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The only movie that anyone’s been able to talk about this week is Interstellar, which by all accounts is incredible. But if, like me, you haven’t made it all the way to a movie theatre to catch it, you can at least see the lead actor in one of his earlier sci-fi attempts. Contact is…
When musical duo YACHT released “Terminal Beach,” this week, Claire Evans (aka @TheUniverse) tweeted that the song is based on one very bizarre image of an ancient computer, ravaged by time and tree roots. The image, it turns out, is from an obscure 1980s book called Zen and the Art of the MacIntosh. Created in…
If you’re sitting down at the drawing board to design a robotic security guard, and you don’t want people to run the other way screaming ‘oh hell no’ at first sight, here’s a little tip: don’t make it look like the evil killer robot from a science fiction show. The K5 is a robotic security…
Kim Dotcom is probably the most wanted man in the movie theaters’ fight against piracy. He’s under investigation by the FBI, and they’re trying to extradite him from sunny, safe New Zealand to the States. But those pale in comparison to his latest problem: his account on Mega, the cloud storage site he founded last…
French sculptor Alain Bellino has quite an impressive portfolio of metal sculptures with some sci-fi references, but this Darth Vader helmet made from old brass ornaments is pretty incredible. He takes rusted old pieces of metal, cuts them up in a way that suddenly makes sense, and then solders and chemically repaints the result until…
Visualizers were the sort of thing that I kind of assumed had died with Windows Media Player and Winamp. But Google says no. Google says you must have motion with your music. If you needed another reason to use Google’s online music service (apart from it still having the Taylor Swift back collection, duh), its…
We’ve been promised airless, puncture-proof tires for–bloody-ever by this point. But pump-haters, your time is arriving: starting next week, a factory in Piedmont, SC is going to start pumping them out. Named the Tweel, Michelin’s invention in an all-in-one wheel and tire: deforming resin spokes provide the give that air would’ve previously, and an outer…
A recent Reuters report makes a fairly sound case for the demise of Google Glass, which is obviously giving headline writers across the internet the opportunity to label it as This Generation’s Segway. But that’s far too important a title to give away without a long discussion and the posting of many, many GIFs of…
While all the major online companies you’d expect to be in favour of net neutrality have indeed been fighting the good fight since the beginning, America’s other big companies have (mostly) been sitting on the sidelines trying not to piss anyone off. However, behind the scenes, it turns out that a surprising group of corporate…
That Senshi came from the Moon! Sailor Moon Crystal returns for a trip into space – and man, if you thought last time was an infodump, you’re in for a treat… Act 10 picks up where we left off – with Luna’s intent for the Senshi to go to the Moon and receive yet another…
I still get the chills when I re-read Brian Shul’s account of his Blackbird flight against enemy SAM batteries over Libya. Imagine yourself inside that tight SR-71 cockpit with all the alarms sounding. This cool 360-degree virtual reality view will help. Expand and pinch to zoom the images (only works on desktop browsers.) Right-click to…
This is the heart wrenching story of Marine Lance Cpl. Travis Williams. He lost all his squad mates—11 of them—when their vehicle exploded on their way to a rescue mission in Barwanah, Iraq. And all because, at the last minute, someone tapped on his shoulder. He was lucky. Perhaps, he thinks, too damn lucky. SPLOID…
There’s something about this magnificent photo of the Eiffel Tower taken by Sylke Scholz that makes it look completely different from what I remember—most probably the choice of lenses. Sylke Scholz is a photographer based in Dresden, Germany. You can follow her on Flickr. This is part of a series in which we are featuring…
The six new Lego Minecraft sets are now available for purchase on Lego online. Currently they have the limit set at 5 sets per set if you are planning on grabbing a bunch of them. Hurry though, I’m guessing they won’t last long. The Mine (21118) – $109.99 (pictured above) The Cave (21113) – $19.99…
Amazing video of a large cargo ship passing through a small storm and the effect it has on its steel megastructure, which bends and moves as if it were made with Play-Doh. I love the sea but looking at what it is capable of and how small we are compared to it, I get terrified.…
As if wingsuits and BASE jumping weren’t dangerous enough, skydivers Espen Fadnes and Bjørn Magne Bryn decided that it would be cool to dock midair, one acting like a magic carpet and the other surfing standing on top. Well, Espen and Bjørn: You’re totally right. That was cool—and fucking crazy too. In August 2014, Team…
I’ve seen lots of photos of airborne refueling, but always from the side of the boom operator. I’ve never seen the fuel nozzle like this. It looks so weird and cool! I like how the nozzle comes out of the flying boom, like the mini-mouth coming out of the alien’s mouth. This is how it…
Los Angeles Plays Itself is one of the most fascinating documentaries about LA and film-making, and starting today, it’s available to stream on Netflix. Thom Andersen’s beloved documentary is a thorough media study, a meditation, a and an encyclopedic clip show highlighting L.A.’s most memorable roles, from Chinatown to L.A. Confidential to Who Framed Roger…
Google Glass was supposed to be the eyewear of the future, but that future sounds pretty grim—at least if you read Reuters’ latest report on the cyborg-like eyewear. While Reuters doesn’t seem to have any evidence that the Glass project has been shelved—a notion which Google denies, naturally—Reuters does paint a surpisingly compelling picture of…
Fugazi is my favorite band, so it’s deeply saddening to me that the DC post-hardcore legends have been on hiatus for nearly a decade. They’ll probably never make music again. But in the absence of new tunes to sink my teeth into, I’ll settle for their demo, which was recorded 26 years ago. Next week,…
