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Why Do Westerners Fetishize Japan’s Futuristic Weirdness?

Since the late 1970s, a key idea in Western science fiction has been that Japan represents the future. Japan’s "weird" culture is a figure for an incomprehensible tomorrow. But commentator Lisa Katayama says this idea reveals common misconceptions about Japan. io9 pal Katayama writes the popular Tokyomango blog and has recently published a series of…

io9 Annalee Newitz Dec 16

Verizon’s webOS Training Sessions Suggest the Pre and Pixi Are Coming Soon

There’s been plenty of speculation as to when Verizon will begin offering the Palm Pre or the Pixi, but some leaked internal training slides would suggest that it’ll be sooner rather than later. According to Phone Arena these 20-minute long training sessions are “to re-introduce Palm and webOS to [Verizon’s] personnel [and] will be ongoing…

Tech News Rosa Golijan Dec 16

Scientists Coax Tiny Bacteria Into Operating Slightly Less Tiny Machinery

These 380-micrometer gears are being turned by hundreds of common bacteria swimming in a liquid solution. Scientists think this discovery could signpost a path to the development of "smart materials" that close the gap between man-made and organic matter. A collaborative effort between scientists at Northwestern University and the United States Department of Energy discovered…

Tech News Kyle VanHemert Dec 16

Did Google Steal From Philip K. Dick’s Brain?

Philip K. Dick‘s daughter, Isa Dick-Hackett, is considering suing Google because their phone handset may be called the Nexus One. The Replicants in Dick’s Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? were Nexus-6 models. Would you want a Roy Batty phone?

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Dec 16

Gifts For People Who’ve Never Heard of the Internet

Working, playing and socializing on the internet can give you tunnel vision. What about the technophobes? The luddites? The olds? What can you give someone like that? Here are the best gifts for people who just don’t “get” the internet. If you hate galleries more than Aunt Georgeanne hates the radical left wing internet blogs,…

Tech News John Herrman Dec 16

We Can Replace Your Blood Cells With Synthetics

A few years from now, your blood transfusion may contain synthetic blood cells (pictured) almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Except in one important way: These synth-cells can be stuffed with drugs for special delivery via your circulatory system. A team of California researchers discovered that they could create blood cells by layering hemoglobin and…

io9 Annalee Newitz Dec 16

Bloodhound Detector Sniffs Out Contraband Cellphones: Guess What They Smell Like?

That’s right…ass. Why? Because that’s where inmates cram ’em. So it looks like the Bloodhound here will be pointing directly the backside of a lot of prison jumpsuits. In all seriousness though, contraband cellphones are becoming a major problem in prisons throughout the country. One solution, cellphone signal jamming, has already been passed by the…

Tech News Sean Fallon Dec 16

Space Cowboys and a Disco Death Star in Soviet Star Wars Art

These hand-drawn movie posters from the Soviet Union paint a much more surreal version of Star Wars than the familiar epic posters. In lieu of spaceships and stormtroopers, we get a horse-riding space cowboy and cat-like Darth Vader. [via Neatorama]

Movies Lauren Davis Dec 16

This Week’s Best iPhone Apps

Younicorn: Excusing the terrible portmanteau of a name, this app is wonderful: for adults, as a silly joke; for children who may actually believe in unicorns, as earnest dream fulfillment. Everyone is happy. Also: unihorned. $1. https://gizmodo.com/younicorn-iphone-app-requires-no-explanation-5426827 Ratio: Cue Dan, resident culinaire/food terrorist: Michael Ruhlman, cookbook author demigod and Gizmodo Food Week contributor, is bringing…

Tech News John Herrman Dec 16

GE Designs a High Tech Sleigh For Santa

Santa has a “magic sack” and flying reindeer, but his sleigh is kind of old fashioned. GE has thought about this momentous problem and has come up with a tricked out solution using all kinds of proprietary technology. Using this interactive app, you can virtually explore the sleigh and learn more about the gadgetry GE…

Tech News Sean Fallon Dec 16

Microsoft and Palm Treading Water While Other Mobile Platforms Grow

It’s a great time to be in the smartphone business, unless you’re Microsoft or Palm. According to the latest data, they’re hardly doing any business at all. This chart from Fierce Developer shows that while Apple and RIM have been booming, and Symbian and Android have shown decent growth for smaller players, Palm webOS and…

Tech News Brian Barrett Dec 16

Posters Reflect on Five Seasons of Lost

With Lost is coming up on its final season, artists have reflected on five years of bizarre characters, time travel, mystical occurrences, and a polar bear to create sixteen posters teasing out the key themes and moments from the series. We mentioned a while back that ABC had commissioned a series of posters from various…

io9 Lauren Davis Dec 16

A 1:1 Model Kit Boat

This is not a plastic model. It’s a real boat, ready to be assembled and painted like you would do with a real dinghy, but full scale. Knowing my story with models, mine would end up oozing with glue. The dinghy was made by Michael Johansson for an exhibition in Malmö, Sweden. Unfortunately, it’s not…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Dec 16

Don’t Forget: Seattle Reader Meet-Up Tonight at 6pm

See you folks down at Cyclops this evening at 6pm. We’ll probably roll till about 8pm, in case you’re a little late getting off work. Here are the details, and follow me (@wjrothman) or Matt (@mattbuchanan) on Twitter for updates. https://gizmodo.com/seattle-reader-meet-up-on-wednesday-5424384

Tech News Wilson Rothman Dec 16

Watch How James Cameron Seduces Blue Women, To Terrible Music

It was bound to happen eventually. The Avatar theme song music video is out, stuffed with new footage. And it plays like a Na’vi seduction "how-to" tape. Step number one: drink from flowers. Step two: sexy face-painting!

Movies Meredith Woerner Dec 16

The Artist Who Taught Us To Love Our Alien Menaces

Long before we were spoiled with concept art, paperback artist Chris Achilleos brought a Boris Vallejo sensibility to Doctor Who, Star Trek, Blade Runner, and other strange voyages. A new book collects his iconic work, and we’ve got a gallery. If you were reading Doctor Who novelizations in the 1970s or 1980s, you’ll recognize Achilleos’…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Dec 16

Do You Prefer a Single Huge Screen or Multiple Smaller Displays?

Do multiple screens help you to mentally divide tasks? Are they worse ergonomically than a single ultra-large screen? What do you prefer? Once upon a time, I was partial to multiple screens. It’s one of the things that got me into Macs: Back then, they were the only computers that could handle multiple screens as…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Dec 16

New “Hot Tub Time Machine” Trailer Is Like “The Hangover” – With Time Travel!

We had our doubts about Hot Tub Time Machine. But the latest trailer has raised our hopes higher than these characters reliving their 80s cocaine heyday. Watch Cusack and friends go back in time. This could be the next Hangover, if executed correctly, and if all the jokes aren’t in this trailer. Hot Tub will…

Movies Meredith Woerner Dec 16

Shooting Challenge: Anthropomorphism

You know what commercial I can’t get out of my head? The Amex commercial the one where faces are found where they shouldn’t be. That’s the Shooting Challenge for this week. Make inanimate objects animate. The rules: 1. Submissions need to be your own. 2. Photos need to be taken the week of the contest.…

Tech News Mark Wilson Dec 16

Engineers Turned Into Human Cannonballs to Recreate Intel Chime

I’ve suspected that Intel’s engineers were somewhat crazy, but I never thought they’d hop into cannons and shoot themselves toward giant tube-shaped bells in order to recreate that catchy “Intel inside” chime. Ding-ba-bing-ba-ding-ouch! Looks painful, even if probably fake. The stunt really looks like it should result in some major neck injuries, safety gear or…

Tech News Rosa Golijan Dec 16

Why Do Westerners Fetishize Japan’s Futuristic Weirdness?

Verizon’s webOS Training Sessions Suggest the Pre and Pixi Are Coming Soon

Scientists Coax Tiny Bacteria Into Operating Slightly Less Tiny Machinery

Did Google Steal From Philip K. Dick’s Brain?

Gifts For People Who’ve Never Heard of the Internet

We Can Replace Your Blood Cells With Synthetics

Bloodhound Detector Sniffs Out Contraband Cellphones: Guess What They Smell Like?

Space Cowboys and a Disco Death Star in Soviet Star Wars Art

This Week’s Best iPhone Apps

GE Designs a High Tech Sleigh For Santa

Microsoft and Palm Treading Water While Other Mobile Platforms Grow

Posters Reflect on Five Seasons of Lost

A 1:1 Model Kit Boat

Don’t Forget: Seattle Reader Meet-Up Tonight at 6pm

Watch How James Cameron Seduces Blue Women, To Terrible Music

The Artist Who Taught Us To Love Our Alien Menaces

Do You Prefer a Single Huge Screen or Multiple Smaller Displays?

New “Hot Tub Time Machine” Trailer Is Like “The Hangover” – With Time Travel!

Shooting Challenge: Anthropomorphism

Engineers Turned Into Human Cannonballs to Recreate Intel Chime

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