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After suing several hoverboard makers over patent violations last year, Segway, which is now owned by Chinese company Ninebot, revealed its own self-balancing scooter in January at CES. The hope, of course, is that the brand name (and accompanying expertise) means the new personal transporter won’t explode while you’re riding it. Five months later, the…
If you take a trip today, you’re bound to come across more free public wi-fi spots than ever before.
When the OnePlus One appeared out of relative obscurity in 2014, its sparkling arrival came with one glaring flaw—invites. The phone was only available through an awkward system whereby you could sign up for an invite to purchase the phone at irregular intervals. The system was a flawed nightmare, but it was a necessary evil…
There are many ways to solve the standard 3×3 Rubik’s cube, each with its own advantages. Faster methods usually requiring more practice and algorithmic knowledge. But now, thanks to undergrad Martin Španěl and augmented reality, no memorization is required to master the cube in 20 moves or less. First, his software takes input from a…
When spending $1,250 on a prop lightsaber, you want to be absolutely sure you’re buying as accurate a replica as possible. So instead of licensing designs and schematics to third-party companies, Disney and Lucasfilm have launched its own line of prop replicas that promise to be the most accurate ever created. The Star Wars Collectibles:…
YouTube has been essential for musicians, even launching many of them to fame—but now the industry is asking for changes to a copyright law that it says protects YouTube at the expense of musicians being fairly paid. The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act protects sites that host potentially illegal third-party material, which means that removing…
After six years of futilely trying to make people register their phones using real names, China’s got plans to crack down. According to the state-run China News Service, the more than 100 million people who haven’t yet registered SIM cards with real names need to do so by June 2017, or else their mobile service…
It’s an age old question that we love to entertain because we’re all obsessed with our own mortality and the future of the world: what would happen to the world if humans disappeared? With enough time, the Earth would be able to reset itself and erase any trace of our existence. Mind Warehouse goes deep…
The intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue is among the world’s most famous—you’ve seen it broadcast every year on the Oscars as the start of the red carpet. But like most celebrities, the tourist-thronged Los Angeles landmark had a very dark secret: It was known as one of the most dangerous intersections for pedestrians…
The drop doesn’t seem to end. And that’s because the jump is off a 3,228-foot cliff in Norway. At that high of an elevation, that free fall will feel like it’s going on forever. It’s probably long enough to make you question what the hell you just did over and over again. It’s probably long…
When the Secret Service needs help running security for a political event they turn to the TSA. But with TSA staff shortages and absurdly long lines at American airports, why is the Secret Service leaning on the TSA for help? New figures obtained by Gizmodo lead us to believe that American flyers are in for…
Check your cabinets, people. General Mills just issued a recall for 10 million pounds of its flour, in connection with a potential E. coli outbreak. There are as of yet no confirmed cases of E. coli connected to the flour at all. But, starting December of last year and continuing till this month, the CDC…
Tutankhamun, the boy king of ancient Egypt who died at 18 and later exploded inside his own sarcophagus, apparently owned—and was buried with—a literal space dagger made from meteoric iron. Researchers from Milan Polytechnic, Pisa University, and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo used a X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to determine the composition of the knife without…
Budget airlines like JetBlue and Southwest in the United States, and Ryanair and Easy Jet in Europe, are often significantly cheaper to fly compared to legacy airlines like Delta and British Airways. How is this possible? Flying is expensive! The simple answer is that budget airlines simplify as many costs as possible. Sometimes it’s obvious…
Just last month, southeastern Texas saw some of the worst flooding in its history, described as “biblical” by many news outlets. Now, thanks to yet another spate of torrential rainfall, Texans are experiencing déjà vu all too soon. Since the middle of last week, brief but intense thunderstorms—evocatively termed “rain bombs” by meteorologists—have been dropping…
Since Apple released the iPhone 3G in 2008, its most popular gadget has been on a predictable two-year refresh cycle: redesign, refine, and repeat. Now, it appears that product cycle may finally be coming to an end. According to a new Nikkei report, Apple will moving to a three-year iPhone refresh cycle, which means it…
Twitter parody accounts are the second worst thing on Earth. What’s the worst thing? When Twitter shuts down parody accounts because they might offend public figures. That’s what Twitter has been doing recently with accounts that poke fun at Russian politicians, such as @DarthPutinKGB. And the American government isn’t happy about it. DarthPutinKGB, a ham-handed…
The summer’s almost here, and what goes perfect with scorching heat and unbearable humidity? That’s right, fire and explosions. But skip the fireworks and BBQs this year, and instead make your own rainbow pyrotechnics show with materials you can probably find at the hardware store. Surprisingly, making blue, green, or red colored flames doesn’t require…
The immense popularity of Starbucks means that every other person you see on the street is holding one of its highly recognizable green and white paper cups. So what better way could there be to hide a can of beer in plain sight than with this special plastic lid that lets you camouflage it inside…
Modder Valplushka gave a thorough overhaul to a quadcopter and brought to life the single most annoying enemy in Half-Life 2. All this time, the dystopian haunts of City 17 were just a town in modern day Russia. Although the heavily-augmented drone won’t be searing corneas or sending Combine soldiers to chase anyone down, it…
