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SyFy’s Magicians Is a Perfect Counterpoint To Television’s Epic Fantasies

Last night, SyFy aired the pilot to its other show based on a recent novel, Lev Grossman’s The Magicians. While the rest of the show will be airing in January, the pilot gives us an idea of how the network has adapted the show for cable television. Spoilers ahead! The most common description for The…

io9 Andrew Liptak Dec 17 '15

A Brief Visual History of People Waiting in Line for Star Wars

Have you been waiting in line for days to see the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens? Of course you haven’t. You bought your tickets online like a normal person. But there once was a time when buying tickets online wasn’t even possible. Below we have pictures of those poor chumps from the Olden…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 17 '15

Blackberry’s CEO Gives You a Great Reason to Buy an iPhone

Cops and spies alike are up in arms lately over companies like Apple using uncrackable encryption on their devices. But Blackberry, whose clickity keyboards can still be heard in the halls of many government bureaucracy, doesn’t think criminals deserve privacy. The struggling Canadian company’s CEO recently published a blog post with the bold headline, “The…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Dec 17 '15

Gorgeous Hubble Flyby Reveals a Lightsaber in Space

Here’s a beautiful flyby video of the Herbig-Haro object called HH 24 courtesy of the Hubble. We saw the absolutely striking still image earlier which shows a newborn star shooting out twin jets into space. To learn more about this awesome phenomenon, read here. The video combines a two-dimensional zoom and a three-dimensional flight to…

Sploid Casey Chan Dec 17 '15

io9 Round-Table: What Does Star Wars Mean to You?

You have heard a little something about a new Star Wars movie being released today. While The Force Awakens conquers theaters, we thought we’d examine how this scifi franchise has conquered the world—by discussing what Star Wars means to each of us. Please, add your thoughts and experiences in the comments! Rob Bricken: Let’s begin…

io9 Rob Bricken Dec 17 '15

Watch a Drone Paint Gigantic Long Exposure Portraits in the Sky

Long exposure photos can turn a flashlight in your hand into a brush that paints with light. Taking that idea one step further, the folks at Ascending Technologies strapped a color-changing light to a computer-controlled drone to create a series of massive holiday light paintings in the sky. The company’s AscTec Falcon 8 drone was…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Dec 17 '15

Payback’s a Sassy Bitch on American Horror Story: Hotel

American Horror Story: Hotel goes on a holiday hiatus until January 6 after “She Gets Revenge,” but the episode has left us with quite a bit to mull over—as well as some of the most rip-roarin’ moments we’ve seen all season. Let’s count ’em up! Spoilers! Iris and Liz, who’ve been co-workers for years but…

Television Cheryl Eddy Dec 17 '15

Old-School Video Game Maker Coleco Is Making a New Cartridge-Based Console

If you were a gamer in the early ‘80s, you’ve no doubt played ColecoVision—the short-lived console that brought arcade games to your living room. Well, get ready for a nostalgia hurricane, because Coleco is back on the scene with a new home console—and it’ll play actual game cartridges. The hero of this comeback story is…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin Dec 17 '15

How to Prioritize (and Delete) Wifi Networks in OS X

OS X lets you take command of all the wifi networks your laptop has logged in its memory, so your machine won’t try and connect to the next-door coffee shop before your home network. Here’s how to trim down the list and make sure you’re connecting to the right networks first. Open up the trusty…

Gadgets David Nield Dec 17 '15

11 Novels So Amazing, You Can’t Tell What Genre They Are

Some of the most powerful reading experiences are the ones that refuse to fit into just one pigeonhole. They defy categorization, because they’re both life-changing and label-breaking. Don’t believe me? Here are 11 books that are so incredibly good, they can’t be constrained to just one genre. When I was first starting to think about…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Dec 17 '15

Stop Buying Hoverboards

Two things: One, those two-wheeled self-balancing teen transporters you’ve heard so much about lately should not be called “hoverboards,” as they do not hover. Two, everyone should stop buying them. The United States Postal Service just banned quote-unquote hoverboards on airmail flights since the batteries have a naughty tendency to catch on fire. The move…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Dec 17 '15

These Fish Went From Saltwater to Freshwater in Just Fifty Years

Threespine sticklebacks hatch in fresh water pools near streams. When they mature, they need to make their way back to the ocean to live. So if their way to the ocean is cut off, they’re screwed. Or are they? The video tells the story of the 1964 earthquake in Alaska, and the fish it left…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 17 '15

A Crashed Interstellar Probe Inspires an Alien Mind

In “Sputnik,” a football-shaped space probe is picked up by an alien. The resulting journey results in a whole new state of mind. This short from Maxim Zhestkov is truly beautiful and well worth five minutes of your day. [via Everything Animated] Contact the author at [email protected].

io9 Katharine Trendacosta Dec 17 '15

The Disaster Most Likely to Cause Global Famine Is Not an Earthquake, Storm, Tsunami, or Flood

The world has faced down some incredibly large-scale natural disasters lately—and the wreckage they left in their wake has been considerable. But the one that is most threatening to our food supply is a natural disaster that has been unfolding very slowly. The FAO recently took a look at the toll natural disasters have taken…

Tech News Ria Misra Dec 17 '15

The Most Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2015

It’s time to reflect on the most futuristic breakthroughs and developments of the past year. This year’s crop features a slew of remarkable scientific and technological achievements, from an actual working hoverboard to cyborgized brains. Here are 18 predictions that finally came true in 2015. AI Warnings Went Prime Time Artificial intelligence isn’t a threat…

Artificial Intelligence George Dvorsky Dec 17 '15

Well, the Finale of Childhood’s End Was Depressing as Hell

Childhood’s End concluded last night with the most surreal of the series’ three installments, “The Children.” We knew from the start that this utopia thing wasn’t going to end well, thanks to Milo’s this-is-the-end opening speech. But the race to the finish is much worse than what anyone on Earth ever imagined. Spoilers! Kids who…

Television Cheryl Eddy Dec 17 '15

Design Your Own Android Wear Watch Face, No Coding Required

With Android Wear smartwatches now looking the part and gaining new features on a regular basis, it’s a good time to hop aboard the Google-powered smartwatch bandwagon. There are plenty of professionally made watch faces to choose from, but you can just build your own using the apps listed below—zero coding experience required. Of course,…

Gadgets David Nield Dec 17 '15

Now It’s JJ Abrams’s Turn To Acknowledge That Into Darkness Had Problems With Khan

This weird second circuit of people admitting that Into Darkness had some pretty big flaws continues with the man of the moment, JJ Abrams! The director might be riding high when it comes to Star Wars right now, but when it comes to realizing the mistakes of his last Star Trek movie, Abrams is refreshingly…

io9 James Whitbrook Dec 17 '15

Relive the 80s With This Amiga Emulator for Chrome

A nostalgic Google researcher recently flexed his C coding skills and built a fully functional Commodore Amiga 500 emulator for Chrome. You can try the realistic software here. It’s good, geeky fun. Of course, it’s also a handy way to flaunt some of Chrome’s lesser known features. The Amiga emulator was built with Native Client,…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Dec 17 '15

Can You Really Hate a Selfie Stick That Cleverly Transforms Into a Smartphone Case?

It’s easy to hate selfie sticks; they’re the seedy underbelly of the camera-equipped smartphones we carry around. But it’s really hard to hate on the brilliantly-engineered Stikbox that hides a telescoping 28-inch long selfie stick on the back of your mobile device. Like their more respectable cousin the tripod, selfie sticks have been collapsing for…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Dec 17 '15

SyFy’s Magicians Is a Perfect Counterpoint To Television’s Epic Fantasies

A Brief Visual History of People Waiting in Line for Star Wars

Blackberry’s CEO Gives You a Great Reason to Buy an iPhone

Gorgeous Hubble Flyby Reveals a Lightsaber in Space

io9 Round-Table: What Does Star Wars Mean to You?

Watch a Drone Paint Gigantic Long Exposure Portraits in the Sky

Payback’s a Sassy Bitch on American Horror Story: Hotel

Old-School Video Game Maker Coleco Is Making a New Cartridge-Based Console

How to Prioritize (and Delete) Wifi Networks in OS X

11 Novels So Amazing, You Can’t Tell What Genre They Are

Stop Buying Hoverboards

These Fish Went From Saltwater to Freshwater in Just Fifty Years

A Crashed Interstellar Probe Inspires an Alien Mind

The Disaster Most Likely to Cause Global Famine Is Not an Earthquake, Storm, Tsunami, or Flood

The Most Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2015

Well, the Finale of Childhood’s End Was Depressing as Hell

Design Your Own Android Wear Watch Face, No Coding Required

Now It’s JJ Abrams’s Turn To Acknowledge That Into Darkness Had Problems With Khan

Relive the 80s With This Amiga Emulator for Chrome

Can You Really Hate a Selfie Stick That Cleverly Transforms Into a Smartphone Case?

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