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Should You Friend Someone on Facebook Before Your First Date? No.

Air Travel Today is a Damn Bargain

It might not feel like it, but air travel’s a steal compared to what it was a half century ago. Since the American airline industry was deregulated in 1978, ticket prices have fallen by about 40%. Of course, air travel isn’t quite as luxurious as some postwar dreamers imagined, but you can’t beat that price.…

Which reformed villain do you wish would turn evil again?

It’s like a natural law — charismatic villains can’t stay evil forever. Eventually, they join forces with the hero, and often start to stray onto the path of righteousness once and for all. But which reformed villain would you like to see return to the dark side? Please include a picture of this newly redeemed…

Five Types of Compost Bins That Turn Trash Into Treasure

Neolithic farmers may have been new to the whole “raising crops” game but they quickly figured out how to increase their agricultural efficiency: literal bullcrap. And we’ve gotten hellaciously good in the intervening thousands of years at the art of compost. Here’s how you can get in on the goods. Recent archeological finds have confirmed…

Even Google Reader Replacements Are Shutting Down

When Google Reader finally closed its doors, it shoved thousands of teary-eyed RSS fans into cyberspace, adrift, where we flailed around desperately for a suitable replacement. Many services rose to the challenge, but the incoming wave was a lot to handle. Too much for one of our favorite alternatives—The Old Reader—which is taking a page…

G.I.Joe 2 says knowing this week’s DVD releases is half the battle

The other half of the battle is a terrifying, war between the G.I. Joe: Retaliation movie, the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 4 Blu-ray set, and Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, which should change DC animated movies for ever. You can only choose one — unless you want two or something. • G.I. Joe:…

Same-Day Delivery Is Great for Everybody… Except the Deliverers

We’ve already adjusted to the consumer utopia of buying just about everything online with a single click, but waiting for it to show up is still the hardest part. eBay Now pulled it off in a few places, and it’s not easy; just ask the couriers who are making it happen. https://gizmodo.com/en-garde-amazon-ebay-rolling-out-same-day-shipping-ser-5931975 Fast Company decided…

Help Wanted: Full Time Community Editor

io9 is looking to hire a community editor. This person will be a point of contact between io9 staff and our community of commenters. They will be an advocate for the io9 commenter community, promote commenter posts on io9, organize online events such as Q/As with creators and scientists, and write posts that generate fantastic…

Gary Shteyngart tries Google Glasses, and the results are Super Sad

In his novel Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart writes about a society, five minutes into the future, that has a weird neurotic relationship with gadgets and social media, as focused through a device called an “äppärät.” Now, Shteyngart has tried the Google Glass, and in many ways the future he wrote about seems…

Track Your Travels on a Solid-Lego Map of the World

Even if you haven’t seen one in person, you’re probably at least familiar with the concept of a scratch-off world map—it hangs on the wall, you scratch off each country as you visit it, etc. But Lego Cuusoo user TPNK came up with a brilliant, far more tactile version made entirely out of—you guessed it—Lego…

What’s the Best TV Mount?

New York City apartments are small, so to make the most of my space, I’m mounting my 46-inch TV to the wall. One problem—which mount do I get? Is your TV wall mounted? Tell us which mount is your favorite. Do I go cheap? Any landmines to look out for? And go ahead regale us…

New Material Could Cool Gadgets Even Better Than Diamonds Do (Wait, What?)

As electronic devices get increasingly tiny, heat management becomes a bigger and bigger problem. In gadgets that can’t practically house a fan, heat sinks do the job of keeping sensitive electronics cool. So far, the best-performing heat transfer material has been diamond, which any rap video will remind you is crazy expensive. Now, physicists have…

Jon Snow’s Harsh Choice: “Play the game, or die like Ned Stark”

Jon Snow may have known nothing at the start of Game of Thrones, but he’s learned a lot in the past three seasons. And Jon’s in a tough spot as season four begins. When we caught up with actor Kit Harington, we asked him how Jon will regain the trust of his friends. We also…

An Interactive Ruler Shows How OLEDs Will Make Mundane Objects Smarter

We’ve heard a lot about how OLEDs are poised to change everything from televisions to smartphones. But a group of researchers at MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces Group are applying OLEDs too more mundane objects, too—like plain old rulers. And the results are surprisingly cool. Glassified is a prototype by Anirudh Sharma, Lirong Liu and…

The most important thing you’ll read today is an article about oranges

The discourse on genetically modified crops gained a cogent and sorely needed voice this weekend, with the publication of a captivating narrative-treatment of the subject in The New York Times by science writer Amy Harmon. The title of her feature: “A Race to Save the Orange by Altering Its DNA.” Top image by Christine via…

Students Take Control of $80 Million Superyacht Using Fake GPS Signals

Hey—Texas did something smart!1 By sending fake GPS data to a superyacht’s navigation system, University of Texas students were able to override the actual GPS signals and send an $80 million ship veering off course without rousing any suspicions whatsoever. The group, led by professor Todd Humphreys, used a device directed towards the ship that…

The world’s most incredible roads

What’s the use of a fast car if you’re just sitting in traffic? Get that car out of gridlock and onto these incredibly beautiful roads where it’s just you, your wheels, crazy scenery and a whole lot of roadway. https://jalopnik.com/the-worlds-greatest-road-actually-sucks-here-are-fo-944904488

The Best Thing You’ll Read About Google Glass

Gary Shteyngart, novelist and fond admirer of Koreans, wrote maybe the best explanation of what it’s like to use Google Glass for The New Yorker this week. Shteyngart was one of the first to receive Glass, as part of the Glass Explorers program, and he writes about a week’s worth of the telling little moments…

You Can Compare 16 Cities 35 Different Ways With This One Mapping Tool

These days we’ve got plenty of ways to visualize data within our cities, from car crashes to Flickr photos. But there aren’t many tools that let us compare information about multiple cities at once—until now. Meet Urban Observatory, a site that compares data from 16 global metropoli. The Observatory is the work of Richard Saul…

Run For Your Lives: Self-aware Hexapod Is Self-aware

Many of you have expressed some, um, concerns about a few of the bots we’ve covered in recent weeks. ATLAS, for instance, is quite frightening, but it’s not yet self-aware. This tiny hexapod, however, is and it’s rather unsettling. With all “limbs” intact, the hexapod gets along pretty quickly at 26 cm/s, but once you…