Tech News

The Placebo Effect Can Make You Enjoy the Same Old Video Games More

The weird and wonderful impacts of the placebo effect are well-documented for health treatments. But now a team of researchers has shown that it can help you enjoy a video game that you’re told has been updated — even when it’s exactly the same as it always was. New Scientist reports that a team from…

Acer’s New All-in-One Has a Battery So You Can Use It Anywhere

If you’ve ever secretly dreamed of using a desktop computer in the coffee shop, you’re in luck. Acer’s new all-in-one now features a battery so you can use it, well, wherever you like. The Aspire Z3-700 features a 17.3-inch touchscreen and weights just 4.4 pounds, so in some ways it’s more like a giant tablet…

Every Space Agency Should Have Space Invader Art Like This at Its Entrance

The entrance to the European Space Agency’s ESRIN Earth observation centre near Rome in Italy just got a little brighter, thanks to the French artist known as Invader. Since April, Invade has been visiting many of the space agency’s sites to inject some primary colors and humor into the occasionally drab scientific buildings. The latest…

These Flexible Electrodes Could Help Monitor the Brain Better Than Ever

Electrodes currently used to directly monitor the brain are made from solid materials that can damage the tissue they’re inserted into. But a new type of flexible electrode may change that. The best way to measure brain signals is to place electrodes directly into the brain. But existing devices are either made from entirely solid…

There’s no denying iPhones are expensive, but be grateful you’re not buying one in India. When the new phone goes on sale in the country later this week it will cost 62,000 rupees — about $955 — for the 16GB 6S base model, making it the most expensive place in the world to buy an…

Even Soldiers Have to Wait for Computers to Reboot

It’s not quite the Blue Screen of Death, but it’s still a pain in the ass. Here, Technical Sergeant Cody L. Canfield from the Illinois Air National Guard’s 169th Air Support Operations Squadron has to wait while his training software reboots. In fact, he’s waiting for the Air National Guard Advanced Joint Terminal Attack Controller…

Where Do Major Tech Companies Stand on Encryption?

There’s a major battle brewing over encryption right now. So where do the tech companies stand? Law enforcement agencies are trying to demand “backdoors” to our sensitive data and communications, while civil liberties groups are fighting back through a new campaign called SaveCrypto. And President Obama seems to be trying to find a middle ground,…

A New PS4 Remote Makes the Playstation a Halfway Decent Set-Top Box

Sony’s Playstation 4 does most of the TV-watching things a TV-watching box is meant to do, apart from the fact that watching Netflix using two analog sticks is a pain. Sony’s new Bluetooth universal remote should fix all that. The new PS4 Universal Media Remote, $30 from your favorite internet retailer later this month, should…

Google’s New Video Teaches You How To Google

Google—or is it Alphabet?—has so many fingers in so many technologically-refined pies that it’s difficult to keep track sometime. So this Halloween, your friendly neighborhood search company would like to remind you what it’s all about. In a new series of YouTube videos, Google’s trying to remind people about its core product: the ability to…

Man Robs Store, Uses Uber for Getaway Car

A 23-year-old man in Parkville, Maryland recently robbed a store at gunpoint. But police quickly tracked him down and arrested him along with his getaway driver. But they let his driver go. Why? The poor guy was just an Uber driver. That’s right, Dashawn Terrell Cochran is the suspect in a bizarre robbery that took…

No, You Don’t Live in a Modern Day Version of The Truman Show, Why Would You Even Ask That?

Stop being silly. You don’t live in a modern day version of The Truman Show. If you did, don’t you think your friends and family would’ve told you by now? The mere idea is absurd. Look, if you really lived in a modern day version of The Truman Show — where everyone was watching you…

Southwest Airlines Suffers Tech Glitch, Has Been Hosed All Day

If you had plans to travel on Southwest Airlines today, it’s probably not news to you that everything is fucked right now. From their reservation system to their mobile app, everything has been upside down, with over 400 delays as of 3pm Eastern. The company hasn’t been specific about the nature of its technology woes,…

Australia Probably Won’t Be a Drone Utopia For Much Longer

Australia is known as the drone hobbyist’s utopia. It has relatively lax laws and a booming drone industry. But the fire season in Australia is about to begin, and firefighters there are already worried about what we saw in California this summer: Drones getting in the way of firefighting crews trying to do their jobs.…

A Legendary Hollywood Set Lies Buried on the California Coast

Welcome to Reading List, Gizmodo’s weekly collection of great tech, science, and culture reads from around the web. This week we explore how the remains of an ancient Egyptian city became buried in a dune field along California’s Central Coast, we tour the lives of the hackers trying to take down ISIS, and more! Dig…

Voters Now Automatically Registered at the DMV in California

Are you getting or renewing your driver’s license in California soon? Don’t worry about registering to vote. California just became the second state in the country to pass a law creating automatic voter registration at the DMV. California Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill yesterday. And whereas some states are making it harder for people…

These Astronauts Designed Experiments for Space by Swimming Underwater

December 18, 1975: This is no casual swim: astronauts Carolyn Griner, Ann Whitaker, and Mary-Helen Johnston train in the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator to help design new experiments to conduct in the challenging environment of space. 1976: Griner, Johnston, and Whitaker [clockwise from front] in scuba gear before descenting into the tank. Image credit: NASA Unlike…

The patron saint of the internet is Isidore of Seville, who tried to record everything ever known

In 1997 Pope John Paul II declared Isidore of Seville the patron saint of the internet. Saint Isidore died in the year 636, long before the first host-to-host ARPANET connection in 1969. But Isidore did try to record everything ever known in an encyclopedia that was ultimately published after his death. From The Telegraph: Saint…

Watch Teddy Roosevelt’s First Aeroplane Flight, 105 Years Ago Today

On October 11, 1910 Teddy Roosevelt became the first president to fly in an airplane. Well, technically he was an ex-president at the time. But that somehow makes it even more badass. Roosevelt was known for his badassery, of course. And his flight with Arch Hoxsey in St. Louis, Missouri was no different. He reportedly…

Use Cabinet to Manage Files on Your Android Device

File management on Android is improving, but it’s still not great, and it can be frustrating trying to take control of exactly which files are saved and where they’re stored. Numerous third-party apps have rushed in to fill the gap but one of the best we’ve seen in recent times is Cabinet—it’s fast, feature-rich and…

Apple is Blocking Its Own News App in China

Apple’s News app has officially launched in the US, with trials in the UK and Australia. But if you’re an American traveling to China, don’t plan on accessing the app from your phone. Apple itself is reportedly blocking it from loading news in the country. Users who visit mainland China simply get a “can’t refresh…