Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Today, BlackBerry is giving us our first look at one of the key features of BB 10.3: A voice assistant. Like everything else the company formerly known as RIM does these days, BlackBerry Assistant would have been revolutionary years ago. Today, it’s just an obvious feature that’s too late to make it a differentiator. The…
Blackmagic announced today that they are cutting the price of the Pocket Cinema Camera to $495, down from the original $995. Half off! Dang! The deep discount is only in effect until August 31st, so act quickly.
Amazingly, there are still some people who don’t think we landed on the moon. These people are complete idiots, to put it kindly. Back in 2002, Buzz Aldrin punched one of those idiots after being followed and harassed at a hotel in Beverly Hills. You can see video of the altercation below. “Why don’t you…
If you’ve been watching the Tour de France you know that it’s been one of the more brutal tours in recent years, with intense weather conditions and terrible crashes that have led to several top contenders abandoning the tour already. It’s also the first year that riders are allowed to put cameras on their bikes—so…
Amazon is testing an ebook rental service called “Kindle Unlimited,” as GigaOm pointed out today. The e-commerce company put up test pages for the service, which will offer “unlimited access to 600,000 titles.” Users would pay $10 a month for access to the online lending library. The question is: Will they? Amazon already offers a…
An internal FBI report obtained byThe Guardian speculates about what the roads will look like when they’re packed with driverless cars. And because it’s the FBI, there’s a gloomy analysis of how criminals could exploit our autonomous automotive future. The Strategic Issues Group report obtained by The Guardian analyzes the many potential law enforcement and…
If you’re a Netflix customer on Verizon, there’s a good chance you’ve spending a lot more time with that bright red buffering screen than you’d like. That’s why, over the past few weeks, Netflix and Verizon have been displacing blame by taking pot shots at each other. But while they’re busy bickering, we’re the ones…
Kelsey Kronmiller, a graphic designer, designed this amazing LEGO aquarium, which is about 90% done and “entirely coated in “Krylon Fusion,” a clear enamel recommended by aquarists to protect fish.” I love all the little details. This is such a cute build and totally makes me want to build a Lego aquarium. She plans on…
Chasing speed records was, is, and always will be a crucial driving force in developing the kinds of vehicles people dream about. And over the past century, we’ve seen these speed machines go from early records, like 100 kmh (or 62 mph), to supersonic speeds. The following selection of land speed record cars—such as the…
A mysterious giant hole and crater have suddenly appeared in Siberia, Russia. There are not many details right now, but the video captured from a helicopter shows a weird configuration with debris and signs of combustion around it. What the hell is this? Update: New pictures and video show the interior of the hole in…
The Disney Universe has every single view of the stars and the sky contained in every Disney film—from Pinocchio (1940) to Frozen (2013)—seamlessly integrated in one multi-gigabyte 150 x 40-inch illustration. The image was painstakingly created by Marianne Hanoun for her graduation show at Kingston University in London. You can admire it in all its…
It’s been almost 15 years since Honda first introduced Asimo, the company’s attempt to create a humanoid robot that can walk and perform other human-like tasks. But Asimo’s most recent upgrade introduces something unsettling: a pair of dead black eyes and a permanent smirk that leaves the bot looking more like an unsettling china doll…
Meet Jibo. On track to exist next year, Jibo is being marketed as “the world’s first family robot.” The bulbous little guy can read to kids in the living room, recite recipes in the kitchen, take photos in the yard, and perform a handful of other simple tasks. Jibo is also a little bit creepy.…
According to the youtube description Niklas Daniel and his fellow Brianne Thompson jumped out of a DHC-6 Twin Otter at 5,000ft. landing perfectly on their backs to slide the full length of the waterslide at around 50mph. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook
Knowing how much underwear to pack for a trip can be fraught with problems: how many pairs do you need for a long trip, and what happens if there’s… an accident? Don’t fear, though, because this chart will help you know exactly what to pack. Forming part of a wonderful post called Pack Like a…
Google’s live currency conversions now tell you what your cash is worth in bitcoin.
These sunglasses may make you look good, but they could make the planet look better, too—because rather than plastic, their frames are made from flax and hemp. The brainchild of Sam Whitten, these shades are part of a new line called Hemp Eyewear and are made from a hemp-flax fiber composite. Whitten explains that his…
Stunning portraits and concept art of apes in their ceremonial attire from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. The artwork was created by The Aaron Sims Company who already worked on Rise of the Planet of the Apes and other movies like The Transformers. ASC worked closely with Weta on both films to design…
We wonder whether furniture can really get any better than this: an Eames-style sofa, woven from the awesome material that is carbon fiber. This might be living room heaven. The brainchild of Matthew Strong, the sofa uses 12k carbon fiber tow to form what looks like a woven caning pattern. The geometry of the weave…
Imagine if gadgets worked like something out of Pixar film, and you could inflate them by blowing down the power cord. It’d bring fresh new meaning to the name MacBook Air. [XKCD]
