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

The app developers of the world have had another week to impress us, and they don’t disappoint. Here’s the best and most brightly-colored apps that were introduced or newly revamped this week. Go ahead, let your smartphone taste the rainbow. Multi-Platform Updates TheScore TheScore gives you the constant-updating, wall-to-wall sports coverage you need, whether you’re…

Marvel At The Truly Awesome Sight (And Sound) Of A Volcanic Blast

Check out this fantastic footage of Papua New Guinea’s Mount Tavurvur ejecting untold heaps of lava, rock, and ash hundreds of meters into the air. Between the striking burst of clouds above the volcano and the jarring boom of the delayed shockwave, this is one of the most dramatic eruption videos we’ve ever seen. The…

How a Guy Who Mastered Tweeting While Peeing Gave Up Tech For a Year

Welcome to Reading List, Gizmodo’s weekend roundup of the best and most interesting writing from around the web. Today, we’ve got great work from Pacific Standard, Outside, Nautilus, and The Paris Review. Let’s dig in! By 2012, David Roberts wasn’t just a man, he was a brand: A star political blogger for Grist, by August…

Has Forensic Science Finally Unmasked Jack the Ripper?

Jack the Ripper, the scourge of Whitechapel and possibly the world’s most famous cold case, has reportedly been solved by a businessman and a forensic analyst, according to The Daily Mail. The partner teamed up after businessman Russell Edwards obtained a shawl that supposedly belonged to Catherine Eddowes, an unfortunate victim to the Ripper’s grisly…

A Triassic Beast Brews Up A Surprisingly Gentle India Pale Ale

If cooking is science for hungry people, brewing is applied chemistry for thirsty people. The Gedrinken Experiment will explore the brews and spirits inspired by science. The first entry is Great Basin Brewing Company bringing a Triassic beast back from extinction as the Ichthyosaur IPA. Top image base image credit: Ryan Somma; mashup: Mika McKinnon…

Back of the Box – 09/07/2014

And that was the week that was! Toybox’s first week has been quite a success – here’s a round-up of our best material from the past 7 days. Toybox is well on its way to its 300k US Uniques target for September, racking in 102k as of yesterday. It’s a great start, and it’s too…

Samsung’s Gear VR virtual reality goggles, which use a Galaxy Note 4 for brains, will cost $200 when it hits the market, says VentureBeat. Note, that cost doesn’t include the price of the Note 4, which will run $300 on contract, $800 purchased outright. [VentureBeat via The Verge]

Three Things To Keep In Mind About The Big Jack The Ripper ‘Reveal’

According to a WORLD EXCLUSIVE at The Daily Mail, the mystery of Jack the Ripper’s identity has been solved by businessman Russell Edwards and forensic expert Jari Louhelainen using DNA evidence. The alleged culprit? A 23-year old Polish barber and longtimer Ripper-suspect Aaron Kosminski. You can read the lengthy, two-part piece (the first part written…

What’s the Best Video Game Peripheral Ever?

Video game consoles are amazing. Ever since I cracked into my first NES 20+ years ago, they continued their steady progression of awesome. Yeah, there have been a few hiccups along the way (does anyone remember 3DO Interactive Multiplayer?), but overall every iteration was an improvement. The most successful consoles, handheld or otherwise, of course…

What an Intel and Fossil Team Up Could Mean for Smartwatches

Smartwatches are infinitely fascinating. For one, their growth is incredible. This time last year, we had Samsung’s overpriced Gear, Pebble, and a Sony timepiece or two. Now we have Android Wear and a dozen options to choose from, and possibly the biggest game changer will be revealed in 48 hours. On Friday, Intel and Fossil…

Fatbergs, Naked Tourists, Bedbugs: What’s Ruining Our Cities This Week

Summer’s almost over but that doesn’t mean we can’t have one last warm-weather, city-ruining hurrah. Let’s check out some exhibitionist visitors to Barcelona, unwelcome new passengers on the NYC subway, and an airplane-sized mass of congealed fat moving under London. What’s Ruining Our Cities? These guys are. Fatbergs are ruining London Radioactive pizza-eating reptiles are…

The Papercraft Enterprise is the coolest paper Starship there is

Alex Manfredi’s paper model of the NCC-1701 is hands down the neatest starship made out of processed wood pulp you’ll see today. A mix of the designs seen in the original series and the Enterprise’s refits in the earlier Star Trek movies, Manfredi’s model is packed full of little details and 3D additions to give…

io9 ‘Shop Contest: Dreadnoughtus Edition

Dreadnoughtus is a newly discovered genus of supermassive titanosaurian dinosaur. At 65 tons, it possesses the largest reliably calculable mass of any known land animal. This dinosaur was clearly a badass (a status attested by its very name); but that got us thinking: What would make it even MORE badass? What if Dreadnoughtus – whose…

Netflix Is Considering Shorter Clips to Jumpstart Mobile Streaming

We all love video streaming. No, we actually all do. Last June, a study concluded nearly half the U.S. subscribed to at least one video service, and arguably Netflix is king. But there is one small problem, Netflix’s streaming content, for the most part, is at least 2o-ish minutes long, and those long lengths aren’t…

Climbing The Snowiest Mountain In The World

The snowiest mountain in the world can be found right here in the US. I traveled to the North Cascades in Washington State to climb Mt. Baker with world-renowned climbing guide, Craig Van Hoy. Our guide, Craig Van Hoy, has over 400 summits of Rainier, multiple summits of Everest, and climbed Kangchenjunga (the 3rd highest…

NIH Discovers Even More Dangerous Pathogens in Recent Lab Sweep

This past July, we reported that the National Institutes of Health found vials filled with smallpox in a Maryland lab. The potentially disastrous discovery prompted the agency to check on all its labs to make sure no other fatal diseases were lurking about. It turns out there were. NIH. announced on Friday that they’d found…

Test Footage From The Early 80s Stars A Very Different Roger Rabbit

Here’s a newly released video of footage and concept art from an early go at Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. Created between 1981 and 1983, these characterizations of the Rabbits look quite a bit different from the ones audiences saw in 1988 – not to mention a Roger voiced by Paul Reubens (aka Pee-wee Herman). At…

This Fish Spits Light

Ever seen a fish make underwater fireworks? You have now. Except this translucent cardinalfish isn’t actually the one generating the light. Hit the jump for an explanation from Jason Goldman.

The Wakie Alarm App Recruits Strangers to Help Get You Out of Bed

Wakie is an Android and Windows Phone app (iOS is currently in the approval process) that lets complete strangers dial you up to help get your ass out of bed, and I couldn’t think of anything more terrifying. Here’s how the app works. After signing in with your phone number, the app splits users into…

A County-By-County Map Of NFL Allegiance

Facebook’s Data Science team has released its 2014 NFL American Fandom Map, to mark the beginning of the NFL season. The map uses Facebook “likes” to determine the most popular NFL team in every U.S. county. The result is “one of the most comprehensive samples of sports fanship ever collected.” Even if you’re not a…