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After an anxious month’s wait, we finally get to see the ultimate showdown of man vs. machine on the only battleground that matters—table tennis. The results? Humans: 1, KUKA robot: 0. Our future mechanical overlords still have quite a ways go. Put on by KUKA Robot Group to show off what its flagship machine can…
Japanese people claim that ice cream company Gari-Gari Kun makes the best popsicles in the world. They’re about to introduce a new popsicle flavor: Pasta with tomato sauce. The tomato sauce is inside the popsicle in gelatin form. It sounds terrible but something tells me that it must taste good. Yummy or yucky, I really…
Taking a photo of yourself while inside someone else’s house illegally might not be the first, second, or even third thing you’d think to do—especially when using your victim’s own camera or cell phone—but, hey, you’re probably not a burglar. Taking pics of yourself while holding your victim’s property is probably also not something you’d…
Since I started talking about the io9 Space subsite on Twitter, promoted tweets in my feed switched to adverting ways to avoid burning bread. I hadn’t previously considered that the high correlation between loving astronomy and night owls would result in an equally strong correlation with breakfast incompetence. While puzzling over the failures of targeted…
Laurent Durieux is one of my favorite illustrators and designers ever. His re-imagined movie posters—recreated in an exquisite retro-futuristic style—are simply a true pleasure. I love to get lost in the fine detail and admire his perfect command of color and shading. You can buy his amazing artwork here. Laurent Durieux has been working two…
We have endeavored time and again to explain Bitcoin, but do any of you really understand it? It doesn’t help that the mysterious digital currency keeps disappearing. Thankfully, here’s a Conan O’Brien bit to set the record straight once and for all. OK, so this video doesn’t explain much of anything. But do any of…
Today, Senator Diane Feinstein backed up reports that the CIA had illegally searched Senate computers in an effort to figure out what the Senate knew about its torture activities. It turns out that the CIA acted exactly the way we expect the CIA to act—and that’s a problem. For those of you catching up, McClatchy…
If you think the stock market can be a gamble, you’d now be wrong. The latest trading software developed by Virtu—a company specializing in high-frequency trading—has had only one day of loss in the past four years. Put that another way: it means that, for every one day the software makes a loss, it makes…
The promise of the self-driving car is taking too long to materialize—but it may be around the corner. As soon as 2020, says Nissan. This video shows the XchangE self-driving concept car now on display at the Geneva Auto Show 2014. Imagine being able to take a road trip like this, chilling and relaxing, with…
By linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the Panama Canal revolutionized global shipping when it opened nearly a century ago. However, the canal’s capabilities are quickly being outpaced by the ever-growing ships that pass through it. In order to accommodate the next generation of over-sized vessels, the Panama Canal is receiving its most ambitious upgrade…
Every so often, a project slides across your screen that seems too cool to be truly feasible. But Tyler Short, the architecture student behind this incredible louvre system, says his system’s been worked out to the last mechanical detail. Someone, manufacture this thing! The system was designed as a solution to what Short describes as…
When it comes to galactic exploration, I’d like to think I’d be prepared and informed, like For Prefect. Or maybe intelligent and adaptable, like Trillian. But in my heart of hearts, I know I’d more likely be constantly bumbling around in a state of mild confusion where I can only hope to have the constant…
If there’s an award for the most adorable prescription of the year, pharmacist Jeff Dodds of Watford City, North Dakota has this year’s title on lockdown. And all it took was some creative labeling and a very sleepy six-year-old girl with a monster problem. While at the local Barrett Pharmacy & Variety, a little girl…
Everybody knows what a disaster Apple Maps were at launch. To borrow one former Gizmodo writer’s words, they were “an apocalyptic horror show.” They have gotten better since the initial disaster, but it’s no surprise to hear reports that the next version of iOS all about making Apple Maps even better. Sources told 9to5Mac that…
Light is an incredibly powerful force. Sure, it helps us see and gives us fast internet, but medical researchers keep stumbling upon new positive side-effects. A team of Belgian scientists, for instance, just discovered how a ten minute blast of orange light increases brain activity related to cognition and alertness. In other words, looking at…
Smartwatch? Please. We’ve already moved on to smart rings, magical digit-wrappers that control your world with a wave of the hand. They’re everywhere—except, oddly enough, on our fingers. That’s because despite the extravagant promises they’re pitched with, most smart rings simply don’t work yet. And they may well never. A handful of smart rings have…
You’ve probably noticed a change in the structure of Gizmodo—not just the design of the homepage, although that’s been updated, but in the way our comment threads now work. To be honest, it’s pretty confusing at first—and it’s still undergoing substantial tweaks—but bear with us! It’s all for the greater good. For now, let us…
The Olympics are done for the year, but Paralympians from all over the world took to the courses in Sochi this week to compete. I talked to John Farra, High Performance director for Paralympic Nordic skiing about the challenges of skiing with a spinal injury, shooting with no sight, and why veterans excel at biathlon.…
It’s been described as getting hit with a basketball thrown point blank at your face, but if you ever experience an airbag deployment you’re probably not going to complain since it most likely saved your life. Unless you’re a glass of water, as this wonderful high-speed footage reveals. In yet another mesmerizing clip, The Slow…
