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Google Kinda Sorta Clarifies Piracy Plan and Says Most Popular Sites Aren’t Likely To Get Screwed

After facing criticism that its new policy of penalizing pirate sites might unfairly favor Google-owned YouTube, Google has come out to say that most popular sites are unlikely to be penalized. It hasn’t clarified exactly why or how, though. https://gizmodo.com/google-lays-the-smack-down-on-torrent-sites-in-search-r-5933717 To try and clear things up about the whole link demotion thing, Google told Search…

Crowdfund a chance for Superman to visit sick children and the power of personal space exploration

We’ve got just a couple of projects to set before your eyeballs today, one to make you go “Aww” and one to inspire future awe. Consider crowdfunding a Superman actor’s cross-country tour of children’s hospitals, or the construction of a microcontroller that will let you study suborbital space from your back yard. Superman’s Hospital Heroes…

Choose the best of these 100 maniacal movie laughs

This supercut of 100 maniacal movie laughs will either have you grinning like an idiot or hiding behind the sofa. Which of these maddened and manic movie characters has the craziest cackle, the choicest chortle, the most terrible titter? [via mental_floss]

Wikileaks Is Getting Pummeled By Unknown Attackers

Wikileaks, the Internet’s top platform for exposing secrets of all varieties, is reporting that it’s been under serious attack for the better part of a week. This extended DDoS is still coming in strong, and has brought the site to its knees. The DDoS traffic, which has reportedly been coming in at a rate of…

Meal-in-a-pill: A Staple of Science Fiction

It is a constant theme of early science fiction, and one you are almost certainly familiar with: the man or woman of the future pops a pill on to their tongue, knocks it back and is almost immediately satisfied. For inside the little white capsule was a full three course meal, designed to mimic the…

How Many Things Do You Have Plugged Into Your Laptop Right Now?

Theoretically, you can use a laptop without plugging anything into it, but if you’re using your trusty lappy at a desk, it’s pretty easy to go peripheral-crazy. I’m almost always rocking a mouse, laptop charging cable, and charging cable for my phone, and sometimes even a external keyboard. I know you Apple kids skew a…

Could you imagine this earthworm-like robot wriggling down your throat?

Meet Meshworm, the new soft robot that inches autonomously across the ground. Based on the movements of an earthworm, this robot can survive a blow from a hammer, traverse uneven terrain, and squeeze into tight spaces. And some of those tight spaces might just be inside you. Researchers at MIT, Harvard University, and Seoul National…

This new species of insect was discovered on Flickr

Entomologist Shaun Winterton discovered a new species of green lacewing in an unusual place: on his computer screen. Thanks to one man’s love of taking nature photos and Winterton’s love of looking at pictures of bugs, this little guy has been added to to our catalog of known species. Photo by Guek Hock Ping. Winterton…

Are fan fiction and fan art legal?

Fan fiction and fan art are both enormous components of our popular culture, a way we retell our favorite stories just as humans have always retold myths and legends. But sometimes creators, publishers, and studios claim that works of fan art and fan fiction violate their copyright. So is that Supernatural fanfic you’re working on…

This Grill Serves Up the Most Stylishly Seared Steaks

If you’re going to grill up a nice cut of steak, you damn well better know how to do it well. And while taste certainly matters the most, there’s something to be said for presentation. This grill can help out with that. With its geometrically-patterned surface, the Druida Barbecue by Mermeladaestudio will provide just the…

Rejected Pitches for E.T.: Let’s kill the little brown turd

The Rejected Pitches crew has already made us feel a little uncomfortable about the relationship between Doc Brown and Marty McFly, and now they’re back to ruin more of our favorite movies. Here, they offer their note to Steven Spielberg about E.T.: The Extraterrestrial: the little turd should die at the end. https://gizmodo.com/hollywoods-notes-on-crazy-old-man-scientist-incest-frea-5903427 [via GeekTyrant]

What’s the right way for NASA to color in the universe?

We all know that some parts of the images that NASA, and any space agency shows us are “fake.” Not fake as in they were made in a facility in Arizona, but painted with colors other than the ones that were collected, omitting some bits of information and emphasizing others. We’ll take a quick look…

Barnes And Noble Just Priced Its Nooks To Move

Whether it’s to prepare for a new line, to get ready for impending Kindles, or try and compete with Google’s Nexus 7, Barnes and Noble has cut the prices on its three most expensive, most tablet-y Nooks. https://gizmodo.com/110-says-all-the-new-kindles-are-coming-next-week-5933590 The seven-inch, Android-based Nook Tablets are seeing the biggest discount. The 16GB model, originally $249 is now…

This short comic will make you feel sorry for Space Invaders

It’s so easy to shoot at Space Invaders, isn’t it? Those pixelated aliens want nothing more than to descend upon the Earth, one line at a time. But what if it turns out that Space Invaders are just like us? Ehud Lavski’s The Invader takes the familiar trope of humanizing the enemy soldier and turns…

Looks like Demonoid is gone for good. Its domains are up for sale to the highest bidder. [TorrentFreak]

An incredibly detailed scientific explanation of Harry Potter‘s “wizarding gene”

Wizards don’t necessarily beget wizards in the world of Harry Potter. Although two magical parents or one magical parent and one non-magical parent usually results in a magic-wielding offspring, you frequently get characters like Hermione, who have two non-magical parents, and sometimes squibs like Mr. Filch, people who can’t wield magic despite being born to…

Mars Rover Curiosity Needs a Brain Transplant Before It Gets Down to Business

The Mars Rover Curiosity may have been able to execute a staggeringly complex descent and stick the landing, but isn’t exactly ready for the mission ahead of it, yet. First, it needs a good old fashioned software update. The update, or “brain transplant” as NASA calls it, will take place in steps over the course…

Is Usain Bolt Actually Faster Than Gravity?

Usain Bolt is fast. Like, really fast. He’s pretty much the fastest dude that ever was fast. And while that’s impressive in its own right, could it be that he’s actually faster than gravity, one of the fundamental forces that rules the very nature of the universe in which we live? Well, that’s sort of…

Battlefield Earth: Because Everyone Needs A Benchmark For Abysmal

Yes. I’m going there. While considered to be one of the worst movies ever, I maintain that watching Battlefield Earth can be a fun, education experience so long as you pair it with two things: friends and alcohol. Obviously I’m coming at this from the “so bad, it’s good; let’s all laugh at someone else’s…

Wikileaks reveals “TrapWire,” a government spy network that uses ordinary surveillance cameras

It’s just like an episode of Person of Interest. According to documents leaked on Wikileaks, a company run by ex-CIA agents has created a piece of technology, called TrapWire, that siphons data from surveillance cameras in stores, casinos, and other businesses around the country. TrapWire then analyzes this data for, well, people of interest. Are…