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The New iPod Touch Camera Falls Short—We Know Because We Tried It

When Apple announced a surprise update to the iPod Touch last week, many sought to revisit the appeal of the device in a smartphone-saturated world. One major benefit of the updated iPod Touch is the improved camera. We did some tests to see if the latest iPod matches the camera quality of the latest iPhone.…

There’s 10 Drives and 80TB of Storage Hiding Inside This Tower

By now, most of us have made the transition from a bulky desktop computer to a sleek laptop. But Buffalo makes a strong case for making room for a non-descript tower on your desk again with its Thunderbolt 2 DriveStation Ultra that’s filled to the brim with hard drives and storage. Inside the DAS—or direct…

The World’s Deepest Pool Would Help Train Astronauts

Here’s a silly confession: I’m irrationally afraid of deep swimming pools. So when I first saw this rendering of what could become the world’s deepest “space pool,” my gut reaction was to turn off my computer and run for the hills. But the logical part of my brain reminded me that this would actually be…

Hot Toys’ Princess Leia Is On A Diplomatic Mission To Raid Your Wallet

Nice and easy there, toy collector. Hand over your wallet and nobody gets blown away—this amazing Leia wouldn’t give two hoots that your blaster was set to stun! Yes, finally, Hot Toys are bringing the exquisitely detailed hair buns of A New Hope-era Princess Leia to their increasingly impressive line of Star Wars figures, and…

Rain Makes This Orchid Have Sex With Itself

This orchid is a self-fertilizer. You’d think it would be able to apply pollen to itself without help, but no. It’s the romantic rain that provides the motion which allows the plant to procreate. Hot! The Acampe rigida orchid can be found all over southeast Asia. It’s a tremendously successful plant, in part because it…

Everyone Is Piling on the “Take Down Apple Music” Bandwagon

When Apple enters any kind of business, it tends to turn heads. But when it comes to Apple Music, the company’s new music streaming service, it’s getting a different kind of attention—the federal trust-busting kind. Technology is filled with all kinds of rumors and speculation — real and fabricated. BitStream collects all those whispers into…

Some Beloved Characters Will Return To The X-Files From Beyond The Grave

A Superman villain is heading to Supergirl, while a Wonder Woman villain heads to Arrow. Mark Neveldine has an update on Crank 3. Chloe Bennet teases some major changes for Skye on Agents of SHIELD. Plus, a teaser for the finale of Wayward Pines. Spoilers are here! Crank 3 Mark Neveldine offers an update on…

This Is What a Monstrous 18-Foot Long Millennium Falcon Toy Looks Like

A few days ago it was revealed that Hot Toys was building a sixth-scale toy version of the Millennium Falcon that would match the size of the company’s incredibly detailed 12-inch figures. And today we already have our first peek at the monstrous creation on display at the Ani-Com and Games convention in Hong Kong.…

How Prolific STDs Are Across the U.S.

Ever wondered how… successful your city was at sharing STDs? Well, this map hows how prolific syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia are across the country. Brace yourself. The map here uses data taken from the CDC for 2013, which combines reports of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. The data’s then normalized to show the number of STD…

This Is How Nike Sneakers Inspired By Classic Album Covers Could Look

Sneakers are nice and all, but they tend to work on one design level: if they look nice, they kinda just… look nice. But what if they were inspired by classic album covers? Copenhagen-based designer Patso Dimitrov has re-imagined a series of Nike sneakers with design cues taken from a series of album covers. The…

Contactless Payment Cards are Perhaps Not as Secure as You Hoped

If you’re a fan of discovering new anxieties that you didn’t even know you had, then consumer group Which? has some good news: It turns out that the contactless payment card in your pocket might not be as secure as you assumed. Metro reports that the group were able to use an “easily and cheaply”…

Here’s a Rocket With Shark Teeth

The latest ULA rocket has a very angry face. Full photo below. Contact the author at [email protected].

New DNA Origami Method Creates Amazingly Complex Molecular Structures

DNA isn’t just a building block of life—it can be a building block for other nano-size structures, too. These wonderfully intricate shapes are made by twisting and folding DNA into complex shapes using a newly developed technique, like a kind of advanced molecular DNA. Here, DNA isn’t being used to carry genetic information; rather, it’s…

Skype Translator Likes to Swear in Chinese

Skype Translator is an amazing feat of engineering, even if it isn’t perfect. But reports suggest that, in Chinese at least, it has somewhat of a potty mouth. Tom Carter writes for Global Times that he’s been using Skype Translator whilst on a shoot in China to make a cross-lingual TV commercial. But some of…

Let’s Blow Stuff Up: First Promo For the Guardians of the Galaxy Cartoon

This September will see the premiere of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, which will join Disney XD’s comic book-based run of animated shows. We only have fifteen seconds of it, but Disney’s definitely banking on the soul of the movie. Which can only be a good thing. Contact the author at [email protected].

Fly Through a World of Software Like It’s the Universe

This might look like a journey through space, but in fact it’s a shot from an interactive visualization that allows you to explore software package managers like they’re galaxies. It’s… more fun than it should be. Created by Andrei Kashcha, you can explore the software universe using keyboard keys to fly through the whole space.…

Cooties Is The Funniest Horror Comedy We’ve Seen In Ages

Back at Comic-Con, we saw Cooties, the comedy horror movie set for a limited release in theaters and on-demand on September 18th. And it is a movie that rolls around in its genre’s tropes and gleefully splatters the audience with jokes and blood. It turns out that slaughtering children is amazingly fun. Cooties deals with…

NASA’s Windbot Drone Would Sail Forever Around Jupiter

As part of NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program, the Jet Propulsion Lab at NASA is looking into using a ‘windbot’ to harness the power of Jupiter’s turbulent winds, and stay airborne without needing fuel. https://gizmodo.com/15-projects-nasa-wants-to-change-from-science-fiction-t-1703362134 The windbot idea was given $100,000 in funding back in May, so that the team at JPL can explore the…

Newly-Discovered Mountains on Pluto Finally Have Those Missing Craters

After all our confusion over Pluto’s strangely smooth and young terrain in the Tombaugh Regio, it’s almost a relief to start seeing craters in the latest close-up photos. In the latest image release, we’ve discovered a second mountain range in dark, old cratered terrain. The latest close-up from the New Horizons is a new release…

The death of Flash continues apace: live video-streaming giant Twitch is the latest major player to ditch Flash video in favor of HTML5. It’s rolled out new HTML5 player controls to pave the way for a full handover to the video-streaming master race in the (hopefully near) future. [Twitchvia Engadget] Contact the author at [email protected].