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Snow monsters rise across Japan

As winter coats Japan, snow and rime ice cover the trees, creating armies of monsters and snow giants that loom over the landscape. And in some of these photos, they look ready to trudge to life. Photos: ‘Snow monsters’ of Japan [Pink Tentacle]

io9 Lauren Davis Feb 12 '11

Best Posts of the Week

Here are the best stories on Gizmodo, this week. Enjoy! This Is the New Gizmodo Take a look around. This is the new Gizmodo. More » The Techno-Future Is Already Here Christian Stoll’s wide-angle photographs, fittingly used in print campaigns for IBM and Microsoft, may look like scenes from Minority Report, but they’re actually views of…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola Feb 12 '11

What would a Settlers of Catan game look like if giants played it?

Settlers of Catan, that addictive German board game that prompts otherwise normal people to start screaming about wheat and knights and sheep and ore, received a giant-sized treatment at Burning Man 2007 thanks to Julie Von Bergen and Matt Bell. You can see more photos of its construction at Matt’s Flickr account, and yes, the…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Feb 12 '11

Will the “I Love Lucy signal” cue aliens to humanity’s existence?

As a fan of I Love Lucy since childhood, I’ve always been pleased that this show – and not, say, Milton Berle or Sid Caesar – is the one always referred to when talking about Earth being detected by other civilizations. And when I first thought about it, the idea that there was a detectable…

io9 Paul Gilster -- Centauri Dreams Feb 12 '11

Getting stoned on cobra bites is totally not advisable

Well, McGruff the Crime Dog never warned you about this. Two bizarre case studies involving men with herpetological substance abuse problems come to us from an outpatient facility in Ranchi, India. The first is about a one Mr. PKD, who recruited snake charmers to get his unusual fix: [The] patient learned of the intoxicating effects…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Feb 12 '11

It’s official: Fringe is a beautiful, demented soap opera

Fringe keeps delivering the pain to its characters. This scene was agonizing to watch, especially with the look on Anna Torv’s face as she tries to get past this impossible situation, but she can’t. Poor Liv. And then it leads to one of the creepiest/tenderest scenes ever, which I honestly don’t know what to make…

Television Charlie Jane Anders Feb 12 '11

Best Tools for Every Skill Level – Beginner

Screwdriver Set The simple beauty of screwdrivers makes them the ideal tools to tighten cabinet hardware, install light switches, and crack open the lids on metal paint cans. This 10-piece set includes all the common slotted and Phillips-head sizes, as well as stubby versions to get into tight spots. About $12; stanleytools.com Tape Measure Keep…

Tech News ThisOldHouse.com Feb 12 '11

Best Tools for Every Skill Level – Semi-Skilled

Multibit Screwdriver Store all the bits you’ll need in the handle. Its ratcheting-action handle drives screws home quickly with less fatigue than a regular screwdriver; the bit holder does double duty as a nut driver. About $20; leevalley.com 35-Foot Tape Measure A longer tape helps mark off bigger projects. This one has a beefier end…

Tech News ThisOldHouse.com Feb 12 '11

Best Tools for Every Skill Level – Experienced

18-Gauge Brad Nailer Installing crown molding is much easier when you can shoot nails rather than hammer them, and when you don’t have to drag a hose and compressor around. This gas-powered nailer is reliable and a cinch to stash on your tool belt while you’re on a ladder. About $230; bostitch.com Miter Saw From…

Tech News ThisOldHouse.com Feb 12 '11

Nokia Only Cared About Megapixels

Bits confirms much of what has been inferred or assumed over the last few years regarding Nokia: up until this week, they couldn’t have cared less about software or design. This quote, from Nokia’s former head of design, says it all: “The engineers at Nokia brag about the number of megapixels a new phone has,”…

Tech News Adrian Covert Feb 12 '11

The Music the Captain America Trailer Should’ve Had

Because you’re not gonna beat Red Skull with some pansy ass film score. [Mappeal]

Movies Kyle VanHemert Feb 11 '11

This Week’s Top Web Comedy Video: Sexy Clone Dilemma

Click to viewOkay, so I know you’re supposed to shoot the evil clone every time. But what if the evil clone is also the only one that’ll give you the time of day? That, my friends, makes for a much harder choice. The rest of the best top comedy videos from this week can be…

Tech News Splitsider Feb 11 '11

HP Veer Needs a Magnetic Dongle for USB and Audio Needs

If you want to listen to audio on headphones or transfer data via USB on the HP Veer, you’re gonna need a magnetic dongle for that. PreCentral says the attachment is bulky and its magnet isn’t very strong. Meh. [PreCentral]

Tech News Adrian Covert Feb 11 '11

Florida Driver Takes Ghost Riding to the Next Level on Interstate

This YouTube video claims to be that of twenty-year-old Tim Wehage, who might just be the most dangerous driver in Florida. Here is footage of him ‘ghost riding the whip’ on the roof of his moving Ford Bronco. A quick Facebook search (click image to enlarge) turned up a profile of a West Palm Beach…

Television Richard Blakeley Feb 11 '11

Super-Geek Builds DIY Chatbot to Speak to His Fiancée

Johnny Chung Lee has hacked the Wiimote, helped Microsoft develop Kinect and recently started working at Google. This last career move meant moving away from his fiancée, so he did what any self-respecting geek would do: he built a video chat robot. Click to viewLee’s robot is effectively Skype on wheels: a dedicated netbook mounted…

Tech News Jacob Aron Feb 11 '11

Watch a revealing interview with the astronomer who has led the search for exoplanets

Want to watch a fun conversation between two astronomers who are working on finding planets that might harbor Earthlike life? This is a terrific interview between American Museum of Natural History astrophysicist Mike Shara and Geoffrey Marcy, a UC Berkeley astronomer whose attempt to discover exoplanets was once, as he puts it, “treated like Star…

io9 Annalee Newitz Feb 11 '11

AT&T Will Make Mobile Broadband Cheaper for Laptops

According to Boy Genius, AT&T is getting ready to adjust pricing on their LaptopConnect data plans, which includes hotspots, 3G dongles and 3G-enabled laptops. Instead of $30 for 200MB of data and $60 for 5GB of data, they would potentially sell you 3GB for $30 and $5GB for $50. [BGR]

Tech News Adrian Covert Feb 11 '11

Watch the World’s Longest Ski Ramp Send a Guy Flying 800 Feet

The Vikersundbakken, a 440-foot record-setting ski ramp, opened this week in southern Norway. It didn’t take long for someone to put it to good use: earlier today, 25-year-old ski flyer Johan Remen Evensen set the world record with a mind-boggling 797 foot jump. Good thing he stuck the landing. [Wired]

Tech News Kyle VanHemert Feb 11 '11

The iControlPad Is Finally Available and Will Turn Most Phones Into Overpriced Game Boys

It’s been several years since we began covering the iControlPad, a gamepad adapter for mobile devices, and I’ve stopped believing that I’d ever type these words, but here we go: The iControlPad is finally available and the first units will ship out next week. The adapter’s priced at $75 and will give just about any…

Tech News Rosa Golijan Feb 11 '11

Twitter for Android

The official Twitter app for Android just got a whole lot better. It’s faster, it’s prettier, it’s way more functional. It’s almost as good as Twitter for iPhone now. What is it? Twitter, free, Android It’s Twitter for Android, reborn. The old app used a pretty but slightly weird user interface that wasn’t quite as…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Feb 11 '11

Snow monsters rise across Japan

Best Posts of the Week

What would a Settlers of Catan game look like if giants played it?

Will the “I Love Lucy signal” cue aliens to humanity’s existence?

Getting stoned on cobra bites is totally not advisable

It’s official: Fringe is a beautiful, demented soap opera

Best Tools for Every Skill Level – Beginner

Best Tools for Every Skill Level – Semi-Skilled

Best Tools for Every Skill Level – Experienced

Nokia Only Cared About Megapixels

The Music the Captain America Trailer Should’ve Had

This Week’s Top Web Comedy Video: Sexy Clone Dilemma

HP Veer Needs a Magnetic Dongle for USB and Audio Needs

Florida Driver Takes Ghost Riding to the Next Level on Interstate

Super-Geek Builds DIY Chatbot to Speak to His Fiancée

Watch a revealing interview with the astronomer who has led the search for exoplanets

AT&T Will Make Mobile Broadband Cheaper for Laptops

Watch the World’s Longest Ski Ramp Send a Guy Flying 800 Feet

The iControlPad Is Finally Available and Will Turn Most Phones Into Overpriced Game Boys

Twitter for Android

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