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Cycling outfitter Chrome Industries makes solid gear that’s designed to last even the hardest rider for the long haul. To make its super tough new sneakers, it picked up 86 World War II boot making machines from Slovakia. The $85 Forged Rubber shoes they make will kick the crap out of your Chucks. The 70-year-old…
When you’re riding a bike, the world is an endless barrage of obstacles, hazards, and other vehicles sharing the road you need to avoid. Mirrors let you keep an eye on what’s going on behind your cycle, but the Backtracker promises to spot vehicles up to 450 feet away using radar, and warn you to…
Recognizing the importance of film preservation is a relatively recent phenomenon in Hollywood. Early motion picture film was especially prone to destruction by fire thanks to its nitrate base. And early films that haven’t yet been destroyed by fire can deteriorate in any number of other ways. In fact, it’s estimated that over 90 percent…
In 1927, acclaimed architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed a gas station for Buffalo, New York, envisioning a gleaming center of commerce and social interaction for the bustling industrial city. Almost 90 years later, the structure has finally been completed—in the lobby of an automobile museum. The Pierce-Arrow Museum has been working to build the service…
Working at a lab with a relatively low level-two biosafety rating, University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka has created a strain of flu that can completely escape the human immune system. The new genetically-engineered virus is based on H1N1, which may have killed 500,000 people just five years ago. Most people today have a level…
If Volvo had to appeal to Van Damme’s epic splitto sell more trucks, Hyundai just released this insane self-driving demonstration to try to sell their vehicles: A group of stuntmen jump from the roof of moving cars leaving them on their own. It’s impressive to see the cars driving and braking without a driver. SPLOID…
If you’ve been waiting for an excuse to buy your own 3D printer, here you go: A refurbished Makerbot 2 for $1200. That’s $1000 less than retail for a new one, and a fantastic entry price for the most popular consumer 3D printer around. [Refurb Makerbot 2, $1200] Update: Expired Coffee snobs will be excited…
University of Illinois engineers just showed off a new kind of robot that’s half animal, half machine. More specifically, it’s a tiny “bio-bot” that’s powered by actual muscle but supported by 3D-printed hydro-gels. And the best part is that it can be controlled by pulses of electricity. While it sounds wildly futuristic, the design of…
Time travel looks like fun until you actually take it to its ultimate consequences. Directed by Bo Mirosseni and written by Elisha Yaffe, Time Travel Lover is a fun little short that shows how time travel would destroy our lives if it were real. This is heavy, Doc. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome…
When the FBI shut down illegal online marketplace the Silk Road, it seized a stash of 30,000 Bitcoin from the underground website and announced plans to auction the supply off. This week, venture capitalist and would-be California-splitter-upper Tim Draper won all of it, gaining an estimated $17.7 million in illicit cryptocurrency. To qualify for the…
Being colorblind doesn’t mean you see the world in black and white. But it does mean that you have difficulty distinguishing between certain colors. For Mark Zuckerberg, blue is the “richest” color he can see — which is why Facebook’s dominant color is blue. From the September 20, 2010 issue of the New Yorker: [Mark…
Our species owes a lot to caves. The natural rock formations have been homes, religious sites, art galleries, and graveyards for humanity’s earliest ancestors.The July issue of National Geographic magazine delves into some of the planet’s most expansive cave systems, located in the wilds of China. Below follows an excerpt from the story, but check…
I’m hitting the pause button for the time being on disquiet.gizmodo.com. Activity will continue as always at Disquiet.com, and at sound.tumblr.com.
Among the most dangerous jobs on the battlefield, being the soldier driving the minesweeping truck at the head of convoys is probably the last one you’d want. Your job is to drive over IEDs and landmines, detonating them before the vehicles behind you do. But thanks to a recent advancement in autonomous vehicle technology, these…
In July of 2004, Motorola debuted the Razr V3, one of the most iconic cellphones of all time. Exactly 10 years later, I shed my iPhone for a month to experience the world where apps don’t exist and T9 reigns king. Maybe I did it for the nostalgia. Maybe I did it because I hate…
If you’re on the hunt for a truly unique lamp to accessorize your living room, Etsy is a far better place to start than Ikea. Because that’s the only place you’ll be able to buy this illuminating creation from Ricochet Studio that looks like a pair of shoes tossed over a power line. Those shoes,…
As if building an entire neighborhood on top of an active rail yard were not already crazy enough, the developers for Hudson Yards are also planning a 51-story tower that will be constructed on top of and above an existing building. Yup, Manhattan is a crowded mess. Hudson Yards is the largest private real estate…
Surfer Anthony Walsh rides through five barrels of a single wave—whilst apparently failing to break a sweat. It just cannot be as easy as this guy makes it look. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook
The GPS coordinates that are tagged to every picture taken with a smartphone (and many cameras) can be useful in all kinds of ways—finding shots from other people near your location or getting an overview of where your travels have taken you, for example. But if you’re snapping images around your home or office then…
If there’s one thing Google can do to help make its messaging better than ever, it’s to kill the hulking zombie that is Google Voice and transplant its good parts into the still-living Google Hangouts. It hasn’t happened yet, but now there’s evidence in the Hangouts app that it might be coming soon. Deep in…
