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The Most Popular Cocktail Ingredient You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

You’re out on a date. You’re hoping to impress your companion and come off as a worldly gentleman or gentlewoman, but the bar menu is chock-full of alien ingredients. Your choice is simple: Get the one with fernet. It’s Friday afternoon, you’ve made it through the long week, and it’s time for Happy Hour, Gizmodo’s…

Other Kitchen Devices Can Harness Power from Your Microwave

When your microwave is sitting there glowing and spinning inside, do you ever wonder where all those stray rays of energy go? Turns out they usually just slip out the door, into thin air. But a Japanese scientists has found away to harness that power and use it to juice your other appliances. Yoshihiro Kawahara,…

We Have Mixed Feelings About Neil Marshall Remaking Troll Hunter

The Norwegian flick Troll Hunter by André Øvredal is hands down one of the most creative (and beautiful) found-footage films we’ve ever seen. We love this movie, so we’re not thrilled that it’s getting an Americanized remake. But we are happy about who is behind the lens. Deadline broke the news that one or our…

These Steampunk detectives are going to darker places than ever before

George Mann has helped revitalize steampunk fiction with his detective novels featuring the duo of Newbury and Hobbes — and now, his new story collection, The Casebook of Newbury & Hobbes, takes the detectives to weirder places than ever. Check out an exclusive excerpt right here. Mann’s Casebook is being published by Titan Books, and…

There are trace amounts of arsenic in the water supply, and it turns out that even this mild exposure can do lasting damage. In the New York Times today, Deborah Blum explores the dangers of arsenic poisoning in the U.S., and around the world. New evidence suggests it’s much worse than we thought.

Batman trades crimefighting for childrearing with hilarious results

Some men just want to watch the kids learn (through a Batman mask). Men like Batdad, a heroic father who has been teaching his kids, scaring his poor wife, and entertaining countless people with his Vine videos, detailing his “unique” parenting style. You seriously don’t want to miss this video. I know, I know, you…

Flatlining comatose patients may be more ‘alive’ than we realized

When working with patients in a deep coma, doctors interpret a flat EEG reading as a sign that the person is brain-dead and with little chance of waking up. But a new Canadian study raises the possibility of ongoing brain activity beneath that flat line. The observation of this never-before-detected brain activity, which the University…

Nielsen will launch its Twitter TV Ratings Service on September 30. It will be the first time the company has formally used Twitter data to augment its long-standing media metrics system.

Everyone’s a Master Bartender With This App-Connected Drink Scale

You’ve mastered opening your guest’s beers with your bare hands, but what about when a dinner party calls for something a little more sophisticated? You can try you hand as an amateur mixologist, hoping you’ve got the proportions right for the perfect cocktail. Or wait for Brookstone’s new Perfect Drink system that guarantees precise pours.…

Who was the Skull Cowboy, the mysterious character cut from The Crow?

When you watch Alex Proyas’ original movie of The Crow nowadays, it’s an amazingly tight movie. The supernatural revenge plot is pretty straightforward, and the film skips most of the angst, to go straight to the campy fun. But originally, there was a forboding presence in the film: the Skull Cowboy. See for yourself. Over…

The deadly side of champagne bubbles

Though the “sparkling” part of champagne is a key part of it’s appeal, those tiny bubbles were a huge problem for about a century’s worth of French wine makers. We’ll let you in on the making, and the downside, of bubbles. There’s a famous legend that has the inventor of champagne, Dom Perignon, tasting his…

This Week in Time Capsules: Lost “Steve Jobs Capsule” Has Been Found

This week we have a 1913 capsule in California that for some reason contained hair clippings and a tooth; an Andy Warhol capsule that will be opened in Pittsburgh tomorrow; and a TV crew that finally found the long-lost Steve Jobs time capsule in Colorado! TV Crew Finally Unearths “Steve Jobs Time Capsule” Missing Since…

Military Scientists Use Yelp and Digg To Test Viral Marketing Skills

In the age of Reddit and BuzzFeed, it seems like everybody wants to know the secret to making things go viral. Even the military wants to know how to make things go viral, and one research team says they’ve figured it out—using an algorithm they tested on social networks like Digg and Foursquare. Wait, why…

Here’s one classic Doctor Who story that’s scary AND packed with ideas

Patrick Troughton’s second season starring in Doctor Who was the “base under siege” era, where relentless monsters terrorize an embattled crew of humans in story after story. But judging from the newly released “Ice Warriors,” it was also an era of good idea-driven science fiction. “The Ice Warriors” is out on DVD for the first…

Ouch. BlackBerry announced a quarterly net operating loss of nearly $1 billion and plans to cut 4,500 jobs on Friday afternoon, shortly after trading was halted. By 2015, the company plans to cut operating expenditures by 50 percent.

Apple TV Just Got Support For iTunes Radio and More

Apple TV didn’t even warrant a mention at the iPhone event earlier this month, but as expected, the set-top box just got a software overhaul. https://gizmodo.com/rumor-theres-an-apple-tv-software-refresh-coming-next-1291904556 There aren’t any surprises in store, because most of this update had already been predicted. Anyway, Apple TV 6.0 features support for iTunes Radio and stuff bought from iTunes.…

15 Toylines from the ’80s That Will Never Ever Be Coming Back

The ‘80s were the golden age of the action figure, but not all ’80s toylines were gold. For every He-Man or Transformers, there are a dozen series that will never return — either because they’ve been forgotten, or they’ve been outclassed, or just because they sucked in the first place. Here are 15 toylines whose…

How To Talk Your Friends and Family Through iOS 7

It’s already happened to you and now it’s happening to the ones you love. They’re staring at their iPhones in bewilderment and disbelief. Everything that made so much sense a few days ago is different, and scary. You want to talk them through the change, but where can you start? Here’s a template: [Mom/Dad/Bro/Sis/Grandma/Grandpa/Roommate/Stranger crying…

Dealzmodo: 10 Pack Of HDMI Cables, 12 Pack Of Compressed Air, ATH-M50

It’s bundle day here in DealsLand. Grab a 10pk of HDMI 1.4 cables for only $13, or a 12pk of Dust Destroyer for $30. If you want something a bit more high-end, pick up the excellent Audio-Technica ATH-M50’s, my headphones of choice, for just $126 with code 1-ATH-M50-50. Introducing the new Dealhacker That’s right, Lifehacker…

A ‘super typhoon’ is about to smash into East Asia

It’s called Super Typhoon Usagi — and it’s picking up serious steam as it churns away in the western Pacific Ocean. Now the equivalent of a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane, it’s poised to hit some of the most densely populated regions in the world, including Taiwan, the northern Philippines, and Hong Kong. A “super typhoon”…