Most people can’t survive the hellish onslaught of Devil Daggersfor more than 60 seconds. And if you watch this video, you’ll understand why.
Devil Daggers, the Super Hexagon of shooters, is so difficult that the developer, Sorath, only put a single achievement in the game. It’s called “Devil Dagger,” and for most people, it will be impossible to attain. What’s the requirement? Survive the satanic hordes for at least 500 seconds.
As of this writing, only a single player has accomplished this feat, YouTuber DraQu. Even if you’ve never heard of this game before, or if you haven’t played it, it’s worth watching his record-breaking run above. By around the 465 second mark, DraQu barely even has space to keep existing in the game. I can’t even imagine getting as far as 508 seconds into the game, holy shit.
That, and, the video is also a good showcase of why this arcade-style shooter is so amazing. Seriously, I can’t stop playing it.
As of this writing, here’s the top leaderboard for Devil Daggers. You’ll note that DraQu has already beaten the time from the video posted above:
It also seems like DraQu has some competition, but for now, the player can bask in the knowledge of knowing they are the only person in the entire world with this ridiculous Steam achievement. Congrats, DraQu.
Star Wars fans will obsess over the most minor details from the movies, and Rey’s instant-bread from the early sequences of The Force Awakens was definitely a thing that people obsessed over. (Seriously, go search Twitter for “Rey Bread.”) When the first details of how the practical effect for the movie first came out, fans were upset to hear that it wasn’t exactly the most edible substance. But now there’s a far more edible recipe, and you can make your own.
Yes, this is where we’re at now, Star Wars fandom. From wookiee cookiees to Rey bread. There’s some compromises in Jenn Fujikawa’s adorable recipe for Polystarch. (Of course it has an official name.)
This cake-like bread rises in a microwaveable mug, rather than expanding from powder added to water like scifi magic. It’s probably a bit sweeter and richer than what Rey would be used to as well. But hey, it’d be a fun thing to serve at a Force Awakens viewing party when it comes out on Blu-ray in a couple of months. Check out the full recipe at the link below.
Etsy shop JokerandtheThief has turned the characters from the medieval soap opera Game of Thrones into a perfect hand-drawn deck of cards featuring characters from the second book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, Clash of Kings—while they’re all still alive.
Designed in the style of a classic Bicycle deck, the cards are backed with a map of Westeros, but also feature subtle references to both the book series and the popular TV show. Here’s a breakdown of what characters are featured on the various face cards:
King of Spades – Robb Stark, King in the North Queen of Spades – Catelyn Stark, Robb’s mother Jack of Spades – Jon Snow, Robb’s half-brother, sworn brother of the Night’s Watch King of Diamonds – Joffrey Baratheon, King on the Iron Throne Queen of Diamonds – Cersei Lannister, Joffrey’s mother and Queen Regent Jack of Diamonds – Tyrion Lannister, Joffrey’s “uncle” and Hand of the King King of Hearts – Stannis Baratheon, Eldest brother of King Robert Queen of Hearts – Melisandre, Red Priestess and advisor to Stannis Jack of Hearts – Davos Seaworth (the Onion Knight), Advisor to Stannis King of Clubs – Renly Baratheon, Youngest brother of King Robert Queen of Clubs – Daenerys Targaryen (Kaleesi, Mother of Dragons) Jack of Clubs – Jorah Mormont, Exiled Knight and advisor to Queen Daenerys Jokers - Petyr Baelish (Littlefinger) and Varys
You can order a deck for just $20, but you’ll want to do so sooner rather than later. This isn’t an officially-licensed Game of Thrones product, and once HBO catches wind of it, its legal team is going to go all Red Wedding on this Etsy shop.
We’ve been hearing a lot about the Punisher coming to Daredevil season two, but don’t forget that this series is also adding another important character from Daredevil’s comic mythos: the Greek ninja, Elektra Natchios. Here’s just a glimpse of her slicing her way onto the scene, ahead of a new trailer tomorrow.
We apparently live in a world where even trailers come in two parts now—last week’s “part one” saw us get an introduction to the show’s take on Frank Castle, with Elodie Yung’s Elektra making a brief appearance at the end. Presumably tomorrow’s “part two” will emphasize her reappearance in Matt Murdock’s life. For now, you can make do with this short “character artwork” video of her shanking some dudes to whet your anticipation.
It’s not exactly the most faithful of looks when it comes to Elektra’s appearance in the comics (presumably that might be something she gets later on in the series), but the ninja scarf thing is growing on me a bit. Of course, she can still do mean business with her Sai, so little’s changed in that department.
CSIRO’s Comact Array in Australia, via Alex Cherney
For years, astronomers have puzzled over “fast radio bursts” (FRBs), mysterious cosmic beats that may come from pulsars. Now, for the first time, researchers have pinpointed the location of one such burst—and the discovery hints at an even more epic origin story.
FRBs are extremely energetic pulses that last only a few milliseconds and originate from seemingly random locations in the sky. To date, we’ve observed just 17 of them, although astronomers suspect there could be thousands flitting through our fields of view each day. There’s no generally accepted explanation for how they’re created, but theories abound: pulsars, collapsing neutron stars, evaporating black holes, and finally—humanity’s favorite explanation for strange cosmic chatter—alien beacons.
Although pulsars are the leading hypothesis among astronomers, and aliens are obviously our preferred choice, we won’t know which of these explanations makes sense until we learn more about the signals, including where in space they originate.
The good news is that we’re finally starting to figure it out. As reported today in Nature, astronomers working at the Parkes radio telescope in Australia have pinpointed the location of FRB 150418, which released two days worth of our Sun’s energy in a fraction of a second.
While most FRBs have been discovered post facto in archival data, FRB 150418 was detected seconds after it reached the Parkes telescope on April 18th, 2015. This allowed astronomers to quickly mobilize other telescopes, and observe the same patch of sky across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Essentially, researchers followed a breadcrumb trail of lightwaves to the FRB’s origin—an elliptical galaxy some 6 billion light years distant.
The characteristic sweeping signal of an FRB is shown in the closest inset—a so-called ‘waterfall plot’. Using multiple telescopes, astronomers pinpointed the location of this FRB to an elliptical galaxy six billion light years away. Via David Kaplan & Evan Keane.
And that location tells us a lot about the signal’s likely origin. For one, the galaxy FRB 150418 comes from is very old, which allows us to rule out the bright stellar beacons known as pulsars.
“Something like a pulsar doesn’t live that long, so when you see it, it is young, and not that long since it was born,” lead study author Evan Keane told Gizmodo in an email. “So as there is low or no star formation happening in the galaxy now it means the source is probably not from a young stellar population.”
Instead, Keane said, the radio burst probably emanated from the collision of two stars, possibly, two neutron stars. Other evidence, including the afterglow of the elliptical galaxy, supports the idea that we’re listening to the cosmic scream of two massive objects smashing into each other.
A year ago, that might have been the end of the story. But the collision of two neutron stars produces something else: gravitational waves. Now that the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) has confirmed the existence of Einstein’s spacetime ripples, we can start using gravitational waves to probe all sorts of cosmic mysteries, including fast radio bursts.
“The next big thing for FRB hunters, and gravitational wave hunters, is to find something emitting in both domains,” Keane said. “With multi-messenger work like that we can do amazing physics.”
These days, you can’t go anywhere without hearing about Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash Broadway musical Hamilton. He also wrote the music in Maz Kanata’s bar in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And now, this multi-talented actor, musician and writer is about to book a major movie role.
Variety reports Miranda is in talks to co-star alongside Emily Blunt in Disney’s new version of Mary Poppins. He’d play a character named Jack, who would be similar to but not the same person as Bert, played by Dick Van Dyke in the 1964 film.
Miranda popping up in a Disney movie feels almost inevitable. In addition to writing music for The Force Awakens, he’s been contributing to Disney Animation’s November film, Moana as well. And, because of that, if he ends up starring in Mary Poppins, he’ll help write some of the movie’s new songs.
This new Poppins will be directed by Rob Marshall (Into the Woods, Chicago). It’s set 20 years after the original film in Depression-era London and will use some of original author P.L. Travers’ storylines to tell a new tale about Poppins and the Banks family.
Gerard Butler is everywhere lately pimping out his latest movies, Gods of Egypt and London Has Fallen. Both look amazingly ridiculous—a theme that comes up again and again, throughout Butler’s surprisingly lengthy filmography. How could one man star in so many silly movies? Let us count the ways.
After realizing the law degree he’d studied for was going to land him a career he hated, Butler decided to pursue his acting dreams. It took a few years of bit parts, but his first notable role was probably the title vamp in Dracula 2000, or Wes Craven Presents Dracula 2000—which imagined the accidental resurrection of you-know-which monster at the turn of the millennium. Even with Christopher Plummer as Van Helsing, reviews of the movie were unkind, with a certain newcomer singled out for knocks by the New York Times:
The clunking fill-in-the-blanks screenplay portrays Dracula as irresistible to women the moment he walks into a room. Gerard Butler, the pale, glowering actor clad in chi-chi black duds who plays him, radiates a certain suave self-assurance, but he is no head-turner.
Source: Know Your Meme
Undeterred by the critical drubbing, Butler pressed forward. The next step after vampires was obviously post-apocalyptic dragons, playing third lead to Matthew McConaughey and Christian Bale in the high-concept B-movie Reign of Fire. (Fourth lead if you count the dragons as the first lead; the dragon theme would return when Butler added his voice-over talents to the animated How to Train Your Dragon series.) Then, a video game adaptation, as Lara Croft’s ex-boyfriend with an agenda, in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.
Just a few years into his leading-man career, a pattern was already emerging. A Butler movie had to have:
second-tier CG effects
crazy fight scenes
some kind of supernatural or fantasy element (like time-travel, when he played an archaeologist who travels to 14th century France in Timeline), and
a chance for him to show off his famed physique.
His carefully honed abs were elevated to fetish-object status in 300, the film that made him a bona fide movie star, and launched a thousand “This is Sparta” memes.
300 is still Butler’s best-known performance, and was enough of a Hollywood arrival that many might not remember this little detour, which took place just months prior:
Yes. Join me in my private hell of having “Music of the Night” stuck in my head for the rest of the day and probably the week.
Butler, who apparently sang in a rock band while he was in law school, also does a little singing and a lot of lovin’ (from beyond the grave, but whatever) in PS I Love You, his first foray into romantic comedy—but not the last: He went on to make The Ugly Truth, Playing for Keeps, and The Bounty Hunter. Unmemorable, the lot of them—but hits, too.
Butler’s apparent all-over-the-map career strategy means he never stays in one genre for long. He also made a kiddie adventure movie (Nim’s Island), and a Guy Ritchie movie (RocknRolla). And he took a supporting role in the film adaptation of the Shakespeare play that got him his start on the stage, Coriolanus. And, of course, his bread-and-butter has yielded plenty of action-movie roles, in films like Olympus Has Fallen.
But there’s also the utterly dementedGamer, in which Butler plays Kable, a living video-game avatar who goes around slaughtering people under the control of a rich pampered video-game addict. Butler has a long-suffering dignity as a helpless pawn who knows that his wife is being used as a sexdoll in another gameworld, while he’s killing for someone else’s amusement.
And then there’s Movie 43. Which nobody can categorize, or even explain.
This peripatetic approach is perhaps crafted with purpose. Maybe he’s in search of the path taken by Matthew McConaughey, another action hero/hunky sort who also did well in rom-coms and eventually turned into an Oscar-winning Serious Actor. But McConaughey’s got a wacky twinkle in his eye, and a slightly unhinged offscreen persona that seems effortless and uncultivated. Not only does Butler not have either of those things, he doesn’t seem to have a persona that sticks in your mind.
In fact, despite his over-the-top acting (as showcased in 300) Butler has not quite managed to become the new Nicolas Cage, either. He’s barely even the new Jason Statham, even. Butler’s resume is almost as stuffed with bonkers movies as those other scenery-chewing action stars, but he doesn’t stand out the way they do.
But maybe that’s why Gerard Butler is the perfect movie star for our times. He’s more or less a blank slate as a person, which makes him versatile onscreen—not because he’s an amazing actor, but because he’s a solid presence. Though he usually plays a rascal or a rebel, he also has a certain gravitas, and his physique speaks to a not-fucking-around approach to keeping his beefcake intact. He’s not there to deliver an iconic performance—he’s there to play the hero, fit seamlessly into the damn movie, and make whatever insanity is going on around him seem as believable as possible. Of course Gods of Egypt is a Gerard Butler movie. Even if the rest of the movie makes absolutely no sense, his casting absolutely does.
Top image: Gerard Butler stars as ‘Set’ in GODS OF EGYPT. Photo Courtesy of Lionsgate.
Middle image: Gerard Butler in Movie 43. Photo courtesy of Relativity Media LLC.
The Force Awakens was a huge milestone: the first continuation of the Star Wars movie saga since 1983's Return of the Jedi. But the upcoming Rogue One is just as important to the future of Star Wars, if not more so.
There’s a lot riding on Rogue One’s X-Wings. The first stand-alone story in Disney’s revitalized Star Wars movie machine, premiering on December 16, is going to be different from the other seven episodes in the franchise for a lot of reasons—and its success or failure could have a major, permanent impact on all Star Wars movies yet to come.
Minor spoilers ahead...
In the very unlikely event you don’t know, Rogue One is about a group of Rebellion pilots who are tasked with getting the plans for original Death Star—the plans Princess Leia gave to R2-D2 in A New Hope. It’s been described both a heist movie and as a war movie, which means it’s going to be the first Star Wars movie with a specific theme to it beyond its general “space fantasy” aegis. Presumably, this will also be the first Star Wars movie not to include a Jedi (or possibly even anyone with Force sensitivity). Perhaps most importantly, it’s going to be the first Star Wars film without a Skywalker at its center.
And that’s the question: Are audiences ready for Star Wars sans Skywalkers? Given the current international appetite for all thing from a galaxy far, far away, right now I am certain people are more than willing to take a chance to find out. I also have zero doubt that ticket sales for the first weekend will be amazing, and that the movie will turn a profit. But that’s doesn’t mean the movie will be enjoyed. If ticket sales drop precipitously after the first weekend, or word-of-mouth turns bad—or, basically, if this movie sucks—Rogue One may make a profit, but it will also make audiences much more wary of all the other Star Wars stories Disney plans on churning out until the world ends.
A relative failure wouldn’t stop Disney from making more standalone Star Wars films, but the next spin-off on the slate is a young Han Solo movie; after that, the movies that are most often rumored to follow include solo adventures for Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Mining the histories of these well-known, beloved characters is smart and obvious. But it’s also kind of a bummer to think that the Star Wars movies are going to perennially stick to the same dozen or so characters, when there’s literally an entire galaxy to explore.
This is why Rogue One is so important. Sure, it links directly to A New Hope, so audiences do understand the stakes immediately and easily. But other than a rumored appearance by Darth Vader, this movie stars an entirely new group of heroes, with an entirely new battle against the Empire. Getting a more in-depth view of the Rebellion—and getting to see just how desperate its fight against the Empire was in the heights of its tyrannical power—would be fascinating enough. But the chance to see, on the big screen, what life in the Star Wars universe is like for regular people, people who don’t hang out with ultra-powerful space-wizards, is even more enticing.
This movie has the potential to give us a wider view of the Star Wars universe than we’ve ever seen before—literally an entire universe full of stories Lucasfilm and Disney could tell. There could be countless heroes and villains out there, who are just as cool as Han Solo or as terrifying as Darth Vader, but we’ll never know, unless someone gets to tell their stories. There are other battles against the Empire, other foes to vanquish, other adventures to be had, and surely some of them have to be more interesting than giving us a bit of back-story on characters we already know pretty well. (Han Solo may be one thing, but every part we know of Boba Fett’s life prior to Empire Strikes Back was dumb, and we’re all very aware that Jedi used to be assholes. I do not actually need more Fett or Obi-Wan in my Star Wars movies.)
Rogue One is a first step into this larger world. But if the movie doesn’t perform to its expectations, both financial and critical, Disney is almost certainly going to step right back, and concentrate solely on established Star Wars characters for its future stand-alone films. This is hardly the worst fate in the world, to be sure—but what an opportunity would be missed!
The reason most of us fell in love with Star Wars in the first place is that it felt real. All those little details—the fact that vehicles looked used, the allusions to the past, the countless aliens you saw once and never again—made it feel like countless things were happening not just off-screen, but all around the galaxy. This sense that every character, seen or unseen, has his/her/its own agency, life, goals, whatever, is what made this elaborate, epic story about a family of space wizards seem real. I am completely confident when I say that a great deal of Star Wars’ enduring appeal comes from its near-miraculous ability to make the unreal seem so real.
Rogue One has the opportunity (maybe onus is a better word) to realize this fundamental quality of the Star Wars universe on screen—to attempt to see if the depth that has always seemed a part of the franchise is in fact real, or merely an illusion. The answer depends entirely on the fate of this first stand-alone film, and thus it will shape the future of the Star Wars movies far more than the Force itself. Are the pilots of Rogue One up for this integral mission? I’m sure they’re standing by.
When the first issue of Warren Ellis and Gerardo Zaffino’s Karnak series came out, it instantly cemented itself as the most amazing of Marvel’s new Inhuman comics. That was four months ago, and the wait for the second issue has been almost unbearable... but Karnak #2 is so undeniably brilliant that it was worth the wait.
Spoilers ahead for Karnak #2, by Warren Ellis, Gerardo Zaffino, Antonio Fuso, Dan Brown, Clayton Cowles, and Joe Caramagna—and also a warning: some of the pictures below are going to get a little bit brutal.
The new Karnak picks up immediately where the first issue left off. If you understandably don’t remember, the that issue saw hypergenius/complete martial arts badass Inhuman magister Karnak on the trail of a kidnapped Inhuman boy at SHIELD’s behest—with Karnak about to go to town on a base full of armed men. Karnak #2 opens with said going to town. A whole nine pages of it. It’s incredible.
Aside from an introductory page flashing back to Karnak as a young child in Attilan, the opening half of this issue includes no dialogue as the Inhuman slices his way through opponent after opponent to track his quarry. It’s a technique that Ellis can’t resist. His ongoing James Bond series did something to similar effect recently, and of course, Ellis’ run on Moon Knight had a sequence like it all of it its own. It’s easy to see why Ellis loves it, though; the narrative technique lets Zaffino and Brown’s gorgeous, raw artwork take center stage, in what is pretty much comic book’s answer to The Raid’s infamous hallway fight.
Sorry, Daredevil. Karnak got you beat on this one.
It is, without a doubt, one of the most brutal and brilliant action sequences in a Marvel comic since... well, since Ellis and Declan Shalvey’s own Moon Knight #5. There’s an amazing sense of flow to the entire sequence, as Karnak’s limbs blur into sweeping lines or hazy strikes that give the whole thing both an incredible sense of speed and a gut-wrenching rawness. Karnak dances through panels, kicking and punching people so hard he’s smacking them almost directly into the structure of the pages themselves. It’s really intense stuff.
Karnak’s ability to see the flaw in all things used to make him something of a trickster, a character that could pick apart debates and plans and use that to his advantage. Ellis’ Karnak uses it to turn himself into a living weapon, an unstoppable force that not only sees flaws in the entire world, but exploits them to visceral, gory effect.
That guy’s neck? Flawed.
That dude’s face? Flawed.
That door?
Flawed.
Karnak is an Inhuman comic like no other in Marvel’s roster. In a period where the company is trying to push the Inhumans as major players, with books like Uncanny Avengers or Uncanny Inhumans which see the Inhumans strive for unity and common ground with the world, to have a series that constantly emphasises Inhumanity’s threat and stark difference to that world is as refreshing as it is satisfying. In a world where his kind hold themselves back to put on a good front, Karnak doesn’t care one jot.
In the end, Karnak doesn’t find the Inhuman boy he’s seeking. He’s sent on a quest that will hopefully allow for even more of these glorious fight scenes, a veritable globetrotting, punch-laden adventure. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait another four months to see the rest of it.
Did you see that video of a knife-wielding crab that went viral recently? Sadly, it’s a hoax. The Washington Postspoke with an expert, and the whole thing was definitely staged. The crab didn’t pick up the knife itself. In reality, the blade was almost certainly jammed into the crab’s claw, and the crab can’t let go.
Jack Cover of the National Aquarium in Baltimore told the Washington Post that the crab is clearly distressed. “It’s a hoax,” he said, to put it bluntly.
“Purely from a biologist’s standpoint, I’m surprised the video is getting the attention it’s getting. To me, it’s sort of showing a little bit about our tendency to be very separate from nature,” Cover told the Washington Post. “A crab is not known for its large brain and it’s already got a pretty formidable weapon—that claw.”
So we don’t have to worry about knife-wielding crabs just yet, unless of course you jam a knife in a crab’s claw. But what about box-wielding robots?
The world we live in can be so crappy and depressing, every once in a while it’s nice to remind yourself that there’s plenty of beauty out there. In lieu of a dancing plastic bag, this short film should do the trick.
It’s produced by Chromosphere and uses the art of Kevin Dart (whom we’ve highlighted before) as well as work by Stéphane Coëdel, David Kamp and Nelson Boles. No real ulterior motive here—it’s just a beautiful work that takes us from the smallest cells to the outer reaches of the galaxy, making the point that nature is kind of amazing.
In addition to his countless original creations, Joerg has a long track record of turning seemingly innocuous objects into frighteningly dangerous improvised weapons. And while out of the box this Nerf blaster is safe for kids, it doesn’t take long for Sprave to turn it into something that even adults probably shouldn’t be playing with.
Do we even have to say you probably shouldn’t try this at home? It’s not even something that should be attempted by a professional, only a mad scientist of slingshot engineering.
Just over a year ago, we were confidently predicting that you’d get to watch HBO’s revamped version of Westworld later in 2015. But now, a new report from The Hollywood Reporterclaims that this TV show based on the classic Michael Crichton movie might not appear until 2017.
Remember when we said not to worry about HBO’s new Westworld stopping production? It might be time to worry, a bit. The THR article drops this bomb in the middle of discussing wider problems at HBO. And it sounds as though the recent production hiatus, along with the fact that the already-completed episodes turn out to need some major additions and reshoots, could lead to a longer-than-expected delay.
THR’s report also hints at tension between creator Jonathan Nolan and HBO, who have been clashing over cuts and creative differences since the project began. But it’s hard to tell what’s holding the project up. Maybe putting together those human sex furniture scenes just takes a really long time.
Most of us remember the glory days of Windows 98. Now you can relive them on a less-shitty computer, thanks to several thousand lines of brilliant Javascript.
Copy.sh is an emulator that runs inside your browser and effectively is the Windows 98 OS, unlike some other webapps that merely look and feel like old-school windows. The project took four years to write, and more importantly, it comes with Minesweeper!
There are options to boot from a CD or floppy disc image, which presumably means someone with a little tech savvy could play Tribes or Half Life 1 in a browser! Hell, a good number of games from that era are abandonware at this point. That said, I did try to get Rollercoaster Tycoon running without any success.
The browser works too, sort of. When I tried to see what Gizmodo looked like on Internet Explorer, copy.sh went dead for a good two minutes before showing me this message:
Maybe that’s the Inception-level grossness of using a browser inside a browser causing the emulator to break, but it was also a nostalgic microcosm of just how much easier the act of using a computer has gotten in the past 20 years.
For a few years now, Antec’s USB-powered HDTV bias light has been one of our most reliably popular deals whenever it went on sale. The problem: It only got a significant discount once every few months. Luckily, a copycat has emerged to fill in the gap.
Just like the Antec model, these Vansky LED light strips plug directly into your TV’s USB port for power, and sticks to the back of the set via built-in adhesive. Once you turn your TV on, the light strip will cast a soft glow on the wall behind it, which can reduce eyestrain when watching in the dark, and improve your TV’s perceived black levels.
Whenever we post a deal on the Antec light, it sells out within hours. I’m not sure if that’ll be the case today, but I wouldn’t take any chances.
If you fly Southwest with any regularity, this deal is basically free money. Pro tip: Use the money you saved to buy Earlybird check in. [$100 Southwest Airlines Gift Card, $90]
Featuring an eight foot power cord, 11 AC outlets, plus coax and phone line protection, this APC surge protector is exactly what you need behind your home theater. Amazon will sell you one for $16 right now, which is an all-time low. [APC SurgeArrest Surge Protector, $16]
For a limited time, Anker’s highly-rated cases and glass screen protectors for the iPhone 6/6s and 6/6s Plus are on sale for just $2 each. Be sure to note the promo codes; they’re different for each item.
The Dell XPS 13 is still the Windows laptop to beat, and you can get one packed with 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 3200x1800 IPS touchscreen for just $1,000 today. That’s not exactly cheap, but it’s undoubtedly a bargain if you expect a lot out of your laptop. [Dell XPS 13, $1,000]
It’s not often that Amazon features a laptop as one of its deals of the day, so anyone who uses a desktop at home or work should definitely check out this $270 Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga for their portable computing needs.
This model’s 4GB of RAM is double what you’d find in most similarly priced Chromebooks, and the 128GB SSD is positively spacious compared to the 16-32GB flash chips included in Google’s alternatives. The real highlight feature though is the touchscreen. Sure, at 11.6", and 1366x768 resolution, this probably won’t be your main computer. But since it’s a Yoga, you can flip it into all sorts of different poses. Need to carry it around? Turn it into a tablet. Finished working on a plane, and just want to watch a movie? Flip it into stand mode to get the keyboard out of the way.
Dyson’s bladeless fans look like something out of science fiction, and at their usual prices, they might as well be fictional for most of us. However, a bunch of refurbished models are on sale today in Amazon’s Gold Box, so it might be time to give them another look.
To be clear, at $150-$170, these are still not cheap fans. But if you’ve had one on your wish list, that sure beats swallowing their usual $200-$350 price tags. My pick of the litter is the AM04 Hot+Cool for $155, which can act as a fan and a space heater, but be sure to head over to Amazon to see the full list.
Like all Gold Box deals, these prices are only available today, and the best stuff might sell out early, so lock in your orders before they get blown away. [Dyson Fan Gold Box]
Unlike those disposable chemical hand warmers, this Zippo lasts for up to 6 hours at a time, and can be reused by filling it with a splash of lighter fluid. Plus, it just looks really cool hot. [Zippo 6-Hour Chrome Hand Warmer, $10]
Not only can this LED desk lamp put out three different color temperatures at four brightness settings; it can also charge your phone via its built-in USB port. What more could you possibly need? [ANNT LED Touch Desk Lamp with USB Charging Port, $26 with code MLXJQ3LE]
In the world of USB battery pack deals, it doesn’t get much better than $9 for 10,000mAh. We’ve seen this deal a few times before, and to say it’s been popular wouldn’t really do it justice. [KMASHI 10000mAh External Battery Power Bank, $9 with code JDI3KZ3Y]
Gaming mice don’t get much better than this. Razer’s Mamba Tournament Edition sports an absurd 16,000 DPI sensor, lift-off cut-off distance as of 0.1 mm, and the most insane backlighting system I’ve ever seen. It’s also never been cheaper. [Razer Mamba Tournament Edition - Chroma, $70]
For $16 less, you can still score the DeathAdder Chroma, which has a slightly less impressive backlight, and merely a 10,000 DPI sensor. [Razer DeathAdder Chroma, $54]
Smartphone camera lens attachments have been around for years, but I’ve always held off because I didn’t want to use a specific case on my phone, or pay for a new set of lenses every time I bought a new device. This clip-on solution from Aukey though seems to be a more versatile alternative, and looks like an awesome option at $10.
Unlike most lens add-ons, Aukey’s 3-in-1 kit uses a clamp to attach to your device, which means it should work with virtually any smartphone. Once that clip’s in place, you get to choose from three different lenses: Fisheye, wide angle, and macro. A handful of Amazon reviewers have uploaded sample photos and videos, and they look pretty great to my eyes, particularly the close-up macros.
At $2.50 per bulb, it’s officially time to transition your entire house to LED. Plus, many power companies will even give you a $1-$2 statement credit for each one with proof of purchase. [Philips 60W Equivalent Soft White A19 LED Light Bulb (4-Pack), $10]
A good deal on a clothing iron probably isn’t the most exciting thing we’ve ever posted, but everyone should own one, and you could do a lot worse than this 4.5 star-rated Rowenta.
Amazon lists the price at $83, but the $6 coupon on the page will drop it to $77 at checkout, which is the second lowest price they’ve ever listed. [Rowenta DW5197 Focus Steam Iron, $77 with $6 coupon]
Today’s best console deals are nothing if not unique. If you’re interested in an Xbox One, this Gears of War Bundle comes with a free bonus Halo gamepad and a copy of Far Cry Primal, for some reason. If you’d prefer a PS4, this Star Wars Battlefront bundle costs $50 more than usual, but it comes with a Sphero BB-8 droid toy, which is a $140 value on its own.
2016 will be the year of Quick Charge 3.0, which can take your phone from zero to 80 in 35 minutes, and you can get ready with some of the first deals we’ve seen on compatible chargers.
You don’t need a yard, or even any gardening skills to grow your own food at home; you just need Miracle-Gro’s Aerogarden line. These fully-integrated, soil-free indoor gardens can grow herbs, vegetables, and salad greens up to five times faster than regular soil, and nearly the entire lineup is on sale right now.
Prices start at just $45 for the Sprout model, which can grow three pods at a time, and range up to $198 for the Bounty, which fits nine. All of these prices are either all-time lows, or the best we’ve seen outside of special one-day promotions, so don’t hesitate. If you need help deciding, each Amazon page has a comparison chart with all of the main features.
Want Bluetooth audio and handsfree calling in your older car? This little dongle takes the Bluetooth signal from your phone, and retransmits over a 3.5mm AUX connection, or to the FM radio station of your choice. If you go the FM route, the sound quality will take a hit, but it’ll be a truly wireless experience, and probably your best option short of buying an entirely new stereo. We’ve seen deals on similar products before, but rarely for this cheap. [Senbowe SW-BFT-01 Wireless In-Car FM Transmitter with Bluetooth, $11 with code BI25OHDH]
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There are so many Star Wars posters out there these days, it’s incredibly difficult to make one stand out. Well, artist Matt Ferguson has found an answer to that: Make posters that are simple, clean, and instantly recognizable.
That’s easier said than done, of course—but Ferguson’s definitely pulled it off. Along with the Bottleneck Gallery and Acme Archives, he’s about to release an officially licensed series of posters that practically scream “Star Wars,” without being too in your face. Check out the color regular, and gold variant, editions.
All these posters go on sale at 12pm EST February 25. The variants are a limited edition run of 225 while the regulars are a timed edition that will remain on sale until February 28 until 11:59pm EST, and they’ll print as many sets as they sell during that period. All prints are 12 x 24 inches.
Join us to watch live as SpaceX attempts to launch and land its Falcon 9 Rocket. Even the company itself says, “a successful landing is not expected.” Oh dear. [UPDATE: SpaceX has pushed its launch to tomorrow night—scroll down for details.]
The latest Falcon 9 rocket launch attempt will take off from Cape Canaveral this evening. The launches to date have been typically smooth—the landings, however, have been harder to stick, with plenty of totaled Falcon 9s littering the path up to this one.
In tonight’s launch, a Falcon 9 will first release a SES9 communications satellite high above the Earth. Then it will try to make its first successful landing on a drone-piloted barge, the perhaps heart-warmingly named, “Of Course I Still Love You.”
It’s when Falcon 9 attempts to hit the “Of Course I Still Love You” that things are expected to go sideways (perhaps literally), as SpaceX is testing out a new, experimental orbiting plan for the rocket. But exactly how it will happen remains to be seen.
It could crash straight into the ship. It could mostly stick its landing, only to tip over and explode at the last second, like last time. There’s even a chance Falcon 9 will prove everyone wrong and land itself neatly onto the droneship like it was no big thing at all. Even a crash wouldn’t be a total waste: it would tell SpaceX scientists more about what kind of trajectory they might want to plan for in the next round.
Barring a last-minute cancelation, the launch window opens at 6:46 p.m. (ET) and the livefeed picks up 20 minutes before that. Watch along with us—we’ll be updating as it happens.
Update, 6:20 p.m. (ET) No launch today, folks. SpaceX decided to hold for the next launch window tomorrow at 6:46 p.m, ET again. We’ll be back to check it out then!
Just like a supermarket avocado, the squishiness of fertilized human eggs could hint at how healthy and viable their embryos are—which would be a huge benefit for the millions of in-vitro fertilization babies now being born worldwide.
Today, scientists at Stanford University announced that the squishiness of an hour-old fertilized egg could help predict whether the egg would lead to a successful, healthy IVF pregnancy and birth. The technique was published in the journal Nature Communications.
IVF works by scientists injecting sperm into an egg. Then, they wait and see how many blastocyst cells start dividing. This is how embryo viability has been measured in the past—the more cells that reproduce, the better. But now, giving that microscopic, proto-human a good squeeze could prove a more accurate indicator.
“A lot of twins are born because we don’t know which embryos are viable or not, so we transfer several at one time,” said bioengineer Livia Yanez, who co-led the study. “This can increase the risk of neonatal mortality and cause complications for babies and the mothers.”
So the team decided to apply pressure to hour-old fertilized mouse eggs using a tiny pipette. The squishier eggs that “pushed back” ended up being less deformed than the others at the blastocyst stage. Using this data, the team ginned up a computation model that can predict with 90 percent accuracy whether a blastocyst will be symmetrical, form a healthy embryo, and lead to a complication-free birth.
Sure enough, when the embryos formed from squishier eggs were transferred to female mice, the animals were 50 percent more likely to deliver a normal live birth than if conventional IVF techniques were used. Finally, the Stanford team repeated the experiment with human eggs—and found that the likelihood of predicting healthy blastocysts using the squishiness method skyrocketed 90 percent.
What’s still unclear is why the squishiness of eggs is such a solid predictor. But what we do know is that this study could be a breakthrough for the many, many mothers looking to give birth via IVF.
Last night’s two episodes of Agent Carter had their ups and downs—but their emotional spine came from Edwin Jarvis, whose wife Ana has narrowly survived a gunshot wound. But the most magical moment comes here, when Edwin finally pushes Peggy Carter too far.
Spoilers ahead...
The little moment of collecting herself, the hair flip, and then the icy cold tone that Peggy uses on Edwin, are just incredible. If you ever needed proof that Hayley Atwell is a fantastic actor, just watch this one-minute-and-change scene. The whole storyline—in which Edwin will give anything for his wife to be okay, and then as soon as she is, he rushes off on a foolish quest for revenge, leaving his Will and Testament behind—is James D’Arcy’s finest moment thus far. But Atwell still manages to own this scene, completely.
Otherwise, season two of Agent Carter remains a fun thrill ride—although Jack Thompson’s long-awaited betrayal of the slimy Vernon Masters could have carried more weight if it had happened more dramatically. And with just one episode left, I still don’t know or care what the magical substance known as Zero Matter is. They might as well call it McGuffinium. But the characters are so strong and so interesting, it hardly matters.
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