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Many years ago SNL created a commercial for the fictional toy line available for the Tom Hanks’ film Philadelphia. It was of course completely inappropriate for the tone of the film, just like this Dark Knight-themed Potato Head. This, however, is real. While it’s cute, and Mr. Potato Head has certainly enjoyed a resurgence in…
In the early days of electronic music, sampling was considered theft. In this video from 1988, Fresh Prince — sorry, Will Smith — Jazzy Jeff, Cold Cut, De La Soul and even Tom Petty try and get to the bottom of the question “is sampling art or stealing?” It was shown as a news segment…
Computer vision, the science of teaching silicon to interpert images and film, is both incredibly fascinating and extremely complex. This video, Robot Readable World, lets you understand how robots see their surroundings. Put together by Timo Arnall, the video stitches together footage from existing computer vision systems — some commercial, some academic. According to Arnall,…
If you’ve ever read Grimm’s Fairy Tales, you’ll know such stories are best when they have a sinister streak. Photographer Thomas Czarnecki agrees, and his new collection reimagines childhood stories in order to lay their dark side bare. Called “From Enchantment to Down“, the collection of photographs by Paris-based Czarnecki depicts fairy tale heroines experiencing…
Apple seems to be doing very well with Intel processors in its MacBook range. But a recently published academic paper reveals that Apple was, at one point, attempting to port its operating system to work with ARM processors. In fact, a former Apple intern, Tristan Schaap, who now serves as a Core OS engineer at…
There’s been talk of Google rolling out a gigabit fiber network across Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri for a while. But it’s now official: Google engineers are laying cable as of today. That will bring with it not just high-speed browsing but probably Google’s own cable TV, too. [Google; Image: lolloj/Shutterstock] https://gizmodo.com/googles-gigabit-fiber-network-is-coming-to-kansas-city-5787274
Seems like every time the temperature in the Bay Area dips enough to actually warrant building a fire, the Air District will declare a Spare the Air Day, making wood-burning illegal. This wall-mounted fireplace from Pureflame could be the answer—not only does it run on soot-free ethanol, I can hang it anywhere in my house.…
The banking industry often employs two-step security measures—similar to Google Authenticator—as an added layer of protection against password theft and fraud. Unfortunately, those systems have just been rendered moot by a highly-advanced hack. The attack, know as the Man in the Browser method, works like this. Malicious code is first introduced onto the victim’s computer…
According to email transcripts posted to Pastebin yesterday, and confirmed by the company, a group of hackers attempted to extort $50,000 from Symantec in exchange for not releasing its stolen PCAnywhere and Norton Antivirus source code. The emails between Symantec employee Sam Thomas and the hacker(s) Yamatough, began in January. Symantec confirmed in a statement…
The thing with edible panties is that if I’m going to have to eat something that’s been girding my partner’s loins for the last half hour, I don’t want it to taste like a warm Fruit Roll-Up. I want to chow down on something meatily delicious—like this pair of Brief Jerky. Concocted by Instructables user…
The new Canon Powershot ELPH 530 HS will be the first Canon camera with built-in Wi-Fi capabilities. That means you’ll be able to wirelessly upload photos to the Internet as well as to transfer media directly to mobile devices. The new camera uploads images to the Canon Image Gateway using a wireless network connected to…
As TV’s have packed on more and features, including multiple inputs and Internet connectivity, the complexity of the remote has grown to match. Now you’re lucky to get a remote shorter than your forearm. This new remote from Samsung, however, will replace the bevy of buttons for a touchpad and Siri-like voice control. The new…
A circus performance at the The Dow Event Center ended abruptly when a motorcycle jump went horribly wrong and the rider hit a wire at the apex of his jump. Motorcycle rider Josh Headford suffered a broken leg, wrist, elbow, and shoulder after falling 25 feet to the ground after hitting the wire. Headford told…
Nikon’s new D800 SLR is a study in expectations and identity. Laid bare, the $3000 D800 is an impressive camera. But it’s probably not the D800 that a lot of Nikon fans have been waiting for—what some feel they’d been virtually promised. Here’s what it’s not: a tiny D4, a pint-size, light-eating dynamo. It’s not…
Jack in the Box has some crap your pants good news that’ll make today feel like your birthday: they’re going to be selling Bacon milkshakes. YES. What’s even awesomer: Vegetarians, Muslims and Jews can drink it too! Sadly for pork lovers, the shake is only bacon-flavored which to swine haters means the shake is vegetarian!…
A Colorado woman who was ordered to unlock her computer for investigators is reportedly saying she can’t remember her password. Last month U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn ordered Ramona Ficosu to decrypt the hard drive on her Toshiba laptop by February 21st. The laptop was seized in 2010 in connection with a mortgage fraud investigation.…
LimeWire has been kaput as a file-sharing service since October but that hasn’t stopped its legal woes. Now, after settling with the RIAA to the tune of $105 million, the MPAA and a host of indie music labels have filed lawsuits against the company as well. Talk about beating a dead horse. Six studios—Twentieth Century…
Transcranial direct current stimulation can make your brain work better. DARPA proved it can make you better at video games, the U.S. Air Force has shown it cuts drone remote-pilot training in half, and Harvard researchers have used it to treat depression. So what is this magical device that powerfully manipulates your brain function and…
We love Timeline for Facebook. Maybe you don’t. Doesn’t really matter since Facebook is forcing everyone to switch. So what to do? We say have some fun with it! Since Timeline adds a big, splashy picture to your profile page, you can easily hack that big picture with your original profile picture to give your…
Bill Maher interviewed Mike Daisey last week on Real Time, adding to the scourge of recent negative publicity surrounding the conditions at Apple supplier Foxconn. Daisey is the actor who wrote and performed the one-man show The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, a musing that faces the labor issue head-on. He actually went to…
