John Tan

30 Cult Movies That Absolutely Everybody Must See

A great cult movie is like a weird underground discovery, that feels so strange and wonderful, you suspect that you're the first person ever to …

10 Most Essential 1970s Conspiracy Thrillers

21 Surprising Things You Can Make In A Rice Cooker

It's time you outsmarted the machine.<p>Yes, a standard electric rice cooker is designed to bring rice to a boil, sense when it needs to reduce to a simmer, then lower the heat again to keep rice at serving temperature without overcooking it.<p>That may sound like a very smart little machine, but YOU ARE …

From Galileo to Google: How Big Data Illuminates Human Culture

Given my longtime fascination with the so-termed digital humanities and with data visualization, and my occasional dabbles in the intersection of the two, I’ve followed the work of data scholars <b>Erez Aiden</b> and <b>Jean-Baptiste Michel</b> with intense interest since its public beginnings. Now, they have …

Turn your $60 router into a $600 router

Of all the great DIY projects at this year's Maker Faire, the one project that really caught my eye involved converting a regular old $60 router into …

Boost Your Wireless Signal With a Homemade Wifi Extender

It's amazing what a few sheets of tinfoil can do for the strength of your wireless signal. As shown above, by carefully folding tinfoil into a …

Top 10 Ways to Boost Your Home Wi-Fi

WiFi is one of the most important developments in the evolution of the internet—no one wants to be chained to a desktop—but it’s also one of the most …

Which movie do you have to see twice before you really understand it?

Yanko Design Top 50 – Best of 2013

If we reflect upon the trends predicted for 2013, then some of the prophecies have come true. For example, Contextual Design is no longer a buzzword …

7 of John Adams' Greatest Insults

A man whose wit was matched only by the looseness of his tongue, the combative John Adams quickly acquired a hefty reputation for articulate jabs and …

Google’s Dead-Simple Tool For Making UX Decisions: 2 Jars Of Marbles

When the Android team wants to decide whether a design decision is good or bad, they turn to the least techie of tricks.<p>Nothing is perfect. So even for the most successful platforms, design needs to continuously evolve. But beyond mere gut instinct or that ephemeral talent of taste, how can you …

Five Best Programming Languages for First-Time Learners

If you're thinking of learning to code, the language you decide to pick up first has a lot to do with what you're trying to learn, what you want to …

SparkTruck

We have some majorly exciting news to share.<p>The SparkTruck is evolving and moving to Dallas, Texas! It is being adopted by Southern Methodist …

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Films of 2013

We've been blown away by the variety and quality of short films that have appeared online this year, from a heartbreaking story set in the zombie …

Video parts 1 through 4 of Arithmetic, Population and Energy - a talk by Al Bartlett

Watch this important and engaging presentation broken into ten-minute segments, below. You can also watch the entire one-hour video on youtube: …

Christmas Eve

FRIENDS OF DC:<br>> Eerie Cuties <br>> Magick Chicks <br>> Sticky Dilly Buns <br>> Big Head Press <br>> Fragile<br>> Kiwi Blitz <br>> No Pink Ponies<br>> Pilli Adventure<br>> Revolver …

12 Old Words That Survived by Getting Fossilized in Idioms

English has changed a lot in the last several hundred years, and there are many words once used that we would no longer recognize today. For whatever …

RebelMouse vs. WordPress VIP

After building the product for Huffington Post, and owning the product and engineering groups at AOL after we were acquired, it was clear to me there …

Watch out: This book is addictively brilliant!

Ian Tregillis' <i>Something More Than Night</i> is one of those books that manages to be both clever and exciting — you want to pause to admire all the …

Austin Kleon on 10 Things Every Creative Person Should Remember But We Often Forget

Much has been said about the secrets of creativity and where good ideas come from, but most of that wisdom can be lost on young minds just dipping their toes in the vast and tumultuous ocean of self-initiated creation. Some time ago, artist and writer Austin Kleon — one of my favorite thinkers, a …

A Brighter Future for Manufacturing, 3-D Printed 1 Layer at a Time

Oak Ridge National Laboratory's robotic prosthesis looks like something out of medieval times—a hand clad in chain mail more appropriate for wielding …

Scientific American 's Top 10 Science Stories of 2013

So many stories, so few slots. Our picks this year run the gamut from physics to biology to technology. But as a group, climate change wins in terms …

The 13 Most Important Design Lessons Of 2013

See more of the year’s best design:<p>Branding <br>Houses <br>Interfaces <br>Apps <br>Books <br>Art <br>Essays <br>Photo Essays <br>Video Games <br>Videos<p>In 2013, some of the brightest design minds took to Co.Design to offer tips and tricks for navigating the business world. Our experts tackled everything from how to code to what a …

The 13 Best Psychology and Philosophy Books of 2013

After the best biographies, memoirs, and history books of 2013, the season’s subjective selection of best-of reading lists continue with the most stimulating psychology and philosophy books published this year. (Catch up on the 2012 roundup here and 2011’s here.)<p>1. ON LOOKING: ELEVEN WALKS WITH …

Inside The Minds Of 23 Design Stars

Designer Christina Beard met with 23 big shots in the design world–including Maira Kalman, Stefan Sagmeister, and Paula Scher–and interviewed them about their creative processes.<p>Editor’s Note<p>12/25/13<p>Happy (almost) New Year! We’re saying good-bye to 2013 by revisiting some of our favorite stories of …

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Skechers x Mark Nason: Kickstarting Comfort

If there’s anything men need in their wardrobe, it’s classic style and comfort. That’s where <b>Skechers</b> comes in, a global leader in the lifestyle …