We’ve seen legions of YouTubers manifest chaos to bring us absurd contraptions with little purpose other than to document how capable they are of destruction. And with high-end slow-speed cameras more accessible now than ever, watching these homegrown science experiments has never been more entertaining…even, educational. Among others leading the way is Kevin Kohler, aka ‘The Backyard Scientist’. Part Bill Nye, part Johnny Knoxville, part Adam Savage, Kohler has amassed an impressive YouTube subscriber base pushing 3 million. On his channel, the Florida native has created videos documenting everything from a golf ball hitting a water balloon to melting an iPhoen in molten aluminum. More recently, Kohler created what is…

Code. You don’t have to be a computer science hotshot to take the deep dive—heck, some people are up and running with their first project in a matter of weeks. But knowing where and how to enter can be half of the battle. The recently-launched Learn How to Code 2017 Bundle is the perfect entry point and includes over 156 Hours of premium coding instruction, from Python to Ruby & everything in between. Consisting of ten courses in total, the ‘Pay What You Want’ bundle covers not just specific code languages, but also how and why you may decide to choose one over another depending on the project at hand.…

Mondays might not be your favorite day of the week, but the good news is that we’re all in this together ladies and gentlemen. As purveyors of prime Grade A web content, the SolidSmack crew has done some of the heavy-lifting to make sure you get your Mondays started on the right track. Welcome to The Monday List. Each Monday, we’ll link you up with some of the most insightful, informative, and socially-relevant stories to keep tabbed, bookmarked, reading listed, pocketed, or what have you. Be sure to check in each Monday morning for a new crop of freshly sprouted words curated straight from the source of your favorite homegrown ‘Smack.…

There’s no denying that voice interfaces are the future of interaction design. Whether it’s through Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Google Home, or any number of chatbots and new AI technologies, ‘the invisible interface’ eschews screens in favor of speech to feed us information or take commands. Thankfully, affordable development boards like the Raspberry Pi have helped bring these AI technologies to a wide variety of digital tinkerers. In the latest issue of The MagPi – The official Raspberry Pi magazine, tinkerers both young and old have the opportunity to make their very own hardware kit that enables voice interaction across a number of Raspberry Pi projects thanks to a partnership…

Back in 2014, Kickstarter teamed up with the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to sell some of the quirkiest and most successful products that come out of the crowdfunding platform through the museum’s lauded retail stores. The result was in many ways a glimpse into what a possible Kickstarter retail store would look like—a powerful notion considering that all of the products are created with grassroots funding and invited the public into the creative and manufacturing process versus traditional retail. While you can still find a small collection of Kickstarter-backed products over at MoMA (and online), the popular crowdfunding network recently further expanded their retail network. This time, it’s through…

When you’re running you don’t expect the guttural sound of an ogre. You definitely don’t expect it to stop you in your tracks. I had been running through that park for years, hearing rumors of a horrible, skin-shedding shriek, but I dismissed it until I saw it, heard it, standing there, holding these links. João Antunes Jr. – Bit o’ color here. Cyberpunk characters, worlds, robots and suits drenched in thick lines and color. Liz Climo – Ah, the wonderful, little world of liz climo. Animals and cuteness and lots of animal cuteness. Calligraphr – Make a font out of your own handwriting. Provides character randomization, ligatures, templates and more.…