fun facts

Pepsi owes this man a jet

“In 1995 Pepsi ran a promotion where people could collect Pepsi Points and then trade them in for Pepsi Stuff.” They jokingly included a Harrier jet for 7 million points. Jon Leonard tried to redeem it. The real value of […]

under the microscope

A tiny brain implant wakes monkeys from comas

“…[T]he Wisconsin team used much smaller electrodes to precisely target the central lateral thalamus. They also designed the electrodes to match this region’s shape. When they flipped on the stimulation, it had an immediate effect on the monkeys.” | learn more

retail therapy

Brandless shuts down operations

The best-funded online retailer that aimed to cut out brand premiums and sell everything direct-to-consumer has shut down. They had raised $290 million, mostly from SoftBank, but couldn’t get the economics of the business to work. Some of the investment […]

better doing

95%-ile isn’t that good

I imagine this is a controversial point of view. “Reaching 95%-ile isn’t very impressive because it’s not that hard to do. I think this is one of my most ridiculable ideas. It doesn’t help that, when stated nakedly, that sounds […]

tech, startups, internet

Remote gardening

An entertaining Kickstarter project, but nowhere near its funding goal. “Now you can grow and harvest your own produce from the comfort of your own customized App… A monthly subscription gives you viewing and watering access to your plot. You’ll […]