Cultured

The original NES controller has become one of the most recognizable symbols of the Nintendo gaming culture, thanks to its perfectly rectangular shape and simple button design. But despite its popular appeal, people just don't game with them anymore. So, what do they do with th ...more

Family Feud is one of the longest-running game shows in American TV history. Its viewer base spans generations, and this is mostly due to the fun nature of the show. Contestants have to guess the most popular answers to survey questions that were posed to 100 random strangers, ...more

Greetings my fellow aspiring hackers, Huh :) . Its that part of the year when friends and family come together for reunions and family gathering. Christmas is the only time of the year where the sensation and desire to bond and repair lost and broken relationships becomes str ...more

Dating sites are getting more and more culture specific, and this week's brand new girl + guy site offers a very specific service. Cute girls are paid to play video games. Gamer dudes pay to play with them. GameCrush is already so popular, the server is currently down due to ...more

Say whatever you want, but Steampunk is primarily a maker culture. Consider that Steampunk has existed since the 1960s and yet more or less languished in obscurity until approximately 2005, which is when it made the leap to costuming. That costuming was what provided the leap ...more

The '90s were a great decade to be alive. Before the internet became a high-availability service, we were untethered from the bombardment of media present in today's culture. Children ran through the streets with levels of physical exertion beyond what's required to capture fi ...more

When you're young, utensils tend to be optional—and eating with your hands is optimal. One of the best examples of finger food for kids that has pervaded today's nostalgia-driven culture is tater tots. Tater tots are one of those snacks (or meals) that pairs well with just ab ...more

We all love it when the Google logo changes to celebrate or commemorate special events— pop-culture touchstones, civic milestones, scientific achievements and holidays— their latest one for this holiday season is a Christmas card to everyone— an interactive Google Doodle with ...more

Koji is a culture made up of a certain fungus (mold) called Aspergillus oryzae, which has been used to ferment rice and soybeans in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean kitchens for centuries. Koji can actually have other involved fungi, but Aspergillus oryzae is the most common, and ...more

Whether you're inclined to love it or leave it, you've gotta admit one thing about JC de Castelbajac's LEGO fashion line- it's fun. More 80's pop culture revival: LEGO constructed hats and LEGO inspired prints set to cartoon blue skies. Scroll all the way down for JC de Castel ...more

Kuru is called the shaking disease, its name derived from the Fore word for "to shake." Caused by an organism that infects the part of the brain that controls coordination, people afflicted with kuru shake uncontrollably. First, there is headache and joint pain, then shaking, ...more

It turns out that the government of Saudi Arabia has managed to do something last month's Game Developers Conference couldn't — give us a few new glimpses of the Magic Leap One being worn by someone other than Shaq. Last month, Magic Leap used GDC to launch its SDK, hold a nu ...more

The year 2020 was a pivotal span of time during which the word "virtual" took on a brand new meaning. Instead of referring to VR or augmented reality, the term was hijacked to describe meeting across long distances through a variety of software tools, most often through video. ...more

Whether you miss the good old days of Telnet or you want to know what hacking was like when security was nothing but an afterthought, Telehack is the game for you. The text-based hacking game is a simulation of a stylized combination of ARPANET and Usenet, circa 1985 to 1990, ...more

You can almost detect the collective breath-holding of the augmented reality industry as it waits for Apple's inevitable entry. A new Apple wearable built with augmented reality technology is likely the device that will finally make the smartphone take a backseat. Apple's for ...more

Social engineering makes headlines because human behavior is often the weakest link of even well-defended targets. Automated social engineering tools can help reclusive hackers touch these techniques, but the study of how to hack human interactions in person is often ignored. ...more

The long guarded veil of mystery surrounding Magic Leap for years was finally lifted last year when the company revealed its Magic Leap One device. But even now, as the company releases new apps and high profile partnerships, the company itself remains something of a cipher. ...more

We are living in a golden age of craft beers. Originally invented by the ancient Egyptians, every culture now has its own tastes regarding beer. The process of making beer is so multi-faceted, it's a miracle that any gets made at all. However, there are lots of steps along th ...more

If you use the internet regularly, it's nearly impossible to avoid memes. They are the epitome of internet culture, demonstrating how jokes can spread and change like wildfire. While there are many different types, the most common ones you'll come across are images and GIFs wi ...more

If you're between the ages of 20 and 40, then video arcades probably hold a special place in your heart. Whether you all but lived in one (me), wished you could, or detested those with a liking for them, there's no denying that arcades were a ubiquitous part of American cultur ...more

Japanese artist Motoi Yamamoto's medium of choice is none other than your simple household table salt, fragile and completely ephemeral. Yamamoto creates beautiful installations with the medium, salt being a strong symbol in Japanese death culture (as well as several other cul ...more

Welcome back, my rookie hackers! For some time now, I have been contemplating this issue, can we hack back the hackers? As someone who plays on both sides of the cyber security ping pong match, I've wondered whether I can use my hacking skills in self-defense of my clients. A ...more

We all remember the controversy of SCRABBLE Trickster back in April. SCRABBLE + Mattel + Proper Nouns = BLASPHEMY! Some thought it was just a PR hoax, something to rattle the bones of diehard SCRABBLE players, like myself. Others thought it was an April Fools' Day joke. But ...more

Strange or uncomfortable encounters can be difficult to get away from sometimes if you're overly polite and don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. Thankfully, your iPhone can help save the day, providing you with a plausible excuse to exit the scene without having to conjure u ...more

Throughout this NR50 series, we have talked about the incredible growth the augmented and mixed reality space has seen in the last year. More devices, software, developers, and use-cases seem to arrive daily. For this growth to have occurred, it took the work of many people, f ...more

Move over whole wheat — white bread may be back in style after a new study shows that it may be your gut microbes that decide what kind of bread is best for you. As a health food, whole wheat bread undeniably rules, right? With its whole grain goodness, whole wheat has long b ...more

There was a huge Marvel movie that opened a week ago, and a popular TV show just finished its second episode of the current season. Both of these facts translate to more cool Snapchat lenses to try out on your iPhone or Android phone, thanks to Snapchat's Lens Studio — where a ...more

My morning just doesn't start without a cup of coffee and an incredibly hot shower. There's nothing better than sloughing off sleep with a dose of warm, cleansing water. Except, as scientists are pointing out, our habit of showering daily isn't exactly the healthiest choice. T ...more

Not in the mood for a sappy ending? Well, strap in because "Emotional Response Cinema Technology" lets your own body physiology control the movie music, the special effects, and even the movie ending. A collaboration between BioControl Systems, Filmtrip, and the Sonic Arts Res ...more

What is gluten, why do some people think it is pure culinary evil, and why are there more and more products devoted to being free of this mysterious substance? Here's what one person thinks: What Is Gluten Really? Gluten is a protein found in wheat (including lesser-known spe ...more

Making yogurt at home doesn't sound like an easy task at first. We initially saw it as detailed, hands-on, and precise—a process that required special equipment, specialized (and expensive) live-culture bacteria, and loads of yogurt knowledge. But, lo and behold, we discovere ...more

Love this Rubik's Cube stamp with movable type Chinese characters by Shaun Chung. Chung laser-etched the characters from wood, and then adhered them to a regular Rubik's Cube to create verses from a traditional Chinese text. Chung says: "Chinese has a long history with the p ...more

Have you ever fallen victim to a clever Jedi mind trick? Don't worry. It happens. There are evolutionary reasons as to why our brains sometimes give into the oldest tricks in the book. Fortunately, the more you understand the tricks of a salesman, the easier it is to avoid the ...more

Japan rules cosplay culture, and these superfans are no exception to the rule. Tokyo Fashion hits the streets, Fruits style, capturing these top-notch, über stylish fashion homages to the infamous Lady Gaga. Scroll all the way down for a selection of HowTo videos on creating ...more

Eating out is great, but being able to cook the delicious ethnic foods you eat at restaurants is even better. It may seem daunting to put together a bunch of ingredients with which you might not be familiar (some with names you've never even heard of!), but with the guidelines ...more

Is the emoji you're using really the one you think it is? While you can use any emoji that looks like it fits what you have to say, it may have been created for a different purpose. On an iPhone, it's easy to find that purpose by retrieving the actual name of the emoji in Appl ...more

You can find chili peppers in practically every cuisine. From the sweet Italian variety to the spicy Thai bird's chili and the smoky Mexican chipotle, peppers are ubiquitous and universally loved. But if you find the range and scope of these little fireballs overwhelming, you' ...more

Everyone has the same five spirits in their bar: vodka, rum, whiskey, tequila, and gin. They're all great, but every so often the mood strikes to try a cocktail with a little something different. We'd like you to meet three spirits from South America that would make a welcome ...more

This week's 6-part series on Making Art on Your iOS Device comes to a close today with our last segment: a collection of useful apps for touring museums, galleries and street art. The apps below cover some of the world's greatest art meccas, so read on if you're planning an up ...more

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill that began on April 20, 2010, was the largest maritime oil spill in history. Killing 11 people and discharging 4.1 million barrels of oil and natural gas into the Gulf of Mexico, the event was an unparalleled personal, environmental, and busines ...more

Internet culture loves many things, but there are two web crazes in particular that always grab my attention: the notoriously addictive facebook game, Farmville, and the insane art of cake decorating. We've posted quite a few amazing cakes in the past - the ultra realistic ba ...more

Pokémon GO, the global augmented reality game that's brought fans out of their homes to catch Pokémon across the planet, has brought about plenty of real-world positives. Unfortunately, when players get power hungry and start taking game hacks too far, we all get a little scre ...more

The Power of One is one of those books that I really should have read years ago. I’ve certainly meant to read it for a long time so this was a satisfying title to cross off my list. It’s stunning that this was Bryce Courtenay’s first novel. I look forward to reading his others ...more

Localizing a game is a task many do not fully understand. Not only do localizers have to translate the games they work on into a different language, but they have to translate it into a different culture as well. Oftentimes art assets, plot elements, and menu systems are chang ...more

Magic Leap loves to stoke mystery around its still unreleased product, the Magic Leap One: Creator Edition, and now we've found yet another piece of the puzzle in the form of an Easter egg on the company's website. When you hit one of Magic Leap's 404 error pages, you see a s ...more

If one asks where origami originated from most people will answer "Japan". But is this really the right answer? To find the answer you have to first find out what we're talking about if we say "Origami". Is Origami everything that has to do with folding a flat form in a certa ...more