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Ritz Flips a Switch, Queen Rocks Out, and We All Learn About Grow Lights(NSFW)

Roll that spliff extra phatly, pack some fresh ice into the binger, and set the Volcano to “Blasteroid.” It’s time for tonight’s Stoner Channel. We’ve collected our best high-times material for the discerning pothead on this, the stoney high holiday, so sit back, relax, and pass that shit on the left, yo. We’ll be updating…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

And Lo! Another Useless Laser Was Born

Laser lovers everywhere will delight in the knowledge that the world’s #1 bestselling laser company, Wicked Lasers, has developed yet another laser with which to do their unspecified lasery things. https://gizmodo.com/wicked-laser-s3-krypton-lightning-review-holy-christ-n-5834091 Yes, Wicked Lasers is getting ready to debut their latest and greatest. We don’t know what exactly will set it apart from the rest,…

Tech News Molly Oswaks

What Is 4/20?

4/20 is the high stoner holiday fer sure but where does it come from? Like, what are its origins, where’s it comin’ from, what’s its back story man? Luckily, the day has nothing to do with the Nazi. There are a lot of theories about how the term 4/20 entered the American lexicon, ranging from…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

Picture of the Day, April 19, 2012

CUTE IS HELL | Illustration by Seoul concept artist Oh Jihoon. Want to read today’s io9 stories a different way? Check out our blog view. Or visit Observation Deck, our general discussion forum.

io9 Annalee Newitz

Scottish Scientists Invent “Sonic Screwdriver”

Part Tricorder and part lock-pick, Dr. Who’s famous all-in-one device could handle any crisis—save deadlock seals. Now, researchers from Dundee University have replicated at least some of the screwdriver’s functionality with a machine capable of lifting and turning suspended objects. The Dundee device is able to raise and turn disks suspended in a water-filled tube.…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

The Robotic, Disco-Loving Waitstaff of the 1980s

In 1983, a Chinese fastfood restaurant in Pasadena, California, added two unlikely new employees to its waitstaff: Tanbo R-1 and Tanbo R-2, a pair of robots. Each cost $20,000 (which would today be $45,000, if adjusted for inflation) and, when in proper working order, scooted around delivering bowls of chow mein and plates of peking…

Tech News Molly Oswaks

The Supermen Lovers: Say No More (NSFW)

Part pop culture parade, part earnest plea, Say No More by French House musical ensemble The Supermen Lovers features the work of nearly 20 designers creating a cavalcade of modern icons we just can’t stop talking about. (NSFW on account of boobies). You may also remember The Supermen Lovers from 2001’s “Starlight,” which hit #2…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

Meet the American Who Designed North Korea’s Atrocious Website

Just yesterday we learned that North Korea paid only fifteen bucks for its website. Now we get the reaction of Robert Westmore, the unwitting man behind the design. https://gizmodo.com/north-korea-spent-a-whole-15-making-its-website-5902961 Westmore, a former “senior web designer,” told FoxNews.com that he had no idea North Korea was using his work, but he’s certainly not complaining. “As a…

Tech News Mario Aguilar

Darth Vader is the coolest dad ever, in a new book

In Jeffrey Brown’s new graphic novel Darth Vader and Son, Luke finally gets to have that father-son relationship with Darth that he always wanted. Just imagine what the Skywalker family would have been like if Darth had gone Geek Dad instead of Sith Lord. Poor Darth – he has to deal with his whiny kid…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

Watching Porn Turns Off Your Brain, Says Study

The results of a study conducted by a team from the University of Groningen Medical Centre in the Netherlands show that watching porn will actually turn off the part of the brain that processes visual stimuli. At least in women. The study looked at 12 healthy, heterosexual premenopausal women, all of whom were on hormonal…

Tech News Molly Oswaks

Why Does Google Think Pinterest Is an “Extraordinary” Problem Solver?

After watching Facebook spend $1 billion on Instagram, here’s a lot of curiosity as to whether Google will buy Pinterest, one of the hottest startups in the world right now. We spoke with Google’s vice president of corporate development – and M&A chief – David Lawee briefly to find out what he’s most interested in…

Tech News Matt Lynley - Business Insider

We officially have no idea what causes ultra-powerful cosmic rays

Cosmic rays generate the most energetic particles in the universe, utterly dwarfing anything we can generate in particle accelerators. Astrophysicists thought these cosmic rays were created in powerful gamma-ray bursts. Turns out they were completely, utterly wrong. So now what? A non-result doesn’t usually mean that much. But Antarctica’s IceCube Neutrino Observatory has failed to…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Bio-Acoustics, Haptic Steering Wheels, RFID Everywhere: This is the Future According to AT&T

For most, AT&T is simply seen as the company that delivers phone and internet and TV service to the masses. But they also have a full-fledged R&D program, which spans multiple countries. Today they offered a glimpse into the fruits of those AT&T labs, with innovations ranging from clever to “OMG I WANT THIS NOW.”…

Tech News Adrian Covert

This photo of a spider eating a 1.5-foot-long snake will burn into your brain

As if you needed further proof that Australia is a phantasmagoric hellscape of arachnid horror, here’s a charming photograph of a golden orb spider consuming a half-meter brown tree snake. This battle — which occurred over the course of an hour yesterday — was shot by photographer Ant Hadleigh in a backyard in Freshwater, Australia.…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

See a magnetic paradox in action!

Rare earth magnets are special kinds of magnets, and they behave in a very strange way when exposed to metals — especially copper. The faster they go, the more they slow down. Find out why, and take a look at people trying to force a slow-motion magnet to go fast. Many people have played around…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Warning: This Book is Pure Awesome Crack

Tired of cookie-cutter young-adult novels? The cure awaits, in the shape of E.C. Myers’ astounding Fair Coin — a book which, among other things, achieves the feat of seeming like a dark fairy tale and a clever science fiction epic, rolled into one. It’s a fast-moving book full of twists and cool character moments, and…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Collectively intelligent artificial creatures are already among us, argues scientist

I love it when the abstract for a scientific paper reads like the opening to a Charles Stross novel. Case in point is the paper that computer scientist Benjamin Kuipers posted the other day on arXiv: An existing, ecologically-successful genus of collectively intelligent artificial creatures People sometimes worry about the Singularity [Vinge, 1993; Kurzweil, 2005],…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Panic Buttons, Nook Cans, and Other Stories We Didn’t Post

So much news passes before our collective eyes every day that we couldn’t possibly cover it all. Mostly because much of it isn’t worth covering! But here are a some borderline tidbits we passed on, just in case. Israeli Clubs Installing Panic Buttons It’s the hot new Tel Aviv clubbing trend! Panic buttons that are…

Tech News Brian Barrett

Iris App: View Your Instagrams on Your iPad

Though Instagram finally landed on Android, there isn’t yet a tablet version. With its big, bright retina display, the iPad is the perfect venue to browse photos. Iris satisfies that need, letting you check out all your favorite filtered snapshots with Apple’s slate. What does it do? While you can’t actually publish photos to Instagram…

Tech News Leslie Horn

The Mystery of the Knight with the Blue Roan Horse, from Neal Stephenson’s Mongoliad

A group of knights travel East towards the lands of the Mongols, in an exclusive excerpt from The Mongoliad Part 1, the group novel spear-headed by Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear. In this selection from chapter 7, the mysterious knight Istvan seems to know more about the Mongols than he’s been letting on — and…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Ritz Flips a Switch, Queen Rocks Out, and We All Learn About Grow Lights(NSFW)

And Lo! Another Useless Laser Was Born

What Is 4/20?

Picture of the Day, April 19, 2012

Scottish Scientists Invent “Sonic Screwdriver”

The Robotic, Disco-Loving Waitstaff of the 1980s

The Supermen Lovers: Say No More (NSFW)

Meet the American Who Designed North Korea’s Atrocious Website

Darth Vader is the coolest dad ever, in a new book

Watching Porn Turns Off Your Brain, Says Study

Why Does Google Think Pinterest Is an “Extraordinary” Problem Solver?

We officially have no idea what causes ultra-powerful cosmic rays

Bio-Acoustics, Haptic Steering Wheels, RFID Everywhere: This is the Future According to AT&T

This photo of a spider eating a 1.5-foot-long snake will burn into your brain

See a magnetic paradox in action!

Warning: This Book is Pure Awesome Crack

Collectively intelligent artificial creatures are already among us, argues scientist

Panic Buttons, Nook Cans, and Other Stories We Didn’t Post

Iris App: View Your Instagrams on Your iPad

The Mystery of the Knight with the Blue Roan Horse, from Neal Stephenson’s Mongoliad

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