Tech News

Alphabet Robots Are Still The Best Way to Learn The Alphabet

All these modern-day kids have iPad and iPod touch apps to learn the alphabet. My kindergarten class had a box of these Alphabet Robots for our grimey, snot-ridden hands to play with. With just one or two minor adjustments, a letter of the alphabet suddenly transformed into an adorable little robot creature. This was awesome.…

New Zealand Transformer Coins Feature Heros We Actually Care About

For some reason the governments of the world think their constituents want to see images of political leaders and royalty. And while famous presidents like Abraham Lincoln certainly deserve recognition, New Zealand has decided to honor a couple of heros that are probably a lot closer to all of our hearts: Optimus Prime and Megatron.…

If You Were Arriving at Venus, This Is What You Would See

Mariner 10 took the first close-up photo of Venus on February 5, 1974. It’s still the best and most mesmerizing. Made using an ultraviolet filter in its imaging system, the photo has been color-enhanced to bring out Venus’s cloudy atmosphere as the human eye would see it. Venus is perpetually blanketed by a thick veil…

Search, Discovery, and Pretty Much Everything Is Better in Twitter’s Update

Twitter has made some adjustments to its Android and iOS apps, and its mobile site that make things a little easier to follow. The keyword is synergy. First of all, in the Discover menu, tweets, activity, people Twitter thinks you should follow are condense in one simple stream. Search has also streamlined so you view…

Not Even The Lady In the Lake Would Wear This Knights of the Round Table Watch

As the legend goes, King Arthur held court with his gallant knights around a giant round table that most certainly served as a breathtaking centerpiece to Camelot. But pretty much all of that mystique and majesty has been lost with Roger Dubuis’ latest timepiece that features a miniature version of that famous table, complete with…

I Wish These Awesome Urban Creatures Lived In New York for Real

After watching this video by Lena Steinkühler, I like to think that New York turns into this rain forest of weird and wonderful urban creatures when nobody is looking at night. What a beautiful and mesmerizing short. In her words: My bachelor graduation project New York Biotopes deals with abstract plants and creatures, which change…

These 25 Avant-Garde Concert Posters Turn Advertising into Art

Even at the going rate of 1000 words, accurately depicting the the audiological experience of a headlining band delivers is no easy feat. That may be part of the reason why epic concert posters like these—ones that really illustrate what your ears are in for—often become collectors items at show’s end. LCD Soundsystem playing the…

mPING Weather-Reporting App: Now Anyone Can Be Al Roker

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) can’t be everywhere at once, so it’s crowd-sourcing the weather report with a new app called mPING. Raining? Sleeting? Snowing? Open up the app on your iPhone or Android device and log what kind of precipitation you’re seeing in your area. You can include details about the size,…

Hell Yes: Google Maps Has Ski Mountain Maps Now

The Google Maps mobile app just got trail maps for 38 ski mountains in the U.S. and Canada. This is your awesome excuse to call in sick to work and take a ski day (or week). It’s such a pain to pull out that big, awkward paper trail map that gets increasingly wrinkled and soggy…

Shooting Challenge: Dual Sparkler Exposures

We’ve done long exposures. And many of you have blown things up with fireworks. For this week’s Shooting Challenge, we’re combining the ideas in a technique that looks hard but anyone can pull off. The Challenge Take a dual-exposure photo with a sparkler implying motion. The Technique So here’s how it works. Long exposures are…

Black Hornet: The $195,000 Spy Plane That Fits in the Palm of Your Hand

The lives of British soldiers in the Brigade Reconnaissance Force just got a little safer. Rather than having to undertake the dangerous task of checking for ambushes, investigating potential enemy positions themselves (“Go see if there are a bunch of guys with guns in that house”), or just sticking their head around the corner, they…

Here’s How You Turn San Francisco Into a Bourbon-Fueled Gorgefest

Andrew Steinthal and Chris Stang from Immaculate Infatuation set out to explore the world of fine dining and bourbon pairing. First up, they go Bay to breakers, gobbling bone marrow, prawns, lobster juice, and all the bourbon in their path. Here’s what happens when Gizmodo calls and asks you to travel to a few cities…

Track the Sneaky TOS Changes on Your Favorite Online Services

When Instagram announced its updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy back in December, the Internet went into a tizzy in large measure because people didn’t really understand what was going on. Now, there’s a watchdog service that tracks the changes of many of the most popular online services so that we’re armed with real…

Apple says Chase Buch’s “Monkey Drums” (Goksel Vancin Remix) was the 25 billionth song downloaded from iTunes. Whatever.

Secretly We All Want This Toilet-Paper-Holding iPad Stand

We all use our smartphones and tablets in the bathroom, but there’s an unwritten rule that you do it discreetly, and don’t really brag about touching your device while touching your… well, you get the idea. So while on one hand it’s easy to be disgusted by CTA Digital’s toilet paper/iPad stand, on the other…

This Perpetual Motion Machine May Not Be Perpetual, But It’s Awesome Anyway

This guy claims that this invention is a perpetual motion machine, the Philosopher’s Stone of physics, the Holy Grail of power. Play the video and check it out for yourself. The machine uses neodymium magnets and some simple mechanics to achieve its feat. It actually moves into its own for quite a while. How much…

Five Days of Mail a Week Is Still Too Much

The United States Postal Service announced plans today to end Saturday mail delivery later this year, as part of its spirit quest to become something other than a $16 billion sinkhole. Good! But it’s not enough. In an age where we’ve already started to leave email behind, five days of bulk catalog and sweepstakes deliveries…

This Cool Internet Toy Will Consume Some of Your Life Today

This is Silk, a soothing web-based graphical toy that allows you to draw using swirly patterns in a two- and four-way symmetry configuration, as well as freeform. Go play with it. It’s cool and you’re welcome. [Silk]

Monopoly’s Iron Token Is Dead, Long Live the Cat

Hasbro took a vote, and the internet has spoken. The ballots have been counted, and the people have said F the iron—the new Monopoly token will be a cat. In a poll on the classic game’s Facebook page, Hasbro asked fans which token should be retired forever. The race car, the Scottie dog, top hat,…

In addition to Facebook sharing, Vine is now rated ages 17+ to keep porn from innocent eyes. Because that always works.