Molly Oswaks

YouTube Is Testing Out an Interactive Quiz Feature

A new feature being tested out by Youtube could add infinitely many new uses to the video-hosting service. TechCrunch reports that a user-customized quiz feature called “Video Questions Editor Beta” (first spotted by a Dutch tech site). Youtube describes the feature as a way for “multiple questions to be displayed on top of your video…

First to Get the iPhone 5 Call Queue “Absolutely Retarded, Superficial and Pretentious”

Luckily Australians. The first to get their grubby mits on everything good simply by virtue of the fact that they live down under. But even the iPhone 5’s first Aussie owners had to do their time in a queue, and, frankly, they’re not too thrilled by it. “Jessica C. E.,” a physics student who spoke…

This Instrument Translates the Sound of Objects

It looks like the kind of spit you’d roast a pig on for some sort of tropical luau cookout. Except instead of flames, there is a supersensitive laser rangefinder. And rather than a suckling pig sizzling, there is a clown head seemingly singing. Or a roll of paper towels. Really, just about any earthly object…

Prudish Pinterest Won’t Allow Pins Sourced from Sex.com (UPDATE)

Sure, Pinterest is known for hosting essentially what amounts to a virtual, scrolling, wedding wish-book. But it’s also home to some rather sexy, somewhat stylized “tasteful” nude images. It’s equal opportunity as far as pins go. Except for when it’s not. Lain MacNeil—founder of the NSFW Pinterest-esque Sex.com—is up in arms over Pinterest’s refusal to…

Do You Actually Care About a Politician’s Social-Media Presence?

Seriously. I mean, we rag on these politicians all the time for their social media gaffes, but does anyone really care? Does it matter to you, when it comes to actually punch your ballot, whether Romney’s app misspelled America or Obama was a little loose with his volunteers’ kinda private information? https://gizmodo.com/will-someone-please-teach-chuck-grassley-how-to-put-his-5916412 At the end…

A Website that Lets You Securely Share Your STD Status

There’s really no easy way to tell the person you’re sleeping with that you have an STD. Whether it’s something easily treatable or an incurable virus, it’s just not a conversation anyone ever wants to have. So, better to just not have that conversation at all. No. No, I’m not saying to withhold said serious…

Chase Bank Is Second to be Hit with Cyber-Attack In Response to “Sacrilegious Movie”

Just yesterday we reported that a group by the name of Izz ad-din Al qassam had claimed responsibility for a hack that brought down the website for Bank of America and obliterated its Twitter feed in addition to messing with the NYSE. https://gizmodo.com/hackers-angered-by-sacrilegious-movie-target-bank-o-5944398 Today, the same group posted a new note to Pastebin, announcing “Operation…

The iPhone 5 Costs $8 More to Build Than it Does to Buy (UPDATED)

We’ve come to count on the folks over at iSuppli to breakdown the materials-n-labor cost of manufacturing the latest iPhone, and sure enough they’ve done it again. This time with some pretty noteworthy results. Whereas last year’s 4S cost $188 in parts, plus an $8 “manufacturing” (labor) fee, to bring to a total of $196…

No Dock for the iPhone 5, Says SVP Phil Schiller

Fans of Apple’s own generational iPhone docks may be disappointed to learn that no such accessory will be manufactured for the iPhone 5. In an email obtained by 9 to 5 Mac, Schiller answers a devoted dock-user’s question thusly: Hi Thanks! We do not plan on making a dock for the iPhone 5. Most people…

Net Neutrality Groups Warn AT&T They’ll Fight for FaceTime Freedom

Today three net neutrality groups—Free Press, Public Knowledge and the New American Foundation’s Open Technology Institute—together released a written statement to AT&T (see below), alerting the iPhone carrier of their intentions to file a formal complaint with the FCC. What has them so hot and bothered? AT&T’s announcement last month that only users who subscribe…

Hackers, Angered by “Sacrilegious Movie,” Target Bank of America and NYSE

A group of hackers calling themselves Izz ad-din Al qassam have claimed responsibility for taking down Bank of America’s website today about 10am EST. Their reason for action? Displeasure with an anti-Islam film—which, though they never directly mention it by name, it seems safe to assume is the inflammatory headline-grabber Innocence of Muslims. http://gawker.com/5944290/here-is-the-original-script-for-innocence-of-muslims In…

“The Instagram Song” Will Make You Laugh and Cringe

Serious Instagrammers are a hardcore bunch. And, from what I can tell, you’re either with ’em or you’re just not. (Me, I’ve used it maybe all of four times ever.) So, watching this Instagram music video, “Put a Filter on Me,” you maybe be moved to tears of laughter… or a fit of cringe spasms.…

PuppyText Lets You Write in a Font Made Entirely of Puppies

Here is a font made entirely of chocolate labrador puppies because awwwww. PuppyText lets you “Say it with Puppies,” with both an iPhone app and its very own puppy-writing website. [OhGizmo]

Fox News (Falsely) Reports iPhone 5 Will Have Laser Keyboard and Holographic Images

Loyal viewers of Fox 5 news will be pretty disappointed come September 21, when they discover their shiny new iPhone 5s have exactly none of the sweet features the NYC Fox affiliate has reported the phone to have. The news channel, rather embarrassingly, played a year-old iPhone 5 concept video during a package about the…

Starting tomorrow, all TV news since 2009 will be available, for free, on the Internet Archive. Literally all. [NYT]

Watch This Tornado of Fire Swirl Around the Australian Outback

For 40 minutes, a bush fire burning across the Australian Outback swirled in a terrifying and breathtaking column of pure flame. The tornado of fire was caught on camera by Chris Tangey, of Alice Springs Film and Television, who was scouting locations in the area when the firey twister erupted before his eyes! [DailyMail]

Do You Google Your Symptoms When You’re Sick?

Sites like WebMD can be great when you’re looking to learn more about one syndrom or another. But they can also inspire unnecessary fear and anxiety, when it seems like—no matter the symptom or the actual cause—all roads lead to cancer. Is googling your symptoms a good idea, or should we avoid the hypochondriacal Internet…

Google Developer Hints at Possibility of an Internet Without Site Log-ins

Today in a post on his personal blog, Google developer Tim Bray wrote elliptically of a project he’s working on that could—if he means what I think he means—radically change our experience of using the Internet—for the better. “Logging in is annoying and slows you down. My job these days is mostly about reducing that…

These Limited Edition Eames Tables Bring a Perfect Pop of Primary Color

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of American designer Ray Eames’s birth, Herman Miller has announced a limited edition Eames Wire Base Low Table (Eames LTR), which will be made available on Herman Miller’s website in mid-October. The table ($294) will be offered in Ray’s three favorite colors: cobalt blue, red-orange, and yellow gold—the same…

Here Are the Blueprints for the iPhone 5

Attention case-makers, accessory-builders and generally curious minds: the iPhone 5 blueprints have been made available to those with an Apple dev account. And, even though Joel Johnson no longer has a dev account, he somehow managed to procure the prints. Thanks, Uncle Joel! [H/T @joeljohnson]