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The Best Public Transit Apps for iOS 6 (Since Apple Maps Doesn’t Have It)

As you may have noticed, the transition from Google Maps to Apple Maps in iOS 6 means that the navigation software is now without public transportation data, and that really sucks. Apple’s fix for the immediate future is to push you to third-party apps, but knowing where to start can be a daunting task. To…

Scientist + liquid nitrogen + 1500 ping pong balls = boomhappy funtime

Come for the science, stay for the explosions. Watch Plymouth University professor Roy Lowry* demonstrate what happens when you try to contain liquid nitrogen while it’s returning to its gaseous state. (The impatient among you can skip to 3:15.) *Fun (though, given the nature of this video, perhaps not entirely surprising) fact: In 2006, Dr.…

Apple’s New 3D Maps Are an Apocalyptic Horror Show

The move from Google Maps to Apple’s homespun cartography in iOS 6 has been a sticking point for people, largely because it’s the turd in a very ornate punch bowl. And while Apple’s fancy 3D maps were supposed to tide us over until the rest of Maps got better, they seem to be having their…

When Did Handheld Vacuums Get So Beautiful?

If you haven’t shopped for a handheld vacuum since the Dustbuster owned the market, you’re apparently in for a real treat. Vorwerk’s new Kobold VC100 looks like a piece of contemporary art you’ll want to frame and hang on your wall, instead of the old lowly workhorses you kept hidden behind a dresser. It sucks…

Five Secret Ways that Games Are Changing the World

Jane McGonigal’s 2011 best-selling book Reality is Broken inspired a young generation of game-players to think more broadly about the impact that their controller-wielding lives had on the rest of the world. But aside from games for the World Bank, how exactly are games changing the lives of people around the world? Here are five…

Cabin in the Woods Director Drew Goddard is live on io9, and taking your questions!

We’ve got the Director of Cabin in the Woods Drew Goddard live on this very post taking questions from all of you. Ask him absolutely anything you want about monsters, Joss Whedon (who co-wrote Cabin) writing or directing. How much human blood can a merman spew from its blow-hole? Before Cabin, Goddard spent his time…

What’s the Weirdest Frankengadget You’ve Ever Seen?

Presumably in an attempt to boost sales, Sharp’s got a new line of professional office photocopiers that boast a built-in Plasma-cluster Ion air purifier. It claims the gimmick is to help stop the spread of disease and sickness in an office environment given everyone shares the photocopier. But in reality it just seems like Sharp’s…

Detachable Magnetic Stapler Works Absolutely Anywhere

Who would’ve thought that after over 130 years of loyal service the basic design of the office stapler could be so radically improved. But that’s pretty much the only way to describe the Align, which features a detachable magnetic base allowing you to drive a staple through almost anything, anywhere. Typically, if you wanted to…

Watch Transformers Prime take on The Sword in the Stone

When the Autobots and Decepticons encounter a super-powerful sword that needs to be pulled out of a stone, who’s going to claim its awesome power? Megatron? Smokescreen? Now, at last, we get to see what it would be like if the legend of King Arthur was restaged with giant transforming robots and pew-pew lasers. Thanks…

Your lab-grown penis is (almost) ready

Earlier this afternoon, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal‘s Zach Weiner floated an interesting thought: “One day,” he mused, “there will actually be a pill that grows your penis six inches.” Far-fetched? Perhaps. But here’s something penis-related that isnt: researchers are inching ever-closer to being able to grow fully functioning human genitalia in the lab — and…

These RHA Earphones Are Your Dealzmodo-Exclusive Deal of the Day

The first reviews of the iPhone 5 are out and if there’s one thing everybody can agree on, it’s that the aluminum body is an improvement over the glass. Who would’ve guessed that aluminum is significantly more durable than glass? https://gizmodo.com/iphone-5-meta-review-a-better-iphone-in-every-way-5944411 RHA, a small headphone company based in the UK, makes durable, well-designed products out…

10 tricks that prove Outlook.com is the email provider of the future

The all-new Outlook.com is here, and as Gizmodo has already said: It’s pretty fantastic; Microsoft basically reimagined the idea of Web-based email from the ground up. Our favorite part? They didn’t just fill it up with novel new features — they went out of their way to lay them out in plain English (no engineer-to-English…

And now Office for Mac 2011 has gotten a much needed retina update. Enjoy your VERY SHARP FONTS. [9to5Mac]

Could someone really destroy the whole Internet?

In just 40 years, our whole civilization has become dependent on the Internet, in more ways than we could count. So when you hear activist groups threatening to crash the whole thing, or doomsday preppers warning of a global Internet failure, it’s pretty scary. But could someone actually bring the entire Internet down? We asked…

25 Supercomputers That Fill Entire Rooms

You thought ginormous computers were just reserved for museums and Jeopardy appearances? Think again. Most machines today are exponentially smaller than they were when we first learned the word com-pu-ter, but there are still tons of monster rigs out there doing all kinds of crazy jobs. The Typhoon, used by technicians in RCA Laboratories, is…

Beer Can Survive a Nuclear Blast, Thank God

If your home is blasted by a nuclear bomb and most everyone you know dies or is at the very least severely mangled, you’re going to need a drink. Honestly, you’ll going to need many drinks. The good news is, no matter how many loved ones are obliterated, your beer is still safe. Operation Teapot…

Space shuttle Endeavour’s journey to museum will require 400 trees to be cut down

Next month, the retired space shuttle Endeavour will be making a 12-mile journey to its final resting place at a Los Angeles museum. But to get there, local officials will have to make way for the 112-foot-long, 78-foot-wide, and 5-storey-tall behemoth. And in order to do so they’ll have to remove 400 trees, and hundreds…

Five Zone Wine Cooling Fridge Packs Months of Liquid Dinners

Imagine having a miniature grocery store in your kitchen. That’s seemingly what Liebheer is promising with its new 48-inch wide SBS 246 side-by-side fridge. It’s got five separate cooling zones for keeping all your food at the perfect temperature, and even a wine cooler that can hold up to 34 bottles. The only thing missing…

6 Nerdy Parties Throughout History We Would’ve Loved To Attend

Since the dawn of humanity, our species has been assiduously researching ways to party hard. And every now and then, this impulse to rage like banshees unchained intersects seamlessly with our geekier proclivities. Behold six wonderful nerd soirées that were almost stranger than fiction. 6. Wayne Manor Nightclub In the mid-1960s, this Batman-themed nightclub (above)…

When Did Small Phones Become Crappy Phones?

There was a time when you could buy something that was compact, fast, and beautiful. That time is over. “Smaller” is just a polite way to say “here’s the bad version for cheap people.” And that’s really awful. The 4.3-inch HTC 8X looks like a tremendous phone—the ultramodern, ultrafunctional WP8 software paired with killer hardware:…