Brian Barrett

Google Autocomplete Is an Even Weirder Place Than You Thought

Google autocomplete results have always been a font of joy; nowhere else is humanity’s curiosity and stupidity celebrated in such equal measure. But when you really start to comb through what it has to offer—as xkcd does today—it goes from amusing to disturbing and back again way quicker than you’d think. Why are Americans afraid…

56 Steve Ballmer Photoshops in Honor of His Retirement

Microsoft announced today that Steve Ballmer would be retiring within the next 12 months, after decades of service to the company—including the last several as CEO. Ballmer did a lot to and for Microsoft, but the man’s greatest legacy might just be this Photoshop contest we originally ran back in 2009. Enjoy, and please add…

Watch Sony’s PlayStation 4 Gamescom Press Conference Live

While we already know pretty much everything there is to about the PS4, there are still a few precious details left to reveal. Here’s a stream Sony’s Gamescom press conference, which should be starting any minute now: Live streaming video by Ustream

Super Slow Motion Even Makes a Guy Getting Pummeled Look Glorious

This is boxer Giovanni Lorenzo. He’s having a very bad moment. But if you think the GIF of this knockout punch is good, wait until you see what it looks like below, in aggressively slow motion. Honestly, the worst part might be waiting for impact. https://deadspin.com/watch-giovanni-lorenzos-face-get-rearranged-in-extreme-1170174560

Legal Site Groklaw Shuts Down Rather Than Face NSA in Heartrending Post

For the last 10 years, if you wanted to understand a complex legal issue in the news, your first stop was Groklaw. A free, open source exchange of theories and ideas, Groklaw has been an invaluable resource for lawyers and laymen alike. Last night, its owner pulled the plug. It was a matter of privacy.…

Why a Gold iPhone 5S Actually Makes Sense

Full disclosure: We’ve been seeing the gold iPhone rumors for weeks now, but have largely been brushing them aside. Fake Apple rumors are as easy to come by as tangled EarPod cords this close to a new product launch, and this one in particular seemed too outlandish, too… tacky. But gold iPhone reports have reached…

Our Hyperloop Liveblog Starts Right Right Now

In just a few minutes, Elon Musk will finally reveal his plans for the Hyperloop, a revolutionary transit system that’s capable of getting you from downtown Los Angeles to downtown San Francisco in 30 minutes flat. At 5 pm, he’ll hold a conference call to explain Hyperloop in detail. And we’re going to liveblog the…

After its previous look at strategic alternatives yielded little fruit, BlackBerry is once again going back to the blackboard. Its board is currently considering “possible joint ventures, strategic partnerships or alliances, a sale of the Company or other possible transactions” to help boost the performance of BlackBerry 10. So… any takers?

Report: Apple’s Next iPhone(s?) Coming September 10th

According to a report from AllThingsD, Apple will be taking the lid off of its new iPhone a month from today, on September 10th. Save the date for what should be a big day—especially if it’s not the only debut Apple’s got up its sleeve. While Apple rumors are as Apple rumors does, AllThingsD is…

The Intersection of Comic Books and Infographics in One Glorious Book

Many comics aren’t worth reading. Many infographics don’t say anything at all. But when one of the keenest visual minds targets one of the most expansive visual mediums, wonderful things happen. Tim Leong’s Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universe is the perfect collision. And I want it. Leong has done art…

Why the Hell Are the Xbox One’s Best New Features Behind a Paywall?

You don’t buy a Big Mac and pay extra for special sauce. You don’t buy an iPhone and pay extra for FaceTime. So why in the hell is Microsoft putting some of its most heavily promoted Xbox One features behind an idiotic Xbox Live Gold paywall? Because it can. But that doesn’t mean that it…

Where Do All Those Amazing Discoveries Go, Anyway?

It seems as though every day we read (and write) about another amazing new breakthrough, be it medical, technological, epicurean, or other. And then we wait… and wait… and wait… and… hey, just a minute. Where’d that quantum computer go? It’s frustrating, sure. But don’t worry. Doghouse Diaries knows exactly what happens to all the…

The One Big Winner From the Time Warner Cable-CBS Slapfight

As the Time Warner Cable-CBS impasse approaches its fourth day—with no resolution in sight—one thing has become absolutely clear; everyone involved is a big dumb dumby. A plague on them both. And a big shiny gold star to the one company that, unexpectedly, is going to come out ahead: Amazon. https://gizmodo.com/breaking-effective-5-00-pm-et-time-warner-cable-has-d-1005643729 There are plenty of…

The Amazon Back to School Deals That Are Actually Worth Buying

Amazon’s Gold Box deal today is a back-to-school blowout, full of robust discounts on everything from backpacks to… portable scanners. Okay, so maybe it’s not quite the cornucopia of delights you might have hoped for. But for every iPad speaker dock in the bunch, there are a few gems you genuinely need. http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=xs_gb_A3AY5CGCCPYOTE?tag=gizmodo08c-20 Worth It…

The Most Suspicious File of All

We’ve all done it. We’ve all clicked on a link that we probably shouldn’t have, confused a gremlin for a Mogwai. But if you ever click the mother of all suspicious links, you deserve whatever’s coming to you. You’d just better pray someone invents the computer version of an Aliens power loader before it’s too…

The 10 Dumbest ATM PINs Are Even Dumber Than You’d Think

In an age of mandatory password complexity and burgeoning biosensory protection, the idea of a four-number PIN for the ATM seems almost quaint. That doesn’t excuse the fact that the most popular PIN is still, yes, 1234. Come on, people. The following list of most-used ATM PINs comes compliments of a company called DataGenetics, and…

Earth Is Just a Pale Blue Dot… Or Pixel… Or…

The image above is what Earth looks like from Saturn, a stunning reminder from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft that we’re nothing but a small speck of dust. And sometimes, as xkcd points out below, that can be quite literal. All respect to Carl Sagan, but it’s definitely hard sometimes to tell a dot from a pixel.…

Motorola Is Selling Its Moto X Superphone With Dick Jokes (Updated)

The Moto X leaves a terrific first impression. It’s well-built, it’s fast, it comes in a variety of trims. On the one hand, it exudes the kind of class that you’d expect from mature, seasoned companies like Google and Motorola. On the other hand, dick jokes. https://gizmodo.com/moto-x-hands-on-forget-specs-this-thing-is-awesome-991536492 Above is a section of the Moto X’s…

Street Artist Replaces Erased Work With Stencil of Guy Who Erased It

The work of a street artist is perhaps by definition impermanent; you create, it’s found out, it’s erased, you move on. Or, if you’re a young man who goes by the name of DS, you spot the guy who’s erasing your work, photograph him, and come back later to immortalize him as a stencil in…

Q&A With the Chicago Tribune Editors Who Put a Cat on Their Homepage

Earlier today, visitors to the Chicago Tribune’s homepage were greeted not with traditional lead story or splash image. Instead, there was an adorable kitty, a placeholder headline, and the word test over and over again. While it was a welcome break from the the usual gloom and doom, it was also very clearly a mistake.…