Tech News

NASA: The Sun looks like a Jack O’Lantern just in time for Halloween

Here’s a photo of the Sun looking like a Jack O’Lanterntaken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on October 8, 2014, a blend of two light wavelengths (171 and 193 angstrom.) SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

Hang These Polyhedrons Wherever You Need Some Colorful Geometry

Like all good things, the pretty Themis Mobile also requires a little work. This floating DIY sculpture by Swedish designer Clara von Zweigbergk will bring a bright burst of color to a sunny room—after you’ve taken a refresher in high school geometry class. What I love about this mobile is that it requires a bit…

The tweens of the world are in mourning yet again—Instagram is down. We’ve reached out to Instagram for comment and will update as soon as we know more about what’s going on. For now, at least, we can all take solace in the fact that—even if for just a few minutes—we get to live in…

I Took a Bath in a Giant Tub of Beer (For My Health)

The Czech Republic is a nation renowned for its beer. The home of Pilsner, with first class breweries everywhere you turn, you’re as likely to find a great place to stop off for a pint on its street corners as you are to see a Starbucks or McDonalds in the U.S.. However, for my recent…

This Hodor figurine unfortunately does not come with Hodor sound effects

Gods be good, this figure would be a million times better if it just came with a button in the base that you could press to get it to loudly exclaim ‘HODOR!’. Announced at NYCC, Dark Horses latest figurine/statue in its Game of Thrones line – which will also feature thisdelightful Joffrey toy– is a…

This short film would be fun if it weren’t so close to real life

The creators of this Shelved—director James Cunningham and eleven visual effects students at the Media Design School in Auckland, New Zealand—say their short film a homage to movies like Clerks, Mallrats, Slacker, and Dazed and Confused. After watching these two robotic losers in action, I can see why. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome…

Questions for the 90s: Should Robots Pay Taxes? Can Africa Be Saved?

The March-April 1986 issue of The Futurist magazine looked at the far off, futuristic decade of the 1990s. In an article titled “Issues for the 1990s,” Edith Weiner and Arnold Brown examined what they saw as the emerging concerns of the world. Well, the world as seen from 1980s America. Rising health care costs? Potential…

Lego Steampunk Millennium Falcon won’t make the Kessel Run anytime soon

The website FBTB (From Bricks to Bothans) runs a few build contests throughout the year, but one of the most popular has been Steam Wars Returns. The rules were to take a vehicle from Star Wars and build it the steampunk style. This is the winning entry, from builder Marcus1984. The Chewbacca, R2D2 and C3PO…

This Shot-for-Shot Empire Strikes Back Remake Was Made By 480 Fans

Star Wars fans are a wildly devoted bunch, and 480 of them just had their goddamn dreams come true. The Empire Strikes Back: Uncut is a shot-for-shot remake of Episode V, composed entirely of 15-second clips filmed and submitted by (very) creative enthusiasts. This is… a lot of fun! Each of the scenes are so,…

11 Ludicrous Gifts from Neiman’s Holiday Catalog

You know Christmas is a-comin’ because there’s a slight nip in the air and the disgustingly over-the-top Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog is out. As usual, it’s full of expensive crap most of us do not need (or even want!) like Snowflake cufflinks, mink backpacks, and golden Beats by Dre headphones. Behold! Luxury: A five-foot-tall Tanqueray…

Google Docs’ Autocomplete Knows Where You’d Rather Be

As far as cloud-based text editors are concerned, Google Docs is just about as convenient as they come. Still, old habits die hard—Google Docs knows this. And it’s here to smack the Office right out of you. Power-what-now? Surely you just had a minor stroke and missed a few keys. And, speaking of keys: Not…

This Life-Like New Prosthetic Hand Lets Amputees Feel Texture

Using Star Wars as a way to track progress in the prosthetics is almost a cliché, but boy are we getting close. A new mind-controlled prosthetic hand from researchers at Case Western Reserve University is so advanced that amputees can feel detailed textures and handle delicate objects. And yes, it sort of looks like Luke…

Yes! A Lego Batman movie is coming in 2017

A plastic Dark Knight was arguably the best character in The Lego Movie and it would seem that fans everywhere agreed. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the first spinoff of the film will be a Lego Batman feature that could be in theaters in a little over two years. A Lego Movie sequel was recently…

San Francisco Is Harnessing Public Pressure to Increase Seismic Safety

The most important thing a city can do to reduce its earthquake risk is to ensure its buildings meet a strong seismic code. San Francisco is rolling out new safety laws about soft story collapse, but not everyone is complying. In response, they’re harnessing public pressure to help with enforcement. A sheared soft story of…

Spectacular Swedish Marines ad mocks US military recruitment ads

You have to give it to those Swedes: Behind those chiseled marble faces with platinum blonde hair and cold steel blue eyes there’s a great, almost British sense of humor that takes the piss out of everything. This Swedish marines commercial mocking Hollywood-style US military recruitment adsis a good example. SPLOID is a new blog…

What Do You Do on Your Phone When You’re in the Bathroom?

Look, we all do it. Ever since smartphones made the rack of toilet water-sprayed magazines obsolete, our alone time in the bathroom has gotten a lot more interesting. How do you fill the one-to-three minute void when you’re, um, voiding yourself? It might be the perfect amount of time for playing a round of Two…

Apple Sapphire Supplier To Close Two Plants, Lay Off Hundreds of Workers

Apple better have a backup plan for the sapphire screens on its upcoming Apple Watch. The situation with its sapphire partner GT Technology does not look good. The company filed for bankruptcy earlier this week, and now announced plans to close two of its sapphire plants in Arizona and Massachusetts. 890 people will lose their…

The Tempescope Puts the Weather in a Box on Your Desk

Sure, you could just download a weather app to see what conditions are like outside your front door, but where’s the fun in that? Ken Kawamoto’s Tempescope actually creates rain, clouds, and simulated lightning right inside your house. It’s the ultimate push notification. Basically, it’s just an acrylic box with a water pump, mist diffuser,…

How Fighter Jets Lock On (and How the Targets Know)

The primary technology that a military aircraft uses to lock and track an enemy aircraft is its onboard radar. Aircraft radars typically have two modes: search and track. In search mode, the radar sweeps a radio beam across the sky in a zig-zag pattern. When the radio beam is reflected by a target aircraft, an…

The Fastest Router You Can Buy, Chargers for Anything, and More Deals

Netgear’s new Nighthawk router is kind of insane looking, and offers throughput of up to 3.2Gbps, which to my knowledge is the fastest speed available in any consumer router at the moment. And of course, it comes with tri-band Wi-Fi, six antennas, USB 3.0, beam forming, and just about any other feature you could want…