Latest

Picture of the Day: July 17, 2012

BURNINATING THE COUNTRYSIDE | Amazing concept art for Bungie, by Jaime Jones, via Concept Ships. Tons more at both links. Want to read today’s io9 stories a different way? Check out our blog view. Or visit Observation Deck, our general discussion forum.

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jul 17 '12

The Batman villain Bane is a conspiracy against Mitt Romney, hypothesizes Rush Limbaugh

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney co-founded his investment group Bain Capital in 1984. In 1993, the super-strong Batman villain Bane made his debut in DC Comics. https://gizmodo.com/why-is-this-wrestler-guy-youve-never-heard-of-the-new-b-5738053 And on Friday, a time bomb of a smear campaign will explode after 20 odd years, costing Romney the White House. It will be a crime so deliciously…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Jul 17 '12

Double-Helix Tower will be an Observation Deck Now, a Playground Later

It’s easy to understand why the town of Järfälla, Sweden, chose Tham & Videgård‘s Double-Helix Tower as the winning design in a competition held to select an observation deck from which to watch the progress of on the Barkarbystaden urban development project, just west of Stockholm. Not only is the bold and bright spiraling staircase…

Tech News Molly Oswaks Jul 17 '12

How to Light a Fire with Your Pee

If you’re a normal person who happens to find yourself in a desperate need to light a fire and you have, like, no fire lighting equipment… you’re screwed. But wait if you can pee, you’ll be totally fine. The guys at The King of Random figured out how to light a fire with urine. Of…

Tech News Casey Chan Jul 17 '12

What’s on the menu for Mars-bound astronauts?

While we have a pretty good idea what the first humans will eat on Mars, we’re a little less certain about what their meals will look like on the way there. Alas, because there are no drive-throughs between Earth and the red planet, food scientists are having to come up with innovative, healthy, and tasty…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 17 '12

Hot Chip: Look at Where We Are

Hot Chip’s new video for “Look at Where We Are,” is a psychedelic Frankenstein story. For the trippy tale, the band joined up with the Creator’s Project and director Danny Perez, whose name and colorful style you may recognize from some past Animal Collective collaborations. It comes off of Hot Chip’s 2012 album, In Our…

Tech News Leslie Horn Jul 17 '12

What are the best siege tactics for taking Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle?

What if the Mouse House rises up as an evil totalitarianism government, enslaving the masses and dooming us all to a life of hand-stitching Pluto plushies? Something would have to be done. And one pack of folks has outlined the perfect plan of attack on Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle. The story originates over on Quora…

io9 Meredith Woerner Jul 17 '12

New Total Recall clip shows the robotic police force in action

Kate Beckinsale gets super snarky, leading a team of robots to destroy Colin Farrell and his possible ex-girlfriend Jessica Biel. We like the action in this latest Total Recall clip — but we also love the robots, something we thought was possibly secondary to the movie. The more we see of these shiny bots, the…

Movies Meredith Woerner Jul 17 '12

You’ll Never Run Out Of Deck Space On This Expanding Yacht

It’s now pretty common to find motorhomes, and even smaller camping trailers, that transform and expand to increase the amount of living space inside. But the Wider yacht is the first seaborne vessel that features an expanding mid-section to increase its usable deck space, and provide easier access to the water. It’s almost as if…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Jul 17 '12

If There Was Ever a Smarter Way to Hide Booze in Your Crotch, This Might Be It

Cleverly smuggling alcohol in places where it’s prohibited can be a hassle. But unless they’re the touchy-feely types, no one is ever going to find this crotch-adjacent Freedom Flask on your person. It looks like one of those hip packs that were all the rage many moons ago, but besides being sealed so that it…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Jul 17 '12

Moleskine’s New Notebooks: All Black Everything

Black is a timeless color. So is Moleskine. So it makes sense why everyone’s excited about the notebook comes with all black pages. Intended to be written on with fluorescent gel pens, it’s possible that the only people who actually buy these notebooks will be 8th grade girls and avid scrapbookers. Even your high school…

Tech News Leslie Horn Jul 17 '12

The Most Astounding Comic Book News of Comic-Con 2012

We previously discussed how Neil Gaiman’s Sandman reveal and Image Comics marquee slate of new creator-owned titles won big at Comic-Con 2012. Now check out the rest of the tidbits — which concern everything from rainbow-hued Clydesdales to Bishop from Aliens — that debuted last week in San Diego. https://gizmodo.com/neil-gaimans-writing-a-prequel-to-sandman-in-2013-5925770 https://gizmodo.com/the-biggest-winners-and-losers-of-comic-con-2012-5926398 And first off, here…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Jul 17 '12

Ron Moore will turn Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series into a TV show!

Ronald D. Moore made an indelible mark on television with the first couple seasons of Battlestar Galactica. So we’ve been waiting eagerly to find out what his next television project would be, after the fantastic 17th Precinct never made it to our screens. And now we know: He’s shopping around a cable TV adaptation of…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jul 17 '12

So How Do You Weigh Things In Zero-Gravity?

With extremely controlled and strict diets, it’s not like astronauts have to worry about gaining too much weight on the space station. But have you ever stopped and wondered how you would actually measure mass in a weightless environment? After all, the entire concept of weight and scales is entirely dependent on gravity. It turns…

Space & Spaceflight Andrew Liszewski Jul 17 '12

Discovery Channel Superstar Is Grilling on a Shelf, Not a Grill

Mike Rowe, we love your stuff on the Discovery Channel. Dirty Jobs! But one job that isn’t dirty is being a grillmaster, when your grill is an imaginary grill that’s actually a metal shelving unit in a Ford advertisement. Yum! According to Gizmodo tipster Anna, Mike is using a shelf from Metro, which also makes…

Tech News Sam Biddle Jul 17 '12

Orb web spiders become better fighters without their massive genitals

It appears that Varys “the Spider” from Game of Thrones may be onto something. In what appears to be a very mixed blessing, castrated male orb spiders are far more agile and energetic than their fully endowed rivals. During mating, males typically have their junk snipped off and are often killed and eaten by females.…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 17 '12

Map Reveals That Wildfires Release As Much Energy As Nuclear Power Plants

If we’ve learned anything from the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado, it’s that major wildfires are devastatingly powerful. They’re so intense, in fact, that their energy output can actually be represented in terms of nuclear power plant output. Now, data visualization wizard John Nelson has done exactly that. Nelson — who’s made something of a…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jul 17 '12

Could a robot gorilla be more useful than a humanoid one?

There’s a pretty fascinating stuff. Robot designer Davide Faconti was working on a robot for DARPA’s robotic design challenge, which had to be capable of “driving a vehicle, opening doors, climbing ladders, and using tools.” But after working for a while on a humanoid robot, Faconti’s team switched to an ape robot called the Silverback…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jul 17 '12

Checkmark: A Better Way to Receive Location-Based Reminders

If you’re constantly writing yourself notes to remember to pick up dry cleaning or return a book borrowed from a friend, those little scribbles are missing one thing—GPS data. Buy why does GPS matter? For apps like Checkmark, of course, which will remind you of all the things on your to-do list based on time…

Tech News Leslie Horn Jul 17 '12

Google Glasses Could Automatically Disable Themselves if a Thief Rips Them From Your Head

There are still a million and one questions to be answered about Google Glasses, but the latest patent awarded to Google sheds a bit of light something nobody considered: what happens if your Google Glasses are stolen? As Wired points out, the patent in question describes a system that can detect when the glasses are…

Tech News Adrian Covert Jul 17 '12

Picture of the Day: July 17, 2012

The Batman villain Bane is a conspiracy against Mitt Romney, hypothesizes Rush Limbaugh

Double-Helix Tower will be an Observation Deck Now, a Playground Later

How to Light a Fire with Your Pee

What’s on the menu for Mars-bound astronauts?

Hot Chip: Look at Where We Are

What are the best siege tactics for taking Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle?

New Total Recall clip shows the robotic police force in action

You’ll Never Run Out Of Deck Space On This Expanding Yacht

If There Was Ever a Smarter Way to Hide Booze in Your Crotch, This Might Be It

Moleskine’s New Notebooks: All Black Everything

The Most Astounding Comic Book News of Comic-Con 2012

Ron Moore will turn Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series into a TV show!

So How Do You Weigh Things In Zero-Gravity?

Discovery Channel Superstar Is Grilling on a Shelf, Not a Grill

Orb web spiders become better fighters without their massive genitals

Map Reveals That Wildfires Release As Much Energy As Nuclear Power Plants

Could a robot gorilla be more useful than a humanoid one?

Checkmark: A Better Way to Receive Location-Based Reminders

Google Glasses Could Automatically Disable Themselves if a Thief Rips Them From Your Head

Latest news

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy Claims Strikes on Russian Data Centers Silenced Social Media Bots

Mark Zuckerberg: Meta Is on the Frontier Now

Hackers Overheat Fridges at Supermarkets Across France, Wasting Food and Starting Fires

Solar Orbiter Traces the Origin of a Mysterious S-Shaped Kink on the Sun

Astronomers Spot Possible Signs of Antimatter Disappearing Beyond Our Galaxy

How to Remove Your Personal Information From the Internet?

Anthropic’s AI Submitted a Fake Tip in an Unsolved Murder Case

Based AI People Are Supposedly Smoking Because AI Will Cure Cancer

Latest Reviews

Eufy Omni E35 Review: Finally, a Luxury Robovac That Doesn’t Piss Me Off

Bose Ultra Open Earbuds (2nd Gen) Review: The King of Clip-Ons Is Re-Crowned

Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) Review: Technically an Upgrade

Lenovo Legion 5i (2026) Review: A Gaming Laptop That Epitomizes the PC Pricing Paradox

TP-Link Tapo Doorbell Pro D260 Review: Everything You Need at No Extra Cost

Sonos Beam Ultra Review: The Soundbar You Really Want

Nothing Headphone 1 Pro Review: Honest-to-God S-Tier Headphones

The Best Gadgets of September 2026

Let us help you find what you’re looking for...