Latest

A Tiny Death Star Is the Only Reason You Should Buy a Levitating Speaker

An unknown breakthrough in consumer levitation technology has led to an influx of floating speakers that don’t sound any different, but look kinda cool—were this the mid-’80s. Before you write them off completely, someone has managed to find a way to make these novelties genuinely worthy of your desk space, as a tiny Death Star…

Get Rid of All Your Gifs at the Gif Party

Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb. But if it’s Friday, you can get rid of your gifs right here at the gif party.

AMC Backs Down on Its Nightmarish Vision of Texting In Movie Theaters

Earlier this week, America was up in arms against the latest popcorn-related scandal to rock the country. AMC Theaters chief Adam Aron said that the largest theater chain in America was considering allowing moviegoers to text during screenings to attract millennial audiences. Well, the people have spoken, and the plan is no more. https://gizmodo.com/a-psychotic-rant-about-going-to-the-cinema-1770930634 Following…

Neil Gaiman Is Writing a Six-Part Good Omens Miniseries

Neil Gaiman’s latest project was recently announced along with two other brand new Pratchett-based adaptations. When it rains, it pours. At a memorial for Terry Pratchett on Thursday night, it was revealed that Gaiman would be writing the script for the long-awaited filmed version of Good Omens (there was a radio play on BBC 4…

The Dinosaurs at Every Museum Should Do This

You can pretend you’re there to marvel at the Egyptian antiquities, but deep down the only reason anyone visits a museum is to check out its dinosaurs. And while a towering T-rex skeleton is impressive, the Melbourne Museum just opened a new exhibit featuring shockingly life-like animatronic dinos. You won’t find any skeletons at Jurassic…

Exquisitely Preserved 17th Century Dress Recovered From Shipwreck

Marine archaeologists working off the coast of Holland have recovered a remarkable trove of well-preserved artifacts from a ship that sank nearly 400 years ago. Among the items is a beautiful silken gown that likely belonged to royalty. Back in August 2014, divers from the Texel Diving Club discovered an unassuming bundle at the site…

Trees Are Even More Amazing Than We Realized

Trees, is there anything they can’t do? Doubtful. Let’s see: producing half the world’s oxygen, providing habitat for millions of species, creating the soil and timber resources we depend on. Not bad. But all that’s just scratching the surface. As new research shows, there’s a lot more going on beneath the forest floor than we…

The Brief and Bizarre History of the FPS Bot 

The early days of first person shooters like Quake and Unreal Tournament gave birth to one of the most unique types of video game AIs: the FPS bot. Within a few years time these mindless enemies became an institution. Then just as quickly as they arrived, they disappeared. For many in the late 90s and…

We’re big fans of The Vision’s fashion sense here on io9, but what were his best comic book outfits? For the dedicated follower of synthezoid fashion, Brian Cronin over at Comic Book Resources has collected the Vision’s finest bits of wardrobe selection throughout his comic book history, and it’s fantastic.

This Is Why You Should Be More Careful With Your Drone

Before crashes could be simulated in a computer, aircraft builders would shoot chickens at planes to determine the damage from a mid-air bird strike. This rig, built at Aalborg University in Denmark, sort of does the same thing, but instead tests the damage a drone could inflict on a human. Aalborg University actually built an…

Game of Thrones Could Be Coming to an End a Lot Sooner Than You Think

Game of Thrones season six starts soon, and it’s becoming obvious that we’re heading towards the show’s endgame. But even then, it’s a bit surprising to hear just how close the end could be—and how it might come about. It turns out, there’s less Game of Thrones left than anyone realized. The news comes from…

Does Best Buy Think You’re a Dummy For Looking at an iPhone SE? [Updated]

The iPhone SE is maybe not Apple’s best idea, but Best Buy are being very judgmental towards those of us who want to buy the 64GB version in rose gold. Strangely the “Apple Dummy” is only available in this configuration, as any other size or color will yield the less spectacularly named “iPhone SE.” That…

Muse’s Drone Blimp Crashed Into a London Crowd

Last night, the band Muse was jamming though the song “The Globalist,” when a concert drone known affectionately by fans as “dildrone,” crashed into the crowd. Clearly, this drone isn’t taking any of your shit. Muse has recently shown a particular interest in drones, despite the dangers the aircraft often present. Although the spectacle of…

Video Shot From Fighter Jets Will Melt Your Face

To help Saab Defence and Security capture some spectacular footage of its Gripen fighter jet, a Swedish-based company called Blue Sky used a custom-built gyro-stabilized camera system that can ride along at speeds of over 345 miles per hour. When paired with a 6K Red Dragon digital cinema camera and a $40,000 Canon camera lens,…

More Details on That New Superhero Who’s Coming to Thor: Ragnarok

Robert Downey Jr. hints he could be involved in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Lupita Nyong’o confirms her Star Wars return. That Highlander reboot is still happening. Ian Somerhalder confirms his Vampire Diaries exit. Plus American Gods casting, an action-packed Civil War clip, and a chrometastic Power Rangers logo. Spoilers! Thor: Ragnarok Following up on rumors earlier this…

Ultrasound Beams Wireless Data Through Flesh at 30Mbps

Wi-fi is great, but it doesn’t pass through the human body very well. Now a team of researchers has shown that it can use ultrasound to send data through chunks of flesh at up to 30 megabits per second. Medical devices in the human body that have to send or receive data usually rely on…

Nanotubes Self-Assemble Into Wires With a Blast From a Tesla Coil

From chaos, some order and energy—at least if you’re a bunch of carbon nanotubes being blasted by a Tesla coil. A team of researchers at Rice University has demonstrated a set-up that allows them to create long, spidery wires from a random heap of carbon nanotubes by applying the force field generated by a Tesla…

Apple Reportedly Planning to Overhaul the App Store With Better Search

Navigating Apple’s App Store is… frustrating. Now, a new report suggests that plans are afoot to make it a little easier. Bloomberg reports that Apple has “a secret team” working on an overhaul for the Store. Those ever-useful “people familiar with the plans” have told it that one of the main changes could be a…

Solar-Powered Airplane Solar Impulse 2 to Continue Round-the-World Flight

Over a year ago, the solar-powered airplane Solar Impulse 2 started its audacious round-the-world trip—but it became so damaged that it had to pull up short in Hawaii. Now, it’s ready to fly again. The airplane suffered the set-back during its long flight from Japan to Hawaii—breaking the record for longest non-stop solo flight, at…

Verizon Users Can Score 2GB of Free Data Just By Using Android Pay

If you’re with Verizon, some good news: Use Google Pay and you can earn yourself 2GB of delicious mobile data for free. You don’t have to do anything but buy stuff to earn the reward. Make one transaction using Google Pay and you get 1GB; make two more purchases and you’ll get another 1GB. But,…