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I never should have built a robot for the science fair

In the perfectly-titled picture book Oh No! Or, How My Science Project Destroyed The World, we follow the misadventures of a geeky girl whose giant robot runs amok. We’ve got a gallery of gorgeous giant monster art from the story. So how can our protagonist fight back against the robot she created for a 5th…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 21 '10

Gadget Deals of the Day

Batman! That’s all I have to say. You’d better go get the previous Batman anthology for cheap in case you need to “refudiate” (Shhh, it’s been coined now.) someone who thinks Christian Bale is the definitive portrayal of Mr. Wayne. Top Deals: • Lenovo IdeaCentre K320 Core i3 Gaming Desktop for $499 plus free shipping…

Tech News Jeremiah Dobruck Jul 21 '10

20 Unlikely Upgrades to the Human Body

For this week’s Photoshop Contest, I asked you to design some upgrades to the human body to make life better or easier. Some of your entries are sort of good ideas! OK, who am I kidding? They’re ridiculous.

Tech News Adam Frucci Jul 21 '10

Blood spatter model to help crime scene investigation

Reconstructing the sequence of events leading up to a murder could become easier and more precise thanks to a new system for producing a high-resolution 3D map of a crime scene. A post-mortem can shed some light on the circumstances surrounding a murder, and vital clues can also be gleaned from an analysis of bloodstains…

io9 Paul Marks - New Scientist Jul 21 '10

Shooting Challenge: Spherical Refraction

We’ve all seen reflection used in photography—like when a lake doubles as a mirror to the sky. For this week’s Shooting Challenge, we’re going a step more complicated and using the principles of refraction. The Challenge Photograph anything you’d like that includes some sort of spherical object, like a water drop or ball of glass,…

Tech News Mark Wilson Jul 21 '10

NASA Creates World’s First Global Forest Map Using Lasers

Scientists, using three NASA satellites, have created a first-of-its-kind map that details the height of the world’s forests. The data was collected from NASA’s ICESat, Terra and Aqua satellites. The latter two satellites are responsible for most of NASA’s Gulf spill imagery. The data collected will help scientists understand how the world’s forests both store…

Tech News Jerry James Stone - Treehugger Jul 21 '10

Get Yet Another Free iPhone 4 Case (From Someone Other Than Apple)

Apple will give you a free iPhone 4 case and as will some other companies, but now the folks at TiPB are ready to offer you yet another free colorful case for your collection. Update: They’re out of cases. https://gizmodo.com/apple-will-give-free-bumpers-to-iphone-4-owners-5589004 What you’ll be getting is a “TPU Flexible (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) bumper case” and these are…

Tech News Rosa Golijan Jul 21 '10

A new Dollhouse comic book, starring Felicia Day!

Joss Whedon always swore he’d never do a Dollhouse comic book, but looks like we’ll get one after all. “Epitaphs” tells the story of how some key characters survived the brainpocalypse. It’ll be bundled with the season two DVDs. Here’s the official synopsis for the comic book: Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, joined by longtime…

Television Charlie Jane Anders Jul 21 '10

Steven Taylor Test Page

“Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque…

Tech News Sponsored post Jul 21 '10

One of My Three Genie Wishes Will Be this Holga Digital

For those unaware, Holga cameras are legendary, cheap pieces of crap—light leaking boxes with murky plastic lenses. But the quirky photos they can take are worth of their cult following. The Holga D (or Holga Digital) is an update on the classic Holga design by Saikat Biswas. Rather than film, the camera has last-gen full-frame…

Tech News Mark Wilson Jul 21 '10

Adam McKay wants Simon Pegg for The Boys’ Wee Hughie

CHUD recently asked could-be The Boys director Adam McKay if he’d want Simon Pegg — who was the inspiration for protagonist Wee Hughie — for the film. McKay’s not signed on definitely, but he’s all for the idea. https://gizmodo.com/is-anchormans-adam-mckay-100-on-directing-the-boys-5568323 Here’s the exchange CHUD’s Devin Faraci had with McKay: [McKay] told me: ‘I haven’t officially signed…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Jul 21 '10

Lego Android Robot Solves 7x7x7 Rubik Cube

The Rubik-cube-solving robot race continues. After the classic 3x3x3 cube and the 4x4x4 cube, here comes the Lego Mindstorms robot that can solve a 7x7x7, powered by an Android phone. We are headed to mass self-destruction, I tell you. [AndroidGuys] https://gizmodo.com/motorola-droid-lego-robot-solves-a-rubiks-cube-faster-t-5532302

Tech News Jesus Diaz Jul 21 '10

Halo novels taken over by Star Wars: Republic Commandos author Karen Traviss

Video game movies may seem permanently consigned to suck-land, but video game novels are proving they can attract talent that other media tie-ins can’t hold onto. Case in point: Karen Traviss. Turns out Star Wars’ loss was Halo’s gain. https://gizmodo.com/the-decade-that-superhero-movies-beat-video-game-movies-5430764 Traviss has already written a few Gears Of War novels since leaving the Star Wars…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jul 21 '10

Michael Keaton’s “velcro muscles” in Batman changed action movies forever, says Stallone

Now that people like Shia LaBeouf are headlining action movies, Sylvester Stallone feels nostalgic for the old days. He blames the death of the old-school action movie on Batman. Specifically, the Tim Burton version: It was that first Batman movie. The action movies changed radically when it became possible to Velcro your muscles on. It…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders Jul 21 '10

Fring Updates Android App To Improve Audio Quality In Video Calls

Fring just updated their Android app to address the audio issues we saw (or I guess, heard) in our testing. Thankfully, the update will fix the sometimes bothersome echoing issue and also offer significant audio improvements. Which is good! Also, the Samsung Galaxy S gains support in the update, so there’s now more people to…

Tech News Casey Chan Jul 21 '10

iPhone 4 “End Call” Decal Isn’t Available at the Apple Store

I wish this was real, like the iPhone 4 antenna bandaids. It looks to me like a more stylish solution to the antenna problem than the free Apple bumpers. https://gizmodo.com/your-iphone-just-needed-a-band-aid-all-along-5590589 Sadly, you won’t find it at the Apple Store. Take that Dieter Rams. [Twitter via The Daily Wh.at] https://gizmodo.com/design-should-not-dominate-people-it-should-help-peopl-5587508

Tech News Jesus Diaz Jul 21 '10

Janelle Monae turns rhythm and blues into science fiction

She’s deep into futurist Ray Kurzweil and loves Octavia Butler’s writing. But her science fiction stories play out over itchy beats, under a James Brown cape. io9 interviews the unclassifiable musician about her influences and dreams for the future. Janelle Monae has gotten attention for being the rare mainstream artist who is clearly doing her…

io9 Gillian 'Gus' Andrews Jul 21 '10

Foxconn Intern Fell From Dormitory Roof

According to reports, a Foxconn intern has fallen to his death from a dormitory roof. The 18-year-old was with the company for about a month so far and appears to have been hired for a temporary summer gig. There isn’t evidence to suggest that this was another Foxconn suicide at this time. [Wired]

Tech News Rosa Golijan Jul 21 '10

A dilapidated recreation of China, right outside of Disney World

We recently posted about the ruins of the Black Sea resort town Gagra. io9 tipster theotherwhitegirl clued us in to another phantom vacation spot: Florida Splendid China Park, a teacup version of The People’s Republic that was open from 1993-2003. https://gizmodo.com/the-ruins-of-a-black-sea-resort-town-5590114 During its decade of existence, Splendid China Park — which was built on 75…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Jul 21 '10

How Inception’s Astonishing Visuals Came to Life

Paul Franklin specializes in turning the imaginary into reality. As the visual effects supervisor for Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and now Inception, Franklin is well-versed in helping directors like Christopher Nolan populate their cinematic worlds with larger-than-life computer-generated images. However, in spite of Inception‘s lush, physics-bending effects, Franklin’s work on Nolan’s cerebral sci-fi film…

Movies Jeremiah Dobruck Jul 21 '10

I never should have built a robot for the science fair

Gadget Deals of the Day

20 Unlikely Upgrades to the Human Body

Blood spatter model to help crime scene investigation

Shooting Challenge: Spherical Refraction

NASA Creates World’s First Global Forest Map Using Lasers

Get Yet Another Free iPhone 4 Case (From Someone Other Than Apple)

A new Dollhouse comic book, starring Felicia Day!

Steven Taylor Test Page

One of My Three Genie Wishes Will Be this Holga Digital

Adam McKay wants Simon Pegg for The Boys’ Wee Hughie

Lego Android Robot Solves 7x7x7 Rubik Cube

Halo novels taken over by Star Wars: Republic Commandos author Karen Traviss

Michael Keaton’s “velcro muscles” in Batman changed action movies forever, says Stallone

Fring Updates Android App To Improve Audio Quality In Video Calls

iPhone 4 “End Call” Decal Isn’t Available at the Apple Store

Janelle Monae turns rhythm and blues into science fiction

Foxconn Intern Fell From Dormitory Roof

A dilapidated recreation of China, right outside of Disney World

How Inception’s Astonishing Visuals Came to Life

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