‘Anti-Earthquake’ Beds Swallow Sleepers Whole
Imagine being woken up to an earthquake shaking everything around you, but to avoid any falling objects or debris, you lock yourself inside your earthquake-proof bed. How's that sound?
Well, Chinese inventor Wang Wenxi has designed such a bed with this exact purpose in mind. According to Gizmodo, Wenxi first received a patent for his creation back in 2010, but has been working on it over the years to provide more protection and to allow people to store any supplies/food they deem necessary.
There are several questions that need to be asked, however, such as how you trigger the bed to eat you. Or what if you don't sleep in the same position shown in the above video? What if you share the bed with someone else? The worst case scenarios have the potential to be very painful.
Christopher Nolan’s 2017 Film Reportedly a World War 2 Epic
Christopher Nolan may be filming a World War II film inspired by the evacuation of the French seaport Dunkirk. Dunkirk's mayor Patrice Vergiete is said to have announced that a "world famous director" is set to shoot an American blockbuster in the city. According to local French newspaper La Voix Du Nord, that director is Nolan.
Via translation from Indiewire, La Voix Du Nord writes, "Completely incognito during his recent visits to Dunkirk with his brother Jonathan,
Star Wars Breaks Another Huge Box Office Milestone
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has hit $1 billion at the box office faster than any other movie in history.
According to the Associated Press, the movie reached the money-milestone today, meaning The Force Awakens now holds the record for biggest domestic opening and biggest worldwide opening, as well as the fastest movie to reach $1 billion.
It took only 12 days for Star Wars: The Force Awakens to reach $1 billion, beating out Jurassic World's previous record of 13 days. However, the AP points out Jurassic World was helped along by a simultaneous opening in China, whereas The Force Awakens isn't set to release there until January 9.
NASA Reveals Best Images of Pluto We’ll See for Decades
The New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto in July, and every week it has been sending back data it recorded. The latest images it has sent back were taken on its closest approach to Pluto, and they're the clearest we'll see for some time.
These new pictures have a resolution of around 250-280 feet per pixel which, according to NASA, reveal "features less than half the size of a city block on Pluto's diverse surface." The images show "a wide variety of cratered, mountainous and glacial terrains."
"These new images give us a breathtaking, super-high resolution window into Pluto’s geology," said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern. John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said "we continue to be amazed by what we see."
NASA Engineer Schools You on How to Build a Death Star
Maybe building the Death Star from scratch wasn't the best idea after all.
According to Brian Muirhead, chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a Death Star shouldn't be constructed with parts launched off of a planet like it was in the Star Wars universe. Instead, one should be built using an asteroid.
An already-existing asteroid would provide "all the building blocks you would need to build your family Death Star," says Muirhead, in a Wired video that you can watch below. These building blocks include metals, organic compounds, and water.
Muirhead is currently working on an asteroid redirect mission, which will land on an asteroid, pick up a bolder from its surface, and put it in orbit around our moon. NASA will then go visit the bolder on a crewed mission to collect and bring back samples. The landing is scheduled for 2023.
Daily Deals: The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary, The Art of Fire Emblem: Awakening
Wet Bandit Response to Culkin’s Home Alone Video
Earlier this month, Macaulay Culkin reprised his role as Kevin McCallister from Home Alone to craft a dark and disturbing short film about Kevin's traumatizing experience. In response, Daniel Stern, who played Marv in the first two Home Alone movies, created a clip of his own.
The video features a very disturbed Marv, who warns his thieving sidekick Harry about Kevin and his quest for revenge. "The kid is coming to get us," he says. "He's coming for all the home invaders and he's gonna come get us."
Stern's character also recalls the hilariously painful attacks inflicted upon him in the original pair of Christmas comedies, adding: "He hit me in the head with a brick. The iron... the bugs! He electrocuted me. For god's sakes, he turned me inside out!"
Piracy Sites Make Millions By Installing Malware
According to a report by the Digital Citizens Alliance, one in three piracy websites contain malware, and distributing it is a estimated $70 million dollar a year business for them.
The DCA's "Digital Bait" study was conducted by RiskIQ and looked at 800 websites that distributed copyrighted material from torrenting networks to streaming hubs. What they found was that users who visited the websites they were monitoring were 28 times more likely to get infections than from the websites in their control group.
Pokemon-Themed 2DS Releasing in Japan
Nintendo is launching its 2DS handheld in Japan with the release of four special Pokemon-themed consoles.
The consoles were announced on Pokemon's official Japanese site with a release date of February 27—the 20th anniversary of Pokemon Red and Blue. The handhelds come in classic Pokemon colors—red, blue, green, and yellow—and ship with its respective Pokemon game pre-installed.
The 2DS consoles will also feature a themed home menu, stickers, and the game's region map poster. Players will also receive a download code for the ever-desired Mew. You'll be able to use the code with your 2DS game, or on Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire, and Pokemon X and Y.
Steam Store Caching Issues Resolved
Steam is back up and running normally, according to Valve. Yesterday the Steam Store was experiencing what it called a "caching issue" that allowed users to see some account information from other, random users.
On its discussions page, Valve said the problem only affected some users, and the window of time during which the problems were encountered was limited to just an hour.
Valve said it doesn't believe any unauthorized actions "beyond the viewing of cached page information" happened during the window of time in which the problems occurred.
The company also made it clear that the Steam Store wasn't hacked, and credit card information and phone numbers were "censored and not visible to users, as required by law."