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Do You Search Differently Since Snowden?

In the year-plus since Edward Snowden lifted the veil on just how closely our government tracks our online lives, a few things have changed. Tech companies are encrypting more; foreign governments are trusting less; and, according to a new study, we’re all searching quite a bit more cautiously. The study, from Alex Marthews and Catherine…

You’ll probably have a better day if you strike up a conversation with a stranger on the bus or train. New psychological research shows that commuters mostly believed that talking to strangers would make their journeys worse, but discovered after doing it that it almost always made them better.

We Are So Ready for The Kilt to Drop on Ron D. Moore’s Outlander Series

We’ve seen the sexy, sexy premiere of Ron D. Moore’s time traveling romance series Outlander. And it was fantastic. We loved it so much. Here are our spoiler-free first impressions. Given that this is the first series that Moore has created since Battlestar Galactica, we were already intrigued. And it’s based on the bestselling book…

Coolest Comic-Con Cosplay Day 4: Everything Is Awesome

The con may be winding up, but not the cosplayers. The massive amount of amazing, crazy, or just plain inspired costumes seen around San Diego continues to astound us. Here are just some of the highlights from Day 4! Top image by John Austin. Sailor Stormtrooper via Gureiify on Reddit [Via Dorkly] Photo by Katharine…

Poor Doors, Hot Trains, Old Ads: What’s Ruining Our Cities This Week

It’s hot pretty much everywhere and everyone’s in a horrible mood. Which means there is plenty of ruining of cities to be had—so much so, that I’ve had to double up on this week’s selections. From a plan to plunge Russia into darkness, to a steamy, sweaty Tube in London, it’s What’s Ruining Our Cities:…

Cable Snaps on 60 MPH Amusement Park Ride

This is the Skyhawk, a 10-story tall “Screamin’ Swing” ride that flings its passengers round and round at up to 60 mph. It’s the tallest of its kind, bringing its 40 passengers as high as 125 feet off the ground at the apex of a swing. It’s scary enough on a normal day. Last night,…

What Turned This River in China into a Blood-Red Mess?

People in Wenzhou, a prefecture in the Zhejiang province, woke up yesterday to discover that their local river had turned a dark crimson. What could have caused the sudden transformation? The river was an ordinary color the night before. By today, it had returned basically to normal. But the environmental department was taking samples and…

Ichabod is Snarky About the Banking Industry in New Sleepy Hollow Clip

Oh, Ichabod. I don’t what delights me more: 1) His confused but irate remonstrances against our modern way of life, 2) the fact that this new clip means season 2 of Sleepy Hollow is getting ever closer or 3) that chained pens and credit cards aren’t even scratching the surface of America’s financial crisis. Sleepy…

Report: The Next Nexus Phone Might Be a Gigantic Moto

Google and Motorola may have parted ways in January, but it if this latest Android Police rumor holds up, it appears to have been on good terms. The Nexus 6 may be a hefty Moto device, and while details are scant, it does have a delightful nickname: Shamu. The only information contained in the Android…

These Insects Build Carapaces of Gold and Pearl

The aquatic caddis fly begins its life in a larval stage, and must build an artificial carapace in order to survive into adulthood. When artist Hubert Dupras discovered that they build these cases out of whatever materials are at hand — including sticks and rocks — he had a strange idea. Over a decade ago,…

Place Your Bets on This Thrilling Roomba Knife Fight

It’s a Roomba-eat-Roomba world out there and these two plucky floor cleaners are playing for keeps. By which I mean their drunk owners taped knives and balloons to them and forced them into combat. It’s adorably dangerous! This almost certainly is not the first time people (drunk or sober) have taped balloons and knives to…

Here’s the First Mad Max Trailer, and It Will Make You a Believer

Now you can see first Mad Max: Fury Road trailer, unveiled yesterday at Comic-Con, with your own eyes. It’s full of gorgeous deserts, blooming smoke bombs the color of bruises, and a giant dust storm that looms over the landscape like a terrestrial tsunami. Dystopia has never looked so desolate and fascinating. This is the…

Book Of Life Is The First Movie To Honor—Not Steal From—Day Of The Dead

Day of the Dead is everywhere these days; calaveras have been adopted by everyone from punks to Pixar. But for The Book of Life director Jorge Gutierrez, the holiday isn’t just about the cool visuals; it’s also intensely personal. During the Book of Life panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Gutierrez and Book of Life producer…

Phew! Russians Regain Control of Rogue Lizard-Sex Satellite

According the Russian space agency Roscosmos, control of the Russia’s lust lost lizard-sex satellite was regained on Saturday night, of all times. Surely the love-struck lizards were being of no help. Russian officials estimate that 90 percent of the experiments on the satellite should still be sitting pretty, and that includes the five randy geckos…

Humanity’s Last Hope Is Running Out Of Breath In The Movie Air

Produced by The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman, Air stars TWD’s Norman Reedus and Djimon Hounsou as maintenance workers in a silo containing the remnants of cryogenically frozen humanity after the air turns poison. As this first trailer reveals, something goes wrong, and the two workers have to fix it… fast. Christian Cantamessa wrote the script…

The Ways Modern Secret Societies Use the Internet to Hide in Plain Sight

Secret societies are as old as humanity, and they sure as hell aren’t going away any time soon. But in an internet age where privacy is harder than ever to come by, secret societies face all kinds of new challenges. And Matt King has seen some of their newest tricks first-hand. Writing in The Atlantic,…

First Impressions: Harvey Bullock Steals Gotham From Jim Gordon

We saw the Gotham pilot last night at Comic-Con, along with a couple thousand other people. It was not as bad as we feared nor as good as we hoped. But Donal Logue flat-out killed the role of Harvey Bullock. He’s so good, you’ll wish Jim Gordon wasn’t the main character. https://gizmodo.com/what-we-learned-from-the-script-for-gothams-first-epi-1530515272 The Good Donal…

Ascension: An Alternate History About a Planned Community in Space

New series Ascension has just finished filming on its first few episodes, and we learned a lot about it at Comic-Con on Saturday. It sounds extremely promising and got us excited for what’s to come. The show takes place in an alternate reality where the United State became convinced that there was a world-ending war…

A Smart Headband That Keeps Your Kids Safe (and Forever Alone)

No one wants their young kids to fall into an unattended pool. It’s (one of) a parent’s (many) worst nightmare(s). iSwimband is designed to let you know immediately if the worst should happen. And probably also to keep your kids from making any friends. The concept of iSwimband is simple: it’s a water-detecting bluetooth sensor…

The World’s Biggest Tiny Domino Setup Must Have Been Maddening to Make

going big means going small, like when you are trying to set the world record for the most mini dominoes (2,000) ever toppled in one sequence. The result is as impressive as it is minute. My god those guys must have a lot of patience. A mini domino is not only smaller than a regular…