Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Look at this terrifying translucent glowing monster floating in the sea, patiently waiting to suck in its prey as soon as it comes near it. Oh my god. Gross. What a horrible disgusting thing. But the honey badger doesn’t care, because he’s not a phytoplankton. And the monster is not a real monster anyway. See,…
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a thing falling off a building is in want of slow motion. And if you needed any proof, here’s a big ol’ heap. The folks over at Distort have done some pretty incredible footage with battling robots and thermite, but they’re not above a little, vanilla “droppin’ stuff…
Secretary of State John Kerry ran his mouth on Pakistani TV Thursday, vowing problematically that drone strikes “will end as we have eliminated most of the threat and will continue to eliminate it.” That’s like saying you’ll stop drinking as soon as you’re out of booze. Muddled promise aside, this is at least a step…
This is a very real and current look at one sad parent’s Netflix recommendations. What did this “Ken” watch last? Woody Allen’s very adult, very talky classic Manhattan. But Netflix is making recommendations based on the 50 consecutive superhero cartoons his kids watched last week. Is there finally a way to be free from this…
I can’t stop watching this guy burn through different materials with a preposterously intense laser that he built into a Zippo case. Metal, plastic, wood, rubber—these are no match for the laser lighter. Uhh, this is dangerous. The video is a tad slow, but the destruction is worth it. (It starts to get good about…
Amazon’s got a brand new feature. It’s Pinterest! Basically. Meet Amazon Collections. Like any good Pinterest, Amazon Collections lets users flesh out their hopes and dreams in a series of visual lists, starting with the default topics “My Style,” “Want List” and “Possibilities.” And of course, you can buy anything and everything on the spot.…
How big is the new Triple-E cargo ship? The containers from one fully loaded vessel would fill Times Square and rise as high as the skyscrapers. Imagine trying to get that thing in and out of port! And then stop imagining it and watch this actual video of the Mc-Kinney Moller piloted into what looks…
https://vimeo.com/71337390 The newly constructed Triple-E line of cargo ships from Emma Maersk are massively, enormously huge vessels. They dwarf even the mightiest aircraft carriers, displacing some 165,000 metric tons, so parking one can be just a wee bit of a challenge. But the crew aboard the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller make it look easy, even thought…
Google’s Chromecast streaming TV dongle is once again available from Best Buy (Update: it’s on 1-2 week backorder again). As before, the unit costs $35, with free shipping. With lots of capability and a steadily increasing list of streaming services supporting it, Chromecast sold out quickly when it first hit the market. If you were…
H&M—which previously offered online shopping to parts of Europe—finally has a virtual store for U.S. customers. And you won’t have to queue up at a brick-and-mortar location for its upcoming Isabel Marant collection—the site will even sell H&M’s designer collaborations.
Here’s visual proof that The Simpsons contains references to almost every popular movie ever filmed—if not all of them. And many less popular cult movies too. It’s amazing to watch them all together. https://kotaku.com/every-single-movie-reference-in-the-first-ten-seasons-o-979183991
A person who takes drugs dressed Lionel Messi up in a suit with a bunch of LEDs on it and filmed him at 1000fps with a Phantom camera. I can’t stop watching it. This is a commercial for an adidas shoe or something, but whatever. It’s just mesmerizing watching the little maestro run around like…
One of the most incredible things about Brooklyn—and New York City in general—is the consistent commingling of the young and the old, the modern and the antiquated. And never have we seen anything that captures this quality quite like Thomas Rhiel’s visualization of Brooklyn, which maps every building based on the year it was constructed.…
Rejoice, for today, the Lego Back to the Future set has officially gone on sale. For $35, you can get your very own DeLorean time machine along with minifigs of Marty McFly and Doc Brown. Great Scott! Limit two per customer. What are you waiting for? [Lego]
For the past 80 years, there’s only been one way to see the inside of the Park Avenue Tunnel: By car, rocketing through the darkened chute towards Grand Central. But on Saturday, for the first time ever, the tunnel will be open to pedestrians, and host to an unusual art installation—one that reportedly has the…
In 1940, 5,000 French officers were held as prisoners of war in a German camp called Oflag 17A. There were thousands of captive soldiers in similar camps all across Germany, but these inmates had an advantage other prisoners could only dream of: a secret camera, smuggled in from the outside world. The footage—and their story—is…
If Playing God taught us anything, it’s that surgeons with shaky hands and crippling prescription painkiller addictions are not long for their profession. That’s why robots like the Da Vinci have assumed the lead in delicate laparoscopic procedures. But their electronic joints’ sharp movements can be just as damaging to a patient’s innards in the…
Spitbank Fort is one of those spots you read about in an Alexander Dumas novel. It’s a gritty, grey, Victorian-era fortress with a dark past and nothing but miles of water on all sides. And it’s the perfect place for a romantic weekend the next time you’re on the coast of England. One of three…
New York-based journalist Michele Catalano claims that if you search for backpacks and then for pressure cookers, “six agents from a joint terrorist task force” will show up at your door to question you. Update: It wasn’t the NSA, though, but a tip from a local source. [Images by ShutterStock] https://whitenoise.kinja.com/yes-the-fbi-is-tracking-americans-google-searches-981986667
I’m about to go on a vacation and I’m thinking about leaving all of my gadgets behind, save for my iPhone. When you take a vacay, what do you take with you, and what do you purposely leave home? We’ve asked you before how active you are on social media when you’re vacationing, but what…
