Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Tired of the same old, boring laminated pattern that’s in all of your 3D printed stuff? Industrial design student Vimal Patel was, and so he decided to fashion himself a 3D doodler, out of a hot glue gun which he modded with a custom Lego extruder. You know, obviously. According to Patel’s website, the idea…
If you’ve ever considered trading your house for a life on the water, but don’t fancy the idea of cramped, below deck living quarters, then this floating, solar-powered home, designed by renowned Italian architect Giancarlo Zema, might be just the thing for you. As our climate warms and sea levels continue rise, our coastlines will…
Did you know that shuffling cards could be a form of art? Yea, me neither. But apparently, the five guys who call themselves The Virts have been honing their card wizardry for years. Indeed, the spinning, flipping and mind-blowing tricks on display in their latest video could only be accomplished by maestros who’ve spent years…
Thirty years ago, on March 15, 1985, the first .com domain name—symbolics.com—was registered by the technology company Symbolics, marking the birth of the commercial internet. But things started heating up in the 1990s. Click back to those days with these nostalgic gifs. 1985. When Back to the Future opened in American theatres and ended up…
Today at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, TX, audiences are watching the debut of a new CNN documentary called Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine. It’s about Jobs’ life, and how he influenced tech culture. The film’s director, Alex Gibney, is also known for his controversial documentary about Scientology. The Steve Jobs…
For all you Lollipop-ers out there, Android just began pushing out its first major update to its Material Design-dressed OS, and unlike some updates that are usually just for “stability and performance,” Android 5.1 actually comes with some stuff you’re definitely going to want to know about. Welcome back, Silent Mode For all its wonderful…
Can’t remember when Sterling Archer hooked up with that Brazilian au pair, or if he made accidental penis contact with Conway Stern? Even for a devoted Archer fan, it can be difficult keeping up with Sterling’s sordid affairs. Now there’s a handy infographic to help sort it all out. “Archer Net” is a simple and…
A few weeks ago I found a crazy idea on Kickstarter: A gamepad that basically lets you touch your television without leaving your couch. It promises to track your fingers and display their location on the TV before they touch down. Now I’ve tried it. It’s promising, but needs work. https://gizmodo.com/this-company-says-its-built-the-perfect-android-touch-c-1686421554 To its credit, the…
Happy Pi Day! How are you celebrating the transcendental, irrational mathematical constant central derived from circles on 3/14/15 at 9:26:53? For me, it’s going to be giggling over physicists engaging in an epic chalk battle, and devouring an apple-ginger pie. Pi Day is the best reason ever to bake a pie for breakfast. Image credit:…
Nitric oxide may be better known for turbo-charging snails, but rather than boosting aggressive behavior, this brain chemical deals crickets a healthy dose of fear, telling them when to throw the towel in and flee a fight. That’s according to research which appeared yesterday in the journal Science Advances. Basically, the researchers doped crickets with…
Bitcoin may still be the fringe coinage of technophiles, but the idea behind the cryptocurrency is rapidly marching towards mainstream. Reuters reports that IBM is considering adopting Bitcoin’s blockchain technology to create a new digital cash and payment system. “IBMCoin” would allow users to send money anywhere in the world without having to use a…
US Thrill Rides, the company that plans to bring us the world’s tallest roller coaster, has just unveiled designs for its latest project: The Tricentennial Tower, a 320-foot tall structure that looks like the Seattle Space Needle with a gondola ride slapped on. The tower, which is planned for the New Orleans waterfront, emerges as…
It’s been a big week for chameleons. On Tuesday, scientists announced they’d worked out the secret to the cross-eyed lizard’s color changing skin. A day later came the announcement that we’d replicated the skin artificially. Chameleons are among the select few organisms that are able to change their color at will. There are many different…
In the early ’80s, the state-sponsored British Broadcasting Corporation decided that computers were going to be kind of a big deal, and created the BBC Micro desktop PC to promote computer literacy. Now, they’re doing it again—this fall, one million UK schoolkids will receive a free Micro Bit. This time, we’re not talking about a…
While Apple dominated the news (and much of Giz!) this week, we found time to rant about Kanye, explain why your internet is so shitty, and relaunch our community platform White Noise, where we want to hear from you, dear reader. Here are some of the best stories on Gizmodo this week. Why America’s Internet…
California has long been on the cutting edge of solar power, and now it has what be its most interesting plan yet: a vast solar array floating on top of wastewater ponds. The project will be built in Sonoma County, which you may know better as wine country. Greentech reports that Sonoma Clean Power will…
There are some pretty nutty patterns that pop up in this time lapse of frost and ice crystals forming on Brenda Loewen’s kitchen window. They almost look like the surface of a different planet or a topographical map of miserable wastelands or a microscopic look at creepy organisms. Whatever your imagination sees, it’s cool. SPLOID…
It was only a matter of time before someone sexualized a paperclip… wait, what? A steamy, new erotic fan fiction titled “Conquered by Clippy” just popped up on Amazon for the low, low price of $3. This 4,000 short-fiction-soon-to-be-masterpiece comes from Leonard Delaney, who has also penned such classics as “Mother Fucking Wizards,” “Taken By…
So you want to join the military police? Well then, get ready to get blasted with a a level-one contamination of oleoresin capsicum. In plain English: You’ll be pepper sprayed in a very painful way. And then you’ll have to work out! It’s just part of the training. The United States Air Force requires all…
Completely silly and self serving but also completely dripping in cool. Hackett Martini Racing teamed up with men’s suit maker Hackett to outfit their pit crew in stylish suits as they go about their pit stop in glorious slow motion. Remember, these stops only last a few seconds but when you look like stormtrooper in…