Tech News

Android L Release Preview: Everything You Need to Know

It’s been years since Google has given its Android platform as fresh a face as this. The mobile platform’s new look doesn’t have a name yet (lollipop?), but it’s here to tie things together. What we’re seeing today are mostly the design highlights from Android L. Android’s Matias Duarte outlined his team’s concept of material…

This magic land is not a game or a movie but a real place on Earth

Welcome to Cappadocia, Turkey, a land in which elves, hobbits, wizards and good spirits live in harmony and fly in magic balloons across orange, pink and purple skies. A beautiful photo taken by Gypsy Joyce (see more of her photos here.) SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

Watch How OK Go Made Their Latest One-Take Optical Illusion Video

Last week, we showed you OK Go’s new video, “The Writing’s On the Wall,” the latest in the band’s series of impeccably orchestrated one-take videos chock full of optical illusions and visual tricks. Here’s the behind-the-scenes look at how they did it. Short answer: it was frantically precise. Sure, there was plenty of running around…

X-Rays in Perseus May Be the Signature of Dark Matter

Most of the universe is made up out of things we can’t find. While dark matter is just that — dark — an X-ray anomaly in Perseus and 72 other galaxies may finally be a tell-tale signature of a particular form of dark matter releasing light as it decays. A strange X-ray emission line shows…

Supreme Court: Cops Can’t Search Your Phone Without a Warrant

Turns out, SCOTUS doesn’t like warrantless cell phone snooping. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the police generally need a warrant before searching cell phones or mobile devices of the people they arrest. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote a strident ruling in favor of privacy. “Modern cell phones are not just another…

Soon Your Local Library Could Let You Borrow the Internet

Forget dog-eared copies of Fifty Shades of Grey: Library visitors will soon be able to check the entire Internet out from their local branch. The Knight Foundation announced grants for programs at the Chicago Public Library and the New York Public Library to lend wireless hotspots to residents. If these programs take off, other libraries…

Wise mad man gives you the best life advice you will ever get

Listen carefully to the wise words of this seemingly mad man. He explains the meaning of life and gives extremely good advice about the core things you should keep in mind while passing by this little planet of ours. His words are full of truth. But perhaps he’s full of truth because he is not…

Aereo Down: Supreme Court Kills the Cord-Cutter’s Dream

Today, the Supreme Court has reversed the decision of the Second Circuit in ABC vs. Aereo. Translation? Aereo lost big. It’s now illegal. And that sucks. Essentially what the Supreme Court determined today is that Aereo, the innovative cloud-based antenna and DVR, violates copyright law. It’s basically a cable company, says the ruling, instead of…

Conductive Foam Darts Turn Your iPad Into a Shooting Gallery

Even with incredibly-realistic first-person shooter video games that make you feel as if you’re in an actual war, toy guns that shoot innocuous foam arrows still remain popular. There’s just something about nailing a target with an actual projectile that’s incredibly satisfying, and that’s why Snipe—a tablet game that interacts with special foam darts—seems like…

Google I/O Wishlist: What We Want (And What We’ll Get)

Google’s biggest day of the year is here: Google I/O! And along with fancy developer seminars with enticing names like “open-source technologies from the Hadoop ecosystem as part of your Cloud toolkit,” we’re also going to get some Fun Announcements. Here’s what we’re expecting, what we’re hoping for, and what’ll have to wait. What’s certain…

Barnes & Noble, whose Nook e-reader once seemed to be the company’s best shot at survival, said today that it will break Nook into a separate public company. The move comes after disappointing Nook sales, especially compared to Amazon’s Kindle. [The New York Times]

Citronella Ink Helps This Clever Newspaper Keep Mosquitoes At Bay

In some parts of the world a mosquito bite is a minor inconvenience that might result in a few days of uncomfortable itching. In other parts, though, the pests spread deadly diseases like malaria and dengue fever. So for the 2014 World Health Day, ad agency Leo Burnett created the world’s first mosquito-repelling newspaper in…

Watch Google’s I/O Keynote Right Here, Right Now

It may just be a timer countdown for now, but at noon today the video above will turn into a livestream of Google’s I/O keynote. We’ll be liveblogging here as well—the stream usually lags, and doesn’t come with jokes—but for your full A/V experience, check the above. What are we expecting? You can get the…

10 Hidden Details in Your City and What They Mean

There was plenty of outrage earlier this month when a London storefront revealed sidewalk spikes meant to keep the homeless from getting too cozy. While these shiny prickles did seem especially Temple of Doom-ish, they weren’t all that unusual: There are plenty of little details designed into our cities that tell us what to do,…

Would You Use Facebook For Your Work Chats?

TechCrunch is reporting that Facebook could be building an at-work version of the social network. But would you like it if your company insisted that work communications all took place in Zuck’s little blue boxes? The site’s source claims that FB@Work, as it’s referred to, could be used in place of email or IM. “Everyone…

Seinfeld’s Guide to Internet Etiquette

Technology brings with it many complex social problems—from using phones at the dinner table to the the etiquette of Facebook likes. In this video, Jerry Seinfeld helps us navigate the minefield that is society drenched in tech. Warning: you might not want to actually follow his advice. Apart from the bit about filming a concert…

World Cup Security Team Accidentally Shares Its Awful Wi-Fi Password

What’s the bigger security crime: having your Wi-Fi password displayed on a big screen, or using tired old internet speak to have “b5a2112014” as the password for the Brazil 2014 event security team network? The above photo came via local newspaper Correio Braziliense, in which security experts demonstrated the cutting-edge CCTV and monitoring facility being…

WSJ: Google Is Going to Announce an Android TV Set-Top Box at I/O

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google will announce “at least one” set-top box running its Android TV operating system at today’s I/O event. While we already know for sure that Android will announce its Android TV OS, the Journal claims that a set-top box, branded by its manufacturer, will also make an appearance.…

Whitney Cummings Offers Advice About Your Tinder Pics

Tinder demands some degree of vanity—it’s an app designed to get you laid on looks alone, duh—but some people still get it very, very wrong. Whitney Cummings provided some biting criticism when Conan asked for her feedback. Posing with an expensive car? You probably hired it. Showing off your guns? You must be unemployed. Dressed…

Google Glass Hardware Just Got a Spec Bump

Google has announced that Glass is getting a hardware update following its extended Explorer testing feedback—but current owners won’t get upgraded. https://gizmodo.com/watch-the-daily-show-hilariously-troll-six-glassholes-r-1590364537 Google has decided to double the RAM in Glass from 1 to 2GB, as well as giving it a slightly bigger battery. Google claims that Glass will now last 15 percent longer between…