Tech News

Trolling YouTube On Your TV Just Got Easier

Last November Google announced a nifty little feature that lets you browse for YouTube videos on your Android device and then sling and control them to your Google TV TV. Pretty cool if you have a Google TV that hasn’t kicked the bucket or you’re even still using it. Today Google is announcing that you’ll…

This Is What It’s Like to Fix Potholes in NYC

There are something like 14,000 cabs in New York City that ferry millions of people around the day. So if the roads aren’t in tip top shape, someone’s going to hear about it. And that someone is the Department of Transportation’s pothole crew, which has the important job of filling in shoddy streets. What’s it…

Why Starbucks Is Selling Square Card Readers Along With Double Lattes

You can already pay with Square when you buy a Pumpkin Spice Latte™. Great. And now you can buy a Square card reader with your Starbucks order. What? https://gizmodo.com/going-forward-starbucks-will-use-mobile-payment-app-sq-5932795 Yup, next time you’re grabbing a grande coffee, you can also buy one of these little readers for $10 (with a $10 rebate if you’re a…

Managing Editor Wanted for Gizmodo en Español

Gizmodo is launching Gizmodo en Español! We are looking for a talented Managing Editor for the site. Are you passionate about gadgets, with a good eye for breaking technology news? Can you manage a staff of tech writers? Do you share our ambition of creating the most awesome Spanish tech site in the world? If…

BS Your Way Through Starfleet Paperwork With Riker Ipsum

The next time you’re filling out your logs after a long shift on the Enterprise and need to pad it out, just hop on over to Riker Ipsum, which generates random text based on quotes from William Riker. Of course Picard was always far more quotable, but the mundane musings of the first officer make…

Hot Chocolate Tastes Much Better In an Orange Cup

Scientists have discovered that an orange or creme-colored cup definitely makes chocolate taste better, while a white or red cup will not enhance the flavor. The discovery demonstrates once again that our taste buds are definitely influenced by the colors our eyes perceive. Published in the Journal of Sensory Studies, the research by scientists at…

Staple City’s a Towering Metropolis of Desk Organization

Put aside those depressing thoughts that your job actually needs a way to organize staples with this tiny cityscape snowglobe that’s an adorable way to store your office supplies. It’s certainly no Swingline, but the $20 Staple City includes a compact stapler and a base that turns your extra stacks of staples into tiny skyscrapers.…

Lets Hope the Dash7 Bluetooth Speaker Doesn’t Sound As Flat As It Looks

Designing a Bluetooth speaker that’s small enough for consumers to actually want to carry everywhere, but doesn’t sound like crap, is a delicate balancing act. Jawbone’s Jambox walked the line perfectly, but it looks like Soundmatters new Dash7 leans towards a thinner form factor, hopefully not at the cost of sound quality. The wireless speaker…

Asus Is Putting Sick 3D Gesture Controls in Its PCs This Year

Leap Motion’s amazing-looking gesture control debuted last May, and has had developers crawling all over it ever since. Now, Asus has announced that it’s teaming up with the company to produce a range of computers using the tech—and they should be here this year. https://gizmodo.com/is-this-the-best-gesture-control-system-ever-5911894 The computer manufacturer has announced that the technology will be…

Germanium Transistors Are Four Times Faster Than Today’s

It might look like something out of Tron, but you’re actually looking at a new type of transistor made out of germanium—which is four times faster than those currently in use. The new transistor, developed at MIT, is what scientists refer to as a p-type device: an electronic component which relies on holes—voids in a…

Creating the World’s Largest Light Painting

Last year, Michael Bosanko created what is reportedly the world’s largest ever light painting. This video shows how he did it. Having commandeered a 35,000-square-foot aircraft hangar in Coventry, UK, Bosanko set to creating a continuously drawn, Hallowe’en-themed light painting. To achieve the result, pictured below, the shutter of his camera was open for a…

Samsung has confirmed it’ll launch more than one open-source, Linux-based Tizen smartphone this year. [Bloomberg]

This Birdhouse Tile Makes the Most of Your Roof

This charming little roof tile is designed to encourage bird populations in urban areas—but its charm lies in the way it makes the most of an often-neglected space. Dreamt up by Klaas Kuiken, the birdhouse is built atop a standard roof tile so it can be fastened to plenty of roofs. The top of the…

Apple Ignored Qualcomm’s Suggestion of Adding a Radio to the Newton

All the way back in the 90s, Qualcomm approached Apple to suggest that it might want to put a radio in its Newton PDA. It could have led to the first ever iPhone two decades early —but instead, Apple told Qualcomm to stick its radio chip somewhere else. The news came out of a Charlie…

Sprint will offer a pay-as-you-go service from January 25th—but only on a handful of (crappy) phones. [Android Police]

Every Parent Who Gives Their Kid an iPhone Should Make Their Kid Follow These 18 Rules

If your mom and dad bought you an iPhone for Christmas or if you’re a mom or dad who gifted an iPhone to your kid, you should make your kid follow the rules of Janell Hofmann. Hofmann bought an iPhone for her 13-year-old son Greg and gave him 18 rules to follow. If you think…

Soviet Hobbits, Dave Chapelle’s First Set, and a Naval Explanation of Bath Salts

BATH SALTS: It’s not a fad…It’s a NIGHTMARE Just in case you weren’t already convinced, the US Navy would like to reiterate that bath salts are not just peyote sans the whimsy, they’re a designer amphetamine and will severely ruin your week. Хоббит (The Hobbit) Whaddya mean you don’t speak Russian? Well then you are…

This Girl Has the Best Facebook Cover Photos

Maybe you change your Facebook cover photo according to the season. Maybe you hacked the Facebook cover photo to look seamless. Maybe you pranked people with your photo. But no matter what you did, it probably wasn’t as pop culturally aware as Libby Cooper. She inserted her head into famous scenes from movies and paintings…

Movie Posters Love to Show a Man Standing Alone Looking At Something

If you feel like most movies that come out are cookie cutter versions of movies that already came out, you’re not alone. Sometimes Hollywood doesn’t even try to change anything. Just take a look at the latest movie poster design cliche: the lone-standing hero looking at destruction/buildings/destroyed buildings with his back turned to us. If…

Samsung’s Series 7 Ultra: Your MacBook Air Might Get Jealous

Sure, Samsung’s laptops of late have borne more than a passing resemblance to Apple’s MacBook line. The skinny, shiny Series 7 Ultra is no exception. But so what? In the Age of Windows 8, that just means you get basically the same pretty package with the added bonus of a touchscreen and some spec improvements.…