Gadgets & Tech – Spoken Edition

Back in the 90s, companies tried making virtual reality a thing, most notably Nintendo, whose Virtual Boy was so distasteful that it caused people to abandon the entire category for the next 20 years. But then in 2016, headsets from Oculus and HTC/Vive showed that the VR experiences people had been writing about in scifi books for years were finally within our reach.

A recently released case report, courtesy of the BMJ, reaffirms one of life’s important lessons: Don’t try to hold back a sneeze. Especially, don’t do it by plugging up your nose and mouth—you just might end up in the emergency room with a gaping hole in your throat. The report details an otherwise healthy 34-year-old man in the UK who felt a popping, painful sensation in his throat immediately following a sneeze he had tried to stop by sealing off his mouth and nose.

Going into college, I thought I understood all of the different ways poop could look. My digestion is generally bad, and my eating habits don’t help. But after returning from a four-day-long river trip, I realized just how naive a pooper I was. You’ve probably read every raw water take possible by now, so here’s just a quick reminder. Con artists are trying to sell unfiltered, unsterilized water at a premium to rich idiots.

As first reported by People yesterday, actress Meghan Markle has axed her personal Instagram and Twitter accounts ahead of her planned wedding to Prince Harry later this year. The move puts her in line with the rest of Britain’s royal family, whose social media presence is limited to tidy official group accounts. But here’s a lifehack Big Like doesn’t want you to know: Even filthy commoners like us can quit this shit for good.

In a matter of months, Scott Rogowsky has gone from a peripheral figure in the New York comedy scene to a household name as the host of HQ Trivia, the live app-based game show that’s as popular as it is buggy.

The first thing that I should say about FORPHEUS is that it’s gentle. The artificially intelligent Ping-Pong tutor built by Omrom is not trying to beat you. It’s not trying to take over the world. FORPHEUS is trying to make you a better Ping-Pong player. I played Ping-Pong with this incredibly futuristic being, and not only do I feel like a better Ping-Pong player. I feel better about the potential for a robot-led future.

Microgravity environments do strange and often undesirable things to the human body, such as weakening muscles and bones, shrinking hearts, and flattening eyeballs. But it’s also known to make astronauts a bit taller, as Norishige Kanai is now learning. The Japanese astronaut arrived at the ISS just three weeks ago and he’s already grown an astonishing 3.5 inches (9 cm)—and he’s now worried that he won’t fit into the seat of the Russian Soyuz return vehicle.

As the organizers of CES 2018 reminded us today, when you rely on gadgets, it’s a good idea to plan ahead to ensure you’ve always got power. There’s no shortage of portable batteries being shown off on the CES show floor, but none of them compare to this monstrosity that Duracell’s created. Boasting 660Wh of power, this beast is designed to keep basic appliances in your home running in the event of a power outage.

Earlier today, Twitter published a five paragraph answer to the loudly, repeatedly-shouted question: “Why won’t you ban Donald Trump, a man who has actively used your platform to threaten nuclear annihilation against an entire country?” Here it is in its entirety: There’s been a lot of discussion about political figures and world leaders on Twitter, and we want to share our stance. Oh god please don’t make us talk about this shit again.

It doesn’t look special. At a glance, it’s just a Razer gaming mouse sitting on a Razer gaming pad—which means everything is black except for some bright, colorful lights. But then you pick the mouse up and it’s way too light to be wireless. After ten seconds the cursor on screen flickers and the lights on the mouse turn off. It’s disconnected because this mouse, the Razer Mamba Hyperflux, powers itself entirely from the mousepad.