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The National Parks Service just announced a sweeping ban on drones. The new policy prohibits “launching, landing, or operating unmanned aircraft on lands and waters administered by the National Park Service.” Why? Because they’re disruptive, that’s why. Drones are already banned in a few national parks, including Yosemite, for the simple fact that they’re a…
Outdoors during bad weather? A knife gives you the ability to start a fire in otherwise impossible conditions. Starting a fire like this every time is great survival practice. Tools: A fixed-blade survival knife or very strong folding knife . A ferro rod or similar unbreakable, inexhaustible, weatherproof fire-starting material. Pre-made tinder. Wood for the…
For would-be Transportation Czars who have grander ideas for the buses and trains in your town, Transitmix helps you draw a fantasy transit system for your city that’s specific down to the block. And it’s got a bunch of real-world features that can help you calculate everything from ridership to operating costs. A group of…
Isaac Hou is a famous street performer from Taiwan and a master of the Cyr Wheel—an acrobatic device popularized in the early 21st century. Isaac can spin endlessly inside the wheel while maneuvering around any surface. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook
Tim Wu, the guy who coined the phrase “net neutrality,” went nose-to-nose with the House Judiciary subcommittee on Friday morning to fight for the future of the internet. Congress wants to know if somebody other than the FCC should decide the fate of net neutrality. Wu, for one, thinks that’s a pretty silly idea. On…
We all woke up yesterday to a bold new world. One in which Harley is suddenly the most progressive mainstream motorcycle manufacturer. Gizmodo’s Robert Sorokanich took that concept to its logical conclusion — a HOG powered by Social Media. https://robertsorokanich.kinja.com/what-will-the-tweet-powered-harley-sound-like-a-though-1593699347
Today on Amazon, if you purchase $50 in select household goods, you’ll get a $15 gift card for your trouble. The selection is limited to only a handful of items, but they’re things like laundry detergent, batteries, and toilet paper that you need to buy anyway. [$15 Amazon Card with a $50 Household Purchase] Update:…
It’s estimated that over 130 million wooden chopsticks are produced every day, and most are destined to end up in the trash after just one use. Sure, wood breaks down a lot better than plastic, but a couple of engineers from Barcelona have a better idea. They’re producing chopsticks made from rice husks—an unwanted by-product…
People are constantly getting murdered on Game of Thrones. The whole show is just people trying to kill each other. Here’s every on-screen death in season 4. It’s bloody disturbing. Warning: Spoilers (DUH) Usually, the death sequences on GoT are suspenseful and shocking, but personally, I find the soundtrack by The Underscore Orkestra on this…
Photographers Ursula Sprecher & Andi Cortellini have been working together since 2007 in a beautiful series of photos called HobbyBuddies. As the name announces, these carefully staged pictures show groups of people who get together regularily and enjoy a common hobby. In their series HobbyBuddies, they show arranged group portraits of people who meet regularly…
Building empires takes money. And building industrial empires takes diamonds, not just for cash, but for the machines and tools that need them to operate. In a remote corner of Siberia, the Mir diamond mine was responsible for funneling diamonds into building the USSR—and it left behind a pit that stretches almost a mile across…
The Lego Firewalk has to be the most twisted, most diabolical, most cruel invention ever created by humankind. There’s no way in heaven or hell that anybody can survive this walking barefoot without collapsing into a sobbing mass of trembling flesh, furthering the excruciating pain. If you want to try it, go to the Bull…
The problem with the web is there’s just so much of it; an endless tide of funny videos, pop quizzes, and social alerts ready to distract you from other, more urgent tasks at hand. We wouldn’t say there’s anything inherently wrong with killing time online, but if you really need to buckle down on an…
Even after waiting four years for it to roll around again, the World Cup isn’t wall-t0-wall matches. There are breaks in-between the games that need to be filled while you wait for the action to start up again. Drinking the hours away is one solution, but Google has a more sober suggestion: A collection of…
Moving troops through hostile territory is a heck of a lot safer for everyone involved when they’re traveling in an armored personnel carrier. But Germany’s new state-of-the-art APC does so much more than just move soldiers. It moves them in packs. Built by the German PSM group, a 50-50 collaboration between defense contractors Krauss-Maffei Wegmann…
Rafael “Rafahu” Aguilar is a very talented Mexican animator, illustrator and designer with a wonderfully twisted mind and a classic style worth of Creepy or any of the Warren comic magazines during the 70s. This horror reinterpretation of classic Warner Bros. imagery seems designed to make kids cry. And anything that makes kids cry is…
Finally BlackBerry (reportedly) called on Canada’s most reputable citizen, Drake, to promote the upcoming BlackBerry Passport. But despite Drizzy’s only cares being money and the city that he’s from, he declined. So who should BlackBerry call? We’ve decided to help, by ranking Canada’s notable citizens and potential BlackBerry spokespersons in order of appeal and Canadianness.…
It goes without saying that the most wealthy, famous, and powerful people in the world travel in style. But expensive cars and private planes decked out with luxurious leather interiors surprisingly can’t hold a candle to this gorgeous interior designed by Giopato & Coombes which you’ll find in a—cottage? Nope. Try a private helicopter. AugustaWestland…
Six tiny satellites have been approved to join the CubeSat program for NASA’s 2014 fiscal year. Although each satellite measures just 30 by 10 by 10 centimetres, they’re capable of big science. The projects will collect data on terrestrial and space weather, with two particularly focusing on plasma bubbles. http://space.io9.com/cubesats-offer-big-science-in-a-small-box-1586116982/ The CSSWE CubeSat was launched…
The last few months have seen a crushing wave of Snapchat imitators, pretenders to the ephemeral throne. And every one of them has completely missed the point. There’s a reason Snapchat’s become so popular, and it’s not just because it was first. Yes, it’s only a vague likeness of real, human interaction, but it’s a…
