Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Since 2007, the @everyword Twitter account has been tweeting out every single word in the English language. This morning, after tweeting one word every half hour for for the last seven years, the account will finally shut down. In honor of its completion, here are @everyword’s greatest hits:
Holy crap! Calvin & Hobbes’ creator Bill Watterson has been secretly drawing a comic strip! Nobody knew it except Stephan Pastis, the author of Pearls Before Swine. You’re looking at his artwork right above these lines—the first two panels are drawn by the legendary cartoonist, the third by Pastis. Pastis tells the fascinating—at least for…
A beautiful, crystal clear photo of an F-15E Strike Eagle piloted by Colonel Jeannie Leavitt—the first US Air Force female combat fighter pilot and the first commander of a combat fighter wing. This was her last refueling and her final flight—on May 29, 2014—after 2,600 hours flying this beautiful jet. Col. Leavitt commands the 4th…
It wasn’t the Kraken. It wasn’t Godzilla. And it wasn’t even a rabid killer whale. The mysterious animal that had killed and eaten the 9-foot great whiteshark and had stumped scientists turned out to be a super predator feared by even apex predators like the great white shark. So what was it? According to the…
If sorcery exists in this world, I’m pretty sure Japan has already discovered it. They can’t quite turn water into wine but they can turn it into dessert. That water droplet you see above? It’s actually a rice cake dessert, or shingen mochi, that melts in your mouth as you eat it. It’s like eating…
The first time I watched Fallen Angels I was trying to wrap my head around what I had just seen. I wasn’t lost in the way a sci-fi masterpiece like The Matrix makes you question reality, but in the you’ve never seen a narrative film told like this kind of way. Director Wong Kar Wai…
Boom. A couple was driving their pickup truck on a fairly empty highway when the weather gods decided that their car would be a great target for a direct lightning bolt strike. According to the couple, after getting hit the car’s airbags popped out, the electrical system was destroyed, the car door’s locked and black…
Did you guys know there is a Gizmodo subdomain where you can go for all things photographic? Yep! It’s called Reframe, and it’s where you’ll find additional coverage of gear, techniques, news, and all kinds of great stuff related to the crafts of photography and videography. San Francisco’s Sights Reflected Upside-Down In Perfectly Clear Puddles…
In a new essay at the New York Times, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester asks the retro-futurist’s most daunting question: Where’s my flying car? Or, as Adam Frank’s piece is titled, “I Was Promised Flying Cars.” As an astronomy-obsessed kid in the 1970s, I subsisted on a steady diet of science…
It’s starting to feel like summer out there! Go on and get outside. Give your smartphone some fresh air—and some fresh apps. Multi-Platform Updates Tinder This week saw the addition of Moments, a new feature that lets you share photos with all of your matches at once. Add filters or text, see who “likes” your…
What is is about iconic cities that make people want to destroy them? Whether it’s Godzilla curb stomping San Francisco or Tetsuo reintegrating Neo-Tokyo or giant tentacle monsters molesting the Brooklyn Bridge, our popular culture is completely enthralled with the destruction of our most famous monuments. Why is that? Is it the same instinctive impetus…
Yeah, that picture pretty much speaks for itself, doesn’t it? Finn is feeling butt-dumps ever since his dad re-entered the picture (and then left again), he lost his arm, and Flame Princess dropped him. His flower is even wilting. Doctor Princess prescribes her patient a heavy dose of fun, but Finn isn’t sure how he’s…
For those who’ve seen it—and photographs don’t do it justice—the bioluminescent Mosquito Bay is one of the world’s most spectacular natural sights. Tiny plankton known as dinoflagellates light up the water like a glow stick at night. But since January, the glow has faded, throwing the entire Puerto Rican town into a panic. Vieques is…
Is the L.A. of 2014 driving around on a road network built for the L.A. of the 1980s? That’s one conclusion two researchers at Arizona State University draw from their above data visualization, which uses building records from the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office to infer the age of the metropolis’ roads. Green represents the…
When development started in 1960, many people thought Project Xanadu would change the world. Then one delay led to another and another and another. But after 54 years in development the world’s most delayed software went live. It’s called OpenXanadu. Described as “the original hypertext project” on its website, the software is basically a fancy…
No matter how many times you hear about a new breakthrough, 3D printing is amazing, transformative technology. Now, a new method for 3D printing steel joints stands to revolutionize the construction industry. It looks pretty badass, too. Arup, an engineering and design firm, has developed an additive manufacturing technique for critical structural steel elements that…
Pig—the name of this Akita mutt—is not one of those ridiculous photoshops of animals with short necks. She was born like this in the woods northeast of Atlanta.Nobody gave a damn for her life except her owner, Kim Dillenbeck: “The lady who found her, the vet told her to have her put down.” I met…
Sharp, dangerous, often illegal and honestly not very good as a weapon; I still wouldn’t be caught dead without a good knife. Here’s why I carry one everywhere and why you should too. Being Handy: Equipped with opposable thumbs, we humans are pretty good at grabbing things, tearing things, chewing things, pulling things and even…
The truly shatterproof screen is a little bit like the flying car: It’s been promised for years, but never arrives. Scientists at University of Akron claim they’ve cracked the code, so to speak, by creating a super-tough screen out of transparent electrodes. Right now, your smartphone screen is coated with a clear, conductive substance called…
Folks with loads of cash who are looking to build their wildly extravagant dream home in London are getting around strict architectural preservation laws by building down, not up. And after excavating space for subterranean ballrooms, pools, and bowling alleys, the diggers that do the dirty work are being abandoned underground and there, covered with…
