Some genius made Tide Pod sushi you can actually eat

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For better or for worse, a lot of people on the internet think Tide Pods look delicious. For better or for worse, I am one of them.

So I was thrilled to see that according to r/food, a friend of Redditor dweron appears to have successfully made edible Tide Pods in sushi form — a feat I am now affectionately calling “the dream.”

To be clear, this isn’t the first time the topic of edible Pods has been broached online. There’s been a hypothetical recipe floating around for a few days now. But that one — let’s be honest — seems pretty flavorless, and this one looks a little more appetizing. It even appears to have retained that iconic Tide Pod squish.

A forbidden snack forbidden no more? Perhaps. But if sushi-making isn’t your forte, you (and I) should probably stick to gazing longingly at photos of Tide Pods instead.

Stop checking luggage and live that carry-on life with these 5 bags and suitcases

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If you’re a frequent traveler, you know how annoying it can be to wait for your checked luggage to come around the carousel. On the flip side, we’ve all been there when someone tried to fit their giant suitcase in the overhead bin and that’s not fun for anyone.

Finding the perfect carry on is tricky — they have to keep up with you and fit your specific traveling style. Are you the type of person who needs to plan every stop of your trip? Or are you more of a wanderer who lets the road take them where it may? Whatever end of the travel spectrum you fall on, your suitcase is your most important accessory. You need to make sure you have the right one for your lifestyle.

We’ve rounded up five of our favorite carry-on bags that fit most airlines’ specifications for overhead luggage. (As always, you’ll want to make sure to check your airline’s requirements before you fly.) Whether you’re an old-school business traveler or a wanderlust-filled backpacker, we know you’ll find the perfect travel companion.

For the traditionalists — Delsey Spinner Trolley

This sleek hardshell case is made of a sturdy plastic that’s still lightweight enough to lift into an overhead compartment. Plus, the high-gloss finish looks like something out of Mad Men. It comes with dual-spinner wheels, a compression compartment, and TSA-approved lock that are pretty standard on nicer luggage.

For the trendsetters — Away Carry-On

The internet has been going crazy about Away, the luggage startup with tons of neat features. One of the most hyped perks is the TSA-approved battery pack that lets you juice your devices on the go. Equally useful, if not as exciting, is the included compressible laundry bag that keeps your dirty clothes separated from clean ones.

For the hyper-organized — Genius Pack

If you love making itineraries and have your iPad out wherever you go, the Genius pack is as coordinated as you are. A packing checklist is printed on the inside of your case and each pocket is labelled for its particular use. There’s external pockets for magazines, water bottles, passports, and a strap to hold your jacket. Plus you can grab an add-on battery pack or umbrella that fit right into their own compartments.

For the backpackers — Osprey Packs

When the airplane is only the first part of your journey, packing can be annoying. You want to make sure everything is kosher for the TSA, but durable enough for more intense parts of the journey. Osprey’s travel backpack fits the bill on both counts. The backpack straps are padded with a sternum strap and hip belt. When you need to condense things for the plane, the straps are easily stowed in their own pocket. A protected laptop pocket gives you easy access to electronics during security screenings and the compression straps ensure that your bag will fit in the overhead bin.

For the hyper-organized backpackers — eBags

Combining the versatility of a backpack with the compartmentalization of a carry-on, eBags’ MotherLode Convertible is the best of both worlds. The inner compartments are modular, with a removable divider and compression to keep contents secure. A roomy top pocket gives you easy access to the things you’ll need frequently, while the hidden laptop pocket is accessible while remaining discreet. There’s even a collapsible water bottle pocket for when you need to hydrate on the go.

Learn Unreal Engine 4 and make your own video game with this online course

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Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable’s commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

Ah, Unreal Engine 4. It’s the game development engine that has recently brought us the likes of Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the upcoming and epic-looking Dragon Ball FighterZ.

Get in on the action and learn how to use Unreal Engine 4 to make your own great game by taking this online course.

This 15-hour course promises to teach you how to best use the latest version of Unreal Engine to make a SHMUP game prototype and get you started on learning the intricate mechanics of game design. It includes guides on how to apply audio, implement a save system, and program your playable characters, along with several other lessons. Consider it a way of gaining experience so you can level up to making a game that’s all yours.

Disney shows you how to make a Porg bento box from ‘The Last Jedi’

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There’s now a how-to video on making a Porg bento box and we are eating it up.

Disney Parks made a how-to video on how to make a Porg bento box. It’s fun and easy, as long as the Jawas don’t keep interrupting.

Using primarily rice, sesame seeds, olives and soy sauce, the chef makes an almost identical sushi-version of the beloved Porg, from Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.

Even as sushi it’s cute.

Though this is adorable, something still feels wrong about eating a Porg, especially after that Chewy scene in The Last Jedi. Still, eating a sushi Porg is better than a real Porg.

Absolutely nail your next air guitar session with this awesome, playable T-shirt

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Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable’s commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

The next best thing to carrying your guitar around over your shoulder is wearing it on your shirt, and the playable electronic guitar shirt lets you do just that.

This shirt features a special electronic panel that can hook up to a clip-on amp. When you strum the strings on the guitar, it’ll play the actual notes and chords through the amp, so you can jam out wherever you are — no picks required.

Check it out:

The electronic panel is easily removed for when you need to throw your shirt in the wash. But like, rock stars don’t do laundry, okay?

This fake self-destruct button is about to become your new favorite stress relief toy

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Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable’s commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

If you’re having an especially bad day at work or the current political climate Twitter is causing you stress, you might appreciate having a self-destruct button on standby. No, it’s not an actual self-destruct button, but a fun little toy you can have at your desk that can even charge your devices.

The Self-Destruct USB Hub is kinda like a busy board for grownups that has a very extreme aesthetic. It’s got a big red button that can only be activated when the two switches and one big key are flipped and turned in order. Once activated, you can press the big button to set off lights and sounds not unlike something blowing up. It’s a fun deterrent against work piling up on your desk and can even help you indulge your “getting rid of Rob from accounting” fantasies. Screw you, Rob.

Check it out in action:

The hub also features four USB ports to charge up your devices so that even when you flip the switch, at least your phone will be at 100%.

Get three remote controlled smart plugs for just $17 while they’re on sale

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Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable’s commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

We’ve already fallen in love with these remote-controlled outlets when they were on sale in the past, but now they’re on sale again for an even better discount at 41% off.

SEE ALSO: Banish phone charger stress once and for all with this USB combo wall outlet

These outlets are useful for conserving power and saving on energy. Instead of keeping your appliances plugged in all the time and having them use power even when you’re using them, you can plug them into these handy outlets and switch off their energy consumption at the push of a button. According to the product page, the remote also works through walls and doors up to 100 feet away. It’s great for hard-to-reach appliances that you can stand to unplug at the end of the day.

This set of three best-selling remote-controlled outlets are usually $29, but you can get them now for $16.98.

Clever girl FaceTimed her dad to complain that her little brother pooped on the floor

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This guy took daddy duties to a whole new level…

Dante was relaxing at home when he received a FaceTime request from his daughter, who was just upstairs. Apparently, her brother left a little surprise on the carpet of their playroom, and she felt the need to tell him about it.

It gets worse.

My daughter FaceTimed me from upstairs to tell me her brother shit on the floor. I’m tired. pic.twitter.com/p4UnpD5U16

— A Black Person (@GivethNoFucketh) January 9, 2018

The father of three posted a screenshot of the evidence on Twitter, explaining the situation and closing with “I’m tired.”

Reactions were what you expect — a mix of horror and relief. (Horror if you’re a parent; relief if you aren’t.)

thank you for the birth control

— agent honeydew ? (@vanillaswwirl) January 9, 2018

? pic.twitter.com/sOjq6LmfNA

— Gavin Jeffers (@GavinJeffers) January 9, 2018

Ah parenthood.

— Ann truwe #Demforce (@AnnTruwe) January 9, 2018

pic.twitter.com/qV2j6hllHX

— New year, same me. (@A_A_Ron_Rodgers) January 9, 2018

You have to throw the whole child and carpet away? they are adorable!

— SlVydeez™ (@SlVydeez) January 10, 2018

Me af right now. ??? pic.twitter.com/Cs6qtCKQa7

— Gon Freecss ?? (@PoeticChris) January 9, 2018

YOUR FACE ?? 100% done pic.twitter.com/Ha8qZQ5KPM

— lil uzi hurt (@kaitnico) January 11, 2018

Dante later posted a follow-up of the duo, and, honestly, how can you be mad at those faces?

The shitter and the snitch pic.twitter.com/gOJrKhbAGh

— A Black Person (@GivethNoFucketh) January 10, 2018

If we learned anything from this and there’s pros and (poopful cons) to FaceTime with your children.

Marvel is finally, maybe, eventually making that Black Widow movie you asked for

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That Black Widow movie you’ve been asking for just got one step closer to reality.

Variety reports that Jac Schaeffer has been hired to write the film, which would star Scarlett Johansson as the spy-turned-Avenger.

Mind you, the film’s still got a ways to go before it becomes a reality. As of now, the Black Widow project doesn’t have an official greenlight, let alone a release date.

Still, it’s a promising development for a movie fans have been clamoring for since, oh, about 2008, when the character made her first big-screen appearance in Iron Man 2.

Schaeffer is the writer and director of TiMER, a 2009 sci-fi rom-com that essentially did “Hang the DJ” before Black Mirror did.

She’s also written The Shower, an as-yet-unproduced screenplay that has Anne Hathaway attached to star, and is working on a Dirty Rotten Scoundrels remake titled Nasty Women. She previously worked with Disney on “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure.”

Her involvement makes the Black Widow standalone film the rare Marvel Cinematic Universe project with a female screenwriter. Others include Guardians of the Galaxy (Nicole Perlman) and the forthcoming Captain Marvel (Geneva Robertson-Dworet, who replaced Perlman and Meg LeFauve).

Johansson’s Black Widow has appeared in five MCU films over the past decade, and will return later this year in Avengers: Infinity War. Despite her immense popularity, however, she’s been relegated to a supporting player in the franchise.

Over the years, there’s been a lot of talk about the possibility of a Black Widow movie. Johansson has said repeatedly that she’d like to make one, as has Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. In 2016, Feige even got as far as saying he was “committing” to making it happen.

But until now, talk seemed to be as far as it got. When pressed, Feige would reassure fans that it was in development, but come up with excuses as to why it wasn’t making much progress.

It got to be a bad look, especially as Marvel kept churning out one male-led superhero blockbuster after another. It got to be an even worse look once 20th Century Fox started promoting Red Sparrow, which had fans like us joking that it was the Black Widow movie Marvel wouldn’t make.

For all that the MCU’s done right, they’ve dragged their feet when it comes to female superheroes, letting rival DC beat them to the punch with Wonder Woman. DC’s work paid off – Wonder Woman became the highest-grossing superhero flick of 2017.

Meanwhile, Marvel has been moving ahead with 2019’s Captain Marvel, its 21st movie overall and its first one starring a woman.

This highly-rated camera drone is currently on sale for $30 off

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Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable’s commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

If you’ve ever been curious about flying your own drone, then you need to jump on this Amazon lightning deal and save $30 on the Holy Stone Quadcopter Drone.

This 360-degree drone features a 720p HD camera and comes with an extra battery so you can extend your flight time. Have it hover steadily at any height for still shots, or go ham with flips and tricks. It features a headless security mode with simple directional inputs and orientation so that rookie flyers can operate it with ease, and the one key start allows it to return to you on its own.

The Quadcopter Drone is usually $100, but Amazon has knocked 30% off, so you can get it for $70.

Kellyanne Conway says nobody talks about Hillary Clinton. Trump, of course, tweets.

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Oh Kellyanne, we wish we could quit you.

Speaking with CNN’s Christopher Cuomo on Wednesday, the “counselor” to the President said “nobody here talks about Hillary Clinton,” insisting that “we” don’t care about Hillary.

Kellyanne Conway claimed “nobody here talks about Hillary Clinton” despite the fact that President Trump mentioned her at least 3 times earlier today #CuomoPrimeTimehttps://t.co/sGNQfZyNRt

— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) January 11, 2018

The remarks were, erm, ill timed. President Trump had, in fact, brought up Hillary Clinton twice earlier that day, unprompted.

First, while speaking about his commitment to “massive oil and gas,” he compared himself to Hillary Clinton, who he said “was for windmills.” And second, while answering questions in a press conference: he once again insisted that there was “no collusion” with Russia when asked whether he would consent to an interview with special investigator Robert Mueller, and swiftly pivoted to what he said was the FBI’s mishandling of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server (Do you think he knows about Jared and Ivanka?).

Things got worse — or better, if you’re, like, into seeing hypocrisy play out in real time — during one of President Trump’s fun early morning tweetstorms. On Thursday, Trump returned to his “Crooked Hillary Emails” greatest hits, seemingly in response Senator Feinstein’s unilateral release of an interview with the author of a now-infamous dossier on how Russia influenced the US election via the Trump campaign.

Disproven and paid for by Democrats “Dossier used to spy on Trump Campaign. Did FBI use Intel tool to influence the Election?” @foxandfriends Did Dems or Clinton also pay Russians? Where are hidden and smashed DNC servers? Where are Crooked Hillary Emails? What a mess!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2018

Minutes later, Chris Cuomo took his subtweet game to the next level, and called out Kellyanne’s “nobody talks about her” comments once again.

hey kellyanne – good thing no one talks about hrc in the white house. is “nobody” new potus code name? https://t.co/3r9q0VWKOK

— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) January 11, 2018

Sick burn, Chris.

But Kellyanne is not one to bow out, and turned to her good friends, Nonsense and Nonsequiter, for help.

Hey @ChrisCuomo – when we are forced to think/talk about hrc it’s because you and your colleagues can’t let go of an election she/you lost. Sad!

Proven further by after a 30-minute interview about policy and accomplishments, HRC is all you and others can say… https://t.co/SuL5EspkRE

— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) January 11, 2018

Ok Kellyanne, Ok. We’re just gonna put this right here.

Kellyanne Conway told CNN’s @ChrisCuomo: “We don’t care about her. Nobody here talks about Hillary Clinton.”

… in case you were curious, Trump has tweeted Hillary Clinton’s name at least 89 times since election day. Here are some of those tweets.? pic.twitter.com/0lhtoe4thR

— Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) January 11, 2018

Hey you, stop taking ‘Black Mirror’ so seriously

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There follow mild spoilers for Black Mirror Season 4. Seriously, haven’t you finished it by now?

Here’s a Black Mirror script idea: A 21st century comedy writer in the UK comes up with a series of stories with technological twists. They are, to him, darkly amusing, no more a serious prediction than a SNL sketch would be in the US. Still, it amuses the writer to see his comedy confections play out on screen in a dramatic, rather unsettling manner.

Then comes the twist: the rest of the world loses its goddamn mind.

With hindsight they suddenly see a prediction about a shocking cartoon character who becomes leader of the world, fulfilled. They see a prediction about a prime minster and a pig, fulfilled. They saw Apple iPhone software predicted, and even a Pizza Hut concept vehicle. They critique the show as if it were dispatches from a profoundly dystopian, profoundly real future.

The writer protests he didn’t mean to foretell anything. In interviews he frames the series as wry amusements, no more. But does his audience listen? The anthology show becomes way more popular than anyone expected. It migrates from Britain’s Channel 4 to the world’s Netflix. In short order, it becomes one of the most iconic TV shows of the internet age.

By the time the comedy writer’s show enters its fourth season, in the darkly dystopian year of 2018, the internet seems to burst with arguments over whether the comedy writer is some kind of dark prophet — or worse, a dangerous idiot who thinks he’s a prophet but doesn’t actually understand how tech works.

This of course is the actual tale of Charlie Brooker, creator of Black Mirror. Unusually prolific by American standards of show running, Brooker has written nearly every episode of the show by himself. (Season 4’s final episode, “Black Museum”, contains its only hint of writerly collaboration; one third of it was based on a story of self-harm by Penn Jillette that was too darkly humorous for his own short story collection.)

Following in the wake of the show’s popularity, of course: takes, of all temperatures. “U.S.S. Callister,” a show about a gamer who traps simulations of his co-workers in a video game is held up as serious social commentary on the Gamergate crowd. “Hang the DJ,” a story about online dating, is compared unfavorably to the real-life Tinder experience. “Black Museum” now carries the weighty importance of being a “horrifying critique of American racism.”

But if you step back, take a breath and clear your mind of preconceptions, it’s just as easy (and I would argue, more rewarding) to see “U.S.S. Callister” as a Star Trek parody in which a socially inept guy becomes a bully and gets his comeuppance. “Hang the DJ” is just a sweet and sexy little tale about (spoiler alert!) more virtual reality people, this time playing out dating scenarios inside an app.

“Black Museum” is an anthology within an anthology — three scary ghost stories, one about actual ghosts inside people’s heads, that end with the one character who connects the stories getting his comeuppance.


Scary Ghost Stories

Ghost stories is another appropriate frame to place around Black Mirror. Brooker likes to give good scare. As I’ve noted previously, his hour-long episodes succeed when they spend at least a half hour on the slow, subtle build-up.

As such, his scary stories are somewhat formulaic. I don’t say that like it’s a bad thing; the scare works every time, and there’s an endless variety of genres and dark techno-comic twists to be layered atop the basic formula.

The point is, these are highly suspenseful tales for the digital campfire, not high literature designed to be picked apart for layers of meaning.

As with any bedtime ghost story, the logic of the plot and the motivations of the main characters can fall apart when considered the morning after. (Didn’t you think the protagonists of “Arkangel” and “Crocodile” were just a little too hasty in resorting to deadly violence?)

This is a show governed by nightmare logic. That’s the whole idea, a spooky comic nightmare fueled by tech that only has to be plausible enough to suspend our disbelief. The fact that most of the tech the show mentions plays on our human vanity is what makes it seem more real than anything in the actual design.

A Brief History of Brooker

To fully understand Black Mirror, you have to be familiar with the oeuvre of Charlie Brooker. This is a man whose writing career began when he created a comic strip for a gaming magazine called PC Zone. The strip was called “Cybertwats.” Nuff said.

And then he came up with this surprisingly disturbing page intended to parody people who thought video games were too violent. It caused PC Zone to be pulled from newsagents’ shelves. Black Mirror episode idea ahoy!

The Cruelty Zoo. Coming soon to a Netflix near you.

Image: PC Zone

Shocking sketch comedy soon became Brooker’s stock in trade. He wrote for The 11 O’Clock Show, the same late-night satire that gave birth to Ali G. In 2005 he penned a sitcom called Nathan Barley; the title character was the most sneering hipster parody imaginable. (If Brooker predicted anything, it’s how off-the-charts-annoying hipsters would become in the 2010s.)

Earlier on he had written for a special final episode of Brass Eye, an already envelope-pushing news parody show. This particular episode pranked real politicians and celebs into recording dumb-sounding PSAs for a fake anti-paedophelia campaign. A government minister called it “unspeakably sick.” It became the most complained-about British TV show to date.

That familiar feeling of silly yet harrowing dread you get when watching Black Mirror — this is what this comedy writer has been trying to do to us for years.

That sense of reality being sickeningly inverted, and you’re not sure whether you should be laughing at the joke any more — this is the soul of Charlie Brooker.

The little knife twist of (occasional) joy or (mostly) pain at the end — this is the final flourish of the guy around the campfire, flashlight beneath his face.

Beyond that, when it comes to a deeper meaning or a high-tech prediction … knock yourself out. Go nuts. Plot out the rest of the 21st century using only Black Mirror technology.

Just know you’re bringing all that to the campfire yourself. It’s all you. The jester who told the tale has long since moved on to crafting his next shocking confection.

Jimmy Kimmel commemorates Trump’s 2000th-ish lie with “Pants of Fire”

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President Trump has reportedly set the record for the greatest number of lies told in the first year of his administration.

Sir, congratulations.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! celebrated the president’s achievement by publishing a mini-doc about his first year of deceit, titled Pants Of Fire: The Road To 2000 Lies.

It’s like Facebook’s year in review, only somehow more depressing. Enjoy!

Time magazine’s latest Trump cover is, literally, fire

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Between accusations of being a liar, liar, pants on fire and Michael Wolff’s new bestseller Fire and Fury, which looks at the mayhem in the White House, it seems fitting that President Donald Trump’s latest appearance on Time magazine’s cover is, quite literally, a fiery one.

While Time has certainly gotten creative as to how it portrays Trump on its cover, the simplicity of the new cover, created by Edel Rodriguez, is masterful, especially in how it gets across its central message: the first year of the Trump administration has been an epic, chaotic fire.

TIME’s new cover: Inside Trump’s tumultuous first year in office https://t.co/S8nbyyVNhwpic.twitter.com/ryHA4ESanC

— TIME (@TIME) January 11, 2018

The story that accompanies the cover is a thorough overview of the most recent chaos in the White House as well as a look at Wolff’s book through the lens of revisiting the president’s first year (though it’s hard to cram all of that tumult into one magazine feature).

But Time does us one better by chatting with the cover’s creator, Edel Rodriguez, who’s done a number of Trump-related covers for Time and other publications.

America First. The new @DerSPIEGEL cover by @edelstudio. @SPIEGELONLINE@SPIEGEL_Englishpic.twitter.com/P2b5d4GgBy

— Klaus Brinkbäumer (@Brinkbaeumer) February 3, 2017

In the chat, Rodriguez confirms that the flames refer both to Wolff’s book and Trump’s infamous threat towards North Korea (“fire and fury like the world has never seen”). But Rodriquez says the flames also represent the never-ending chaos coming from the White House on a daily basis.

“We used to live where the United States was a pretty steady country, and now you wake up every day and try to figure out where’s the next fire, where do we have to go, what do we have to try to contain,” Rodriguez says. “It’s sort of this President that you’re always trying to contain, like a wildfire that’s moving from one place to the other at all times.”

Fair enough. You have to wonder what Trump’s reaction will be given the kerfuffle over his claims he was going to be the magazine’s Person of the Year in 2017 — but turned the honor down — and that time Steve Bannon made the cover, landing him in hot water with Trump.

For what it’s worth, the flames show no sign of being smothered any time soon.

This may be the best power strip for smartphones and it’s less than $20 right now

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Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable’s commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

Let’s be honest, the power strip you’ve been using for years could use a bit of an upgrade, and having a power strip with USB ports is exactly what we had in mind.

This power strip features two standard outlets for your appliances and bigger chargers, but what it lacks in traditional outlets it makes up for with its four USB ports. You’ll be able to worry less about the brick for your USB wires and plug straight into the power strip itself to charge any of your USB devices. It also features four separate docks so you can shelve your phone right on the strip as it charges.

This $24.95 power strip is currently on Amazon’s lightning deal, so you can get one for only $18.96 right now.

Learn how to play drums with this kit that turns your phone or tablet into a drum set

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Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable’s commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

William Shakespeare once wrote, “If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it; that surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die.” Translation? “Music is life, man.”

That’s why we shake it whenever we hear music, sing obnoxiously in the shower, and drum a beat with our silverware at the dinner table. If you want to up the anté on your drum solo or teach yourself a new talent, the Touchbeat Smart Drum Kit can turn your phone or tablet screen into a digital drum set.

A far cry from aimlessly tapping your hands on the table, this successfully-funded Kickstarter project lets you jam out to your favorite songs and teaches you how to drum.

Just clip the touch emulator onto your tablet and open the free, corresponding app. From there, you can use the complimentary sticks to participate in a handful of interactive games. Once you have the basics down, you can play along to a number of songs. The Touchbeat Smart Drum Kit even comes with a kick pedal, leg strap, and foot strap to make you feel like you’re playing the real thing.

Check it out:

Not everyone wants to hear you rock and roll all night (and party everyday), which is why you can plug in your headphones and jam out quietly. A win-win, if you ask us — your neighbors will be thankful, too.

A physical drum kit can set you back a couple of hundred bucks, but you can pick up the Touchbeat Smart Drum Kit for $69. Whether your New Year’s resolution is to pick up an instrument or you’re looking for a present for music-addicted friends, this set has you covered.

Memetics / The science of idea propagation

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Several years ago, a friend of mine gave me a book for my birthday called Thought Contagion. I had not heard of the book or its subject matter, the science of memetics, but I was fascinated by what I read. Author Aaron Lynch explained, concisely and convincingly, how some of the most significant beliefs in society came to be as popular as they are. By the end of the book I felt I understood, for the first time, a great many things that should have been obvious all along. I was even more surprised to discover that the things Lynch was saying were considered novel, and even somewhat controversial. What he described, simply and elegantly, is a compelling theory about the way beliefs spread.

What Memes May Come

The fundamental term in memetics is meme, which means a self-propagating idea. The term was borrowed from sociobiologist Richard Dawkins, who coined it in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. Roughly speaking, memetics applies the principles of evolution by natural selection to beliefs. In conventional evolution, genes that improve an organism’s ability to survive endure in future generations and spread throughout a population; those that hinder survival eventually disappear. By analogy, memetics says that ideas are subject to natural selection as well; those that most effectively promote their own survival multiply and spread, while those that don’t, don’t.

In memetics, it is misleading to think of a person as having a belief; instead, it is more accurate to think of beliefs as acquiring people. Memes propagate from person to person in a manner analogous to the way viruses spread. A meme is passed from one person to another through one form of contact or another, and in some cases must mutate in order to continue surviving and spreading. Thus memetics is sometimes described as an epidemiology of ideas, investigating them in much the same way as a researcher might study the way a disease spreads throughout a community. This is not to say, of course, that all ideas that spread are negative ones, as the analogy to disease might suggest. Memetics itself is neutral with regard to the value of beliefs, and the principles apply equally to positive, useful beliefs as to destructive ones.

Being Fruitful and Multiplying

Just as a virus can spread by floating through the air, by skin contact, or through exchange of bodily fluids, there are a number of different mechanisms whereby beliefs spread. One of the most common and effective means of spreading a meme is simply having children, because children more often than not serve as hosts for the same memes as their parents. Thus memes that encourage procreation directly (“your biological clock is ticking”) or indirectly (“abortion is murder”) serve to propagate themselves to the children of the meme’s host. Similarly, memes that make it more likely that parents will pass a belief on to children (such as “children should respect their parents”) encourage their own propagation.

Another common mechanism of meme propagation is proselytism. Consider the meme “those who do not believe in Religion X will spend eternity in hell.” This meme aids its own propagation, because holding the belief increases the likelihood that it will be transferred to other hosts. A person who considers belief in Religion X crucial to eternal happiness will be motivated to influence its adoption by friends and even strangers (not to mention offspring). This meme also illustrates other methods of propagation, such as discouraging hosts from dropping the belief (persistence of the belief, especially at the time of death, is regarded as crucial to its effectiveness) and resisting efforts of competing memes (such as “all religions are equally good”) to displace it.

Gimme Some Truth (or Not)

Of the other methods of meme propagation, surprisingly, one of the least effective is for a meme simply to seem true. The sheer force of logic can and does cause memes to spread (as in “Earth revolves around the Sun”). But more often than not, competing memes with other methods of propagation win out over those that depend solely on truth or plausibility. In particular, political and moral beliefs (which typically spread by offspring production, proselytism, and dropout prevention) usually displace beliefs whose only mechanism of reinforcement is objective fact. This could help to explain, for example, how a nation might muster public support for a war in the absence of objective evidence of danger from an enemy.

The basic principles of memetic theory that describe the ways in which beliefs spread, persist, and recede, can account for the rise and fall of numerous widespread beliefs, including economic trends, pro- and anti-abortion movements, terrorism, racism, diet fads, and hundreds of other memes. It can explain how TV programs or radio talk shows gain and lose popularity, why less effective technologies win in the marketplace over more effective ones, and how public opinion can shift rapidly on many major issues.

My predominant thought while reading Lynch’s descriptions was, “Well, of course that’s why so many people believe such-and-such. It’s obvious. How could it be any other way?” And yet, that is precisely what’s interesting about memetics: it points out and explains things that should have been obvious all along, but weren’t. Although Thought Contagion is written for a general audience and therefore avoids complex mathematics, memetic theory is in fact a very serious science, backed up by increasing amounts of highly technical analysis. Very few professionals currently consider themselves full-time memeticists, but that is certain to change, thanks to the rapidly spreading meme, “memetic explanations rock.” —Joe Kissell

Intaglio Printing / Duplicating under pressure

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As I look around at the many printed items within arm’s reach—books, magazines, a calendar, posters, checks, labels, boxes, and so on—I am vaguely aware that nearly all of them made their way through a printing press at some point. And, since I’ve used rubber stamps and stencils, I have an equally vague awareness that any printing process is based on putting ink or other coloring onto some parts of paper while keeping it off other parts. But despite having worked in the prepress field for a while, I never thought very deeply about the methods for transferring ink to paper; terms like “offset” and “lithography” had no specific meaning to me. Even after I finally grasped how laser printers work, ink-based printing methods remained a mystery.

Every time I realize that I’ve been living in blissful ignorance about something so common, I feel sort of guilty—it’s the same feeling I had when I was in high school and knew that I’d studied just enough to get through my exams, but not enough to actually understand or remember anything. So I began some remedial self-instruction in printing techniques, determined to fill in those embarrassing gaps in my knowledge. Along the way, I learned all sorts of interesting things, but one printing method particularly struck my fancy: intaglio (in-TAL-yo) printing.

Making an Impression

There are several major large-scale printing methods. The original printing press and its descendants (including rubber stamps) use raised letters to ensure that ink is applied only to the desired portions of the page; although an entire block of type may be covered with ink, only the raised parts make contact with the paper. In lithography, a printing plate (or stone) is moistened with water and then coated with ink; the greasy ink adheres only to the portions of the plate with the right texture (achieved in a variety of ways), while the water on the blank portions of the plate repels the ink. Although paper is brought into contact with the entire plate (directly, or, in offset lithography, via an intermediate rubber roller), only the inked portions transfer marks to the paper.

Intaglio printing (from an Italian word meaning “carve”) predates lithography by more than three centuries. Like lithography, it employs full-plate contact—but instead of relying on water to keep ink where it belongs, it uses recesses cut, engraved, or etched into a metal plate (or cylinder) to hold the ink. After the ink is spread, the plate is wiped down to remove excess ink from the top surface. The paper is then applied under tremendous pressure to push it into the grooves, transferring the ink where it has made contact. One of the side effects of intaglio printing is that the inked surfaces are very slightly raised on the front and indented on the back; depending on the type of paper and ink used, this can give intaglio prints a unique texture. A variant of intaglio printing called gravure varies the depth of the recesses in order to produce a range of tones; deeper grooves hold more ink and therefore create darker colors.

Show Me the Money

Intaglio presses can cost ten times as much as offset presses, and an intaglio printing plate can cost hundreds of times more than a comparable plate intended for offset printing; hence the relative popularity of the latter. But intaglio printing has some important advantages. For one thing, the plates have an incredibly long life; many millions of impressions can be made before the image quality degrades. For another, intaglio printing can achieve remarkably fine levels of detail. These facts, combined with the raised surfaces of the design, make intaglio printing the natural choice for currency, passports, and other high-security documents. Virtually every banknote in the world is printed at least partially using intaglio, because its distinctive appearance and texture make it easier to spot counterfeits. Although intaglio will never replace laser and inkjet printers on the desktop, there’s no better printing technique when only perfection is good enough. —Joe Kissell

Sea Monkeys / New life for an old fad

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I recently went to a toy store with my son, and found myself marveling at how little had changed since I was a kid. Alongside all the miracles of modern toy science were dozens of items that I remembered seeing on toy store shelves 25 years or more ago, and they looked exactly the same—except for the price. Slinkies. Magic Rocks. Ant Farms. Silly Putty. Nerf balls. And, of course, Sea Monkeys. I vividly remember the ads in comic books and magazines promising “Instant Life—Just Add Water!” The ads pictured anthropomorphic sea creatures with tails, smiling faces, and crown-like protuberances on their heads. These intelligent and fun-loving creatures could be your new pets for just a few dollars.

I never managed to prevail upon my parents to spring for the Sea Monkeys, but I always wondered just how close the real thing would be to the hype. A couple of years ago, when Morgen bought a Sea Monkeys set as a present for a friend, I got to see them in action. The little critters were, unsurprisingly, not terribly impressive as pets. However, in terms of both biology and marketing they are a marvel every bit as interesting as those ads implied.

Brine Shrimp Deluxe

Sea Monkeys are a variety of brine shrimp. Unlike the common species Artemia salina, Sea Monkeys were engineered as a larger and longer-lived hybrid variety the manufacturer calls Artemia nyos (NYOS stands for New York Ocean Science Laboratories, where the breed was developed). But like all brine shrimp, Sea Monkeys lay eggs encapsulated in a cyst shell. These cysts have the unusual capability of remaining viable over long periods of time when completely dehydrated—effectively maintaining a state of suspended animation. This state, known as cryptobiosis, is also seen in some plant seeds, insect larvae, and crustacean eggs. When the eggs are re-hydrated in a saline solution, they continue with their development and hatch soon thereafter.

Sea Monkeys have other interesting characteristics, such as the fact that they have one eye when they hatch but later grow two more. According to the official Sea Monkeys literature, the animals also breathe through their feet—I’ll have to take their word for it—and the females can reproduce either sexually or asexually.

Just Add Hype

But when you get right down to it, these creatures, which rarely grow longer than half an inch (about 15mm), are not that interesting as pets go. Brine shrimp are often sold as food for other fish, and their low status on the food chain says something about not only their size but their neural capacity. Compared to even the most ordinary tropical fish, the translucent Sea Monkeys are rather tedious to watch—if you can spot them at all—as they swim around in their little tanks.

That brine shrimp could ever be conceived of as pets is nothing less than a stroke of marketing genius. The man behind it was inventor Harold von Braunhut, who was also responsible for such kitschy fads as the X-Ray Spex, which got me in trouble when I tried to wear them during class in sixth grade. Von Braunhut began working with brine shrimp in 1957, and in 1960, his first simple kits went on sale. The fact that the eggs could be shipped easily, stored indefinitely, and brought back to life within a couple of days suggested the name “Instant Life,” which was how the product was first sold. When von Braunhut realized the creatures themselves needed a more marketing-friendly name, he began calling them Sea Monkeys, reportedly because of their tails. (Any actual resemblance to monkeys is purely in the mind of the beholder.)

Von Braunhut died on November 28, 2003. But in recent years, his invention—along with its innumerable variations and spin-offs—has sprung back to life as a retro fad. For about US$10 (rather than the original $0.49), you can get a plastic tank, water purifier, egg “crystals,” food, and accessories—including a handbook whose main purpose is to convince you to buy still more supplies to keep your new pets alive as long as possible. Sea Monkeys come with a two-year “growth guarantee,” but owners seldom maintain their interest in keeping the creatures alive for more than a few months. As pets, they make great fish food. —Joe Kissell