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A new version of Google+ is rolling out to users starting today, and just like every version before it, you probably won’t use it. Google project manager Danielle Buckley announced the news on her Google+ page today. In the post, she said the redesigned G+ includes three major updates, most of which make it easier…
Last week, the existence of what appeared to be a smaller, redesigned PlayStation 4 console leaked out into the world. Despite no comments from Sony and the disappearance of video documentation, people know it’s out there. Thanks to this totally unauthorized advance review, they know how it performs. Over at Let’s Play Video Games, a…
First, death came for Larry, the 15-pound, 100-year-old lobster who died on his way to freedom. Now it’s come for Big Lobi, a 22-pound monster who died shortly after he was released into the wild in Chatham, Massachusetts. The Cape Cod Times reports that Big Lobi—named after Red Sox designated hitter David “Big Papi” Ortiz,…
Back in June, Gizmodo reported on kratom’s growing popularity in the US among sufferers of chronic pain and opiate addicts trying to get clean. Now the plant’s time as a self-medication agent may be coming to an end. A new notice of intent from the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) advises that kratom undergo emergency…
Do you hate going to the dentist? Well, you really would’ve hated going to the dentist 100 years ago. I can already see the smoke rising from my mouth as a dry drill bores away at my molars. I probably would’ve taken rotting teeth, thank you very much. X-ray imagery is obviously taken for granted…
Yesterday, news made the rounds that a team of Russian astronomers had detected an unusually strong signal emanating from a nearby sunlike star—a possible indication of an alien civilization. Here’s what the detection of this signal really means, and why it’s probably not ET. To quickly recap, scientists using the RATAN-600 radio telescope in the…
In what’s being hailed a meteorological first, two back-to-back hurricanes are marching toward Hawaii, both of them threatening torrential rains and rip-roaring winds this week. The closer of the two, hurricane Madeline, could break a second meteorological record as the first hurricane to strike the Big Island since bookkeeping began in 1949. Rumbling west at…
Gulp. Just look at how ridiculous this thing looks. It’s a giant black sea slug known as a sea hare and it’s freaking monstrous. You don’t really hold it in your hand as much as the sea hare, which can grow up to over 3 feet long and weigh over 30 pounds, just swallows your…
If you grew up in the 90s, you probably saw one of the legendary ITT Technical Institute commercials in the wee hours of the morning. Now, you’ll probably never see one again. Today, ITT Technical Institute campuses have stopped enrolling students at all of its campuses. The abrupt decision to stop enrolling students came after…
The housing situation has gotten so ridiculous in Palo Alto, the original home of Facebook and Google, that there’s a studio up for sale for a cool $1.3 million dollars. Bloomberg says that’s totally normal. Good luck using your phone in your stupid overpriced studio, because cell service is a total shit show. According to…
If you woke up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night yesterday, panicked that there wasn’t enough time left this summer to float around on a giant six-feet long inflatable cockroach, do not worry. There is still plenty of time to disgust everyone at the beach or local your pool with this…
Bing, Microsoft’s version of Google, just learned the hard way that fucking up your translation service is a bad way to win friends on the internet. According to a report in the Guardian, the search engine’s translator thought the word “Daesh”—the Arabic word for the Islamic State—meant “Saudi Arabia” in English. The error was pointed…
A few months ago, connected speaker maven Sonos said it was working on bringing voice control to its speakers. Today, Sonos is announcing a long-term relationship with Amazon whereby you’ll be able to control your Sonos speakers from your Amazon Echo. This is just awesome news. By early 2017, all Amazon Alexa devices—including the Echo,…
These days all you need to recreate Hollywood-caliber visual effects is a fast PC and some expensive 3D software. But if you want to try your hand at recreating old-school special effects, find yourself a 3D printer, make a miniature version of Ghostbusters’ Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and go to town with a blowtorch. Watching…
Here’s a bit of schadenfreude for those of us who can’t afford to breathe in New York’s Upper West Side: A water main break last night created a sinkhole, and that sinkhole swallow an entire BMW worth around $55,000*. DNAinfo reports that the break began around 9:15pm last night, while NBC reports the water flow…
Snapchat made its name as the ephemeral social app, where your photos are lost forever after a few seconds of looking at them. But it’s not at all difficult to save your Snapchats for posterity. Here’s how to keep any images you send or receive and back them up in the cloud. To find the…
When farmers spray their crops with pesticides and other treatments to help ensure their survival, 98 percent of those chemicals bounce right off the plants and end up in the groundwater as pollution. It’s a waste, and harmful to the environment, so researchers at MIT came up with a cheap but effective way to instead…
By scanning the brains of dogs, researchers from Hungary have learned that our canine companions don’t just care about what we say, it’s also very important about how how we say it. Which means they can tell when you’re feeding them a load of crap. It shows that for dogs, a nice praise can very…
The next time you’re staring down a tough cleaning job—be it removing paint, rust, or lasagna off of a baking dish—don’t waste your time with harsh chemicals, sand paper, or scrubbers. Get yourself a 1,000-watt laser and blast away that filth and grime in just seconds. Judging by this video, the first company to make…
The EU’s Executive Commission just ordered Apple €13 billion ($14.5 billion) plus interest for back taxes it owes Ireland. So what does that bill really mean? For the most valuable company on Earth, not much. To put that in perspective, that’s 24,369,747 iPhone devices, at an average selling price of $595 a unit. Apple sold…
