You may have seen ferrofluid (aka magnetic ink) used for clever science demonstrations in school, but it might just get a much cooler application before long. Linden Gledhill and Craig Ward have developed Fe2O3 Glyphs, wild-looking characters creat…
Technical
Swans help create smoother camera drone videos
The next time you see a graceful, dramatic video shot by a camera drone, you may have a swan to thank for the absence of any jittery footage. Stanford University researchers are developing camera suspension technology inspired by whooping swans, w…
‘Mortal Kombat X’ won’t be coming to last-gen consoles after all
I hope you weren't counting on playing Mortal Kombat X on your trusty previous-generation console — you're about to be disappointed. Warner Bros. has cancelled both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the bloody brawler, claiming that neit…
NASA simulates Mars mission by locking up people in a tiny dome
A group of six people bade the rest of the world farewell on Friday to begin their year-long stay in a cramped dome on Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano. The French astrobiologist, German physicist and American pilot, architect, doctor/journalist and soil…
Google Search starts connecting you directly to plumbers, locksmiths
Amazon launched a home services directory in 41 cities a few months ago, and now Google is dipping its toe in the water. According to the Wall Street Journal, for those "in and around" San Francisco, searching for terms like lock repair or clogged…
NASA’s Pluto probe is heading for the Kuiper belt
It's been over a month since the New Horizons spacecraft flew as near as possible to Pluto and took the closest photos of the dwarf planet we've ever seen. Now, NASA has decided on its next destination: a small Kuiper Belt object (KBO) called 2014 M…
Turing Robotics’ liquid metal phones to ship out in December
That rectangular, encrypted Turing Robotics phone that one of our editors called "charmingly quirky" is ready for release. In fact, it will start shipping out on December 18th — that's also when Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters, and yes,…
Expect a ‘limited number’ of HTC Vive VR headsets this year
According to HTC, reports that the commercial launch of its Vive virtual reality headset is delayed until next year aren't telling the whole story. The company provided a statement to Engadget saying "We'll have a limited number of units by the end…
Google’s been recruiting programmers based on their search habits
Want a job slinging code for Google? You might already be on the company's radar. According to new Google hire Max Rosett, he never applied for a job at Google — the company reached out to him after he made a habit of using Google search as a prog…
Americans think it’s rude to stay glued to your phone, do it anyway
You're no doubt astute enough to know that you should stop using your cellphone in some social situations, but how good are you at heeding your own advice? If Pew's latest study is any indication, the answer is "not very." The research center fou…
What’s on your HDTV: ‘Gears’, ‘Mr. Robot’ finale, ‘The Carmichael Show’
This week we have the return of Gears of War, uprez'd and made prettier on the Xbox One. It's not the only big game release however, as the Dishonored and Mega Man are also getting re-released, and PS4 gamers should check out Until Dawn, even if th…
Build a ‘Fantastic Contraption’ in virtual reality with the Vive
Virtual Reality is often characterized as a solitary experience, but it doesn't have to be. Games like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, a multiplayer bomb-defusal game, demonstrate VR's ability to entertain entire groups of people in wonderful new…
Facebook’s ‘Donate Now’ button makes it easy to help non-profits
If you've ever wanted to make an online contribution to a non-profit but were put off by having to wade through the organization's website, Facebook has your back. It's deploying a "Donate Now" button that can pop up both in ads and on non-profits…
MIT’s newest 3D printer spouts 10 materials at a time
One of the biggest hindrances to current 3D printers is that they almost exclusively stick to a single precursor be it plastic, metal or glass. At most, you can get one that extrudes three materials at a time and they're going set you back a quarte…
Moto X Play reportedly coming to Verizon as the Droid Maxx 2
When Motorola unveiled the Moto X Play, it left Americans hanging. Would that combination of a big display, mid-tier specs and a huge battery ever reach the US? If you ask Phandroid, the answer is yes — although it might not show up in the form yo…