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Darth Vader’s caped getup and face mask is spooky and all, but there’s nothing like the grisly, mechanical sound of his breath. Which is why Lucasfilm keeps a close eye on who uses it—even going so far as to trademark 234 seconds of it with the US Patent and Trademark Office. According to the USPTO,…
GT Technologies, the company tapped to make the sapphire screens on the upcoming Apple Watch, has filed for bankruptcy. In addition to the Apple Watch screens, Apple uses GT’s sapphire for its camera covers and Touch ID sensors. GT does not plan to go out of business and plans to continue operating as normal, so…
If you’ve got your eye on any of those new GoPros, they’re now available for purchase. Prices start at just $130 for the GoPro Hero, and go all the way up to $500 for the Hero4 Black. In typical GoPro fashion, there are also a bunch of new accessories to sort through as well. [Amazon]…
Watching these tiny chemical reactions magnified is like getting into a fantastic world of colors, textures, and geometric shapes. It’s part of a series of stunning short videos that glamorize chemistry with the intention of making it more interesting to the public. Beautiful Science is a result of the collaboration between Tsinghua University Press and…
Those trike-style motorcycles like Bombardier’s Can-Am Spyder are more stable and easier to ride than their two-wheeled siblings, but they don’t suit every rider’s tastes. So Norm Kokes has developed a kit that can turn your favorite two-wheeled motorcycle into a trike making it safer to ride—even for a novice. With prices starting at $8,000…
Ah, Trek vs. Wars, the timeless debate that has seen Bat’leths lock with lightsabers, the USS Enterprise pitted against the Executor. But what happens when you take the climactic Trench Run sequence from Star Wars and pair it with the soundtrack from the climax of JJ. Abram’s first Star Trek movie? As you can see…
Without a floor or even its own support poles, can a tarp do as well as a tent in high winds, heavy snow and pouring rain? We think one can actually do better, at least if its this Hyperlite Mountain Gear UltaMid 2 we’re currently living out of it in Iceland. What It’s Supposed to…
Someone is selling what they claim is an iPhone 6 prototype on auction at Ebay; as of this posting, bids are currently over $86,000. The photos show the phone running a different version of the iOS software, one that looks similar to the factory test mode software shown in previous leaked images of prototypes. The…
Google’s slew of fall releases is coming any time now, including the final version of Android L, a new behemoth Nexus phone, and the Nexus 9, Google’s first tablet in years. Now, thanks to upleaks, we may have gotten a glimpse of the latter. We already know a lot about the Nexus 9, But until…
As anyone who’s ever driven by farm of wind turbines or a glittering solar plant knows, the infrastructure that powers our lives actually tends to be pretty stunning. But for a variety of reasons, it also tends to be pretty remote. If clean energy plants doubled as great public art, would be care about them…
Search for Adobe in the App Store and you will find a slew of snappy-sounding apps. It can seem a bit disjointed, so starting today, Adobe is updating and re-organizing its mobile app lineup under the monikers of the desktop Adobe fare you know and love. There are also a few new ones to try…
The month of ghouls and creeps is upon us, and that can only mean one thing – a month of amazing Halloween inspired creativity. Kicking the scary shindig off is makeup artist Eva Senín Pernas with these wonderful Halloween scenes painted onto lips. Header Image and all other Images credited to Eva Senín Pernas Pernas’…
So how do you convince a bunch of hackers to buy a tiny thumbnail-sized OLED display called the TinyScreen that’s designed to interface with the TinyDuino platform? You show them how to build what has to be the world’s tiniest game console, which is small enough to smuggle or be discreetly played anywhere. The TinyScreen…
German singer Anne-Maria Hefele has been training her voice since 2005 to become an polyphonic overtone singer. This means that she is capable of singing different scales of low notes (fundamentals) and high pitched notes (overtones) at the same time producing an otherworldly sound that gave me goosebumps. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome…
We know that the planet is getting warmer—but it turns out that it’s happening faster than we thought. Turns out scientists have been underestimating warming increases because of inaccurate temperature recordings taken in the southern oceans. New Scientist reports that a team from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California has compared direct measurements from…
Why do astronauts hop on the moon? After carefully watching hapless volunteers use a treadmill under variable gravity, researchers think it had more to do with the stiffness of spacesuits than anything else. Harrison Schmitt run-hopping on the moon during Apollo 17. Image credit: NASA The experiments took place during flights in an unusual trajectory.…
With the vanishing horizon between sea and the sky, this amazing photograph of the guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun (DDG 103) in the Arabian Gulf looks like a tranquil scene from a grandiose space movie. Truxtun is deployed as part of the George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group supporting maritime security and strike operations in Iraq…
HP has officially announced that it’s splitting itself into two companies—one producing the consumer hardware and “new computing experiences,” the other pushing out corporate technology. Following rumors yesterday, the company has announced that the new consumer wing, HP Inc., will include a new business devoted to 3D printing, as well as teams working on those…
The people at AMC just released the official Better Call Saul song—performed by country musician Junior Brown and written by the creators of the show Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. It contains hints about the plot. Listen carefully and watch for actual clips from the new show. The video has been blocked outside the US.…
What happens when you give Steve Benford, the Professor of Collaborative Computing in at the University of Nottingham, a guitar and some time? He creates an instument that blogs is what. Inspired by a banjo with a rich history, Benford decided to bring the Internet of Things to a guitar. In doing so, he created…
