tech@vedella

Shaun Clayton compiled a collection of scenes from old coffee commercials, which often shared a theme: "men being jerks to their wives about coffee." [via Peter Serafinowicz]

A herd of bison in a valley in the northwestern region of Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming). I shot this iPhone snap while shooting video with Miles O'Brien and team—we're working on a story for the PBS NewsHour. We're in Montana … Continue reading →

My friend Tara Helfer, who you may remember as the illustrator of this lovely drawing I posted a while back, is taking on a pretty ambitious senior project: organize seventy two different artists to illustrate each of the demons in … Continue reading →

William Gibson's most recent novel, Zero History, was recently published (Cory called it an "exciting adventure that wakes you to the present-day’s futurism"). I asked William a few questions by email. Here are his answers: The paperback edition of your … Continue reading →

A gentleman from Hamilton, Ohio was charged with public indecency after being caught having sex with a stolen inflatable pool raft. The raft was pink. Edwin Charles Tobergta has four previous public indecency charges, including one involving an inflatable pumpkin. … Continue reading →

Apparently George Lucas couldn't leave well enough alone, again, and tweaked the Star Wars films for the new Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI, Blu Ray). As seen in the above clip, Vader now screams "Noooooo!" as the Emperor … Continue reading →

While at the Gira Telmexhub conference in Mérida, Mexico last weekend, I met artist Christian Pacheco Quijano who showed me his striking series of lucha libre paintings. Seen here, "Príncipe de Seda" (2010, digital illustration). Christian Pacheco Quijano

[Video Link] Here's the trailer for a funny book called Crap at My Parents' House. Crap at My Parents’ House is a laugh-out-loud celebration of all the weird, odd, and unfathomably tacky stuff that our moms and dads accumulate without … Continue reading →

The Guardian released a statement today assailing Wikileaks' accusation that one of its reporters published the password to an unredacted set of leaked U.S. diplomatic cables. The newspaper admits publishing the password, but says it was assured that the files … Continue reading →

After someone wondered whether a single Marine regiment could take on the Roman Empire, redditor Prufrock451 took up the challenge the best way possible: with flash fiction. [Reddit via Metafilter]

John Naughton's latest book, From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg, What You Really Need to Know About the Internet, expands on his spectacular Observer feature article, "The internet: Everything you ever need to know, which I described as "a marvel of economy, … Continue reading →

Last night, a PR person contacted me and said to expect a mysterious "puzzle piece" to arrive the next morning. I steepled my fingers, squeezed in my monocle, and warned her that it was unlikely that we'd participate in a … Continue reading →

Wikileaks, facing criticism after unredacted versions of diplomatic cables escaped into the wild, today accused a Guardian journalist of negligently publishing the password required to decrypt them. A Guardian journalist has negligently disclosed top secret WikiLeaks’ decryption passwords to hundreds … Continue reading →

When I was at Venice Beach with my family, we came across a freak show. The barker in front had a couple of two-headed turtles in a plastic tub filled with water. He said admission was $5. The barker also … Continue reading →

42-year-old Michael Allison of Illinois could spend the rest of his life in prison for recording police in public. He faces five counts of eavesdropping, a class one felony. Of course, the police are allowed to video people in public … Continue reading →

The spectacularly shrewd Ashley McDowell was approached by two men in a McDonald's parking lot where they offered to sell her an iPad fetish for $300. She only had $180, but they gave it to her anyway. When she got … Continue reading →

The Monsters of Grok t-shirt line is funny. (Via Liz McLean Knight)

Cat meets balloon cat

Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom describes his Simulation Argument on a recent episode of the excellent Philosophy Bites podcast. He proposed the argument in 2003, and it is interesting to hear him discuss it here. As I understand it, one of … Continue reading →