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On a tiny island at the end of the world, a lonely weather station is slowly tumbling off a cliffside. It’s a perfect metaphor for the state of our planet. Say hello to Vize Island, Russia. It won’t be around much longer. You’re forgiven for not having heard of Vize Island—it is a truly desolate…
James Kenji Lopez-Alt is a chef and food writer. He’s been called the “nerd king of cooking” and he’s done plenty to earn that title. Unlike us plebs who pour a bowl of cereal, when Kenji gets a bit peckish in middle of the night, magic happens. The man’s half-asleep dishes are better than what…
Instagram released its Stories feature earlier this month—which is basically a rip-off of Snapchat Stories—in order to tap into the ephemeral social media market. In both features, Snapchat and Instagram let your pictures and videos expire after 24 hours, but viewers can still take screenshots. Snapchat lets you know who took a screenshot of your…
Last night, a JetBlue flight destined for Sacramento, California encountered turbulence so bad it sent 24 people to the hospital. After taking off from Boston, the flight had to be diverted to Rapid City, South Dakota because of what CNN described as weather-related turbulence. Though a replacement flight eventually landed Sacramento, 22 passengers and two…
It’s a game of cat and mouse. On Tuesday, Facebook announced it would begin circumventing ad blocking software in an effort to show more ads in the News Feed. The ad-blocking community was pissed and vowed to fix the problem. Two days later, Adblock Plus contributors made good on their promise and released a workaround,…
Like a horological version of a mullet, watchmaker Sinn has created something it calls the Dual Strap System allowing someone to wear both a traditional watch, and the Apple Watch, at the same time. It’s business up front with the analog timepiece, and a party in the back with all of the added smartwatch functionality.…
One of the frothiest stories to bubble forth from the shit-tastic Rio Olympics this week was the sudden, inexplicable greening of not one, but two Olympic pools. Actually, there is an explanation: algae. Lots of them. Algae thrive in warm, still water, especially when there’s plenty of sunlight to break down pesky, antimicrobial compounds like…
Chill out, man. It was cute the first time you jumped out of nowhere. And maybe still sort of amusing the second time you missile’d yourself out of the water. But when the shark comes breaching once again? Dude. And when it gets a little bit too close where you can feel its splash? And…
Confession: I love video game soundtracks. Ever since I played Final Fantasy II (IV) on the SNES, I’ve known the powerful part music plays in video games. But in the music streaming world of today, jamming on good game soundtracks—whether from a full game or just a playlist for a quick Dota 2 session—isn’t incredibly…
According to former International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, volunteers are invaluable at the Games. “Volunteers are true Olympians. They transmit the true spirit of the Olympic Games,” Rogge said in 2012. Unfortunately, many volunteers this year appear to have ignored this and said “fuck it” instead. As the Wall Street Journal reports, organizers are…
Antarctica, as everyone knows, is mostly covered in ice—mostly being the key word. Scientists have assumed that about a little less than one percent of Antarctica’s rock is ice-free. A new survey corrects this estimate, showing just how frozen this dark continent truly is. In a new paper published in Cryosphere, researchers from the British…
Maps lie. We all learned this at some point in school, when we realized Greenland wasn’t quite the hulking beast of land mass we thought it was. I mean, Greenland isn’t even a third of the size of Australia. And the UK is teeny! Smaller than Japan, the Philippines, and Madagascar. Come to think of…
Do you think your data is safe because your computer isn’t connected to the internet or a network? Wrong. As security researchers recently demonstrated, the sounds of your computer’s hard drive can be used to transmit data from an air-gapped and seemingly well-protected machine. The DiskFiltration hack, demonstrated in this video by security researcher Mordechai…
If volleyball had a child with a bounce house, it would be bossaball. The relatively young sport was created in Spain but has already started taking off in South America and Europe—and damn does it look like fun. Teams of four or five players stand on a big inflatable court, with two designated attackers standing…
I just posted a big laptop-tablet hybrids roundup, one of which included the Galaxy TabPro S (top right corner). When we originally reviewed the TabPro, we gave kudos for its long-lasting battery. But when we actually pitted it against the competition, the difference was staggering. https://gizmodo.com/the-best-2-in-1s-for-every-need-1785160393 We set all 8 tablets to the same brightness…
Seth Rogen’s new animated film, Sausage Party, features grocery stores filled with produce that not only talk, but also have feelings—about being eaten alive. To see how real people would react to sentient produce, the comedian filled a grocery store with talking produce, and cameras, so your Friday morning will be a little less boring.…
The National Parks Service is facing a new threat, and it’s not a wild horde of honey badgers. It’s living slime. The organization released a statement on Wednesday that explained the gray stuff taking over the top of the dome on the Thomas Jefferson Memorial isn’t mold or dirt, but biofilm: a group of microscopic…
When you rip clothing, you either have to go get it repaired, repair it yourself, or sigh heavily and toss it out. You’re lucky if you have the tools necessary to repair torn fabrics, or just have all the money in the world to pay someone else to fix it for you, but what if…
If you do a search for “Disney VHS” on eBay, you’ll find plenty of 1990s Disney movies to choose from. You’ll also notice something strange: a lot of people are asking for a ton of money. Literally hundreds of people are asking for more than $1,000 per tape for everything from Beauty and the Beast…
About a year ago, I wrote a blog post with a tricky headline. I now receive lots of emails from people who either think I’m pals with or am Amazon CEO and Star Trek: Beyond extra Jeff Bezos. It would be funny, if the messages weren’t so heart-breaking. https://gizmodo.com/jeff-bezos-if-you-have-a-problem-with-amazon-email-me-1724561248 So the point of the above…
