Andrew Tarantola, Author at Gizmodo

How Your Bacon Is Made: The Jarvis JR-50 Super Pig Decapitator

Slaughterhouses are dangerous places to work, what with all the tightly packed cutting implements and atomized brain matter you’re inhaling. The Jarvis JR-50 Head Dropper aims to make hog processing safer for everyone but the hogs. The name even sounds peaceable. https://gizmodo.com/working-in-a-spam-factory-is-brutal-5816199 The Jarvis Model JR-50 Robotic Hog Head Dropper is a fully-automated porcine decapitation…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

The Mopha Bag Is a Waxed Canvas Bike Tool Toter

Fitting a tube kit, Allen wrench, tire tool, phone, and wallet into a pair of skinny jeans is nigh on impossible and carrying a backpack just to hold these small items is way inefficient. Instead, roll them up before you roll out. The Mopha roll measures 16″ by 7″ when opened and is constructed of…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

This Air Bag Catches as Many Frenchmen As You Can Throw at It

If Spider-Man: The Musical taught us anything, it’s that you can never have too many airbags on hand. For their new Vegas show, Cirque du Soleil is using the largest one of its kind. During the 1977 filming of Hooper, stuntman A.J. “Big Brass Ones” Bakunas set a world record when he leaped 232 feet…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

The 1000-Kilometer Wide Telescope That’ll Look Back at the Beginning of Time

Until very recently, man has viewed the skies only within the visible spectrum. When LOFAR, the world’s largest telescope, looks to the heavens, it sees the depths of the universe in radio. LOFAR stands for Low Frequency Array for Radio Astronomy. The system was built and is operated by the Netherlands astronomical foundation ASTRON. Since…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

“Breadcrumb” Routers Are A Firefighter’s New Best Friend

Firefighting is dangerous enough without your two-way radio failing behind collapsed walls or in smoke-filled buildings. That’s why the DoD has developed the a new disposable router system, dubbed WISPER, that may one day replace traditional radios. Designed on the ZiggBee protocol, each WISPER (Wireless Intelligent Sensor Platform for Emergency Responders) unit consists of a…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

Google Tells FTC: Not Our Fault that ‘Our Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yard’

As the FTC prepares to launch a major investigation into Google’s “core search advertising business,” the search giant has issued a preliminary statement on its official blog today, restating the company’s core values. They also took pains in stressing the fact that consumers can just as easily enter the address of a different search engine…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

12 Views from the Top Oobject Gallery

Acrobats on the edge of the Empire State Building One of the lesser known pictures by Bettman, who created the classic images of workers having lunch on the girder of a skyscraper, under construction. Artis Li Wei creates these illusions without photomontage Chair balancing over the edge Cigarette on the Chrysler Iconic monster on iconic…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

Ka-Bar ZK Knives: Don’t Leave Zombie-pocalypse Home Without Them

Obviously, close quarters combat is not the method of choice when dealing with the walking dead. But if you gotta cut their heads off, you’ll want one of these Ka-Bar ZKs in your hand while you do it. The ZK (Zombie Killer) series ranges from the petite 3 1/8″ ZK-Acheron Skeleton to the machete-but-we’ll-call-it-a-knife-anyway 10…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

This Light Switch Texts You Pictures of the Guys Robbing Your House

You’ve just arrived home from the worst business trip ever (to Cleveland, no less) only to find your back door jimmied and your valuables gone. Had you installed this spy light switch, you could have… watched it all happen, live. The Spy Camera Light Switch is exactly what it sounds like — a functioning light…

Privacy & Security Andrew Tarantola

Tesla Roadster Production Is Powering Down

As Jalopnik previously reported, the Tesla Roadster will soon be charging into the sunset to make way for the new Model S. How soon? Like, two months soon. https://jalopnik.com/tesla-to-kill-electric-roadster-in-2011-5460062 This news isn’t wholly unexpected — the Roadster is already nearing its four-year total production run of 2,500 cars. Plans are also in place to revamp…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

Meet Paul, the Clumsy Robo-Artist

Sure, the newest generation of facial-recognition software and ultra-precise servos allow robots to perform uncanny drafting feats. But where’s the artistry in that? Where’s the soul? Non. Existent. Check this out: an imprecise robot arm that draws with personal flair. Dubbed Paul by its creator, engineer-artist Patrick Tresset, Paul was designed to be a bit…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

The Water Gun Knife: How You Cut 9 Million Pounds of French Fries a Day

McDonald’s sells about 9 million pounds of fries a day. French fries don’t come out of the ground that way. You’ve gotta cut them. How do you cut 9 million pounds of fries a day? With a water gun knife. The process starts when the potatoes are brought in from the fields and offloaded onto…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

Neuromarketers Using MRIs to Predict the Next Teenie-Bopper Sensation

If Rebecca Black’s Friday was so gawd-awful, why does everybody know the lyrics? New research from Emory University suggests our our brains may like certain tunes even if we don’t consciously realize it. https://gizmodo.com/katy-perry-covers-rebecca-blacks-friday-5797286 Scientists and marketers alike have spent years searching for the mind’s “buy button,” the area of the brain that influences purchasing…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

Andrew Tarantola

How Your Bacon Is Made: The Jarvis JR-50 Super Pig Decapitator

Top Stories: Tuesday, June 28, 2011

The Mopha Bag Is a Waxed Canvas Bike Tool Toter

This Air Bag Catches as Many Frenchmen As You Can Throw at It

Top Stories: Monday, June 27, 2011

The 1000-Kilometer Wide Telescope That’ll Look Back at the Beginning of Time

Top Stories of the Week

“Breadcrumb” Routers Are A Firefighter’s New Best Friend

Top Stories: Friday, June 24, 2011

Google Tells FTC: Not Our Fault that ‘Our Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yard’

12 Views from the Top Oobject Gallery

Ka-Bar ZK Knives: Don’t Leave Zombie-pocalypse Home Without Them

Top Stories: Thursday, June 23, 2011

This Light Switch Texts You Pictures of the Guys Robbing Your House

Tesla Roadster Production Is Powering Down

Meet Paul, the Clumsy Robo-Artist

The Water Gun Knife: How You Cut 9 Million Pounds of French Fries a Day

Top Stories: Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Top Stories: Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Neuromarketers Using MRIs to Predict the Next Teenie-Bopper Sensation

Travelers Experiencing the Longest Security Lines in TSA History

Could There Be a ‘Project Hail Mary’ Sequel?

Meta Has More Smart Glasses Coming Whether You Want Them or Not

Apple Requires Device-Level Age Verification in the UK Now. Could the US Be Next?

Astronomers Say Recent Rash of Meteor Sightings ‘Warrants Serious Investigation’

Did AMD Just Make the Best CPU for Gamers and Creators?

AI Just One-Shotted Another CEO

6 Magic School Anime and Manga to Discover Instead of Thinking About ‘Harry Potter’ Ever Again

Unprecedented Images Show Sperm Whales Acting as Midwives to Help a Mom Give Birth

‘Butt Birth’-ing Rhinoceros from Ace Ventura Sequel Sold at Auction for a Whopping $60,000

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

Apple Studio Display XDR Review: It Looks So Good, I Wish It Were an iMac

RayNeo Air 4 Pro Review: My Eyes Love These Video Glasses, but My Nose Disagrees