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See the brutal deleted scene that was way too violent for the 1986 Transformers movie

The fine folks over at the Transformers fansite The Spacebridge have managed to get their hands on a bunch of storyboards from the original 1986 Transformers: The Movie, with which they discovered that Ultra Magnus’ death at the hands of Galvatron was originally supposed to be ridiculously more violent that how it ended up on…

Why Is the Navy Building a Shiny Drone Base in Sunny Malibu?

Sorry, Sushi/Massage Guru at Google: you no longer have the coolest tech job in America. That honor will belong to the future staff at the planned Point Mugu UAV installation in paradisiacal California. Surfing, sunrays, and constant sensor surveillance. And it’s only the beginning. The Point Mugu base is technically just outside of Malibu—barely—but we’re…

The Oscar-winning scientist who first came up with “bullet-time”

Remember when we all went wild because The Matrix brought out “bullet-time”? They were about half a century behind Harold Edgerton. He was an engineer who first started looking into the idea of photographing fast motion. He let people see exploding apples and coronets made of droplets. And he made the world a much cooler…

Here’s How We Go to Space Now

This morning, Elon Musk’s SpaceX program shot its third rocket into space. The Falcon 9 carries with it a Dragon cargo capsule, and will deliver supplies to ISS astronauts not entirely unlike a 19th century freight train delivering mining equipment to California. The launch, as you can see in the video above, went off without…

If Batman Played Golf, This Is Probably What He’d Drive

As badass as the various Batmobiles have been over the years, no self-respecting country club would ever let one of them onto their courses. So if the Dark Knight were to ever slip away in the middle of the night to relax with a round of golf, the Mansory Currus is definitely what he’d be…

A spiral through frozen helium

What you’re seeing here is a spiral created by a special state of matter called supersolidity. All it takes is freezing cold helium and a few other helium atoms intrepid enough to crawl through it. Put them together and you can make an incredible pattern. This spiral is a crystal of silicon carbide, made during…

Zero Hour reveals the secret holy apocalypse clock in Einstein’s brain

Before I begin the recap, I want to make one thing clear: I love Zero Hour. I find it massively entertaining. Oh, it has flaws, and the characters are insane, and nothing makes any sense — but Zero Hour is doing exactly what it sets out to do, and making sense isn’t one of those…

A Horrifying 100-Foot Sinkhole Swallowed a Florida Man in His Bed

Last night a Florida man awoke to a very real nightmare as the floor of his bedroom collapsed out from under him. The sinkhole that spawned beneath his home late Thursday simply enveloped the room—and its sole occupant—with no warning, leaving almost nothing behind. http://gawker.com/5987806/100+foot-sinkhole-opens-in-florida-bedroom-swallowing-and-killing-man The man’s brother, elsewhere in the house, rushed to the…

Basically No One in Russia Thought That Meteor Was a Meteor

Last month, a giant meteor exploded over Russia. Ground zero was the Ural city of Chelyabinsk, where 1500 people were injured and thousands of buildings were damaged. About half the city’s million people saw the meteor, but most of them didn’t know it was a meteor at all. https://gizmodo.com/meteorite-explodes-over-russia-panic-spreads-5984476 A recent opinion poll from Moscow’s…

Gary Oldman will kill all the damn dirty apes in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

The sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes is shaping up nicely. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has not only retained Andy Serkis in his astounding role as Caesar the revolutionary ape, but they’ve also managed to find him a worthy nemesis. ComingSoon is reporting that Gary Oldman has been cast…

Watch SpaceX launch its second cargo mission to the ISS, live on io9!

Last May, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule became the first commercial spacecraft in history to visit the International Space Station. This morning, the private spaceflight company will attempt to do it again. https://gizmodo.com/spacex-has-completed-its-first-commercial-cargo-deliver-5950497 SpaceX’s second cargo delivery mission to humanity’s outpost in space is set to lift off at 10:10 ET, atop the company’s Falcon 9 rocket.…

BigDog can now throw shit like it’s nobody’s business

As if Boston Dynamics’s robotic pack mule wasn’t terrifying enough, its designers have, in their infinite wisdom, equipped it with a throwing arm. But not just any kind of throwing arm. This thing’s a total cannon — one that would make Peyton Manning jealous. Check out the video and watch BigDog toss a cinder block…

Johnny Depp is officially starring in Wally Pfister’s mysterious Transcendence. Plus more Spidey Set Photos!

Warner Bros. might be moving ahead with a Man of Steel sequel. A J.G. Ballard novel and a Victorian supernatural thriller get movie adaptations. Watch some new Oz the Great and Powerful videos. Plus Game of Thrones, American Horror Story, Arrow, and more! It’s spoilers all the way down! Top image from Oz the Great…

BB10 just got a software update. Improved 3rd party app performance, camera updates, and assorted bug-fixes. Woo.

New Tablet Camera Tech Conjures an Invisible Keyboard

Relying on your tablet’s on-screen keyboard saves you from having to carry clunky accessories, but it also gobbles up a good chunk of usable screen real estate. So Fujitsu researchers are working on a happy medium that uses the tablet’s camera to track your finger movements on a desk, as if you were typing away…

This Lego Fortress of Solitude Should Be a Set

We all want to be Superman, but sadly can’t be—so maybe the nearest we can get is building his pad out of Lego. At least that’s what Chris Melby thought when he constructed this sensational model of the Fortress of Solitude from scratch. It’s fantastic: he managed to do a wonderful job of recreating the…

This Kid Blew $2,500 on In-Game Purchases in Just 10 Minutes

Shameless in-game purchases aimed at kids have been in the new recently. But this five-year-old kid spent more than most: he blew $2,500 on in-game junk in just 10 minutes. That’s impressive. The boy in question is Danny Kitchen. The game is Zombie v Ninja, which is “free” for download on iTunes. When he was…

If You’re Blaming Computer Problems on a Virus, You’re Probably Wrong

Next time a computer in your office is broken, chances are someone will blame it on a virus. But let’s face it, most computer problems don’t stem from viruses; they stem from dumb people. Of course, it’s easier to blame something than it is to understand a problem. That’s natural; we all look for scapegoats…

The Pope Deserved a Better Leaving Gift Than This Comic Sans Photo Album

Officials at the Vatican were faced with a tough question when the Pope announced his retirement: what do you get God’s Rottweiler as a leaving present? Fortunately that question didn’t trouble them for long, because the answer was so very, very clear to them: his very own virtual photograph album! And, ladies and gentlemen, here…

Vint Cerf Dreams of an Internet That Connects Humans to Animals—and Aliens

If it weren’t for the fact that Vint Cerf was the grandaddy of the internet, people might be pointing and laughing at him. In a TED discussion panel last night, about how technology is being used to communicate with animals, Cerf spoke freely about an internet that connects humans with animals and aliens. But given…