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This may look like your average, everyday X-47B drone landing, but the feat in the video above is actually evidence of something far more impressive. Over the weekend, this automated flying beast successfully performed a simulated aircraft carrier landing. Meaning that some day soon, our Navy could actually deploy and operate drones from the sea.…
Coca-Cola promotes its Diet Coke as the perfect soft drink for those looking to keep a slim figure. And to further drive that point home, the sugar water empire teamed up with Ogilvy & Mather Paris to create the Slender Vender—the world’s thinnest vending machine. Barely wider than a single can of Diet Coke, the…
Salmon leather is a dyeable textile made from the skin of—you guessed it—salmon. It’s usually discarded, but designer Javier Ramirez slapped it on an angular frame of Lenga wood to make the 2R armchair. Named for its R-shaped supports, the 2R chair is elegant and sustainable. Its salmon leather cushion and and Lenga wood structure…
Fictional superhero Tony Stark has destroyed nearly $6 million worth of luxury cars, military HumVees and Grand Prix racers during his four movie adventures, according to Jalopnik. With Iron Man 3 doing a record $175 million opening weekend—second only to 2012’s The Avengers—the wanton destruction of so many fancy cars is likely the last of…
Do you hear that? That’s the sound of the world becoming a more awesome place/arteries clogging now that we have a better way to serve butter: by smooshing it through a customized cheese grater. Delicious. And the Easy Butter Former doesn’t only make spreading butter on fresh soft bread easier. It finally allows you to…
The GBU-57A-B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) is 5,300 pounds of high explosive wrapped in 30,000 pounds of steel, and designed to obliterate fortified positions and underground bunkers from the inside. Developed by the US Air Force with help from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and built by Boeing, the $400 million MOP project is…
Adding giant monsters. That’s how you make a good Lego Star Wars model even better. Now I’m hoping that the new J.J. Abrams’ movie includes vicious behemoths destroying starships (which, given the Empire Strikes Back’s asteroid chase precedent and Abrams’ love for monsters, seems like a certain possibility). This is the story of the model,…
You use it every day without a second thought, but if you think about it for just a second, QWERTY is really, really weird. Where did something so strangely unintuitive come from? The popular story is that it has to do with typewriter mechanics and jamming prevention, and although that explanation sure is tidy, it’s…
Hey, iOS users, Gmail’s app now links you to Google’s other native apps instead of forcing open a browser, and you’ll also get the option to sign out of single accounts at a time. You’re finally catching up to your Android friends.
As MySpace, Kozmo, and the Chicago Tribune all learned to their chagrin, being first isn’t always best—but someone’s gotta do it. This week, at one of the most comprehensive typography exhibitions ever staged, we got to see some of the early technologies that predated digital type. The road from one technology to another is always…
Some recipes call for just the white stuff when you’re cooking with eggs, while others need just the yolk. And if you’ve yet to master the art of using the egg’s shell to separate the two, you’ll be hoping Ivan Zhang’s clever Whisk’ concept becomes a purchasable product. The tool’s plastic strands feature an indent…
Back in the day, hair dryers and perm machines looked like they would eat your brain. Dark Roasted Blend has a nice roundup of photos of the vintage devices that makes you think think we sure did—and still do—some absolutely insane things for beauty. How wouldn’t some of these scare you off from the salon?…
Lego builder/Flickr user Hippotam has come up with what is possibly the greatest innovation in cooking appliances since the toaster met the oven. Dubbed the Hippmikser 2000, it’s an actual functioning hand mixer made out of nothing but Lego. In theory, with enough Lego pieces you can build whatever appliance you happen to need for…
We’ve got just about as much (or really as little) information about Apple’s fabled iWatch as we ever have, but it never stops being fun to fantasize a little. This latest concept whipped up by designer Martin Hajek has got to be the best—and most Apple-like—we’ve seen yet. Say what you will about stitched leather…
In an effort to provide abused children with a safe way to reach out for help, a Spanish organization called the Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk Foundation, or ANAR for short, created an ad that displays a different message for adults and children at the same time. The secret behind the ad’s wizardry…
The honor of wearing badass protective gear isn’t limited to astronauts, supersonic jet pilots, or Tony Stark. Here’s an apocalyptic collection of not-quite-everyday personal protective garments you should wear the next time you’re taking on the Mandarin. 1942: Two people test American fire-proof suits lined with asbestos. Photo: Reg Speller/Fox Photos/Getty Images This heat and…
Got a lot of friends visiting? Man, it’s going to be boring to open each and every bottle of beer separately—so what you need is an opener like this, that can ready 24 beers for drinking in a glorious, single movement. YouTuber stopstopitstoofunny has posted this video of the world’s ultimate bottle opener in action.…
Zombie or not, it’s a good idea to never get on Joerg Sprave’s bad side. Our favorite slingshot auteur can weaponize pretty much anything he gets his hands on. From ashtrays, to Oreos, to coins, to what is probably one of the most inane household objects you could think of: a toilet brush. As Joerg…
Nobody’s perfect. Some people Skype without a headset in public. Others insists on using Internet Explorer. Some weirdos even use Comic Sans without flinching. But what’s your grubbiest tech confession? We’re all friends here, so let it out. It’ll be cathartic. I promise. Image from Reddit
Rumors have swirled recently suggesting that a new breed of small Windows 8 tablets would soon appear in the wild. Now, Amazon has managed to accidentally leak the first tablet of its kind. The Acer Iconia W3, previously rumored to be the first small-screen Windows 8 tablet, made a brief appearance on the website of…
