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From seal intestines to woven grass, mankind’s been staying dry by any means available for thousands of years. And, with the rise of wonder materials like Gore-Tex, even drier for the last few decades. Now, a new technology promises to keep us the driest yet. Here’s a look back at how it all worked.
It may look like the SR-71 Blackbird, but this sleek flying beast is not the most famous supersonic spy plane ever created but its father, the A-12 Oxcart. In some ways, it was a better machine than the famous Blackbird. This is its history. The story of this Mach 3.2 technological wonder starts in 1957…
Lovely though it is in person, Chicago can seem like a grim, grey place on film. So when the Wachowskis decided to film key moments of their new movie Jupiter Ascending there, they didn’t just wait for the most beautiful light—they built a whole new type of camera to capture it. Really, that shouldn’t surprise…
From seal intestines to woven grass, mankind’s been staying dry by any means available for thousands of years. And, with the rise of wonder materials like Gore-Tex, even drier for the last few decades. Now, a new technology promises to keep us the driest yet. Here’s a look back at how it all worked. Ancient…
The crazy and beloved anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion turns 20 later this year, and Japanese Eva fans are looking to celebrate by literally embedding a teeny replica of a famous weapon from the show into the moon. Beats a birthday cake, I guess! Yes, fans want to replicate a scene in the anime where…
Technology! It gives us amazing devices that allow us to experience life in new ways. How wonderful. Even more wonderful is when those devices fail us to extremely comedic effect. Exhibit 1: Drones. You know that a consumer device like the quadcopter has gained a certain critical popularity when compilations of their dramatic demises begin…
The not-quite human voice that emanates from your phone or GPS or other device is, more often than not, female. It’s an obvious pattern, and one that many have claimed has a simple technical explanation: Female voices are easier to understand. The only problem is that it’s not true. Last week, Annalee Newitz wrote about…
It’s been a little over two months since the Sony hack first rocked the world of the tens of thousands of employees who had their passwords and social security numbers (among other sensitive bits of info) exposed. Butdespite what some of the more imaginative amongst us might hope, it turns out that the reality of…
Initial suspicions from the massive hack at Anthem are just starting to roll in, and they are suspicious. Long story short, a few unnamed people immediately jumped to the conclusionthat it was China. That said, Anthem is hardly the only health care company that’s been hacked lately. It’s a bit of an pandemic, actually (pardon…
Before Adblock Plus bloomed into existence in 2006, going anywhere online could be a flashing, ad-filled nightmare. Adblock Plus offered a way out of the commercial chaos, and blocked ad revenue from websites in the process. But now it’s opening up the gates — and allowing a few choice advertisers through, for a price. Adblock…
President Obama has been an Apple fanboy for a while now, according to the upcoming book Believer: My Forty Years in Politics from Obama’s political strategist David Axelrod. In 2007, Steve Jobs gave then-Senator Obama a private viewing of the iPhone before it was made publicly available. According to Axelrod, Obama’s first impression of the…
Backyard Sports started as a series of video games where players could challenge kid-versions of pro athletes in less-than-professional venues. It disappeared for a while, but the brand has recently been reborn as a series of mobile games that now work alongside real-life sports equipment to reward players for the time they spend playing in…
Okay, this is pretty damn amazing. Flickr User Joel Baker built the facade for Flynn’s Arcade from Tron in 2012, but recently returned to his lego creation to fully flesh out the interior, turning it into a wonderfully detailed arcade for his Lego minifigures. Even the sign lights up! Well, sort of – Baker recreated…
The Universe is an incredible place that defies belief. We take it for granted because the distances and scale is so alien to our little tiny pale blue dot that our brains can’t even process them. Maybe that’s why Italian artist St. Tesla turns galaxies and nebulae into tiny precious jewels. “Macrocosm and microcosm is…
I have a confession: I’ve been having out-of-body experiences. They feel like a video game. I’m a spirit in the sky, watching my flesh-and-bone self shamble about as I float on the breeze. How? Because I’ve been testing one of the coolest toys ever made: a tiny drone with a pair of wireless video goggles…
The Tesla Model S P85D—aka The D—is a badass with dual electric motors that can go 0-60 MPH in 3.2 seconds. It even has a software update on the way that can supposedly make it even. Our friends at Jalopnik got behind the wheel to give it the full review treatment. Read about it below!
Streaming music is controversial amongst many musicians who claim that they don’t get a fair shake of the revenue that’s being pulled in. A new study of the music industry by the French recording industry confirms suspicions that at least part of the reason artists are getting screwed is because labels are taking all the…
How close are we to living in Blade Runner’s dark and moody dystopia of 2019? Pretty damn close, if you follow the Instagram account bladerunnerreality. At least aesthetically. The part that doesn’t seem to match up with the film? Aside from the absence of flying cars (we still have four years, guys!) Blade Runner was…
Pets don’t only help teach kids how to be responsible, they’re also a harsh object lesson in the definitiveness of death—unless you go the robot route. Robo-puppies might not be believable just yet, but this tiny robot turtle looks pretty convincing when swimming around inside a tank. And if you find it just floating there…
App makers have officially shrugged off the holiday lethargy and are updating apps stores with amazing new additions to make all our lives collectively easier. Or at the very least much prettier. This week, Microsoft is on a crazed app development bender, building more lock screens for Android, buying one of the best calendar apps…
