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While European settlers certainly did bring their fair share of modern evils to the New World—and despite what you’ve probably heard—alcohol wasn’t one of them. In fact, people have been brewing beer since as far back as 12,000 BC during the Late Epipaleolithic era. After all, all it takes are some stone tools, a local…
The Boeing 747 is an iconic aircraft that singlehandedly pushed the airline industry into the jumbo jet age. Sitting derelict at the Museum of Flight for 14 years, the very first of its kind is currently undergoing a rigorous restoration process to restore its former glory. As Seattle PI reports, the original 747-100 took its…
There’s a lot to like about designer Antonio Serrano’s Lil Torch flashlight concept that extends and retracts like an old pirate spyglass providing a focused beam when needed, or a wide flood of illumination when collapsed. Powered by a rechargeable battery that keeps a set of LEDs glowing in its diffused dome, the flashlight is…
If you mute the obnoxious soundtrack, this video of some guys doing some trick baseball shots in the desert is pretty cool. The one of the baseball going through the car in motion is the best. This is how it was filmed: SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook
Researchers want to use microscopic nanobots for drug delivery and other tasks inside the human body, but there are still places the micro machines can’t get. Now, scientists have made the smallest bot yet, a magnet-guided corkscrew so tiny, it can sneak through the pores in human connective tissue. A research team led by Dr.…
Parking garages may be a necessity for any dense urban center, but that doesn’t mean they have to be a necessary eyesore. And if Danish firm JAJA Architects has its way, they could even be serving a dual-purpose soon—by doubling as our leafy, local playgrounds. In preparation for the 100,000 new residents it’s expecting by…
Having your precious smartphone swiped is one thing, but giving the thief free access to your apps and data can potentially be even worse. There’s a lot you can do before you lose the phone in the first place, though, that will make it much harder for thecriminals to do anything other than wipe it…
When you live by yourself, a sofa and TV are pretty much all you need in your living room. Unless you intend to shun a hermit-like lifestyle and actually invite people over to visit. In that case you’ll need additional seating, and the Sofista fills both roles by transforming from a couch into a three-seat…
This is the story of two people that are so different that they are meant to be together. He is the unluckiest guy on earth, everything he tries ends up badly. And she is the exact opposite. As I said, the perfect couple—for a romantic story. A pitch-perfect animation short by Mike Bidinger and Michelle…
The new Oculus Rift, codenamed Crystal Cove, may only be for developers—but it is oh-my-god good. Now, iFixit had ripped it apart so we can see what powers it. https://gizmodo.com/i-wore-the-new-oculus-rift-and-i-never-want-to-look-at-1496569598 We already knew that the second Developer Kit from Oculus Rift packed a new 1080p display and a bunch of sensors for its new positional…
Since it seems like every company and its mother-company has a fitness tracker these days, it’s refreshing when we see one that actually brings something unique to the table. Runtastic (the company behind my current favorite running app) has a new tracker called the Orbit. It’s different! Like some other trackers, the Orbit is basically…
The Amazon Appstore already gives away one free app each day, but today it’s decided give away 30 apps, worth a combined total of $100, for free to anyone with an Android phone. Here are the pick of the bunch that you should download first. The second of such app giveaways this summer, the deal…
Internet.org—the Zuckerberg-backed initiative to make the internet available the world over—has announced that its new app will provide free data access for services like Google, Wikipedia, Facebook, and more. Initially available in Zambia, with plans to extend its reach over time, the following sites won’t accrue any data charges when accessed via Internet.org: AccuWeather Airtel…
Ronnie Goodman is not your usual runner. He trains hard every day on the streets of San Francisco for a couple of reasons. One is to raise funds for a charity called The Hospitality House, and the other, well, I will let you guys watch it to figure it out. But it’s truly unexpected and…
Samsung plans to launch two new high-end smartphones within the next six months: one with a “large screen,” the other built using “new materials.” How… cryptic.
We all rely on USB to interconnect our digital lives, but new research first reported by Wired reveals that there’s a fundamental security flaw in the very way that the humble Universal Serial Bus functions, and it could be exploited to wreak havoc on any computer. Wired reports that security researchers Karsten Nohl and Jakob…
Shazam has long been the savior of your happy hour dignity by helping you sneakily figure out what song is playing without having to ask the hip bartender. Now those audio recognition powers are coming to your Mac. Available early this morning, Shazam for Mac works almost exactly like the Auto Shazam that’s already available…
Watching the Earth step through the seasons in this zoetrope of cloud-free satellite images is strangely mesmerizing. While the Orbital Carbon Observatory will soon be tracking how the planet breaths, this is a planetary heartbeat of seasonal change. A zoetrope is any animation where stacks of static images combine to create the illusion of motion.…
The barrel never ends, or at least that’s what it feels like. When you think it’s finally going to come crashing down, surfer Benji Brand goes through another water tunnel and keeps going and going. It’s like a never ending wave where you can see everything spin around you and you never have to stop.…
When an alien from the distant planet Hondo comes to Earth with a plan to destroy all civilization, he does what any Earth-invading alien would do: He joins a bluegrass band. That’s the plot of the 2013 film The History of Future Folk, and it’s every bit as delightfully campy as it sounds. While the…
