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Get Your Ass Some Wi-Fi

Step aside Hobo Wi-Fi, there’s a new, better way for people to get their internet on the go. Introducing Wi-Fi enabled donkeys from Israel – ancient transport now updated for the 21st century. https://gizmodo.com/homeless-men-turned-into-human-routers-5892443/ Kfar Kedem is a historical theme park with the purpose of reenacting life as it was 2000 years ago, including the…

Breaking Bad Saturday morning cartoon teaches you to “Respect the Chemistry!”

Last night, The Breaking Bad Art Project opened at Gallery1988 in Los Angeles, featuring a collection of gorgeous meth-friendly art. But “Breaking Bad: The Animated Series” might just be our very favorite. Check out a collection of the beautiful artwork. “Breaking Bad: The Animated Series” by Ian Glaubinger. “Emilio’s Disposal” by Dave Perillo. “Breaking Bad”…

Astronomers catch a star in the act of devouring a planet

How’s this for a depressing look into Earth’s potential future: Astronomers have witnessed the first evidence of a planet’s destruction by its aging star as it expands into a red giant. “A similar fate may await the inner planets in our solar system, when the Sun becomes a red giant and expands all the way…

They Finally Made a Flying Star Wars Speeder Bike!

This is insane. I keep watching this video again and again, and my stupid grin doesn’t go away: a live demonstration of a real flying bike! Now we just need light sabers, golden robots with English accent, and hyperspace engines. https://gizmodo.com/they-finally-made-a-real-lightsaber-5907718 Developed by Aerofex in Manhattan Beach, California, the flying bike doesn’t use anti-gravity devices…

Who Cares If Samsung Copied Apple?

The web has been alight these past few weeks with the details of the Apple v. Samsung lawsuit. It’s been a unique opportunity to peer behind the curtain of how these two companies operate, as the trial seeks to answer the question: did Samsung copy Apple? But there’s actually another question that I think is…

Manhattan Products Stealth Touch Mouse Review: Where’s the Button?

The mouse has endured as a simple, functional, uncomplicated gadget. Then, along comes this new mouse with no buttons—so is it even simpler and better, or just confusing and mysterious? This is the point at which mouse minimalism gets extreme. What Is It? A mouse that uses a touchscreen interface instead of physical buttons. Who’s…

The Mach 6 Scramjet Could Fly from JFK to SFO in an Hour (if it Doesn’t Tear Apart on the Way)

We could have had Bin Laden in 1998. However, in the 80 minutes it took for a volley of cruise missiles travel from US ships in the Arabian Gulf over to his training camp in Afghanistan, he had done packed up and left. If those warheads had been riding on the new X-51 hypersonic jet…

USB Charging Bike Dynamo Harnesses Pedal Power

You generate a tremendous amount of energy as you pump the pedals on a bike to get from point A to point B. Energy that can now be easily harnessed and also used to charge your small electronics with the BikeCharge dynamo. Similar devices have existed for years and are typically only used to power…

The Windows 8 upgrade program kicks off today, for the sad suckers who picked up a Windows 7 rig recently. [Microsoft]

This skull pushes back human occupation of Southeast Asia and Australia by 20,000 years

An ancient skull found in a cave in the Annamite Mountains in northern Laos has revised our conceptions of when humans first occupied Southeast Asia and Australia. The skull, which is the oldest modern human fossil ever discovered in that part of the world, shows that ancient humans inhabited diverse habitats far earlier than previously…

New Frankenstein Virus Can Build Itself on Any Computer From Stolen Snippets of Code

What if a virus were a shapeshifter, able to change its appearance each time it infects a machine? What if a virus used your own files against you, able to ransack the programs on your computer for the bits of code it needs? Judging from the progress made on the Frankenstein virus, a venture sponsored…

Good gravy, is this Scott Pilgrim GIF disconcerting

And now, for reasons completely unknown, Scott Pilgrim transforming into Mister Manager, courtesy of Shmorky. Nothing gets the hairs on the nape of your neck a-standing quite like some reverse Cool World. Hat tip to Sam.

Two Gorgeous Lighters From When Smoking Was Still Cool

A lighter is not just a hunk of cheap plastic you use to fire up a smoke. It’s also a matter of taste. And you can light up in style with a pair of vintage Braun lighters designed by Dieter Rams for sale on eBay. One is a table lighter, which is the kind of…

A Brand New Professional Market for Dangerous, Lovely Short Fiction

One good thing is coming out of yesterday’s Weird Tales controversy: We’re getting a brand new professional science fiction and fantasy magazine. Shimmer Magazine has been a cool small-press magazine that publishes stories that are “dark, strange, funny or all three,” as Mary Robinette Kowal puts it. https://gizmodo.com/weird-tales-backtracks-on-support-of-ridiculous-and-of-5936397 But starting with its next issue, Shimmer…

We wish these Walking Dead deleted scenes were included in Season 2

We’ve got two Walking Dead deleted scenes: one that is real, and one that is fan-made. Both should have been included in last season’s undead epic. We don’t know what’s better, Daryl’s new super-burn, or watching the gang kill a bunch of walkers, Office Space style. Our only note? We wish it was in slow…

You Can Finally Customize Your Jambox To Be As Ugly As You Want It

Starting today, Klout users and “Jawbone Insiders” can customize the color of their Jambox speaker on Jawbone’s new Jambox Remix site. Klout and the uglification of a perfectly good speaker sounds like a match made in heaven; the rest of the world will have to wait until August 28th for the privelege of mucking up…

Got a wicked case of the Mondays? Turns out that’s not actually a thing.

Were you a bit sluggish getting out of bed yesterday morning — you know, on account of it being the beginning of the week and all? Did you chalk it up to a case of the Mondays? Newly published research suggests you should re-evaluate your terminology. If you want to be more precise, findings published…

Would You Pay Less for Backup Storage You Can’t Immediately Access?

So Amazon Glacier is here as super cheap storage for “data that is infrequently accessed and for which retrieval times of several hours are suitable.” But that’s different from a lot of the storage you might have used in the past. https://gizmodo.com/amazon-glacier-locks-your-data-in-a-fortress-of-solitud-5936507 For your day-to-day life, would you want to take the discounted price Amazon’s…

What Happens to Your Life When the Cloud Disappears?

Steve Wozniak recently lost his calendar. Mat Honan saw his iCloud security breached and his entire digital life was obliterated. In the cloud, when something goes wrong, you are screwed. There are no rules to stop it, no protections in place. There’s no responsibility. Companies like Apple or Google or Microsoft or Dropbox change features…

NASA to send another robot to Mars in 2016

Hot on the heels of Curiosity’s flawless landing, NASA has just announced a brand new mission to Mars, one that will provide us with our best look yet into the Red Planet’s mysterious interior. The mission is named InSight, and it’s set to launch in 2016. InSight will mark the 12th project to be selected…