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This week, Columbia law professor Tim Wu announced that he’s running for lieutenant governor of New York. Wu is the guy who invented the term net neutrality. And regardless of which state you call home, this is exciting news. Wu is a lot like you and me. He doesn’t want to allow fast lanes on…
This cool series of photos taken by the German artist Martin Klimas shows fighting porcelain figurines crashing against the floor, their pictures taken at the exact moment of impact, which turns them into living manga-like vignettes of extreme motion and violence. From a height of three meters, porcelain figurines are dropped on the ground, and…
Ikea biffed by going after IkeaHackers, the fan site that shares all kinds of new uses and smart mods for the Swedish superstore’s affordable furniture—seriously, you can’t buy this kind of devotion. Until founder Jules Yap sets up shop under a new name, let’s have a look at a few of the projects that make…
It’s easy to forget neglect the wonder of our planet in the bustle of the every-day, until you stop to really think about the terrific forces at play to shape the world around us. Here’s my quicklinks from around the web on amazing (and terrifying) things about our planet. NASA has a satellite photo gallery…
The first time Android needs to open a particular file type, whether an image or PDF, you’ll be asked which app you want to use. Having your phone know your preferences is handy, but it can be frustrating if you change your mind down the road. Here’s how to get back the freedom of choice.…
Samsung’s Gear 2 smartwatch can be handy for checking your text messages without whipping your phone out of your pocket. But it’s impossible to type on—literally, you can’t reply to texts on the watch. Fleksy just changed that with Messenger, a Gear 2 SMS messaging app that brings Fleksy’s intelligent keyboard to the very, very…
College football, you are in for a treat. Thanks to three year sponsorship from payment services provider BitPay, the NCAA is getting a Bitcoin Bowl. That’s right, a Bitcoin Bowl. Per GigaOm, ESPN Events just announced the digital currency-sponsored sporting event earlier today. Important facts: It will be held in St. Petersburg, Florida. It will…
When it comes to mobile gaming the iPhone gets all the glory, but the iPad Mini actually serves as a decent portable console as well, particularly with that larger display. And the Gamevice, from the same folks responsible for the Wikipad, adds a much needed set of physical buttons and joysticks that clamp onto either…
I have to admit, custom microscale builds are the things that amuse me the most when I wander through in the infinite world of Lego. Miniatures are just more fun—especially when these tiny builds are actually recreations of classic gadgetry. Sure, you might be gifted enough to build a life-sized X-Wing star fighter or an…
I always thought that Michael Fassbender’s severed head in Prometheus was so perfect an realistic that it had to be just him with his body in a green suit. Or perhaps his real face filmed and projected on a 3D model. Surprisingly, it’s an awesome animatronic head made by special effects wizard Gustav Hoegen. This…
Apple has just introduced a new, cheaper iMac model. From today, $1,100—$200 less than Cook & Co.’s previous cheapest all-in-one—can get you one of Apple’s super-slim desktops. The new 21.5-inch model features a slower 1.4GHz Intel Core i5 processor than usual. The previous cheapest model, priced at $1,300 and still available, packs a 2.7GHz Intel…
Today, Amazon will announce a mysterious new device, and we’re pretty darn sure it’s going to be the crazy 3D smartphone that’s been rumored for over a year. Here’s what the rumor mill suggests is coming our way soon. What will it be called? Probably the Kindle Phone. Maybe a Kindle Fire Phone. After the…
Rectangular screens are so square. Which is presumably why Sharp has announced a new technology called Free-Form Display—that could allow screens to come in any space, and reduce bezel size to almost zero. Usually, a lot of display circuitry sits in the bezel of a screen, which forces manufacturers to use very conventional shapes—rectangles, usually,…
Michael Massaia started this series of beautiful night photographs of New York’s Central Park as a way of coping with severe insomnia. He’d walk alone with up to 50 pounds of kit and no interruptions—except for an occasional attempted mugging, solicitation or dog attack. All of the images were shot using an 8″x10″, 5″x7″, and…
If coding bores you, maybe you just need to try a different programming language. Perhaps you’ll allow us to recommend one but together by Lauri Hartikka—which is themed around Arnold Schwarzenegger. Called ArnoldC—see what he did there?—it’s “an imperative programming language where the basic keywords are replaced with quotes from different Schwarzenegger movies.” Yes, really.…
Google’s adding the ability to make a Hangouts call directly to phone numbers that show up in your search results. Click on the number, and Google will connect you. Neat.
A busy home can place high demand on desk space, so why not make something that provides more than one surface to work at? That’s exactly what design graduate Matej Chabera’s shelving unit it designed to achieve. Presented at a Royal College of Art show in London on Monday, the Shelf of Tables stacks three…
Using indie video game designer Phil Fish as an example, this video explains the cycle of fame and hate, and how it generates more and more fame. Why do we hate some famous people so much? Why does hate generate even more attention and fame? It’s a fascinating process. SPLOID is a new blog about…
The guys at Screen Junkies just released a new and hilarious Honest Trailer. This time they rip Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen apart. A must watch for those who like me get dizzy watching Michael Bay movies. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook
Blackmail is a nasty business, but it’s not just the stuff of movie plots: Nokia was in 2008 forced to pay “several million euros” to criminals who held its code to ransom, reports Reuters. The Finnish company found itself in difficulties six years ago, with criminals apparently threatening to reveal the source code “for part…
