Tech News

Six New Toys That Will Destroy Your Faith in Humanity

Toy Fair is where America’s children’s dreams come true—sometimes. After visiting the 2013 edition at NYC’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the kid in me was terrified as much as he was delighted. I don’t know if any boy or girl would play with some of the things I saw… or run. Just take a…

Bill Gates is doing an AMA on Reddit right… now.

Facebook Is Working on a Ticket Buying Feature (Updated)

Buy tickets for the Rihanna tour on Facebook? Maybe soon. Facebook is reportedly testing a feature that would let you do just that. Said feature has been spotted in the Netherlands and Israel, meaning Facebook is testing in select markets before going wide. Clicking a “buy tickets” button on an event page, though, takes you…

Floating Swarm Bots Form Emergency Bridges, Runways, and Islands

Teamwork is a new concept in the field of robotics, but the idea of creating hundreds of cheap disposable robots that work together to complete a greater task has a lot of promise. So far swarm bots—as they’ve come to be known—have successfully tackled problems on land and in the air. But now DARPA wants…

Nike Confirms No-Go For FuelBand Android App

Since the launch of the FuelBand a year ago, many were wondering when Nike might deploy an Android companion app. Droid Life spotted that yesterday via its Support account on Twitter, Nike quasi-officially said that it is not working on an Android app. And today, Nike has confirmed with Gizmodo that an Android app is…

The Science of Love: It’s Kind of Like Cocaine

Valentine’s Day. Blerg. But hey, if we’re going to be surrounded by corporate sponsored true love, we may as well have some fun. Here’s a video from ASAPScience describing the way love works, scientifically. It’s a little more complicated than you might have realized. First, well, yes. It’s like cocaine. Basically, it makes it easier…

Iran Is Mass Producing Knock-Offs of the US Drone It “Downed”

Iranian state television reports that the country’s military has not only successfully decrypted surveillance video from the Scan Eagle drone “captured” last December but have reverse engineered the avionics and are now rolling out a domestically-produced version of its own. According to Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy,…

Why Are the Most Vital Aircraft in the USAF Arsenal Owned by NASA?

While chatter between the US Air Force is spoken exclusively in English, communications between their aircrafts’ electronic systems is more akin to the United Nations cafeteria—a “dog’s breakfast of different datalinks,” according to Lt. Gen. William Lord. Since the numerous competing defense contractors tasked with building military aircraft often install contradicting and incompatible systems, the…

Adorable Toilet Paper Tree Lets You Proudly Display Your Extra Rolls

Why hide your toilet paper stock in a cabinet that guests will just have to hunt through when they run out? This stylish laquered steel tree can be mounted to the wall near your loo where it will store up to 14 extra rolls in plain sight, without looking like an eyesore. It also makes…

Now That Your Grammys Hangover Has Worn Off, Get Some New Music

Did the sight of Hova sipping on brandy throw you into a state of music-purchasing excitement? Do you want to drown out your roommate as he bellows “we are yoooooooung” from the shower? Simply take the short survey below, and you could win $150 gift card to the iTunes store — where you can help…

Why No Streaming Service Will Ever Be Perfect

Hulu Plus. Amazon Prime. Netflix. Redbox. In an ideal world, any one of these would someday become an all-encompassing streaming service. One subscription, one price, one ticket out of the cable’s iron grasp. That’s never been the case, of course. But as exclusive content deals keep piling up, it’s increasingly clear that it never will…

The Landsat 8 Satellite is a go for launch at 1:02 pm EST today. Watch the launch live.

Retractable Spikes Let These Boots Tackle Any Terrain

Like having a set of snow chains on your feet, nothing makes traversing winter’s icy conditions easier than metal spikes on the bottom of your boots. But indoors, they can really tear up the floors and carpeting. So Germany’s Meindl has created the perfect compromise: spiked boots with a geared mechanism to retract the metal…

You’ll Never Squint Again With This Automatically Resizing Font

If you’ve ever tried to glance at your computer screen and read something from across the room, you know it’s a pretty futile effort, no matter how hard you squint. This demo website has a solution: dynamically changing font size based on your distance from the screen. The catch? It wants to watch you read.…

Slicing, Dicing Knife Coin Is Useful For More Than Just Scratching Lottery Tickets

When passing through metal detectors you’re always asked to empty the change from your pockets, but do security personnel really look through your coins? Probably not, which is why this fifty cent piece with a hidden knife blade could be really useful. Whether you find yourself in the trunk of a car bound and kidnapped…

How to Vote On the New Insane Flavors of Lay’s Chips

Last week we caught a fleeting glimpse of the potential new flavors in the running for Lay’s “Do Us a Flavor” chip contest. Turns out that glimpse was gloriously right and now you can pick your poison and vote for one of the three official contestants: Cheesy Garlic Bread, Chicken & Waffles, and Sriracha-flavored. The…

Escape Everything But Marriage With This Saw-Stashing Titanium Ring

It’s probably not the best idea to plot a daring escape should you ever find yourself confined with a pair of handcuffs or plastic zip-ties. But if you and John Law don’t get along, consider this clever Titanium Escape Ring that hides a small lockpick and saw. Just remember, the one thing it can’t get…

Spy Shots Show (Alleged) Next iPhone Under Construction (Updated: NVM, Prob)

Contrary to reports that Apple is retiring the iPhone forever, 9to5Mac pulled over these Chinese snapshots of what they say is Foxconn assembly line. And on that assembly line—yep, The Next iPhone. Maybe. The shots, if they are real (and given China’s track record with leaked photos the last time around, probably are) confirm what…

Nixon’s First Bluetooth Speaker Lasts 18 Hours on One Charge

The Blaster is Nixon’s fist Bluetooth speaker. It’s supposed to last 18 hours on just a single charge. Nixon is a fashion company, and it isn’t exactly known for making great audio product. But holy crap, that kind of battery life is impressive. For comparison, you get 8-10 hours out of Jawbone Jambox, as well…

All Slo-Mo Camera Tests Should Be This Beautiful

When putting the Sony FS700’s high speed capabilities to the test, filmmaker Danny Cooke saw a fantastic opportunity to create something more than just a technical shakedown of the equipment. Nothing is cooler in slow motion than fire, so with the help of fire breather Elliott Montello, Cooke created this mesmerizing test footage that Sony…