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U.S. had plans for a ‘full nuclear response’ should the President disappear or be killed during an attack

Well, this is a bit disturbing: According to recently declassified documents made available by the U.S. National Security Archive, the United States had a contingency plan in effect where, in the event that the President went missing or was killed during an attack on the country, the military was instructed to launch an automatic and…

This Polygamist Mouse Can Partner with 9 Devices

Besides a lack of unruly cables, the other big advantage to using wireless accessories like a Bluetooth mouse is that they can be easily swapped between devices. And Elecom is betting that there are enough consumers using nine different devices at once to profit on its new 9nove wireless mouse. Good luck with that. A…

Verizon will begin rolling out Jelly Bean 4.1 for the Samsung Galaxy S III starting tomorrow.

Facebook for Android 2.0: Completely Rebuilt for Speed

Today, Facebook is releasing an entirely new version of Facebook for Android. The biggest change you’ll notice, according to the engineering team, is that the app is way faster than it was before. Facebook 2.0 is now coded as a completely native app rather than a native/webview hybrid. The result is that the app will…

Watch the biggest iceberg break-up ever captured on film

Ho-lee-crap. You’re looking at the largest iceberg calving ever recorded — a whopping 7.4 cubic km (that’s 1.77 mi3) hunk of ice, detaching itself from Greenland’s Ilulissat glacier — captured by filmmaker James Balog. It’s just one of the scenes in Balog’s forthcoming film Chasing Ice, and it is remarkable to behold. Judging from the…

Apple’s iPhone App of the Year Is a Joke, Right?

As is customary for this time of year, Apple has just released its “Best of 2012” list for the App Store. And the winner of the coveted App of the Year award goes to…Action Movie FX. Let that sink in for a few seconds. Instead of picking a potentially disruptive app or an actually good…

Indoor Kite Provides Several Minutes of Agoraphobic Fun

Targeting the lucrative markets of agoraphobes, those with sun allergies, and residents of windless cities, Takara Tomy has created an indoor kite that majestically soars as high as the ceiling—with sufficient cranking, that is. You see, this is one of those eco toys that trades endless battery charges for endless amounts of physical effort to…

Archaeologists at ‘Pompeii of Japan’ site find a 1,400 year-old warrior still wearing his armour

Archaeologists working at Japan’s Kanai Higashiura site have unearthed the remains of a Kofun-period warrior and infant — both of whom were killed in a volcanic eruption. The bodies were covered in a layer of volcanic ash that dates to the early 6th century. The discovery, which is a first of its kind, is particularly…

How 4Chan Made Kim Jong Un Time Readers’ Person of the Year

Kim Jong Un invented time travel, cured cancer, cloned a wooly mammoth, and became the first male human to give birth, which is exactly why he’s Time’s 2012 man of the year. Wait, that’s the North Korean version of the story. In reality, 4Chan just manipulated the vote. 4Chan hacked the vote and manipulated it…

Maps of Earth Showing Where Severe Weather is Most Likely to Kill

This map shows where cyclones are most likely to hit, given current shifts in climate. And now a group of researchers are saying that it also shows where land mammals are most likely to go extinct as weather conditions worsen. Led by Zoological Society of London researcher Eric Ameca y Juárez, the group analyzed 5,760…

The Flask Tie: Because Drinking on the Job Wasn’t Easy Enough

No longer do the office drones of the world have to bury their hooch deep inside a drawer, or hide it inside a hollowed-out annual report. This stylish microfiber neckcessory known as the Flask Tie’s got a six ounce pouch hidden in the longer hanging part, and an easy access straw tucked away in the…

The Moon landings, the Higgs Boson, and vaccinations are all fake

Here’s an absolutely lovely bit of ranty, frustrated-scientist humor from The Guardian’s Dean Burnett, that doubles as a smart explainer on the difference between true skepticism and scientifically vacant conspiracy theory. (Especially w/r/t media coverage.) Burnett’s ad-hoc reckons concerning the truthiness of Moon landings, the Higgs Boson and vaccinations are just a taste of the…

New trailer for Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color leaves us bewildered and curious

We are so excited for Primer director Shane Carruth’s brand new Sundance movie Upstream Color. And this brand new trailer is only fanning our flame of curiosity. What is going on in this trailer? Why does Shane Carruth and his fellow actress look all banged up? What did that table do to Shane? Why the…

8 Ways to Keep the Fantastic Four Movie Reboot from Sucking

The Fantastic Four movie franchise is on its way to being rebooted – with the exceedingly clever title The Fantastic Four – and we’re worried. The FF is great, but it’s not the easiest of comic concepts to do right (as many parts of the last 25 years of Fantastic Four comics will easily prove).…

How To Watch Tonight’s Spectacular Geminid Meteor Shower

Late tonight you can catch some of the best sky watching of the year with the annual Geminids Meteor shower. Hayden Planetarium’s Joe Rao says it’s always one of the best sky shows, but this year’s shower is probably going to be especially good because the moon is at new phase. That means the moonlight…

The most viral media correction of 2012 combines My Little Pony with Aspergers

Over on Poynter, Craig Silverman has served up his excellent list of the best (and worst) media errors and corrections of 2012. The most viral correction of all was released by the New York Times after it ran this feature, which explores how people with autism spectrum disorders navigate the the uncertain emotional terrain of…

Google Maps for iOS Review: Maps Done Right

After some intensive testing since its yesternight release, there’s no doubt about it: Google Maps for iOS is, hands down, the best maps application, perhaps on any platform. So good, so fast, and so clean. There’s really no contest. They nailed it, and shamed Apple in the process. https://gizmodo.com/download-google-maps-for-ios-right-now-and-get-turn-by-5968065 I thought that maybe my first…

Spider-Man producer heads to China to turn the Terracotta Warriors into a superhero franchise

Hollywood is hot for China. Both Looper and Iron Man 3 courted the Chinese audience by setting chunks of their movies in the far East. Now, Sony big wig and The Amazing Spider-Man producer, Avi Arad, is cashing in and starting up a whole new movie franchise based around Chinese lore. Variety is reporting that…

Why you should probably stop eating wheat

Wheat and grain-based foods are all around us. We love our bagels, pasta, bread, and breakfast cereals. For many, the thought of eliminating these staples from our diets seems wholly unreasonable, if not ludicrous. But a growing number of people are switching to wheat-free diets — and for very good reason. As science is increasingly…

This Is the Biggest Iceberg Break-Up Ever Captured on Video

You’re watching the biggest chunk of an iceberg breaking off a glacier ever captured on video. It is incredible. That’s a 1.75 cubic mile chunk of ice. The most basic way to put that into perspective is to imagine if out of nowhere, a huge portion of the island of Manhattan just snapped off into…