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DARPA’s Experimental Tank May One Day Dodge Incoming Threats

Last month, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agencyintroduced what a next-generation tank might look like. Known as the Ground X-Vehicle Technology (GXV-T) program, this experimental vehicle is less like the traditional heavily armored brutes typically on the battlefield. These are built for speed. In a new video, DARPA shows off exactly how this new tech…

What Would It Be Like To Fall Into A Black Hole?

Let’s say you happened to fall into the nearest black hole. What would you experience and see? And what would the rest of the Universe see as this was happening? Let’s say you decided to ignore some of my previous advice. You’ve just purchased yourself a space dragon from the Market on the Centauri Ringworld,…

Fire Departments Use Rube Goldberg Machines As Alarms

Apparently, it’s a common problem for fire departments to rig up improvisational noise-makers to alert them when an emergency notification comes through the printer. Am I the only one thinking that we’ve found a use for the World’s Most Useless Machine?

SpaceX Recovers From Explosion With a Flawlessly Beautiful Launch

SpaceX successfully launched, carrying the AsiaSat 6 satellite to a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The Falcon 9 launch was initially delayed due to concerns after a SpaceX test flight exploded in late August. The launch went perfectly, and communications are established with the satellite. Top image: Falcon 9 launch out of Cape Canaveral on September 7,…

Cookie Monster And John Oliver Should Be Everyone’s TV News Reporters

If the nightly news report was this good every day, I might actually watch it. For the rest of this week’s top comedy videos, head on over to SplitSider. Now for the (sadly, not Cookie Monster-delivered) news! Legendary comedian Joan Rivers died at 81. We showed you the late night tributes to Joan Rivers from…

You Wouldn’t Believe These Trick Golf Shots Without Slow-Mo Video Proof

George and Wesley Bryan turn the stodgy old game of golf into an extreme sport with their wacky trick shots. They’re so well-timed and precisely coordinated, you’d probably lose track of that little white ball with your naked eye. Thank goodness for GoPro and slow-mo footage. Well, that proves it: Slow-mo makes just about everything…

Report: iWatch Will Have Unique Apps And a Dedicated App Store (Update)

Ahead of Tuesday’s big reveal of the much-anticipated Apple smartwatch, 9to5Mac brings us new details of what that iWatch might have on its homescreen: Wearable-optimized apps (Update: including Facebook), downloadable from an iWatch section of Apple’s App Store. Hope the icons are legible on that tiny screen. Over at 9to5Mac, the steadfastly reliable Mark Gurman…

Doctor Who‘s Ongoing Deconstruction of Heroism Takes A Hilarious Turn

The theme thus far in Doctor Who’s eighth season seems to be “deconstructing heroes,” most notably the Doctor. The Doctor’s questioning whether he’s a good man, but also the validity of his battle against evil. It’s somewhat grim stuff — until this week’s Robin Hood episode, when it turns swashbuckling and hilarious. Spoilers ahead… Given…

This Robot Maximizes Your Chance of Finding Love on Tinder

Tinder is a great way to findhookups romance near you, but it still relies on you and your potential partner finding each other mutually attractive. Since you can’t always rely on that, why not boost your odds—say, with a robotic finger that can “like” up to 900 Tinderers per hour? Andrew Sink’s Tinder-O-Matic is an…

What’s The Earliest Trace Of Yourself You Can Still Find Online?

The internet is so deeply woven into our everyday lives, we hardly think about it anymore. We’ve all been posting, commenting, liking, and sharing for at least a decade. In the process, we’ve all left a long digital trail. What’s the oldest remnant of your online life that you can still find? I got sucked…

Our first look at the front of Age of Ultron‘s version of The Vision

We’ve only seen a tiny glimpse of The Vision so far, in Avengers: Age of Ultron’sSDCC Concept art, but new poster art has revealed our best look at Paul Bettany’s android superhero yet. The image is part of a huge banner featuring The Hulk, Hawkeye, Captain America, The Vision, Thor, Black Widow and Iron Man…

Protecting Your Nude Pics, Apple’s Newest Designer, A Sewer Tour, More

This week revealed a lot about life on the internet. Most of it was pretty awful. Let’s flush out the bad with the best—specifically, the best stories Gizmodo wrote this week. Why Apple Just Hired a Rockstar Industrial Designer It’s no secret that Apple is branching out into the home—and into all manner of peripherals.…

What Kind of Demon Sorcery Created This Laser-Spitting Fish?

It’s not a mutant fish nor a piscine wizard. The source of the light is actually the defense of the clever, microscopic animal who just wants to get through the day without being gobbled up. Is that too much to ask? The see-through cardinalfish evolved in lockstep with tiny little crustaceans called ostracods. The millimeter-long…

Got your eye on a new Moto X or Moto G smartphone? Motorola will give you up to $300 on a cash card when you trade in your old smartphone. Hypothetically, that means you could buy a subsidized Moto and make money, if you trade in a desirable phone in perfect condition. [Motorola via Cnet]

Space Station Defies Humans, Launches Satellites Without Permission

The International Space Station has a cannon that launches tiny CubeSat microsatellites into orbit. Most of the time, those launches are triggered by human scientists on board or back on Earth. But this week, the ISS launched two CubeSats entirely on its own. This is how the uprising begins. Yes, on Thursday night, ISS commander…

Reminder: Stay Skeptical About iPhone 6 Leaks This Weekend

The tech blogging world was alight this morning with purported images and video of a leaked iPhone 6. That’s not surprising—in the run-up to Apple’s iPhone 6 event on Tuesday, leaks and rumors are inevitable. But as always, it pays to have a skeptical eye. Today’s leak, at face value, seems pretty convincing: The leaker…

How to Get (Legal) Weed Delivered to Your Front Door

There are more than a few sketchy pot stores among the thousands of licensed dispensaries spread across the 23 states and DC where medical marijuana has been legalized. Fortunately, you can just have your weed order delivered. All you need is a green card, the Internet, and cash. During the early days of the MMJ…

Star Wars Paintbrush is a lo-fi re-imagining of a Galaxy far, far away

Star Wars art is always cool, especially when talented artists are using its imagery to make awesome things. But what happens when you take Star Wars and render it through 20 year old hardware? Two brothers have started the Star Wars Paintbrush Tumblr, a project dedicated to posting a new piece of artwork every day…

Two Deer Stop Traffic On The Golden Gate Bridge, Prance Endearingly

Two deer managed to find their way onto the Golden Gate Bridge Friday, around the unfortunate hour of 5:30 pm. The pair held up rush-hour traffic for about thirty minutes as they made their way to safety, trit-trotting across the crowded bridge and into Marin. Above: The deer in question, doing what deer do on…

Spotify Hack Plays Only the Most Dramatic Part of Your Favorite Song

There’s probably a perfect moment in your favorite song where everything just clicks. Wouldn’t it be great to skip right to the zenith of every tune? Music Machinery’s Paul Lamere think so—he’s just devised a Spotify plugin that takes you right to the most dramatic moment of any song. The aptly-named Where Is The Drama…