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One of four shortlisted designs shortlisted for a new arts center in Arnhem, the Netherlands, this twisted cube by Bjarke Ingels Group curved upward at each midpoint to create public park space underneath its eves. Let’s just hope those mirrored louvres don’t light any fires. [Rijnboog]
In the 1980s Irina Margareta Nistor worked as a translator of TV programs in Romania under the Communist regime. But in her spare time she secretly dubbed over 3,000 banned movie titles, all VHS tapes smuggled in from the West. These tapes quickly spread throughout Romania. Nobody knew Nistor’s name. But everybody knew her voice.…
Remember that great episode of The Magic Schoolbus, where the class took a field trip through the human body? This little chip could be as close as we ever need to get to that dream, by providing a real-time 3D view from within the heart and blood vessels. The device, whipped up by a team…
Windows are kind of a drag for airplanes—literally. They add extra weight, weaken the body, and generally slow the aircraft down. That’s why the new Spike S-512 Supersonic Jet won’t have any. Instead, passengers get to enjoy their sky-high surroundings on real-time, panoramic video screens. It sounds a little silly, but it’s true. The $80…
While you were busy worrying about the NSA spying on you, artist -slash- software developer Lauren McCarthy made an app called Crowdpilot. It lets everybody spy on you. Actually, Crowdpilot is a little more specific than that. The basic idea behind the iPhone app is to let people listen in on your phone calls so…
Worrying about the Big One is so passé. What you should really be worried about are the Big ONES. Yep: chances are, it won’t be a single large earthquake that takes California out, it will be multiple, large earthquakes. Or perhaps you’d prefer to use the official Sharknado-esque term: “earthquake storms.” This is the terrifying…
As usual, every single time I see one of these movie remakes as an 8-bit retro game I feel the nostalgia of playing something that I never played. Their version of Inception is, once again, impeccable. I wish these people made games instead of just videos. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join…
NYC’s East Side Access Project continues apace, and these recent images, taken last month by MTA photographer Rehema Trimiew, show a whole new view of the mind-boggling underground caverns now being constructed beneath Manhattan. From raw walls of exposed geology to this, the space is finally taking on the look and feel of architecture. Like…
Bilbao. Great city, great people, great food—and one of the worst airports in the world.* The winds over its runways are crazy. Check out this video of an aborted landing filmed last Friday. Madness. Here’s a close-up of another recent crosswind landing, which is spectacular because of the zoom factor: And if you want more…
Despite the advent of machines designed specifically for drying clothes, the lowly clothespin has still found a way to stay relevant and useful to us after all these years. And with the addition of a simple LED bulb, it looks like clothespins will remain useful for many years to come. The obvious use for this…
Photography is most generally thought of as an endeavor that freezes the outside world, whether it be far-off habitats, strange civilizations, or everyday life. In a new exhibition at MoMa, A World of Its Own: Photographic Practices in the Studio, attention is drawn inward, to the weird an eclectic goings-on of a photographer’s private space.…
Forty-thousand tons of rock salt meant for New Jersey’s icy roads is currently banned from so much as entering the Port of Newark. The reason? A nearly century-old maritime law that requires shipping vessels to fly the American flag. Naturally. This winter has been particularly brutal on the Northeast, which has been hit by snowstorm…
Shocking video of a US Army infantry outpost hit the web today, showing an airstrike gone awry. The soldiers are waiting for the strike to take out a group of Taliban soldiers, when a 500-pound bomb explodes just a few feet from their outpost. A 500-pound American bomb. Funker530 posted the video along with a…
The most shocking part of “Generation Like,” PBS’s new Frontline documentary about youth media culture, occurs when a bunch of teenagers confess they don’t know what the term “sell-out” means. This term, so vital to the identities of at least three generations that had come before them, didn’t register as something negative. In fact, it…
Netflix is great for discovering new movies and TV shows. You just keep scrolling and scrolling, browsing away but never watching anything. Good news! Now you can do as much aimless browsing as you want, and save money, with Netflix’s $5 a month “browse endlessly” plan, as The Onion reports. Man, this spoof really hits…
There’s something hypnotic about watching vehicles crash and roll, especially knowing that only the test dummies are in danger. However, in this image-stabilized clip, the car doesn’t seem to be the one rolling, but rather the entire world around it. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook
There’s a veritable menagerie in this week’s landscape reads: domesticated sheep, archeologist rabbits, robot cockroaches, and acidified limpets. The Sheep Days of Central Park Today, the grassy slopes of Central Park’s Sheep Meadow are populated by sunbathers and picnickers. As its name implies, however, it was once home to a flock of sheep—a park attraction…
Gentrification can’t stop, won’t stop. Artist and programmer Justin Blinder grabbed cached images from Google Street View featuring construction sites in Brooklyn and Manhattan over the past four years, then joined before-and-after pics together in a pretty eye-opening series he calls Vacated. He sourced the sites with a little help from the NYC Department of…
Last week, a woman was set to stand trial for violating a restraining order taken out by her estranged daughter. The violation? Following her daughter’s Pinterest page. Pinterest—traditionally known as a mecca for bakers, brides-to-be, and knitting enthusiasts—might seem like one of the more benign social networks, but even it isn’t immune to the internet’s…
You think rents are high in San Francisco? Try Williston, North Dakota. No wait, don’t—there’s nowhere to live. According to a new study by Apartment Guide, the most expensive rents in the country can be found in this relatively tiny North Dakota town. The study looks at the price for “entry level apartments,” defined as…
