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Amazon’s long-rumored set top box is here. It’s called Amazon Fire TV, and you can order yours for shipping today. $99. [Amazon] The optional Game Controller is also available now for $40. It includes $10 in Amazon Coins and a free game, Sev Zero. [Amazon] Check out Gizmodo’s full coverage of today’s announcement right here.…
Gizmodo in Spanish reports on this image of the city Iquique, Chile, which suffered numerous fires after a magnitude-8.2 earthquake. Looks like a war zone.
Today at the Build Developer Conference, Microsoft is showing off the newest version of its phone OS, Windows Phone 8.1. And now, Windows Phone now has its own personal assistant: Cortana. We’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about Windows Phone 8.1’s upcoming “Cortana” features; a Google-Now-ish Siri-ish digital assistant named after the AI of…
Amazon has finally announced its answer to Apple TV/Chromecast/Roku in the form of Fire TV. But it’s not stopping at streaming. Amazon’s taking on the gaming world, too. Apparently, Amazon will be bring in thousands of games from “some of the biggest developers” including Disney and EA. And no you won’t be stuck using that…
The US Marine Corps is the tip of America’s spear—a fast-moving, flexible, forward operating force geared to take and hold territory quickly and efficiently. This flexibility is exemplified in the USMC’s favorite armored troop carrier: the eight-wheeled, tank-hunting LAV-AT. The only thing it can’t do is fly. Built by General Dynamics, the LAV (Light Armoured…
Aaron McBride is a designer and concept art director who works for big Hollywood movies. In his spare time he’s working on his own graphic novel called Tóraidhe. He sent me some amazing images of this work in progress to share with all of you. His description on Tóraidhe: It is a period story in…
On Wednesday, South Korean officials unveiled photos of two rudimentary drones that crashed over the border, on South Korean land, around the same time the country exchanged live fire with North Korea. And, indeed, they think it was the North Koreans who sent the drones—if you want to call them drones, that is. The unmanned…
Allyn B. “Happ” Hazard just looks so dang happy in his space suit, that it seems a shame JPL claims no responsibility for it. NASA never developed his design, but toy manufacturer Mattel knew it was too cute for words. Hap was a Senior Development Engineer in the Missile Engineering Section at JPL, but he…
The global shipping industry has completely transformed our world: Today, 90 percent of everything in your life arrives via cargo ship. These two maps prove just how dramatically international trade has increased, by comparing the oceans of the 19th century with those of the late 20th. Ben Schmidt, an assistant history professor at Northeastern University,…
Your car’s cupholders were originally designed to hold beverages, but odds are most of us have repurposed them to hold our smartphones instead. So Zens has created a simple slotted insert that turns cupholders into chargers if your smartphone supports wireless charging. Available mid-April for around $97, the ZENS Qi Wireless Car Charger connects to…
You’ve heard the cautionary tales about dialing 911 on your cell phone. A call about missing children in Illinois gets routed to Canada. A stroke victim in New York is only located after a gruelingeight-hour search. Locating 911 calls in 2014 is a byzantine process that involves generating a fake phone number—but a Next Generation…
The vast and looping knots of L.A.’s elaborate freeway system have long inspired an unlikely stew made from equal parts road rage, suffocating air pollution, and an unexpected aesthetic appreciation for their stacked coils and crisp lines. A drivable geometry textbook, the freeways are perhaps the city’s real monuments, Stonehenge-like megastructures that novelist J.G. Ballard…
Despite being more energy-efficient and longer lasting, consumers keep finding excuses for wanting to stick with ancient incandescent lightbulbs. But with clear glass and a special LED lens that looks like a traditional filament, Philips’ latest LED bulbs might finally convince those afraid of change. Not only do they look like incandescent bulbs before they’re…
At 4:45pm on Tuesday April 1st, a magnitude 8.2 earthquake hit the coast of Chile. This megathrust earthquake produced substantial ground shaking for hundreds of kilometers, and spawned a tsunami that triggered evacuations in Chile and Peru. Chile has a history of earthquakes ranging from shallow (red) to deep (blue). The recent magnitude 8.2 is…
With a few modifications made to their egg decorating machine—including the addition of a compact oxy-fuel torch—the folks at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories were able to create what could possibly be the world’s first automatic marshmallow toaster. Sadly you can’t actually buy one, given the design was first revealed yesterday. But since it’s a hack…
Everyone loves animated GIFs, but you might not realize that their grainy, jerky video can teach us a lot about the compromises that computer scientists everywhere have to make. The low frame rates and small color gamut in GIFs are what make them, frankly, a bit rubbish for video. But arriving at a balance between…
These jugs may look like a smart piece of modern design—because they are—but they’re also modelled on the most important muscle of all: the beating heart in your chest. Called Corazón Coraza—literally, Heart Shell—they’re a stylized and yet surprisingly accurate version of the human blood pump. The designer, Christian Vivanco, collaborated with Mexican ceramics manufacturer…
Binge watching is a very real problem, affecting millions of Americans every day. Don’t let it destroy your life, too. “Chances are, someone you know has be affected by the destructive habit, due to shows like Game of Thrones. Symptoms include sleep deprivation, weight gain, and an increased urge to write fan fiction.” Know the…
Praise be! The ‘search nearby’ function in Google Maps has been reinstated, so now you can find bars and ATMs close by with ease once more.
Following tensions between the two companies, T-Mobile will no longer carry BlackBerry devices. What a shame.
