Tech News

How to Send a Facebook Gift

Starting today, you can buy your Facebook friends real-life gifts. Woohoo! Now you can advertise to everyone on Facebook how you are just such a fantastically nice dude(tte). Here’s how to do it. https://gizmodo.com/facebook-gifts-just-became-the-easiest-way-to-look-good-5961263 We’ll my good friend and colleague Kyle Wagner as a guinea pig; I’ve noticed lately that he could really use a…

Gifts for The Obsessive Gamer

You have someone in your life who loves gaming. You want to get them a gift. But you can’t get them Black Ops II, because they snatched that up the day it dropped. Boost their gear arsenal instead. Hey there! You might notice our gift guides look a little different this year. That’s because we’re…

This Is What an iPod Looked Like in the Roaring Twenties

In the 1920s, the world was still about 60 years away from the first Walkman, and about 80 from the iPod, but portable music was still apparently a thing. All you had to do was rig a little radio to your garter and a speaker around your head, as the 20s lady in the above…

USB-Powered Self-Misting Hairbrush: Thanko, You’ve Done It Again

Just when you think the industrial designers of the world have lost their inspiration for true innovation, Thanko comes along and opens a new window to improving our lives through technology. This time around it’s a USB-rechargeable hairbrush featuring a built-in water reservoir and misting pump, so the humidity’s always perfect. When its tiny tank’s…

7 Ways to Save the Microsoft Surface

It has a more dynamic interface. It has Office inside. It can run two apps on the same screen. And it has a USB port and a built-in kickstand. The iPad has none of these things, and the Microsoft Surface does. So why does Microsoft’s first tablet already seem to be on the ropes? According…

Though 88% want to keep Facebook’s guidelines, Zuckerbug’s axing them anyway —RIP Democracy.

Yahoo Mail Finally Gets a Slick Redesign of its Own

Remember Yahoo Mail? You probably haven’t used it in years because it’s been out-featured by the vastly superior Gmail. Well, today we’re getting our first look at Yahoo’s new vision for its abandoned email service. And from what we can see, the new Yahoo Mail might even be worth trying. In a blog post, Yahoo…

Twitter’s Year of Tweets Reminds Us That the Super Bowl Happens Every Year

Stop everything: Twitter has released its year-end review. What did we care about in 2012? Twelve months’ worth of tweets does a pretty good job answering that question, although it’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect. You can browse through the most popular Twitter topics, the tweets that were retweeted the most, the biggest hashtags…

Google60: Search the Web Mad Men-Style

Grab yourself a cocktail and say goodbye to your productivity with this brilliant Google60 parody that lets you use the search tool as if you only had access to a monstrous IBM System/360 mainframe. Spoiler alert: you’ll probably be pulling your hair out after five minutes. Announced in 1964, the S/360 would have been the…

Drones Now Have an AC/DC Soundtrack, via Laser Beam

What is it about technology and Aussie rock band AC/DC? In July a computer hack led to the band’s track Thunderstruck belting out at top volume in an Iranian nuclear power plant. Now AC/DC’s signature hit Highway to Hell is riding on a laser beam that’s being bounced off a drone in mid-flight. When the…

Google CEO Larry Page Talks Apple Spats, Google+, and the Future of Search

CNN Money has managed to get a rare, long interview with Google head honcho Larry Page. In fact, its only Page’s second big interview with a print publication since he became CEO back on 2011. Here are some choice cuts, before you read the whole thing. On Google’s relationship with Apple: “I think it would…

Nokia Engineer Finds Hack to Get In-Game Purchases for Free on Windows 8

A Nokia engineer who works with Windows 8 has stumbled across a trick which allows users to avoid paying for in-game purchases—and he’s published it online. It’s not the easiest process in the world, but it does seem to work. Justin Angel, the engineer in question, explains the process using the Soulcraft Windows 8 game…

How Much Does it Cost to Power Your Christmas Lights?

So, you’ve gone to great pains to fully research your Christmas decorations, and now you have a kick-ass light set-up adorning your house. But how much is it all costing you? https://gizmodo.com/the-mathematical-formula-for-a-perfectly-decorated-chri-5966251 Electricity doesn’t come free, after all—which is why Rob Cockerham armed himself with a power meter and worked out exactly how much his…

Drink Yourself Jolly With Candy Cane Shot Glasses

You can hang ’em from trees, eat your dinner with ’em—and now even get drunk out of ’em. Candy cane is the new super material, and these shot glasses are proof. https://gizmodo.com/theres-a-special-nobel-prize-for-the-genius-behind-thes-5963895 These glasses are made from good ol’ candy cane to give your poison of preference a slightly sweet, minty note. Then when you’re…

Trolls Now Bring More Patent Cases Than Anybody Else

A new study proves what most of us expected: these days, more patent cases are brought about by patent trolls than any other party. A report by Colleen Chien, a law professor at Santa Clara University, shows that 61 percent of all patent lawsuits filed in the last year were brought by “patent-assertion entities”. That…

Forty new Xbox apps will launch today—including SkyDrive, with an emphasis on sharing images and video. [Windows]

Intel’s Next-Gen Mobile Processors Will Be in Production 2013

Intel has announced that its next generation of smaller, more efficient mobile processors will be ready for “high volume manufacturing in 2013.” Intel has struggled to compete with the likes of Qualcomm on the mobile processor front over the past few years, so it’s been scrabbling to ready a new slew of processors that can…

Explore The Bewildering World Of Context-Free Wikipedia Gifs

Aside from being a wonderful way to have a party, GIFs can be a great way to demonstrate something. They’re often used that way on Wikipedia. A wonderful site called Wikigifs, however, pulls them out of that educational Wikipedian context, and brings them right back to abstract weirdness. https://gizmodo.com/heres-the-biggest-animated-gif-party-ever-and-youre-inv-5951078 The site was created by one…

This Awesome Art Made with Food Is Proof Your Parents Should Have Let You Play with Your Food

Do you remember yourself as a child? All that unbridled creativity, all that stepping out of the box, all that kidness. You used to be the Picasso with the dinner plate, moving peas here, swiping sauces there. It look like a real piece of art until… your mom or dad told you to quit playing…

What’s Your Favorite GIF of the Year 2012?

Animated GIFs. Stupid, awesome, funny, always good. What was your favorite GIF of the year 2012? It can be anything: politics, nature, dumb fails, sports, music, major events, catastrophes… whatever you want. Just tell us in the comments. https://gizmodo.com/heres-the-biggest-animated-gif-party-ever-and-youre-inv-5951078