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io9 Roundup: August 7, 2011

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: 8/6 -8/4 | Roberto Gomes’ “How to get into Mordor,” which was inspired by this GIF. (Via Rampaged Reality) The webcomic Let’s Be Friends Again pokes superhero comics in the eye https://gizmodo.com/the-webcomic-let-s-be-friends-again-pokes-superhero-com-5828216 Let’s Be Friends Again is a webcomic that knows superhero comics deserve a good ribbing every now and then. This gag…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Aug 7 '11

If you live in Vancouver, you can hire a dinosaur manservant

Good news, wealthy psychotic Canadians! Some down-and-out soul is offering to inhabit one of your many properties in exchange for a year of saurian servitude! 365 days of dinosaur degradation! What a bargain! Peep this Craigslist listing: Do you own more than one property? Do you have so many rental homes with no mortgage payments,…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Aug 7 '11

Tireless Robot Pack Haulers Deployed to Afghanistan

Robot buses at Heathrow. Robot haulers deployed to Afghanistan. Is the Isaac Asimov estate getting kickbacks for all the future that’s happening this weekend or what? https://gizmodo.com/alien-looking-automatons-have-taken-over-heathrow-airpo-5828465 This latest robo-development involves the U.S. Army’s deployment of four Lockheed Martin Squad Mission Support Systems to war-torn Afganistan. As the largest robot transports ever deployed in Army…

Tech News Jack Loftus Aug 7 '11

Imaginary Forces is the closest thing we’ll get to a They Live remake (for now)

Last year we broke the news that Hollywood was looking to possibly make a glasses-less They Live remake. Horrifying, we know! But if it looks anything like this short, Imaginary Forces, we could be persuaded. Watch now! https://gizmodo.com/they-live-remake-might-ditch-the-infamous-alien-sungl-5659983 Imaginary Forces Check out the They Live-esque short from director Ruairi Robinson, who almost ended up directing…

io9 Meredith Woerner Aug 7 '11

Scott Adams Is Bored

Here’s pretty much all I know about Scott Adams: Sometimes he says (or does) wacky things. Most of the time he draws funny comics about a luckless office drone named Dilbert. I can relate! But not today. https://jezebel.com/dilbert-creator-deletes-misogynist-rant-5786019 Today, Adams is on the soap box again, penning his way into the public discourse with a…

Gadgets Jack Loftus Aug 7 '11

Apple Grants MobileMe Users 25GB of Free iCloud Storage Space Until June 2012

There are all sorts of goodies coming out of the iCloud developer build that arrived this weekend, the first being news that MobileMe customers transitioning to the service will receive 25GB of storage space once the service launches. Says Mac Rumors, Apple has confirmed MobileMe users will automatically get this upgrade, which is comprised of…

Tech News Jack Loftus Aug 7 '11

Females can control the evolution of male handsomeness

In many species, males woo females into mating with them. This means they need to find a way to be attractive, which includes everything from elaborate plumage to melodious mating calls. But there’s such a thing as too handsome. As far as neotropical túngara frogs are concerned, the most handsome males are those that make…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Aug 7 '11

I’m Pretty Sure the New Hand Soap Is Trying to Kill Me

We love design at Gizmodo. It’s one of our things. But what happens when design doesn’t love us back, comes alive one night (I dunno, because of the debt ceiling or something) and decides to strangle us in our sleep? That could never happen? OK, fine. I guess maybe you’re right. Maybe. Anyway, eight hands…

Tech News Jack Loftus Aug 7 '11

5000-year-old carving depicts Egypt’s earliest known pharaoh

The pharaohs ruled Egypt for over three thousand years, and the story of the very last pharaoh – you might know her as Cleopatra – is famous to this day. But what about the very first pharaohs? It’s hard to comprehend just how long-lived the Egyptian state really was. It will be another thousand years…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Aug 7 '11

Bollywood Dracula = Dracula + better soundtrack + no budget + insanity

In director/producer/titular vampire Harinam Singh’s 1992 no-budget horror flick Khooni Dracula, the vampire lord lives in India and sleeps in the forest. Because his face looks like a smushed birthday cake, I’m guessing that’s why his eyes turn into candles when he glamours his victims. Could Khooni Dracula beat Billy the Kid’s Dracula in a…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Aug 7 '11

Dusters Finally Join the Rest of Us In the 21st Century

Thanks to the quirky chaps at Yanko, the humble duster—that feathery thing you never use over in the storage closet right now—has received a conceptual makeover involving static electricity called the Du.Static. The name is a combination of dust (yuck!) and static (yay!). Static, as in static electricity, which is what designers say can be…

Tech News Jack Loftus Aug 7 '11

Torchwood ensures you’ll never think about Death Panels the same way again

The latest episode of Torchwood twisted the knife so much, it practically got a wrist cramp. All of the discussions about healthcare in previous episodes culminated in a scene of almost unbearable horror, laced with irony. All of the theoretical conversations turned horribly concrete. Spoilers ahead… This was sort of a classic Russell T. Davies…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Aug 7 '11

Pentagon’s lightning gun sold for scraps on eBay

There was a time, not all that long ago, when the Pentagon sank tens of millions of dollars into remote-controlled lightning guns that it hoped would fry insurgent bombs before they killed any more troops. Now, disassembled parts from the one-time wonder-weapons are being sold on eBay. At least one buyer snatched up the gear,…

io9 Noah Schachtman - Danger Room Aug 7 '11

The Earth Has a Ring

Of anti-protons! While it’s not as visually cool as what Saturn has going for it, this is still an important development, even if we can’t technically “see” the ring with our primitive Earthling eyes. According to New Scientist, this anti-proton ring joins the previously discovered positron cloud that’s also circling the Earth like an invisible…

Space & Spaceflight Jack Loftus Aug 7 '11

A Marvel Comics superhero will appear with Nathan Fillion on Castle

Here’s an curious byproduct of Disney’s acquisition of Marvel. We knew that Marvel was publishing a Castle comic book, but on the next season of ABC’s mystery comedy, novelist Rick Castle (Fillion) will encounter a Marvel superhero. But who is it? Said ABC President Paul Lee at a Television Critics Association press conference today: You…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Aug 7 '11

Here’s some of the litter we’re leaving on Mars

Yes, it’s proof of intelligence life on Mars – the only problem is that it’s just some of our old crap. Specifically, it’s the heat shield jettisoned by the Opportunity rover when it landed on Mars a few years back. This photo was snapped back in 2005 as the rover paid a visit to its…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Aug 7 '11

Chupacabra-like roadkill flummoxes Minnesota town

The mowed-down remains of a small white mammal have captured the imaginations of residents of Douglas County, Minnesota. Although the creature resembles a badger, its tail has left wildlife officals perplexed. Could we be looking at the Montauk Monster Midwest? Says KSAX: D.N.R. Area Wildlife Supervisor Kevin Kotts said Friday that after examining the remains,…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Aug 7 '11

DefCon Dings Reveal Google Product Security Risks

Patents aren’t the only malady affecting Android this weekend—a newly discovered “design flaw” could potentially allow malicious hackers to create pop-ups or other phishing schemes right on your device. https://gizmodo.com/brash-android-email-duo-could-prove-very-costly-for-goo-5828457 As reported by CNET from the DefCon conference, the Android flaw was revealed by researchers Sean Schulte, SSL developer at Trustwave, and Nicholas Percoco, senior…

Tech News Jack Loftus Aug 7 '11

45,000 Verizon Workers Strike As Last-Minute Contract Negotiations Fall Through

Having trouble reaching your Verizon telephone contact today? Could be because he or she, along with 45,000 other workers, went on strike at midnight following failed 11th-hour contract negotiations. Verizon claims customers will only experience “limited disruption” due to the strike because manager-level employees and retirees are quickly filling the just-vacated union ranks. The company…

Tech News Jack Loftus Aug 7 '11

What it’s like to watch Rise of the Planet of the Apes in Chinese on LSD

In my unceasing quest to bring you the best of the worst of martial arts cinema, here is a battle scene from the 1976 Taiwanese film Monkey King With 72 Magic, an adaptation of the Chinese folktale Journey to the West. This shit is indubitably bananas. https://gizmodo.com/if-you-decapitate-a-ninja-with-a-boomerang-he-just-ain-5826548 In their review of this film, the weirdo…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Aug 7 '11

io9 Roundup: August 7, 2011

If you live in Vancouver, you can hire a dinosaur manservant

Tireless Robot Pack Haulers Deployed to Afghanistan

Imaginary Forces is the closest thing we’ll get to a They Live remake (for now)

Scott Adams Is Bored

Apple Grants MobileMe Users 25GB of Free iCloud Storage Space Until June 2012

Females can control the evolution of male handsomeness

I’m Pretty Sure the New Hand Soap Is Trying to Kill Me

5000-year-old carving depicts Egypt’s earliest known pharaoh

Bollywood Dracula = Dracula + better soundtrack + no budget + insanity

Dusters Finally Join the Rest of Us In the 21st Century

Torchwood ensures you’ll never think about Death Panels the same way again

Pentagon’s lightning gun sold for scraps on eBay

The Earth Has a Ring

A Marvel Comics superhero will appear with Nathan Fillion on Castle

Here’s some of the litter we’re leaving on Mars

Chupacabra-like roadkill flummoxes Minnesota town

DefCon Dings Reveal Google Product Security Risks

45,000 Verizon Workers Strike As Last-Minute Contract Negotiations Fall Through

What it’s like to watch Rise of the Planet of the Apes in Chinese on LSD

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