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Everything Apple Announced Yesterday In About 90 Seconds

The vast oceans of Apple news have been drowning you for 24 hours now. It’s overwhelming, we know. The phones, the tablets, the headaches. For a quick rundown in one big gulp, all you need to do is watch our 90 second video. Contact the author at [email protected].

On Key and Peele, Ray Parker, Jr. Has a Theme Song for Every Movie, Ever

Beloved comedy series Key and Peele bid farewell last night with a show that was heavy on laughs (including the genius “Negrotown”), and at least one shout-out to the series’ love of geek culture, with a sketch skewering Ghostbusters theme singer Ray Parker, Jr. The bit—a commercial pitching Parker, Jr.’s extended-play album of unreleased (i.e.,…

Proof that some people must have superpowers

Gamers have superpowers. Not in an imposing professional athlete physical sort of way but more like a Professor X, out-think and outwit you capacity. Their reactions are quicker, they can make moves that we could never do, and they might be able to read our minds. Don’t believe me? How about these three video game…

Pepper Potts’ Armor Is Finally Getting An Action Figure… But It’s Going To Cost You A Lot

It’s been two years since Hasbro revealed their Marvel Legends Rescue figure, their first figure based on Pepper Pott’s armored persona. But then it promptly vanished, never made for sale and leaving fans expecting that Rescue was gone forever. But rejoice! The figure is making a comeback… but it’ll be pricey to get. Rescue looked…

10 Writing “Rules” We Wish More Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors Would Break

Science fiction and fantasy are genres where almost anything can happen — as long as the author can make it seem plausible, and as long as it’s part of a good story. But that doesn’t mean there are no rules. If anything, the fact that these genres are so wide open mean that there are…

An Adorable But Inept Creature Tries to Help a Man Overcome His Anxiety

If you were afraid of interacting with others, but even more annoyed by a suddenly-appearing supernatural creature, what would happen? The award-winning short But Milk Is Important is finally online. The graduation project from Anna Mantzaris and Eirik Grønmo Bjørnsen, But Milk Is Important is eleven minutes of lovely stop-motion depicting the way social anxiety…

Sony A7R Mark II Review: A Beautiful Dream That Ends In Tears

You can’t buy a single camera that does it all, no matter how much you spend. The most expensive DSLR or mirrorless offerings will give you top-notch photos or great video—not both in a single package. But Sony’s A7r Mark II is tantalizingly close to being that do-it-all camera. What Is It? The A7r Mark…

Our Favorite Android, iOS, and Windows Phone Apps of the Week

This week’s favorite apps have you covered for a lot of different scenarios. You need to book a flight for cheap? Check. Or maybe you’ve got some down time and want to watch a bunch of great videos that were picked out by professionals— there’s an app for that. We’ve also got an old favorite…

A Scratching Post TV Is the Only Channel You Really Need

Apple thinks it’s figured out the future of TV, but it’s not apps. A few random clicks through YouTube reveals the real media goldmine waiting to be tapped: cats. But why pay for a monthly streaming service when this TV-shaped scratching post provides hours of real-life entertainment? You don’t need to connect it to your…

You Can Only Find the Best Version Of Wonder Woman in Sensation Comics

Sure, Wonder Woman has her own ongoing comic book. She has a starring role in Justice League, and appears in countless other DC series. But if you want to see Wonder Woman at her very best, triumphing everything the character has ever stood up for, you seriously need to read Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman.…

4K Video on the iPhone 6s Is the Future, and No One Will Care

I’ve been pondering Apple’s addition of 4K video recording on the new iPhone 6s and 6s plus. My feeling is simple, and applies to many facets of any new Apple product. Please, oh please. Do not let yourself be roofied by Apple ads and marketing-speak that will attempt to sell 4K as magical rainbow juice…

The Dark Web Just Got Safer 

The dark web isn’t the scary, pervert-riddled digital crime swamp that shows like CSI:Cyber portray it as. But until this week, dark web sites hidden with the .onion domain lacked some basic security features. Without recognition from internet regulators like ICANN, people running .onion sites had no easy way to get security certificates. It was…

China Could Be the First Country to Land on the Moon’s Far Side

The far side of the moon has long been a tantalizing mystery. But China, a latecomer to the lunar landing game, could soon make history as the first country to touch its surface. State media reports from China this week confirm the country’s intention to send a Chang’e-4 landing probe to the far side of…

Your Beloved’s Soft Skin Is Just an Illusion

People generally enjoy gently touching and being touched by the people they love. Psychologists at University College London have found that our brains may encourage this behavior by making other people feel softer to us than they really are. In their experiments, published today in the journal Current Biology, 133 volunteers were paired up and…

The Upcoming Monster El Niño Is About to Bring Us a Year of Weird, Persistent Floods

With the news today that we should almost certainly see the predicted monster El Niño through the upcoming winter and spring, people are wondering what to expect. The answer is flooding. So much flooding. Top image: 1998 El Niño floods in California / Dave Gatley/FEMA. Along with the latest El Niño forecast today, NOAA also…

Scientists Urge Caution in Wake of “Transmittable” Alzheimer’s Claim

A provocative new paper published in Nature suggests that neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s may be transmissible through certain medical procedures. It’s an alarming claim—but one that will require more proof if it’s to be accepted by the scientific community. Protein Problems To understand how the researchers came to this conclusion it’s important…

When robots start acting like humans you can expect the worst

Corporations aren’t inherently evil, they’re only as greedy as the humans behind them. It’s the same thing with robots. Robots have no emotions—they’re just a pile of metal, screws and circuits—but they will be as mean, selfish, and avaricious as the people programming them. Wire Cutters is a brilliantly crafted student film directed and animated…

Concept artists — Want your work featured on io9 for the concept art writing prompt? Email us at [email protected] with the subject line “Concept art writing prompt.” Thanks!

Get Your Next Iron Bank Withdrawal in Quarters; Game of Thrones Pinball Is Here

Don’t act so surprised that pinball is still a thing, sometimes knocking around a steel ball can be just as satisfying as gunning down a room full of virtual zombies. And even moreso when the table features swords, dragons, and even the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones. The latest creation from Stern Pinball has…

New Apple TV Meta Hands-On: Touching and Talking Takes Some Practice

Apple wasn’t able to invite us to its homecoming dance in San Francisco this year, but we admired its dance moves from afar. We also tuned into the after party gossip when attendees told everyone how they really felt about the latest products. The new Apple TV, apparently, is pretty good. The new all-about-the-apps Apple…