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Here at last! The Moto X was one of our favorite phones from last year, and now the sequel is here. It’s called… the Moto X. Guess the X+1 thing was just a codename. Labels aside, we’ve spent a good half day with the new Moto X, and so far it lives up to the…
When Motorola first teased the Moto 360 back in June, it made us swoon. It was so damn pretty, even stalwart smartwatch refuseniks couldn’t help but want one. That was just a demo mode, though. Today, I’ve finally set one up and spent some real time with it. Good news: We’re still just as excited…
Guess what Motorola’s top-selling phone of all time is? Nope, it’s not the Razr, it’s last year’s Moto G. For 180 bucks off-contract and unlocked, it was a hell of a lot of phone. Well, the 2014 model is here, and it’s bigger and better, and it costs just the same. The new Moto G…
Facebook has backtracked on the only feature that differentiated its Slingshot app from competitors like Snapchat. When you receive a photo or a video now, you’re not required to send something back to “unlock” it. Senders can now choose whether they want you to send them a shot in return to unlock their content. [GigaOm]
Apple CEO Tim Cook has spoken out for the first time since hackers leaked hundreds of nude celebrity photos off iCloud last week. The good news: there are very real security improvements coming to iCloud in as little as two weeks. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Cook acknowledges that the iCloud accounts…
You put a group of people together and give them a common goal and magic can happen. Even if that magic, in this case, is just building a barn. It’s hypnotic to see the organization in this, like seeing a bunch of worker ants swarm together with one mind. Penny Miller, the person who filmed…
The worlds that Wes Anderson creates in his movies are so beautiful that even something as mundane as driving from one point to the next seems like a fun-filled adventure. Here are his POV scenes of vehicles from movies like the Life Aquatic and The Grand Budapest Hotel. The scenes were stitched together by Jaume…
Slow down these skateboard tricks all you want and it’s still damn impressive how skateboarders can make a board twist and bend exactly how they want it. It’s like there are invisible strings attached to the board or a hole to exploit in gravity. But it’s just a beautiful ballet of footwork. SPLOID is a…
Speculation for months about where Tesla would make the batteries to power its Model 3 EV electric vehicles has finally ended, with confirmation today that Elon Musk has decided where to erect his Gigafactory. The big winner? Nevada. Although Nevada has been rumored to be the destination, Tesla held a press conference today announcing the…
Oh no, not Joan. The legend died today at 81 after complications from vocal chord surgery, a fantastically unfair finale for one of the world’s most irrepressible personalities. Tonight, honor her legacy and be awed by her trailblazing five-decade career with her 2010 documentary, A Piece of Work. Filmmakers followed Rivers around for a year…
NASA has a lot of satellites, and these satellites have collected months, if not years, of data that can take pretty much forever to sift through. But one clever idea is to turn the measurements of space into sound and speed it up; a month of data might be scanned audibly in all of 10…
Every day is Beyoncé day, really. The goofballs who still question if women can have it all tend to ignore the fact that Beyoncé exists. But only one day a year is Beyoncé’s actual birthday, and that day is today. Or at least we think it is. She might also be an alien from planet…
I wish these crazy blue laser lava spewing fish were a newly discovered species or some radioactive experiment gone wrong but they’re not. Luckily, reality is just as cool. Well, almost. The blinding light is actually a tiny crustacean called an ostracod’s defense mechanism against the translucent cardinalfish. Basically, the tiny little 1mm in size…
Walt Disney, for all his vision, was not an artist at heart; he was smart enough to surround himself with talented people. The look that we associate with Disney art came largely from one woman he hired: Mary Blair, the designer and illustrator behind animated films like Alice in Wonderland and the ride it’s a…
When glass cracks, the result usually 1) very bad and 2) haphazardly damaged across the surface. But scientist in Paris are studying thin films that crack in predictable patterns, at once beautiful and weird, that could be repurposed to make microscopic devices. The study recently published inPhysical Review Letters looks at delicate silicate films, which…
It’s 2014, one year shy of the time of when Back to the Future II was set. And you know what? Our world is pretty fucking futuristic. You don’t need to look further than your desk to realize how transformative technology can be. Take a look back at a desk from 1980. Some nostalgic folks…
World of Warcraft is a lot of things to a lot of people – engrossing RPG, all-encompassing addiction, Space-Goat Music Video Simulator – but according to a new study by Swedish academics, it’s also become a vital tool in dynamically teaching young children new languages. The proliferation of the English Language through pop culture has…
We live in an auditory landscape populated by dings, blips, and jangling—constant reminders of the probably-dire messages you’re missing on your phone or computer. If you’re like me, your stomach drops a little bit each time you hear those familiar bleeps. Which is why Blink1, a notification device that gives you a visual cue instead,…
Facebook’s privacy settings are notorious for being convoluted and downright confusing—even Zuck’s own kin have had issues. Which is why Facebook has officially rolled out a “privacy checkup” to help you make sure you’re sharing exactly what you want. But since the checkup only goes so deep, here’s how to make sure your Facebook privacy…
Twenty styles of children’s sunglasses—215,000 pairs, in all—have been recalled for having “excessive” amounts of lead in them, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Many Disney and Marvel-branded sunglasses are included in the recall. So if you bought lil’ Johnny some Spiderman sunnies this summer, you may want to check out the recall…
