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This Gaming PC Is Smaller Than a Controller But Still Packs a Punch

There are plenty of gaming PCs designed to replace consoles, but if you’re short on space that normally means accepting something underpowered like the Ouya. But this little guy, called the Gigabyte Brix II, is both powerful and petite. https://gizmodo.com/heres-what-100-worth-of-gaming-console-looks-iike-ins-496277518 Its cute little 4.5-inch square frame—which is smaller than an Xbox controller—is actually hiding a…

The Secret NSA Documents and FISA Court Opinions Released By Government

The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) just today released hundreds of pages of documents related to the government’s secret interpretation of Patriot Act Section 215 and the NSA’s (mis)use of its massive database of every American’s phone records. The documents were released as a result of EFF’s ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. We’ve posted…

Face It, Computers Are Better Than Us

Sometimes it feels like there’s nothing that computers can’t beat us at: chess, Jeopardy, curing cancer… hell, even cooking pudding. Randall Munroe sums it up nicely in today’s XKCD. https://gizmodo.com/fifteen-years-ago-today-a-computer-became-the-worlds-b-5909509 And if that weren’t depressing enough, he really knocks it out of the park with the alt-text, too: ‘At least humans are better at quietly…

Watch the Visual Effects Reel Behind Pacific Rim’s Awesome Prologue

If you watched Pacific Rim, you’d know how incredible the giant mechs looked and how unforgettably beautiful the prologue that provided the backstory for the movie was. And though ILM did most of the VFX in the film, Guillermo del Toro’s Mirada studio was the team responsible for the effects in the prologue. Here’s how…

TWTIT: Hunter S Thompson Doesn’t Like His New TV

The one in which the father of gonzo journalism goes off on the “asshole who scrambled all my wiring.” Turns out, Thompson had had a new-fangled DVD player installed in his Woody Creek, CO home but couldn’t get the damnable thing to turn on. So he called what he thought was the installation company that…

13 People Who Think the iPhone 5C Case Actually Looks Awesome

The iPhone 5C is colorful! The iPhone 5C is cute! The iPhone 5C also comes with a ridiculous case that looks like a cross between Connect Four, a cheese grater and Crocs. Hmm… maybe that’s where Apple got the ‘c’ in 5C. Most people with eyes think the 5C case is just plain ugly. Some…

Jurassic Park IV renamed Jurassic World, and it’s coming in June 2015

As if summer 2015 wasn’t already looking overloaded with huge movies, now there’s one more. The fourth Jurassic Park movie, now titled Jurassic World, is coming out June 12, 2015. Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed) is officially directing from a script he co-wrote with Safety co-writer Derek Connolly.

One hidden cave city held the last of our hope

The radiation storms wrecked the land, but a few of us had survived, protected by the thick, rocky walls of our cavern. At last the danger was over. We began our new lives by knocking out one wall of the city, and letting the world back in. Phil Wade is a concept artist in California.…

The Nvidia Shield Still Works After Getting Shot with a Gun

Usual disclaimer about not trying this at home and all that but if you were wondering if you could use the Nvidia Shield as a bulletproof vest and then still play with it later, the answer is yes! Well, as long as it gets shot through the screen. And as long as you’re not actually…

Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine almost showed up in Raimi’s first Spider-Man

When the current superhero movie boom was in its infancy, we could have been teased with the crossover to end all crossovers. Hugh Jackman says he almost did a brief cameo in the first Spider-Man movie as Wolverine — but it fell through because he didn’t have the right costume. Top image: Gemelli22 on Deviant…

Eye-Popping Video: The Making of Pacific Rim‘s Opening Sequence

This VFX reel might make you appreciate Pacific Rim all over again. Guillermo del Toro’s own VFX house, Mirada, created the opening sequence (as we showed you a while ago) and now here’s a video showing just how it was done. https://gizmodo.com/an-exclusive-look-behind-the-scenes-of-pacific-rim-s-pr-870432631

What Do You Think About Apple’s New iPhones?

So Apple’s iPhone event is over and we have two new iPhones to fondle, swipe, break, fingerprint and maybe even use. Well technically we have two new iPhones. One of them is last year’s guts in a brand new body. The other one is brand new guts in last year’s body. Half a new phone…

Chance the Rapper: Everybody’s Something

Chance the Rapper’s breakout mixtape, Acid Rap, is my favorite thing I’ve laid ears on in a long, long time. Inspired in part by Chance’s experiences on LSD, it’s a piece of music that jaunts through something like half a dozen different genres from jazz to funk to soul to pop to create some a…

First glimpse of American Horror Story cast in their witchy new roles

We’ve seen spooky teaser after spooky teaser for American Horror Story Coven, but no actual footage of the new and returning cast in their new roles. Well, wait no more: Jessica Lange is back and looking fierce as all hell in flanked by Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett. Wow. The new season is set in…

Surprise! The NSA Repeatedly Violated Court Rules on Data Protection

In news that you already assumed was already happening, the NSA declassified documents that reveal repeated violations of American’s phone records. A judge said the NSA had “daily violations” for over two years and that “thousands” of American phone numbers had been improperly accessed. Is it massive incompetence or a blatant disregard for privacy? Probably…

Charles Bradley: Why Is It So Hard

On today, the high holy day of frenzied consumerism, please take a moment to reflect on your position of relative privilege in these uncertain times. Let us not forget the real trials and hardships of people both around the world and around this country while we vapidly argue the perceived advantages between competing operating systems.…

The Stockdale Paradox reveals why hope is the grimmest emotion

Though hope is supposed to be this uplifting feeling, it’s often experienced as an irritant or a buzzkill. And nihilism is kind of, well, charming and sexy. Like young Magneto in X-Men First Class. The Stockdale Paradox explains why that might be. It turns out that there are really two kinds of hope. There’s the…

Dream Team. Robert Zemeckis directing a film version of Patrick Ness’ The Knife of Never Letting Go, with a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman? Yes please.

Criminal simulation game world is astonishingly vast

The level of realism and scale of next-generation games is staggering. This is Los Santos, the world of the fifth installment of the crime simulation game series Grand Theft Auto. It’s truly as big and detailed as real-life Los Angeles, the city that inspired it. https://kotaku.com/leaked-grand-theft-auto-v-map-is-massive-1287570002

America’s First Supersonic Interceptor Was a Flying Bottle Rocket

When the Soviet Tupolev Tu-4 bomber made its debut in 1949, it was more than a big deal. This reverse-engineered Boeing B-29 Superfortress gave the Russians intercontinental strategic strike capabilities that the existing US fleet of F-61 Black Widows and F-82 Twin Mustangs simply couldn’t compete with. The American response: Build a better interceptor. Enter…