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Bike riders often aren’t the most loved road users, a status some cyclists love to perpetuate by attaching a small theatrical production’s worth of illumination to their handlebars, in a (partially justified) quest to get seen at night. Sure, more lumens means you’ve got a higher chance of being seen — but it also means…
Despite the number of free, awesome note-taking apps any smartphone-owning person can lay their hands on, Post-Its are still probably the most popular way to jot down a quick reminder. In an effort to make their flagship product more digital and down with the productivity-focused kids, 3M has released an app to help digitise your…
We’re almost so used to the idea of weapons-toting drones, that finding a drone with a pair of actual arms is a little unusual. This quadcopter with a pair of arms is the brainchild of university professors, who clearly didn’t think about the consequences of giving flying robots the ability to pick things up and…
The King Fire in California has been burning for just twelve days now, but that’s been long enough for the fire to eat up hundreds of thousands of acres, and destroy a number of properties. This NASA photo of the area puts all that into perspective. The infrared photo (artificially colored by NASA) was taken…
Earlier this month, Samsung unleashed another one of its zany special projects on us: the Galaxy Note Edge, an otherwise-normal smartphone with an edge-curved screen. Well, to the disappointment of everyone who’s bored with a flat screen, Samsung have confirmed that the Edge won’t be mass-produced, and may not be coming to the US. According…
Kazakhstan looks nothing like what Borat showed me! All jokes aside, the nature in the country looks amazing. Wanho Lim put together some timelapse footage for the Kazakhstan National Museum of his month in the country and came away with some stunning shots. That thunderstorm, especially. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join…
I don’t know why I’m so mesmerized. Maybe because the ant looks positively alien from up close. Or maybe because I wish I could suck out and deflate the water I drink like a balloon letting out air instead of having to pour it in me like fuel. Whatever it is, it sure makes for…
The second wave of iPhone sales is getting underway in 20 more countries, with New Zealand leading the pack, with other countries like Russia, Switzerland and Austria to follow when the sun rises. New Zealand’s taken a sensible approach to waiting in line, with NZ carrier Spark letting people reserve their spot in line with…
The Piano Guys made this epic video that traces the 50 year history of music in Batman using a piano and a cello. Oh and of course three different Batmobiles. What’s awesome is how much each era they go through musically looks like the Batman movie of its time. The shot at the end with…
I can watch Oguz Uygur marbling paper forever. This must be the least stressful work in the world. So satisfying and relaxing. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook
Tim Urban of Wait But Why traveled to Russia, Japan, Nigeria, Iraq and Greenland and asked dozens of people if they had three wishes what they would wish for. A lot of the wishes are obvious: money, happiness, a house, love and peace come up often. But others just want something simple, like a biscuit.…
Piling on to the good news from Mars this week, NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft sent home its first ultraviolet images from Mars. While they may not be flashy, these images will help determine the composition and variability of the upper atmosphere, and investigate the mystery of when the water escaped. https://gizmodo.com/maven-nails-it-swinging-into-mars-orbit-with-style-1637546915 Top image: Ultraviolet composite image…
It’s easy to take translations for granted when Google can swap between Albanian and Zulu with the click of a button, but even that tech has real world limitations. Marie Wilcox is the last fluent speaker of Wukchumni, one of 130 different endangered Native American languages in the United States that don’t have any kind…
If you downloaded Apple’s cellular-killing 8.0.1 update, and haven’t reverted back to the original iOS 8, good news: the update is here. Apart from fixing the ever-so-slightly annoying bug that killed cell service and TouchID on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the changelog for 8.0.2 is the same for 8.0.1: basically, HealthKit now works, plus…
It’s Throwback Thursday and you all know what that means! That’s right, it’s time to sit down, kick your feet up, and put on Raekwon’s newest reimagining of classic hip-hop and pop hits. This week, the Wu Tang member and Mafioso rap pioneer takes on Sunshine Anderson’s 2001 song, “Heard It All Before.” You can…
Apple is in full damage-control mode in the wake of the mini-maybe-not-quite-scandal that ripped through the tech universe after a handful of users complained that their iPhones are prone to bending under duress. As part of its response, Apple has opened up the lab where it conducts durability tests to media outlets like CNBC and…
If you enjoy a good laugh or watch The Walking Dead or ever wondered what zombies are saying through all that clawing and moaning, the Bad Lip Reading guys have got you covered in their latest take on The Walking Dead. It’s pretty damn funny. Instead of worrying about zombies, they’re disinviting people from a…
Today in cops getting angry about the new encryption on smartphones features FBI Director James Comey who is “very concerned” about the matter. He’s so concerned that the FBI’s had conversations with Apple and Google about how they’re marketing the devices. And Comey wants America to know that he’s upset. “I am a huge believer…
It seems like every week there’s a new argument to remove the penny from circulation. But did you know that the U.S. once had a half-cent? When the U.S. stopped making them in 1857, they had the buying power of over a dime by today’s standards. Which makes the most excellent case to scrap the…
When you wrap a gift in fancy paper, the last thing you want is ugly pieces of tape stuck all over it. That’s why 3M created its Scotch-brand tape that’s nearly invisible, and a selling point that Hamburg-based ad agency Kolle Rebbe perfectly drove home with this clever packaging for the product that looks like…
