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The Tour de France has kicked off, which means tonight is the perfect time to snuggle up on the sofa and watch The Triplets of Belleville. The animated feature follows a badass little granny (with a limp and hint of mustache) as she tracks down her cyclist grandson who’s been kidnapped by the French mafia.…
By now, we know that Game of Thrones uses a heavy VFX hand when it comes to building the world of Westeros but it’s still amazing how real their visual effects can make it look. That’s because pretty much everything is fake. Seriously. Anything far off in the distance or people standing around or flags…
Last month, Swiss architect Peter Zumthor revised the design for a new building on L.A.’s Los Angeles County Museum of Art campus after scientists claimed his proposal would damage the adjacent La Brea Tar Pits. Now he’s revealed the first model of the new design: an ink blot that spans Wilshire Boulevard. It’s been quite…
Last month my esteemable colleague Kate Knibbs proclaimed a certain song by Grimes to be a strong contender for song of the summer—and that it is! But I am here to offer another worthy contender, this one with a summery video to boot: “Love Songs” by DJ Dodger Stadium. Okay, maybe this isn’t the song…
London has been written about, painted, sketched, photographed, and depicted in pretty much any and every creative medium available to human hands, but Edward Bawden’s linocuts of England’s capital are some of the coolest depictions of the city, ever ever ever. The Floral Hall, Covent Garden, 1967, lithograph after linocut The artist and graphic designer…
Moreso than any seat I think I’ve ever seen, the Karuselli Chair looks like something that should be stationed front and center on the bridge of the starship Enterprise. Can’t you just see Kirk in there, doing a power swivel to talk biz with Spock or Scotty? In reality, the fiberglass classic was not conceived…
Trolleys and light rail trains are great for getting around a city and all, but let’s face it, they’re just sitting there empty a lot of the time, just begging you to trip over them. So why not turn that underused resource into a new form of mobility: A DIY pallet-train for one? This video…
We’ve heard rumors before that Samsung and Oculus were working together on a VR headset, and this leak of “Gear VR” from Sammobile might be it. It’s stripped down and simple; a plastic version of Google Cardboard. Previous rumors suggested that Samsung’s entrance into the VR space wouldn’t be a full-on headset, but rather a…
What could go wrong with setting off explosives all around an active volcano? As scary as it might sound, this is a carefully planned experiment to peer inside Mount St. Helens’ mysterious underground magma chamber. No, we aren’t blasting the volcano open, but the induced seismicity will let geologists finally map what the volcano looks…
You’re probably seeing a lot of this picture being tweeted right now. People are saying it’s a riot unfolding in response to today’s World Cup game. It’s not—the picture is from 2013. You can see the original here. [H/T Conz Preti] Factually is Gizmodo’s new blog of fun facts, interesting photos, and weird trivia. Join…
Just like the odd eBay storefront that popped up last year, a new site called Factory Outlet eBay Store is selling refurbished Apple products and, despite the lack of any official Apple branding, is almost definitely the result of a partnership between Apple and eBay. Andit’s selling Apple Certified Refurbished iPhones forcheap. First discovered by…
Sometimes NASA comes up with incredibly complex solutions to extremely complex problems. Other times they come up with the simplest ones. And then there’s the case of how to test the stability of an entire Saturn V rocket, which is what you can see in this hilarious video from 1966. On October 14, 1966, a…
Back in the day it wasn’t uncommon for trunks and suitcases to slowly become covered in labels as they visited cities and ports around the world. But it’s become sort of a lost art—one that the folks at Animi Causa are trying to revive with this set of lovingly designed luggage label decals. The set…
The latest report on the recent earthquake epidemic in Oklahoma is out, and it’s horrifying. Not only has the state seen twice as many earthquakes as California this year, but the scientific evidence that the seismic activity is linked to oil and natural gas production has become overwhelming. It’s not a secret that Oklahoma’s become…
When MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte says that humans will be able to learn an entire language by eating a pill, you better listen. In this new TED Talk, Negroponte shows all the times he was right predicting the future in the 1970s and 1980s even while people laughed at him. Here’s what he…
If you’re a regular subway rider in New York City, you’re familiar with the nagging fear of dropping your phone or wallet onto the tracks. Luckily, there are saviors at the ready who will show up, tongs in hand, to help those citizens in distress. In the video above, Animal New York recently followed MTA…
Adobe just patched up a gaping security flaw that could affect anyone who logs on to eBay, Tumblr, Instagram, or other popular sites. If you’re a person who visits any of those domains (or really, any website out there that might use Flash), you really should update your stuff right now. Basically, the flaw—which security…
Amazon and publishing company Hachette remain in negotiations after a very public brawl over ebook pricing, and Amazon’s pulling out some down and dirty trick to win its battle, including jacking up Hachette book prices. Amazon’s latest gambit is more carrot than stick: Amazon executive David Naggar sent a letter to a number of Hachette…
We wear headphones and/or earbuds for hours every day, so comfort is imperative. Want some designed just for you? A new company called Normal wants to sell you perfectly customized earbuds by using a nifty app to get you fitted—instead of having to pay a visit to an expensive audiologist. You get your precise fit…
Alpine lakes, 14,000 foot mountains, Giant Sequoias and grassy meadows? The 60-mile High Sierra Trail has it all and literally passes through Valhalla. We did it last week. For many, the 210 mile-long John Muir Trail (which runs North-South through the Sierra Nevada) represents the quintessential thru-hike. However, it’s not always easy to leave life…
