Tech News

Fatbergs, Naked Tourists, Bedbugs: What’s Ruining Our Cities This Week

Summer’s almost over but that doesn’t mean we can’t have one last warm-weather, city-ruining hurrah. Let’s check out some exhibitionist visitors to Barcelona, unwelcome new passengers on the NYC subway, and an airplane-sized mass of congealed fat moving under London. What’s Ruining Our Cities? These guys are. Fatbergs are ruining London Radioactive pizza-eating reptiles are…

The Papercraft Enterprise is the coolest paper Starship there is

Alex Manfredi’s paper model of the NCC-1701 is hands down the neatest starship made out of processed wood pulp you’ll see today. A mix of the designs seen in the original series and the Enterprise’s refits in the earlier Star Trek movies, Manfredi’s model is packed full of little details and 3D additions to give…

Netflix Is Considering Shorter Clips to Jumpstart Mobile Streaming

We all love video streaming. No, we actually all do. Last June, a study concluded nearly half the U.S. subscribed to at least one video service, and arguably Netflix is king. But there is one small problem, Netflix’s streaming content, for the most part, is at least 2o-ish minutes long, and those long lengths aren’t…

Climbing The Snowiest Mountain In The World

The snowiest mountain in the world can be found right here in the US. I traveled to the North Cascades in Washington State to climb Mt. Baker with world-renowned climbing guide, Craig Van Hoy. Our guide, Craig Van Hoy, has over 400 summits of Rainier, multiple summits of Everest, and climbed Kangchenjunga (the 3rd highest…

NIH Discovers Even More Dangerous Pathogens in Recent Lab Sweep

This past July, we reported that the National Institutes of Health found vials filled with smallpox in a Maryland lab. The potentially disastrous discovery prompted the agency to check on all its labs to make sure no other fatal diseases were lurking about. It turns out there were. NIH. announced on Friday that they’d found…

The Wakie Alarm App Recruits Strangers to Help Get You Out of Bed

Wakie is an Android and Windows Phone app (iOS is currently in the approval process) that lets complete strangers dial you up to help get your ass out of bed, and I couldn’t think of anything more terrifying. Here’s how the app works. After signing in with your phone number, the app splits users into…

The Daqri Smart Helmet Wants to Put Augmented Reality to Work

Augmented reality is coming. Whether it’s a dedicated screen strapped to your face or a just a pair of glasses, computer-enhanced vision will have a place in our tech future. But exactly what package it will arrive in is up for grabs. Where Google Glass and VR companies aim for wide consumer applications, the Los…

Was The Doctor right? A look at the myth and reality of Robin Hood

As The Doctor confidently states in last night’s episode of Doctor Who, there’s ‘No such thing as Robin Hood’. But was he correct? Let’s take a closer look at the literary and actual history behind one of Britain’s most famous legends – and maybe how the hero of Sherwood can find familiarity with the hero…

DARPA’s Experimental Tank May One Day Dodge Incoming Threats

Last month, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agencyintroduced what a next-generation tank might look like. Known as the Ground X-Vehicle Technology (GXV-T) program, this experimental vehicle is less like the traditional heavily armored brutes typically on the battlefield. These are built for speed. In a new video, DARPA shows off exactly how this new tech…

Fire Departments Use Rube Goldberg Machines As Alarms

Apparently, it’s a common problem for fire departments to rig up improvisational noise-makers to alert them when an emergency notification comes through the printer. Am I the only one thinking that we’ve found a use for the World’s Most Useless Machine?

SpaceX Recovers From Explosion With a Flawlessly Beautiful Launch

SpaceX successfully launched, carrying the AsiaSat 6 satellite to a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The Falcon 9 launch was initially delayed due to concerns after a SpaceX test flight exploded in late August. The launch went perfectly, and communications are established with the satellite. Top image: Falcon 9 launch out of Cape Canaveral on September 7,…

Cookie Monster And John Oliver Should Be Everyone’s TV News Reporters

If the nightly news report was this good every day, I might actually watch it. For the rest of this week’s top comedy videos, head on over to SplitSider. Now for the (sadly, not Cookie Monster-delivered) news! Legendary comedian Joan Rivers died at 81. We showed you the late night tributes to Joan Rivers from…

You Wouldn’t Believe These Trick Golf Shots Without Slow-Mo Video Proof

George and Wesley Bryan turn the stodgy old game of golf into an extreme sport with their wacky trick shots. They’re so well-timed and precisely coordinated, you’d probably lose track of that little white ball with your naked eye. Thank goodness for GoPro and slow-mo footage. Well, that proves it: Slow-mo makes just about everything…

Report: iWatch Will Have Unique Apps And a Dedicated App Store (Update)

Ahead of Tuesday’s big reveal of the much-anticipated Apple smartwatch, 9to5Mac brings us new details of what that iWatch might have on its homescreen: Wearable-optimized apps (Update: including Facebook), downloadable from an iWatch section of Apple’s App Store. Hope the icons are legible on that tiny screen. Over at 9to5Mac, the steadfastly reliable Mark Gurman…

This Robot Maximizes Your Chance of Finding Love on Tinder

Tinder is a great way to findhookups romance near you, but it still relies on you and your potential partner finding each other mutually attractive. Since you can’t always rely on that, why not boost your odds—say, with a robotic finger that can “like” up to 900 Tinderers per hour? Andrew Sink’s Tinder-O-Matic is an…

What’s The Earliest Trace Of Yourself You Can Still Find Online?

The internet is so deeply woven into our everyday lives, we hardly think about it anymore. We’ve all been posting, commenting, liking, and sharing for at least a decade. In the process, we’ve all left a long digital trail. What’s the oldest remnant of your online life that you can still find? I got sucked…

Protecting Your Nude Pics, Apple’s Newest Designer, A Sewer Tour, More

This week revealed a lot about life on the internet. Most of it was pretty awful. Let’s flush out the bad with the best—specifically, the best stories Gizmodo wrote this week. Why Apple Just Hired a Rockstar Industrial Designer It’s no secret that Apple is branching out into the home—and into all manner of peripherals.…

Got your eye on a new Moto X or Moto G smartphone? Motorola will give you up to $300 on a cash card when you trade in your old smartphone. Hypothetically, that means you could buy a subsidized Moto and make money, if you trade in a desirable phone in perfect condition. [Motorola via Cnet]

Reminder: Stay Skeptical About iPhone 6 Leaks This Weekend

The tech blogging world was alight this morning with purported images and video of a leaked iPhone 6. That’s not surprising—in the run-up to Apple’s iPhone 6 event on Tuesday, leaks and rumors are inevitable. But as always, it pays to have a skeptical eye. Today’s leak, at face value, seems pretty convincing: The leaker…

How to Get (Legal) Weed Delivered to Your Front Door

There are more than a few sketchy pot stores among the thousands of licensed dispensaries spread across the 23 states and DC where medical marijuana has been legalized. Fortunately, you can just have your weed order delivered. All you need is a green card, the Internet, and cash. During the early days of the MMJ…