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I knew that NASA wants to send a submarine to explore the oceans of Jupiter’s moon Europa, but I never realized that Europa has more liquid water than Earth even while it’s roughly the size of our Moon. This graphic shows the shocking difference clearly, but there’s more. According to the Planet Habitability Laboratory from…
Like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, sofabeds put two wonderful things into one even awesomer package. People like sitting, and people like sleeping—it’s the perfect combo. So how could a sofabed possibly ever be improved? With an electric mechanism that automatically unfolds and retracts the mattress, with the cushions still attached. The Lampo Motion sofabed is…
A trailer’s one thing, but to get a feel for just how badass Captain America: The Winter Soldier will be, might we recommend this four minute scene? Why yes, yes we might! Captain America: The Winter Soldier debuts in the US on April 4th, which is plenty of time to write up your Robert Redford…
If you were driving through the remote Guadalupe Valley in Baja, you might mistake it for an ancient, dried-up port town: A cavalcade of overturned boats scattered across the desert like whale skeletons. In fact, this is Vena Cava Winery, and those old boats house its production facilities. The project was designed by Alejandro D’Acosta…
When you’re wearing an old-school watch that requires winding every few days, the last thing you want is to look down to discover it stopped ticking hours ago. That’s why mechanical watches usually include a power reserve indicator, but none are as unique as the tiny creature on MB&F’s new Legacy Machine N°1 Xia Hang.…
GIFs are a blast. They can teach you how to knit or learn you some science. They can also make you incredibly anxious. How? Just check these out and you’ll see what I mean. Well, after they finish loading. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.
I love this tower design in Montpellier, France. Those decks are made to chill out and drink vermouth in the summer, but I can imagine flying bikes and cars taking flaying in and out, like launching/landing platforms. Its architects—Sou Fujimoto Architects, Nicolas Laisné Associés and Manal Rachdi Oxo architects—say this 17-story multipurpose tower is “inspired…
The cartoonist of the future wouldn’t have to lift a finger, thanks to tomorrow’s wonderful machines. At least that was the idea behind this 1923 cartoon by H.T. Webster. Americans of the 1920s saw a tremendous explosion in residential electricity adoption. At the start of the decade just 35 percent of Americans had electricity in…
If you’re a college basketball nut in need of a new smartphone, Motorola’s got you covered like a seven-foot defender, with a whole new line of college-themed color combinations you can plaster on a brand new Moto X. Just in time for March Madness! Yes, starting today, you can pick up the very impressive Moto…
This handy gadget stand is more flexible than any case; and it’ll work with a lot more of your products too. Personally, I could see it being a huge help in the kitchen. Anker Multi-Angle Portable Stand for Tablets | $12 MEElectronics M9P Flat Cable In-Ear Headphones | $21 The newest Chromebox is coming out…
Public places are equipped with emergency backup lights so that in the event of a power outage people can find their way to safety. So why shouldn’t your home have that too? The ReadyBright system from Mr. Beams lets you easily install emergency backup lights all around home—which is probably a minefield of toys if…
Spaceship Apple is freaking huge: A 2.8 million square-foot orb on a 176-acre parcel serving 12,000 employees in oh-so-suburban Cupertino. While talking to Architectural Record, architect Norman Foster defended the headquarter’s massive size and weird shape, and revealed some intriguing new details. It’s kind of like a college… With 12,000 employees on site, just think…
Yesterday, the developers of an app called LIVR began cold-calling tech writers. The pitch was fun! A social network you can only access when you’re drunk, thanks to a breathalyzer accessory. If it seems like the platonic ideal of SXSW catnip, that’s because it was engineered to be exactly that. LIVR is a hoax. We…
You are looking at one of the reasons why Stalin-wannabe Vladimir Putin doesn’t want to let go of Crimea: Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Foxtrot Alpha explains why and shows us the Black Sea Feet and its weapons in detail.
An Earth-shaking piece of news hit the drone community on Thursday night. A National Transportation Safety Board judge dismissed a fine that the Federal Aviation Administration had levied against the pilot of a commercial drone. The FAA has no legal authority over small aircraft, the judge said. Whoa, now. The FAA is the agency that’s…
Jason Allemann just built the most awesome computer keyboard you could ever dream up made out of Lego bricks and Technic axles—because everything is awesome when playing with Lego. Starting with the touch membrane from a generic, discarded keyboard, Allemann built the entire key carriage and keyboard out of Lego bits. Every key uses a…
Samsung’s got a new streaming music service called “Milk” that gives free—and importantly, ad-free—tunes to owners of Galaxy devices. The new streaming service is powered by Slacker’s excellent, human-curated catalog and back end. It’s station based radio that learns like any other. What sets it apart is the slick interface that Samsung built. The interface…
Behold this incredibly precise and totally awesome cutaway rendering of a Colt .45 pistol by Ukrainian illustrator Alex Lartsev—aka Abiator. Check out the rest of his work because it’s really amazing: Kalashnikov AK-47. Click here to see the original. A multiple grenade launcher, the Milkor MGL M32. Click here to see the original. See more…
The unfolding drama between Russia and the Ukraine along the Crimean peninsula is developing, rapidly and unpredictably—certainly not in-sync with the orbits of our overhead surveillance assets. But if we could somehow get a few purpose-built (and presumably rapidly-prototyped) cube sats up there, the US Air Force could place extra eyes in the sky on-demand,…
With news this week that the famous Salvation Army—a haven for the homeless on the Bowery—would be replaced with an Ace hotel—a haven for hipsters—some would say it’s the end of an era. But they’d be wrong. That era ended a long time ago. It’s a little too perfect, though. A high-priced hotel drops $30…
