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Ray Tanaka and his team over at PayPal Labs constructed this PayPal Vending Machine, unveiling it at PayPal X Innovate 2010. The machine melds together a zeitgeist of gadgets to allow smartphones to scan a QR code and make a PayPal payment. Once a payment is made, the machine tweets your purchase and notifies you with a confirmation display. Tanaka ...

It’s a curious thing, physics. It’s everywhere around us, yet without an education of its every function and reaction, most of us don’t see it, or at least acknowledge it. We know it’s there, but we’re immune to its actual nature. For instance, something as simple as peeling a piece of Scotch tape off of the roll. Most people would ...

The cat organ, also known by its German name Katzenklavier, was a piano-like instrument that replaced the hammering of the traditional percussion piano with a line of cats fixed in place, their tails attached under a keyboard. Every time a key was pressed, a corresponding cat’s tail was yanked, making the unprepared feline shriek out in pain. The cats would ...

I haven’t really had a fix for a lollipop since I was maybe 6 or 7. If there happened to be one laying around and I needed a sugar kick, sure, I’d give stick one in my mouth and be on my way, but as I aged, I moved further away from fruity sugar candy and closer to chocolate and ...

Ben Heck, expert modder and webshow host, is at it again with his newest creation, the Real-Life Portal T-Shirt. By modifying the shirt with “a chest-mounted LCD screen and a back-mounted CCD camera,” Heck created a t-shirt which puts a hole through your belly, right where the cake would have been if it weren’t a lie. Ben shows off his ...

Are you already missing the Walkman since Sony’s announcement of its official retirement this week? You’re not alone. It gets better. One day, the Walkman will truly be remembered as the first true portable media player, and the most recent renditions will be forgotten. Lucky for us, we already know the truth, which is how we can get a head ...

Coffee has all sorts of untapped potential, as we saw with the Nespresso-powered clocks and radio. DARPA takes a handful of sweet caffeine-assisted glory with this mechanical coffee grounds-filled balloon. I know, it sounds like the leftovers of a futuristic Starbucks office party, but the resulting product is actually a helpful gripper which sucks objects into its crushed coffee grounds ...

Now that the geek community has had some time to play around with the new 11-inch MacBook Air, what do they have to say about it? The general consensus seems to be that the new MBA appears to be good, but not great. Fast, but not quite powerful enough. Here are what some of the reviewers had to say after ...

When I heard that Netflix streaming accounted for 20% of all U.S. peak traffic, I was shocked. But just a little shocked. Nothing that was totally impossible to wrap my mind around. But those Canadians? They really, really love their instant streaming. Netflix instant streaming accounts for 95% of all peak evening hours in Canada. 95%! As in only 5% ...

We’ve explored earth-shattering historical events and life-changing religions through the eyes of Facebook, but our true holy land lays within the vision of George Lucas. Dorkly takes a look at Episode IV in their Facebook storytelling rendition of Star Wars: A New Hope. And for those of you who think that the reason Chewbacca didn’t get his medal at the ...