Andrew Tarantola, Author at Gizmodo

These Twin Orbiters Map the Ebb and Flow of Lunar Gravity Down to the Micron

Science has long known about the curious gravitational variations of the moon’s surface—called mascons—as evidenced by the Doppler shift of radio signals from passing spacecraft. However, researchers are now taking an unprecedented, high-fidelity look at the moon’s gravitational field thanks to a pair of washing machine-sized orbiters. The $496 million Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory…

Space & Spaceflight Andrew Tarantola

The Stoner Channel: Impossible Tricks, Improbable Ideas, and Incredible OG CGI

Luna Park Flatland BMX Local Melbourne Flatland riders Karl Hugues, Phillip Fruh, Andre Martin, and Chris Carver take over the Luna Park Carnival—which is celebrating its 100th year in operation—for some haunting flatland rides. How in the World Does William Spencer Land These Impossible Skate Tricks? Hint: magic. [The Awesomer] Adam Savage Explains How Big…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

What the Strange Symbols on Your Gadgets Mean

On the back side of most gadgets, there’s a string of hieroglyphs that look like the bottom line on the eye chart from hell. But this mishmash of symbols and letters is actually essential to international trade. Here’s what each one means and why it’s on there. Underwriters Laboratories is an independent, non-profit “safety science…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

The Most Expensive Hard Drive Ever Spun 22.7 GB on 11-Inch Platters

Twenty-two Gigabytes seems like a paltry amount of storage by today’s standards, but in the early days of networked computing—when most storage capacities were measured in a lower order of magnitude—IBM’s ultimate DASD offered an unheard of amount of space. Through the late 1980s and early 1990s, magnetic tape drives were the go-to technology for…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

The Stoner Channel: Morgan Freeman on Weed, Phil Collins on Tour, and the Filthy Human Condition

Breaking the Taboo This unflinching look at the political failures within the US War on Drugs and the development of the The Global Commission on Drug Policy is directed by Cosmo Feilding Mellen and Fernando Grostein Andrade. Narrated by Morgan Freeman, you owe it to yourself to watch. [The Stoned Society] An Ocean Journey Now…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

How to Hang a Kickass Christmas Lights Setup

You want your house to be lit up brighter than Clark Griswold’s in Christmas Vacation. But you’ve got problems to solve, beyond just the aesthetic challenge. How can you make sure you don’t take a three-story dive off a slippery eave. And how much power are a few thousand feet of lights gonna require? Here’s…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

This Virus-Copter Is a Digital Typhoid Mary

Looks like you’ll have to start keeping your AR drone on a leash, what with a new breed of wireless virus floating around the skies. The winning entry into this year’s San Francisco Drone Games, James “substack” Halliday’s Virus-Copter can wirelessly infect AR Drones around it with amok.js. This script wrests flight control from the…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

This Mega-Password Cracker Laughs at Your Puny Old Algorithms

It doesn’t matter what your super-unguessable password is. The arms race between the security and hacker communities has produced a devastating new device capable of tearing through lesser password encryption protocols in as little as six minutes. In the days before the AES and SHA-256 security protocols, Microsoft systems relied on the LM (LAN Manager)…

Privacy & Security Andrew Tarantola

Green Gifts for the Urban Gardener

It doesn’t matter whether the gardener on your holiday shopping list has a green thumb or black, works a quarter-acre plot or a windowsill herb planter, these tools will help make their victory garden a winner. Hey there! You might notice our gift guides look a little different this year. That’s because we’re hoping to…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

The Stoner Channel: Top Flight Parkour, 2-Pac at the HoB, and Video Games at the End Times

Let’s Go – Stuck in the Sound An astronaut finds the companion he needs, just not the one he wants, as the world ends in this fantastic animated music video by Alexis Beaumont and Rémi Godin for the Canadian rock band, Stuck In The Sound. [Cartoon Brew] Cambodia in Hyper-lapse Youtuber Andyblalock turns the normally…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

What Is Electricity?

Tired of smiling and nodding along while your electrical engineering buddies debate the finer points of electromagnetic theory? If you’re taking a critical eye to the definitive guide to batteries, you’ve got to understand what electricity is to begin with. Here’s a crash course on the fundamental force that’s driving our digital revolution. https://gizmodo.com/batteries-the-absolute-definitive-guide-5952938 Electricity…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

Why That “US” Drone That Iran “Captured” Is Totally Worthless

Iranian officials happily announced on Monday that it downed and recovered a US drone as it was performing reconnaissance over Iranian territory. However, US officials have already denied that the drone is theirs and that, even if it were, there’s nothing Iran can do with it. Here’s why. https://gizmodo.com/iran-just-captured-another-us-drone-5965424 The drone in question is a…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

The Stoner Channel: Corporate Weed, Blamestorms, and a Tale of a Country Doctor

Former Microsoft Exec Trades in the Board Room for Bong Rips Michael Shively is living the dream. A corporate strategy manager for Microsoft from 2003 to 2009 (and great-grandson of Diego Pellicer, the number one pot producer of the 19th century), Shively recently announce that he’s currently developing a premium cannabis retail business in Washington…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

Batteries: The Absolute Definitive Guide

Nobody thinks about batteries—until they’ve run out of juice, of course. But this humble and surprisingly ancient technology has done far more for human civilization than most people realize. In fact, the modern world as we know it wouldn’t exist were it not for batteries and the unique, utterly essential ability to store electrical energy…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

How an Old Biosphere Project Could Help Build a Better Climate Model

We only have a fragmented understanding of the complex interactions that go on in the dirt as water flows past soil and microbes. To gain fresh insight into the hydrologic processes that make life on land possible, the University of Arizona has built a trio of massive, man-made hillside labs. Just recently, the $200 million…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

The Stoner Channel: Good Driving, Bad Driving, and a Homicidal Monkey with Magical Poo

The US Attorney General Would Like to Remind Everyone that Holding Is Still a Crime If you’re reading this, congratulations, it is now legal to smoke pot in Washington under state law. Feel free to light up as you see fit—just not on federal land. The Attorney General’s office issued jthis statement earlier today, The…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

The Stoner Channel: Celebrity Space Endorsements, Every Movie from 2012, and Macklemore on NPR

I Just Wanna – Rob & Nino MoreFrames Animation of Eerie, PA shows us that it’s not the frames per second that’s important, but the content of the cells. Here’s their latest project, a Space Opera set to the tunes of Rob & Nino. [Cartoon Brew] Frank Sinatra and Willie Nelson Would Like You to…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

Japan’s Eco Cycle Stows Bikes in a Quake-Proof Underground Storage Cylinder

Roughly 90 percent of Tokyo’s 13.1 million residents commute to work each day by rail, with a third of those riding their bikes on the “last mile” to and from the train station. The result: as many as 3.5 million bikes left illegally parked on city streets every day, crowding already packed sidewalks and exposing…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

This Convertible Sleeping Bag Thinks It’s a Giant Hoodie

The worst part of camping—having to leave your sleeping bag’s warm embrace for late night latrine trips. But with the Poler Napsack, you’ll never have to take it off again, even after you return to civilization. The Napsack is a 50 degree-rated sleeping bag with a microfiber body. What sets it apart from other bags,…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

The Stoner Channel: Epic Bass, Asshole Cats, and Cloned Herbs

Further Up Yonder This inspirational short film from NASA (edited by Giacomo Sardelli) illustrates why the ISS is so damn important to the future of the human race. [Buzzfeed] DAT BASS The bass in this video is too damn high. How to Clone Your Shrubbery Propagating pot plants is surprisingly simple, as this video from…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

Andrew Tarantola

These Twin Orbiters Map the Ebb and Flow of Lunar Gravity Down to the Micron

The Stoner Channel: Impossible Tricks, Improbable Ideas, and Incredible OG CGI

What the Strange Symbols on Your Gadgets Mean

The Most Expensive Hard Drive Ever Spun 22.7 GB on 11-Inch Platters

The Stoner Channel: Morgan Freeman on Weed, Phil Collins on Tour, and the Filthy Human Condition

How to Hang a Kickass Christmas Lights Setup

This Virus-Copter Is a Digital Typhoid Mary

This Mega-Password Cracker Laughs at Your Puny Old Algorithms

Green Gifts for the Urban Gardener

The Stoner Channel: Top Flight Parkour, 2-Pac at the HoB, and Video Games at the End Times

What Is Electricity?

Why That “US” Drone That Iran “Captured” Is Totally Worthless

The Stoner Channel: Corporate Weed, Blamestorms, and a Tale of a Country Doctor

Batteries: The Absolute Definitive Guide

How an Old Biosphere Project Could Help Build a Better Climate Model

The Stoner Channel: Good Driving, Bad Driving, and a Homicidal Monkey with Magical Poo

The Stoner Channel: Celebrity Space Endorsements, Every Movie from 2012, and Macklemore on NPR

Japan’s Eco Cycle Stows Bikes in a Quake-Proof Underground Storage Cylinder

This Convertible Sleeping Bag Thinks It’s a Giant Hoodie

The Stoner Channel: Epic Bass, Asshole Cats, and Cloned Herbs

Trump Says He’ll Sign Order to Pay TSA

Deadpool Will Deface ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Classics for a New Secret Lair

Apple’s Siri Isn’t Just Going to Use One Chatbot. It’s Going to Use All of Them

Why ‘For All Mankind’ Season 5 Is the Key to the Rest of the Series

ASUS ZenScreen 15.6-Inch Portable Monitor Is Now Cheaper Than Black Friday in Amazon’s Big Spring Sale

Early Wildfires Are Surging Across the US—and Trump’s New Fire Agency Isn’t Ready

INIU Brings Another Power Bank to the Spring Sale as SnapGo Keychain Portable Charger Drops to Its Lowest Price

Attorney Hit With Historic Fine for Citing AI-Generated Cases

Travelers Experiencing the Longest Security Lines in TSA History

Could There Be a ‘Project Hail Mary’ Sequel?

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