Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Everyone’s favorite Red Hot Nickel Ball has taken on a rogue’s gallery of adversaries in its day, with varying levels of success. Now the spherical metal “rock” is taking on its greatest challenger ever: paper. To keep things slightly interesting, the RHNB took on not only a single sheet, but 10 sheets, and 50 too.…
For the first time ever, the Hubble Space Telescope has observed water plumes on the icy crust of Europa. The Jovian moon is one of the most likely worlds to contain life in the Solar System. According to Lorenz Roth—who headed the team that made the discovery—”this is tremendously exciting.” No kidding. Above: NASA’s artist…
Instagram’s private messaging service, Instagram Direct, is finally here. Why, though, with so many photo-messaging apps at our fingertips already, would you use a private channel for your filtered, edited, and enhanced brunches and sunsets? The same reason we do anything—sex. Dick pic, meet Kelvin. To hear Instagram tell it, the photo service has become…
Earlier this year, toy camera makers Lomography undertook the challenge of reverse-engineering the classic Petzval portrait lens from the the 19th century for today’s DSLRs. It was a Kickstarter, which always makes us a little queasy. Well it worked, and now you can pre-order the real thing. The lenses are available for pre-order ahead of…
Guaranteeing supreme festive superiority for any tree it hangs on, this glowing Death Star ornament is actually a fun DIY project you can use to keep any kids—or restless adults—entertained leading up to the holidays. And the project lets you blur the line between being the Emperor and Martha Stewart—a line that may not actually…
Normally coffee gets you all hyped up, but this slow motion footage of an espresso shot being pulled is so relaxing I can hardly take my eyes off it. The silky stream of creamy, coffee goodness was shot at 120 fps by YouTuber skunkay, and it’s a almost as good as drinking some yourself. So…
This month in Oslo, an architecture student named Martin McSherry presented a controversial idea to a gathering of cemetery and funeral professionals. The topic? His design for a “vertical cemetery” that could, in theory, solve Norway’s growing graveyard conundrum. In McSherry’s vision for Oslo—which he presented at the Oslo Conference for Nordic Cemeteries and Graveyards—the…
At today’s mystery press event, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom officially announced the much rumored Instagram private message system, Instagram Direct. Instead of sending photos to your entire feed, you can finally send photos and videos to both individual friends and groups of friends. And in very much the same way read receipts work on Facebook…
It seems like every other day there is a new dreamy, stupifyingly beautiful timelapse video of some location around the globe. It’s a tried and true form for wowing us internet denizens, but rarely do we get to meet the people behind those thousands of shutter clicks. The Creators Project recently visited with timelapse photographer…
This solid-looking structure appears to be made out of plastic—or some equally sturdy polymer. But get a little closer, and you’ll find it’s made of… salt? Created by additive manufacturing startup Emerging Objects, this structure is made of 3D-printed panels of humble old salt. We’ve spoken to these guys about smaller projects involving salt in…
Talk about excuses: US orders of Motorola’s Moto G are delayed due to severe weather conditions. So blame the snow, right?
Adobe has released Lightroom 5.3, which contains bug fixes as well as RAW support for the latest cameras like the Sony A7/A7r. Grabbit!
This Friday, Walmart will slash iPhone 5C prices to just $27 with a two-year AT&T or Verizon contract. Kick in another hundred bucks, and you can jump up to an iPhone 5S. Both prices will last through December 24th. [LA Times via Business Insider]
Like the Beta vs. VHS and HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray battles of years gone by, wireless charging technology has had a difficult time establishing itself thanks to dueling standards. But a new challenger, the Alliance 4 Wireless Power and its consumer-friendly Rezence brand, might finally have what’s needed to take wireless charging mainstream. And how does…
If you’re tired of modern computing this morning, how about starting your day using an Amiga 500? Thanks to Google developer Christian Stefansen you can do just that, and it’s awesome. Stefansen has just published his Amiga 500 emulator, which carefully recreates the 1980s OS as a Web app that runs in Chrome. Pulling together…
Hiring you and your car out on Lyft can be an amusing experience—especially if Ice Cube, Kevin Hart and Conan are the people who want to get a lift. The results are, as you’d expect, hilarious. Watch it now, I implore you. You won’t regret it. [Team Coco]
Hungry? Sorry, you’re outta look. While this box might look like it’s stuffed full of cookies, you’re actually looking at a cool new set of wall hangers. Designed by Andrea Brugnera, these Frolle wooden hooks come in assorted cookie shapes, and either a brown or cream trim, to make them look like they’ve been dunked…
Here you will find beautiful things; awesome photos, illustrations, and videos; design from the future; weird and wonderful happenings; scientific discoveries that may change the world—all the stuff that honestly make us go “oh wow, that’s so cool.” Here you won’t find fake and cheap viral crap. What we decide publish are the things that…
To date, there has been no way to run apps on Android with real and reliable privacy controls. Android version 4.3 and higher take a huge step in the right direction, letting users install apps while denying some of the apps’ attempts to collect the user’s data. Android was built from scratch to have quite…
Back in July, Asiana Flight 214 crashed at San Francisco International Airport. Now, the National Transportation Safety Board has explained that the accident occurred because the pilot didn’t understand the plane’s computerized auto-throttle system. According to interviews with the flight crew, pilot Lee Kang-kuk set the throttles to idle, believing on-board computers would keep the…
