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If your iPhone 5’s battery just doesn’t have the kick that it feels like it should, you might be able to get a new one for free. Apple has found that an apparently small batch of iPhone 5s (not the S or C) that “may suddenly experience shorter battery life or need to be charged…
The FAA’s rules about commercial drones have so far been ham-fisted: ban, except in special cases. But what would a world where we live, play, and work next to drones look like? What would city zoning for drones look like? For that, we might take a look at a recent post by Mitchell Sipus, an…
Last year, Gizmodo wrote about a Kickstarter for the Floyd Leg, an age-old, simple-as-nails clamp that turns whatever vaguely table-sized piece of material you choose into, well, an actual table. It was a refreshingly simple invention amidst the usual morass of insane vaporware and weird personal projects, and now, it’s a real thing you can…
Like many warm-blooded humans, I like to drink. It’s a fun activity that just never seems to lose its appeal. But if you are finding that drinking booze has last its appeal for you, there is a (somewhat dangerous) solution: Don’t drink your alcohol. Inhale it! What Is It? The Vapshot Mini turns alcohol into…
The astronauts on the International Space Station managed to not only photograph of the Cygnus spacecraft being tossed free of the station and burning up during destructive reentry, but also to take a timelapse of its fiery demise. https://gizmodo.com/the-space-station-has-the-most-beautiful-garbage-day-1623444197 https://gizmodo.com/garbage-disposal-is-a-thrill-ride-in-this-timelapse-vi-1624484275 The music is oddly jaunty for a video titled “Orbital Cremation,” but it is mesmerizing…
Behind the Blue Mosque in Istanbul rise three stumpy luxury apartment buildings, recently completed and sold—only to be ordered demolished. The ruling from Turkey’s highest administrative court to tear down the skyscrapers to protect the city’s iconic views is remarkable, if a bit ill-timed. The lawsuit began in 2011, long before the 3 skyscrapers of…
Today, Google announced it’s taking a big step into its future: By buying Gecko Design, an 18-year-old product design and mechanical engineering studio, to be part of Google X. What could Google want with a smaller engineering company like Gecko? Its ability to build real-world products, that’s what. Google X a little bit like the…
A new Department of Homeland Security report due out today confirms that the Target credit card scanner hack from this past winter was much broader than originally thought. The New York Times says that same hack is affecting more than 1,000 U.S. businesses. The Homeland Security report says that the malware could be hiding undetected…
New details have emerged on the stealthy fast attack craft from Juliet Marine known as the Ghost. This prototype is the only one of its kind (yet!). It looks—and runs—like something out of the next GI Joe flick, according to the folks at Bloomberg Businessweek who recently got a closer look. Eat your heart out,…
It was square, squat, and inherently cute. It was friendly. It was easy to use. I’m talking about the beige box with the blue grinning face that came to live with us in 1985. But I’m also talking about the font that came with it. It was the typeface Chicago that spelled out “Welcome to…
Coin is a beautiful dream, one techno card that voltrons all the plastic in your pocket into a single slim square. Getting to market is hard though; Coin just got delayed until the spring of 2015. http://www.cnet.com/news/coin-delays-product-launch-until-spring-2015-as-questions-remain/ Originally intended to hit this summer after a successful crowdfunding project, Coin has now announced that it’s pushing…
If you own any devices powered by standard batteries, and you aren’t using rechargeables, you’re basically throwing money down the drain. Eneloops are widely considered the best on the market, and there are two great options today to get you started. The Super Power Pack is down to one of its lowest prices ever, and…
Daytona International Speedway is undergoing its first major renovation in 55 years. Its first ever, really. On a recent visit, we found out just how far 40 million tons of steel, miles of fiber, and an eye towards the future will take an aging behemoth—one that can swallow 14 football stadiums whole. Full disclosure: International…
From Oculus Rift to the rumored Samsung Gear VR, immersive virtual reality is on the rise. Still, from what we’ve seen so far, the legions of iPhone users seem to have been left out of the mix. Not so! Your iPhone is good for VR too! Thanks to, er, Google! This great video by 9to5Mac…
It’s the worst fear of narcissists around the globe: Those confessions, those private things, those secrets you’ve been sharing on the popular app Secret aren’t actually secret. Well, narcissists of the globe, your worst fear has come true. Secret isn’t really secret. A duo of security researchers—Benjamin Caudill and Bryan Seely—recently discovered a hack that…
Getting an aircraft to launch and land vertically is not difficult. Getting one to launch vertically and then complete a long-endurance flight, however, is an entirely different bag of cats. But a team from NASA’s Langley Research Center believe that they’ve developed a flight system that can do both tasks equally well. The secret: hybrid…
If you’re putting your Android phone or tablet up for sale on eBay, then a factory reset might not be enough to destroy all of the data on it. On some devices, the files and photos on your phone aren’t actually erased—just the references and file structure around them. With a few hacking tools, anyone…
Zero-emissions hydrogen fuel cells seem like a great idea. At least they do until you realize that isolating the hydrogen that powers them creates a crapload of greenhouse gasses. Now, a Stanford grad student thinks he’s found the answer—and it involves a AAA battery. Under the guidance of Stanford chemistry professor Hongjie Dai, grad student…
Plenty of information has already leaked out about Samsung’s upcoming “Gear VR” headset, including some pretty clear shots of how it looks on the eye side. Now a leak from SamMobile shows what appears to be the front plate, and—say it ain’t so—it looks pretty dumb. The low quality shots from the leaker show face…
Cortana is Windows Phone’s answer to Siri and Google Now: A voice-activated artificially intelligent personal assistant with an only slightly off-putting robot voice. Technically, she’s still in beta on Windows 8.1, but PhoneBuff is here to show us 50 things Cortana can already do. Looks like Cortana’s got some seriously handy capabilities—and a pretty cheeky…
