Sploid: Where awesome, wild, and breathtaking tech moments burst into view.
You probably drive or have driven a car with automatic transmission—but you probably don’t know how automatic gear shifting works. I didn’t, until now. It’s actually hard to understand but Jalopnik has a crystal clear explainer describing what this “black magic.”
io9 has an exclusive video on the next summer blockbuster: Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim, a movie about giant robots fighting giant monsters. The character design is pretty spectacular, inspired by old Japanese monster movies.
Pet cats have so many diseases! Yet people continue to keep cats in their homes. A new study proves that an alarming percentage of pet felines have tuberculosis, and there is concern the terrible disease could spread to humans.
The BART strike has left half a million people without their usual train to work. But the New Rich don’t need to be bothered by public transit labor issues—Silicon Valley workers already have their own private luxury buses. But if that’s a hassle, just take a private helicopter!
You don’t have to spend a fortune in a dream sports car. Some could be surprisingly affordable. Not cheap, but affordable—like the 911 on top. Jalopnik has ten models to choose from.
J-Lo is sorry she gave a concert for Turkmenistan’s dictator and Cabbage Patch Kid lookalike Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. Had she known his human rights record, she would haven’t attended, she says. Maybe she should give her fee to Amnesty International.
Lifehacker has a guide with the best 10 conversation starters for shy people, from “Nice earrings!” (talk clothes) to “Chicago really is the Windy City!” (talk weather) and the new classic “people call me David, but you can call me tonight” (tell a joke?) Practical guide or comedy, it works either way.
While California officials warned this could be worst fire season in one hundred years and yesterday brought us 19 dead firefighters in Arizona, this is not a wildfire. These terrible—albeit eerily beautiful—images were captured yesterday in England by the West Midlands Fire Service while battling a massive blaze being fed by an astounding 55,000 tons…
Former Republican Senator Rick Santorum, who once associated gay sex to pedophilia and bestiality, can’t use his name in the game Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Nintendo censors Santorum because Google says it’s “the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that’s sometimes the byproduct of anal sex.”
Investment banker Jon Heinemann and his Betty Draper wife are suing their children’s private school for $500,000 in damages. They felt swindled by the school during the auction of a finger painting made by kids, for which they paid $50,000. Their lawsuit claims that a teacher artificially inflated the bidding process.
The dictionary defines parkour as “the activity of running through an area, typically in an urban environment, using acrobatic techniques to negotiate obstacles.” That doesn’t even begin to describe the crazy stunts in this vertigo-inducing first person video. Watch it and remember that this guy is not using any security measures whatsoever.
Talking today to CBS’ Face the Nation, Texas Senator Wendy Davis said Governor Perry is using abortion to boost his 2016 presidential aspirations: “Gov. Perry and Lt. Gov. Dewhurst are willing to put women in harm’s way in order to step up on the political ladder.” But it may backfire, she says. Photos by Getty…
University of Virginia student Elizabeth Daly got jailed after trying to escape from undercover Alcoholic Beverage Control agents. They thought the sparkling water she bought was a 12-pack of beer. Daly and her terrified classmates thought they were being assaulted by thugs. Alas, absurd drama ensued.
This is Einstein, a pet fish that has a dysfunctional buoyancy bladder. Incapable of swimming, Einstein would sink to the bottom of the fish tank unless he wears that strange thingamajig all over him—a “life vest” invented by his awesome owner, Leighton Naylor.
A must-read for this weekend of celebration: John Weir’s beautifully written and terribly sad first-person account of how the AIDS worldwide epidemic of the 80s and 90s shattered the lives of countless New York’s gay men, their friends and their families.
Instead of watching the terrible World War Z, the disappointing Man of Steel, or the downright dumb White House Down, treat yourself to Europa Report, Byzantium or any of these 25 low-budget sci-fi and fantasy movies. They are better than most summer blockbusters.
Scientists from the Syracuse University Lava Project melt 660 pounds (300 kilograms) of lava and poured it over a giant block of ice because 1) they wanted to see how it behaves—it’s hard to watch this phenomenon in nature—and 2) it’s fun. Obviously.
If you want your its battery to keep your phone working for as long as possible and have a longer life in general, here are two good tips: don’t expose it to heat and never let it discharge completely. Learn more about other battery magicks here.
It’s summer and it’s probably broiling wherever you are this weekend. Why not go hide in a nice air-conditioned movie theater until the terrible sun finally sets? You can “bookend” your movie with visits to dark, cool bars. Does it even matter what movie you choose? Yes!
What makes a happy hour happy? A drink full of delicious alcohol, that’s what. But did you know where gin gets its name? What about brandy, which tastes like burned wine? Why did the British stop sailors from having their daily allotment of rum?