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Could Minecraft Actually Be the Ultimate Educational Tool?

Playing the video game Minecraft is a joke that writes itself. Ooh, look at nerds building the world they want to live in! But it’s actually engaging, like playing with a digital Lego. Could it also be the ultimate educational tool? PBS’ Idea Channel examines Minecraft’s case for wrinkling our brain. PBS says: Some experts…

In a Fast Moving World, We Could All Do with a Roll of 36 Exposures

Gizmodo friend and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Vincent Laforet recently swapped out his Canon 1D X for a Canon A2e—a film camera he hadn’t touched in 14 years. Restrained by only a roll of 36 exposures, Laforet actually loved going back to shooting with film. He writes about his experience below. I’ve been thinking a lot…

Russell Crowe snaps pictures of a UFO in Australia

Earlier this week, actor Russell Crowe posted this tweet, describing UFOs he’d spotted outside his Woolloomooloo office: Above, you can see the video. The internet went wild, wondering WTF these weird UFO lights were, and what kind of intoxicants Crowe might be on. The best response to the video comes from ParaBreakdown, where the good…

The Red Solo Cup Gets Classy

Because the classically versatile red Solo cup pretty much signifies party time, there’s something unclassy about downing anything but crappy beer and jungle juice from it. But what if the red cup’s design was converted to a wine glass? Or a martini glass? Or a chalice? Or a shot cup? Oh so classy now. https://gizmodo.com/what-the-lines-of-a-red-solo-cup-actually-mean-5918077…

Watch Will Smith fight neo-dinosaurs in the new trailer for After Earth

It’s the white-knuckle trailer for a new scifi flick with Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith (yes, they play father and son). The effects look sweet, and I like the idea that — as Smith says in the trailer — “everything has evolved to kill humans.” Yes, it’s directed by The Happening and The…

Sponge Pots Serve As Life Support For Plants You Forget To Water

Designed exclusively for plant lovers who just can’t seem to get organized enough to keep their greenery alive, Stefano Claudio Bison’s sponge pots absorb and hold onto as much moisture as possible every time they’re watered. The pots are made from the same kind of sponges you wash your dishes or car with, and unlike…

From Beautiful Creatures to alien love — check out the book trailer for Icons

Co-author of Beautiful Creatures Margaret Stohl has left the world of southern Casters for alien love! Her latest scifi series, Icons revolves around a strange invasion and group of kids who are somehow connected to it. Conspiracies, plant tentacles and love! Check out the book trailer debut right now. Here’s the synopsis: Your heart beats…

Atoms for Peace: Ingenue

Wait, is that, that is Thom Yorke performing interpretive dance with contemporary dancer Fukiko Takase! But why? Yorke founded Atoms for Peace, an experimental rock supergroup comprised of himself, Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker of R.E.M., and instrumentalist Mauro Refosco back in 2009. The band reportedly coalesced around…

How We’ll Live in a Future Where Cities Have Become Forests

Tomorrow’s cities may be constructed partly out of living materials that produce energy without destroying the environment. But what will transportation look like in a world where you can’t tell the difference between cities and forests? We get some hints in these gorgeous images of freeways built over forests in today’s world. Imagine that these…

Spider-Man is a gross skank in the most amazing Bad Lip Reading yet

Those scamps over at Bad Lip Reading have worked their magic on Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone’s performances in The Amazing Spider-Man. Obviously, Peter Parker freestyle raps and Gwen Stacy’s menstrual cramps are discussed in length. I don’t want to spoil anything, but clearly, Peter did not receive the proportional rapping powers of a spider.…

Adidas Crazyquick: Incredibly Flexible Basketball Shoes (That Might Actually Work)

Adidas has a new basketball shoe. It’s called the Crazyquick, and seems to improve performance, in the way that all new athletic gear improves performance in some nebulous way. These make you quick, says Adidas. But whatever: They look really freaking cool. The claim for Crazyquick, which has been in development for close to three…

Google Field Trip: Exploration Without the Effort

There are gems of historical info or culinary value hiding in plain sight on your very block, but you have no idea. Unless of course you’re using Google Field Trip. What does it do? Uses your location to notify you when you’re nearby something worth checking out, whether that’s good shopping, good eating, or good…

Aviary’s Photo Editor for Android has a new focus tool for creating an effect similar to Instagram’s tilt-shift.

Wonderful Footage of an 11-Year-Old Touring the Google Office of 1999

Once upon a 1999, two young boys document a visit to their father at the Google offices in its early stages. The result: a cinematic masterpiece of a time capsule. Granted, the whole video is a bit long and tends to drag near the end (unless you have a passion for watching tweens eating fritos),…

The robots are the least insane thing about this production of MacBeth

Do you have a child you’d like to get interested in Shakespeare? Are you worried that the Bard’s prose might be too indecipherable, or the plays too violent, or simply not interesting enough for today’s kids with their iPads and Twitters and Biebers and Pokémons? Well, today is your lucky day, because the Robot Shakespeare…

Check out NASCAR HQ’s Swanky Social Media Control Room (and Then Meet Us In Houston Tonight for Cars, Beers, and Gizmodo TV!)

Last night in Peachtree City, Georgia, I got to sit in the backseat of a VW Phaeton—the cheapest Bentley I’ve ever seen—for the first time. That pleased my inner automotive cheapskate. We served pizza and beers to Jalopnik and Gizmodo readers, showed clips from our new TV show, and debated the future legality of commercial…

Read an exclusive excerpt from Joe Hill’s scary new novel NOS4A2

At last, we’ve got a new novel from Horns author Joe Hill. It’s called NOS4A2 (pronounced “nosferatu”), and it promises to be as creepy-funny as his other work . . . as well as just downright strange. Joe Hill wrote in to set up this excerpt for us: Where are we? At a little cottage…

A Modern Porch Swing Is Still a Classic

A porch swing is something you envision on the front porch on every archetypal white picket fenced house in America. SwingLabs has put a mondern spin on the classic suspended seat with this modular version. The cedar swing comes with five-foot cables with eyelets on the ends for hanging. The backs can be configured anyway…

Words to live by: Chris Hadfield’s advice to aspiring astronauts

As of this posting, the International Space Station has been continuously occupied for 12 years and 125 days. In that time, the orbital outpost has had more than its fair share of awesome tenants, but astronaut Chris Hadfield has got to be one of our favorites. Hadfield arrived at the ISS last December, and will…

13 Ridiculously Cool Buildings Made of Ice

Buildings made of ice. We’re not talking about that novelty bar you visited on a trip to Vegas. We’re talking incredible, impressive, complete structures built in the grand tradition of Ice Palaces all over the world. Bundle up. This might get chilly. The very first ice hotel was erected in 1990 in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden. Made…