Jamie Condliffe

Was BlackBerry’s Super Bowl Ad the Dumbest Tech Ad You’ve Ever Seen?

BlackBerry’s Super Bowl ad from last night was… uh… interesting. The company claimed that in 30 seconds, it was easier to show us what BB10 couldn’t do—which is perhaps some of the laziest marketing ever. But the real question is, is this the dumbest tech advert you’ve ever seen? And, if not, what was? Post…

Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness Trailers From Last Night’s Super Bowl

If you hate football but love cinema: no problem! Here are the trailers for Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness which aired during last night’s game—without any sports involved. The Iron Man 3 trailer (above) mixes a reasonable amount of previously seen footage with some new—the highlight being a scene where Stark plucks…

HP’s First Chromebook: Big Screen, Little Else

HP has announced its first Chromebook, and it’s notable for the fact that its screen is much larger than models from the likes of Samsung, Acer, and Lenovo. Sadly, there’s not an awful lot else to set it apart. Unlike most Chromebooks, that pack a screen somewhere between 11 and 12 inches, HP’s Pavilion 14…

Five Winter Predictors That Are Even Dumber Than a Groundhog

Today, millions of Americans waited with bated breath for a stupid rodent to see its shadow, all in hopes of figuring out how long winter will last. Silly? Sure. But not the weirdest winter predictor, not by a long shot. The following predictive methods are—or have been—practiced all around the world. If it seems like…

First-Ever Incredible Footage of a Thought Being Formed

A team of Japanese researchers has achieved something incredible: they’ve captured, for the first time ever, a movie which shows how thoughts form in the brain. OK, so it’s a thought forming in the brain of a zebrafish. And OK, its the fish’s reaction to seeing food, so it’s probably along the lines of “HUNGRY!”.…

The Best Scientific Visualizations of 2012

Every year, the International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge seeks to find the most visually striking scientific art and design. It’s just announced the 2012 winners—and there are some amazing sights to be seen. The first prize for an illustration went to Emmett McQuinn et al from IBM research, for the image above. It shows—though…

Sony: MiniDisc Is (Finally) Dead

While rumors have suggested it in the past, it’s now official: after years of complete and utter redundancy, Sony is finally killing off the MiniDisc. https://gizmodo.com/whats-most-surprising-about-sony-killing-the-minidisc-w-5819314 Sony has announced that it will ship its last MiniDisc player in March of 2013. The biggest question it raises, of course, is: who the hell is still buying…

Reuters claims that Dell buyout is coming real soon—and that a deal could be struck as soon as Monday. [Reuters] https://gizmodo.com/bloomberg-dell-founder-seeks-majority-share-using-pers-5980102

GIFs Are Actually Declining in Popularity (Updated)

It feels like the GIF has had a huge resurgence of recent time. People are making more wonderful animations than ever, GIF was officially the Word of 2012, and in December there was even a GIF Fest in Miami. But it turns out GIF use is actually in decline. https://gizmodo.com/the-very-best-gifs-of-2012-5967899 Web Technology Services has been…

That Mega indexer and search engine? Already taken down by Kim Dotcom et al, in under 24 hours. How secretive.

This Dynamic E-Ink Keyboard Needs To Become a Real Thing

While the concept of dynamic LCD keys is no new idea in the world of keyboard design the idea of using e-ink to fulfill the job certainly is—and it’s a great one, too. https://gizmodo.com/optimus-keyboard-may-launch-february-1st-147366 Dreamt up by designers Maxim Mezentsev and Aleksander Suhih, this keyboard would use the same e-ink displays as your Kindle to…

Google’s Latest Android Statue Is Resplendent in Chrome

Google’s a massive fan of celebrating Android through the medium of sculpture. Its latest, though, is a surprisingly tasteful vision in shiny, shiny chrome, strapped to the side of one of Google’s Mountain View buildings. https://gizmodo.com/googles-jelly-bean-mascot-melts-in-the-sun-5923099 Now, we could speculate at length about what it means—it’s made of Chrome, and that must mean something, right?—or…

An Infrared TV Which Uses Remote Controls as Pixels

Forget 4K displays. Artist Chris Shen has different ideas about how a TV should look—so he built a display from 625 linked remote controls to produce images using their infrared bulbs. Shen rounded up a whole heap of old remotes, then rigged them up on a large metal frame with their infrared elements facing outwards.…

The Life of an Astronaut

Most of us grew up wanting to be an astronaut, and now we’ve all realized that it’s actually a pretty tough gig. But this lovely little animated Ted Ed talk gives a great insight into what the life of an astronaut can really turn out like. Narrated by ex-astronaut Jerry Carr—who spent over 2,000 hours…

Are You Going to Buy a New BlackBerry?

So, you’ve read about the new BlackBerrys in exhaustive detail. One big questions remains, though: are any of you actually going to buy one? https://gizmodo.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-blackberries-5980183

Apple’s rolled out an update for MacBooks to address a rare battery malfunction which occurs after 1,00 charges. [Apple]

Moveable Magnetic Shelving Is an Amazing Storage Solution

This magnetic storage concept by Benoit Bayol is half art, half practical furniture: neatly arranged on the wall it’s reminiscent of a Mondrian painting, but it also offers an incredibly versatile storage solution. The system—called Magnetic Spirit—uses a patented arrangement of (hopefully very strong) magnets embedded in the walls and storage cubes to defy gravity.…

This Photo Was Taken Using a Camera Made From Popsicle Sticks

When Maxim Grew got bored, he decided to try building an instant camera out of a Polaroid film holder and a bunch of wooden popsicle sticks. He succeeded in building the thing—and it seems to work pretty well, too. OK, so he didn’t just use popsicle sticks: the bellows are made from card and duct…

Man Shot Dead After GPS Error Leads Him to Wrong House

When Rodrigo Diaz set out to pick up his friends and go ice skating, he was in high spirits. But when his GPS navigation system took him and some friends to the wrong house, he was assumed to be an intruder—and shot dead. Friends of Diaz claim that the then 69-year-old Phillip Sailors saw the…

A gallery of images purports to show a shiny new white version of LG’s Nexus 4 phone. Intriguing!