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Who will Gambit duke it out with in Avengers Vs. X-Men?

Gambit’s an X-Man who epitomizes the charming scoundrel. He’s quick-witted, fleet-of-foot, hypnotically charming, and has a bit of a sordid past. But in April’s Avengers Vs. X-Men miniseries, Gambit will square off against an Avenger who will match his wiles and test his mettle. Can you guess who? Courtesy of Marvel Comics, here’s an exclusive…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Jan 12 '12

Meet the EMF meter, the little tool that ghost hunters swear by

In day-to-day use, electromagnetic field (EMF) meters are used to diagnose problems with electrical wiring and power lines and to get readings on working appliances. On television, professional ghost hunters frequently use EMF meters in their toolkits, but why is this? Let’s take a look at what EMF meters measure, survey the different types of…

io9 Keith Veronese Jan 12 '12

Smoking joints not so bad for your lungs, after all

Score another victory for the tokers in the audience. A study into the long-term effects of marijuana smoking on lung function has shown that it’s not nearly as bad as many have assumed. Despite having many of the same constituents as tobacco smoke, the long-term effects of marijuana smoking on breathing is poorly understood, which…

io9 Tim Barribeau Jan 12 '12

DC launches second wave of New 52 comics, including one by China Miéville!

At one point, Kraken and Embassytown author China Miéville penned a Swamp Thing comic that ended up in the dustbin (he also had written an Iron Man pitch, but that’s an entirely different story). Now, as part of the second wave of New 52 titles to launch in May, the author’s writing a brand new…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar Jan 12 '12

Facebook’s News Feed Ads Are Here and They’re ‘Featured’, Not Sponsored

Late last year Facebook announced that it was going to introduce ads into our news feeds. Well, they’re here, but to soften the blow they’re tagged as “featured” rather than “sponsored”. The site is slowly rolling out the ads around the world, and for now is only inserting one paid news story a day in…

Social Media Jamie Condliffe Jan 12 '12

Christopher Nolan promises you will understand Bane in The Dark Knight Rises!

Thor might have multiple love interests in the sequel. Get a first look at the cars of Mad Max: Fury Road. Don’t expect Avatar 2 or the live-action Star Wars TV show anytime soon. Plus awesome updates on Fringe’s upcoming villains! Spoilers from here on out! Top image from The Dark Knight Rises. The Dark…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jan 12 '12

Some Dude Wants $60m For a Patent Protecting The Distribution of URLs via SMS

There are a lot of sad sites at CES. But Robert Sanchez telling an empty room about his plans to sell a patent, that details delivery of URLs via text message, for $60m has to be one of the most desperate. Technology Review reports that Sanchez, an entrepreneur and CEO of GlabalTel Media explained that…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Jan 12 '12

How To Use Skype On a Plain Old HDMI-Equipped TV

Skype’s an amazing way of keeping in touch with friends and family, but if there’s more than one of you at either end of the conversation, using a laptop or tablet kinda sucks. Here’s how to make it a more communal experience using your bog-standard TV. Previously, there have been two main options. Your first:…

Television Jamie Condliffe Jan 12 '12

Potato Head Dictators are Probably Smarter Than the Real Thing

While I doubt anybody ever called Kim Jong-Il a potato head to his face, I’m sure an awful lot of people thought it. Including artist Stephen Ives, who’s created these dictatorial toys. But it’s not just Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong-Il who feature: Ives has created a whole range of the things, including Stalin and…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Jan 12 '12

Scientists Find a Planet Similar to Mars Outside Our Solar System

Someone call John Lithgow and pull French Stewart out of storage, a team of astronomers using the Kepler telescope have discovered the smallest exoplanets, in the tiniest solar system, so far. And their existence may show that our solar system isn’t all that unique. The planets orbit a single star, KOI-961, and range between .57…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola Jan 12 '12

For Sale: Slightly Used Military Dark Room, Classified Microfilm Not Included

With the shift to digital cameras, old-fashioned photomats are getting harder and harder to find. But this portable, Army-issue dark room has everything you need to develop your own prints wherever you are. The dark room is actually a 12-foot by 7-foot aluminum box, slightly smaller than a standard shipping container, but large enough to…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola Jan 12 '12

The New Windows 8 First Touch: This Is Windows?

It doesn’t sound like a particularly shimmery compliment, but the best thing that I can say about Microsoft’s Metro UI is that after well over a year of using it in various guises, it still feels new. Not like never-breached-my-eyeballs-before new, but new as in the promise of something better, something from the future. But…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jan 11 '12

Mushkin’s Speedy New SSD Drives Are at the Top of My Post-CES Buy List

My new years resolution—stop putting up with the interminably slow boot times of my desktop’s conventional hard drive. With these new solid state drives from Mushkin, I may actually keep my resolution past January. First up is the Chronos Go. It features 560MB/s sequential write-speeds and 525MB/s read-speeds with up to a 480GB capacity in…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola Jan 11 '12

Say Hello to My Little Friend—the World’s Smallest Vertebrate

This minute fellow—the one being dwarfed by a dime—just earned the distinction for not only being the smallest known frog species but also the smallest known species of vertebrate. The Paedophryne amauensis is native to Papua New Guinea and measures a scant seven millimeters (.27-inch) from nose to tail. It beat out a slightly larger…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola Jan 11 '12

Pakistan Plans to Demolish Bin Laden’s Compound—With RPG’s

Osama Bin Laden may have gone out with a whimper but his secret lair in Abbottabad will soon be going out with a bang. A rocket-propelled bang, that is. Pakistani officials announced today that, in order to prevent the site from becoming a shrine, “We will hit it like an enemy fort,” the New York…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola Jan 11 '12

There Are Actually Millions of Tatooines In Our Galaxy

Astronomers have found two more new planets orbiting binary stars: Kepler-34b and Kepler-35b. Their discovery, which follow the original Tatooine discovery back in September 2011, is quite important: now we know there are millions of planets orbiting binary stars. According to University of Florida associate professor of astronomy of Eric B. Ford, these planets seem…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Jan 11 '12

Now You Can Totally Start That Barbershop Quartet Cover Band You’ve Always Wanted

A capella music – the kind that consists of just the human voice, was once strictly the domain of college glee clubs and barbershop quartets. Now, it is having something of a cultural moment. The mega-hit TV shows Glee and The Sing-Off are the most obvious proponents (Glee even inspired its own karaoke app), but…

Tech News Andy Cush - Evolver.fm Jan 11 '12

Who Wants a Video Lytro Cam?

The Lytro cam is probably my favorite piece of tech that has come out in the last couple of years. You never have to worry about a photo being in focus. Well according to The Verge, who interviewed Lytro’s Director of Photograpy Eric Cheng, a video-capable Lytro cam is totally possible. Cheng said there are…

Tech News Adrian Covert Jan 11 '12

Google Can Expect a Call from the FTC Over Its New Social Search Feature

Google changed the way its search works yesterday by heavily integrating Google+ social media content into its search engine results. Now, advocacy groups are up in arms about potential invasions of user privacy. What, like you didn’t see this coming. The Electronic Privacy Information Center announced today that it is considering filing a complaint with…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola Jan 11 '12

Watching Two Girls Listlessly Kick a Ball Is the Most Awkward Thing I’ve Seen at CES Today

Panasonic created the world’s most depressing soccer field in their booth. The two girls that stood on opposite ends of the “field” are charged with kicking a soccer ball back and forth. The ball isn’t even filled with air. From the sound of the kicks, it seemed like it was filled with sand or sawdust.…

Tech News Roberto Baldwin Jan 11 '12

Who will Gambit duke it out with in Avengers Vs. X-Men?

Meet the EMF meter, the little tool that ghost hunters swear by

Smoking joints not so bad for your lungs, after all

DC launches second wave of New 52 comics, including one by China Miéville!

Facebook’s News Feed Ads Are Here and They’re ‘Featured’, Not Sponsored

Christopher Nolan promises you will understand Bane in The Dark Knight Rises!

Some Dude Wants $60m For a Patent Protecting The Distribution of URLs via SMS

How To Use Skype On a Plain Old HDMI-Equipped TV

Potato Head Dictators are Probably Smarter Than the Real Thing

Scientists Find a Planet Similar to Mars Outside Our Solar System

For Sale: Slightly Used Military Dark Room, Classified Microfilm Not Included

The New Windows 8 First Touch: This Is Windows?

Mushkin’s Speedy New SSD Drives Are at the Top of My Post-CES Buy List

Say Hello to My Little Friend—the World’s Smallest Vertebrate

Pakistan Plans to Demolish Bin Laden’s Compound—With RPG’s

There Are Actually Millions of Tatooines In Our Galaxy

Now You Can Totally Start That Barbershop Quartet Cover Band You’ve Always Wanted

Who Wants a Video Lytro Cam?

Google Can Expect a Call from the FTC Over Its New Social Search Feature

Watching Two Girls Listlessly Kick a Ball Is the Most Awkward Thing I’ve Seen at CES Today

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