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Music: For some people it is entertainment, for others, it is the sound of life. If you are shopping for the latter, the soul afflicted with a music obsession, do not fret. You don’t have to spend buckets on expensive audiophile kit to make them happy. Here are a few suggestions, that should fit into…
From 1912 until 1961 the tunnels below the U.S. Senate building were filled with monorail cars carrying senators on the, “shortest and most exclusive railway in the world.”
This is basically the least worst thing that can happen with Russian nuclear bombs! For the past twenty years, the Russians have been turning 500 tons of uranium from decommissioned nuclear weapons into nuclear fuel for the United States. It’s called the Megatons to Megawatts program. The last shipment from that 1993 deal arrived at…
There are typically two main problems when it comes to building pillow forts: structural integrity, and a lack of building materials. And both of those issues are solved with these wonderful engineered cushions called Squishy Forts, which use super-strong magnets to ensure they stay standing for longer than ten minutes. Currently raising funds on Kickstarter,…
Murderer. Slave owner. Celebrated philanderer. These are the words that should come to mind when considering a one Mr. Nicholas “Santa” Claus. Just because you can see through that drunk jolly facade, though, doesn’t mean the rest of the world can. So it’s time to take matters into your own hands. Fortunately, OpticsPlanet has put…
Let’s face it. If you believe that Amazon can realize the awesomeness that is drone delivery, you should halfway fear a future of an overbearing police drone force monitoring us. That terrifying totalitarian future might not be as promising as Amazon’s vision for drones but what does that matter to an obsessive government? They’d just…
On these frigid days, it helps to think about a place like Antarctica, which was recently determined to be without a doubt the coldest place on Earth (as if anyone was really surprised?). But it’s also home to unique historic monuments befitting the treacherous environment that include 100-year-old huts, industrial tractors, and even one nuclear…
Everything is bigger in Texas, so it’s no surprise the state is now home to the Guinness World Record-approved largest gingerbread house. This sweet spot is made from a whopping 7,200 pounds of flour, 7,200 eggs, 3,000 pounds of brown sugar, 1,800 pounds of butter, and 22,304 pieces of candy, clocking in at a gut-busting…
Looks like SteamOS (along with the 300 some prototype Steam Boxes won by lucky beta testers) are going to be headed out into the wild this Friday. Brace yourselves though, it sounds like SteamOS is going to need some tinkering before it works. [Valve]
https://whitenoise.kinja.com/1478228778 Customer service is clearly a dying art, as flesh and blood humans are replaced by automated, voice-activated menus and self-checkouts. Everyone’s got their own personal horror story trying to fight back against the cold incompetence. This is mine. Don’t get me wrong; in some cases, self-service is faster, easier, and generally superior to being…
Choosing gifts for college students is a pain. If it’s too practical, it’ll never get used; too childish, you’ll earn yourself a hefty scoff instead of a polite “thank you.” Tread the tightrope with a useful, fun gift that isn’t too grownup, and you’ll be every millennial’s favorite Secret Santa. Here are a few suggestions…
Fifty years ago, the most revolutionary technology of the future was supposed to be the telephone — thanks to some high-tech upgrades just over the horizon, of course. At least that’s what the phone companies kept telling us. Advancements like the videophone and dial-a-libraries weren’t just supposed to make the world feel that much smaller…
This is a real building; you’re looking at an actual hotel in Munich, made much, much more interesting by Víctor Enrich. The site is the latest addition to the photographer’s portfolio of mind-bending architectural distortions; here, he’s transformed the same building 88 times, each more WTF than the last. https://gizmodo.com/its-hard-to-believe-these-impossible-buildings-arent-re-5904405 The most amazing thing is…
Android Device Manager, Google’s desktop tool for finding a misplaced phone, finally has an Android app. Now you can locate your Android using your other Android. [Google Play Store via Lifehacker]
It’s 2013. We’ve sent humans to the moon and can send trillions of gigabytes zipping around the world with the tap of finger, but still—still—we can’t predict earthquakes. But we do know this: Messing around with a fault—injecting things in it, taking things out of it—can induce earthquakes. At the American Geophysical Union meeting this…
The new home of the Guangdong Plastic Exchange is set to open next week inside a circular building its Italian architects say was inspired by a coin or double jade disk. According to Shenzhen Daily, some locals could to without the design, saying it represents “the naked desire of the authorities and the property owners…
Continued advances in the connected home are slowly paving the way for a day when we never have to get up off the couch. That day isn’t here yet, though, so we still need to make the occasional trip to the bathroom. Which makes this Bluetooth-controlled LED lantern—called the Vela—the perfect interim device. It can…
We’ve had a longstanding ban on unboxing videos here at Gizmodo. Every once in a while, though, something happens that completely decimates everything you thought you knew about yourself. This happy accident of an Explainette unboxing is one such moment. Who is this phenomenal southerner? What’s an Explainette? And how did this man come to…
Woot today has a refurbished Roku 3 available for just $70 shipped, which is about $20 less than you’d find it new. This is the fully loaded model, featuring a fast processor, USB and ethernet inputs, and the famous headphone jack-sporting remote control. [woot!] You might not have use for a 30 pin connector anymore,…
London-based designer and researcher Shamees Aden has a vision for the future of footwear. It’s a future where shoes are 3D printed out of synthetic biological material that responds to your every step and can regenerate overnight. She’s even made a prototype. Behold the Protocell sneaker. The shoes are customized for the wearers foot so…
