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Audioengine D1 Review: An Easy Way to Make AirPlay Sound Great

The rise of streaming audio over AirPlay has made it possible to wirelessly play music from your iPhone over your home speakers. But that data comes through as a raw stream of 0s and 1s, and the sound quality isn’t that great. A digital-to-analog (DAC) audio converter can clean up the stream, but it can…

This Is the Alarm Clock Droid You’re Looking For (At a Price You Definitely Weren’t)

This isn’t the first R2-D2-themed alarm clock to grace these pages, but serious collectors (and serious sleepers) might want to take note of this iteration. Made from the highly detailed and accurate moulds used to churn out R2-D2 plastic models, this astromech alarm clock plays a symphony of Star Wars themes and rolls around your…

Samsung’s New Galaxy Player: Giant, But Not Super Awkward

If the whole phablet movement has got you down, the new Galaxy Player 5.8 might be able to escape your ire. With its nearly six-inch display, it’s a bit larger than the Galaxy Note, but a mere .3 inches bigger than the rumored size of the Note II. And—to everyone’s relief—it’s not a phone. The…

Will food shortages force us to become vegetarians?

A new report from the Stockholm International Water Institute is warning that a pending food crisis may force the world’s population to adopt a vegetarian diet over the course of the next 40 years. Because livestock require disportionately high rates of water, and given that 9 billion people will need to be fed by 2050,…

Highly Questionable Study Says Energy Drinks Are Actually Good For Your Heart

Start stockpiling all the Pimp Juice you can fit in the attic, because a new study from a real actual doctor that didn’t print out a degree from the University of Phoenix online suggests that energy drinks are actually good for your heart. The University of Siena’s Dr. Matteo Cameli presented his findings at the…

Eight things you didn’t know you could do with human sperm

Sperm are single-purposed: They’re optimized to get to an egg and inseminate it. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t more to this cell than meets the ovum. Sperm, along with its travelling companion, semen, are surprisingly versatile and adaptable substances. Here are eight unconventional things you can do with human sperm. 1. Skin softener Sperm…

Book Tower or Book Wall? The Choice is Yours

So the tough thing about buying a bookshelf, or any piece of furniture really, is that if you ever decide to move it to another room (or another house), there’s no guarantee it will fit in its rightful place. But what if you could change the dimensions of that shelf entirely. Marica Vizzuso’s B-OK takes…

U.S. spies summon Star Wars for 3D hologram displays

It’s one of the most memorable scenes in science fiction: a 3D, holographic Princess Leia, begging for Obi-Wan’s help. America’s spy services have just plunked down $58 million to make it real. And if you think the gadget-makers behind this “Synthetic Holographic Observation” effort weren’t inspired by Star Wars, well, take a look at this…

Paper-Thin, Distortion-Free Lenses Could Make Pint-Sized Pro Cameras Possible

Using an ultrathin wafer of silicon and gold to focus lightwaves, researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have created a revolutionary new kind of camera lens that completely eliminates the image distortion created by traditional glass lenses. It could not only pave the way for lighter cameras that are still as…

Perhaps the most disturbing cereal ad ever filmed

This honor goes to Sugar Rice Krinkles, which inflicted incalculable psychic damage upon children of the 1950s with this commercial featuring a goggle-eyed clown proselytizing about carbohydrates. As the YouTube uploader notes, “Ever wondered what would happen if John Wayne Gacy made a cereal ad?” From the archives: A demonic Mexican clown doll with the…

Online Book Reviews Are Even Less Reliable Than You Thought

Skeptical of a little e-book you’ve never heard of that has 28 five-star reviews on Amazon? You should be. Turns out in many cases, the authors are paying for reviews. The New York Times takes a look at the business of for-hire review writing, through the eyes of Todd Rutherford, a guy who started the…

The List of Google’s Paid Bloggers Is Way Less Fun Than We Wanted It to Be

Well, to be fair, any list of bloggers is going to be less fun than any expectation you could possibly have for it. (And your expectations for a blogger list better be pretty low to begin with.) But this list of who commented on the Oracle vs. Google trial, while also being paid by Google?…

The Only Photo of Neil Armstrong On the Moon

He was the first man to walk on the Moon, but Neil Armstrong didn’t have any good photos to prove it. He had the camera most of the time, so it was Aldrin who got all the awesome shots. Sure—he was on grainy TV and reflected on Buzz’s visor but—except for his footprint—there were no…

This Week’s TV: Summer Glau is a super-mutant again. And Doctor Who returns!

This week on television, there’s a full hour of Futurama, including one episode where the Planet Express crew star in a nature documentary. Summer Glau is once again kicking ass and building cool robots. Breaking Bad features Walt making a really questionable decision. But the big news on TV this week is probably return of…

Be the Banksy of Beverages With a Spray Can Water Bottle

Before you get too excited at the prospect of conveniently spraying hot coffee or other beverages directly into your mouth, this $16 insulated water bottle masquerading as an aerosol can is actually lacking any kind of propellants. So what could have been a revolution in refreshment, ends up being nothing more than a novel way…

Kindle Touches are now out of stock. Hot new front-lit version on the horizon maybe? [Engadget]

The M153 CROWS: Death by Joystick

Manning the turret atop an armored vehicle is among the most essential and dangerous assignments in a military convoy. Gunners must stand exposed through a hole in the vehicle’s roof while laying cover and engaging targets. To reduce gunner casualties, the US military designed a Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station, a joystick-driven killing machine called…

In the 1930s, daredevils would drive up walls with lions for passengers

Last week, we met a lion tamer who used his powers of persuasion to transform his cats into a stately throne. Today, we will examine the defunct practice of corralling large, semi-unpredictable cats into motordromes, training them to sit in sidecars, and tearing ass up perilous inclines with these apex predators in tow. https://gizmodo.com/this-is-what-voltron-looked-like-in-1905-5937780 To…

Do You Ever Actually Sign In With Facebook?

When that little blue “Sign in with Facebook” button first appeared, it was a little creepy. Who wants Facebook to know about every single service or app they are using online? Well it turned out to be an amazingly convenient tool—or some of us see it that way. No more forms! But, uh, it seems…

Rumor: New iPhone 5 Leaks Show NFC Chip (Maybe, Sorta)

Purported iPhone 5 parts just keep on leaking out, and this time around, photos from Apple.pro are showing what could quite possibly be a front-facing NFC chip. https://gizmodo.com/iphone-5-the-complete-rumor-roundup-5930100 Positioned next to the front-facing camera, the new piece of hardware revealed in the shots are suspiciously NFC chip-shaped, and are located exactly where NFC chips appear…