Boston

News

Boston’s Big Dig: The Deadly Engineering Gift That Keeps On Giving

4:00AM July 11, 2011 | Jack Loftus

The Big Dig, a Boston engineering boondoggle that’s national news mostly because you helped us pay for it, is basically a death trap. It’s killed people already, and some precariously perched lights were apparently preparing to off a few more. More »

News

CBS Faked Boston’s 4th Of July Fireworks Show

4:40AM July 9, 2011 | Sam Biddle

Apparently giant rainbow explosions all across the sky weren’t entertaining for CBS producers, who digitally superimposed Boston landmarks across the screen in a strange, disingenuous attempt to augment the show. Why’s that OK? Because it’s entertainment, not news! How patriotic. More »

Geek Out

A Glass Bathtub For The Stylish Exhibitionist

12:34PM May 31, 2011 | Kelly Hodgkins

Design-driven architecture firm Stern McCafferty created a striking bathroom that has an aquarium-style tub as its centerpiece. Not a concept, this lovely tub is actually installed in a house at the South End of Boston. More »

Geek Out

This Is The Closest Thing Boston Had To A Website In 1945

10:40AM May 20, 2011 | Adrian Covert

The internet was 25 years away from inception when this photo was taken in 1945, but the Boston Globe had another way to rapidly disseminate breaking news amongst the masses: chalkboards in a busy city intersection. [Boston Globe]

Entertainment

Interactive, Musical "Kendall Band" Sculpture Reborn At Cambridge’s Kendall/MIT Station

9:00AM May 2, 2011 | Jack Loftus

Kendall Station, the MIT stop here in Massachusetts, was once home to this musical, interactive art piece called the “Kendall Band.” Now, thanks to students at MIT, the music rings again as part of the university’s 150th anniversary. More »

Cameras

Sketchy "Street Photographers" Descend On Boston’s Downtown Crossing

4:00AM April 18, 2011 | Jack Loftus

It’s totally legal and entirely creepy. A gaggle of gentlemen, armed with cameras and an absence of shame, have taken residence in Boston’s Downtown Crossing snapping what they claim are artful “street photography” pictures of everyday people. More »

Miniature Cities Rise From The Ashes Of Busted Technology

6:00AM December 6, 2010 | Jack Loftus

Broken motherboards, transistors and other baubles are given new life by artist Franco Recchia. City life, specifically, as he is an artist who works at the miniature level to recreate Manhattan skylines using nothing but computer junk made useful again. More »

Ultra Efficient Windows Turning Houses Into Death Rays

12:00PM August 7, 2010 | Sam Biddle

Remember how annoying it was when your neighbour blasted Katy Perry at 3am? Now just imagine if his windows were literally melting the side of your house off. Low-E insulating window panes look like they’re doing just that. More »

Even Dubai Isn’t Ready For The BoA Floating Mega-Structure

5:18AM January 16, 2010 | Sean Fallon

Kevin Schopfer, the same delusional, megalomaniac architect behind NOAH is back with the Boston Arcology (BoA) floating city concept for Boston Harbour. I’m not from Boston, but my guess is that their reaction would be: “this is wicked retahded”. More »

Cars

The First American Subway

1:45PM December 28, 2009 | Jack Loftus

Recently my local paper, the Boston Globe, was lucky enough to explore the abandoned sections of our sometimes working subway system. As reporter Noah Bierman described it, the experience played out a lot like film noir, compete with wingtip shoes. More »