Latest

The Shiniest Stories On io9 Last Week

Too busy campaigning for dystopian mayor Bill Murray to take on a national office? Don’t worry, we’ve compiled a list of the best stories of the week, just for you.Force Unleashed: The Movie? s the Secret Apprentice going to get his big-screen debut? Rumors circulating over at Skywalker Ranch seem to be pointing to yet…

Pandora, Nearing Survival Deal, Gets New Threat From NAB

CNet earlier today broke a story about how the National Association of Broadcasters—traditional broadcasting conglomerates and others who think HD Radio is more vital than the internet—is trying to kill a brand new bill that could save Pandora and other web radio services. We’ve done some reporting of our own, and the situation does indeed…

Kaiju Nostalgia Trip with Negadon

If you miss the old-school feeling of kaiju movies like the classic 1950s and 60s Gojira flicks, then your heart will be warmed by 2005 CGI short Negadon: The Monster from Mars. Made with contemporary effects to emulate unique look achieved by guys in giant suits duking it out on the ruins of Tokyo, this…

Comments Update: Permalink Threads, Popular Conversations

We have a couple of new, cool features for you commenters out there: permalink threads and most popular sorting. How do they work? Well, the timestamp next to each thread in comments (a comment and its responses) is now a link to that thread that stands on its own. You can direct people to that…

The Week in iPhone Apps: Enter, New Challenger!

This week marked the start of more interesting times for mobile apps. You may have heard, even, that Android is here-on T-Mobile’s G1. Perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence that it was a relatively quiet week in the App Store, as devs watch a new challenger take the stage (and power on their iPhone lightsabers). But…

Dealzmodo: $70 Xbox LIVE Chatpad, Headset, 12-Month Subscription and PGR4 Bundle

That headline was a mouthful, but we didn’t want you to overlook Microsoft’s updated Xbox LIVE Messenger Gold Pack. Going for $70 (that’s a permanent price, incidentally), the pack includes a year of LIVE (about $40 otherwise), chatpad ($20), extra headset ($15) and a copy of Project Gotham Racing 4 ($40). So yeah, if you’re…

Everything Old Is New Again On Smallville

Last night’s Smallville managed the impressive feat of simultaneously feel like an episode of the first few seasons of the show with their “meteor freak of the week” format while also demonstrating how far (some) characters have come in the last few years of the series. They also introduced the hunky new medic who’s may…

Author Connie Willis has a fantastic interview in the Rocky Mountain News today, where she talks about her influences (including Robert Heinlein) and what it’s like to be famous yet not a household name. She also has some thoughts about why science fiction authors are reactionary and obsessed with the past, and why she’s pessimistic…

Steve Ballmer Thinks PCs Can Run 5x Faster Without Crapware

We hate crapware, you hate crapware, and Steve Ballmer hates crapware. Here’s what Ballmer said last night about it. When people complain about computers coming with too many applications, it runs slowly, that’s not a good thing. There’s some basic hygiene that we and our partners can participate in together. We can clean them up,…

Workers Of The Future Will Ascend Into Shiny Sky-Fortress

A bizarre alien structure, 180 meters high, is soon to descend on Paris. The Triangle, a shimmering pyramid made out of glass and steel, will have a narrower base than you’d expect and a quirky, wavy elevation. Paris authorities allowed architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre De Meuron to break height regulations with the unusually tall…

Knight Rider KITT GPS Now Available

Just a few days after the new series premiere, RadioShack has announced that it scored exclusive rights to sell Mio’s Knight Rider GPS in the US. I already have a GPS unit, but the geek in me wants to buy this thing just to hear William Daniels tell me where the nearest McDonald’s is. The…

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To See About Iron Man’s Suit

Want to know every single little detail to the Iron Man suit, from the boot to inside the face plate? A ton of Iron Man concept art images showed up online, and they give you the in-depth view of Iron Man’s boots, gloves, arm pits… the works. (Many of the pics are new, and some…

Nikon D90 Video Tests: The Good, The Bad and the Shaky

Some of you are thrilled that the age of video on DSLRs is here; some of you are surprisingly pissed off about it. Truth is, the 720p video coming from the Nikon D90 can look amazing, but in some ways it can’t replace even the cheapest cams when it comes to chasing kids and pets…

Real-Life Rocket Man Takes Flight Over English Channel

The best part of any superhuman story is when our fledgling hero, having recently discovered his or her powers, totally has fun with them. Think of Iron Man tinkering with his ever-evolving Mark suit, or Spider-Man figuring out how to web-sling. This morning, in the crystalline blue heavens, Swiss airline pilot Yves Rossy felt a…

Are Books Doomed to Become Art Collector Items?

The always fascinating Dark Roasted Blend has an article on alternative uses for books. Sculptures, lamps, structures, furniture… everything made with books. It’s an eerie view on book heaven or book hell, depending on your mood. Mine is a bit gloomy, so looking at the beautifully spooky gallery and knowing about the renassaince of electronic…

Will the Chinese Spacewalk Lead to a Space Cold War?

Tomorrow Chinese astronauts will go spacewalking for the first time. The launch of the Shenzhou-7 spaceship on Thursday was a success, and for the first time in the history of Chinese space exploration, a human crew will spacewalk. This is the first stage in the country’s planned development of a space station. The question is,…

Gears of War 2 Bundled with R/C Tank at Best Buy

Good news! Those who pre-order Gears of War 2 Limited Edition at Best Buy will score an R/C Centaur tank free. Bad news! We don’t know if the tank is a real, living R/C tank or just some sort of downloadable, in-game content. And this spy shot from a recent Best Buy pre-holiday meeting in…

Thanks to This Week’s Sponsors

Thanks to the generous help of this week’s sponsors — Chevy Fuel Solutions, Fancast, The Life and Times of Tim (HBO) Mike’s Election Guide, Orcs, Tales of Vesperia, T-Mobile, and Unscrew America — we were able to build an interocitor and communicate with a dying alien world. Next week we’d like to build an ansible…

First-time science fiction author Ben Drexler’s novel, Volare, got a book deal with Bantam Dell. Volare is “the story of an untraditional family unraveling and reconnecting in the wake of a terrible family secret, and a son struggling to navigate his memories and his future after his mother’s passing.” I’m not sure if this is…

10 Gadgets That Help You Survive in Cheap Hotel Rooms

Tomorrow I embark on a week-long vacation that will have me hiking up mountains, enjoying art and music and dining in fancy restaurants. Needless to say, I am looking forward to it. The only thing I am not 100% about is the hotel room. I’ve never stayed in this particular chain before and I got…