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The mayor of Louisville, Kentucky wants to create the nation’s first fleet of aerial surveillance drones programmed to respond to gunfire. Speaking to press Wednesday, Mayor Greg Fischer said unmanned aerial vehicles could be key to curbing the city’s gun violence. “The No. 1 issue is using all means we have to increase public safety,…
The talented parkour collective known as Storror wants you to believe this video shows a daring escape from a security guard, and the local police, across the rooftops and streets of Hong Kong. The backstory about escaping security might be exaggerated, but the stunts are real, and terrifying enough to make me anxious about going…
All good things must come to an end—and bad things, too. Bitcoin has had a hell of a ride over the last year, but that all seems to be over as almost 60 percent of its value has vanished in the last month. Enthusiasm in the cryptocurrency market is low as Bitcoin dropped below $8,000…
The arrival of autonomous vehicles is an inevitability, so it makes sense that before mass adoption hits, companies like Lyft and Uber would want to band together to determine what our self-driving future will look like. Sounds pretty harmless, right? Well, not so fast, because a new pledge by 15 big-name transportation companies seems designed…
Confirming an unusual screenshot which circulated earlier this week, YouTube has officially announced its intentions to mark content from certain news agencies as “funded in whole or in part” by whatever state happens to be their patron. In short, the platform is calling out propaganda. YouTube also intends to similarly mark news agencies that receive…
Turns out, a company’s leadership can be accused of “creepy” and “egregious” behavior and still rake in millions of investment dollars. At least, that’s what reportedly happened for HQ Trivia, whose founder came under fire for alleged misconduct in December. On Friday, Recode reported that the maddeningly popular live game show app will receive a…
Predicting the weather is not easy. Right now, we know a few things: Generally, things are getting warmer. If it’s an El Niño year, weather patterns will differ. But ultimately, the weather is a super-complex physics problem with tons of moving pieces that make totally accurate forecasting difficult and reliant on models and probabilities. Groundhog…
Today, as noted by Windows Central, Microsoft launched a cheaper version of its gorgeous Surface Laptop. This new version will retail for $800—a full $200 less than the previously cheapest Surface Laptop. If you’ve wanted a full-blown, lower-cost computing experience in the Surface ecosystem then this is the machine for you. But you might do…
Twenty years ago, conservationists in New Zealand placed 80 fake gannet birds on Mana Island in an attempt to attract some real-life gannets. But only one bird finally showed up in 2015. That bird, which locals named Nigel, spent years in a futile effort to woo a mate who was made of concrete. But sadly,…
VirZOOM, a VR/fitness firm, wants to get you off that couch and into a calorie-burning virtual reality. The Massachusetts-based startup is selling a new series of stationary bikes that sync with VR headsets to immerse players in elaborate fantasy scenarios as they cycle. On the one hand, fitness is important. On the other, look at…
Last month, Coca-Cola announced that it was bringing its billion-dollar tea brand, Fuze Tea, to 37 countries in Europe. The only problem is that “fuze” doesn’t mean what they might’ve liked in German-speaking Switzerland. “Fuz” or “futz” is a “very crude and sexually-connoted word” according to Swiss-German weekly newspaper Handelszeitung. Redditors say it’s closer to…
Apple, a company best known for its affiliation with U2 and James Corden, had a big announcement today. It’s earnings week, when giant multibillion dollar companies announce how many millions they made during the holiday season. Apple, which sells watches, set-top boxes, and, soon, speakers, revealed that it made a shit ton of money selling…telephones?…
Whole Foods stores have experienced rampant customer complaints as shelves sit empty following the rollout of a digital inventory system that’s intended to improve efficiency. A new report highlights how the system is also efficiently causing employees to break down, get fired, and seek employment elsewhere. Order-to-shelf, or OTS, is actually a fairly old inventory…
Maybe you haven’t heard, but the FBI is taking a lot of shit today over a certain memo. (It’s been in the news a little.) But it turns out House Republicans aren’t the only ones who have a bone to pick with America’s top lawdogs. At a press conference outside the FBI’s headquarters on Thursday,…
On Thursday, news outlets around the country reported what seemed like an “only in Florida” story: Goodwill workers in the state found a grenade launcher in a donation shipment, complete with a live grenade. More skepticism was warranted, however, as keen-eyed readers (and authorities themselves) later determined the device is nothing more than a big…
Mexican archaeologists have discovered a 2,400-year-old burial site in which 10 skeletons were meticulously placed in a circular formation and with their body parts interlocked. The researchers have never seen anything like it, with signs pointing to a previously unknown ritualistic practice. This incredible discovery was made near the center of Tlalpan, a city just…
I haven’t touched a DVD, CD, or even a Blu-Ray disc in years, let alone one of the floppy disks the Apple Disk II was designed to load back in the early ‘80s. But I might find a reason to use outdated media again just to justify putting this upgraded piece of classic computer hardware…
“AI is one of the most important things humanity is working on. It is more profound than, I dunno, electricity or fire.” Those words were not uttered from the lips of a stoned Gizmodo staffer but said on a stage at a Recode- and NBC-sponsored “town hall” in San Francisco last month by Google CEO…
Traveling today is less about visiting and experiencing exotic locales than it is about pointing your smartphone at famous landmarks in hopes of racking up Instagram likes. How bad have things gotten? Using public Instagram accounts and hashtags, filmmaker Oliver Kmia was able to assemble this entertaining compilation of unoriginal travel photos. The next time…
Watching this timelapse footage of artist Steeven Salvat drawing a cutaway illustration of a mechanical crab, revealing its impossible inner workings on one side, will make you marvel at his patience and incredibly steady hand. If the art thing doesn’t work out, Salvat could easily find work as a surgeon. The illustration is one of…
