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Behold: the Jindallae 3. Designed and manufactured locally by North Korea’s Mangyongdae Information Technology Corporation, the new smartphone is “versatile and multifunctional” and comes in white or black, according to state-sponsored news agency DPRK Today. It also looks just like an iPhone. With a name that roughly translates to “azalea,” the Jindallae 3 does indeed…
One of the biggest engineering challenges of building a towering skyscraper isn’t keeping the structure from falling over, it’s moving all the people around inside of it. To improve efficiency, and facilitate the construction of even taller buildings, Germany’s ThyssenKrupp has completely redesigned elevators so that they can move sideways now, too. The traditional design…
You might remember last month when orcas ate an enormous great white shark’s liver, Hannibal Lecter style, in South Africa. It seems the killer whales have decided, why stop there? Why not take the testicles and stomach, too? https://gizmodo.com/killer-whales-eat-enormous-great-white-shark-in-south-a-1795016535 The Dyer Island Conservation Trust, a South African conservation program, was called in to investigate a…
Hackers hit Ukraine’s national bank, the state power provider, an airport, and a number of other agencies and companies with a ransomware attack on Tuesday. This left top-ranking Ukrainian officials unable to access computers and an untold number of citizens unable to access their money. The scariest part? The United States could be next. So…
It’s a crucial component in any laptop or desktop computer, but very few computer owners actually know what a motherboard is or what it does. There’s a motherboard (often called a logic board in smaller more mobile devices) sitting in every computer system: the processor, RAM, hard drives, graphics card, and other bits and pieces…
New research shows that industrial fisheries are responsible for dumping nearly 10 million tons of perfectly good fish back into the ocean each year—enough to fill 4,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools. This news comes at a time when nearly 90 percent of the world’s fish stocks are threatened by overfishing. The research, published in the science…
Norwegian citizens are about to go Liam Neeson in Taken on the shameless vandal who desecrated one of their most beloved natural monuments—a troll dick. Well, it’s a rock that looks like a dick. But it’s supposed to be a troll dick, specifically. On Saturday, June 24th, joggers discovered the rock formation, called “Trollpikken”—which loosely…
For just about his entire life, Ron Smith has been a subject of a scientific inquiry. At birth, in 1972, he was studied by scientists, and then assessed again at age three to document his physical fitness, mental health and intelligence. Every few years after that, he has returned to be poked, prodded and tested…
Forbes recently released its list of the richest person in every state. But when we’re talking about so much money, it can be hard to wrap our heads around just how wealthy these people are. But don’t worry, Gizmodo is here to help. When you hear that a tech mogul like Mark Zuckerberg is the…
This morning, government regulators in Europe hit Google with a record €2.42 billion fine, roughly the equivalent of $2.7 billion US. The search engine company was found to be manipulating search results to favor its own shopping service, a violation of antitrust laws. And if it doesn’t fix the problem within 90 days it faces…
According to emails obtained by the New York Times, the top scientist on the Environmental Protection Agency’s scientific review board was instructed to downplay the mass dismissal of advisors when she testified before Congress. “I felt bullied,” she says now. https://gizmodo.com/scott-pruitt-just-dismissed-a-bunch-of-scientists-from-1795014639 The EPA is technically required to listen to official scientific advice when setting policy.…
Following a flash crash last Wednesday, the company that runs GDAX, an exchange for the ethereum digital currency, announced that it would pay back investors who lost money. If Monday’s market performance for the cryptocurrency is any indication, that move didn’t reassure investors. https://gizmodo.com/hot-new-cryptocoin-exchange-pledges-to-pay-back-losses-1796402976 The most reasonable explanation for why the Ethereum currency dropped from…
Real estate aggregator site Zillow has sent a cease and desist letter to the creator of McMansion Hell, the most popular lampooner of suburban ticky-tacky monstrosities. Zillow claims that by using photos from its site, the architectural criticism blog violates its terms of service. McMansion Hell posts feature promotional home shots taken from real estate…
There are a few reasons to be bullish about augmented reality. It’s just neat is the most important reason. Its practicality is another great factor. But above all, the fact that Apple is about to unleash its app developers to go crazy with AR in iOS 11 means that a ton of content should be…
On Monday, Nintendo formally announced the feverishly-anticipated Super Nintendo Classic Edition, a miniature version of the beloved 16-bit console coming to stores this September. 21 well-chosen titles will be cooked into the device—with one critical omission. https://gizmodo.com/the-super-nintendo-classic-edition-arrives-with-21-game-1796419063 Chrono Trigger. Chrono motherfucking Trigger. The greatest Super Nintendo game (and arguably the greatest video game of all…
The Senate’s health care bill proposal would mean 22 million fewer people would have health insurance, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office delivered on Monday. That projection is just about one million fewer than an earlier version of the bill passed by the House, which the Senate initially set out to drastically revamp,…
Everyone is talking about ticks this year, for good reason: This year’s tick forecast is especially bad. But humans aren’t the only ones worried about the horrible little buggers. It seems like at least one bird species safeguards its nests against ticks with a surprising piece of litter. Cigarette butts. Scientists have long known that birds…
Apple just launched the iOS 11 public beta for the whole world to try, and holy heck, don’t get too excited yet. Obviously, your iPhone or iPad will be cooler than all your friends’ are if you’re running the new software before any of them. There will be consequences, though. First off, not all Apple…
As is currently en vogue for any company making a product that ends up in consumers’ hands, Oscar Mayer is expanding its Wienermobile fleet with a phallic flying drone that can (supposedly) drop a single hot dog on someone not too worried about what they’re eating. If Silicon Valley had its way, we’d only eat…
We were promised a showdown at high noon. Instead, Washington DC was host to two pitifully-attended competing rallies this Sunday, followed by a Twitter slapfight between two 39-year-old men. What was scheduled to be a single rally for free speech at the Lincoln Memorial was cleaved in two when several speakers became aware they were…
