Eric Limer

Breakthrough Research Could Replace Insulin Shots With Pills

Whether you don’t like needles, or whether you really don’t like needles, there’s some good news on the horizon: a special “bioadhesive” coating that was just developed at Brown University is bringing us one step closer to saying goodbye to injections and hello to things like insulin pills. It’s not like people are out there…

Facebook is now letting Android users test out beta versions of its main app. But ironically you’ve got to sign up for Google Groups to get in on the fun.

Every Secret Agent Wannabe Needs a Quadcopter Belt of Death

You could probably argue there are worse offenders, but there’s no denying that James Bond’s Thunderball jetpack is definitely up there in the pantheon of ridiculous 00-gadgets. Tinkerer Rodger Cleye recently tried to put a more realistic spin on the concept, and the result is this still-ridiculous-but-fully-functioning quadcopter “belt.” Unfortunately, propelling a real human—00 agent…

Every Smart Appliance Should Be as Brilliant as This Smoke Detector

It’s easy to scoff at the idea of smart appliances when you’re faced with an onslaught of everyday devices with bewilderingly superflous Internet-y capabilities crammed in for little other reason than to pad the feature list. It doesn’t have to be that way though. Take the Canary, for instance, a smart smoke alarm. It’s quite…

Porn App Returns to Google Glass Minus the Porn

The only thing that might be sadder than a porn app for Google Glass is a porn app for Google Glass that doesn’t actually have any porn. Remember how “Tits and Glass” got banned? Yeah, it’s back, but this time without the titular attractions. But don’t worry: that pun isn’t going anywhere. https://gizmodo.com/google-is-banning-porn-apps-for-google-glass-511149419 The app’s…

Watch the Muhammad Ali of BattleBots Destroy Everything in Its Path

There are “battle bots” and then there are “utter, one-sided destruction bots.” The two-wheeled harbinger of destruction called Last Rites fits in that second category. Powered by an over-volted golf cart motor and wielding a spinning hammer-blade of doom, it’s really a force to behold. And the folks over at Distort caught it up close…

A Pint-Sized Dialysis Machine Gets Its First Taste of Human Blood

Who needs gigantic dialysis machines? The first portable blood filter has just been approved for testing on humans, and it’s practically pocket-sized. The Hemopurifier has been in development for years now, and it finally got approval from the FDA for a extremely limited field test where it’ll try to treat Hepatitis C by filtering the…

Twitter DVR Sounds Like an Awesome Idea

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo was hanging out at a panel this morning at the Center for Technology Information, and while he was there he let an interesting little tidbit drop: Twitter is toying with a rewindable, DVR-type feature. It sounds awesome. During a big, live event is when Twitter gets it’s chance to really shine,…

Live With Your Parents In Style in This Split-Level Palace

One of the best parts of home ownership (I imagine) is having a place that’s all to yourself. Unfortunately, in the beautiful Wall House you’d have to share some space, but when that space looks like this, it’d be hard to mind it. Designed by architecture firm FARM, the Wall House is actually a two-family…

Xbox Music For Windows 8.1 Now Has Free, Ad-Supported Radio

No word yet on whether or not Xbox Music is breaking out of its Windows 8 prison and turning into a web-app, but it now has a free, ad-supported radio feature where you can start a station based on a specific artist. You know, like Pandora. https://gizmodo.com/according-to-the-verge-microsofts-xbox-music-service-w-573329884 You’ll also be able to take any website…

Kinect-Powered Roaches Are an Army of Grossness

It’s not very common to find an enthusiastic fan of motion-controlled gaming, but it’s rarer to find an enthusiastic fan of roaches. But for the unlikely fan of both, researchers have developed the best(?) of both worlds: Kinect-controlled cockroaches. The process itself is pretty straight-forward. Researchers attached some hardware to the roaches’ antennae and administer…

These Trippy Dripping Ink Portraits Are Face-Meltingly Creepy

When you’re painting, drips are usually bad. But if you’re clever enough, you can put ’em to good use. That’s what artist Ben Dehaan did with his project “Uncured,” by using a print loaded with some ultraviolet cured ink to create face-melting portraits worthy of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The process relies on the…

New York City’s New Subway Tunnel Looks Like a Level from Half-Life

New York City’s Metro Transit Authority is still plugging away on its giant project to bring the 7 train into far west Manhattan, and the scope of the construction is just as awe-inspiring as ever. The MTA just put out a crop of new pictures on Flickr, and we just can’t help but see a…

10 Bar Bets You’ll Never Lose (But Might Get You Punched in the Face)

Gambling might be risky, but not if you know you’re going to win. Then it’s just free money. If that sounds up your alley, conman extraordinaire Richard Wiseman has yet another set of “bets” for you to try out on your friends. The ones that won’t assault when they get wise to what you’re up…

There’ll Be Nowhere to Hide When These Robot Apes Take to the Trees

If you thought the prospect of being chased down by one of DARPA’s terminator-wannabes was horrifying, there’s a whole new flavor of terror for you to consider: the iStruct robo-ape. It’s just barely limping along for now, but it’s easy to imagine it galloping out of your nightmares someday soon. https://gizmodo.com/boston-dynamics-latest-humanoid-robot-is-better-coordin-5954798 The robo-ape—developed by DFKI…

Bing’s making a play for schools with a new ad-free version of search. And in addition to wiping the ads, Bing for Schools will also boast enhanced privacy protection, explicit content filtering by default, and other features to “promote digital literacy.” Not a bad idea!

A Saturday’s Work at Gizmodo in Mouse Movement

While you folks are doing your Saturday thing and maybe checking out ol’ Giz now and then, somebody’s gotta write it. That somebody is me, and this is what it looks like. From a cursor’s-eye perspective anyway. You may have seen these kind of visualzations before; they’re the product of an awesome little program called…

Ween: Where’d the Cheese Go?

Earlier today I found myself searching for my keys and—lo and behold—a certain song popped into my head. And what a wonderful tune it is. Both versions. Ween’s no stranger to weirdness for it’s own sake, but in this case, there’s a little story behind it. In short: Ween was commissioned to make music for…

Keep Your Eyes on the Sky for Tonight’s Gigantic Supermoon

If there’s ever a night to let the moon hit your eye like a big pizza pie, it’s amore tonight. If you go gaze into the abyss over head this evening, you’ll be treated to a supermoon, It’s a pretty self-explanatory concept (supermoon = big moon = duh) but the reason behind it is that…

These Are the Ten TV Shows That Pirates Like the Most

With the spring TV season drawing to a close (MAD MEN SEASON FINALE TOMORROW YOU GUYS!!), TorrentFreak has done the wonderful service of rounding up a top 10 list of the most torrented shows out there this time around. Can you guess number one? (You can definitely guess number one.) That’s right, Game of Thrones…