Cyriaque Lamar, Author at Gizmodo

Japanese researchers building sidewalks that look like discotheques

Researchers at Tokyo’s University of Electro-Communications are working on sidewalk innovations that will transform public thoroughfares into shimmering corridors of light. The first of these are lenticular lenses embedded in walkways — these lenses offer subtle navigational cues to pedestrians when they’re stuck in crowded spaces. Note the researchers: The images on the sheets laid…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 10

Haunted brothels that will (not) scare the pants off you

Ghosts dwell in all sorts of geographical locales, and brothels are no exception. Here are five cat houses (and one exotic dancing establishment) that have tenants from beyond the grave. DISCLAIMER: Should any of these ghosts actually exist, please do not attempt to engage them in intercourse (intellectual or otherwise). The disembodied dead can be…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 10

Read Quentin Tarantino’s adorable letter to a 13-year-old From Dusk Till Dawn fan

In 1996, a 13-year-old fan of Robert Rodriguez’s vampire flick From Dusk Till Dawn wrote a friendly letter to Quentin Tarantino, lauding his portrayal of psychotic bank robber Richie Gecko. Here’s the director’s handwritten reply to his young fan. The spelling errors are Tarantino’s, who suffers from dyslexia: Dear Sarah Thank you for your very…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar May 10

The Flash runs into a crazy alternate universe in Wednesday’s comics!

DC Comics kicks off their big summer event, Hellboy gets a celebrity guest illustrator, and the lost anti-Communist Captain America of the 1950s returns. Just your standard week in funny books, dear readers. First Issues The inaugural issue of Flashpoint hits the stands Wednesday. A DC Comics event on par with Blackest Night, Flashpoint sees…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 10

Welcome to Salvation Mountain, the rainbow-hued God cavern in the California desert

Outside of Slab City, California lies Leonard Knight’s Salvation Mountain, a 150-foot-wide, 50-foot-tall variegated monument dedicated to God. It’s like Uncle Owen’s home times Pee Wee’s Playhouse, with that John 3:16 guy from baseball games* serving as an interior decorator. The Mountain is located in the California desert near the Salton Sea. Knight began construction…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 10

Let’s review Walt Simonson’s Thor omnibus (a.k.a. “Why the @#$! does Odin need safety goggles?”)

To capitalize on the new Thor flick, Marvel recently released a $125, 1192-page, and approximately 8-pound omnibus of Walter Simonson’s 1983-1987 run on The Mighty Thor. Is it worth the ducats? Forsooth, ye varlet. Forsooth. You’ll notice four distinct things about this tome. The first thing that will strike you about this omnibus is that…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 9

Save yourself the teeth-gnashing and watch the Star Wars prequels in 2.5 minutes in Lego

After condensing the original trilogy into 133 seconds, YouTuber dzine123 has smushed The Phantom Something or Other, Attack of that Thing, and Revenge of the Whatsit into 141 seconds of stop-motion Lego animation. The explanation of Midi-chlorians is fairly on-point. [Via Topless Robot]

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 9

Drones fly in formation à la a miniature robotic Top Gun

We’ve seen the zippy quadrotors of UPenn’s GRASP lab build structures autonomously. Now watch them take cues from a leader and fly as a unit. 50% of the time, the drones hover within 2 centimeters of their correct position. https://gizmodo.com/watch-a-swarm-of-flying-robotic-drones-construct-a-tiny-5734564 [Via IEEE]

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 9

Someday your existence may be condensed into 27 cubic meters

We’ve seen some tiny houses before, but the University of Hertfordshire’s Cube Project pushes the limits of how much ecologically sound living space you can cram into 27 cubic meters. Is this eco-home a harbinger of a boxy future? https://gizmodo.com/in-the-future-you-will-live-in-a-tiny-little-house-5701745 Here are the Cube’s specs: Constructed from a variety of sustainable materials, the Cube provides…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 9

Japanese university can’t stop building robotic babies

Researchers at Osaka University previously brought us Affetto, the disembodied baby head who was supposed to teach us empathy (or something). Now roboticists at Osaka’s Hosoda Lab have built Pneuborn-7II and Pneuborn-13, pint-sized robots that emulate infants’ movements. https://gizmodo.com/this-robotic-infant-head-was-designed-not-to-scare-baby-5755349 The robots get their names from their tiny pneumatic muscles — Pneuborn-7II mimics the movement of…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 9

Watch a gleefully no-budget Star Trek fan film from 1971

YouTube user Ray Glasser has posted this wonderfully homemade Star Trek movie he made for his TV production class at Ohio State in 1971. Check out Spock’s sweet facial hair! He received an A- for this project. [Via Neatorama]

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 8

Is this the most insane comic Stan Lee’s ever written?

In 1962’s Strange Tales #94, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby teamed up to create the short comic “SAVE ME FROM THE WEED!” In this tale, a weed is bombarded with radioactive dust and immediately conspires to take over the world. It’s absolutely brilliant in its simplicity. A weed becomes irradiated + bushy eyebrows that evince…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 8

According to German TV, anti-Starfleet rebels helped take down Osama Bin Laden

Last Thursday, German news channel N24 was discussing how the Navy’s SEAL Team Six participated in the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden. The report started out normal, but an image search snafu took the broadcast to the final frontier. Rather than show the real logo of the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 8

Cambodian scarecrows keep out malicious spirits using ghost bazookas

If you want to ward off evil spirits, it pays to be wield some serious firepower. Farmers in the Cambodian countryside have thusly armed their scarecrows with spectral munitions. These martial manikins were spotted by the bloggers at Asia Obscura. Here’s how they describe them: Somewhere between Siem Reap and the River of 1000 Lingas,…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 8

19th century mechanical French harp player is absolutely unnerving

We recently looked at devilish automata from the 15th century; here’s Gustave Vichy’s mildly terrifying mechanical harpist, which was built in Paris in 1880. Her golden harp is invisible to the living; you can only see it on your deathbed. https://gizmodo.com/in-the-15th-century-satanic-automata-wigged-out-church-5795086 [Via House of Automata]

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 8

Japanese TV show pranks unsuspecting victim with a haunted mirror

In this clip from a Japanese candid camera program, a fellow sits down to use a mirror and is immediately harassed by angry ghosts straight out of Ringu (or perhaps Hausu). Shit gets extremely real around the 30-second mark. https://gizmodo.com/in-the-japanese-cult-classic-hausu-schoolgirls-are-eat-5778012 See also: a similar prank for Spanish television, using a creepy kid and a hotel…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 8

Read a 250-page preview of zombie kung-fu comic insanity online

In perhaps one of the largest free samples we’ve ever seen, illustrator Kagan McLeod has posted the first 250 pages of his 464-page graphic novel Infinite Kung-Fu on Top Shelf Comix’s website. Here’s the synopsis of the book, which hits stores July 2011: Catastrophe has knocked most of the world back to the middle ages…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 8

The lost adventures of Tintin take us to Tatooine and Mars

We’ve previously featured parodies of globe-trotting Tintin covers, and here are 12 more of his never-was escapades. Watch as Hergé’s boy adventurer, his faithful dog Snowy, and Captain Haddock battle the Teen Titans and enter the Grid. https://gizmodo.com/tintin-meets-h-p-lovecraft-in-this-mind-bending-mash-u-5696372 https://gizmodo.com/is-this-tintins-final-xenomorphic-adventure-5791602 By Luc Jacamont This cover by Joost Verkamp shows what happened if Tintin in Tibet went…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 8

Weekly Roundup

WEEKLY ROUNDUP: 5/1 -5/7 | Jack Kirby’s Galactic Arsenal from Captain Victory (via Grantbridge Street). Ask Iain M. Banks anything you want about “Surface Detail” https://gizmodo.com/ask-iain-m-banks-anything-you-want-about-surface-deta-5799662 In April, the io9 Book Club read Iain M. Banks’ Surface Detail. Now Banks is coming to answer your questions about the book on Monday, May 9. He’ll be…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 7

What does it look like when a human embryo grows a face?

Using high-resolution scans of real human embryos, the BBC has created this somewhat terrifying animation of a fish-like, one-month-old embryo rapidly developing a face up to the 10-week mark. Yes, we all started out resembling Admiral Ackbar. Notes the BBC: The early human embryo looks very similar to the embryo of any other mammal, bird…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar May 7

Cyriaque Lamar

Japanese researchers building sidewalks that look like discotheques

Haunted brothels that will (not) scare the pants off you

Read Quentin Tarantino’s adorable letter to a 13-year-old From Dusk Till Dawn fan

The Flash runs into a crazy alternate universe in Wednesday’s comics!

Welcome to Salvation Mountain, the rainbow-hued God cavern in the California desert

Let’s review Walt Simonson’s Thor omnibus (a.k.a. “Why the @#$! does Odin need safety goggles?”)

Save yourself the teeth-gnashing and watch the Star Wars prequels in 2.5 minutes in Lego

Drones fly in formation à la a miniature robotic Top Gun

Someday your existence may be condensed into 27 cubic meters

Japanese university can’t stop building robotic babies

Watch a gleefully no-budget Star Trek fan film from 1971

Is this the most insane comic Stan Lee’s ever written?

According to German TV, anti-Starfleet rebels helped take down Osama Bin Laden

Cambodian scarecrows keep out malicious spirits using ghost bazookas

19th century mechanical French harp player is absolutely unnerving

Japanese TV show pranks unsuspecting victim with a haunted mirror

Read a 250-page preview of zombie kung-fu comic insanity online

The lost adventures of Tintin take us to Tatooine and Mars

Weekly Roundup

What does it look like when a human embryo grows a face?

Trump, When Asked About White House Meeting with Anthropic’s Dario Amodei: ‘Who?’

‘The Batman, Part II’ Has Finally Found Two-Face’s Dad

TotalAV Keeps Prices Low While Covering the Basics of Online Protection

RAM Shortage Expected to Continue Into Next Year or Later

Marvel Studios’ Former Art Staff Discuss ‘Shortsighted’ Layoffs

Amazon Delivery Drones Involve a Perilous 10-Foot Drop. Users Are Posting the Apparent Results

Organ Transplants Without Lifelong Meds? New Trial Shows It’s Possible

The AI Doomers Who Are Playing With Fire

Mysterious ‘Red Dot’ Galaxies Could Have ‘Relic’ Black Holes Predating the Big Bang

What Discoveries Might Be Hiding in the Artemis 2 Images and Data?

Alienware’s $350 QD-OLED Gaming Monitor Nixes Everything for a Pretty Screen

Sony Inzone H6 Air Review: A Perfect Case for Open-Back Gaming Headsets

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

The Soundboks Mix Is Going to Make You the Most Popular Guy at the Park

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026