Tech News

Win a Pair of Our Favorite Running Headphones

A few weeks ago Giz gave Sennheiser’s PMX 685i headphones four stars for helping make running actually enjoyable. They’re light, well designed, and sound incredible. And now we’re giving away a pair for free. All you have to do to potentially win is take the one-question survey located below. To enter, send your answer to…

How Syria Turned Off the Internet

November 29, 2012, between 1026 and 1029 (UTC), all traffic from Syria to the rest of the Internet stopped. At CloudFlare, we witnessed the drop off. CloudFlare spent yesterday morning studying the situation to understand what happened. The following graph shows the last several days of traffic coming to CloudFlare’s network from Syria. Since the…

In the 1920s, Shoppers Got Fooled By Fake Televisions

Today advertisers use futuristic tech like jetpacks and robots in their TV ads so that potential consumers think of their brand as forward thinking and innovative. In the 1920s, the cutting edge gadget that advertisers most wanted to associate themselves with was television. But, since the technology was still in its infancy, they faked it.…

Watch the Real-Life Terminator Hand Tackle Everyday Tasks With Ease

Seeing a fully articulated prosthetic hand going through its full range of motions is always fascinating, and the Bebionic V3’s capabilities are downright amazing. But what’s really important is how well it can handle everyday mundane tasks. After all, in the end it’s not a tech demo, but a device meant to improve somebody’s life.…

This 41-Channel Hyperspectral Camera Will Look Deep in the Heart of the Aurora Borealis

Auroras, which occur when charged solar particles pass through the thermosphere, are more than just polar eye candy—they offer tantalizing clues about the inner workings of our planet’s relationship with its nearest star. Problem is, modern cameras can’t provide the data granularity needed to view them properly without be outfitted with specialized optical filters. Otherwise,…

Would You Ever Name Your Child After a Gadget?

Because all the good names are already taken, it’s tempting for mothers to just pop out a kid, look around the room, and say I name thee Curtain Rod. But even that would be preferable to the actual rise in people naming their kids after technology. Apple has seen a banner moniker year (thanks in…

Leaked Redbox Instant Details Reveal Cheap, Netflix-Killing Prices

Thanks to a (now password protected) page on Redbox’s support site, details on the company’s joint streaming venture with Verizon have finally surfaced. While the potential Netflix competitor has a smaller catalog of offerings, the $6 a month subscription rate should be enough to garner a few converts. Plus, screenshots show a selection of newer…

This Asshat AT&T Store Rep Wears His iPad In His Ass

Last week I went to an AT&T store to get a new microSIM card for a Nokia Lumia 920. There, this happened: the AT&T rep went on to get the card and, when he leaned down, he had his iPad in the ass. Well, not in the ass, but you know what I mean. Apparently,…

This Video Truly Shows the Overwhelming Size of the Universe

Every time I look at the sky in a remote location, far away from cities’ light pollution, I marvel at the immensity of the Universe. But this video truly shows how much bigger the Universe is, how impossibly huge. Just watch and look at all those dots turn into galaxies until you reach your destination.…

How Do Computers Understand Speech?

More and more, we can get computers to do things for us by talking to them. A computer can call your mother when you tell it to, find you a pizza place when you ask for one, or write out an email that you dictate. Sometimes the computer gets it wrong, but a lot of…

Holy Crap, Someone Made a Real-Life Pixar Desk Lamp

Great news for anyone who’s ever dreamed of their boring desk lamp coming to life as their lovable sidekick. Inspired by the animated Luxo lamp that greets moviegoers at the start of every Pixar film, Adam Ben-Dror, Shanshan Zhou, and Joss Doggett created the Pinokio lamp which moves and reacts to its environment with what…

If You’re Going To Make a Crappy Star Wars Tie-in, At Least Do It Right

Nestle Japan will be releasing a limited edition Star Wars version of its Gold Blend coffee maker next week. But it has to be one of the laziest tie-ins ever to cash in on the Star Wars name. Available in two versions, it looks like Nestle’s just slapped a sticker on the side of each…

Researchers Can Make Bread Stay Fresh for 60 Days

Most foods deteriorate over time, but bread’s a major culprit, often going stale after just a couple of days. Now, though, a US research company claims to be able to make your loaf stay fresh for up to 60 whole days. The secret? Um, a gigantic microwave. No, seriously. The company, called—wait for it—Microzap, has…

White-Chocolate Baby Heads: The Cure for Chocaholics

Got a sweet tooth that’s led to you packing on the pounds? Until now there was no cure for that inexplicable chocolate craving a lot of us get. But after seeing these horrific lifesize baby heads hand-crafted from white chocolate, there’s a good chance you’ll never want to touch the stuff again. Created by Conjurer’s…

Scientists Can Now Make Stem Cells From Blood

Until now, scientists have relied on embryos or complex techniques using skin cells to create stem cells. Now, though, a team from Cambridge University has manged to create them from the blood of a patient—which could make regenerative medicine a more real possibility than ever. Stem cells can be tweaked to grow into any kind…

Google’s Nexus 4 is so in demand that eBay’s limiting the number of units users can sell, to stamp out fraud. [eBay]

New iMac Teardown: There’s Still Spare Room in This Skinny Frame

The skinny new iMac goes on sale today. But before anyone in the US has even had a chance to touch it, an enterprising Japanese blogger has already managed to tear one to pieces. https://gizmodo.com/those-skinny-new-imacs-go-on-sale-november-30-5963559 Detail from the teardown are scant and poorly translated by Google but there are plenty of pictures. This is the…

Watch Reddit’s Founders Describe How the Site Was Born

These days Reddit is an internet behemoth that shapes opinion and rapidly spreads news, but sometimes it’s easy to forget that it only started up in 2005. In this video, founders Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian explain how the site was born. You might have heard snippets of the story before—like that fact that it…

Get Up Close to Babbage’s Difference Engine in This Gigapixel Image

Charles Babbage’s difference engine—the mechanical precursor to today’s digital computers—is a beautifully intricate machine. Now, you can take a real close look at it using this gigapixel image. Babbage never actually saw a working version of his difference engine: his project spiraled out of control and became too expensive to complete. But, since, replicas have…

Griffin’s Selling More Kinds of Lightning Cables Than You’ll Ever Need

Griffin has just announced the first third-party Lightning cables to become available on the market, giving you an alternative to official Apple products when it comes to charging and syncing your new iOS device. And there seems to be a cable for almost every occasion. Short, long, coiled, straight—take your pick. Here’s a run down:…