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Have you heard? AT&T is going to “pave the way for the next generation of faster speeds” with something called 5G Evolution. No, it’s not actually a new 5G network, the much hyped successor to 4G that’s supposed to change the way we connect to the internet. It’s just a re-branded 4G offering, and AT&T’s…
A new document made public this week via Edward Snowden’s leak of NSA documents reveals a fascinating aim of signals intelligence program: The agency, it turns out, monitored international scientific developments in hopes of detecting “nefarious” genetic engineering projects more than a decade ago. SIGINT is intelligence collected by monitoring electronic and communications signals. In…
The New York Times Magazine has an interesting story out today about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, fake news, and Facebook’s role as the world’s most prominent information distributor. It’s all part of Facebook’s ongoing public relations freak out surrounding the prevalence of fake news and hoaxes spread on the platform. The company is trying to…
If there are two things every stroller lacks, it’s a $3,000 price tag and the ability to make a child look like an unfortunate castoff from Downton Abbey. Luckily for all of us, however, a company called D.Throne has created an obscenely over-the-top electric car for kids that you can justify as an essential baby…
The hacker’s name is Janit0r. You’ve probably never heard of him, but perhaps you’ve heard of his work. Janit0r is reportedly the one behind a particularly gnarly but undeniably fascinating form of malware called BrickerBot. BrickerBot, as the name implies, will brick internet of things (IoT) devices that fail a simple security test. This is…
Are you reading this on a smartphone, tablet, or laptop? Yes? Cool. That glowing misery rectangle has the capacity to explode the same way Milwaukee woman Dina Mitchell’s Fitbit Flex 2 did last week. Any lithium-based rechargeable battery can. It’s just extremely unlikely. The shoddy manufacturing practices around “hoverboards” and vapes made exploding batteries known…
For years now, people have been letting Unroll.me read the contents of their email inboxes, to help them unsubscribe from email spam. The service was endorsed by our sister site Lifehacker in 2011 for its effectiveness in finding and cleaning out unwanted subscriptions (and Gizmodo wrote about its iOS app release last year). But a…
Asparagus might be good for you, but there is no firm evidence to suggest it can prevent cancer. And yet, the website for wellness company BioStar Organix listed it among multiple products that do just that. “Asparagus should be taken by everyone for heart, cancer prevention,” the website read. It can also treat leukemia, breast…
Like a dandelion reaching up to the sky on a warm spring day, the James Webb Telescope peers upwards in this stunning new photo released today by NASA. Still under construction, the powerful space-bound telescope will soon be shipped across the country for the next phase of its development. In this photo (above), NASA technicians…
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer continues to stack up piles of cash, despite her veritable failure to rescue the company from a pile of its own rot. After numerous setbacks, including two massive security breaches and dwindling ad revenue, Mayer is set to make about $186 million as a result of the company’s sale to Verizon,…
Incubators and ventilators are invaluable when treating extremely premature infants, but they’re a far cry from the cozy confines of a mother’s womb. In an effort to create an environment that more closely approximates the real thing, researchers have now developed an artificial womb that could dramatically reduce mortality and disease in preemies. The research…
Back in February, Apple excitedly told the world that its first original series, the Carpool Karaoke spin-off, would be launching in April. Now, according to Reuters, the premiere has been pushed back until “later this year.” Carpool Karaoke: The Series is one of Apple’s first big bets on content—the company is also planning the awful-looking,…
Wireless headphones are rapidly becoming a necessity in our dongle-tangled gadget universe, but the options are endless. We set out to find a pair of high-quality, wireless on-ear headphones for the discerning listener who wants to cruise the streets in style. On-ear headphones (the ones that sit directly, well, on your ears) are sort of…
Remember what it felt like a couple of months ago when you, as an American, didn’t give much thought to North Korea? I’d like you to try and remember that feeling over the next couple of weeks, because the US government wants that to change. The past month has shown a tremendous shift in news…
John Edmark, a sculptor, inventor, and Stanford professor, loves spirals. When making his mesmerizing “blooms” Edmark wants people to say “wow, how’s that possible?” In this lovely little clip, he explains how it all works. Edmark has some big, profound explanations about why he likes spirals so much—that’s just what happens when you spend all…
Quietly flying under the radar in the fitness wearables market is Whoop, a manufacturer of high-end wrist-worn straps that measure data 100 times per second. In what could turn out to be one of the more bizarre licensing agreements ever, the startup struck a deal with the NFL Players Association today that will make it…
While Elon Musk is running around cautioning the world about the real danger of Skynet-style warrior robots, Jack Ma would like you to consider another possible problem: CEOs might lose their overpaid gigs and there will be no golden parachute. Well, let’s be honest, there probably will be a golden parachute… somehow. https://deadspin.com/science-ceos-are-such-bullshit-1792484736 Ma, the…
Donald Trump no longer loves WikiLeaks. In fact, the president so expressively does not love the organization that he endorsed the idea of arresting founder Julian Assange on Friday. Which is weird because Trump literally announced, “I love WikiLeaks” at a rally in October. Trump now swears the world misunderstood him. The Associated Press published…
In a chance discovery, a research team from Europe has learned that a common insect larva is capable of breaking down the plastic found in shopping bags and other polyethylene-based products. This trash-munching caterpillar could inspire scientists to develop a new chemical process to tackle the growing problem of plastic waste. Beekeepers are all too…
Upcoming film The Circle appears to be about a bearded white guy who runs a technology company that (I guess, based on the trailers) preaches connectivity and positive disruption but exists as a front to mine personal data. Haven’t seen it yet. Jack Dorsey, the white, bearded CEO of Twitter, decided to host a Periscope…
