Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise; highlighting a character’s crotch on-screen at the movies is hi-larious, and always will be. But getting caught with a laser pointer in your hand and tossed out of the theater isn’t. So thankfully red lasers have been around for decades, and have been miniaturized to the point where they…
Every parent’s favorite line about how money doesn’t grow on trees just became a little more irrelevant, thanks to a fascinating find down under. Researchers in Australia recently found gold—yes, real gold—in eucalyptus trees growing in the outback. A team of unlikely prospectors recently ventured into the arid land of the Goldfields-Esperance region in Western…
If you’re a time traveler who’s looking for a good cyclist’s map of California in the 1890s, well, today’s your lucky day.** Rebecca Onion over at Slate’s The Vault history blog has found this beautiful 1895 map of California that rated the state’s major roads and their suitability for bicycles. Before the dawn of the…
They’re given away left and right as cheap promotions, but if you’re one of those people who can never seem to find a flash drive when you need one, this lovely multi-gigabyte family is always easy to find. That’s because these mom, dad, son, and daughter flash drives are docked in a multi-port USB house…
Today was a banner day for new Apple goodness. We got a thinner, lighter, iPad—the iPad Air—as well as a new retina display iPad mini, new Haswell chip-packed MacBook Pros, and a deeper look at the new Mac Pros. Do you feel like you need a cheat sheet to keep track? We’ve got just the…
Not to scare you or anything, but Air Force officers have left the blast doors to nuclear-tipped missiles open at least twice in the past year. These are the guys who help guard the launch codes who are also tasked with watching over the arsenal. Leaving the missiles available and unattended is a very, very…
Don’t believe that Facebook post your uncle put up today about Back to the Future II. Today is not the day that Marty McFly arrives in the future. We still have two years to go. And then we’ll finally get our hoverboards. Finally! https://gizmodo.com/the-director-of-back-to-the-future-ii-lied-to-us-about-1449661852 https://whitenoise.kinja.com/today-is-the-day-marty-travels-to-in-bttf-actually-it-1450046230
Today, Apple presented to the world its new iPad Air and iPad mini, along with details about OS X Mavericks, updated MacBook Pros, and the Mac Pro. But why waste breath talking about all that when we can just enjoy it in series endless loops instead? Tim Cook wished us all a good morning… Which…
Crime! Cars! Lululemon! There’s always something trying to bring your neighborhood down, right? Each week, we’ll round up the stories about what exactly you think is ruining our cities. See a story we missed? Drop it in the comments. The color blue is ruining New York City “Mr. Bloomberg let Citibank alter the color palette…
Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde has designed everything from smart highways for the United Kingdom to a dance floor that generates electricity. But his latest project is the most off-the-wall yet: Roosegaarde plans to build and test a pollution-collecting system in smog-addled Beijing. https://gizmodo.com/the-uk-is-about-to-connect-an-entire-highway-to-the-int-1440377467 Billed as an “electronic vacuum cleaner” for Beijing’s polluted skies, the so-called…
The little iPad Mini just got some big changes as announced in today’s Apple event — first and foremost being a 7.9 inch Retina display. It’s also got faster guts without growing out of its skinny little body. How’s it run? Hands-on impressions say it’s a familiar iPad with a screen that’ll blow your hair…
Retina has finally hit the iPad Mini, meaning at least resolution-wise, this little guy’s packing a punch. And even though the 7-inch tablet market is not necessarily a crowded field, the competition that is there is running a tight race. Let’s take a look at how the iPad Mini’s specs measure up to the rest.…
An A7 processor, a 20 percent weight loss, and faster Wi-Fi. Apple’s fifth generation iPad, the iPad Air, has arrived. But will it feel fragile in our (admittedly clumsy) hands? How much do those new dual microphones improve the sound quality when I’m Skyping? And just how much better is its new camera? We culled…
Apple broke the mold a little bit on Tuesday morning not only by introducing the latest version of OS X for free but also making it available immediately. To upgrade now, click here. Pretty much any machine made after 2007 is compatible, but you’ll need to be running Snow Leopard or later.
The newer, shinier, and freshly named iPad Air is finally here—and goddamn is it thin. But while super-skinny is nice and all, it doesn’t necessarily make for a better device. So let’s take a look at how the iPad Air compares to its toughest competition. https://gizmodo.com/apples-hot-fifth-generation-ipad-everything-you-need-1450001533 First, though, our usual disclaimer: Specs will never tell…
Apple just unveiled the lighter, thinner, better iPad, the iPad Air. And of course along with it is a three-minute video of Jony Ive and other Apple big-wigs waxing philosophically about the fifth-gen tablet. Check it out right here. https://gizmodo.com/apples-hot-fifth-generation-ipad-everything-you-need-1450001533 The Air weighs just a pound, runs the same A7 chip as the iPhone 5S,…
Along with the announcement of a new iPad Mini with a Retina display, Apple dropped the price of the original iPad Mini down to just $300. That’s still not a great deal for a device with low-quality screen compared to, say, the Nexus 7 but it’s better than it used to be. https://gizmodo.com/nexus-7-2013-review-the-best-small-tablet-even-better-947533058 Both the…
There’s a brand new iPad mini and it finally has a screen worth staring at. It’s a (surprise!) retina display that’ll make everything on the 7.9-inch screen look astonishingly clear. Along with the new fantastic screen, Apple’s also equipping it with a speedier chip inside the same light and thin body of the original. But…
Fellow space nerds of the world, start saving, because soon $75,000 will get you a ticket 30 kilometers into the sky on board one of World View’s TIE Fighter capsules—a pressurized ship that will let feel the awe of watching Earth from space. You will not enjoy the thrill of sitting on top a thousand…
Apple just announced iPad Air, the fifth in its line of (nearly) 10-inch tablets. Last year, Apple’s big-boy got a perfunctory upgrade, but this year the iPad’s getting a new super skinny design—and a new name—with batch of significant improvements that’ll carry it through the next year. Here’s what you need to know. Design The…
