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I’m a huge fan of the work of Daniel Simon, the design wizard behind the spectacular vehicle design in Tron Legacy, Oblivion, the Lotus C-01 motorbike, and countless other machines—like his outstanding Cosmic Motors series. Whenever I look at that his Cosmic Motors book I can’t stop myself from imagining driving his creations in alien…
Major thanks to Geoff Manaugh for having conducted this interview with me on the occasion of my new book, Selected Ambient Works Volume II, part of the great 33 1/3 series. The subject of the book is the 1994 album by Aphex Twin with which it shares its title.
Here’s a thick, chaos-strewn whorl of noise courtesy of the Richmond Tape Club outta Richmond, Virginia. Squelched spoken segments secrete from dense, churning static. There are more than enough looped elements — upward — to lend signal to the noise. Originally posted for free download at soundcloud.com/rvatapeclub.
Seeing a smart cat walk on a treadmill to its plate of food tickles me more than it should. I scream out aww under my constant laughter. I must be a bad person. But let’s be honest. Metaphorically, we’ve all been this cat before. We’ve seen our goal but we kept walking in place not…
On a Friday afternoon in 1999, I went to the matinee showing of a movie that I knew barely anything about. The film ended, the credits rolled, the house lights went up, and no one moved for a very long time. As we stumbled into the daylight, someone verbalized what we were all thinking: Was…
Man, it took me an embarrassingly long time to see her but she’s there all right. The picture above is not a parrot but a woman in bodypaint posing so she looks exactly like a parrot. What a fantastic mind trip. It’s so impressive. Even after seeing the woman, I can still convince myself that…
A beautiful 1960s New York guidebook, crazy scans of amazing insects, and so much more. Welcome, and let us wow you with some of our favorite finds from the worlds of art, architecture, and design from the past week: The 1960s NYC Guidebook That the Czech Secret Police Almost Destroyed Back in 1963, two Czech…
High-end, customizable architecture and design has been on the rise for several years, but it’s starting to grow stale. The new trend lies in foregoing personal comfort altogether and extending that luxury to your cat. Goldtatze, a German company specializing in the “symbiosis of timeless elegance and true naturality,” creates pieces of cat furniture that…
British artist Luke Jerram wants to take over a Bristol high street for an afternoon to set up a massive, 90-meter-long wet and wild joyride. Would you give it a try? Park and Slide is planned as part of the local council’s Make Sunday Special initiative, organizing events for car-free jolly good times, and would…
Bay Area sound critic Marc Weidenbaum—acoustic historian, noise futurist, music instructor, and writer of a brand new book about Aphex Twin—has been blogging about music, electronics, and everyday sounds at his blog Disquiet here at Gizmodo for the last few months. But his writing and music career both go back nearly two decades, and can…
If you don’t cringe and close your eyes a few times watching this seven-minute compilation of close calls with death, you’re probably a robot. I just can’t believe all these people survived these accidents, sometimes by only an inch. And I just can’t believe how some of the people who were almost killed just kept…
Check out these hyperrealistic pencil drawings by Redoskin—spotted by Illusion. It’s hard to believe that they are not photos. A close up of the above: SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook
Where as Roomba—arguably the most popular robot vacuum on the market—uses a tried and true pre-programmed algorithm to randomly explore and clean the floors in your home. Neato’s robotic vacuums—including its new BotVac—use a built-in laser scanner to map a room and plan out the most efficient cleaning route. So besides maximizing its battery life…
This week in our round-up of time capsule news, we have a recently unearthed capsule made from a WWI artillery shell, a new 100-item capsule sealed in Australia, and more disappointed rugrats who were unimpressed by a 25-year-old capsule in New Jersey. Australian capitol city seals 100-item capsule under public art The Canberra City Hall…
Who the hell looks at a 600-foot cliff in South Africa and says “let’s build a rope swing here”? Mike Wilson and Andrew Kirkpatrick, that’s who. Luckily, they filmed the madness as they sent a bunch of their friends flying on the world’s biggest, scariest, craziest rope swing. This thing is so big, they needed…
That’s all folks. Officials announced on Friday that the U.S. government would surrender control over the internet—or at least the administration of the internet. It’s unclear who will take over the responsibility, but as The Washington Post points out, it will almost surely not be the United Nations. You’re probably thinking, “Wait a second… the…
Great news friends! Not only is it Friday, but for the first time in what seems like ages, it’s probably still light out wherever you are. Take a moment, look up, and enjoy a feeble but meaningful blast of Vitamin D before you hunker down to download these sweet new apps. The glow of your…
Smog dims the city of lights; our streetlamps might be driving away bats; and everyone’s least favorite infectious disease, measles, has popped up in yet another city. It’s all in this week’s all-Gizmodo look at What’s Ruining Our Cities. Smog is ruining Paris This week’s smog alert is not coming from Beijing… it’s Paris? Due…
The Elastic Perspective by NEXT Architects offers a handsome hillside perch for a view of nearby Rotterdam, Holland. The steel structure is also a kind of “impossible staircase”—a Möbius strip-like illusion that tricks visitors into thinking the stairs aren’t actually there. [NEXT Architects]
Well, that didn’t last long. Just a little over a week ago, Popcorn Time descended upon the masses as a way to easily (if perhaps not entirely legally) stream torrents straight to your computer. Now, though, amidst pressure regarding piracy, Popcorn Time has officially closed its doors. In a letter on Mediumexplaining its decision to…
