Sploid: Where awesome, wild, and breathtaking tech moments burst into view.
It’s every kid’s dream to go to space. But why? If movies have taught us anything—and movies teach kids everything—going to space is totally miserable! The same nightmarish rules designed to ruin your trip apply to pretty much all space movies: if there’s a crew on board, you’ll somehow end up being alone. If you…
Students across America are coming up on graduation season, and Dan Barkus wanted to be sure his family could spot him in the crowd. Naturally, a little tinkering was necessary. His LED graduation cap displays full-color animated graphics. He can even text phrases to the hat and they’ll scroll across: “finally done” and “hi mom”…
Everyone knows that you can’t fold a piece of paper more than seven or eight times (even though the world record is 12). It’s just one of those silly things that stick from elementary school and become law. But what if you were folding aluminum foil? And what if you had the assistance of the…
It’s always nice to know that not everything in movies is done with computers and CG and green screens. Pretty much very nearly almost all of it is, of course. But! There are still some directors using practical effects in some action movies and those scenes always look awesome. Here’s ten of ‘em. A lot…
Our solar system is weird. Not only because we’re unique little snowflakes on a blue marble called Earth but because other stars usually have their giant ass planets (i.e. their Jupiter) orbiting them at a much closer distance. This is really common in other systems! Our Jupiter, however, doesn’t work like that. Why? Life Noggin…
Civil War is a big, loud ensemble movie. That’s what we expect from it, and that’s why it’s fun. But when the camera is whipping around during a huge fight scene, how come we still know what’s happening? As Sound Editors Shannon Mills and Dan Laurie point out, part of that stems from designing sounds…
To be honest, it’s everything. The depth of their characters, the artistry in their animation, the comedy, the relationships. It’s a combination of all that that makes (most) Pixar movies excellent. But what makes Pixar movies special? It’s the story. It’s how Pixar movies try to weave a story that we can all relate to.…
I’m not quite sure how the logistics will work out but I now know that I don’t want regular candles for my future birthday cakes, I want melting glow sticks. They burn so bright and ooze out such spectacular alien colors and leave such a lovely fluorescent goo behind that normal candles can’t even compare…
Iron Man is basically a death machine. A slick talking, charismatic death machine but a death machine nonetheless. Once Tony Stark straps on that suit of his, absolutely no one—people, aliens, other robots, whoever is nearby—is safe. Here’s his kill count from all the Marvel movies he’s appeared in. He pretty much owns Captain America’s…
It’s easy to walk right past most street buskers whose performances are often more annoying than entertaining. But were to you come across this guy, who masterfully blends the art of juggling with drumming while staying in perfect rhythm to the music he’s playing, you’d feel guilty about not emptying your entire wallet into his…
Benedict Cumberbatch might have moved on to bigger and more problematic things, but papier mâché artist Dan Reeder has been fielding requests for the greediest of dragons since the first Hobbit movie. Now, he’s finally delivering. The build required a combination of paper and cloth, dipped in either thinned Elmer’s glue or a water and…
If there’s smoke… you should drink it? Cocktail Chemistry shows how you can make an ice ball full of smoke for your cocktails that once you crack open, will unleash the smoke monster. The effect is really cool, like the spirit gods are anointing your drink as worthy. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us…
Empty ski resorts? Yeah, that’d be fun to shred. Ski resorts that have been abandoned for four years though? So. Much. More. Fun. Here are a bunch of snowboarders—Red Gerard, Marko Grilc, and Tim-Kevin Ravnjak—having their go in a world left behind for snow to stack up on. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us…
Before we all freak out, this was a controlled burn in the Kaibab Forest in northern Arizona and it was totally (mostly?) safe to film. Well, I sure hope it was. Either way, the individual trees that were on fire look spectacular against the starry night sky and the rest of the forest. Here’s the…
The Gramovox started as a Kickstarter project, and unlike many products on the crowdfunding site, it actually shipped. That in and of itself is astonishing, but how does it work? As Techmoan explains in his splendid video review, the Gramovox is, for the most part, a perfectly serviceable machine. Records stay in place, switching between…
Piranha solution is nasty stuff. Composed of part sulfuric acid and part hydrogen peroxide, it eats through most organic matter with ease, and this hot dog shows that it’s frighteningly good at its job. So why does this video have some Explosions In The Sky-type post-rock music playing over it? Even knowing full well that…
A couple of mirrors, a cardboard tube, and a bunch of random crap. That’s what’s behind the mind-twisting magic of a kaleidoscope. And when we say random crap, we literally mean that. There’s no real method for designing the end cap of a kaleidoscope—the creators just add whatever they want. Some objects are glued down,…
Maybe its the vacant expression on his face, but juggler Łukasz Uczkiewicz looks like he could pull off these tricks in his sleep. Which is all the more frustrating, because he’s so damn good I can just barely follow what’s going on. Lukasz seems to have all but abandoned his YouTube channel, but he’s still…
Directed by Nerdo, this short animation interprets the poem about beer from Charles Bukowski and it’s so dark and bitingly true and just totally spot on about the dependency that someone could have on beer (or wine or whiskey or whatever). We get in the mind of a man who has accepted what beer has…
It’s basic common sense that ropes and fast, spinning blades don’t mix. But in case you need a reminder, recently released video of a near-crash from a rescue helicopter should scare you witless. The accident occurred when a helicopter was trying to recover the body of a dead hiker near Salt Lake City last September.…
