Tech News

Facebook Is Testing Software That Tracks Your Cursor’s Every Move

When most people hear that Facebook upgrades are on the way, they’re probably not hoping for more tracking software. But according to a new Wall Street Journal report, that’s exactly what they’re going to get. Facebook’s analytics chief Ken Rudin recently opened up to The Journal about how the social network plans to track user…

Before TV, Kids Would Flock to Midnight Ghost Shows

Throughout the 1930s and ‘40s, Americans flocked to their local movie theaters to be scared out of their wits. Sure, they loved the classic movies of the time like Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy. But it was the terrifying and humorous stage shows—known generically as the Midnight Ghost Show—that really packed the theaters to capacity.…

This Sensorless Flying Robot Is Like a Drunken Speeder Bike Orb

After putting its rovers on Mars, Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Lab showed the world that billion dollar hardware isn’t always the answer. And researchers at the EPFL are taking the same technology-on-the-cheap approach with a low-cost autonomous flying drone that simply bumps and crashes into everything in its path instead of relying on expensive sensors and…

Google wants the government to keep its mysterious barges a secret

What’s Google hiding in their mysterious barges near San Francisco, Portland, and Maine, surrounded by chain-link fences and 24-hour armed guards? Why did they gag government officials with non-disclosure agreements? And how can a private company do that, anyway? The questions pile up. https://gizmodo.com/an-up-close-look-at-the-east-coast-google-mystery-barge-1454795416

Cool-Running Coal Truck Could Save More Lives Than a Dozen Canaries

Coal mining is a dirty, dangerous business. Even with modern safety equipment protecting workers from black lung, plenty of other dangers await them underground. Like, say, mixing easily ignited coal dust with hot machine surfaces. That’s why GE has invented a mine-car engine that keeps its cool to prevent setting off a raging inferno. Coal…

One year ago today, much of New York City and the surrounding region was without power, its basements and transit tunnels flooded with seawater from the tidal surge and relentless rainfall of Hurricane Sandy, its suburbs caged in by fallen trees. Gawker’s own Lower Manhattan servers were inundated and we were working on a bare-bones…

The 10 Most Important Digital Cameras of All Time

This time of year, when new digital cameras are being released left and right, is a great opportunity to look back on those pioneering shooters that led the charge from photochemical to digital supremacy. PopPhoto has a great rundown of the 30 most important digital cameras of all time. Here are our 10 favorites. 1975…

An Up Close Look at the East Coast Google Mystery Barge

The Google mystery barges docked near San Francisco and Portland, Maine are getting even more mysterious. We’ve seen the barge and heard the arguments about what’s inside. But news that the search giant is making government officials keep their mouths shut about them—that takes it to the next level. https://gizmodo.com/is-googles-mysterious-barge-actually-a-floating-glass-1453427108 A new report from Reuters,…

How a Simple Circuit Breakthrough Could Double Your Bandwidth

As we all desperately claw after more bandwidth to sate our unquenchable thirst for data, there may yet be an oddly affordable solution; a simple piece of circuitry and software that can double bandwidth in the blink of an eye. A startup outta Stanford claims it can do what nobody has yet managed: both send…

I’m a Bird! This Pigeon Simulator Lets You Soar Over London

Who hasn’t dreamed of soaring over a city, dipping between the rooftops, peering into people’s windows? A new simulator allows anyone to have a real-life birds-eye view of London. It’s a pretty simple idea: University College London’s Dr. Andrew Hudson-Smith rigged up the experience using a Kinect and a Google Earth 3D plug-in, and the…

World’s Deepest Undersea Tunnel Weaves Together Two Continents

It’s been a long time since Istanbul was an economic focal point between Asia and the West. But, yesterday, at the opening of the deepest underwater railway ever built, Turkish officials described their vision to “restore the Silk Road” and link London with Beijing—thanks to a Japanese-funded railway beneath the Bosphorus. The new Marmaray tunnel…

Stunning archer accurately shoots faster than Lord of the Rings’ elves

10 arrows in 4.9 seconds. That’s how impossibly fast Lars Andersen can shoot arrows. Faster than the fantasy character of Legolas in the Lord of the Rings and faster than anyone in the planet—the previous record was 15 seconds. Most amazingly, he does it with incredible accuracy. Watch the video: Andersen worked on recuperating the…

A History of the Apple Mouse Created Exclusively With CSS

The most impressive thing about Josh Bader’s website that documents the history of the Apple Mouse isn’t how comprehensive it is. After all, you can count the number of major hardware revisions Apple’s made to its mouse since 1983 on two hands. No, what makes Bader’s site particularly wonderful is that all the illustrations have…

Amazon launched two new features today. Day One is a weekly literary journal featuring one short fiction author and one poet, delivered to Kindle readers or apps for $20 a year. And AmazonSmile donates part of what you spend on Amazon to a charity of your choice. [smile.amazon.com via AllThingsD]

6 Buildings That Are Hiding in Plain Sight

We’re used to hearing about military camouflage, which has been used to hide everything from ships to whole towns. But there are plenty of less explicit forms of large-scale camouflage out there—like the architectural sort, which ranges from hiding buildings just below the ground plane to coating them in mirrors. https://gizmodo.com/the-forgotten-history-of-how-modern-art-helped-win-worl-1002161699 You’ll notice we plucked…

Ion Air Pro 3: The Waterproofiest Naked Action Cam Around

Ion may not be the first name you think of when it comes to action cameras (or the second), but the company has been around for a few years. The original Air Pro came in third in our action camera Battlemodo back in June of 2012, but it left us hungry for better image quality.…

A Tiny Matchbook-Sized USB DAC Will Make Your Headphones Sound Sublime

If you’ve dropped a small fortune on a nice pair of over-the-ear headphones but are just connecting them to your laptop’s built-in headphone jack, you’re probably not hearing everything you paid for. For a better sonic experience, a dedicated DAC—or digital to analog converter—is the route you want to go. And Cambridge Audio has managed…

Rumor: Amazon’s Smartphone Could Have Gesture-Recognizing 3D Cameras

From its growing app ecosystem to its well-received tablet line-up, a smartphone is the missing link in Amazon’s arsenal at the moment. And, if rumors are to be believed, it seems the online retail giant won’t be content to just follow the crowd when it comes to interface design. https://gizmodo.com/report-amazons-talking-up-htc-about-making-a-smartpho-1445780486 Grab a healthy pinch of…

You Could Get a Ticket For Wearing Google Glass While Driving

If you’re excited at the prospect of wearing Google Glass while you do absolutely everything—from riding the subway to having sex—then you can at least strike driving off the list. Because, as Cecilia Abadie recently found out, you might end up getting a ticket. https://gizmodo.com/when-sergey-brin-rides-the-subway-he-does-it-wearing-p-5977569 Pulled over by San Diego police, she got a ticket…

Wait, Ashton Kutcher Was a Product Engineer for Lenovo’s New Tablet?

You’re on the market for a new tablet, you’ve scoured the web for spec sheets and pricing, and you’re still stuck on which is best for you. What’s a dead cert to swing your choice towards one tablet over another? Knowing that ex-Mr Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, was “product engineer” on one, of course! Kutcher,…