Tech News

Watch the Muhammad Ali of BattleBots Destroy Everything in Its Path

There are “battle bots” and then there are “utter, one-sided destruction bots.” The two-wheeled harbinger of destruction called Last Rites fits in that second category. Powered by an over-volted golf cart motor and wielding a spinning hammer-blade of doom, it’s really a force to behold. And the folks over at Distort caught it up close…

The FDA Has Shuttered 1,677 Illegal Prescription Drugs Websites

We’ve all seen those pop-up ads peddling discount prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies. Ohhhh! Cheap Xanax! They always seem a little dubious, but as of this week, you’re probably going to see fewer of them. In partnership with international regulatory and law enforcement agencies, the FDA has just shut down 1,677 illegal online pharmacies, and…

14 Gorgeous Wedding Venues in States Where Gay Marriage Is Legal

Yesterday, we celebrated after the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act. But you know what a victory for marriage equality means? More weddings. And more places to celebrate them. Here are 12 beautiful chapels, gardens, and barns—one for each state where marriage is for all. Asbury Delaware Church, Buffalo, New York This…

Reusable e-Ink Luggage Tags Improve the Chances Of Your Bag Arriving

Outside of the fear of flying, the most anxious part of traveling around the world is hoping your bags get to the same destination as you do. The paper tags in use today work, but if they get accidentally torn off your luggage, who knows where it might end up. So starting next month, British…

Apple isn’t allowed to add the Galaxy S4 to its ongoing Samsung patent lawsuit… because, apparently, there’s just not enough time. There’s a lesson to learnt there, we suspect.

Apple Patents Slimline Combined SD and USB Slot

Apple’s been imagining the things of the future again, with a newly-discovered patent showing it has plans to combine USB and SD card slots to save yet more space on the Macs of tomorrow. In fact, although the patent shows Apple combining USB and SD card connectivity in one and the same hole, the explanatory…

Scientists Sequence the Oldest Ever Genome–of a 700,000-Year-Old Horse

Scientists have managed to sequence the genome of a 700,000-year-old horse—in the process generating the oldest complete DNA sequence yet. A team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, worked with a horse bone found in the permafrost of north-west Canada all the way back in 2003 to achieve the result. Previously, the oldest…

Digg has updated its iOS app to incorporate its experimental new Reader—and it’ll directly import your feeds from Google Reader, too. Go get it.

Can You Use a Refrigerator as a Faraday Cage?

Earlier this week a New York Times article claimed that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden asked a group of lawyers visiting him to put their cell phones in the refrigerator—the idea being that it would act as a Faraday cage. But does it actually work? This video, by MAKE‘s Michael Colombo, suggests it might not be…

WSJ: Apple’s Radio Terms Are (Slightly) More Generous Than Pandora’s

Apple’s new Radio service is now official and Pandora is coming under fire for being tight-fisted. Interesting, then, to hear of figures dug out by the Wall Street Journal which suggest that Apple is being every-so-slightly more generous with its deal. https://gizmodo.com/itunes-radio-apples-pandora-service-is-finally-here-512264218 According to the Journal, Apple will pay 0.13 cents and 15 percent of…

Drug Enforcement Agency Seizes First Bitcoins From Silk Road Dealer

The Drug Enforcement Agency has seized 11.02 Bitcoins—about $800—from a drug dealer in South Carolina who had been using Silk Road. It’s the first (known) time the government has taken control of the virtual currency like it were property or real-world cash. Discovered in a government press release spotted by Bitcoin bloggers, the news relates…

Aaron Swartz has been posthumously inducted into the Internet Society’s Hall Of Fame this year. You can read a full list of new members here.

Why Private Space Programs May Be a Bad Idea in the (Very) Long Run

SpaceX makes low-cost rockets to ferry cargo and astronauts into orbit and even Mars. That’s great. But if state space programs die in favor of space corporations, we will be in trouble in the long run. Instead of the peaceful Star Trek’s Starfleet Command, the profit-seeking corporations from Alien will rule space.

How 26 Alcoholic Drinks Got Their Names

You drink martinis and manhattans and mint juleps and pina coladas and tom collins and hell, so much more. Have you ever stepped back and wonder how these cocktails were named? Mental Floss’ resident genius John Green shares the origin stories of 26 different cocktails so you can learn some. Warning: he’s really good at…

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: No F****** Around In Room 427

This hilarious short film by Danny Sangra illustrates why censorship, even in earnest, is a load of bullsh*t.

Sony RX100 II: A Totally New Sensor, a More Perfect Point-and-Shoot

Last year, Sony overhauled basically its entire line of cameras from the very bottom to tippiest top. Surprisingly, the most exciting of the bunch weren’t mirrorless cameras or DSLRs, but a novel pair of fixed-lens Cyber-shots: The RX100, a point-and-shoot superior to all others, and the RX1, a compact full-frame sensor camera priced for professionals.…

Exclusive: The Evolution of the Minifig

We have worked with Lego to painstakingly collect and catalog almost every minifig ever produced into a photographic timeline. You will be able to see the evolution of the iconic figure starting with the iconic 1970s space, city and castle sets that you can see in our exclusive tour of the secret historic Lego vault.…

Pandora Actually Pays $1,300 for a Million Plays Not 16 Bucks

Math! It can solve a lot of problems. It can be made deliberately fuzzy. It can help us break down complicated things. Like artist music royalties from streaming music stations. When David Lowery revealed that Pandora paid him only $16 for 1 million plays, there was an outrage. But some deeper math reveals that Pandora…

Why There Are No Baseball Bats In the Lego Universe?

Believe it or not, there are no baseball bats in the Lego universe. Why? Probably because a minifig could use one to break another minifig’s plastic cranium. And we all know that you can’t use weapons in Lego’s universe, much less break minifig craniums. This is why Brickarms, the dealer of All Things Violent for…

A Map of the World As Plotted By Airports

Instead of using your typical cartography methods of mapping the world, James Davenport created a world map using just airports, runways and helicopter pads. That way you can see which countries are dotted and outlined with airports (hint: it’s the rich ones) and which countries just disappear into the vapor (hint: it’s the poor ones).…