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There’s Nothing Wrong With a FaceTime Thanksgiving

This will be the first Thanksgiving I’ve ever spent away from family. I really couldn’t take another round of traveling on the worst travel day of the year. And although I’m looking forward to a jolly, boozy holiday with my friends, in the back of the mind I will miss gorging myself on turkey in…

The Futures of the West, Utopian and “Less Utopian” Alike

Americans have long had an obsession with the West — as much an idea as it is a physical place. Even if you risked getting lost, its wide open spaces have always had a sort of mystical pull. The West holds the promise of a new life; the idea of starting over; the appeal of…

Google’s Getting Serious About Prescription Glass

Google really knocked everybody’s socks off when it revealed Glass last year—everybody except glasses-wearers, that is. As the company prepares to bring the device to market, though, Google doesn’t want to leave anybody out, and that means creating Google Glass with prescription lenses. A new Wall Street Journal report says that process is well underway…

Unprecedented neutrino discovery is a “Nobel Prize in the making”

By drilling a 1.5 mile hole deep into an Antarctic glacier, physicists working at the IceCube South Pole Observatory have captured 28 extraterrestrial neutrinos — those mysterious and extremely powerful subatomic particles that can pass straight through solid matter. Welcome to an entirely new age of astronomy. Back in April of this year, the same…

Ridley Scott throws a giant stuffed Tiger at Russell Crowe

This behind-the-scenes photo from Gladiator reveals the giant fake tiger director Ridley Scott threw at actor Russell Crowe. Which looks like it was purchased from Toys R’ Us. In other news, Scott cancelled his plans for a series of scifi shorts with Machinima. Which is a shame. Image via Univseral Pictures.

Charge Your Phone From Your Power Tools With This Handy Adapter

Smartphones have become an essential tool in every line of work, from corporate accounting to carpentry. But often times those working on construction sites don’t have easy access to a power outlet for a quick top-off when needed. They do, however, have access to power tools. And with this clever adapter they can harness a…

Here’s a cognitive bias you’ll actually want to have — if you’re evil

Most cognitive biases persist because people don’t realize they’ve fallen prey to them. But at last, here’s one that we should consciously encourage. All obsessive people everywhere should band together and support the zero risk bias. People don’t like leaving things half-done. Knowing that it’s still there, percolating, is like a brain itch that can’t…

Zombie Towers: 5 Vacant or Foreclosed Skyscrapers Across the U.S.

Tall buildings are economic bellwethers: Evidence suggests they tend to rise just before recessions, and they’re the first to proverbially fall when the bubble bursts. Nowhere is that more obvious than mid-sized American cities. https://gizmodo.com/could-chinas-new-skyscrapers-really-predict-an-economi-1092416908 This week, light was shed on the half-vacant status of One World Trade (which joins the sorta-empty London Shard). But…

Firing an artillery cannon from a plane looks as crazy as it sounds

I’ve always marveled at the fact that the US Air Force put hugeartillery cannons inside airplanes. Watching them in action is impressive. https://gizmodo.com/this-is-not-a-lost-scene-from-aliens-5761946 Imagine all the energy that has to be absorbed so the airplane doesn’t flip around at every shot. A wonder of military engineering. Video by Airman 1st Class Stephen Ellis Hurlburt Field…

Amazingly, JFK’s Limo Was Still Used More Than a Decade Past His Death

The limousine President John F. Kennedy rode in fifty years ago today is an indelible part of our visual memory. That midnight blue Lincoln will be forever known as the setting of a national tragedy. Yet, after Kennedy’s assassination, the car remained in service, transporting four presidents before it was retired in 1977. Aside from…

10 Reasons You Should Be Watching Dracula Right Now

One of the most amazingly bizarre reinterpretations of the Dracula story is airing this season on NBC, and if you are not watching you’re seriously missing out. Campy and ambitious, this Dracula series manages to be a completely unhinged transformation of the original novel, while also paying thoughtful homage to it. Here are 10 reasons…

Oh Good, You Can Now Use Your Fake Money to Fly in a Space Plane

Congratulations to all aspiring crypto-currency cosmonauts out there; you’ll soon be able to use Bitcoin, everyone’s favorite pseudomonetary bubble, to book flights on Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space boats. Bitcoin, which is currently hovering above $700 American in value for no discernible reason, has already been used to purchase one of the $250,000 round trips…

Syfy unveils its winter line-up, with werewolves, vampires and Helix

Back at this year’s upfronts presentation, Syfy promised a new wave of quality science fiction and supernatural television — and it’s almost time for the network to deliver. The new disease outbreak show Helix looks cool, but what about all these other shows? SERIES PREMIERES: HELIX (TWO EPISODE PREMIERE) FRIDAY, JANUARY 10 AT 10PM We’ve…

​Sony A7, A7r Review: So Long DSLRs, Hello Future of Photography

The full-frame camera has been synonymous with the most high-end DSLRs—the biggest, the priciest. Not anymore. A new breed of camera that’s light on its feet but packs the best image quality outside of pro-grade gear is here, and it starts with Sony’s new A7 series. https://gizmodo.com/sony-a7r-and-a7-first-impressions-full-frame-power-pa-1456083926 What Is It? A mirrorless camera with a…

Everybody’s in love with everybody else, on Tomorrow People

Seriously. At this point, the main cast are all pretty much ensnared in some kind of love pentagram. Entwined in a fiendish macrame of love. But mostly, Wednesday night’s Tomorrow People convinced me that this show is only really great when Astrid is around. First of all, many apologies that this recap is so late.…

The Historical Events That Drove People to (and From) Porn

We already know people love porn—that’s never been up for debate. But have you ever wondered what it would take for the citizens of the world to actually give up their precious personal sexytime? Pornhub certainly has, and the answers, which come to you in the form of this lovely interactive map, actually just might…

Apple’s Superstar Designer Auctioning Off Actual Spacesuit for Charity

Got $50,000 burning a hole in your pocket? Consider bidding on this cosmonaut spacesuit — one of the many items up for auction at Sotheby’s this weekend to support RED, Bono’s HIV/AIDS charity. It’s certainly more spendy than Buzz Aldrin’s underpants, but it’s for a good cause. https://gizmodo.com/how-much-would-you-pay-for-buzz-aldrins-undies-1469108241 https://gizmodo.com/inside-jony-ives-extraordinary-and-very-expensive-so-1469774180

Inside Jony Ive’s Extraordinary (and Very Expensive) Sotheby’s Auction

Jony Ive creates objects that end up in the hands of hundreds of millions of people. But for his latest trick—a RED charity auction at Sotheby’s tomorrow afternoon—he and designer Marc Newson are offering up something else: The one-of-a-kind. The best way to describe the Sotheby’s auction is this: Imagine if you—and your bottomless bank…

This incredible film of Saturn was made with one million still photos

Our friend Val Klavans sent me this teaser trailer for the outstanding In Saturn’s Rings, a truly incredible look into the most photogenic planet in the solar system. Please support their Kickstarter project to fund the soundtrack for the film: the recordings of Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” by the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra. In Saturn’s…