Tech News

Philips’ Prototype LED Could Replace Fluorescents and Save the US Billions Annually

Office parks and convenience stores across the country rely on fluorescent lights. These flickering gas-filled tubes suck down far less energy than the incandescent bulbs they replaced but still consume some 200 TWh of electricity every year. This new super-efficient LED prototype from Philips, however, puts florescents to shame. It’s a matter of lighting efficiency—how…

How to Deal With Your Google Data After You’re Dead

Google just launched an “Inactive Account Manager” to help you deal with your data after you die. The tool lets you decide what to do with you data after your account has been inactive for three, six, nine or 12 months. This is Google’s death tool. The Inactive Account Manager is designed to either grant…

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One World Government and the War of Tomorrow

A bright rainbow hangs in the sky, descending just over the horizon. The many people of Earth march slowly toward it, leaving behind the crumbling fist of war, oppression and international borders. Nothing less than the future is over that horizon; a future that is defined by a new world order where people are able…

This Gorgeous Kettle Is How Iron Man Boils Water

It looks like KitchenAid has finally learned a trick from sportscar manufacturers like Ferrari, and even Iron Man. The company’s newest addition to its Pro Line of appliances is this lustworthy electric kettle that comes with an optional candy apple red color scheme that makes it look like it could boil water in three seconds.…

These Tiny Electronic Blocks Can Make Huge, Moving Works of Art

The smallest of chunks can become something much bigger with careful construction and a bit of planning. LittleBits—an awesome little building tool that sits somewhere on the spectrum between Lego and arduino, incorporating the best parts of both—is showing off that potential big time in the windows of NYC’s MoMa Design Stores this month. We…

Scary Clowns and Snake-Haired Monstresses: Two Artists’ Visions of the Next Robert Rodriguez Villain

Robert Rodriguez knows a thing or two about villains and monsters. With a resume that includes films like Sin City, Grindhouse, and Predators, Rodriguez knows that to make a good villain, you need to dig deep and develop a great monster. But now, he wants you to help him create the monster that will be…

Can You Find All the Memes in This Internet Orgy of a Poster?

Created by illustrator H. Caldwell Tanner, this wonderful, mind-numbing visualization of the internet’s very essence brings together more past and current memes than you probably ever knew existed. Fortunately, Tanner takes that fact into consideration and provides an accompanying key to this unholy union. Before you hover over each character for the answers, though, try…

Don’t Worry Cyclists, There’s a Swiss Army Knife For You Now Too

Weighing just 99 grams and folding away into a compact package that’s easy to pocket, Victorinox’s new Swiss Army Bike Tool is the perfect weapon against misaligned handlebars and other on-the-road cycling emergencies. Instead of a folding design, the tool disassembles into an L-wrench with an adapter for eight included bits, a set of tire…

Watchmaker Girard-Perregaux’s Constant Force Escapement Is a Mechanical Work of Art

What’s great about mechanical watches is that you don’t have to understand what all the visible gears and other mechanisms inside actually do to appreciate them, they’re still utterly fascinating to watch. But the revolutionary constant force escapement in Girard-Perregaux’s new timepiece is worthy of note because it’s a straight-up mechanical masterpiece. As Hodinkee explains,…

Samsung’s New 6.3-Inch Phone Is Bigger Than 75 Percent of Human Penises

Samsung’s Galaxy Mega is pretty big. (You: How big is it?) So big that it’s bigger than about 75 percent of the full grown human penises on planet Earth. Full stop. Last year, noted penis blogger John Herrman alerted us to the phone-penis size crash course we were on. Smartphones surpassed dicks last summer—a bit…

Memory Rug Puts a PC’s Guts On Your Floor

Had the Persian Empire had access to modern electronics, particularly the intricately etched circuit boards found in most devices, their famous woven rug designs might have ended up looking more like Lukas Scherrer’s Memory Rug. Made from multiple layers of felt so it’s more comfortable under foot than silicon and solder, the rug is adorned…

Would You Pay $15 for a Better iOS Mail App?

The first iOS mail revolution came and went with the highly anticipated, absurdly long waitlisted Mailbox. And whether or not you love or hate it, who cares? It’s free! But now, Mail Pilot—dreamed up pre-Mailbox—has officially made its way out of the Kickstarter ether and into the App Store. And it can be all yours…

Twitter Links Are Completely Screwed Up (Actually, They’re Not)

If you’ve been on Twitter this morning, you’ve probably noticed that clicking a link redirects you to a “t.co” address that doesn’t exist. Yup, Twitter links are completely borked. The error was happening in Twitter’s back-end this morning, and Digg pointed out, you can get around the problem by simply cutting and pasting the link…

The 7 Best Designs of the Year

The Design Museum’s Designs of the Year awards showcase the most innovative and imaginative designs from around the world, over the past year, spanning seven categories: Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Furniture, Graphics, Transport and Product. Here are the winners for each category, just announced today. It’s like the Oscars, but with no acceptance speeches and more…

You can officially pick up your very own Samsung Series 9 Premium Ultrabook with a 1080p display for a cool $1,400.

How to Create Random Numbers Using Radioactive Material

Think of a random number between one and ten. Most likely, you chose seven—so exactly how random was your choice? Turns out that generating a truly random number is more difficult than you might think—but this video should help you get to grips with the problem. Truth is, finding a process that spits out purely…

Don’t Spill Anything On This $55 Foosball Table

You’d assume that a foosball table made from 100 percent renewable materials—cardboard and wood—would be best suited for college frat houses on a limited budget. But even with a handy cup holder, the odds are the Kartoni would be soaked in spilled beer after just a couple of games, destroying its structural integrity. However, it’s…

New Documents Suggest the IRS Reads Your Emails Without a Warrant

Everyone knows the IRS is our nation’s tax collector, but it is also a law enforcement organization tasked with investigating criminal violations of the tax laws. New documents released to the ACLU under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the IRS Criminal Tax Division has long taken the position that the IRS can read…

Mark Zuckerberg’s teamed up with tech execs and venture capitalists to launch a political advocacy group called FWD.us.