Avery Ellis, Author at Gizmodo

Swedish Prosecutors Are Going to London for a Friendly Chat With Julian Assange

Ecuador is officially fed up with Julian Assange. The Chicago Tribune reported that Swedish prosecutors will be paying Ecuador’s four-year houseguest a visit a week from today. To recap: Sweden is the country from which the Wikileaks founder and “editor” fled in order to avoid rape charges. Those outstanding charges and the fear of extradition…

Tech News Avery Ellis Nov 7

Sloths Are Amazingly Fast Swimmers When They’re Chasing Sex

Last night was the first episode of Planet Earth II, hosted by universally beloved nonagenarian David Attenborough. The six-episode series was filmed in 40 countries over three years, and whatever it cost, it was worth every god damn penny. In the first few minutes, Attenborough blew the minds of views across the UK (and those…

Sploid Avery Ellis Nov 7

Blink and You’ll Miss the World’s Fastest Rubik’s Cube Solve [Update]

Speedsolvers, your new time to beat is 4.74 seconds. Rubik’s cube records are like Mario speedruns. We know they’re going to happen, but because clutching the title involves shaving off fractions of a second they’re still so impressive. But the new record-holder, Mats Valk, had a secret weapon. Many speedsolvers attempt record with custom cubes.…

Sploid Avery Ellis Nov 7

An Internet Dog Chef Goes to Heaven

For nearly a decade, the best thing on YouTube has been Cooking With Dog. Its conceit was strange and delightful. Chef (a middle-aged Japanese woman whose name is never revealed) cooked beautiful, intricate food, while her trusty dog sidekick Francis sat on the counter, “narrating” the recipes in English. Yesterday afternoon, Francis passed away at…

Tech News Avery Ellis Nov 7

Why Do Water Droplets Bounce?

When a droplet of water impacts a larger body of water it has a tendency to bead up and bounce. It happens constantly, but you might not have focused closely enough to consider its strangeness—and it is very strange, especially when viewed on a high-speed camera. As Destin from Smarter Every Day discovered with some…

Sploid Avery Ellis Nov 4

It’s 2016 and Crazy Frog Is Skyrocketing on YouTube [Update]

A mounting body of evidence from this colossally sickening year suggests we are living in the end-times. For the skeptics, the willfully naive, the hopeful souls holding out for a better tomorrow, may I present the return of Crazy Frog. Let us set the scene. On YouTube, statistics like engagement over time, watch time, and…

Tech News Avery Ellis Nov 3

A Brief Examination of Just How Amazing Anthony Hopkins Is in Westworld

While Westworld has mainly captivated its viewers with its seemingly limitless mysteries (although the occasional orgy scene hasn’t hurt), the show’s real strength is in its characters, and the fabulous actors portraying them. And no one the show is more captivating than Sir Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Robert Ford. To demonstrate this, Nerdwriter dissects a…

io9 Avery Ellis Nov 3

Here’s What Chicago Sounded Like After the Cubs Won the World Series

As native son Bill Murray predicted, the Cubs’ 108-year curse was broken last night after taking the World Series title against the Cleveland Indians. It was some damn fine baseball to behold. So implausible was the idea of a Cubs win that the mere suggestion of it was a joke. Back to the Future II…

Tech News Avery Ellis Nov 3

Netflix Might Finally Add Offline Playback—But Not For You

Streaming giant Netflix has been teasing offline playback for years—and delivering hollow excuses as to why the feature hasn’t been implemented yet. Most egregiously, the company said that it would add an undesirable level of complexity to the product. But based on an executive’s comments, it seems more likely than ever that offline playback is…

Commerce Avery Ellis Nov 2

Dumbass Surfs a Turtle

Ricky Rogers is a complete idiot. Or at least that’s how he was described by Royal Society for the Prevention of Animal Cruelty spokesperson Michael Beatty after he posted a picture of him and a friend “surfing” a beached sea turtle on Facebook. Australia man truly is the new Florida man. The Frasier Coast Chronicle…

Biology Avery Ellis Nov 2

Nintendo Pulls the Plug on Wii U

Nintendo, once drunk on the promise of touch screens and motion controls, has come to its senses. Four years later, the Japanese gaming giant is quietly taking its biggest mistake since the Virtual Boy off of life support. As Ars Technica learned, the very last Wii U will roll off the line later this week,…

Tech News Avery Ellis Nov 1

You’re Going to Want to Play With This Goopy Modular Instrument

The surfaces of ROLI products practically beg you to touch them. Unlike the slappy, clicky keys or gorilla glass surfaces on most new tech, they’re coated in a responsive, almost fleshlike silicon rubber that’s at once alien and intuitive. So what are you waiting for? For the first time in the company’s history, the it’s…

Tech News Avery Ellis Nov 1

DJI Accidentally Gives Customer a Tour of Its Drone Factory

Here’s how the flying sausage gets made. DJI—the drone company famous for the Phantom series—does what most manufacturers do: it tests its products before sending them to customers. (The process must be a rigorous one after the Mavic Pro failed to ship on time.) Checking to make sure the camera and bundled-in SD card work…

Tech News Avery Ellis Nov 1

Elaborate Domino Setup Wishes You a Happy Halloween

Did you know today was a holiday? After a weekend of low-effort costumed drunks fighting, fucking, and puking in front of my apartment—sometimes simultaneously—I thought we were done this year’s glorified national Santacon. But no. Halloween is today. Let us breathe the heavy sigh of the defeated. Adulthood may have jaded me to the once…

Sploid Avery Ellis Oct 31

Entire Town Leveled As Yet Another Massive Earthquake Hits Italy

Just a few months after central Italy was battered by a magnitude 6.2 earthquake, the region has been struck again, and harder. A magnitude 6.6 quake—the strongest in the country since 1980—caused widespread damage to many of the same towns that were most severely affected by August’s incident, like Amatrice, Sunday morning. Over 200 aftershocks…

Tech News Avery Ellis Oct 31

RC Stunt Chopper Defies the Laws of Physics

When ancient humans looked to the skies, they dreamed of flight. When modern birds look with jealousy and annoyance to see who’s making them look like a bunch of chumps, they see RC helicopter stunt pilot Alan Szabo Jr. The footage from this flight appears to be sped up. It isn’t. The illusion is testament…

Sploid Avery Ellis Oct 31

What We Know About Bizarre Crime Filming App Vigilante [Update]

“Can injustice survive transparency?” is the tagline of a new app called Vigilante, that purports to empower its users to stop crimes in progress, turning each of us into Daredevil or Luke Cage. In practice, though, Vigilante could end up being the best way to waste your time, annoy the NYPD, or just maybe get…

Tech News Avery Ellis Oct 28

Microsoft Will Pay You Not to Use a MacBook

In the lead-up to the holiday season, Microsoft is throwing down the gauntlet. Got an Apple-branded laptop? The tech giant will give you up to $650 to part ways with it, just as long as you spend that cash on a shiny new Surface Pro 4 or a Surface Book. Microsoft’s “trade in and trade…

Tech News Avery Ellis Oct 27

The Best Stuff From Apple’s MacBook Pro Event

Today’s Apple event was, uh, shockingly similar to Microsoft’s live event yesterday. Both opened with a montage of each brand’s products helping differently abled users experience the world through technology and then focused almost entirely on a single piece of expensive, touch-sensitive hardware. And what a piece of hardware Apple rolled out. The New MacBook…

Tech News Avery Ellis Oct 27

All the Stuff You Can Do With the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar

The crown jewel of Apple’s live event today is the brand new Macbook Pro—the company’s first big update to the product line since 2012. It’s thin, light, and sports a giant trackpad, but the flashiest change by far is the Touch Bar. Replacing the function keys, Touch Bar is a retina touchscreen strip which changes…

Tech News Avery Ellis Oct 27

Avery Ellis

Swedish Prosecutors Are Going to London for a Friendly Chat With Julian Assange

Sloths Are Amazingly Fast Swimmers When They’re Chasing Sex

Blink and You’ll Miss the World’s Fastest Rubik’s Cube Solve [Update]

An Internet Dog Chef Goes to Heaven

Why Do Water Droplets Bounce?

It’s 2016 and Crazy Frog Is Skyrocketing on YouTube [Update]

A Brief Examination of Just How Amazing Anthony Hopkins Is in Westworld

Here’s What Chicago Sounded Like After the Cubs Won the World Series

Netflix Might Finally Add Offline Playback—But Not For You

Dumbass Surfs a Turtle

Nintendo Pulls the Plug on Wii U

You’re Going to Want to Play With This Goopy Modular Instrument

DJI Accidentally Gives Customer a Tour of Its Drone Factory

Elaborate Domino Setup Wishes You a Happy Halloween

Entire Town Leveled As Yet Another Massive Earthquake Hits Italy

RC Stunt Chopper Defies the Laws of Physics

What We Know About Bizarre Crime Filming App Vigilante [Update]

Microsoft Will Pay You Not to Use a MacBook

The Best Stuff From Apple’s MacBook Pro Event

All the Stuff You Can Do With the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar

Two Songs We Really Wish Were the Anime Outros for ‘Steel Ball Run’

AI Training Data Giant Mercor Is Reportedly Looking to Buy the Work You Did at Your Old Job

Utah Is Giving Dr. AI the Power to Renew Drug Prescriptions

Here’s the Perfect Excuse to See ‘Project Hail Mary’ Again

US Airlines Are Hiking Bag Fees Amid Iran War Oil Crisis

This Ridiculously Simple Trick Might Stop Gulls From Nabbing Your Lunch

‘Starfleet Academy’ Season 3 Could Have Done the ‘Voyager’ Sequel Episode of Robert Picardo’s Dreams

Judge Kills Lawsuit Against Infamous Study That Might Have Increased Teen Suicides

Artemis 2: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Researchers Discover How to Add Psilocybin, DMT, and Other Psychedelics to Tobacco

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

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