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Update 9/2015: Due to pressure from the anti-science blogger known as the Food Babe (whom we hold in extremely high regard around these parts), Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes™ now have pumpkin in them. But we maintain that they are still an affront to humanity. Starbucks is rolling out pumpkin spice lattes, starting with an early…
If you’re what many would consider a coffee “snob,” you might prefer to brew your elixir using the manual pour-over method for ultimate control. This Norwegian machine provides the convenience of automation with the quality of a pour-over in one pretty striking package. There are only a few consumer coffee machines that can adequately duplicate…
There are an infinite number of ways to do a marriage proposal. Regardless of what comes before, many of them climax in the big reveal of a fancy ring in a bulbous velvet box that, while traditionally classy, isn’t exactly discrete. Packaging designer Andrew Zo streamlined that somewhat clunky exterior into Clifton, a clever, leather-bound…
Donning a full suit of motorcycle leathers for your morning bike ride to work is probably overkill, but cyclists can still be subjected to road rash should they fall while wearing less-than-protective gear. So athletic gear manufacturer Scott is developing shorts and jerseys strategically reinforced in key areas using both carbon fiber and ceramics, so…
It’s not just you. Instagram is down, with users reporting 503 errors. Don’t worry, they’re on it, but they better hurry, or I’ll have to show these photos of my lunch to the mailman. Update: It’s back. Whew.
In parts of Europe, where cheese is taken seriously as a source of national pride, entire labs are devoted to spotting knockoff Emmental and Gruyere. Switzerland has what may be the most impressive strategy yet: secret cocktails of bacteria, sent only to licensed cheesemakers, that work as living biological tracers. Cheese is, after all, the…
A concentrated mass of geekery is descending on Atlanta for the long weekend, and I’m showing up to do my part. From deliciously doom-filled panels to partaking in PowerPoint Karaoke, here’s where I’ll be for Dragon Con. This year is going to be a delightful mess of science, speculation and Stargate! I’ll be doing at…
When LCD Soundsystem split up, it left frontman James Murphy with a lot of time and creative energy on his hands. So he’s been experimenting with a number of weird and esoteric projects, the latest of which is turning tennis data from the U.S. Open into music. https://gizmodo.com/lcd-soundsystems-frontman-wants-to-make-nyc-subways-mu-1529688444 Murphy has teamed up with IBM to…
Sploid reader Marius Vibe merged eight of the most beautiful women in the world into a single person. The final result is intriguing, but the best part is the process itself—and the intermediate morphs. Who is more beautiful—the originals, the intermediate mixes, or the merging of them all? Marius sent us his experiment after seeing…
You can actually change how any piece of furniture looks just by flipping it over or tossing it onto its side. But the Dice, created by the talented designers at Torafu Architects, also changes functionality depending on how you orient it. It’s a clever and unique approach to furniture design that can expand a piece’s…
Now that we have confirmation of Apple’s next iPhone event being just around the corner, it’s only a matter of days before we (very, very likely) see a bigger iPhone screen finally rounding out the bunch. Which got us thinking—what’s your ideal smartphone screen size? The iPhone 6 will most likely come in at a…
It should be a truth universally acknowledged that any man or woman using Oculus Rift will look like a dumbass. As awesome as it is to experience Oculus Rift, to everyone else, you are a crazy person with a black box strapped onto your face groping at thin air. And then I, of course, had…
We live and die by the cord; the energy tethers are everywhere—powering our portable gadgets and stay-at-home decor—and they’re pretty much always a tangled, unsightly mess. We need them, but they’re ugly… Unless! Unless you could disguise the longuns in an artful sprawl of faux-ivy, like you lived in some kind of fantasy world where…
The shaking of minor earthquakes can feel like a garbage truck driving by. T-Rex is no plain old garbage truck though. The 64,000-pound “mobile hydraulic shaker” is designed specifically to make the ground rattle and jolt—all so scientists can study how the ground reacts to earthquakes. T-Rex is in the spotlight again thanks to the…
Cool US Navy photo of an amphibious assault vehicle being launched from the the USS Bataan. If the Battlestar Galactica were an earthbound aircraft carrier, this photo would be equivalent of a Raptor launching from one of its belly. Picture by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class RJ Stratchko. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome…
If you ever take your lunch to work, Rubbermaid’s interlocking Lunch Blox system is a great space saver. Several Lunch Blox kits are on sale from Amazon, today only, along with a couple of carrying bags, and even a few shaker bottles. [Up to 40% off Rubbermaid Products] Get these deals and more, and earlier…
Good news, cloud storage fans! Dropbox has slashed its storage prices, simplified its plans, and rolled in a glut of new tools for paying customers, some of which were previously only available to Business accounts. Here’s a brief tour of some of the new features you’ll get if you decide to pony up $10 per…
It’s been 30 years since the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man first squished through Manhattan. With Ghostbusters returning to theaters tomorrow for an anniversary run, we thought it appropriate to consider a very serious question: How would New York City actually fight an evil god in the form of a marshmallow man? Stickiness and spoilers ensue.…
Once you remove the placemats and centerpieces, your dining room table becomes the perfect stand-in for a ping-pong table. The only thing missing is a net, and that soon could also be just a quick transformation away if this convertible CorkNet pot holder is successful on Kickstarter. When you’re prepping dinner, the two triangular cork…
Apple has just sent out its invitations to an event on September 9th. You can expect at least one iPhone, and possibly an iWatch as well. And hey… we’ll be there! As always happens in the last week or so before a new iPhone announcement, rumors abound! What seems beyond a doubt is that we’ll…
