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The Most Famous Drum Machine Ever Made Gets Its Own Documentary

If you’re a fan of hip hop or electronic music, you’ve heard that sick, signature beat of the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer. Heck, if you’re a fan of music in general you’ve probably heard it, because the 808 is the most famous drum machine ever made. And now, it’s got its own documentary. With commentary…

With Standalone HBO, How Much Will It Cost to Cut the Cord?

Sometime next year, HBO is going to start offering HBO without a cable subscription. It’s what we’ve been waiting for, and it means maybe, just maybe, you’ll be able to finally cut the cord. The question remains as to how much that’ll cost—will it really be much cheaper than a traditional cable package? Let’s run…

The Best and Worst Celebrity Apps

In today’s flooded app market, it’s hard for developers to get an idea noticed, and even harder to get it to stick. Needless to say celebrity cred goes a long way, and so has birthed an unlikely partnership between Hollywood stars and software programmers. It’s win-win. Society’s fascination with the rich and famous and their…

This Printer Spits Out Messages That Actually Ignite and Self-Destruct

With a new data breach revealed every week, is it possible to safely share anything these days? Even passing notes in class risks a teacher intervention, unless you can smuggle this printer in your backpack. Clearly inspired by Mission Impossible, the messages it prints actually physically self-destruct just moments after leaving the machine, ensuring your…

Milk Is About to Become Really Expensive

In the U.S., climate change is likely to increase average daily temperatures and the frequency of heat waves. Dairy cows are particularly sensitive to heat stress and, according to a new USDA study, by 2030, milk production will have lowered to the point that additional economic costs will exceed $100 million per year. Heat stress…

iTunes Leak Shows Touch ID-Equipped iPad Mini 3 and iPad Air 2

Just as we suspected, a new iPad Air and an iPad Mini are forthcoming. Over on 9to5Mac, Mark Gurman reports that the user guides to two new iPads are showing up—by accident—in iTunes. And yes, Touch ID is coming to both devices, if these guides are to be believed. The screenshot above is from the…

How To Photograph The Northern Lights

One of nature’s most incredible phenomena are the aurora borealis, more commonly known as the Northern Lights. We’ve been photographing them in Iceland and we’re going to show you how to shoot them yourself. What are they? The Northern Lights are a natural light display in the sky, predominantly seen in Arctic regions. Geomagnetic storms…

Chicago Was Raised Over Four Feet in the 19th Century to Build Its Sewer

In the middle of the 19th century, Chicago embarked on a quest to literally lift itself out of the mud. Water couldn’t drain from the low-lying city, so its streets became impassable swamps. The most reasonable solution, Chicago decided, was just to raise the whole goddamn city by 4 to 14 feet. Unlike most other…

Moto X and Other Motorola Phones Are Getting Android 5.0 Lollipop

Now that Android .5 Lollipop is finally officially coming soon, we get to play the fun game of finding out which existing Android devices will bet getting the update. First up, and maybe this is obvious, are the current Motorola phones. According to Motorola, we can expect updates on the following phones: Once Android 5.0…

A Printer You Won’t Hate, 3TB External for $90, and More Dealsh

It doesn’t have wireless networking, a scanning bed, or even color, but by golly if you want a printer that just works, and doesn’t require new ink every month, it’s tough to beat this Brother laser printer. [Brother HLL-2320D Mono Laser Printer, $60] http://www.staples.com/Brother-HLL-2320D-Mono-Laser-Printer/product_1074269 Need some more storage? This 3TB Seagate was the Wirecutter’s runner-up…

12 “Futuristic” Worlds Where Everybody Uses Obsolete Technology

Imagining the future is a huge challenge — few people saw smartphones and DNA-based medicine coming. But if you want proof that “futuristic” science fiction is always about the present, just look at the obsolete devices people think will still be around. Here are 12 future visions that include tech we’ve already abandoned. 1) Blade…

Iconic Star Wars characters, re-imagined in striking Northwest Coast Art

Scott Erikson‘s latest collection, Alliance = Rebellion, captures the essence of traditional art of the Pacific Northwest to recreate some of Star Wars’ hallmark designs and characters – and does so to a pretty stunning effect. The collection seeks to combine a modern entity like Star Wars with the artwork of the Indigenous tribes of…

Wernher von Braun Predicted We’d Send Men to Mars No Sooner Than 2050s

Student researchers at MIT have concluded that given current technology, any colonists to Mars would die after about 68 days. Mars One, the company that hopes to put people on Mars by the 2025 (and film a reality TV show there, so you know they’re legit) insists that the MIT researchers are wrong. But as…

Looks Like the Nexus 7 Is Dead

Google just announced a whole slew of new Nexus devices. A big phone, a big tablet. But there’s one thing missing: Any word of the Nexus 7. And chances are that lovely tablet is gone. https://gizmodo.com/googles-new-nexus-9-is-androids-ipad-air-1646616639 We’ve reached out to Google for confirmation, but the warning signs have already been mounting. The Nexus 7 has…

Report: Soon You Won’t Be Able to Buy a Fitbit in the Apple Store

Apple plans to stop selling Fitbit devices in its stores, according to a report from Re/Code. This makes sense, since Apple is getting into the wearable health tracking market with HealthKit and its Apple Watch, and Fitbit already said it is not going to integrate with HealthKit. As Re/Code pointed out, plenty of other health…

McDonald’s new customizable gourmet burgers look absolutely delicious

Holy crap, look at this thing. Believe it or not, this delicious vision is a real life McDonald’s burger ordered by some dude in Australia, not a marketing photo. It is one of their new gourmet burgers that you can fully customize using a cool touchscreen app. Check it out: From his description: Wooden serving…

WB Announces A Ton Of New DC Movies, Including Who’s Playing The Flash

Warner Bros. just unleashed their new line up of films, spilling out a whole bunch of new movie announcements and full-scale superhero franchise reboots. This includes a standalone Wonder Woman movie, a Suicide Squad film and a brand new Flash (which they’ve already cast!!!). UPDATE. According to Ben Fritz of the Wall Street Journal, Warner…

How Google’s Giant Nexus 6 Stacks Up to the Big-Phone Competition

Finally, the long-rumored 6 inches of pure, unfiltered Android (Lollipop!) just the way Google always intended. So how does Google’s new Motorola-made flagship stack up to the other big dogs in phablet land? Let’s take a look. Obviously, with more space comes more room to pack in some seriously upgraded specs. And if you’re a…

Apparently Google Glass Addiction Is Now A Thing

For the first time ever, psychologists have treated an individual for internet addiction disorder caused by overuse of Google Glass. The patient had been exhibiting withdrawal symptoms when not using the device, and even dreamt he was wearing it. It’s debatable as to whether “internet addiction disorder” (IAD) is indeed a thing. It’s not listed…

Will the spread of ebola make chocolate cost more? Over at NPR, they trace how prices rose and fell in response to fears that ebola could interrupt harvests. Of course, that’s not even close to the biggest worry now, but it’s a good reminder that what’s currently a health crisis could also spiral into an…