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Second Coming: The First HTTP Update in 16 Years, HTTP/2, Is Finished

HTTP is one of the most fundamental standards on the Internet and now, after 16 years, it’s finally getting a facelift. Make way for HTTP/2. The new standard was finally finished earlier today, according to a blog by Mark Nottingham, the chair of the IETF HTTP Working Group. It will now simply pass on through…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Feb 18

A Crack Appears In the Sun

This photo, taken last week by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), shows a “filament” of cooler solar material hovering over the surface of the sun. The effect is of a huge crack across the sun, as if something is preparing to burst out. Image Credit: NASA/SDO NASA explains: SDO shows colder material as dark and…

io9 Katharine Trendacosta Feb 18

Video: The incredible skill of hand making a guitar out of wood

I don’t know what I’m most impressed with in this video of a guitar being made by hand: Eitan’s Bartel absolute love for the instrument he makes, the perfect measurements needed to craft one of his guitars, the unbelievable skill and precision required in each step, the shots of woodworking, the imagination of smell. It…

Sploid Casey Chan Feb 18

Watching Water Burst This Stressed Rocket Part Is Strangely Satisfying

Sometimes, all a day really needs is a nice video of rocket components exploding during stress-testing. Why, hello there Space Launch System! Did your booster composite case get over-pressurized with water to test how the materials would withstand launch-strain? Perfect! The video covers the same test in real-time from four camera angles. I must say,…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Feb 18

X-Men: Apocalypse Casts Its Nightcrawler

Also, it looks like Bryan Singer has finally figured out a way to bring Nightcrawler back into the X-Men movies. Singer used Instagram to announce that Kodi Smit-Mcphee (the voice of ParaNorman and Tolly on Gallipoli) will become the blue elf. Singer’s said before that he’s wanted to bring the character back to the big…

io9 Katharine Trendacosta Feb 18

Watching this cute animation makes me all nostalgic and tingly inside

I think this animation should totally be a test to see if you’re a decent human being who remembers the 80’s or 90’s: if you have feelings of nostalgia or get some tingles when you see some of these animations, you’re a human! If you don’t, you’re a sad robot (or a sucker who wasn’t…

Sploid Casey Chan Feb 18

How Visual Effects Create the Retro-Futuristic World of Agent Carter

On Agent Carter, visual effects don’t just create explosions or give an extra oomph to Howard Stark’s creations, they also help the show recreate the 1940s New York in 2010s Los Angeles. In this early exclusive from WIRED, you can see just how much work a television schedule is for VFX Supervisor Sheena Duggal and…

io9 Katharine Trendacosta Feb 18

Snow plow looks like it’s drifting when it clears the snow

This monster snow plow, the TowPlow, totally looks like it’s drifting and dangerously flying through the snow covered roads but it’s actually really smartly extending itself and making the plow wider so it can clear roads even faster. The TowPlow is dragged by the snow truck and swings out to cover more area. Slick. SPLOID…

Sploid Casey Chan Feb 17

Everything About Kepler-432b Is Extreme, Especially The Way It’s Going To Die

Astronomers are calling Kepler-432b a ‘maverick’ planet because everything about this newly found exoplanet is an extreme, and is unlike anything we’ve found before. Above: Illustration of the orbit of Kepler-432b (inner, red) in comparison to the orbit of Mercury around the Sun (outer, orange). Credit: Dr. Sabine Reffert. This is a giant, dense planet…

io9 Nancy Atkinson – Universe Today Feb 17

Game Of Thrones Season 4 Storyboards Include A Dragon Attack

Here’s a privileged look inside the making of Game of Thrones season four. The Making Game of Thrones blog posted a video about the process of making storyboards for the show — plus some actual storyboards from season four. Including a dragon attack, a battle against wights, and Ghost in action! First, here’s the video,…

Television Charlie Jane Anders Feb 17

8-bit video game version of Scarface looks like a killer good time

The best video games you can play are those that let you act like a complete maniac while surrounded by party girls and mountains of drugs and just shoot a lot of people. Basically, the best video game you can play is just playing the plot of Scarface over and over again. CineFix shows its…

Sploid Casey Chan Feb 17

Our Cyborg Warriors Can Climb Any Surface

This model won’t hit your city for at least 100 years, but trust me — you’re going to love them. Nivanh Chanthara is an artist and concept designer in Montreal. You can see more on Chanthara’s Art Station gallery.

Tech News Annalee Newitz Feb 17

This Company Says It’s Built the Perfect Android Touch Controller For TV

Giant TV screens are pretty great. Tablets are pretty great. But controlling a tablet’s touch interface on your TV is a terrible, garbage experience. You can use a gamepad, but it won’t be able to handle touch-only apps. You could look down at a tethered tablet, but then you wouldn’t be looking at the TV—kind…

Tech News Sean Buckley Feb 17

No Matter How Old His Son Got, They Could Always Bond Over Giant Robots

Over the years, they’d disagree over politics and romance and money, but one thing was for certain: whenever they were walking together and spotted one of those two-story robots waiting in its charging station, they would both look up and smile. Robert Kim painted this digital piece, the second in a series of two father-son…

io9 Lauren Davis Feb 17

This Self-Published Novel Got An Award Nomination…And A New Publisher

Becky Chambers raised $2,810 on Kickstarter back in 2012 to self-publish her first science fiction novel, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. And this week, Angry Planet was shortlisted for the Golden Tentacle Award for best SF debut, and got a nifty book deal with Hodderscape. Angry Planet was one of Tor.com’s selections…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 17

Why the Speech Center of Your Brain Shuts Down When You Talk

On the left side of your brain there’s a special region called Broca’s Area, also known as the speech center of the brain. Now a group of neuroscientists have discovered something strange about it. Even though this brain region supposedly controls speech, it shuts down when you are speaking. Image by marish, via Shutterstock A…

Tech News Annalee Newitz Feb 17

What Really Separates Ghost Stories From Zombie And Vampire Tales

The undead, in all sorts of forms, have been haunting our fiction, both lately and in the much more distant past. Here, author Lauren Oliver tells us why (despite competition from plenty of other supernatural characters) ghost stories remain simply unkillable. Image: Larkwind Oliver joined us today to take questions about her novel Rooms, whose…

io9 Ria Misra Feb 17

“Gourmand Syndrome” Is The Most Delicious Kind Of Brain Injury

A person you know has just had a stroke. This, naturally, is terrible news. Apart from the initial damage, the effects can linger for years. But sometimes, the effects that linger are weird but fantastic. Top image: Cheddar on Flickr. Gourmand syndrome is both a brain injury and an eating disorder, which sounds bad until…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Feb 17

First ever drone footage of the Soviet-era secret lightning machine

You have seen photos of the secret Soviet-era Tesla tower—capable of discharging as much energy as the entire USSR’s power grid in 100 milliseconds—but you have never seen this like this, from a drone. Russia Today got permission to take this video of one of the most fascinating science facilities in the planet. The facility…

Sploid Jesus Diaz Feb 17

BlackBerry’s War Against Ryan Seacrest’s Typo Keyboard Is Just Great

BlackBerry and Ryan Seacrest are not buds. The first Typo keyboard—an absolutely horrible iPhone keyboard attachment you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy—was just the focus of a lawsuit that cost Seacrest’s crew nearly $860,000. Now BlackBerry is back, and suing them again for the Typo 2. https://gizmodo.com/ryan-seacrest-owes-blackberry-like-a-zillion-dollars-1683705317 According to The Hollywood Reporter, here’s what…

Tech News Darren Orf Feb 17

Second Coming: The First HTTP Update in 16 Years, HTTP/2, Is Finished

A Crack Appears In the Sun

Video: The incredible skill of hand making a guitar out of wood

Watching Water Burst This Stressed Rocket Part Is Strangely Satisfying

X-Men: Apocalypse Casts Its Nightcrawler

Watching this cute animation makes me all nostalgic and tingly inside

How Visual Effects Create the Retro-Futuristic World of Agent Carter

Snow plow looks like it’s drifting when it clears the snow

Everything About Kepler-432b Is Extreme, Especially The Way It’s Going To Die

Game Of Thrones Season 4 Storyboards Include A Dragon Attack

8-bit video game version of Scarface looks like a killer good time

Our Cyborg Warriors Can Climb Any Surface

This Company Says It’s Built the Perfect Android Touch Controller For TV

No Matter How Old His Son Got, They Could Always Bond Over Giant Robots

This Self-Published Novel Got An Award Nomination…And A New Publisher

Why the Speech Center of Your Brain Shuts Down When You Talk

What Really Separates Ghost Stories From Zombie And Vampire Tales

“Gourmand Syndrome” Is The Most Delicious Kind Of Brain Injury

First ever drone footage of the Soviet-era secret lightning machine

BlackBerry’s War Against Ryan Seacrest’s Typo Keyboard Is Just Great

Latest news

Southwest Is About to Limit Power Banks on Flights

Damn, the ‘Power Rangers’ Reboot Could’ve Had Four Movies

The Live-Action ‘One Piece’ Team Wants to Go the Distance

‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’ Will Please Gross Horror Fans

Somehow Paramount’s ‘Avatar’ Movie Has Leaked, Too

The World Is Basically Begging for Another iPod

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

OpenAI Says Elon Musk Is ‘Injecting Chaos’ with Recent Legal Maneuver

Latest Reviews

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

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The Best Gadgets of March 2026

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Let us help find what you are looking for...

Latest

Second Coming: The First HTTP Update in 16 Years, HTTP/2, Is Finished

A Crack Appears In the Sun

Video: The incredible skill of hand making a guitar out of wood

Watching Water Burst This Stressed Rocket Part Is Strangely Satisfying

X-Men: Apocalypse Casts Its Nightcrawler

Watching this cute animation makes me all nostalgic and tingly inside

How Visual Effects Create the Retro-Futuristic World of Agent Carter

Snow plow looks like it’s drifting when it clears the snow

Everything About Kepler-432b Is Extreme, Especially The Way It’s Going To Die

Game Of Thrones Season 4 Storyboards Include A Dragon Attack

8-bit video game version of Scarface looks like a killer good time

Our Cyborg Warriors Can Climb Any Surface

This Company Says It’s Built the Perfect Android Touch Controller For TV

No Matter How Old His Son Got, They Could Always Bond Over Giant Robots

This Self-Published Novel Got An Award Nomination…And A New Publisher

Why the Speech Center of Your Brain Shuts Down When You Talk

What Really Separates Ghost Stories From Zombie And Vampire Tales

“Gourmand Syndrome” Is The Most Delicious Kind Of Brain Injury

​First ever drone footage of the Soviet-era secret lightning machine

BlackBerry’s War Against Ryan Seacrest’s Typo Keyboard Is Just Great

Southwest Is About to Limit Power Banks on Flights

Damn, the ‘Power Rangers’ Reboot Could’ve Had Four Movies

The Live-Action ‘One Piece’ Team Wants to Go the Distance

‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’ Will Please Gross Horror Fans

Somehow Paramount’s ‘Avatar’ Movie Has Leaked, Too

The World Is Basically Begging for Another iPod

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

OpenAI Says Elon Musk Is ‘Injecting Chaos’ with Recent Legal Maneuver

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

Let us help find what you are looking for...

First ever drone footage of the Soviet-era secret lightning machine