Playing music is supposed to be fun! Remember? Sometimes electronic instruments we choose to play are so complicated that using them is a chore, or at least requires a ton of practice. It doesn't have to be that way.
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8 Musical Instruments That Are So Much Fun They're Practically Toys
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5 Parts of New York That Are Built On Garbage
New York was pretty much a cesspool in the 19th century. "We were a laughingstock," as anthropologist and trash historian Robin Nagle once put it. But in an odd way, New York owes its current success to its refuse—after all, it's built on the stuff.
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6 Supermaterials That Could Change Our World
Graphene isn't the only game-changing material to come out of a lab. From aerogels nearly as light as air to metamaterials that manipulate light, here are six supermaterials that have the potential to transform the world of the future.
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9 of the Best Holograms of All Time
Holograms are here. At least that's what Microsoft wants you to think
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42 Visions For Tomorrow From The Golden Age of Futurism
It's 2015. But sometimes it feels like our futuristic dreams are stuck in the 1950s and 60s. And there's actually a good reason for that.
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The Insane Hanging Bridges That Time Forgot
In retrospect, history's march into the future looks like a smooth catenary arch towards the present. But some technologies don't make it. Sometimes, grand visions of the future only last for a few years—or maybe a few decades.
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13 Gorgeous Panoramic Maps Drawn Long Before Satellites Even Existed
It's hard for us Google Earth-dependent modern-day humans to conceive of, but there was once a time when we had to imagine what our towns and cities looked like from the sky. In fact, there were famous artists who specialized in creating these panoramic views of Earth, though today, it's a lost art.
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A Guide to the Not-So-Secret Spy Palaces of The World
Where do spies meet when they plan their secret missions? Often, they gather in buildings that look like giant fortresses that are anything but covert. Here are some of the most incredible spy palaces from around the world. At least — these are the ones we know about.
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13 of History's Most Ingenious Spy Cameras
Most of us can't help it: When we think about spies, we think about James Bond. And when we think about James Bond, we think about his gadgets. But real life spies use gadgets too—and there's no more amazing category of spy gadget than the camera.
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How to Turn Your Smartphone Into the Ultimate Spy Tool
You don't need to be Bond to get your own spy gadgets. You've already got the ultimate spy tool in your pocket: a smartphone. And who would suspect you're spying when you're probably just texting a friend? Here are the apps and peripherals you need to take your phone on a covert mission without Q in your corner.
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10 Cold War-Era Board Games About Spies and Secret Agents
Americans were obsessed with spy culture during the Cold War. I mean, who didn't love James Bond? Communists, that's who. The gosh darn Communits. Spying seeped into every aspect of pop culture in the 1960s and 70s—from TV and movies to comic books and even board games.
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All the Tech We've Used to Intercept Every Kind Of Communication
Spy cameras
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The Top 6 Fictional Robot Fights We'd Definitely Want to Watch
For near a decade, humanity's thirst for gladiatorial robot fighting went unsatiated when BattleBots went off the air. But with this month's joyous announcement
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25 of the Most Desirable Objects Ever Made
We're surrounded by scores of gadgets so well-designed it's almost impossible not to fall in love with some of them. I wanted to share some of my personal favorites. The following set of images serves as a confession for me; call me crazy, but I adore these objects so much, that simply to touch and hold them causes a pleasant sensation in my nervous system.
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The 7 Geekiest Moments of the 2015 Rio Carnival
This year the European Organization for Nuclear Research (aka CERN) made a surprising appearance at the Rio Carnival, held at Rio de Janiero's Sambadrome. Two hundred people from the Unidos da Tijuca, last year's winning samba school, represented CERN's particle accelerators crossing the border between France and Switzerland. And this was not the only beautifully geeky moment at the world's largest parade. Look:
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The Magnificent Evolution of Polar Icebreakers
Modern icebreakers are the most marvelous of civilian ships. They are huge, they are strong, they are powerful, and their history is amazing. Without them, there would be no safe waterways for other ships in the icy waters around the poles of the Earth. Here is a spectacular look into their evolution, from steamers and diesel vessels to nuclear powered ships.
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14 Gems From Dealextreme, the World's Most Bizarre Shopping Site
Feeling bored? You need a store that sells ridiculous, confusing products that probably shouldn't even exist. Let me introduce you to one of my favorite online retailers: Dealextreme.
It's one of the internet's largest purveyors of cheap tablets, obscure cables and amazing off-brand oddities.
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The Olympic Venues of the USSR, 35 Years Later
The 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow were controversial. While its war in Afghanistan had sparked a global boycott of the games, the USSR also wanted to showcase its capacity for opulence
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7 Slow-Mo GIFs That Show Off Android Lollipop's Delightful Animations
Android Lollipop is beautiful
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The NSA's In-House Magazine Looks Like a 1970s Punk Zine
Back in 1976, the NSA started an in-house magazine called Cryptolog that served as reading material for employees of the top secret agency. In 2013, the agency declassified heavily redacted issues of the magazine dating up to 1997... and its design is actually pretty amazing.
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