Tech News

The Dark, Glamorous World of One of NYC’s Real-Life Mad Men

New York in the years after World War II was a city more prosperous and more modern than anything the world had seen—and it spawned a whole culture unto itself, distributed in newspapers, magazines, and advertisements. This was the era of Madison Avenue Men, and Mac Conner was their illustrator. Conner is the subject of…

Moto 360 Teardown: Battery Not As Advertised

More than any other gadget (yes, even smartphones), battery life for smartwatches are a huge selling point. Instead of being just another gadget tethered to another cord or charging dock, a longer battery life means more convenience for a wearable that for the past century never really required charging. Motorola advertised the new Moto 360,…

Behold, the first figure of Peter Capaldi in his 12th Doctor outfit

It’s taken a while to get here, but patient fans of Doctor Who have finally been rewarded with a brand spanking new figure of Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor, this time in his own clothes. And he looks significantly less horrifying than the first one! You can get a good look at the figure in this…

iWatch Rumor Roundup: Everything We Think We Know (Updated)

If it feels like the promise of an Apple smartwatch has been looming forever, that’s because it has. And its shadow helped birth the army of other smartwatches that we have today. But now, finally, the near mythical iWatch is rumored to arrive very soon. We’ll be covering today’s announcement live right here, but in…

Atmospheric CO2 Increases Have Hit a 30-Year High

Don’t panic (you should panic) but the rate at which the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are rising justhit a 30-year high—and if rates don’t slow, then we’ll soon breach the levels that experts claim are safe. The levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide rose faster between 2012-2013 than they have done since 1984. If…

iPhone 6 Rumor Roundup: Everything We Think We Know (Updated)

It’s iPhone time of the year again! Apple will reportedly show off the eighth generation of its flagship device today. If you believe the rumors, iPhone 6 will be one of the most dramatic updates to the iPhone line in quite some time. Will it be bigger? Will it be faster? Will it be tougher?…

Here’s How Nest Will Work Together With Your Dropcam Now

When Nest acquired Dropcam for $555 million earlier this summer, it seemed like an obvious move: Nest has sensors out the wazoo, but no camera. We hadn’t heard much about integration between the two companies, though, until today, when Nest announced exactly how the devices will work together. At a home automation tradeshow today, Nest…

You don’t need to be a Nerf nerd to enjoy this epic Nerf battle

When you have a childish mind, amazing After Effects skills, and too much spare time, you end up making videos like this one: An insane nerf battlewith realistic special effects, actors overacting, and ketchup. Gallons of ketchup. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

“High-Energy Objects” Colliding with Flight MH17 Caused It to Explode

A preliminary report by the Dutch Safety Board into what caused the devastating crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 has confirmed what many already feared. The report explains that the plane was downed by “a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside”, causing it to explode in mid-air. All 298 passengers…

An incredible photo from the time when Nazis walked freely on US soil

This is the LZ 129 Hindenburg being moved into a hangar in Lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 9, 1936. A year later—on May 6, 1937—it would be destroyed by fire in one of the most famous air accidents in history. It just seems fascinating to me that Nazis could freely prance around the world like…

The Size of Dinosaurs Compared to Airplanes, Visualized

Just last week, a newly discovered dinosaur named Dreadnoughtus schrani laid claim to the title of world’s largest terrestrial animal. But how big is that, exactly? Thanks to the BBC, you don’t have to puzzle over it. This handy visualization plots both size and weight of a selection of dinosaurs, all compared to a Boeing…

Amazon Prime Instant Video is finally available forAndroid, baked into its core shopping app.

This is why King Arthur was able to pull the sword out of the stone

French animation school Gobelins is one the most prestigious on the planet. This year’s graduate films are brilliant, as usual. This is my favorite: A hilarious story based on King Arthur’s renowned legend of the sword in the stone but with a romantic twist. Check out some other great work from the students at Gobelins…

Going to spend the rest of the day watching this mesmerizing GIF, thanks

Take me to the stake, but I’m not a fan of the Bugatti Veyron. I just think the design is a bad pastiche of old and new. But I’m a fan of watching things being carefully made and a fan of strange industrial machinery like the trolley above, used to join the different parts of…

Supposed iPhone 6 Benchmarked: 1 GB RAM, Dual-Core 1.4GHz A8?

The same guys that posted a seemingly legitimate video of the next iPhone have just published the results of a series of benchmarking tests they’ve performed on the device. If they’re accurate, they suggest that the phone could be in for a modest spec bump—but a noticeable jump in performance. The tests, published on Weibo,…

This Is a Swirling Thermal Tornado Rising From Iceland’s Volcano

It may look cold in blue, but you’re looking at a swirling 1-kilometre-high tornado of hot gas, imaged using an infrared camera, as it rose from a fissure on Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano. While the images were captured to help understand how heat and ash were rising from the volcano, it’s less clear exactly how the…

I thought this was a photoshop but it’s the weirdest ship I’ve ever seen

When I first saw this image I thought that some industrious Photoshop user had put together an oil tanker and a power station for the fun of it. Then I discovered she is a real thing: A full thermal power plant on top of a hull. One of these ships is now on its way…

Amazon Owns Amazonsucks.com (and Plenty Worse Than That)

If you’re a huge commercial organization, it pays to not have too many random people on the Internet making cheap jokes at your expense. Which is, presumably, why Amazon owns a slew of silly and offensive domains that include its name. As well as Amazonsucks.com, you can include Screwamazon.com, Amazonstinks.comand—my personal favorite—Fuckamazon.com. You have Alex…

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reportsthat the Mayo Clinic will play “a big role” at today’s Apple event. That suggests HealthKit for iOS could get pretty serious indeed.

Verizon Is Trying to Make Any Car a Zipcar

Zipcar, the affordable, rent-by-the-hour car sharing service of choice in urban areas, is about to get some competition from… Verizon, of all companies. The wireless service provider announced its “Auto Share” service, which enables any car to become a Zipcar. Here’s how it works, according to a VentureBeat report: Auto Share, which is being shown…