Tech News

Deals: Six Lego books on sale at Amazon

Amazon currently has several Lego titles up for grabs at a great discount. Most of these are older books but at 24-44% off, you can’t beat the price. The Lego Ideas Book – $14.09 (was $24.99) 44% off Lego Play Book – $14.87 (was $24.99) 40% off The Lego Book – $17.39 (was $24.99) 30%…

Walk All Over a Wookiee With a Chewbacca Rug

It’s been said it’s not wise to upset a Wookiee, but turning one of them into a rug, how could that possibly go wrong? You won’t find a more luxurious pelt in the galaxy, and unlike that gleaming white Wampa fur, you can spill all the Juri juice you want on this Chewbacca rug and…

Behold the Internet’s Favorite Bathroom

Remember a few months ago, when we talked about the bathroom supply company on a quest to find America’s best restroom—a dubious honor—by polling the internet? Well, today they announced the winner, and somewhat ironically, it recreates nature around those who are answering calls of nature. After months of public voting, the winner is the…

The Current State of Smart Locks

I’ve been following the smart lock market with great interest. There are some odd ideas, common mistakes, and a lot of hyperbole, but also intrepid engineering, smart marketing and a level playing field. For the first time in decades there is serious public interest in locks and it’s pinging the historian in me hard. I’m…

Impressive time-lapse of the snow wall that swallowed Buffalo, NY

Meteorologist said that they have never seen radar images like the ones from yesterday’s snow wall that swallowed Buffalo, NY. The snow lake effect was caused by low temperatures now affecting the big lakes, part of a record-breaking blanket of freezing temperatures that covered 85% of the continental US. Here is the radar time-lapse that…

6 Ways the World’s Mega-Cities Could Deal With Explosive Growth

People are moving into cities at an astounding rate—so fast, not even the cities themselves will be able to keep up. A new show at the Museum of Modern Art opens this week to examine how that explosive growth will affect six cities globally: Hong Kong, Istanbul, Lagos, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, and New York…

Dog breeds ranked: Who is the best, smartest doggie?

Designer David McCandless made this neat matrix mapping dog breeds according to factors like popularity, intelligence, longevity, or cost. Poor bulldog. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

How do you make Plush Pikachu cuter? Give him a plush Charizard Cape

I have confessed my love of plush Pikachu’s before, but this one is even more heart-cloggingly-cute than the last pudgy plush? Why, give Pikachu the most adorable cape. https://gizmodo.com/this-pudgy-pikachu-plush-is-practically-perfect-1640765638 The 2,000 Yen (roughly $17) plushie is being sold as part of the Tokyo Pokémon Centre’s (Of course they have one – this one is a…

Milk Video: Samsung’s Beautiful New Video Hub For Its Huge Phones

If you own a recent Samsung phone you’re about to get Milk Video, a new app that pulls in some of the best content from around the web into a beautiful, streamlined interface. It’s hardly the only video app out there, but it sure is pretty. In the vein of the Milk Music, the streaming…

The Luckiest Kid In the Galaxy Has an Amazing Towering Groot Swing

James Gunn, the director of this summer’s monstrous blockbuster hit Guardians of the Galaxy, posted this image of an amazing Groot-themed swingset to his Instagram (now MIA) and Tumblr accounts yesterday. Apparently the swing was created by some truly devoted fans as part of an upcoming reality show called Super Fans, Super Builds, which they’ll…

Dear ESA: Please Turn These Space Chips Into Wearables

Dear European Space Agency. While landing on a comet was a freaking awesome milestone in the history of space exploration, for Christmas can you pretty please make these awesome little space microchips real? What, exactly, are these cool looking thingies? The ESA explains: These are microsections taken from printed circuit boards (PCBs), being considered for…

A spectral sunset over a creepy war plane. Airmen from the 1st Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron work on an AC-130U Spooky Gunship at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California on November 3rd. [Senior Airman Christopher Callaway/U.S. Air Force]

Neil deGrasse explains the theoretical principles behind Interstellar

Neil deGrasse Tyson didn’t like many things in Interstellar, but he completely figured out the movie plot, its ending, and the physics that make it all possible. He explains the entire thing clearly in this video. [Spoilers ahead, obviously] SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

Graphene Foam Sure Looks Stunning Up-Close

This isn’t some tortured starfish or CGIed brain synapse. Nope: you’re looking at an extreme close-up of graphene foam, captured using an electron microscope. Graphene foam is made by casting a fine, metallic mesh which is then layered up with sheets of graphene. The metal is then dissolved away using chemical vapor, leaving behind a…

Inside the Weird Brains of Real-Time Translators

The world’s most powerful computers can’t perform accurate real-time translation. Yet interpreters do it with ease. Geoff Watts meets the neuroscientists who are starting to explain this remarkable ability. One morning this summer I paid a visit to the sole United Nations agency in London. The headquarters of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) sit on…

Mysterious huge flash illuminates Russian skies, puzzles scientists

This is really, really weird: Multiple sightings and dashcam videos of a gigantic yellow flash that covered the skies of the Sverdlovsk region, in Russia, have been reported on the night of November 14. Scientists and local authorities still don’t know what it is or where did it come from. Here’s another video of the…

Report: Uber Can Track Any Customer Using Its ‘God View’ Tool

Uber changed its privacy policy yesterday, but even that may not cover its back this time. Because its top New York executive, Josh Mohrer, has been using an internal tool called God View to track a journalist without her permission. Buzzfeed reports that one of its journalists, Johana Bhuiyan, used Uber to travel to a…

What Conan Thinks People Will Do With a Ten-Second Earthquake Warning

So, you’ve installed an app on your phone that gives you a full ten second warning before an earthquake hits. But what are you going to use those vital moments for? Conan thinks he knows. https://gizmodo.com/early-earthquake-warning-app-can-give-you-a-head-start-1656585210 Largely, panic, I guess? But stress can do funny things to people, too—especially if the end is nigh. Better…

Toronto—North America’s fourth-largest city—is asking courts to shut down Uber in the region.

Android Lollipop Trusted Places: Never Unlock Your Phone at Home Again

Google’s new version of Android, Lollipop, is wonderful. And now, one of our very few niggles—that its smart unlocking features didn’t also react to location—is fixed. https://gizmodo.com/i-cant-believe-how-great-android-lollipop-is-so-far-1654225045 You probably unlock your phone a lot, though you probably find there are places, like at home or maybe in your office if you trust your co-workers, where…