Tech News

All the Hidden Chemicals That Are Lurking In Your Coffee

Caffeine. For most of us, that’s the only chemical compound in coffee that’s worth a damn. But that’s far from the only thing that’s hiding in that simmering cup of black (or light brownish) glory that you suck down every morning. Cockroach pheromones? Rotting meat-smell? Check and check. Drink up! [Wired via Neatorama]

A Mobius Strip Track Makes Magnet Hovercrafts Even Cooler

Superconducting magnets are freakin’ awesome. You should know this already. But the folks at the Royal Institution took it a step further with their futuristic upside-down, Möbius strip track that’s fit for a racing game set in 21xx. Hopefully this is what the Hot Wheels of the future are like. Err, “Hot Superconducting Magnets,” I…

Want Vine on your Kindle Fire? Well now you can have it. Enjoy!

It’s Almost Worth Breaking Your Arm for this Crazy 3D-Printed Cast

Plaster casts are bulky, obnoxious, heavy, inevitably sweaty, occasionally pink. In short, they are no fun. But this 3D-printed “Cortex” cast could change all that. Sure, it looks a little like a fishnet stocking, but have you seen a old-fashioned cast lately? A conceptual project designed by a Victoria University of Wellington graduate with the…

Cross-Section Bullets Are Beautiful for Something That Could Kill You

When it isn’t being fired at or around you, ammunition can be kind of beautiful. We’ve already seen the striking beauty of exploding bullets trapped in plexiglass, but photographer Sabine Pearlman found a different, but equally awesome bullet-photography approach: cutting them in half. https://gizmodo.com/exploding-bullets-frozen-in-plexiglass-are-hauntingly-b-610736872 Her photo series AMMO, conisists of shots of the innards of…

These Heartbreaking Ads Show How Useless Facebook Likes Can Be

We toss around likes as if they were high fives on the Internet. As affirmation of people doing the right thing. As oh hey look cool. As being silly and ironic. As the digital form of support. As a hug. As a fist bump. But what do those thumbs up actually do? Boosts someone’s ego?…

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: All Circles (NSFW)

Jeez, sink a spear into one alegorical elephant-man’s chest cavity and the whole of human history is doomed to strife and pestillence. Great aim cro-moron. Michael P. Heneghan directed this brain-bending claymation music video for Philly-based rock quintet, mewithoutYou, for the band’s 5th studio album, Ten Stories.

You Can Use Digg Reader Now

Just in time! On the weekend before Google Reader is set to mercilessly kill itself off, Digg Reader has opened its arms to everyone. After being in beta, Digg Reader is ready for public release. It’s a simple process. Just head here. Link up your Google account and Digg Reader will show everything you had…

This Week’s Top Comedy Video: Reggie Makes Music with Aziz Ansari

Combining the genius of Reggie Watts with the ridiculousness of Aziz Ansari can only mean good things. How good? A sweet serenade about eating sandwiches, tolerant veganism, muenster cheese and female attraction. Yeah, I know. I sing about those four exact things every day too. The rest of this week’s comedy videos, including behind the…

Apple Is Finally Going to Ditch Samsung’s Chips

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has finally signed a deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co to make its guts for future iPhones and iPads. Specifically, TSMC will start mass-producing 20 nanometer chips for Apple in 2014, paving way for longer battery life in Samsung-less iPhones and iPads. The Apple pact with TSMC…

A Lot of Cameras Are Going to Change in the Tiniest Way Possible

If you use a Sony or Fujifilm camera or Nokia phone or anything like that, you may notice a slight difference in future editions of your favorite camera and phones. The iconic Carl Zeiss imprint on the camera lens will now be just ZEISS. I guess they were growing tired of non photogs asking who…

Idiot Teens Destroy Largest Lego Helicopter Ever—Update: Two Arrested

On Thursday a group of idiotic teens destroyed the largest Lego helicopter in the world, the 100,000-piece Erickson Air-Crane. Built by Ryan McNaught over the course of six weeks, the pieces alone are valued at $25,000. Update: two imbeciles have been caught. The massive 13-foot-long (4 meters), 3.2-foot-tall (1 meter) model was on display at…

Pixies – Bagboy

Just two weeks after their long-time (albeit intermittently involved) bassist Kim Deal left the band, the Pixies are back! And for the first time in nearly a decade, they’re debuting a new song: Bagboy. “The lyrics, coincidentally, were composed at a Starbucks Coffee in Harvard Square in Cambridge, about a hundred feet from where, 25…

Most Beautiful Items: June 22 – June 28, 2013

From churches to iOS glitch art, we found a wide variety of beautiful items on the internet this week. Sure, you’re on the cusp of the weekend, but before you go, take a second to binge on some of the wonders of the worlds of art architecture, and design from the last few days. Live…

Corkscrew Lasers Are About to Revolutionize Internet Bandwidth

We transmit almost a thousand petabytes of data over the ‘nets every month—an amount that’s growing exponentially, thanks to your narcissistic obsession with Snapchat. In fact, we’re quickly closing in on the limits of how much data optical fiber can transmit. Luckily, scientists at Boston University recently unveiled what could be the next generation of…

iPhone Apps of the Week: Visual 2.0, Foresee, and More

Welcome to the weekend, friends. Need to give your bike a tuneup? Start preparing yourself for your upcoming bereavement of Google Reader? What about getting some outdoor activity? Or maybe you’re just looking to cower under your tinfoil hat and mull over the PRISM scandal for a while? Well lucky you, we have just the…

iPad Apps of the Week: NoteSuite, Morning, and More

For whatever reason, this week saw more awesome iPad apps coming to our attention than we’ve seen in a while. And what’s more, a lot of them are only for iPad—iPhone needs be damned. So if you’re someone who’s Pad is king, you’re going to like what we’ve got in store this week. Foresee: If…

Android Apps of the Week: WiFiKill Downloader, Imgur, and More

This week was a little light on Android app quantity, but the quality of the ones we do have for you is pretty fantastic. Perhaps not entirely, well, 100% ethical in a certain WiFiKiller’s case—but fantastic nonetheless. Imgur: Imgur, everyone’s favorite super simple image hosting site, finally has an app. And it’s certainly taken them…

Weekend Movie Preview: Disco, Drugs, Bums and Vampires

It’s summer and it’s probably broiling wherever you are this weekend. Why not go hide in a nice air-conditioned movie theater until the terrible sun finally sets? You can “bookend” your movie with visits to dark, cool bars. Does it even matter what movie you choose? Yes!

Happy Hour: Learn All About the 8 Main Kinds of Booze

What makes a happy hour happy? A drink full of delicious alcohol, that’s what. But did you know where gin gets its name? What about brandy, which tastes like burned wine? Why did the British stop sailors from having their daily allotment of rum?