Latest

Probably the most viscerally satisfying thing you’ll watch today

We could watch acetone devour styrofoam all. Day. Long. Although, technically speaking, the acetone isn’t devouring anything. Styrofoam is made of up countless interconnected styrene molecules that together make up a material known as polystyrene. In the mid-20th Century, Dow Chemicals came up with a process that turns small, spherical polystyrene beads into a closed-cell…

Daisy-Chain This Keychain Solar Battery’s Panels For Faster Charges

You can never have too many sources of backup power for your mobile devices. And not only is the compact ClicLite easy to carry around, it also charges itself using the sun’s continuously free rays. But what’s that you say? That tiny solar panel will take hours to recharge its internal battery? Well then it’s…

Is L.A. Too Spread Out to Be a Tech Center?

New York Times tech writer Eilene Zimmerman did not come to Los Angeles to make friends, you guys. In her story and blog post about L.A.’s startup culture, Zimmerman manages to cram as many tired stereotypes as she can into a single sentence: “As a city, Los Angeles has been better known more for sprawl,…

This magic app allows you to move objects inside a photograph

Watch this mind-blowing demonstration of 3-Sweep, a new technology that can extract objects out of any photograph with the move of a mouse. In fact, it even allows to move around objects in any image. It looks impossible, but it was demonstrated at Siggraph Asia, one of the largest conferences in image science. https://gizmodo.com/this-impossible-software-can-make-3d-models-from-a-sing-1277902245

The Best Cookbook Apps to Make Yourself a 21st Century Julia Child

Though chock-full of delicious knowledge, traditional cookbooks are far too portly for the modern kitchen. Instead of dedicating valuable shelf space to dozens of cooking anthologies, let them live in the cloud or in your tablet. Here are 10 ways to digitize your recipe collection as suggested by the Gizmodo community. https://gizmodo.com/whats-your-favorite-cookbook-app-1228363572 General Notes The…

The Bone Season surrenders to fantasy writing’s worst instincts

21-year-old author Samantha Shannon is living the dream. Her novel The Bone Season debuted at #7 on the New York Times bestseller list, and it’s already been optioned by Andy Serkis’ production house. But what’s really behind the hype on this dystopian fantasy novel? A lot of amazing, but also a lot of problems. On…

Take a Stunning Drone’s-Eye Tour of Burning Man

It’s been a little over a week since Burners set fire to “The Man” at Black Rock City in the middle of the Nevada desert, but the incredible images keep rolling in. Burning Man looks interesting enough from the ground. From the sky, however, it’s simply majestic. Thank two quadcopter drones—each toting a GoPro Hero3—…

Dealzmodo: 500GB USB3, Samsung EVO SSD, GTX 770, Vizio 70″ LED

When it comes to storage, more is always better, except when less is ridiculously cheap. Grab this 500GB Seagate USB3 ultra slim external hard drive today for only $30 $60. That’s an awesome price for half a terabyte of fast storage that can easily be thrown in a bag. Code right on the page. [Newegg] Update:…

Want to know more about the science of food? Scientific American has just finished its food week, and has launched a blog devoted entirely to food science. Learn about everything from astronaut nutrition and food health scares, to why we should eat horses.

Here’s the massive work that went into making Game of Thrones‘ dragons

Wired got a glimpse of how German VFX company Pixomondo created Daenerys’ three dragons, and the terrifying amount of work that went into it. Researching how big the wings needed to be, figuring out flight patterns, waving tennis balls on sticks at the actors — all this and more was required to bring Drogon, Rhaegal,…

Chopstick Straws (YEP) Will Change How You Eat Ramen Forever

Tradition or not, slurping soup broth directly from a bowl can be an awkward experience, if only because you often end up with it dripping down your chin. But instead of letting all that tasty broth go to waste because you don’t have a spoon at your disposal, hopefully restaurants will see the genius in…

Sprng EarPod Clip Review: One of Apple’s Biggest Design Flaws, Fixed

The constant curse of Apple’s earbuds—along with the lackluster sound they produce—is that you can rarely go more than 10 seconds before one side or the other pops out. Sprng—clips for Apple’s updated-in-2012 EarPods—wants to remedy that. And you know what? They do. https://gizmodo.com/a-10-hack-fixes-apple-s-most-annoying-product-design-m-1032842698 What Are They? Flexible silicone and plastic hook thingies that clip…

The first new cars of 2014, live from the Frankfurt Motor Show

Check out the very first 2014 cars and concepts at the Frankfurt Motor Show, covered live from Germany by Jalopnik. https://jalopnik.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-2013-frankfurt-mo-1277831095

It was the biggest Burning Man ever, and this is what I saw there

Early last week, I returned to the Toronto area after attending my second Burning Man — an annual countercultural festival set in Nevada’s remote Black Rock Desert. Here’s the story of my remarkable trip — in photos. https://gizmodo.com/what-will-human-cultures-be-like-in-100-years-453934475 Top image: Black Rock City 2013. This was the largest version of the city to date, with…

This Colossal Dam Keeps Russia’s Capital City Above Water

When Tsar Peter the Great founded the former Russian capital city of Saint Petersburg more than 300 years ago, he intended it to provide a “window on the Baltic.” Turns out, that window was more of a screen door. To protect itself, the city built a dam that took almost 300 years and $3.85 billion…

An Exclusive Look at Catherynne M. Valente’s Next Fairyland Book

Catherynne M. Valente’s “Fairyland” books have captured the imaginations of readers of all ages. And in case you’ve missed out, we’ve got the exclusive debut of a book trailer that explains the series. Plus here are the first two chapters of her brand new book, The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon…

Yahoo’s Screen App for iOS Lets You Channel Surf on Your iPad

Yahoo wants to make browsing its mobile video content feel more like channel surfing on the old-fashioned tube. The new iOS app out today should help. The app uses a swipe-to-browse interface that lets you quickly flip between channels (up and down) and episodes (side to side). Yahoo’s got a pretty big collection of exclusive…

All Our National Monuments Have a Hidden Geological History

All human existence is a meaningless blip in the grand scheme of time. Nice thought for a Monday, right? But you knew that already, so here’s another way to think about it: All the grand monuments we build are made of rock thousands of times older than the historical blips they commemorate. PBS Digital Studios’…

Meet the Maleo, the bizarre bird that can fly the moment it hatches

You’ve probably never heard of the Maleo – the endangered creature is found exclusively on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. But it is a fascinating animal. This New York Times piece calls the maleo a “chickenlike bird,” which, sure, we suppose is a decent enough comparison, in the sense that they’re both egg-laying vertebrates with…

You can solve five irritating life problems for five bucks

Fiverr is an online marketplace in which people provide small jobs for just five bucks. Lifehacker investigated how it can really solve a lot of life’s little annoying chores and problems. Here’s a selection of five. https://lifehacker.com/five-annoying-life-problems-you-can-solve-for-5-with-f-1260424144