Tech News

A Microscopic Timelapse of Snowflakes Forming Is Hauntingly Beautiful

Snowflakes never fail to stun when viewed up close, but this microscopic timelapse of the things forming is simply breathtaking. https://gizmodo.com/youll-never-believe-these-stunning-photos-of-snow-are-r-5966165 It helps, of course, that the gorgeous video is set to Avril 14th by Aphex Twin. If you can tear yourself away and want to know more about how snowflakes form in all the…

These Mesmerizing GIFs Show the Shimmering Passage of Time

These mesmerizing time-slice GIFs show twinkling views of the passing of time in a series of subtle snatches of the same scene stitched together. They are the follow up to photographer Fong Qi Wei‘s Time is a Dimension (TIAD) series, in which slices of images were spliced together into a single static image. This series,…

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 801 is 2014’s Must-Have Mobile Chipset

The Snapdragon 800’s had a good run, powering some (bordering on all) of the Android flagship models for the last year. Now there’s an upgrade. Larger camera sensor support, Ultra HD video capture and a headline maximum clockspeed increase to 2.45GHz are the next-phone boasts of the Snapdragon 801. It’s no massive reworking, though, with…

Nokia XL Hands-On: A Lumia-Flavoured Android Phablet on a Budget

As well as the 4-inch X phones, Nokia’s testing the Android waters with an entry-level phablet, the Nokia XL. Is this the first truly-affordable big-screen phone for emerging markets? Set to be priced at roughly $150 when it launches in Q2, it certainly looks that way. Measuring 141.3 x 77.7 x 10.8mm and weighing 190g,…

Nokia X Hands-On: It’s Android, But Not as You Know It

The rumours were true. As if there was ever any doubt, Nokia now has a range of entry-level Android smartphones. The 4-inch Nokia X and Nokia X+ handsets are aimed at emerging markets, and feel quite different to any other Android handsets on the market. Rest assured, these are by no means high-end phones. Priced…

If You’re Browsing the Second Page of Google Results, You’re Desperate

It’s cold, dead wasteland that second page. Reach the third, and you’re in real trouble. [XKCD]

Sony Xperia Z2 Hands-On: 4K Video Capture With Super Slo-Mo Smarts

Waterproof, capable of 4K video recording and thin enough to slice butter, Sony’s new Xperia Z2 flagship is already looking like the phone to beat at MWC 2014. We were big fans of the Xperia Z1 (and its compact little bro), and Sony has been wise not to break the mould when it comes to…

Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet Hands-On: A Familiar Waterproof Monolith

The tablet market is busier than it’s ever been, but Sony’s Xperia Tablet Z, with its waterproofing, minimalist design and super-slim frame, always felt like a unique prospect. While the impact of today’s reveal of the Xperia Z2 Tablet is lessened by familiarity with its excellent predecessor, it’s still looking like a very impressive slate.…

Nokia X: The First Nokia Androids

After much heavy rumor, Nokia has just announced that it’s launching its first Android handsets: the X, X+ and XL. https://gizmodo.com/rumour-the-nokia-x-will-be-a-super-cheap-android-1510549625 All the phones are built on the open source Android OS forked especially for Nokia. The X and X+ feature a 4-inch screen, while the XL packs a 5-inch IPS display. The X+ is…

Sony’s New Xperia Z2 Phone and Z2 Tablet Look Pretty Sweet

Surprise, surprise. Just over a month after Sony released what we thought was its flagship phone for the time being in the Xperia Z1S, it surprised us today by unveiling the upcoming Xperia Z2. It’s like a beefed-up version of its predecessor. And tagging along with it is the Xperia Z2 Tablet, which looks like…

Sony’s SmartBand Activity Tracker Is Real and Coming In March

Back in January at CES, we got a very brief look at Sony’s first activity tracker, dubbed The Core. It’s a tiny little pod that can be worn on your wrist in its SmartBand, or tucked discreetly into your pocket. The CES announcement was really just a tease, but finally a few more details have…

Nokia has confirmed that BBM is coming to its Windows Phone range.

The Moon sets behind Earth as a storm of light roars in Australia

Koichi Wakata—a Japanese astronaut now on board the International Space Station—just shared this incredible photo of the “Moon setting on the blue Earth atmosphere.” He just snapped these two awesome shots of auroras over Australia. “It looked like a storm of light,” he said. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on…

This is the oldest fragment of Earth ever found

You’re looking at the oldest fragment of Earth ever found: a zircon 4.375 billion years old, something that has deep implications in our understanding of the planet’s formation. While some scientists said other samples weren’t genuine, new research just published in the journal Nature Geoscience proves that this is the real McCoy. John Valley—a geochemist…

This MicroSD Card Packs Massive Capacity into a Minute Form Factor

At the company’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, SanDisk announced today the imminent release of the single largest-capacity MicroSD card ever created. This tiny storage medium offers an unprecedented 128 GB of space, but don’t expect it to come cheap. The 128GB SanDisk Ultra microSDXC™ UHS-I memory card provides desktop computer amounts of storage…

What the hell is this weird alien looking spiral in the desert?

Like the remains of a long lost human civilization, this formidable structure in the remote plains of El Gouna, Egypt extends over one million square feet in the Sahara Desert. It’s so big that you can see it from space—like some sort of stargate ready for an alien invasion. But, despite its appearances, the structure…

Watch this meerkat getting tickled and laughing histerically

I didn’t know that meerkats could laugh, let alone that they were this ticklish. It’s hilarious—and kind of freaky, actually. Anyone knows which other animals can laugh? Bonus video: Meerkat sleeping. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

How Comcast’s Netflix Bullying Could Cost Us All

Earlier today, Comcast and Netflix announced that they’d reached an agreement to help end stuttery Netflix performance to Comcast subscribers. It’s actually not a breech of net neutrality; it’s a different flavor of trouble and it’s going cost all of us. https://gizmodo.com/report-netflix-agrees-to-pay-comcast-for-access-to-bro-1529115565 When a U.S. Appeals Court invalidated the FCC’s net neutrality rules, it opened…

Impressive images mix classic paintings and modern London street views

Reddit user Shystone has put together some really impressive mashups of classical paintings and Google Street View snapshots of London. They show how much and how little the city has changed in the last few hundred of years. The one above shows a 1749 Canaletto painting of Westminster Abbey. The Westminster Palace—which is the home…

Will This Watch-Controlled Smart Pistol Really Make Owning a Gun Safer?

Last week, a gun shop in California introduced a new addition to its stock: A .22-caliber pistol that only works when the user is wearing the accompanying RFID-enabled watch. It’s being heralded as the “iPhone of guns.” The gun is called the Smart System iP1, a pistol made by the German company Armatix that retails…