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Excavations Begin on Syria’s 7000-Year-Old Metropolis, Known As “Zaidan”

The prehistoric cultures of Mesopotamia gave rise to literacy, bureaucracy, agriculture, and modern cities. And now a nearly-untouched city in Syria will give us a peek at what urban life was like 7000 years ago in the so-called Ubaid period. The remains of a city called Tell Zaidan, or just Zaidan, are located in northern…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Sad, Lonely Mars Phoenix Lander Gets One Last Chance to Call Home

Wondering why we hadn’t heard from NASA’s Mars Phoenix lander in a while? Ever since the harsh Martian winter of 2008 set in, the poor guy’s been in deep freeze. This week, he’s got one last chance to make contact. From yesterday until Friday, NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter is going to listen for signals coming…

Tech News Brian Barrett

Earn Your Master’s Degree In Vampire Literature

Want to spend a few semesters analyzing the Marxist subtext of Scream Blacula Scream? This fall, University of Hertfordshire in England will offer an MA in Vampire Literature. They’re also holding a conference next weekend: “Open Graves, Open Minds.” From April 16-17, the University of Hertforshire will host “Open Graves, Open Minds: Vampires and the…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar

The Best Nintendo 3DS Concept Yet

I like this. It’s a bit boxy and too big for my taste—and the 3D renders have a few aliasing and compositing glitches—but this Nintendo 3DS concept is great. I hope Nintendo goes this Gameboy-Advancish route, although it doesn’t look like something they would made. [Air-Nifty via Kotaku]

Tech News Jesus Diaz

What Was The Last Movie You Saw Without Knowing Anything About It?

When was the last time you walked into a movie, without knowing anything beyond the title and maybe who was in it? Not even seeing the trailer first? These days, it’s hard to believe such an experience even exists. And yet, there was a time when I routinely saw movies after glancing at a poster…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

We’d Love to See Steve Jobs Announcing These 47 Non-Apple Products

For this week’s Photoshop Contest, I asked you to imagine El Jobso announcing something a bit more surprising than a new iPhone. And the reality distortion apparently field works for non-Apple products, because now I really want a pizza. First Place—Anthony Topper Second Place—Jay Goebel Third Place—Bobo the Teddy

Tech News Adam Frucci

In Honor Of This Month’s RoboGames – Our Quick-And-Dirty Robot Art Contest

Every spring, San Francisco is host to an international robot competition known as the RoboGames, featuring tests of strength and skill. This year RoboGames is April 23-25, and organizers have joined forces with io9 to sponsor a robot art contest. Here are the details on our official quick and dirty Robot Art Contest: 1. Contest…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Virtual Hugs for Touchy-feely Shut-ins

Have you ever been chatting online and gotten all sad and distant and wish your chat buddy could hug you? Or wanted to feel someone’s heart race with rage via the internet? Well, intrepid science guinea pigs, wish no further. Sometimes, the future is awesome, giving us things we didn’t know we needed. And then…

io9 Marc Bernardin

Infographic Of Underachieving AT-ATs Is Hilarious

We all know the AT-AT as the giant, four-legged walker who kicked Rebel ass at the Battle of Hoth. But did you know the AT-AT has other sad-sack cousins? This rad poster introduces you to the less celebrated AT-AT models. [Tobias LunchBreath’s Flickr via Rampaged Reality.]

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

Understanding the iPad’s Software

There have been tablets before the iPad. They weren’t as beautiful or well crafted, but that wasn’t why we chose not to pick them up. It was the software. To call the iPad a big iPhone is both truth and disservice, belying the simple fact that changing the screen size really does change everything. It’s…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Gadget Deals of the Day

Our Dealzmodo is bursting with great TV deals today with a Samsung and blu-ray player combo on the cheap and a Hitachi going for nearly nothing, and read up on digital cameras and video just in time for NAB. Top Deals: • 40″ Samsung LCD TV + Blu-Ray Player for $808 plus free shipping (normally…

Tech News Kevin Lee

Comcast Wins, We Lose: Court Says FCC Doesn’t Have the Power to Enforce Net Neutrality

A federal appeals court just ruled on Comcast’s lawsuit to get the FCC’s p2p blocking ban overturned—that the FCC doesn’t have the power to tell Comcast, or any ISP, to be net neutral. Whoa. If you remember way back to 2008, Comcast got busted blocking BitTorrent, and the FCC told them to GTFO. Nerds cheered.…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Iain M. Banks Has Finished His New Culture Novel, “Surface Detail”

At Eastercon over the weekend, Iain M. Banks announced he’d just finished his latest novel in the Culture series, to be called Surface Detail. It will come out in February 2011. Dave H from the Iain Banks Fan Forum was at Eastercon and reports on the Banks news: The first draft of Surface Detail was…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

At Last A Star Trek Porn Movie That Looks Like It Might Give Us An Actual Nerdgasm

We found This Ain’t Star Trek XXX somewhat underwhelming despite the lovingly recreated bridge set. But this work-safe trailer for Hustler’s sequel has it all: alien planets, anachronistic Borg queens, 1960s time travel, and derring-do, along with doing the do.

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

The Original Energizer Bunny: Starting at $15,000

Own a piece of the fascinating battery spokesbunny saga, for a minimum of $15,000! “What fascinating battery spokesbunny saga?” you might ask. Well, have you ever heard of the Duracell bunny? One if the six first-run Energizer bunnies is up for prestige auction in Dallas, which, to Americans, makes a lot of sense: the Energizer…

Tech News John Herrman

Wild Talents Second Edition Brings a Superpowered World to Life

Arc Dreams’ Wild Talents Second Edition dropped last week, and it’s ten times as awesome as I’d hoped it would be. This book contains what is probably the most thorough and fascinating treatise on superhero worldbuilding I’ve ever read. Wild Talents is a superhero RPG based on a game called Godlike, in which superpowered humans…

io9 Ed Grabianowski

Google Really, Really Doesn’t Want to Lose Any Potential Customers

If you ever doubted your value to Google and its targeted advertising, just suggest to it that you’re considering signing off for good. If you struggle with suicidal thoughts please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255. [Digg via The Daily What]

Tech News Adam Frucci

Is This Abin Sur’s Crashed Spaceship From The Green Lantern Movie?

This photo from the set of Green Lantern offers a first glimpse of what’s likely Abin Sur’s downed spaceship. Abin Sur was Hal Jordan’s precursor in the Green Lantern corps; he gave his GL ring to Hal on his deathbed. Of course, this could be any number of crashed spaceships from Green Lantern, but given…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar

The iPad: Amazon’s Secret Weapon

The iPad may seem like Apple’s move to cockblock Amazon in the Ebook Wars, but Amazon’s Kindle app makes it part of Amazon’s larger ebook ecosystem. In many ways, the iPad is the best Kindle yet. This argument suddenly (but not surprisingly) stopped being about e-ink readers, and Amazon is the only one of the…

Tech News Wilson Rothman

Flash 10.1 Release Candidate Now Available For Download

Looks like Flash 10.1 is emerging from the beta depths and almost ready for prime time. This is particularly good news for you owners of netbooks with Broadcom Crystal HD accelerators, since now you’ll be able to watch HD Flash video. The hardware video acceleration applies to Windows XP, Vista, and 7, though Mac and…

Tech News Brian Barrett

Excavations Begin on Syria’s 7000-Year-Old Metropolis, Known As “Zaidan”

Sad, Lonely Mars Phoenix Lander Gets One Last Chance to Call Home

Earn Your Master’s Degree In Vampire Literature

The Best Nintendo 3DS Concept Yet

What Was The Last Movie You Saw Without Knowing Anything About It?

We’d Love to See Steve Jobs Announcing These 47 Non-Apple Products

In Honor Of This Month’s RoboGames – Our Quick-And-Dirty Robot Art Contest

Virtual Hugs for Touchy-feely Shut-ins

Infographic Of Underachieving AT-ATs Is Hilarious

Understanding the iPad’s Software

Gadget Deals of the Day

Comcast Wins, We Lose: Court Says FCC Doesn’t Have the Power to Enforce Net Neutrality

Iain M. Banks Has Finished His New Culture Novel, “Surface Detail”

At Last A Star Trek Porn Movie That Looks Like It Might Give Us An Actual Nerdgasm

The Original Energizer Bunny: Starting at $15,000

Wild Talents Second Edition Brings a Superpowered World to Life

Google Really, Really Doesn’t Want to Lose Any Potential Customers

Is This Abin Sur’s Crashed Spaceship From The Green Lantern Movie?

The iPad: Amazon’s Secret Weapon

Flash 10.1 Release Candidate Now Available For Download

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