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It’s Not Just You, AWS Is Down Right Now

Amazon Web Services—or just AWS, for short—suffered a massive outage on Wednesday that left a ton of apps, sites, and connected devices relying on the hosting giant completely in the dark. Amazon’s status page and the popular site Downdetector both point to the outage happening around 10:00 am. Since then, countless apps, sites and connected…

Commerce Shoshana Wodinsky Nov 25 '20

The Surprising Way Keyhole Wasps Can Take Down an Airplane

Keyhole wasps like to build their nests in tiny holes, including the openings of devices used to measure the speed of aircraft. A recent investigation shows the problem is worse than we realized. On November 21, 2013, an Airbus A330-200 prepared to take off from Brisbane Airport in Australia, but the pilot turned back after…

Biology George Dvorsky Nov 25 '20

Amazon and Feds Team Up to Sniff Out Counterfeiters

In the latest example of Amazon buddying up with federal forces, the ecommerce giant announced a new partnership with the Department of Homeland and security and DHL dubbed “Operation Fulfilled Action,” aimed at cracking down on counterfeit products. The deal will see Amazon share data from its sprawling marketplace with the National Intellectual Property Rights…

Commerce Shoshana Wodinsky Nov 25 '20

The Apple Watch Could Use a Redesign

In terms of design, not much has changed with the Apple Watch. Since it was introduced in 2015, each subsequent watch has pretty much adhered to the same look. That might change starting next year. Apple prophet Ming-Chi Kuo noted in a report today that next year, we ought to expect both “innovative health management…

Tech News Victoria Song Nov 25 '20

What Ever Happened to the Vaping Lung Disease?

In the summer of 2019, months before the word “coronavirus” meant anything to most people, a mysterious respiratory illness began popping up around the U.S., ultimately sending over 2,800 primarily young and healthy people to the hospital and dozens to an early grave. The culprit wasn’t an infectious disease, but a poison: THC vaping devices…

Health Ed Cara Nov 25 '20

Image: Richard Lim, Abrams Books/Lucasfilm

The Art of The Mandalorian Says ‘Peekaboo’ in This Exclusive Preview

The Mandalorian has always put its concept work front and center—from behind the scenes looks in shows like Disney Gallery, to literally every episode of the series itself, since its end credits highlight the concept work that helped bring what you just watched to life. Now, as we journey through the second season, a new…

Books & Comics James Whitbrook Nov 25 '20

A Trove of Ancient Hunting Artifacts Has Melted Out of a Norwegian Ice Patch

Researchers have uncovered what they’re calling a “bonanza” of ancient arrows and other hunting equipment, as well as signs of prey, on a remote Norwegian ice patch. The cache is a striking example of the burgeoning field of ice patch archaeology, which is unfortunately growing as the planet melts down. Global warming is shaping the…

Earther Brian Kahn Nov 25 '20

SEC Proposal Seeks Ability to Pay Gig Workers In Stock

In the aftermath of Californian’s disastrous decision to avoid classifying gig workers as employees, the Securities and Exchange Commission is proposing a rule change that would allow businesses focused on the gig economy to compensate workers with equity. In recent years, gig-focused tech companies have asked the SEC to tweak regulations that prevent them from…

Tech News Rhett Jones Nov 25 '20

Image: Pottery Barn / Image: Square Enix / Image: Toei Animation / Image: FX

The Pop Culture We’re Thankful for Getting Us Through 2020

No matter who you are or where you are, 2020 has been a rough year. It’s been a year where things have gotten so bad, sometimes you just had to find joy in the most unexpected of places. Family, friends, a new book or video game. It’s different for everyone. So with Thanksgiving around the…

Television Io9 Staff Nov 25 '20

The Hacked Nintendo Game & Watch Now Plays Pokémon and Zelda Too

After successfully hacking Nintendo’s Game & Watch revival a day before the handheld was officially released, it didn’t lake long for Twitter user ‘stacksmashing’ to figure out how to get alternate games running on the device. They started with Doom, but have since succeeded in getting other retro classics like The Legend of Zelda, Super…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski Nov 25 '20

Computer Controlled Shackles Hold You Prisoner Until You Finish a Workout

Personally speaking, mustering the will to do pushups requires a lot of psyching myself up. A lot of walking around in circles, fiddling with my music, and wondering if maybe doing an extra few sets of overhead tricep extensions or holding a plank for two minutes would be a sufficient alternative to the dreaded pushup.…

Tech News Victoria Song Nov 25 '20

Secret Exxon Documents Show the Firm May Never Recover

The economic fallout of the covid-19 pandemic has hit the oil industry hard, and Exxon in particular is feeling it. Internal documents show the company’s not expecting to make a grand recovery any time soon despite putting on a good face for shareholders. Exxon is expecting oil prices to fall over most of the next…

Earther Dharna Noor Nov 25 '20

I Welcome the Rumored Demise of the Samsung Galaxy Note

Thanks to phones like the Galaxy S20 Ultra, a new segment of devices with flexible screens, and lite versions of the Note 10 and Note 20, Samsung’s flagship phone portfolio has sort of ballooned out of control over the last couple of years. So in an effort to streamline its offering, a new rumor is…

Gadgets Sam Rutherford Nov 25 '20

Memory Loss and a Pandemic Are a Horrifying Combination

It’s tough to hear about any stories covering fictional pandemics, since we’re going through an all-too-real one right now, but the one in Little Fish is more of a metaphor for something else. In the first trailer for this new sci-fi film, Ready Player One’s Olivia Cooke struggles to keep her marriage intact during a…

Trailers Beth Elderkin Nov 25 '20

Exposure to Outer Space May Accelerate Aging, New Evidence Suggests

A fascinating batch of new research papers are highlighting the various health risks associated with long-duration space missions, including troublesome observations having to do with the aging process and radiation-induced DNA damage. Space, as we’re learning, really sucks for us puny humans. Without gravity perpetually pulling us downward, and without a protective atmosphere to shield…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Nov 25 '20

Disney Security’s Unofficial Challenge Coins Are a Different Sort of Collector’s Item

As the owner of a substantial portion of the world’s most popular pieces of intellectual property, the Walt Disney Company is more than used to seeing its characters and branding pop up in unofficial, unlicensed places. In some instances, like when the family of a recently deceased child attempted to feature Spider-Man’s likeness on his…

io9 Charles Pulliam-Moore Nov 25 '20

I Miss Merlin, the First Electronic Game I Ever Played

Do you remember the first electronic game you ever played? Maybe it was Super Mario Bros. on the NES? Pitfall on the Atari 2600? Pac-Man at the arcade? For me it was Tic-Tac-Toe played on what looked like a cordless phone called Merlin The Electronic Wizard featuring a ‘screen’ made up of just 11 glowing…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski Nov 25 '20

Fine, This Smartphone Mount That Turns an Apple Watch Into a Viewfinder for Selfies Is Pretty Clever

If you’re snapping a quick selfie for social media, the lower quality camera on the front of your smartphone is usually just fine. But what if you want to use the higher quality lenses and camera on the back to film yourself? It means you can’t see the screen and no longer have a live…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski Nov 25 '20

11 Games You Can Play With the Family Remotely Over Zoom for Thanksgiving

Unless you spend every year sheltering in place and worrying about a global pandemic, the upcoming holiday season is going to be different for a lot of us. Video calling apps like Zoom can keep us in touch with each other even while we’re apart, and these online and offline games will save you from…

Gadgets David Nield Nov 25 '20

Updates From The Batman, Scream 5, and More

The Walking Dead teases the arrival of Lucille. Mads Mikkelsen is still holding out hope that Hannibal could come back. Dead things don’t stay buried in the latest teaser for…whatever wild thing Riverdale will get up to this season. Plus, what’s to come on His Dark Materials. Spoilers away! Scream 5 In an interview with Cinema…

Television James Whitbrook & Gordon Jackson Nov 25 '20

It’s Not Just You, AWS Is Down Right Now

The Surprising Way Keyhole Wasps Can Take Down an Airplane

Amazon and Feds Team Up to Sniff Out Counterfeiters

The Apple Watch Could Use a Redesign

What Ever Happened to the Vaping Lung Disease?

The Art of The Mandalorian Says ‘Peekaboo’ in This Exclusive Preview

A Trove of Ancient Hunting Artifacts Has Melted Out of a Norwegian Ice Patch

SEC Proposal Seeks Ability to Pay Gig Workers In Stock

The Pop Culture We’re Thankful for Getting Us Through 2020

The Hacked Nintendo Game & Watch Now Plays Pokémon and Zelda Too

Computer Controlled Shackles Hold You Prisoner Until You Finish a Workout

Secret Exxon Documents Show the Firm May Never Recover

I Welcome the Rumored Demise of the Samsung Galaxy Note

Memory Loss and a Pandemic Are a Horrifying Combination

Exposure to Outer Space May Accelerate Aging, New Evidence Suggests

Disney Security’s Unofficial Challenge Coins Are a Different Sort of Collector’s Item

I Miss Merlin, the First Electronic Game I Ever Played

Fine, This Smartphone Mount That Turns an Apple Watch Into a Viewfinder for Selfies Is Pretty Clever

11 Games You Can Play With the Family Remotely Over Zoom for Thanksgiving

Updates From The Batman, Scream 5, and More

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