Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Things haven’t been looking good for Ashley Madison, the dating website whose tagline was “life is short, have an affair.” Now it’s trying to pretend that the whole premise of the cheating website isn’t so morally dubious. First, that massive hack. Then, the revelation that it created thousands of bots to lure men. Now, an…
It’s a lot of freaking weight. The stress test on this cheap Olympic bar reveals that the straight metal bar can lift an immeasurable amount of weight before it buckles and permanently bends itself out of shape. When it’s just lifting normal plates and the like, Beyond the Press counted nearly 1,500 pounds of weight…
College is expensive. Students are in debt. Why? Wendover Productions analyzes what makes higher education so expensive in this country, and some of the reasons he cites you can assume: professors cost money and new facilities are expensive. But a surprising reason why college costs so damn much is that there are more people attending…
This is a really captivating look at how wooden objects are made in small villages across China. This video shows how residents of Shawo Village—a community with only 270 households—use foot-powered lathes to make their wooden bowls, utensils, tools, toys, and more. It’s just fascinating to see the process of it all: from the selection…
Hyperloop One, the much-ballyhooed company formed with the goal of bringing the futuristic Hyperloop to fruition, has been hit by a whopper of a lawsuit from none other than co-founder and chief technology officer Brogan BamBrogan. The claims contained within the suit, filed Tuesday, are salacious. BamBrogan, a former SpaceX engineer—as well as a handful…
Senator Al Franken, best known to the internet as a champion for net neutrality, wants answers from Niantic, the developer of Pokémon Go, about how exactly it’s collecting and storing user data. “I am concerned about the extent to which Niantic may be unnecessarily collecting, using, and sharing a wide range of users’ personal information…
All the sensors, servos, and motors that allow humanoid robots like ATLAS to walk on two feet require a lot of battery power—so much so that they’re still impractical for real-world applications. But by more closely replicating a human’s gait—at least one with lots of swagger—Georgia Tech’s DURUS requires far less power. DURUS isn’t quite…
The FBI is facing accusations that malware it deployed while running Operation Playpen, a sting that infiltrated and maintained a dark web child pornography website for two weeks and eventually led to more than 100 arrests, was illegal. But the agency swears that using malware was good because, well, the FBI had good intentions. Some…
Can you imagine if buildings in a city could grow and bend on a whim as if they were living, breathing organisms? This short film, Spatial Bodies by AUJIK, plays with that concept, transforming the cityscape of Osaka into a totally trippy world where the laws of physics and gravity don’t really exist and buildings…
Although launching the Oculus Rift headset almost four months ago, Oculus confirmed today that it has finally shipped its last pre-order headsets. The company also announced that new orders have dropped down to about two to four days from the moment you click “Order Now.” In mid-April, Gizmodo chronicled the growing ire of VR fans…
A brand new underwater microscope just took an unprecedentedly-close look at the deep seafloor. You can see the footage it took, including a microscopic coral cage-match, right here. The footage was taken with the Benthic Underwater Microscope, which was developed specially to look at coral reefs and other life on the seafloor by the University…
That little bead right there? That’s all the gold in four and a half pounds of electronics waste. And it took so very much work to get there. Here’s what YouTuber is no stranger to the refinement of precious metals. Previously he’s gotten silver from shit-tier fireworks and found platinum dust on the side of…
Amazon’s Prime Day wants you to save a few bucks on vegan jerky or a Blu-ray copy of The Human Centipede—questionable ways to celebrate even a made up holiday. But nothing Amazon has marked down comes anywhere close to the brilliance of Thanko’s new armpit air conditioners. We’ve all been there during the hot and…
A 300-pound security robot at at the Stanford Shopping Center knocked down and ran over a 16-month-old boy. The parents of the injured boy are understandably pissed, claiming the autonomous machine is dangerous. “The robot hit my son’s head and he fell down facing down on the floor and the robot did not stop and…
It’s tough for a new app out there trying to poke its head above the flood waters of Pokémon Go. But Prisma is one that certainly deserves your attention. At the basic level, it’s a photo filter app. But such a simple description would be doing this software a disservice. Offering more than just various…
When you set your alarms at night you’re probably only concerned about getting as much sleep as possible, not about what unforeseen problems in the morning could make you late for work. You can leave those concerns to a new iOS-only app called Snorelax that will automatically wake you earlier if traffic problems along your…
Amazon Prime Day is a huge fucking deal, according to Amazon. It’s a day when Amazon Prime members can buy loads of crap at a special discount. But now that Prime Day is upon us, it’s time to go shopping. Except for one problem: Amazon’s website is all fucked up. This is the second year…
Life is all about compromises and trade-offs. The Useless Duck Company is back with a new and improved version of its automatic Toilet Paper Machine that’s sure to save you a few precious seconds while in the bathroom, but the trade-off is there’s a very real chance you’ll lose a finger or hand with this…
It’s considered to be one of the most perfectly designed video game levels of all time because it introduces players to new gameplay concepts without an instruction manual. And if you have fond memories of Super Mario Bros.’ Level 1-1 (who doesn’t?) you can now immortalize it on your wall. When laid out in sequence,…
Amazon treats its annual Prime Day like a religious holiday for shopping and the greatest thing capitalism hath wrought. In fairness, you can find some sweet, sweet deals amongst the pages of dog food and baby monitors, especially if you’re patient and enjoy spending your day hiding an Amazon webpage from the prying eyes of…
