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Yes, Virginia, There Is a Cthulhu!

Well, the world didn’t end last week, but the year’s still about to, so let’s go ahead and have a Postal Apocalypse Year-End Spectacular (Even Though This Is Only the Fourth Installment)! There’s a very special letter from a very special little girl at the end, so I hope you’ll stick around for that (and,…

When Apple Care Is Worth It (And When It’s Not)

If you’re making an investment in an Apple product, whether it’s a new machine or a permanently on-sale refurb, you want to protect it. At the same time, spending a few hundred more on AppleCare hurts when you’re already dropping a couple grand on a computer. You get a year of AppleCare as part of…

After opening 51 retail stores in 2012, Microsoft already plans to open six more in 2013. [Microsoft]

Count every single failed joke in the Scary Movie 5 trailer

Here’s a fun game — watch the brand new Scary Movie 5 trailer and start counting every single time you were supposed to laugh, but threw up in your mouth a little instead. Yes, the Scary Movie franchise is back with their fifth installment. So get ready for dick thwaps, terrible stereotypes and the deafening…

FINALLY: Obesity rates among America’s impoverished children are actually declining

Some not-so-surprising facts and figures on fat and figures: Americans are fat. According to data released earlier this year by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, America is the fattest country in the developed world; and tragically, it’s kids who bear much of obesity’s burden. https://gizmodo.com/dr-pepper-releases-evolution-advertisement-the-interne-5943274 http://io9.com/5967345/obesity-now-leading-cause-of-ineligibility-for-army-volunteers https://gizmodo.com/new-study-confirms-our-worst-fears-about-why-kids-are-g-5957848 The CDC reports that roughly 17%…

Steve Jobs’ Yacht Is Free to Sail After Being Repossessed

Last week we reported that Steve Jobs’ yacht, Venus, had been repossessed in the Netherlands at the behest of designer Philippe Starck, who claimed that the Jobs family owed him three million Euros. Classy move, Starck. Well, the yacht is free to sail again. https://gizmodo.com/steve-jobs-yacht-repossessed-by-you-guessed-it-philippe-5970485 Le Monde reports that the Jobs and Starck camps have…

Randi Zuckerberg Is Just as Confused by Facebook Privacy as You Are

Randi Zuckerberg shared the above photo of her family—including Facebook Czar-in-Chief Mark Zuckerberg—on Facebook. Then it got out into the world, and Randi got all upset about her privacy. Oh, boo hoo, Randi! The story goes like this: Randi Zukcerberg posted the photo of her family fooling around with Facebook’s new Snapchat clone, Poke. When…

40 Tricks You Must Know for a Much Better 2013

2012 is almost over. It’s time to get ready for 2013 with these 40 life tricks that will make the next 12 months—and every month of your existence—a lot easier. Some hacks may be familiar, others will make you go “OMFG!” So bookmark this page and pass it along to your loved ones, because the…

Rick tries to save Carl’s Christmas in the amazing Walking Dead Christmas Special

If you have a touch of holiday spirit left in you, I can’t recommend enough that you use it viewing this trailer for the Walking Dead Christmas Special that simply must happen. Come on, AMC, you know you want to ± don’t pretend like you don’t like making a zillion dollars every time a new…

This Is Still the Best Apple Christmas Ad

Remember when Apple used to be a little more fun and irreverent, a lot less stiff and politically correct, and not such dicks? Yeah, those were the good times. Life is definitely better when you are the underdog.

Toshiba’s New 20-Megapixel Image Sensor Is a Remnant of the Megapixel Wars

Toshiba’s new TCM5115CL 20-megapixel image sensor is the highest-resolution ever built for the tiniest point-and-shoot cameras. Uh oh, are the megapixel wars back? For a while there, the wars over who could cram more pixels onto tiny image sensors seemed to have died off. Indeed, for years, megapixel counts were a showy and misleading spec…

LG Unveils a Gigantor 100-Inch Laser Projector: You’re Gonna Need Bigger Walls

Conventional video projectors have remained largely a niche market for dedicated home theater enthusiasts on account of their difficult installation. However, a new breed of “home projector” has developed over the past few years into an increasingly viable alternative to flat panel televisions. And if LG’s new 100-inch class LG “HECTO” Laser TV is any…

The Stoner Channel: A Drummer’s View of NIN, Devo Plays Paris, and Bob Dylan Takes a Drug Drive with John Lennon

James Brown Demolishes Olympia Washington with a Wall of Sound This 1971 film is one of the rare times James Brown’s original supporting lineup was ever caught on tape. [Open Culture] John Lennon and Bob Dylan Share a Taxi, Groovy Pandemonium Ensues The pair of legendary musical artists got into an London taxi, both high…

This 200-Year-Old Mechanical Caterpillar Does Everything But Turn Into a Butterfly

Robots are so commonplace now that we use them to entertain kids at amusement parks. But even though modern technology has given us artificial lifeforms that can walk, talk, and even fly, there’s still something utterly fascinating about pre-electronic mechanical automatons like this Vers de Soie caterpillar dating back to 1820. https://gizmodo.com/how-can-this-1890-automaton-produce-such-surprisingly-r-5966510 It’s almost 200…

Scrooged: The Ghost of Bill Murray Past

Watching a movie for exactly the second time ever, when you haven’t seen it since you were a young kid, is a pretty amazing experience. I streamed Scrooged the other night. I hadn’t seen it since shortly after its 1988 release, when I was about six or seven. Total flashback. The terrifying ghouls under the…

Monstrous AT-AT cloud stands guard over the sunset

This gorgeous AT-AT cloud is almost too good to be true. This lovely snap found by GeekTyrant is either a gift from the Force or a Photoshop. I leave it in your hands to decide. Real or fake?

Grab Some Nice Sweat Pants for Your Holiday Lounging

You just ate an entire spiral ham and now you’re so full you’ve got to pop those jeans off immediately and curl up by the fire and relax. Here are some really nice sweatpants from American Giant so you don’t look like a total slob in the company of your distant relatives. Even if you’re…

Meet the cheap facial-recognition system that will identify you everywhere you go

You are being watched — especially when you go to the airport. But now you might be recognized, too. A company called Flight Display Systems has been demonstrating a $9,275 facial recognition device (pictured here) that can be installed inside airplane doors to check the identity of every person entering the plane, and alert staff…

Here’s an adorable baby elephant gallivanting around at the beach

‘Tis the season to bring the cuteness. And what’s cuter than a baby elephant playing on the beach? Nothing. End of discussion. Photos by Willy Thuan via Phuket101 [facebook | blog] This io9 flashback originally appeared March, 2012 Photos by Willy Thuan via Phuket101 [facebook | blog] Photos by Willy Thuan via Phuket101 [facebook |…

Sky-Mining is dangerous enough, but when a Deep Storm comes, it’s suicide

One of the year’s most exciting anthologies is Edge of Infinity, the new space opera collection that includes masters of the craft like Alastair Reynolds, James S.A. Corey and Gwyneth Jones. It’s available now, and it’s just $6.99 on the Kindle. We’re proud to bring you an exclusive excerpt — a story by Elizabeth Bear…