Tech News

12 Maps of America From Before We Knew What It Looked Like

The island of California. A huge triangle of land called Florida. A great ocean that cut down from the Arctic into the Midwest. As the New World came into focus beginning in the 17th century, explorers and cartographers struggled to measure a massive expanse of land that would take centuries to accurately map. Take the…

The World’s Smallest Laptop Adapter Saves You From Carrying a Brick

Laptops are supposed to be highly portable, right? But even with a built-in battery you’re never leaving home without its power adapter—and that’s usually a long cable with a hefty brick somewhere along its length. They’re hardly compact, but this laptop adapter from FINsix is. It looks like an elongated version of the tiny charger…

Reddit’s Earliest Days Were a NSFW Wonderland

Reddit’s come a long way since it first appeared online in 2006—but how has it changed over time? This visualization shows how the relative sizes of its subreddits have changed. Put together by Randal Olson from Michigan State University—whose viz of how subreddits overlap we saw last week—this chart plots “subreddit growth over time measured…

To address the problem that 80 percent of new contributions to Wikipedia are abandoned before they’re submitted, the online encyclopaedia now offers a drafting feature to help ease a little of the pressure.

How the Domino Effect Has Shaped History

When younger generations hear the word ‘dominoes,’ they usually associate it with the famous board game, while others–especially food lovers–might connect it with a delicious pizza. For those who are more politically aware, the word probably brings thoughts of the Cold War and the threat of the spread of communism. In addition, most economists today…

The Math Behind the NSA’s Email Hacks

We’re all outraged by the NSA’s invasions of privacy, sure—but we don’t perhaps understand exactly how it managed it. This video explains the maths behind the agency’s surveillance. Hacking into email and working through encryption schemes requires some interesting math, a lot of very large numbers, and a fair dollop of computer science savvy. In…

Samsung’s 2014 Smart TVs Will Be Controlled By Your Pointed Finger

Kinect may have been at it for years, but it’s taking most companies a fair old while to really get to grips with gesture control. Now, Samsung is planning to offer more fine-grained, finger-sensitive functionality in its 2014 smart TVs. https://gizmodo.com/leap-motion-controller-review-waiting-for-the-future-t-817895912 Its new hardware will support single-finger gestures, in contrast to this year’s rather granular…

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: Systematic Disease

If the eyes are a window to the soul, are cataracts their Venetian blinds?

One Prayer Bowl Ringing

The sound of one prayer bowl ringing is quite a bit more than the familiar lulling waveform when that ringing is sent through myriad processing routines. This is why while Jason Charney’s “Pratītya,” named for the Buddhist concept of “pratītyasamutpāda,” veers from its opening ring tone, that which follows — overtones, and cicada chatter, percussive…

Deafheaven: Dream House

In highschool, I took it upon myself to learn how to enjoy scream-y music. It started innocently(?) enough with slightly-abrasive-but-still-pretty-tame Linkin Park, and moved on to Refused and Underoath, and somehow, Cap’n Jazz. It was a lot of work, but tracks like Deafheaven’s Dream House make it all worth while. https://gizmodo.com/capn-jazz-take-on-me-5943711 For all the screamy-type…

This Tricycle Is Headed Across the South Pole

Right now three people are competing in a bike race from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole. The winner will be the first person to bike there ever. And 35-year-old Maria Leijerstam is attempting to trike there on a really weird/badass-looking tricycle. Leijerstam left the Novo Russian Airbase on December 17th on a…

Knives Aren’t Generally For Klutzes, But This One Kinda Is

It’s always better to have control of a knife you’re using, sure, but everyone makes mistakes. And you shouldn’t lose a perfectly good knife just because it sinks to the bottom of a lake or the shaft cracks on your tile floor. Is the solution bouncy knives? Sort of. Spanish design company Baladéo made the…

Here’s What Marketing Could Look Like in 2014

Since 2014 is only a few days away, design aesthetics probably won’t be stunningly different come the new year. So that’s all the more reason to make some predictions! Let’s do this. 2013 was the year of learning that the word “skeuomorphic” was, you know, a word. And then learning what it meant. And then…

The Year in Amazing Photos from Reuters

Of course the year’s best photos can’t all come from the same place, but with photographers all over the world Reuters certainly gets some amazing stuff. And it’s kind of cool to watch three minutes that visually sum up 2013. From the Boston bombing to unrest in Syria to Miley twerking on Robin Thicke, Reuters…

Scientific Data Is Disappearing All the Time

When a study gets published and its results enter our collective body of scientific knowledge it feels like it’s there to stay. But without the raw data behind the study, it’s hard to revisit the research and use it to take new ideas to the next level. Which is why it’s such a problem that…

This Bewildering Samsung Ad Shows How Cool Galaxy Gear Isn’t

Do not take dating advice from this 2.5-minute Samsung ad for Galaxy Gear. It’s a hot mess of social interactions and it inadvertently proves the exact myth it’s trying to dispel: smartwatches are still in their early, awkward years. https://gizmodo.com/galaxy-gear-smartwatch-review-potential-miles-from-re-1431208144 If your smartwatch is significantly improving your love life that’s awesome, but you’re probably in…

Google’s Newly Acquired SCHAFT Robot Walks Away A Winner

The teams have broken down their robots and packed them up in crates and suitcases, loaded them into trucks and taken them on airplanes and gone home. Some will lick their wounds and rebuild to fight another day. The lucky ones will get a million dollars each from DARPA to continue developing their bots. The…

People Are More Scared of Hacking than Tracking

According to a November survey of 1,000 voters, people are more creeped out by the possibility of a person or group ascertaining their personal information, than the idea that someone might be following their online movements and habits. The study, conducted for the Computer and Communications Industry Association by Benenson Strategy Group and American Viewpoint,…

A Professional Short Shot on a Video Girl Barbie

When Video Girl Barbie came out in 2010 it seemed like a pretty weird idea to jam a camera into a doll’s décolletage. And at 1.2 MP and 240p, the specs didn’t exactly make it worthwhile. But flash forward to 2013 . . . and it still seems super weird. The Pro Photog Cheap Camera…

There’s Finally an iOS 7 Jailbreak

If you asked Santa for the chance to get favorite jailbreak features back on your iDevice this year, your Christmas miracle has arrived. The Evasi0n team just posted an iOS 7 Jailbreak. https://gizmodo.com/how-to-jailbreak-your-iphone-or-ipad-5981485 Kyle Matthews wrote about the jailbreak early this morning, including step-by-step screencaps and a helpful reminder to back up before your attempt.…