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Lego geeks around the world, rejoice! You are not alone, even though you actually are alone, in your room, playing with tiny blocks. There is now a social network for Lego aficionados, and it’s called ReBrick. In its current incarnation, it’s primarily a bookmark-sharing site. Users set up an account, find or post awesome pictures…
It’s hard to get excited about textbooks, until you see something like this: Apple just made the notecard obsolete. No more index cards, no more boxes—no paper. iBooks 2 turns your reading habits into instant study help. With the new iBooks 2 textbooks, anything you search or highlight will automatically generate a study card to…
Algebra, Biology, Geometry—these have never been particularly exciting words when it comes to textbooks, but that could change today. Apple’s attempt at reinventing learning is officially online and ready for download—with each title offered at only 15 bucks. So far the iTunes selection includes the aforementioned titles, along with E.O. Wilson’s Life on Earth (first…
Probably more than any other app, Instagram attracts the envy of many a non-iPhone owners. The insular social network, is simple, fast and easy to use. And while the company has stated plans to release on Android, the latest talk suggests that we might see it on Windows Phone first. According to Fast Company’s Austin…
Everyone deserves to see the exciting life you live right? So why make them wait until you can get to a PC to upload your everyday antics when this LiveShell pushes everything from your video camera to Ustream in real-time? Powered by three AA batteries which will keep it running for up to three hours,…
It seems like all the carriers have banded together to kill the angel known as unlimited data. Even little ‘ol Virgin Mobile has joined the murder party, informing their customers that as of March 23rd, Virgin Mobile will throttle users who pass the 2.5GB data threshold. That supposedly effects 3% of their customers. Et tu,…
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, what does it sound like? Well, if you’re artists Bartholomäus Traubeck, you just slam the trunk on a record player to find out. Bartholomäus’ artwork Years is a converted record player that can play cross-sectional slices taken from a tree…
There seems to be a rash of tech at the moment that’s designed to integrate your iPad into a portable recording studio. This looks like one of the most exciting so far, though: I think it might even make me famous. Based on their portable XENYX mixers, Behringer’s latest offering will let you slide your…
There’s nothing like a bit of DIY to make you feel like a strong, independent person. That goes double if it involves bending sheet steel with your bare hands, and that’s just what you have to do with this lamp. It’s called Flaca, and it was designed by three young industrial designers at the Mexico-based…
I admit that it looks a bit like your grandparents’ bath towels, but this is actually the largest piece of clothing ever made purely from spider silk. Sadly, it’s not bulletproof or anything like that. What it is is very, very yellow. In fact, it gets its hue from the undyed filaments of the golden…
Overclocking processors used to be extremely nerdy, but if anything it’s becoming more common these days. For those intent on squeezing performance from their chip, Intel’s new CPU insurance means getting it wrong needn’t be that expensive. Overclocking a CPU does bring performance increases, but it also brings extra heat which can damage the chip…
Yesterday Facebook launched Open Graph, its tool for letting third party developers share actions in your timeline, with 60 new partners. Here’s what you can do with it, and why you might not like it. Let’s start by looking at who those partners are. Some of them are big names: Pinterest, LivingSocial, eBay, Digg, Foursquare,…
Yesterday was, it turns out, a good day: so far, 18 senators previously in favor of PIPA now oppose it, seven of whom were former co-sponsors of the act. Here’s the full list of converts. We already told you about the fact that Marco Rubio and a handful of other senators had changed their minds,…
Despite its recent strategy of “sue everybody for everything,” Kodak has succumb to its financial pressures and filed for Chapter 11 business reorganization in New York. The iconic photography company isn’t dead yet, however, just very broke. Kodak has already shuttered 13 manufacturing plants, 130 processing labs, and sheared 47,000 workers from its payroll since…
Since the dawn of time, man has continually sought bigger and badder stunts to prove his mettle. First it was “Slap the Cave Bear and Run.” Then it was “Who Can Hold the Lightning Rod Longest.” Now, it’s “Grab the Inverted Airplane Tail from the Back of a Motorcycle.” David and Billy Werth are masters…
To celebrate the 200th birthday of the invention of the camera, photographer Dennis Manarchy built one of his own. It looks just like a classic film camera with a wooden frame, leatherette, and brass hardware but, oddly, I don’t remember cameras normally being 35-feet long. Dubbed “The Eye of America,” this enormous, trailer-mounted camera is…
James Bond gets his drinks shaken just the way he asks for them because he’s freaking intimidating. You’re not tough, but you can still chill your classy libations in a shaker that at least looks dangerous. This stainless steel Metrokane Bullet Cocktail Shaker looks killer enough to impress a model, and for only $20, it…
Funny or Die made a series of fake TV promos for their non-existent network’s 1986 lineup. They’re all pretty great, but we’re kind of sad that Cop-Puter never aired a single episode. Like Robocop, the show is about a police officer killed in the line of duty. But since the year happened to be 1986,…
Amazon rolled out the second update to its Kindle Fire 6.2.2 firmware today. In addition to a few minor bug fixes and performance tweaks, this update grants Amazon’s Silk browser access the Fire’s entire seven-inch screen. It does also bork rooted devices like November’s update did, so get ready to re-root if you need. The…
Streaming video over the Internet is one of the most important telecommunication developments in the last decade. Problem is, doing so needs a massive system architecture to support it and the feed is often riddled with lag. A new protocol from BitTorret’s founder is aiming to change all that. Conventional video streaming—through, say, YouTube or…