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If you really need to type on your smartwatch (you don’t) there’s finally a solution (that you should avoid needing). Minuum, the premier super tiny keyboard, is coming to Android Wear and from the demo reel, it doesn’t look half bad. Minuum’s style of hyper-predictive, low-profile keyboard was basically screaming for smartwatch integration, so this…
Russia’s newest line of robotic soldiers took part in their first wargames recently. They may look suspiciously like Wall-E, but Russia’s Platform-M isn’t nearly as benevolent. The robotic combat platform has been developed the Progress Scientific Research Technological Institute of Izhevsk, which describes it as such: Platform-M is a universal combat platform. It is used…
Game of Thrones is known for many things: complex fictional geopolitical intrigue, incest rape, sexposition. The popular HBO show is also known for its high-end production, and season four’s thrilling snow-covered finale fight scene is no exception, with the remarkable special effects that have become a hallmark of the show. Here’s now they did it.…
If you’ve been paying any attention to the Internet’s ever-whirring rumor mill, you might be under the impression that Gorilla Glass is about to receive some stiff competition from sapphire glass. But what is it, and why does it offer so much promise? Reports earlier this year claimed that Apple had purchased enough sapphire crystal…
As handheld vacuums get better and better, there’s less need to keep a broom at the ready. Which is too bad, because this cleverly re-designed dustpan makes it easier to dump your sweepings into a garbage can, no matter how tiny it may be. Gone are the days are emptying a dustpan into a garbage…
The potato salad Kickstarter may have enjoyed its five minutes of fame, but as far as absurdity goes, its breed isn’t quite as rare as you might think. Don’t believe us, though—just watch as Stephen Colbert expertly tears apart one of the dumbest, non-starch-related visions the crowdfunding world has to offer. Colbert cuts through the…
The Supreme Court’s decision against Aereo was a huge bummer for cord-cutters. Even worse, some content providers (coughFoxcough) were trying to use to hit other similarly awesome services as well, like Dish’s “Anywhere” streaming. Good news: It didn’t work. Yet. Right after the Aereo verdict came down, Fox asked the 9th Circuit for a preliminary…
This pop up book created by Megumi Kajiwara and Tathuhiko Nijima changes the shape and adds motion to the silhouettes when you apply light to it. The effect is sometimes magical—as if the silhouettes are alive, changing the story depending on how the shadows drop on the page. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome…
Americans tend not to be too nostalgic when it comes to our past—but in some cases, it’s resulted in the loss of priceless pieces of history. That’s why the National Trust for Historic Preservation puts out a “most endangered” list of important building and places that aren’t long for this world—unless someone takes notice. Over…
Watch GoPro footage of 600 lunatics on bikes descending at once down the Pic Blanc Glacier, France—it’s all part of Megavalanche, an 18-mile endurance event, with an 8,500-foot descent over snow, ice and unsteady terrain. The event has run for nearly twenty years and attracts adrenaline junkies in their thousands. SPLOID is a new blog…
Do you want to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landings with NASA up-close and personal with Apollo 11 astronauts? You can. NASA Social is a program specifically to reach out to social media users, giving them an avenue to reach audiences neglected by traditional media. Are you big on Twitter? The…
Buying a bike is all about compromises. You can get a cheap one at Target, but it’ll be heavy and have low-end components. Or you could get a light bike with killer components, but you’ll be paying through the nose. Priority Bicycles is a new company that thinks it’s found the sweet spot: A cheap,…
Germany hasn’t been best pleasedby the NSA’s attention over the last few years. Now, though, it’s revealed that it’s taking drastic action, and ditching computers in favor of something more secure: typewriters. Speaking on German TV, Patrick Sensburg, chairman of the German parliament’s National Security Agency investigative committee, explained that he was taking operational security…
Microsoft has apparently decided to remove the ability to set Google as a default search engine on new Lumia Windows Phone handsets. The Verge reportsthat the Lumia 630 and Lumia 930, the first handsets to be released officially under Microsoft control, ship without an option to use Google as the default search engine in its…
The US Patent & Trademark Office has refused to register Apple’s Touch ID Trademark, citing likelihood of confusion with other trademarks as its reason. Apple has six months to contend—which it obviously will.
Remember Google’s smart contact lenses? Well, now the giant Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis is turning them into a commercial reality. The two companies have announced that Novartis is licensing Google’s technology to create special contact lenses for diabetic patients. The new lenses will analyze tear fluid in the eye and provide real-time, constant measurement of…
Net neutrality is very important though not wonderfully understood. So allow College Humor to explains the concept incredibly well, while still making you laugh a little. The window for original public comments to the FCC about net neutrality has now closed, but you can still post reply commentson what other people have said until September…
You’ve probably never heard of Sverker Johansson, but you probably should have. He is, afterall, the most prolific WIkipedia author on the internet—having written 2.7 million articles for the online encyclopaedia. TheWall Street Journal hasa wonderful profile of the 53-year-old Swede, whose output outstrips any other Wikipedia editor. Holding degrees in linguistics, civil engineering, economics…
According to Duke Engineering, their axial engine is the most efficient and lightest engine you can put in boats, light aircrafts, and generators—the mechanical engine of the (near) future! Maybe. I don’t know if their claims are true and I don’t really care. I just love watching it in action in this eternal gif. Casey…
So what’s the deal with graphene and why does everyone think it’s the next big thing? Well, as SciShow says, it conducts electricity better than silver, it conducts heat better than diamonds and even though it’s only one atom thick, it’s even stronger than steel. So why isn’t it more popular and everywhere? The video…
