Tech News

11 Apps to Put Your Musical Taste Back on the Right Track

Most people probably remember having a song, album, or band change our lives. It’s a fairly common experience, even for those unfortunate beings who don’t live and breathe music. It’s a good thing to have happen to you (unless you’ve become too obsessed). Still, anyone can get bored of the music they already know, or…

Gizmodo Is Hiring Editorial Fellows in New York

Hello Internet! We’re now hiring Editorial Fellows for our New York office. Editorial Fellows are Gizmodo’s entry level editorial positions. We ask a lot of you, but in turn, you will learn a lot about this whole professional blogging enterprise. So, the ideal candidate is someone who’s looking at a career in media, but fairly…

Cheap Sneakers Are Your Fly-Kicks-Shoe-Heads Deal of the Day

Amazon’s running a pretty cool promotion on shoes today. The code NEWYOU2013 takes $20 when you spend $100 on selected sneakers—but this is Amazon, and they’ve got a pretty great selection. Of course, there’s a lot of personal preference when it comes to footwear, but there’s probably a pair you like in there. In particular,…

AT&T Will Finally Let Everyone FaceTime Over 3G Network

In a move overdue since FaceTime over cellular launched in September, AT&T is finally letting most of its customers actually freaking use it. In a blog post, AT&T says it has extensively tested the feature and that it will be enabled to all customers on tiered data plans at no additional cost. Previously, FaceTime was…

The Best Electric Razor

Electric razors have always had a bit of a bum rap, derided for being louder and less efficient than a “real” blade. But today, electric razors look more like Jetsons props than mid-century mechanizations. We collected and tested four of the best shavers on the market. Here’s what made the cut.[jump] Testing Methodology Over the…

Shooting Challenge: Freeze!

For most of us, it’s winter. Which means it’s soul-suckingly cold. But for this week’s Shooting Challenge, we’re celebrating all of those frozen motifs—ice, snow and frosty breath. For this week’s Shooting Challenge, show us freezing cold. The Challenge Take a chilling photo. Use any winter motif—ice, snow or anything else you can think of…

“Friends” Throw Guy Overboard Right Next to a Shark, Because That’s Funny

This practical joke could have turned into tragedy: watch as some “friends” throw a guy out of a boat after seeing a shark in the distance. As they approach it, the animal turns around and goes straight to get him, just a fraction of a second before he gets back into the boat. Of course,…

Microsoft Is Finally Bringing XBLA Games to Windows 8 and RT (Updated)

This has been a long time coming. Microsoft Play just added has (see update below) 15 Xbox Live Arcade games to Windows 8 and RT through the Windows Store. And it’s about time. When the Windows Store launched, its ability to unify games across computers made it seem like a natural fit for XBLA titles.…

Awesome Hyperlapse Makes Me Want to Go Around the World Right Now

Geoff Tompkinson spent 2012 going around the world, taking awesome, precise hyperlapses—a combination of stop motion and timelapse—of beautiful places. These are hard to do, even while they look so easy and smooth. Outstanding job, Geoff. [Vimeo]

Who Does Facebook Search Screw the Most?

Graph Search, which we’re going to call Facebook search from here on out because nobody wants to read or write “Graph Search,” is a dramatic new way to browse Facebook. But its implications spill over its rivals—which companies lose the most? https://gizmodo.com/heres-what-using-the-new-facebook-search-looks-like-5976201 It’s hard to give Facebook’s new search engine a fair appraisal, because it’s…

Google Street View Car Not Guilty of Donkey Murder

The internet was freaking out yesterday because holy shit! It looked like Google ran over a donkey with a Street View car in Kweneng, Botswana. But no need to call up PETA, Google says it absolutely did not commit assicide. Street View tourists of Africa were up in arms over an image that showed a…

Nintendo is reportedly merging its console and handheld divisions. Logical! And also a good look at next generation.

This Is the Chemical Weapon Reportedly Used by Syria Against its Own People (Updated)

In the nearly two years since the start of the Syrian Civil War, the international community has steadfastly refused to directly intervene—despite reports of atrocities ranging from horrific detainee abuse to indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling against civilians. However, the Assad regime may have finally crossed the “red line” by unleashing a deadly nerve agent against…

Listen to 150,000 Different Animal Sounds in This Humongous Online Library

This is more or less like the grown-up, nerded-out scientist version of those spinny roulette toys you had as a kid that taught you that The Cow Goes Moo. Except the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Macaulay Library tells you that the katydid goes, uhhh, “dial-up modem noise“? More or less. The Macaulay Library just went…

Silica Gel-Packed Lens Caps Suck the Moisture Right Out of Your Camera Gear

Dust and moisture are the main enemies when it comes to keeping your photography gear in top working condition. That’s why everything comes with lens caps, and why you should maybe consider upgrading them all to BRNO’s dri+Caps which feature a compartment for a small packet of moisture-trapping silica gel. Available in $45 lens and…

Wrangler’s New Jeans Are a Skin-Softening Spa in Your Pants

You’ve been thinking it for ages: What you really want your jeans to do is make your butt feel like it’s just been lathered with lotion. Pine for these skin softening slacks no longer, because Wrangler has invented moisturizing jeans. Let’s repeat that, but more slowly: Wrangler. Moisturizing. Jeans. The Denim Spa line hits asos.com…

Use a Cheap Prism to Create Amazing Light-Bending Photo Effects

Digital photography is sometimes lambasted for being too clean and too perfect—lacking the character and unpredictability of film. Sure, you can fake it by using filters a la Instagram, but you can also open some creative doors with one wonderfully ‘analog’ tool: a prism. Photographer Sam Hurd describes on his blog how to use this…

Putter Pool Brilliantly Merges Two of the World’s Laziest Sports

If you need any more proof that we’re giving Nobel Prizes to the wrong people, behold the brilliant creation that is Putter Pool. It takes billiards and golf—arguably two of the laziest ‘sports’ known to man—and merges them into an indoor game that barely requires you to get up off the couch. Genius! If you’ve…

3 Privacy Settings You Must Change Before Using Facebook Graph Search

Tweaking your Activity Log just became a necessary and tedious new part of being a Facebook user. Thanks to the service’s new Graph Search feature, all that profile info you’ve painstakingly updated over the years (employer, home town, relationship status, movie likes, etc) and all the photos you’ve added over time, are now to become…

White House’s Petition Page Raises Bar from 25,000 to 100,000 Signatures

People of the United States of America! You can stick your dumb Death Stars up your collective black hole. From now on, instead of 25,000 signatures, petitions at the We the People site will require 100,000 signatures to get an official response from the White House: https://gizmodo.com/this-isnt-the-white-house-response-to-the-death-star-pe-5975377 When we launched We the People, none of…