Tech News

Your Web Cam Can See Your Heart Rate, Which Isn’t Creepy At All

Sitting at a desk in front of a computer screen for 12 hours a day on Chatroulette can’t be good for you. So while you webcam the hours away you can also keep tabs on your health with this app that can determine your heart rate based on the constant discoloration as blood pumps in…

Head on over to Wired to check out a great collection of some of the biggest influencers of the “Digital Generation.”

57 Gorgeous Spring Wallpapers

Winter is no longer coming. And to celebrate, many of you have spent the last month taking photos for us. Here are your amazing photos (and wallpapers) of spring. https://gizmodo.com/shooting-challenge-first-moments-of-spring-5991479 Winner: Orb The challenge for me was that I am in Autumn as I live in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore while technically I cannot submit…

Shooting Challenge: Spring Gallery 2

After reading an article on photo walks I decided to grab a friend, a six-pack of tall boys, and head to a nearby river. We saw a large spider hanging from a tree, dancing in the wind, which drew me over to this interesting looking tree. When I got to the tree I saw the…

Shooting Challenge: Spring

My friend and I hiked up a hill in his backyard at 6 in the morning in order to take this picture. After about an hour of hiking up, we got to the summit and started photographing the entire landscape for good nature shots. Equipment: PowerShot SD1100IS Settings: ISO-200; F-stop- 1/60; Aperture- 2.8 Technique: Shoot…

The waitlist is over! Mailbox is now open for any and all (as long as you, ya know, have an iOS device).

Prescription Painkiller Dispenser Curbs Abuse By Only Releasing Meds on Schedule

The sense of euphoria and release that comes from taking prescription painkillers can often lead to users getting addicted, and possibly even overdose if things get out of hand. So to prevent this from happening, students at Brigham Young University have developed an advanced pill dispenser that only releases meds on a doctor’s or pharmacist’s…

New Star Trek Into Darkness Trailer: You’ll Never Believe What the Enterprise Has to Fight

This looks like a whole heap of trouble. Previous trailers for the new Star Trek have shown the crew of the Enterprise put through the wringer, but the scope of this latest one makes it look even more absurd than ever. Here’s the final trailer for the new JJ Abrams film. Oh, and it looks…

Greek Mythology Inspired the Loom-like Arianna Lamp

In Greek mythology, Ariadne is known as the mistress of labyrinths. She’s also associated with weaving and in some traditions, she hanged herself. This jointed lamp—Baldessari’s Arianna—was inspired the goddess. With the fixture, we’re mostly focusing on the weaving part of Ariadne’s, well, thread. The lamp looks much like an old yarn swift, an antique…

Flixster comes to Xbox today, which includes trailers, Rotten Tomatoes scores and access to your UltraViolet collection.

The Best App Developer Is Working For Facebook Now (Updated)

According to a tweet by Facebook product designer and UI guru Mike Matas, his team is now working with influential app designer Loren Brichter. That’s right, the man behind Tweetie and Letterpress is now working for Facebook. We don’t yet know the full nature of Brichter’s relationship with Facebook—whether he has come on as a…

Your Year in Foursqare Checkins, Visualized

Foursquare just launched a neat new tool that allows you to view the last year of your life in Foursquare check-ins. Don’t worry! It’s more than a depressingly reductive view of your life as the summation of activities on a social network. It’s actually really cool. Using the new tool you can sort your check-ins…

New Era Introduces Caps Celebrating Your 8-Bit Heros

New Era is traditionally known for its hats featuring logos of professional sports teams. But starting in Japan the company is introducing a Super Mario Bros. line featuring characters from the well-loved games represented as 8-bit sprites. Everyone from Mario, to Luigi, to Koopa is represented, in caps ranging in price from $48 up to…

Today’s Facebook iOS Update Brings Chat Heads to Your iPhone

Upset that you won’t be able to know the joys of your friends’ floating, disembodied heads on your screen, iPhone users? Fret no more, because while you won’t be getting the entire Facebook Home experience, the Chat Heads feature should be hitting iOS devices sometime later today. https://gizmodo.com/what-are-facebook-chat-heads-5993646 The update was announced by Facebook CTO…

Watch a Sneak Peek Inside the New Tech in Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3 is almost here. Hell yes. And with the new movie, Stark obviously gets some new upgrades to the Iron Man arsenal. Here’s a brand new featurette from Marvel titled “Advancing the Tech” that takes you through all the new stuff in the movie. We’ve missed you, Tony.

Why January 28, 1986 Matters Today

On the morning of January 28, 1986, millions of people across the U.S., including hoards of schoolchildren, fixed their attention on CNN (a newfangled, round-the-clock cable TV news channel) in eager anticipation of the Space Shuttle Challenger launch. Though the Challenger had already completed nine successful missions, this one was different — the crew of…

Search and Disarm: The Cop Bot That Takes Down Bombs

Explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) is one of the deadliest jobs in the military and it’s no less dangerous here at home. But since Lieutenant-Colonel ‘Peter’ Miller designed the Wheelbarrow in 1972 against IRA IEDs in Northern Ireland, remote EOD robots have played an enormous part in explosive disarmarment. So when police find a suspicious package,…

Lazy Lego Spirograph Does All the Work For You

There’s something hypnotically satisfying about drawing the endless circular patterns with a Spirograph machine—unless you’re hopelessly lazy. Then it’s just another form of work you’re trying to avoid, and you’ll probably love PG52’s latest creation. It’s an autonomous Lego Spirograph machine powered by a single motor connected to an impressive four-speed gearbox. Its engineering is…

New Solar Panels Keep Buildings Cool In Direct Sunlight

Someday your home might be nice and cool in the middle of July without air conditioning. How? Some Stanford researchers have created a solar panel that cools buildings in direct sunlight. To achieve this goal, a panel has to reflect (rather than absorb) as much sunlight as possible, as well as radiate heat back into…

The Gesture Control of the Future Will Be in HP Computers This Summer

Leap Motion isn’t just going to be a stand-alone product. The motion-control brand just announced a partnership with HP, meaning that, sometime this summer, you’ll be seeing several HP devices with Leap Motion technology bundled right in. https://gizmodo.com/leap-motion-hologram-the-future-of-awesomeness-5989216 The original device was already set for a May launch, but in what’s most likely a bid…