Chris Mills

Born-Again Planetary Nebula Keeps Reacting After It Dies

After a couple billion years, most stars with a mass similar to our Sun eventually die, shedding outer layers and creating beautiful planetary nebulas. On the outer layers of this nebula, Abell 78, a dying star had a second stab at life. A planetary nebula is a cloud of ejected material from a star, interacting…

Here’s The OnePlus 2: Scary-Good Specs For $390

The OnePlus One dominated the cheap smartphone scene with a simple formula: flagship performance with a low price. For the second iteration, OnePlus isn’t fixing what ain’t broken. https://gizmodo.com/oneplus-2-hands-on-so-good-it-makes-me-want-to-leave-1720500080 Although OnePlus founder Carl Pei is keen to remind us that “specs are boring”, the internals of the OnePlus 2 are anything but: a Snapdragon 810…

Watch The OnePlus 2 Launch in Virtual Reality at 10PM Tonight

Proud owner of an Android phone and a Google Cardboard VR headset? Spectacularly bored on this Monday night? Then you’ll probably want to watch OnePlus unveil its latest flagship killer, through the glorious (and only slightly gimmicky) medium of virtual reality. To livestream the launch, you’ll want to download the OnePlus 2 Launch App (Android…

A Monitor With Built-In Wireless Charging Actually Makes A Lot of Sense

In the ‘interesting new technology’ stakes, new PC monitors normally rank just above updated versions of power strips. But when a monitor includes a built-in Qi wireless charging pad? Now we’re talking. Samsung’s latest monitor, the catchily-named SE370, is a pretty run-of-the-mill desktop monitor: 24” or 27”, and 1080p PLS panel are not exciting specs.…

Apple Watch: Now Coming To A Best Buy Near You

When the Apple Watch first debuted, we were promised a premium retail experience — specially trained staff, swanky new stores, watches that were ‘fitted’ rather than just tried on. Well, according to the WSJ, all that is about to change. https://gizmodo.com/the-apple-store-fitted-me-for-a-15-000-watch-i-could-n-1697098543 Starting in August, the Apple Watch will be available in 100 Best Buy locations…

Why the Hell Is Windows 10 Sharing My Wifi Passwords?

Look, Microsoft. Just because I am Facebook friends with someone, doesn’t mean I want to share my wifi passwords with them. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happens by default in Windows 10. Anyone who I’m Outlook.com contacts with (spammers), Skype friends with (webcam strippers), or Facebook friends with (high school buddies turned webcam strippers) can connect…

Don’t Ask Google Maps ‘Are We There Yet?’

The Google Maps lady might sound all friendly and helpful, but like any mom, she gets real sassy if you keep asking her if you’re there yet. As spotted by Android Police, the latest version of Google Maps for Android is hiding a neat Easter Egg. In turn-by-turn navigation mode, there’s a microphone button so…

Here’s Every Detail About Motorola’s New Budget Moto G

Motorola won’t be officially launching the new version of its venerable budget smartphone until next week, but it might as well cancel the event: thanks to an accidental leak on Moto’s site, we already have all the details. https://gizmodo.com/the-best-cheap-smartphone-for-every-off-contract-need-1671295476 The Moto Maker page for the new phone was briefly live on Motorola’s site — certainly,…

The Pebble Timehas a firmware update that makes it a whole lot better: a brighter backlight, buzzing notifications that don’t shake your wrist off, and the long-overdue option to dismiss all notifications. [Pebble]

Windows Search Doesn’t Suck Anymore

The first thing that everyone notices about Windows 10 is that the Start Menu is back. It’s a cool feature, but an irrelevant one. Thanks to the absurdly powerful new system-wide Search, you’re never going to need a Start Menu again. Search has been getting better and better with every version of Windows, but with…

NASA’s Windbot Drone Would Sail Forever Around Jupiter

As part of NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program, the Jet Propulsion Lab at NASA is looking into using a ‘windbot’ to harness the power of Jupiter’s turbulent winds, and stay airborne without needing fuel. https://gizmodo.com/15-projects-nasa-wants-to-change-from-science-fiction-t-1703362134 The windbot idea was given $100,000 in funding back in May, so that the team at JPL can explore the…

The death of Flash continues apace: live video-streaming giant Twitch is the latest major player to ditch Flash video in favor of HTML5. It’s rolled out new HTML5 player controls to pave the way for a full handover to the video-streaming master race in the (hopefully near) future. [Twitchvia Engadget] Contact the author at [email protected].

Tonight’s Mission To the ISS Successfully Limped Home With Only One Wing

A Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts to the International Space Station blasted off at 5:02 EST EDT today. Despite only deploying one of two solar panels, the capsule has docked safely, and it’s welcome party (and fresh food!) time on the ISS. https://gizmodo.com/watch-a-3-person-crew-blast-off-to-the-international-sp-1719590354 The Soyuz launch has been delayed — it was meant to go…

Windows 10 Is Hiding a Great Video Capture Tool

It’s not on the list of headline features, but the latest version of Windows is hiding a very welcome and well-executed feature: a video-capture tool baked right into the operating system. On previous versions of Windows, recording a video of your screen meant navigating the usual muddy creek of ad-infested freeware; the lack of integration…

Mapping America’s Obesity Problem Using Twitter

If you eat mountains of food and don’t exercise, you are more likely to be obese. This is not exactly news. But measuring calorie input and energy expenditure on a large scale has traditionally been difficult, and that’s where Twitter comes in. According to a paper posted on open-source submission site arXiv (and therefore not…

Apple’s Home Sharing Is Back in the Latest Beta of iOS

Apple upset a significant portion of its user base (case in point: the excellent email below) when it disabled Home Sharing for iOS devices in iOS 8.4. Thankfully, it looks like things will turn around by the time iOS 9 publicly launches. In the latest public beta of iOS 9, Home Sharing has been re-enabled…

Google Maps Timeline Lets You Stalk Yourself

Google has a serial-killer-grade stash of knowledge about its users. This is not news, but to really ram the point home, Google is releasing a tool that lets you go back through history, and retroactively follow your every move. The Timeline feature is rolling out slowly for Google users on Android and desktop. If you’ve…

The SpaceX Launch Explosion Explained in Geeky Detail With MS Paint

To non-rocket-scientists (and those who don’t play Kerbal Space Program), discussions of rocket science can sometimes get a little overly technical. To fully explain what we know about the SpaceX explosion in a non-PhD way, here’s some Paint-quality graphics. https://gizmodo.com/a-single-weak-strut-caused-that-spacex-rocket-to-blow-u-1719101240 In the video above, YouTuber Scott Manley does a good job of breaking down everything…

This Is The First Image From NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory

The Deep Space Climate Observatory (also cleverly known as DSCOVR) is a spacecraft that sits a million miles away from Earth, hovering between the Sun and our planet. Its mission: to monitor space weather, and send us an endless stream of interplanetary selfies. This is its first. DSCOVR is hovering at a place known as…

Go Update Windows Right Now

Microsoft normally restricts its Windows updates to a monthly Patch Tuesday. So when the company pushes a critical update on a Monday, it’s a good sign that shit is hitting the fan. The security update applies to all versions of Windows since Vista, and fixes a rather gaping hole in the security: thanks to a…