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It Just Got Incredibly Easy to Tell Congress That SOPA Sucks

I’ll fess up. Sometimes there are issues I want to support, but I’m too lazy to look up my congress person’s phone number and call him. Or her? I don’t know, like I said, I’m lazy. Good news for losers like me: Mobile Commons has made calling your representative insanely easy. It’s super simple. Take,…

Tech News Brent Rose

Some Poor Kid’s Getting a Board Game About Programming This Christmas

You might think you’ve found a clever way to get them to learn, but kids see right through educational board games. And while some do a good job at hiding their true nature, c-Jump—which teaches programming concepts—does not. The $25 game has players racing to get down a mountain the fastest, hence c-Jump which is…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski

Why do humans stand upright? It’s not for the reason many people believe

There are a number of theories as to why our ancestors evolved to walk on two legs. Some of them are patently ludicrous (see: aquatic ape hypothesis), but among the more sensible, the idea that we did it for cooling purposes is beautiful in its simplicity. This theory claims that we evolved to stand upright,…

io9 Tim Barribeau

A Formula That Explains Why Humans Don’t Care About Future Disasters

There’s a slim (but not insignificant) chance that an asteroid will hit the Earth some time in the next 100 years, causing an extinction-level event. But we’re not willing to invest the relatively modest sums needed for a detection and deflection system. It’s not just that we humans are shortsighted and in denial. Rather, it’s…

io9 Keith Veronese

This Is How We Googled in 2011

Google’s annual round-up of search statistics, Zeitgeist, is out. So what did people care about most this year when it came to internet searches? Google sorts through billions of searches in order to find the year’s 10 fastest-rising global queries. As ever, a lot of them make sense — some of them less so. But…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

That Smartphone that Kid is Watching Stuff On Is the One You’re Going to Want

Entertainment-wise, you can’t get any better than the new Samsung Galaxy S II. It has a giant, Super AMOLED Plus screen (all the better to watch movies and TV shows on), a thin silhouette, and a dual-core processor that shrinks your download time. It basically renders all other smart phones obsolete, old school, and ossified.…

io9 Sponsored post

What do colorblind people see?

Science fiction is often used to show us the world through impossibly alien eyes. But there are fully human people who see the world in an alien way (to the rest of us) via current biological means. One of the most everyday versions of this is basic colorblindness. But what do people really see, when…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Coming Soon? Nanoparticle-Coated Clothing That Cleans and Deodorizes Itself

What if washing your favorite T-shirt didn’t require any washing whatsoever? Well, guess what. Science says it’s possible. Chemical engineers in China say they’ve developed a cotton fabric that cleans itself — all it needs is a little sunlight. According to researchers Mingce Long and Deyong Wu, who developed the material, exposing their fabric to…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

The New Facebook Is Finally Here (For Everyone)

Facebook has decided Timeline is ready for the non-New Zealand population, and flipped the global switch: starting today, those still sans-Timeline “will receive a notification on their Profile if they want to ‘Get Timeline’ or they can visit www.facebook.com/about/timeline.” Giddyup. So check under your trees, everyone! Do you have it? Do you have it? With…

Social Media Sam Biddle

10 Amazing Peripherals You Didn’t Know You Needed

You’re a veteran tech geek. Your friends and family always look to you for advice when buying PC gear or gadgets. Yet there’s still stuff you don’t own, and don’t realize you need. Now, it’s true that many of you may have a couple of the items on this list. But there’s likely gear here…

Tech News Loyd Case - MaximumPC

American Horror Story‘s Murder House Is For Sale!

That’s right. For an easy $4.5 million, the famous house stuffed with over-sexed spirits can be yours. But wait a minute: Doesn’t American Horror Story need this house for its second season? According to People the six-bedroom, five-bath L.A. mansion is on the selling block. And get this: the original house has a grand ballroom…

Television Meredith Woerner

The Risks (and Benefits) of Donating Your Eggs

Smart? Good genes? Need Money? You’ve probably seen the advertisements in campus magazines, and fliers nailed to trees, offering thousands of dollars to women who are willing to donate their eggs. But is it worth doing? For example, is egg donation painful? What are the long term effects? And just how much money can you…

io9 Keith Veronese

Are Tablets and E-Readers Responsible For a Rebirth of Reading?

According to The Economist, we’re entering a new age of digital consumption: Lean Back 2.0. They say tablets and e-readers are to thank, but is it all just hyperbole about hypertext? In a presentation given by Andrew Rashbass, CEO of The Economist Group, he claimed that the old publishing models of web and print are…

Commerce Jamie Condliffe

R.I.P. Russell Hoban, Author of Over 50 Magical Children’s Books, Plus a Post-Apocalyptic Classic

Most authors can only dream of having the kind of imagination that Russell Hoban boasted. He had already written dozens of beloved children’s books, including seven books about Frances, a young girl who appears as a badger, before he wrote Riddley Walker, an iconic post-apocalyptic novel. In Riddley Walker, it’s 2,000 years in the future,…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

EU Citizens Are So Technophobic a Quarter Have Never Used The Web

God bless those Europeans: Across the EU, more than 120 million people have never been online. How do they cope without Facebook and YouTube? In Romania, 54 per cent of the population have never used the Internet, whether via home access, at an internet cafe or over a smart phone, reports Reuters. In Bulgaria, Greece,…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Steven Moffat reveals the bold new direction of Doctor Who‘s next season!

Christopher Nolan explains the reason for The Dark Knight Rises’ surprising timeframe. A new Amazing Spider-Man set video seems to reimagine one of Spidey’s darkest moments. And has Thor 2 found its director? Spoilers from here on out! Top image from Doctor Who. The Dark Knight Rises Christopher Nolan reveals the eight year time jump…

Television Alasdair Wilkins

Who Knew Junked Keyboards Could Look So Beautiful?

We all have a couple of old keyboards lying around at home. Not Sarah Frost, though — because she rips them to pieces and makes fine-looking art with them. Frost’s pieces are made entirely out of cast-off keys from computer keyboards. In fact, she uses so many that she doesn’t just use the ones littering…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Will Amazon Soon Spy On You Through Your Kindle?

We don’t need to tell you how big an issue tracking software is. What we do need to tell you about is a new patent from Amazon that lays out its plan to track and predict your movements via mobile devices. Made public last week, the patent describes a system that allows mobile devices —…

Commerce Jamie Condliffe

Brazil’s Getting $1000 iPhone 4S Tomorrow—Siri Not Included?

There’s a reason Brazilian retailers are hyping Friday’s release of the iPhone 4S so hard. While Siri comes preinstalled on the new phone, she doesn’t speak Portuguese. What’s more, depending on the service plan, these borked models will run customers R$1,899-2,508 ($1,012-1,336 US) without a service plan. That’s a solid hunk of cash to put…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

Nat Geo Photographers Get to Play with the Coolest Gadgets

We all know being a National Geographic photographer dangerous work, but it’s not all snake bites and panther maulings. Nat Geo’s new Field Test feature series shows off some of the high tech gadgets—from camera traps to sexcopters—the photographers employ to get their spectacular shots. [Field Test – Image: National Geographic/Michael Nichols]

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

It Just Got Incredibly Easy to Tell Congress That SOPA Sucks

Some Poor Kid’s Getting a Board Game About Programming This Christmas

Why do humans stand upright? It’s not for the reason many people believe

A Formula That Explains Why Humans Don’t Care About Future Disasters

This Is How We Googled in 2011

That Smartphone that Kid is Watching Stuff On Is the One You’re Going to Want

What do colorblind people see?

Coming Soon? Nanoparticle-Coated Clothing That Cleans and Deodorizes Itself

The New Facebook Is Finally Here (For Everyone)

10 Amazing Peripherals You Didn’t Know You Needed

American Horror Story‘s Murder House Is For Sale!

The Risks (and Benefits) of Donating Your Eggs

Are Tablets and E-Readers Responsible For a Rebirth of Reading?

R.I.P. Russell Hoban, Author of Over 50 Magical Children’s Books, Plus a Post-Apocalyptic Classic

EU Citizens Are So Technophobic a Quarter Have Never Used The Web

Steven Moffat reveals the bold new direction of Doctor Who‘s next season!

Who Knew Junked Keyboards Could Look So Beautiful?

Will Amazon Soon Spy On You Through Your Kindle?

Brazil’s Getting $1000 iPhone 4S Tomorrow—Siri Not Included?

Nat Geo Photographers Get to Play with the Coolest Gadgets

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