Tech News

NYC’s Touchscreen Subway Maps Are Finally Here, and They’re Amazing

New York subway riders first were promised futuristic touchscreen wayfinding maps a year ago. But the plan to install the futuristic infrastructure stalled as the design team took a step back to improve the hardware. Six months overdue, the first batch is finally live in Grand Central Station. They were worth the wait. Over the…

Inside the military lab where they freeze and cook entire airplanes

Welcome to the U.S. Air Force 46th Test Wing’s McKinley’s Climatic Laboratory at the Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The Climatic Lab, which began testing in 1947, is the largest climate testing facility in the world, a real torture chamber for airplanes. In the laboratory, test engineers can create almost every kind of severe weather…

VSCO Cam, one of our favorite mobile photo editing apps, just received a major update including more seamless integration of the VSCO Grid sharing platform, plus a bevy of UI and tool enhancements. Update now for iOS or Android!

Bees To Humans: We’ll Make Hives Out Of Your Plastic Trash

It’s hard to be a bee these days, what with the sinister—and still mysterious—Colony Collapse Disorder decimating millions of hives over the past decade. But a few highly resourceful Canadian species have started adapting new nesting techniques, using plain old everyday plastic garbage to build their homes. Rather than going for plants and organic matter…

How Much of Your Phone Is Actually Screen?

Sure, you think about how big a phone’s screen is all the time, but how much of a phone’s screen is actually screen? This handy visualization from Post PC shows exactly how your handset stacks up against the rest of the world in screen-to-bezel ratio. The results might surprise you. [@somospostpc via Reddit]

Every Doc and Marty in Back to the Future in one supercut

Dan Murrell’s supercut of every Doc and Marty in Back to the Future is a lot of fun—but I think it could have been perfect if it followed the events in the chronological order of the movies. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

How to Make a More Readable Wikipedia

We love Wikipedia. The idea of a constantly updated knowledge base where everyone is welcome to read and contribute is staggering, and we dip into this great pool of content on an almost daily basis at 1910. However, having spent the last three years learning more about typography have made us aware of it’s limitations.…

The real world Maverick doing one of his crazy Tomcat stunts

Unlike Maverick, Dale “Snort” Snodgrass was a real F-14 Tomcat pilot. The Tomcat pilot, according to the US Navy: He’s considered the “highest time Tomcat pilot, with over 4,800 hours and more than 1,200 arrested carrier landings.” Like Maverick, however, he did some pretty crazy stuff. Like this amazing pass here, taken during a demo…

Urban Explorers Immortalize Forgotten Corners of the Soviet Bloc

Say what you will about urban exploration as a hobby, these guys sure do find some cool shit sometimes. Thank God they take cameras with them. The BBC recently highlighted a group of urban explorers who have visited industrial infrastructure all over the former Soviet Bloc. From massive water pipes (above) to abandoned mines (below),…

A Glimpse at Olympus’ Future of More Awesome Pro Lenses

One of the reasons enthusiasts reach for Olympus even though their cameras feature small-ish micro four thirds sensors is that their lens lineup is terrific. Here is a look at two lenses slated for 2015 that continue to show Olympus’ commitment to high-end glass. The first of the two lenses that Olympus is showing prototypes…

17 Historic Patents That Made Winter Olympic Sports Possible

You might not expect the United States Patent and Trademark Office to be as excited about the Winter Olympics as it is. But this month, office is releasing historic patents that reveal how winter sports emerged. So, who invented the snowboard? The USPTO’s Winter Games Intellectual Protection madness will continue until the Olympics end later…

Mozilla Is Putting Ads in Firefox’s New-Tab Page

There is no escape from consumerism: Mozilla has announced that it is going to start experimenting with promotional tiles in its ‘new tab’ page. Usually when you open a new tab in Firefox you’re presented with your most-visited websites. When you’ve cleared your history or are starting with a fresh installation, those tiles simply appear…

10 Simple Techniques For Photoshop Beginners

Adobe’s Creative Cloud has opened Photoshop up to more beginners than ever thanks to its $10 per month price tag. Here are ten super useful things to learn how to do if you’re using the software for the first time. OK, yes, this tutorial is by Adobe. But, honestly, who better to tell you how…

The First Ever Battery

Fourteen cm in height and eight around, the world’s first battery looked more like primitive pre-Columbian art than an amazing piece of ancient technology. Although most experts agree that the device produced electricity, there is little consensus on what that power was intended to do. Discovery Archaeologists searching for “evidence of Biblical tales like the…

Toyota Is Recalling Millions of Prius Hybrids to Fix a Software Bug

Toyota is recalling 1.9 million Prius hybrids to fix a serious bug in the engine control unit which can cause transistors to overheat—and potentially cause the hybrid system to shut down while driving. The bug can see the car revert to failsafe mode in the case of overheating, and it can still be stopped—but it…

FAA Rule Bans Personal Electronics in the Cockpit

While the Federal Aviation Authority recently changed its regulations to allow passengers to use gadgets more freely, it’s now done exactly the opposite in the cockpit: pilots won’t be able to use personal electronics during flights. Phew? The The Wall Street Journal reports that while cell phones, tablets or computers can be used in the…

Aphex Twin SAW2 Countdown: Track 3 (“Rhubarb”)

I am going to do this track-by-track countdown to the release, on February 13, 2014, the day prior to Valentine’s Day, of my book in the estimable 33 1/3 series. It is a love letter to Aphex Twin’s album Selected Ambient Works Volume II, which will mark its 20th anniversary this year, less than a…

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: Submerged Turntable

submerged turntable pretty why oh I see now because art

Here are the hilarious differences between movies and real life

Are movies set in reality? Of course not! Because if they were, everything would be so much harder to do. Killing zombies with head shots? No chance. Having a villain wait to kill you? Never. Easily order a drink at the bar? Come on. Watch Suricate hilariously illustrate the difference between movies and real life…

Canon G1X Mark II: The Beefy Point and Shoot Gets a Modern Overhaul

The landscape of high-end point and shoots has changed significantly over the past couple of years. Canon’s two-year-old G1 X used to be unique and sought after, but Sony’s RX100 and RX100 Mark II redefined what a point and shoot was capable of. Now it’s Canon’s turn to play catch up. The revamped G1 X…