Computers

With this device, you can control a rat using the power of your mind

We already have brain-computer interface systems that allow people to control cursors on a screen using the power of thought. But what about sharing thoughts between two minds? A group of neuroscientists at Harvard have found a way to do it — with a human and a rat. Neuroscientist Seung-Schik Yoo and colleagues wanted to…

io9 Annalee Newitz

UCLA’s 1948 Mechanical Computer Was Simply Gorgeous To Watch in Action

The mechanical computers of yesterday may have been enormous, difficult to program, and amazingly clunky—but they sure were beautiful to watch in action. Released theatrically by Popular Science on August 6, 1948, this short film played before Paramount Pictures movies and demonstrated to the public how computers were freeing “research of old limitations” and provided…

Tech News Matt Novak

Should You Bring Your Laptop on Vacation?

I am going on vacation next week, and a couple of kind-hearted people with my best interests in mind have suggested that perhaps I leave my (work) laptop at home. I did my best not to laugh in their faces because that is ridiculous. Of course I am bringing my laptop. Should you bring your…

Gadgets Eric Limer

What Actually Happens to All Your Deleted Files?

We delete files all the time to free up space, or to get rid of pesky evidence, but the whole process is a lot more complicated than it seems from the outside. When you go to “delete” something, you’re just pressing the start button on a much more involved, much more random process. So what…

Tech News Eric Limer

One of the World’s Best A.I. Computers Is as Smart as a Four Year Old

Computers are good at a lot of things. Thinking like a grown-up human being is not one of them. Not yet, at least. A team of researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago recently set out to discover just how advanced our artificially intelligent computers have become. Like they’d do with any food-eating human, they…

Artificial Intelligence Adam Clark Estes

This ARM-Based Ubuntu Box Only Costs $100

Forget your Raspberry Pi and all of those Android dongles: this quad-core, ARM-based box claims to offer up a PC-like experience for just $100. The Utilite, made by Compulab, will pack either a single, dual or quad-core Freescale i.MX6 Cortex-A9 MPCore processor, up to 4GB of RAM, an mSATA SSD, WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, HDMI…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Here’s a Pudgy New Gaming Laptop With Some Decent Horsepower

Digital Storm just announced the Veloce, its first Haswell-based gaming laptop with a 1920×1080, 1080p screen. The 13.3-incher packs a Core i7, a GTX 765M and is available for $1,535 starting July 17. But damn is it chunky.

Tech News Eric Limer

No, Children of 1990, Computers Are Not the Devil

Computers may be ubiquitous now but in 1990 they were just beginning to enter the mainstream. And like any revolutionary technology, the desktop computer was viewed with more than a little skepticism by the average American. Luckily, David Neil of PBS’s Newton’s Apple was there to explain to a group of dubious high schoolers that…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola

The History of Early Computing Machines, from Ancient Times to 1981

From the abacus to the IBM personal computer, calculating devices have come a long way. Let’s take a look through the history of these machines and the remarkable progress that came with the 20th century. A picture above was taken at the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio, 1951. The Chinese Abacus ‘Suan Pan’…

io9 Vincze Miklós

How Messy Is Your Computer’s Desktop?

We all aspire to a certain amount of digital desktop cleanliness, but I think rather few of us actually keep up on it. As the days go by, the clutter builds bit by bit, and it’s just irritating enough to be unpleasant, but not a big enough deal to actually clean up. So where are…

Tech News Eric Limer

Spend your weekend teaching a computer to recognize art

The internet was originally used to help academics exchange information. It has been abused ever since. To honor that lasting achievement, here’s how you can misuse a site that was designed to help people identify written characters, to draw cat pictures instead. Shapecatcher is a site meant to help people identify unicode characters such as…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

The First Ever Electronically Stored Program Ran 65 Years Ago Today

Sixty five years ago, in a cluttered lab in Manchester, UK, three scientists changed the world of computing forever. Working with a machine they’d built and nicknamed Baby, they ran the first ever program to be stored electronically in a computer’s memory. Put together by “Freddie” Williams, Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill, ghe computer—officially called…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Meet the World’s Fastest Supercomputer (It’s In China)

The world’s fastest supercomputer isn’t in Silicon Valley. It’s in China, where most Silicon Valley machines are already manufactured. But this giant computer was built by China’s National University of Defense Technology at the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzho. It’s got double the speed of the previously crowned fastest supercomputer, last year’s Titan at the…

Sploid Ken Layne

The Old-School Tech from the NSA’s Past

The NSA’s high-tech, new school surveillance system has been getting a whole lot of attention lately, but their old-school digs are worth a look as well. The agency has been around since the 1950s, originally tasked with cracking wartime codes, the NSA’s gear has always been cutting edge, and the old stuff is amazing and…

Tech News Eric Limer

You Can Finally 3D Print Your Own Computer (Kind Of)

Tired of paying the ridiculous markup for brand-name computers, even ones you build yourself? Thanks to the miracle of 3D printing (miracle still being perfected) you can now print yourself an entire computer on the cheap—assuming you’ve got free access to a 3D printer, and don’t need anything more than a basic calculator. The plans…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski

The Brilliant Insanity Behind the New Mac Pro’s Design

The last we heard of the Power Mac G4 Cube—a computer everyone loved, but no one could quite figure out—was in a press release from 2001. Twelve years later, we’ve finally met its beautiful, brilliant, and not altogether sane successor. Back in July of 2001, the future of the Cube wasn’t entirely clear. In a…

Tech News Don Lehman

An Early Online Privacy Expert Revisits His 1985 Predictions Today

Back in 1985, Larry Hunter was a grad student studying artificial intelligence at Yale. He had access to the kinds of computers and networking tools that few Americans even knew existed at the time. And for that reason, he saw into the future. Specifically, the future of online privacy. So how did his predictions hold…

Privacy & Security Matt Novak

Did Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash predict the world of today?

That’s what a number of venture capitalists and futurists told the Wall Street Journal recently. They cite Stephenson’s classic novel as a harbinger of many current staples, from World of Warcraft to Google’s search capabilities. As the WSJ writes: “We are living in Neal Stephenson’s story,” says Bijan Sabet, a partner at venture-capital firm Spark…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Sony Vaio Pro: Sony Is Finally Making Good Laptops Again

Sony will tell you a lot of things about the new Vaio Pro, which replaces the Vaio Z at the top of its laptop heap. It might say that it’s exceedingly light, and made from carbon fiber. Or it might say that it’s got new Intel Haswell guts. But what it should really say is…

Tech News Kyle Wagner

An Internet Pioneer Foresaw the Tech Bubble’s Filthy Rich Programmers

In 1969, internet pioneer Paul Baran predicted that by the year 2000, computer programmers may very well be the richest people in the world. Remember, this is when Bill Gates was just a 14-year-old nerd in Seattle. The ARPANET had not yet drawn its first breath when Baran wrote his 1969 paper, “On The Impact…

Tech News Matt Novak

With this device, you can control a rat using the power of your mind

UCLA’s 1948 Mechanical Computer Was Simply Gorgeous To Watch in Action

Should You Bring Your Laptop on Vacation?

What Actually Happens to All Your Deleted Files?

One of the World’s Best A.I. Computers Is as Smart as a Four Year Old

This ARM-Based Ubuntu Box Only Costs $100

Here’s a Pudgy New Gaming Laptop With Some Decent Horsepower

No, Children of 1990, Computers Are Not the Devil

The History of Early Computing Machines, from Ancient Times to 1981

How Messy Is Your Computer’s Desktop?

Spend your weekend teaching a computer to recognize art

The First Ever Electronically Stored Program Ran 65 Years Ago Today

Meet the World’s Fastest Supercomputer (It’s In China)

The Old-School Tech from the NSA’s Past

You Can Finally 3D Print Your Own Computer (Kind Of)

The Brilliant Insanity Behind the New Mac Pro’s Design

An Early Online Privacy Expert Revisits His 1985 Predictions Today

Did Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash predict the world of today?

Sony Vaio Pro: Sony Is Finally Making Good Laptops Again

An Internet Pioneer Foresaw the Tech Bubble’s Filthy Rich Programmers

National Film and Sound Archive of Australia Adds ‘Succulent Chinese Meal’ Guy

Feds Sniffing Around Polymarket After Suspicious Bets

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Don’t Get Too Attached to Any AI App

‘Paradise’ Writer Teases What’s Coming in Season 3 After That Huge Twist

Trump’s New White House App Is Mildly Concerning and Weird for a Lot of Reasons

Bloodsucking Ticks Can Survive Inside Your Home Longer Than You Might Think

The Best New Toys of March 2026

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

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