There’s no point in keeping a stash of emergency flashlights around your home if the batteries inside them just end up getting stolen for TV remotes and the kids’ toys. So the folks who created the original LUCI, a dirt-cheap inflatable solar-powered rechargeable lantern , have tweaked its design for the new Luci EMRG so that it produces a more intense focused beam and can now double as an emergency flashlight. Read more…
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The World’s First Inflatable Flashlight Never Needs New Batteries
This gigantic car transporter has been run aground—on purpose—after it began to list just off the coast of the UK. It weighs 51, 000 tonnes, is laden with 1, 400 cars—and now needs to be righted. Read more… 
The people at the beautiful Woods Hole Inn* have snapped these photos of Steve Jobs’ yacht in the wild. It’s the first time we have seen Venus open like this, offering a peek at its interior design. It looks like a summer home from this angle. Here are two more views of the starboard and the bow. Read more… 
With 4K slowly but surely making its way to the mainstream, it was only a matter of time before the Ultra HD format hit Roku—perhaps the most promising streaming device on the market . Now, not only will Roku be hooking up with Netflix to start streaming in 4K, but it’ll be teaming up with Best Buy’s Insignia and Haier to offer Roku-powered TVs for all your content-streaming needs. Read more… 
Archeologists have discovered an ancient tomb modeled after the mythical Tomb of Osiris as described by Egyptian lore in the necropolis of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, on the West Bank at Thebes. The complex includes a shaft that connects to multiple chambers, including one with demons holding knives. Read more… 
If Times Square is too gaudy, crowded, and frankly insane for you, then there is another New York tradition worth your New Year’s Eve—one that is, in fact, ending tonight. For the past fifty years, the Pratt Institute has set out its amazing collection of big old steam whistles out on the lawn of its Brooklyn campus . Tonight’s your last chance to steam blast your way into the new year. Read more… 
Here’s a scary thing that happened: South Korean authorities found evidence that a worm was recently removed from devices connected to nuclear power facilities. The news comes a little over a week after the country’s nuclear plant operator received warnings on Twitter that its network had been compromised . Thankfully, the reactor controls were not infected. Read more… 
When I saw Return of the Jedi in the movie theater back in 1983 I and everyone else thought this matte painting of a Rebel hangar was a real thing—that, somehow, they managed to build a full size set with giant models. It was all a magic trick that used distraction to fool your brain. This BBC documentary explains how. Read more… 
Right now in Hamburg, Germany, the largest European hacker association, the Chaos Computer Club (CCC), is holding its 31st annual congress that’s a four-day fest of all things hacking. Other than having a pretty rad name , CCC is well-known for detailing all the crazy (and sometimes scary) shit they can do. They’ve just added another one to the list. Read more… 
It’s the viral photo that just won’t die. Have you seen this 1960s picture of economy class seating on a Pan-Am 747? It’s a fake. Read more…