Mario Aguilar

Tiny Kentucky Town Agrees to Pay Only Police Officer In Bitcoin

The city of Vicco, Kentucky, has has just a few hundred people. It onlyrecently got its own police officer. And, now, that officer, Police Chief Tony Vaughn, will be the first in the country to be paid in Bitcoin. Because I guess good old fashioned U.S. dollars aren’t even good enough for government employees anymore.…

Show Us Your Personal Spotify Year In Review and We’ll Show You Ours

Yesterday we posted a playlist of the most streamed songs on Spotify from 2013, but you’re better than the rabble, right? You have better taste than the pathetic mindless horde. If you log in to your Spotify account from the service’s Year In Review page, it’ll spit out stats about your year in Spotify jams.…

Beats by Dre’s streaming music service—Beats Music—will launch next month, possibly at CES which is where was announced a year ago. You can go sign up for updates and reserve your username now.

​Grado Labs Made Gorgeous Cans Out of Irish Whiskey Barrels

Unlike many revered audio brands, old school Brooklyn outfit Grado Labs hasn’t yet stooped to deploying rappers, athletes, or style icons to market its awesome headphones and phono cartridges. But before you dismiss its first foray into the world of branded products out of hand, you should know two things. The partner is whiskey, and…

Holy Scheisse, There’s a Shazam For Nazi Music

German authorities have developed a special app that allows them to identify extremist, right-wing music from just a brief clip, according to the German newspaper Der Spiegel. The new app works much like “Nazi Shazam.” According to the report, the app isn’t currently in use, and authorities from the Interior Ministry are currently meeting to…

Apple isreportedly buying Topsy, a social analytics company whose efforts have been focused on Twitter. We have no idea what it exactly Apple plans to do with what amounts to a very sophisticated Twitter search engine. Weird. [WSJ]

Should We Mine Ancient Shipwrecks to Push Science Into the Future?

We humans are a sentimental horde, which is why we get squeamish about places where people used to live, and places where people bit the dust. But how much should we value preserving the past when it impedes our ability to move into the future? The battle over the fate of a few long-shipwrecked vessels…

​Sex ‘n Spas: The Future (And Not So Future) of In-Flight Entertainment

Careening through the air 30,000 feet above the ground in seats that get smaller every day are too cramped to recline can be a brutal experience. To help us cope, airlines have evolved sophisticated on-demand entertainment in the form of games, movies, internet, and the occasional backrub. Here’s a look at some of the ambitious…

Drone-Wielding Criminals Busted Dropping Tobacco Into Prison Yard

Forget stuffing contraband in your butt to sneak it past prison guards. Some creative crooks have taken to the skies with new technology in an effort to get some precious tobacco to their compatriots in prison. This takes the drone delivery service trend to a new, absurd level. https://gizmodo.com/chinas-now-using-drones-to-deliver-packages-1245039645 WALB reports that corrections officers at…

In advance of the holidays, PayPal is rolling out support for those pesky pre-paid gift cards from credit companies like Visa. No more wondering whether your favorite online retailer will take your card. If they take PayPal, they take the lazy gift from your aunt.

Polaroid’s First Camera Caused Black Friday Pandemonium 65 Years Ago

Polaroid is a non-entity these days, but instant photography lives on in the digital photos we produce at dazzling speeds. We’re addicted, and that’s what made Polaroid the hottest tech company in the world when its first blockbuster consumer product, the Model 95 Land Camera, went on sale. That was 65 years ago on Black…

More Than a Record Shop: Inside Brooklyn’s Massive New Music Outpost

Holy crap, someone is opening a new record store? Who in their right mind would open a record store? And in New York of all places, with its exorbitant rents! Didn’t these guys see what happened those who came before them? Well, this is different. All photos by Michael Hession Yesterday, Rough Trade NYC opened…

The Cheap, (Possibly Awesome) Moto G Is Available Way Early In the US

A few weeks ago, we got our first look at the Motorola Moto G. For $180, you get a solid piece of hardware running Android Jelly Bean with a guaranteed upgrade to KitKat. It wasn’t supposed to be available in the United States until early next year, but it’s already available fro pre-oder. It ships…

Watch a SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Blast Off Right Here, Right Now (Update: Nope)

In about 15 minutes At some point soon, hopefully, SpaceX is going fire off a redesigned Falcon 9 rocket with a commercial satellite attached. According to USA Today, it’s the first such launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida in four years. Watch all the action in the embedded video below. It’s going to be fiery, fast,…

This ‘Motherf*cking Website’ Is Also Genius Web Design Commentary

Let’s all take a look at this single serving site from Barry Smith and learn how we can make better Internet. MotherfuckingWebsite.com—Yes, it contains lots and lots of cusses—is intended to illustrate how powerful simple design can be as long as the content is compelling. It’s hilarious, and correct. On first glance, Motherfucking Website looks…

Get Great Book Recommendations From Interesting People

You’ve read millions of good books, so what do you recommend when people ask you, “Uhh, what should I put in my brain next?” A new website, Just One Book, hosts a collection of such recommendations from interesting people. Founded by Gizmodo alums Joel Johnson and John Mahoney Just One Book contains a dozen selections,…

Fun online DJ party time place Turntable.fmis shutting down. Bummer! Help us send it off.

WSJ: The FCC Is Considering Letting You Use Your Phone On Planes

Following loads upon loads of evidence that the ban on smartphone usage during flights is absolutely ridiculous, the government will finally formally take up the matter. According to the WSJ, the FCC is now formally considering a proposal that would allow you to make phone calls above 10,000 feet. https://gizmodo.com/the-ridiculousness-of-why-we-cant-use-our-phones-on-ai-1060294604 The new proposal comes just…

WordPress Strikes Back Against DMCA Censorship Trolls

A few months ago, we told you the story of Oliver Hotham, a British journalist whose reporting on Straight Pride UK was silenced by a spurious DMCA takedown request from the hate group. Now the Hotham’s web host, WordPress, has filed a complaint in court against Straight Pride. This may be the case that helps…

​MediaFire Can Finally Sync Files on Your Computer With the Cloud

MediaFire is the old guard of cloud storage, and today, the company’s services jump into the present tense with MediaFire Desktop, which allows you to sync your files from your computer to the cloud. How’s it going to beat pack-leaders like Dropbox? By building more robust support for people who want to exchange multimedia online.…