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The average New Yorker generates about three pounds of trash every day, and a huge amount of that is food waste—which could be composted, if only we had the space. Enter “Green Loop,” a proposal to build massive composting islands off the coastline of NYC. “We send trucks millions of miles every year, creating traffic,…
It’s that time of year — the Earth Observatory is pitting gorgeous photo against gorgeous photo in a tournament to pick the best of 2013. Set up a betting bracket, then vote the best photos in each of 4 categories. Need more enticement to spend your Monday afternoon eyeballing the Earth? Here’s a few of…
Tech companies don’t exactly have have the best track record when it comes to marketing to women—obviously. But after running damage control on horrible campaign after horrible campaign, you’d think they’d try to avoid making the same mistakes again—and you’d be wrong. Enter Microsoft’s new all-in-one lady commercial. In attempting to make its all-in-one tabets…
For most writers, the idea of a retreat is a wistful fantasy. That’s because many writers live in the city, and the subway doesn’t go to that perfectly reclusive cabin in the woods. So what’s a writer to do? Well, you could just build a cabin in your backyard, like this guy. An unnamed writer…
Captain Dave Anderson recently took his DJI Phantom 2 for a spin off the coast of San Clemente, California and spotted something amazing. As the drone took flight, it captured the amazing sight of thousands of common dolphins stampeding towards the Pacific Ocean. And then came the humpback whales. It’s not unusual for Capt. Dave…
Is it beyond the bounds of reason, in view of our recent progress, to imagine that the day is coming when, by touching a button on some convenient part of our anatomy, we may get in tune with a central wireless, typeless, inkless, pulpless, paperless, newsless distributing agency that will telepathically convey to us the…
In a time when business cards seem more obsolete than ever, more and more people are coming up with fantastic ways to modernize them. And no one will probably make a better first impression than Kevin Bates, who created this business-card-sized Game Boy clone called the Arduboy that’s just 1.6 millimeters thick. As the name…
The British Heart Foundation has released a Lego-fied version of their popular “Hard and Fast” CPR video, featuring professional tough guy Vinnie Jones. This how-to video will certainly come in handy the next time your minifig stops breathing. You’re reading Leg Godt, the blog with the latest Lego news and the most awesome Lego models…
The 43-story De Rotterdam is Europe’s largest building. Inside, however, it’s a study in how to live inside a small space: The behemoth’s tiniest unit is only 645 square feet, yet because it’s kitted out with incredible transforming furniture, it functions like a five room apartment. The building opened earlier this year after 16 years…
Sony’s MDR-10 headphones have a great reputation, and you can get a wired or Bluetooth pair today from Amazon for $50 off their normal asking price. Sony MDR10R Stereo Wired Headphones | $100 Sony MDR10RBT Stereo Bluetooth Headphones | $150 There’s no shortage of external chargers out there, butthis Intocircuit pack features a truly gargantuan…
I like these old photosof F-22 Raptors firing AIM-9M Sidewinder missiles from their hidden weapons bay. Especially the way this one curves looking for its targets, photographed from the top at the firing range over Point Mugu, California. The ones belowshow the very first time that a Raptor fired an air-to-air missile. Check out as…
Even when a patient recovering from surgery is strong enough to get out of bed, they’re still usually tethered to an IV bag for medication—which means they have to drag around one of those awkward IV poles even when just going to the bathroom. But if they’re strong enough, they might soon be able to…
Planet Earth is falling apart. It sounds a bit dramatic when you put it in such stark terms, but, in many ways, it’s true. The list of endangered species grows every year as humans bulldoze more habitats and belch more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. What’s an environmentalist to do? Build a biodome, of course!…
You know how the Galaxy Note 3 has faux-leather backing? And also a few of Samsung’s PRO tablets? It doesn’t end there. The Chromebook 2 is your first pleather Chromebook. That doesn’t make it a premium product, no. But it’s kind of a nice touch! Samsung’s new Chromebook 2 comes in two flavors—11.6 inches and…
Your browser is in all your devices. Hell, you can even get it in your watch if you’re down with that. And in the Microsoft world, its next destination is your living room wall. Microsoft Research has cooked up a prototype of something called SurroundWeb, a holodeck-style system that finds the flat surfaces in a…
Alright, so technically it was the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) that was founded today in 1915, and it took 43 years and a name-change to be NASA, but whatever. Happy 99th-ish birthday, robot-loving, spacecraft-happy star-explorers!
If the screen below has ever popped up as you were supposedly logging into Netflix, we’ve got some bad news for you. No, it’s not your Netflix account—that’s perfectly safe (at least for now). But if you followed the instructions on the screen, you’ve been duped by a new phishing scheme that seems so painfully…
The funniest thing that happened yesterday involving famous actors didn’t happen at the Oscars. It was this trailer for a fake movie featuring Ben Kingsley, Gary Oldman, Mandy Patinkin, Kevin Spacey as Keyboard Cat and Chistoph Waltz as Hamster on a Piano. It’s hilarious. At least seeing some of my favorite actors ever doing completely…
National Geographic’s photo of the day is, as usual, spectacular: a bluefin tuna about to eat its prey while it swims at extremely high speed. Taken by Brian Skerry, it’s part of a series featured in their March 2014 issue titled Quicksilver. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook
Mount Everest might be the be-all, end-all of mountaineering, but it’s also a dumping ground for the climbers striving upon its face—which is littered, as National Geographic puts it, “with garbage leaking out of the glaciers and pyramids of human excrement befouling the high camps.” This week, Nepal announced a new rule aimed at cleaning…
