Tech News

Pipe Crawling Underwater X-Ray Machines Find Leaks Before They Happen

They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, but when it comes to an underwater pipeline carrying oil or natural gas, staying ahead of leaks can actually help prevent a billion dollar cleanup. So researchers at GE are developing an underwater submersible that uses X-rays to check pipelines for signs of…

Hilarious prank makes guy think he’s trapped in a deadly police chase

Poor Travis Okulski—one of Jalopnik’s writers—got pranked hard when NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon disguised as an ex-convict cabbie took him in a police chase. He totally bought into it and I just couldn’t stop laughing. “THIS NEVER ENDS WELL!” https://jalopnik.com/how-jeff-gordon-scared-the-crap-out-of-me-1531016226

What Is Your Favorite Pen?

Yes, this is the internet, but we all still have to write by hand sometimes. I was just in the middle of an interview and my pen ran out of ink. What should I get to replace it? There are so many pens in the world. Does it really make a difference which one you…

The Coolest Cartography in Google’s New Maps Gallery

Google just launched a Maps Gallery, a centralized atlas of maps created by governments, non-profits and other organizations. Though it’s still a nascent project, there’s already a lot of interesting finds in there. The maps in the gallery so far represent organizations like the World Bank, USGS, NASA, and the US Census Bureau—Google says it’ll…

Shooting Challenge: Black & White

The world’s first photograph was murky wash of grays. So as you take black and white photos for this week’s Shooting Challenge, don’t consider yourself an artsy poseur. Call yourself a historian. The Challenge Take a photo in black and white. The Technique Color photography is about vibrance. But when you remove all that, you…

Beautiful time-lapse of The Boneyard, the airplane cemetery in Arizona

Impressive time-lapse video of The Boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, 2,600 acres of desolate desert where 5,000 military airplanes went to die. It makes me sad to look at them, but their decay is truly beautiful. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

If You Can’t Fix Potholes, Use ‘Em For Bottle Service

This bleak winter is ravaging our streets, with AAA reporting new records for flat tires in New York. Meanwhile, in Montreal, two artists decided that if potholes are here to stay, they can at least provide a little levity. Photographer Davide Luciano and food stylist Claudia Ficca took to the streets of Montreal, NYC, Toronto,…

This 1924 Illustration Nails the Real Future of Drone Warfare

It’s no secret that military drones predate the 21st century. But it’s still amazing to see illustrations of unmanned aerial vehicles that are nearly a century old. Like this drone command center from 1924, with pilots sitting 500 miles away from the battlefield. It’s an image that’s strikingly similar to the drone pilots of today.…

Insane Point-of-View Footage of Supercross Riders Battling for the Win

This whole GoPro video, showing riders Ken Roczen and Ryan Villopoto duking it out for the lead at the 450SX Class Supercross race at the Georgia Dome earlier this week, is insane. The video shows the whole race in alternating helmet cam views from both riders’ perspectives. I highly recommend watching the whole thing, but…

This Abandoned NYC Prison Is Being Turned Into a Huge Film Lot

Just a few years ago, the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility housed a thousand or so inmates. But in a few months, this Staten Island prison will be home to one of the largest movie studio in the country outside of the West Coast. Broadway Stages is NYC’s largest film and TV production company; it’s filmed…

World’s oldest cheese found on the chest of a 3,500-year-old mummy

There’s nothing quite like a nice, aged cheese, but even the most adventurous cheese connoisseurs would be put off by a recent discovery from an an ancient Chinese tomb. Archaeologists uncovered perfectly preserved mummies whose chests were sprinkled with extra aged, 3,5000-year-old cheese—the world’s oldest cheese by a long shot. Since dairy has a tendency…

20% Off the Best GoPro, Fitbit Scale, Home Automation Switch [Deals]

Today at REI, treat yourself to the best GoPro you can buy for a solid 20% discount. Usually, the only GoPro savings we ever see are on previous-generation models, so snap this up while you can. GoPro HERO3+ Black Edition ($320) | REI With Coupon Code 126TAKE20 Odds are, you’ve already started accumulating devices that…

How a Modern Rockwell Crafts Dioramas of Not-So-Idyllic American Life

Norman Rockwell captured idyllic moments of American life using paint and canvas. But Thomas Doyle works in a different medium and sees the world around him in a different light. As the folks at Cool Hunting discovered, he uses tiny figures and scale model buildings, designed to accessorize model trains, to make miniature 3D dioramas…

These Autonomous Drones That Flock Like Birds Sound Horrifying

The thing about mad scientists is that they’re both mad and good at science. It seems obvious, but the outcomes are always unexpected. Case and point: this team of Hungarian physicists who created a bunch of autonomous drones that flock like birds. The invasion begins now. For now, the flying drone army is comprised of…

Telephone wires, morning shadows, garbage truck, Steve Reich.

The 6 Biggest Bitcoin Heists in History

Ever since a single Bitcoin became worth a small fortune, there have been people trying to steal them. Sure, there have some small-time thieves who’ve stolen a few hundred dollars worth of Bitcoin here and there. But there have also been heists. Massive, highly orchestrated attacks that lead to millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency…

Obama says US Army is building a real Iron Man and no, he is not joking

Last Tuesday President Obama met with top engineers and Pentagon people. He publicly said: “Basically, I’m here to announce that we’re building Iron Man […] Not really. Maybe. It’s classified.” People laughed, but the truth is that yes, the US military is building Iron Man, and the first prototypes are coming in this June. First,…

How a Mass Whale Graveyard Ended Up Beneath a South American Highway

Connecting Alaska to Argentina, the Pan-American Highway runs some 30,000 miles north to south. Construction to widen the highway briefly stopped, however, to make way for dead whales back in 2010, when workers digging through a remote stretch of the Chilean desert found a huge trove of bones millions of years old. Now, scientists think…

Interdimensional portal to hell opens in Norway—or something like that

I guess this “Norefjell 2014-01-05. En stille skitur, plutselig skjer det noe 50 meter fra løypa. Kraftlinje på 132 kV tilhørende EB nett. Overslaget varte i minst 5 minutt” roughly translates to “Norefjell January 5, 2014. Bad news people, an interdimensional portal 50 meters high has opened in the forest. 132 demons have went through…

​Boeing’s Bird of Prey: A Prototype Jet Worthy of the Klingon Empire

From the U-2 Dragon Lady and A-12 Oxcart, to the SR-71 Blackbird and D-12 Ramjet Drone, there’s been no shortage of exotic aircraft (and UFO sightings) in the skies over Nevada’s Area 51. But among the most extreme examples of bleeding-edge avionic design tested was the otherworldly Boeing Bird of Prey. https://gizmodo.com/what-its-like-to-fly-a-top-secret-spy-plane-a-live-con-5921228 https://gizmodo.com/the-thrill-of-flying-the-sr-71-blackbird-5511236 One of…