Tech News

A Subterranean Stroll Through NYC’s Newest Train Tunnel

New York City’s new 2nd Avenue subway line is a construction project of truly monumental scale. Decades of planning and billions of dollars have led to the near-completion of Phase 1 of the tunnel running underneath Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Gizmodo was lucky enough to take a tour through a section of the caverns and…

Tech News Michael Hession

I hope they build this vertical train station one day

Christopher Christophi and Lucas Mazarrasa came up with this surprising conceptfor the eVolo skyscrapercompetition: The Hyper-Speed Vertical Train Hub. I don’t really know how it would work—I’m guessing superconductors and magic—but I’d love to see it built, with all those maglev trains coming up and down the tower and in and out the tunnels under…

Sploid Jesus Diaz

How To Recognize The Signs of an Impending Landslide

Your odds of death by landslide are one in a million per year. If you get caught in one, you can’t do much to increase your odds of survival. Luckily, landslides frequently give warning before collapsing. These are a few precursors to a landslide, telling you to run before it’s too late. Reactivated La Chichita…

Tech News Mika McKinnon

Your Behavior In This Toilet Is Being Recorded For Analysis

Attendees at a Human-Computer Interaction conference in Toronto earlier this week found toilets that claimed to analyze each “deposit” and post it online. Don’t like that idea? Then go somewhere else. Quantified Toilets was perpetuated by folks at the Critical Making Hackathon, but it wasn’t really an example of critical making—it was critical faking. The…

Tech News Lev Bratishenko

The Carl-Gustaf Looks Like a Bazooka But Shoots Like a Rifle

Sometimes, small arms fire just doesn’t cut it. So when special forces teams around the world need more long-range, tank-stopping punch than a conventional bazooka or panzerschreck can deliver, they give Carl a call. The M3 Carl Gustaf Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon System (MAAWS) is a shoulder fired, recoilless rifle—yes it’s a rifle—originally devised by…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

A Remote Control for Your Smartphone Camera, Built Right Into a Case

A remote shutter release for your smartphone’s camera can help you get better photos, but they’re not terribly useful unless you’ve got one with you when it’s time to take one. iLuv’s new Selfy offers a clever solution to the problem of carrying one around everywhere by building one right into a case. Selfy’s remote…

Tech News Mario Aguilar

These Are The Most Devastating Twisters In The Solar System

Researchers at NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) posted a short video on their Facebook page, showing a “small, hovering mass of twisted strands of plasma” as it “shifted back and forth before erupting into space.” You can see at least three giant solar tornadoes in the footage, which was captured on April 29-30, 2014. A…

Tech News Attila Nagy

Barchan Dunes on Mars

These dunes are a fleet of Star Fleet communicator badges (combadge), flying in formation across the Martian surface. The geomorphology of why this happens has nothing to do with Star Trek or transporter beams, and everything to do with aerodynamics. Why do these dunes look like something ripped from the chest of Spock, Captain Kirk,…

Tech News Mika McKinnon

Chat With a Paleontologist About Pterosaurs and the AMNH’s New Exhibit

The American Museum of Natural History here in New York just kicked off an exhibit about those ancient flying reptiles called pterosaurs. These rulers of the sky happen to be the least understood of prehistoric creatures, so we’ve got Mark Norell, the curator in charge of the paleontology department at the AMNH and master of…

Tech News Leslie Horn

Guy builds digital computers using strings, weights, and a chessboard

Sploid reader Kimberly Nguyen has spotted this really neat video demonstrating how computer logic gates work using just strings and weights. “I’m an Electrical Engineering/Computer Engineering major and I’ve never seen anything like this before!” Me neither. It’s really clever. The essence of digital computing is the use of continuous physical states to represent a…

Sploid Jesus Diaz

What Life Would Be Like If Skeuomorphism Ruled Our iPad Gestures

Is pinch-to-zoom just too tough to remember? What about tap to highlight? Well, fret not dear user: A solution for you, the frazzled, confused technological rube that just misses the good old days of dry erase boards and magnifying glasses, has arrived. The concept is called Touch Tools, and it’s best described as skeuomorphism applied…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Reusable Rocket Completes Second Test Flight

With all this talk of slingshotting astronauts into space, it’s good time to check in on SpaceX‘s progress to a new reusable crewed spacecraft. The Falcon 9 Reusable had its second test flight, reaching 1 kilometer altitude before a successful soft-landing. The cows were less impressed by the rocket’s roar. Screenshot from video. The Falcon…

Tech News Mika McKinnon

This Full-Auto Dart Blaster Is a Science-Fueled Dream Gun

Nerf better be watching its back. Because after testing out Mattel’s new BOOMco line of dart blasters, we are happy to report the secret formula backing its new Smart Stick darts works like magic—and makes for one hell of a good time. But before we get to the science, it’s worth noting that the various…

Tech News Ashley Feinberg

T-Mobile Is Still Advertising the First Ever Android Phone

Hey, you! Do you need a modern compass in your life? A way to navigate your digital day like never before? Then you need the T-Mobile G1! Or at least, you did six years ago, T-Mobile. Turns out that T-Mobile has left the ad for the very first Android smartphone live on its servers. You…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Daredevil seaplane pilot takes off from a towed truck trailer

As far as unusual airplane maneuvers go, this seaplane pilot taking off a towed truck trailer has to be up in the very top. And yes, physics always work—given a certain speed, weight and aerodynamic profile, anything would take off. But I wouldn’t try this anyway. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join…

Sploid Jesus Diaz

These Incredible Salt Mines Are Like Another World Beneath Our Feet

Salt mines are special compared to other underground excavation sites: once they are closed for extraction purposes, they can be opened for visitors, or for storage purposes—all because of their unique microclimate with natural air-conditioning and constant temperature and atmospheric pressure all year. Our collection has two main goals: to show how beautiful these artificial…

Tech News Attila Nagy

Would You Buy the XKCD Smartphone?

The trouble with smartphones is that they virtually all the same these days. But Randall Munroe’s concept smartphone is certainly… different. The XKCD phone would certainly make you stand out from the crowd. But you better read the small print first: Presented in partnership with Qualcomm, Craigslist, Whirlpool, Hostess, LifeStyles, and the US Chamber of…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

This Hubless Bicycle Folds to the Size of an Umbrella

Folding bicycles are wonderful, but by and large they have to strike a compromise: large wheels and limited portability, or small pack-size but with tiny little wheels. This slightly strange hubless bike promises a solution to that problem. The Sada Bike promises standard bicycles dimensions—it uses 26-inch wheels—but its hubless design means that, as the…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

You Are Really Lonely When One Of Your Neighbors Is This Close

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has just captured another Pale Blue Dot image while orbiting Saturn. The difference is that, in this view, unlike the one from July 19, 2013, that featured Earth, the blue orb is Uranus, imaged by Cassini for the first time. So that tiny dot hanging out there in the blackness of space…

Tech News Attila Nagy

Who Invented the Elevator?

The history of the elevator, if you define it as a platform that can move people and objects up and down, is actually a rather long one. Rudimentary elevators are known to have been in use in ancient Rome as far back as 336 B.C., with the first reference of one built by the talented…

Tech News Emily Upton - TodayIFoundOut.com

A Subterranean Stroll Through NYC’s Newest Train Tunnel

I hope they build this vertical train station one day

How To Recognize The Signs of an Impending Landslide

Your Behavior In This Toilet Is Being Recorded For Analysis

The Carl-Gustaf Looks Like a Bazooka But Shoots Like a Rifle

A Remote Control for Your Smartphone Camera, Built Right Into a Case

These Are The Most Devastating Twisters In The Solar System

Barchan Dunes on Mars

Chat With a Paleontologist About Pterosaurs and the AMNH’s New Exhibit

Guy builds digital computers using strings, weights, and a chessboard

What Life Would Be Like If Skeuomorphism Ruled Our iPad Gestures

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Reusable Rocket Completes Second Test Flight

This Full-Auto Dart Blaster Is a Science-Fueled Dream Gun

T-Mobile Is Still Advertising the First Ever Android Phone

Daredevil seaplane pilot takes off from a towed truck trailer

These Incredible Salt Mines Are Like Another World Beneath Our Feet

Would You Buy the XKCD Smartphone?

This Hubless Bicycle Folds to the Size of an Umbrella

You Are Really Lonely When One Of Your Neighbors Is This Close

Who Invented the Elevator?

Up to $1,550 Off on pCloud: Pay Once, Protect Data Forever for World Backup Day

National Film and Sound Archive of Australia Adds ‘Succulent Chinese Meal’ Guy

Feds Sniffing Around Polymarket After Suspicious Bets

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Don’t Get Too Attached to Any AI App

‘Paradise’ Writer Teases What’s Coming in Season 3 After That Huge Twist

Trump’s New White House App Is Mildly Concerning and Weird for a Lot of Reasons

Bloodsucking Ticks Can Survive Inside Your Home Longer Than You Might Think

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

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