Tech News

Here’s NYC’s Awesome 2014 Bike Map

New York City is getting more and more bike-friendly each day. And today is no exception: The city just released its official bike map for 2014. You can download the guide to five borough’s worth of bike lanes right here. But if you don’t want to carry around a paper map, you can also get…

The Most Embarrassing Proof That The USSR Lost The Space Race

What you can see above are two articles from a Hungarian alphabet book, called Ablak-Zsiráf (Window-Giraffe), first issued in 1971—the year Apollo 14 and 15 landed on the Moon and when the third Soviet moon rocket exploded 51 seconds after liftoff during a test flight. So, in this children book, which is full of communist…

Hiccup and Toothless Are Mapping The World In Movie Sneak Peek

Yahoo Movies, in conjunction with DreamWorks Animation, has released the first five minutes of How To Train Your Dragon 2. Not all of the footage is particularly new, but there are a few bits we haven’t seen before. And even the stuff we have seen is given a bit more context. So enjoy this latest…

That Time Cleveland Released 1.5 Million Balloons and Chaos Ensued

Balloons! They’re fun, delightfully whimsical environmental disasters. And in 1986, a mass balloon release in Cleveland went really, really wrong, when 1.5 million helium-filled floaters were let loose into the sky, got caught in a storm, drifted down to earth, and caused a hell of a lot of problems. The whole crazy scheme—known as Balloonfest…

A study by researchers at Ohio State University shows that households spent 10 percent less at Amazon in states where online sales tax introduced. Because, of course it did.

Lytro’s New Professional-Grade, Light Field Camera Is a Serious Stunner

Two years ago, a little startup called Lytro shook up the world of photography by introducing the world’s first light field camera. It hasn’t replaced normal cameras, but now Lytro’s got a new toy: professional-grade model and software platform. After you see what this camera can do, you’ll never look at still pictures the same.…

The Ugly SpaceX Launch is Beautifully Illustrated

The Falcon 9 launch last week was a successful in that only things that were supposed to blow up did, but the overcast skies made for underwhelming photographs. Thankfully, artist Wendy Clark brought out the dramatic beauty in a new sketch. A larger version of the picture is available on her shop.

Who Should Control the Internet?

This week, the world’s nations gather to discuss the influence the US wields over the internet and in particular ICANN—the web’s logistical core. But who, exactly, should have the keys to the internet? The U.S. Department of Commerce has already agreed to give up its control of ICANN—the body which coordinates the Internet’s global domain…

Your Internet Connection Is Almost Certainly Slower Than Advertised

Does your internet always seem too slow? Chances are, it is: a study by the Wall Street Journal suggests that the majority of ISPs deliver slower speeds than they advertise. The research, put together using data from Ookla and its online speed test Speedtest.net, shows that the majority of 800 cities studied suffer far slower…

How to Mold a Brain

Our brains are inherently plastic, and can be easily shaped to change our behavior. In this video Crash Course looks at the history of psychology to explain how possible to mold our grey matter Kicking off with Pavlov and his bells and then taking a deep dive into some of the most controversial psychology experiments…

Rumor: Danny Boyle to Direct Steve Jobs Movie With Leonardo di Caprio

The Hollywood Reporter claims that producers are tapping up Danny Boyle and Leonardo di Caprio to take on the the latest in a string of Steve Jobs flicks. Rumor has it that the director of Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, and more recently even the London Olympics opening ceremony is to take on the movie after Aaron…

Airbnb Is Banning Thousands of Dubious New York City Listings

Bad luck, suspicious subletters: Airbnb is in the process of removing over 2,000 New York City listings that aren’t “providing a quality, local experience to guests.” It’s not clear what a lack of “quality, local experience to guests” actually means, but it does come on the back of an affidavit filed by the state Attorney…

Apple Now Recycles Any Product You Give Back (and Gives You Credit)

Starting today, all of Apple’s retail stores will accept any of the company’s ageing products for recycling—and, if it looks resaleable, you might even get some store credit, too. The scheme is part of Tim Cook’s ambition to “leave the world better than we found it.” As of today, then, Apple will provide “free, responsible…

Ridiculously powerful handheld cannon blows up on the street

Never get in a street fight in Poland because you never know what kind of garage made weapons they’ll bring out against. Like this makeshift cannon that can bring the boom like no other. The noise alone is intimidating. Eastern Europe seems like such a fun place for crazy people to do crazy stuff in…

Finally, a Beer as Glorious as Kim-Jong Un Himself

Taedonggang Beer. Everybody’s favorite Dear Leader likes it and, therefore, so do you. Go on out right now and buy a few cases—show us all how much you like it. No, seriously, right now or you’re off to the work camps along with everyone you know.

Holy crap, watch this man narrowly escape getting hit by a train

This 77-year-old man from the Czech Republic has never been luckier. As he foolishly scurries across a train track, the man mis-times his walk and almost gets killed by a speeding train. The train comes so close to hitting him on the tracks that it actually does. His foot is clipped by the train and…

Man, look how crazy close Blue Angels fighter jets fly together

Absurd. Like seriously. Look at this fleet of Blue Angels fighter jet planes fly in a perfect pattern in a practice session. The flight pattern they were practicing, I’m assuming here, is called “Let’s get these flying metal beasts as close as possible so that one inch of a mistake will kill us all”. I…

Here’s All The Crazy Biz From Adventure Time’s Season 6 Premiere

Holy Schram! Last night’s season premiere of Aventure Time was packed to the brim with major developments and general insanity. Don’t read on if you missed it or spoilers aren’t your thing, because there will be some big-time reveals below, plus pictures. You have been warned! The first part of the episode starts off with…

Experimental Music + Extraterrestrials + Earth Day

Tomorrow night, April 22, at 7pm I’m giving a guest talk at SETI, famously the acronym for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. It’s free if you’re in the neighborhood, by which I mean Mountain View, California, not our galaxy. April 22 happens to be Earth Day, and what better day than Earth Day to address…

What was inside the briefcase and other obscure Pulp Fiction facts

We all know that Quentin Tarantino is a petty whiny dickhead who steals all his plots from other movies, ripping off scene after scene, and recombining them into silver nitrate milkshakes. But I enjoyed Pulp Fiction anyway. If you did too, you’ll like these nine factoids—which include the real content of Marsellus Wallace’s briefcase. SPLOID…