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Razzle Dazzle Battleships

During WWI, German U-Boats were alarmingly effective at sinking allied warships and transport vessels alike. But since a ship couldn’t exactly be cloaked, Norman Wilkinson, British artist and naval officer, developed another method nicknamed razzle dazzle. U-Boats were effective but simple—they shot torpedoes, not directly at ships, but where they estimated a ship would end…

The Complete List Of Sources Avatar’s Accused Of Ripping Off

Avatar finally ended its stretch as America’s #1 movie, but people are continuing to point out sources that James Cameron borrowed from. It’s become a national pastime, our version of Banshee-catching. We’ve rounded up 16 sources that Cameron allegedly nabbed. Dances With Wolves The similarities: A military man “goes native” and takes the side of…

Remainders – The Things We Didn’t Post: Wait For It… Edition

In today’s Remainders: patience. Or at least, it’s what’s required by today’s items, including Lumix camera pricing, Google’s acquisition of Aardvark; LG’s forthcoming e-reader, and the great Palm Pre manufacturing halt that wasn’t. Aardvark Party Google has acquired Aardvark, a unique social search engine, for $50 million. With the internet still buzzing over Buzz, it…

Riiflex Wii Weights Finally Available for $30

It’s been a long road from conceptual render to final product, but the Riiflex Wii weights (for Wii Fit, or any other game) are available now for $30/pair. Me? I’m too lazy to even waggle a stock Wiimote. [Riiflex] https://gizmodo.com/riiflex-weights-make-the-wii-fitter-5136528

Give Danger The Finger (From A Safe Distance) With New Robot Hand

Give a hand to our new robot overlords. This robot hand responds to the glove-wearer’s movement exactly, allowing a bomb disposal expert to defuse a bomb from yards away, says Rich Walker with the Shadow Robot Company. The robot hand was just one of the innovations on display at the Ministry of Defence’s Center for…

Katie Couric on Getting Dumped Via Text Message

CBS News anchor Katie Couric, in a 2008 Notebook segment, weighed in on whether to dump or not to dump via text message. Katie’s classy; she said “no.” Bonus points for turning tech-related injury into an insult. [Video on Giz] https://gizmodo.com/survey-shows-half-of-phone-break-ups-are-texted-5469611

Roland Emmerich Wants To Avatar-Up Isaac Asimov’s Foundation

Disastrous director Roland Emmerich has announced that his epic undertaking of Asimov’s Foundation will be a motion capture production in 3-D. Because this way, the director can ask for more money. Last we heard about Roland Emmerich’s Foundation filming it was still being tweaked by Saving Private Ryan scribe Robert Rodat. https://gizmodo.com/emmerichs-asimov-foundation-trilogy-being-written-by-pr-5322888 In an interview…

May YouTube Clone Veoh Rest in Peace

Apparently Veoh Networks, an online video company vaguely similar to YouTube, has “laid off its workforce yesterday and is expected to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.” It’s sad to see the site go under as some of us have fond memories of using it, but what’s sadder is seeing about $67.5 million in venture…

Marketing Taglines For The Future

Former ad copywriter Graham Button is concerned about the future – specifically, the future of marketing taglines. How can companies remain buzzword compliant in a rapidly-changing world? Over at Fast Company, he’s offered ten taglines for tomorrow. Button explains that he was partly inspired by Fareed Zakaria’s The Post-American World, and partly by David Foster…

1Gbps Streaming Achieved With Infrared Light

A Penn State graduate student and professor have built a system that transmits wireless data at 1 Gbps over infrared light. And they think it can go even faster. Just last month, we saw Siemens get to 500Mbps streaming using white LEDs, but this infrared solution works at twice that speed: https://gizmodo.com/stream-500mbps-over-led-light-5453690 Their setup sent…

Google Paying Apple More Than $100 Million Annually For iPhone Search Deal

The rumor that Apple is building its own search engine “isn’t credible,” according to a source familiar with Apple’s operations. Our source tells us “there’s too many options” for search on the market, so there’s no reason for Apple to build its own search engine. Another reason Apple might not want to build its own…

One Sec

The human race continues its free fall into extinction. Good.

There is no way I’m exchanging romantic words with someone when I have no idea what their natural scent is.

Microsoft: Office For the iPad Is Something That We’re Looking At

An interview with a Microsoft Senior Product Manager opened the door to rumors of an iPad version of Microsoft’s Office suite. Let’s keep in mind though that the fellow just vaguely hinted that Microsoft is looking into this idea. When asked if Microsoft would be considering an iPad version of Office, Mike Tedesco, Senior Product…

Russian Botnet Steals From Another, Replaces Virus With Its Own Badassery

Nevermind the war against viruses—they’ll kill each other before we even update AVG. A Russian Trojan horse program, known as Spy Eye, has stolen data from its competitor Zeus, and replaced PC infections with its own botnet-badness. It’s still a lose-lose situation for anyone with an infected computer, with one botnet being replaced with another,…

HyperMac Bringing Sexy Back to Battery Packs For iPod, iPhone, and iPad

Batteries are usually just a boring, blunt necessity, on account of being batteries and all. But HyperMac’s line of Apple-friendly lithium-ion battery packs are a colorful exception to the rule. Plus: battery babes! HyperMac introduced three new aluminum-cased battery pack sets today in all, each available in the nine iPod nano colors (that’s black, silver,…

Screwtopia! The 5 Types Of Erotic Dystopia In Science Fiction

If you think sex in the 21st century sucks, just be glad you don’t live in one of these scifi dystopias. When Big Brother is a peeping Tom and three-penised mutants are eligible bachelors, getting off is a turn-off. Science fiction is filled with examples of folks who can’t get laid without total weirdness transpiring.…

Don’t Kill Your Darlings, Set Them Free

H.G. Wells isn’t the only author who published an earlier version of one of his novels in a separate edition. Peter Straub is publishing The Skylark, a version of his new novel A Dark Matter before it changed in editing. Straub explains to Suvudu: The Skylark is primarily intended for the dedicated reader who collects…

TiVo’s Big Announcement Could Just Be Full HD Support and UI Overhaul

We know that TiVo’s hyping a major announcement on March 2nd, and now a tipster over at CrunchGear has provided some additional insight. It’s all still just a rumor, but the details about the UI and HD menus make sense: https://gizmodo.com/tivos-got-something-major-coming-march-2nd-5469602 According to the tipster, the announcement will center around moving to full HD menus,…

Gadget Deals of the Day

Get geared up for Valentine’s Day. Lenovo’s S10 bends into many desirable positions, eHarmony’s free Valentine’s weekend lets you go back to being a creep-on-the-cheap, and Solid Snake is available at $20—for mustache rides. Top Deals: • 10.1″ Lenovo S10-3t 0651-37U Tablet Netbook for $449.99 (normally $500). • Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the…