Jamie Condliffe

Thunderbolt 2 Will Be in Products Later This Year

Intel has officially announced that the next generation of Thunderbolt, previously codenamed Falcon Ridge, will be called… wait for it… Thunderbolt 2. Lame name, sadly—but it still promises to be amazing. In fact Intel spilled the beans on he new data connection back in April, explaining that it would be capable of 20Gbps in both…

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Intel is throwing a cool $100 million towards “perceptual” computing technologies like voice and gesture control. The future might be here sooner than we thought.

Samsung Legal Win Could Halt US iPhone 4 Sales

Samsung has, to some surprise, won a patent battle against Apple that could see the iPhone 4 and 3G iPad 2 banned from sale in the US. The legal fight was centered on a patent relating to 3G standards, which Samsung has pledged to license freely, reports the Guardian. But according to the International Trade…

This Amazing Algorithm Draws Video Game Characters Using Tetris

If you think drawing in real life is hard work, just wait until you see how tough it is to create art using Tetris. This software, created by Michael Birken, is called the Tetris Printer Algorithm, and it rotates positions and drops Tetris pieces in a calculated way to create images. Yes, that is as…

Good news, klutzes: Apple is apparently now replacing broken iPhone 5 displays in-store for the sum of $150.

Does Alien Life Really Exist?

Many people believe that we’re not alone in the Universe—but is that just wishful thinking, or is there a reasonable scientific basis for such a view? This video by the guys at Veritasium tries to shed some light on that by getting you to think about just how big the Universe is. Spoiler: it’s big.…

How a Teenager Rickrolled Vine

You’re only supposed to be able to upload a six-second clip to Vine—but somehow yesterday sixteen-year-old Will Smidlein managed to bypass that rule and post the whole of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”. Uh, well done? It didn’t go down so well with Vine engineers, who very quickly sent him a direct message…

Intel have briefly showed off a fanless tablet packing a Haswell processor: that’s a lot of power with very little cooling, and it could be a very promising sign indeed.

The World’s Thinnest 1TB Hard Drive Is Just 7mm Thick

If you’re in the market for slimline storage, Western Digital has just the hard drive for you: it’s latest offering, WD Blue, crams 1TB into a case that’s just 7mm thick. Small enough, in fact, to make it the world’s thinnest 1TB hard drive right now. The small frame doesn’t mean it skimps on features,…

There’s 60 Percent Off SanDisk SSDs and SD Cards on Amazon Today

Amazon’s having a one-day sale on SanDisk storage—and that makes some of the products insanely good value for the next few hours. http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?tag=gizmodo08c-20 The offers applies a wide range of USB Sticks, SD Cards and SSDs, so go take a look if there’s anything you need. Or, you know, just want. A quick peek suggests…

Your iPhone Can Be Hacked With a Modified Charger

It might pay to be more careful about where you juice up your phone—because a team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have put together a prototype charger capable of installing malware onto an iPhone. The research, which is to be presented at the Black Hat security conference in late July and was…

Wait, Samsung just launchedtwo more Galaxy Tabs? Anyone who can keep count of these things deserves one for free.

This Beautiful New Asus Ultrabook Is Dripping in Glass

Asus has been busy announcing a slew of new products at Computex in Taipei overnight and, while many of them are deeply unremarkable, a glass-coated ultrabook and updated Transformer Pad Infinity should be enough to pique your interest. The 13.3-inch Zenbook Infinity uses a pretty impressive-looking aluminum and glass construction, featuring Gorilla Glass on both…

Report: Apple Is Finally Sealing Deals For Its Internet Radio

The New York Times is reporting that Apple’s much-rumored music streaming service may soon be ready—even in time for next week’s WWDC—thanks to the company finally signing contracts with major music labels. https://gizmodo.com/bloomberg-apples-pandora-killing-internet-radio-servic-5954986 The report suggests that Apple signed a deal with the Warner Music Group over the weekend for both recorded music rights and…

Apparently the Wall Street Journal has plans to launch a business-focussed social network, presumably along the lines of LinkedIn. Well, that sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it?

Apple’s New Budget 16GB iPod Touch: 4-inch Retina Screen, $230

Apple has just quietly launched a budget-friendly new iPod touch: a 16GB model, with a 4-inch Retina display and a price tag of $230. Replacing the last-gen 3.5-inch version, which hung around Apple’s store for a while, the new budget offering loses some of the more advanced features found on the more expensive models—such as…

Curious travellers rejoice: Wikipedia has launched an official Nearby page, which will provide you with articles based on location.

You Can Get 1Password For 50 Percent Off Right Now

If you’re usually too cheap for security, maybe this will be enough to tempt you: 1password is offering 50 percent of its apps for iOS and OS X. 1password’s pretty much the gold standard in terms of rock-solid digital security. The app act as a vault for your digital credentials—site log-ins, bank details, all that…

You’ll Never Break This Awesome Rubber Lamp

If you’re a complete klutz, you could do with Cologne designer Thomas Schnur‘s Rubber Lamp. Not only does it look awesome—you’ll never break it, either. An articulated steel rod running up the stem of the lamp gives the silicone casing some structure, allowing the entirely flexible shell to actually function as a lamp. Schnur explains:…

The FBI Ran a Child Porn Site for Two Whole Weeks

Last November, the FBI raided a bulletin board-style site that was known to be a home of child pornography. But rather than shutting it down, they decided to keep it running—and see just how many users they could identify. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Bureau agents posed as child porn dealers, actively distributing pornography…