USB charging and sync cables available for your smartphone, but the makers of the aptly-named WonderCube have managed to squeeze a surprising amount of functionality into a tiny one-inch cube you’ll never want to leave home without. The WonderCube is smaller than most keychains, but does far more than…
