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For about a billion people across the world, nothing is more fundamental to food than fresh, delicious roti. So it’s unfortunate that a batch of five can take half an hour or more to make. But all that’s about to be a thing of the past, thanks to the Rotimatic:The first fully-automated appliance that can…
After the first Matrix—a movie not without faultbut at least entertaining and unique in its aesthetic—the entire franchise went to hell. Matrix Reloaded was particularly offensive, even with Monica Bellucci. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook
The “Mississippi Baby,”born with HIV and treated with antiretroviral drugs immediately after birth, showed no evidence of HIV after two years without treatment. Now the child has detectable levels of the virus once again. It’s a sad conclusion to what seemed like an extremely promising new way to treat this vicious disease. The National Institute…
Everybody knows that a cheetah is the world’s fastest land animal. But what if you take the size of the animal into account? If you measure speed by body-length-per-second, a tiny mite about the size of a sesame seed is actually the fastest. From Scientific American: Paratarsotomus macropalpis, a sesame seed–size mite found in southern…
IFTTT—If This Then That—is an automator that links different internet connected services (think: Gmail) and devices (think: your smartphone). After turning on each service, or channel, you can use it as a trigger for another service, or vice versa. It may sound complicated, but it’s actually a nice, intuitive way to simplify your life. Here’s…
Oxford scientistsjust revealed a new kind of display technology that can render images smaller than the width of a human hair. The detailed images you see above were rendered on these flexible, nano-pixel displays. Would you believe that each one is smaller than the width of a human hair? And that’s only the beginning. Like…
Proving again that great editing can turn any movie into something completely different, the geniuses from Unusual Suspects took the tragic story of Saving Private Ryan and converted it into that Hollywood clusterfuck of stupidity, bad writing, and explosions that is The Expendables 3. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on…
To promote the fact that Delta has added USB ports to every seat on its long-haul international flights, the airline installed these clever ads—as spotted by Laughing Squid’s Scott Beale—in New York Uber taxis, giving them powered USB ports too so that passengers can recharge their phones. It not only makes you wonder why every…
Photos of a Belgian forest crammed with decaying old cars are making the internet rounds again. It’s being called an “abandoned traffic jam,” as if American soldiers just left their cars in the middle of the road and ran once WWII ended. That explanation is totally bogus, as Jalopnik’s Jason Torchinsky proves with some photographic…
The World Cup is upon us, and this weekend, it comes to an end with one last match between Germany and Argentina. For this week’s Shooting Challenge, we want to see your photos of this year’s World Cup (even if it’s just a viewing party from your couch!). The Challenge Take a photo of World…
Shopping for your very first motorcycle? Start here. The 2015 Honda CB300F promises to be fun to ride, affordable and incredibly cheap to run. It’s the perfect learning tool for new riders. The CB300F is a naked version of the new-for-2015 Honda CBR300R, itself an update of the amazingly capable CBR250R. Shorn of its plastic…
If you have old vintage books, you may have some book scorpions in your bookcase. Actually, you really should want to have them, even if they look scary and gross. Book scorpions protect your old books—they love to munch on the book lice that eat the glue which holds old books together. A book scorpion…
The Swash is being pitched as a sort of personal dry cleaning machine that promises to refresh clothes in just ten minutes. But instead of the toxic chemicals often used at your local dry cleaner, it runs on disposable detergent pods. What that means is in addition to purchasing the $500 Whirlpool-engineered appliance, you’ll also…
$500,000. That’s how much a Star Trek fan Anthony Sforza is, a man who put three years of his life into turning his basement into a temple dedicated to Gene Roddenberry’s sci-fi series—then filled it with unique memorabilia. He actually bought a piece of the set to analyze it and use the exact same materials.…
If you find yourself wandering around Liverpool in the middle of the night, you might be surprised to happen upon a warehouse with a glowing blue door. Inside, you’ll see countless live jellyfish floating peacefully in the unlikely setting. It’s not a hallucination. It’s art. Artist duo Walter Hugo and Zoniel quietly openedthe installation a…
Nikola Tesla was a legendary futurist before the term futurist even existed. He made all kinds of predictions about the way that world would and should operate — some of them accurate, and some of them controversial. And guess what? It’s his birthday! Born “at the stroke of midnight” on July 9th/10th in 1856, Nikola…
The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Amazon demanding refunds for parents billed for millions of dollars in app purchases. The FTC alleges that Amazon profited from charging parents for unauthorized in-app purchases their children made. If the FTC wins its lawsuit, Amazon will have to refund the money it made. It would…
Dubai has unveiled plans for the world’s first indoor, climate-controlled neighborhood—a 450-hectare city area with a retractable glass roof and the world’s largest shopping center.This sounds to me like the hell on earth but I better get used to it: Every major city will probably be like this by the end of the century. It…
These wireless on-ears from Jabra are the Wirecutter’s favorite Bluetooth headphones, and you can own a pair for just $140 today. They usually sell for over $200, so we don’t expect this deal to last long. [Jabra REVO Bluetooth Headphones, $140] If you’re a displaced Aereo customer, or if you wanted the service but it…
It’s not just you, city-dwellers. Urban areas actually do get noticeably hotter than the rural areas around them, and that’s especially problematic in summertime. Why does that happen? Well, a new study says it all has to do with the aerodynamic shape of your city. In other words, the smoother your skyline, the hotter you’ll…
