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Android Maps Are Getting Way Better Battery Life and Location Services

Google has some new stuff coming up for Maps for Android. Details aren’t super detailed right now, and of course we’ll believe some of this when we see it, but the claims are pretty incredible. First, is Fused Location Provider. This uses all your phone’s sensors to find your location. Google’s claiming that the location…

Google Play Games Just Made Android Gaming Awesome(r)

Gaming on Android just got a way more legit. Google’s just announced its new “Google Play Games” app and service at I/O today, and that comes with a whole bunch of features from achievements to leaderboards to matchmaking, multiplayer, and even cloud saves. https://gizmodo.com/google-i-o-whats-new-in-android-chrome-and-beyond-506734952 Any serious gaming platform nowadays has its own social network to…

Watch Tilda Swinton & Tom Hiddleston transform into Rock God Vampires

Watch Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston breathe into each others mouths as sexy vampire rock gods. If vampires really were alive, we have no doubt they would look just like this. Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, Hiddleston and Swinton play “two vampires who have been in love for centuries” in Only Lovers Left Alive.…

What Would a Mac Look Like As a Motorcycle?

If you missed the One Show in Portland this past February, you’re not alone and that’s OK. Here’s a nice little recap of some of the show’s best. But if you skip to the 1:30 minute mark, you’ll find an interesting and all together nerdy custom built with parts from a Mac.

The Most Significant Futurists of the Past 50 Years

Our visions of the future tend to be forged in the pages of science fiction. But for the past half-century, a number of prominent thinkers, activists, and scientists have made significant contributions to our understanding of what the future could look like. Here are 10 recent futurists you absolutely need to know about. Above image…

Google I/O: What’s New in Android, Chrome, and Beyond

Well, it’s here at last, Google’s annual orgy for developers and fanboys alike. Rumors have been flying, but we’re about to find out what’s what for real. https://gizmodo.com/google-i-o-rumors-whats-next-for-android-chrome-nex-504621953 We’ve got a wishlist for everything we’re hoping will be coming to Android, and while there supposedly won’t be much in the way of hardware, it’s still…

Watch the Google I/O Keynote Right Here, Right Now

It’s Google Day! Google I/O, that magical time of year when everybody’s favorite search megalopolis shows off its latest doodads and Doodles. And you can watch the keynote unfold in real-time right here, starting at 12pm EST/9am PST. https://gizmodo.com/google-i-o-whats-new-in-android-chrome-and-beyond-506734952 We’re covering the event live from San Francisco’s Moscone Center here, but in the meantime feel…

Become fluent in the vocabulary of solar flares and space weather

With all the exciting solar activity lately, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center shared this helpful tutorial about the vocabulary of space weather on their Facebook page. Now you can tell your CMEs apart from your solar flares. https://gizmodo.com/what-the-hell-is-happening-on-the-sun-505535245

Escalators of Tokyo: a Visual Encyclopedia of a City’s Moving Staircases

Escalators that curve. Escalators that glow. Quadruple-decker, gold-plated, Tron-themed escalators. The moving staircase may have been an American invention, but it’s the Japanese who have really perfected them. Tokyo Escalator, a blog devoted to the city’s many variations on a theme, shows us some of the most fascinating. The encyclopedic site is the work of…

How Star Wars proves children are morons

What’s the biggest scifi franchise of all time? How did Torchwood’s Captain Jack get stranded in the present? What doesn’t Batman know? All these questions answered and more on this week’s “Postal Apocalypse”! Hey — before we get started, I just want to clarify why I used Jake Lloyd’s picture to head up this week’s…

What if New York City was transported to another planet?

Illustrator Nickolay Lamm, along with astrobiologist Marilyn Vogel, have transplanted New York City to the various surfaces — and atmospheres — of our solar system’s planets. All images via Nickolay Lamm, Storage Front. Mercury Vogel writes: Mercury has but a thin envelope of gas that barely qualifies as an atmosphere. The inexorable solar wind continually…

Syria Dropped Off the Face of the Internet Again

Last week, Syria completely disappeared from the Internet, and not for the first time either. Since then, it poked its head back out into cyberspace, but not for long; Google’s Transparency Report is showing that it’s gone again. https://gizmodo.com/syria-is-completely-cut-off-from-the-internet-again-494724786 What’s going on over there is anyone’s guess. According to Renesys chief technology officer James Cowie,…

The wait formobile app voice control is finally over for DirecTV customers—or those with iPhones, at least. Presumably, an Android version should be soon to follow.

What’s being whispered in J.J.’s ear on the deck of the Enterprise?

“Wait… we’re about to get to my favorite part…” But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters! “Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. *Sigh* Anyway, back to Spock.” Now it’s your turn — caption this.

An Interview With the Artists Behind the Beastie Boys’ Album Artwork

As part of an upcoming special issue that pays tribute to Adam Yauch—aka MCA—by looking at the visual history of the Beastie Boys, Juxtapoz magazine conducted interviews with the artists behind the group’s memorable album art. And while this three-minute highlight doesn’t go into as much detail as the magazine will, it’s still a pretty…

Pinterest’s newest update for both iOS and Android finally brings us some long-awaited mobile features including notifications, @mentions, and saved search histories.

Beautiful Portraits of “Monstrosities” from the 18th Century

The illustrations from this 18th century text are both beautiful and intensely disturbing. They come from a time when science was separating superstition from medical practice with the development of teratology, the study of deformities — but retained the unfortunate word “monster” as a medical term. The prospectus of Les Ecarts de la nature ou…

A Cellphone Plan That Helps Make the World a Better Place

It’s pretty safe to assume that your cellphone bill is bigger than you’d like it to be. With the help of a new service provider called GIV Mobile, you can slice a little chunk off every month, but it’ll go to charity instead of your pocket. GIV Mobile is a MVNO operating on T-Mobile’s 4G…

The Axe Cop cartoon still looks awesome, if you were wondering

The nice thing about the upfronts? Besides all the new trailers for new shows, we also get new trailer for shows that were previously announced, like this one for Fox’s unbelievably awesome Axe Cop cartoon. I’ve heard every time someone watches an Axe Cop video, an Adult Swim executive sheds a tear. That’s Mad Men’s…

According to The Verge, Xbox Points are finally going to die. Rumor is that Microsoft will move to a gift card system not unlike iTunes. The system’s said to work across Windows Store, Windows Phone Store, and Xbox, with a launch as soon as E3. We’ll see.