Tech News

The Episode Where George Jetson Rages Against the Machine

This is the tenth in a 24-part series looking at every episode of “The Jetsons” TV show from the original 1962-63 season. From the very first episode “The Jetsons” promised a push-button future of leisure. But this vision of easy-living sometimes has a dark side. A side where robots might cease helping you—and begin stealing…

Report: Windows 8 Will Get Cheap, Yearly Upgrades Like OS X

According to The Verge, Microsoft will begin shipping cheap updates to Windows every year. The new approach, which is reportedly codenamed Windows Blue, would shift Microsoft away from its current strategy of introducing mammoth updates to the OS package after several years. The Verge reports that the Blue approach will include both Windows and Windows…

Vimeo for iPhone: Watch Amazing Short Films in a Simplified App

Vimeo is a wonderland of amazing short films—a YouTube for filmmakers, but without all the racist gremlin commenters. And for the first time ever, it’s developed its very own iPhone app. What does it do? Lets you browse, upload, and share videos. Why do we like it? Yes, Vimeo has had an app, but this…

YouTube’s automatic captions now boast six new (mostly European) languages. Das güt!

Windows 8 Sales: Five Questions That Still Need Answers

Windows 8, Microsoft reported yesterday, has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses in its first month of retail. That’s an indisputably huge number, outpacing even Windows 7 sales at launch. But it’s also a number that raises more questions than answers. https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-has-sold-40-million-copies-of-windows-8-so-fa-5963735 How many people are actually using Windows 8? It’s easy to forget that…

Here’s Where the Naked Pics You Sexted Will End Up

IsAnyoneUp.com had one simple, brilliantly malicious premise: submit completely naked pictures of your ex (or anyone you dislike), completely anonymously. The ultimate Internet revenge, viewed by a quarter of a million people every day. It shut down. Now it’s back. The infamous pic hub, which mixed masturbation and mass-shaming by gleaning x-rated selfies from Facebook…

Cadbury Chocolate Will Literally Melt In Your Mouth, Not in Your Hand

The bright minds in Cadbury’s R&D department have done something amazing—they’ve created chocolate that won’t melt. Willy Wonka has to be real. Just has to be. The “temperature tolerant” candy remained solid, even after spending three hours in an incubator where the temp was 104 degrees, according to its patent filing. At that point it…

What Is an Atmospheric River?

A gigantic storm is set to hit the West Coast later today, bringing with it over a foot of rain. It’s what meteorologists call an Atmospheric River—but what is that, exactly? An atmospheric river is a meteorological phenomenon… You guessed it! It’s not a river at all. It’s a weather event, a serious one, that…

Guy Builds an X-Ray Backscatter Machine in His Garage, Doesn’t Have To Take His Shoes Off

When most people tackle DIY projects related to airports, it’s usually some kind of over-the-top commercial airline simulator. But not Ben Krasnow He took a decidedly different approach by building his own X-ray backscatter machine using various parts found on eBay. The final results aren’t quite as instant as the machines deployed by airport security…

Google Wants to Give You Answers Before You Ask Questions

Google’s working on building a new kind of mobile search tool, one which pre-guesses what you’re likely to be looking for and pings you a little update before you ask. Sort of like a clairvoyant butler arriving with a bacon sandwich when you need it most. According to Technology Review, the new concept is to…

This Music Video Was “Filmed” Entirely With Instagram

This is the music video for the new single “Invasión” by Mexico City-based band The Plastics Revolution. It’s made up entirely of stills processed using Instagram. The band claims it is a world first, but regardless of whether that’s the case—let us know in the comments if you know of another!—the effect is interesting. All…

A Day of NYC’s Public Transport, Visualized

Gripe and moan about it all you like, but public transport is a fundamental part of keeping any big city running—and this data visualization shows just how complex New York City’s public transit setup is. Put together by YouTube user STLTransit, the video is a visualization of a single day’s public transit, between 4:00am and…

Sharp’s 32-Inch 4K IGZO Display Is More Exciting Than a Monitor Should Be

Sharp’s new monitor promises to be something special, offering up 4K resolution powered by ultra-thin IGZO technology to make for a ridiculously high-res but sleek display. It’s going to be gorgeous. But it comes at a price. The monitor promises a 32-inch screen packing a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels. To save you some…

Microsoft Solves Windows Phone 8’s Random Rebooting Problem

After users reported that their Windows Phone 8 handsets were randomly rebooting, Microsoft claims to have found the cause of the problem—and is planning to roll out an over-the-air update in December. https://gizmodo.com/is-your-windows-phone-8-handset-randomly-rebooting-5961703 All Things D reports that Microsoft has been working with its partners—presumably HTC and Nokia—and has discovered a cause of the bug…

A team of devs has ported the ill-fated—and newly open source—webOS to an app that can run on Android. [Phoenix]

Of Course There Is a House with a Christmas Lights Show Set to Gangnam Style

Gangnam Style has over 800 million views on YouTube so it’s only fitting that a house has its Christmas Lights set to the South Korean horse dancing song. Watch it, it’s kinda amazing how well it works. I guess Gangnam Style can be the new Jingle Bells. [YouTube via BuzzFeed]

The Stoner Channel: 2000 Miles of Red, Zero G Goldfish, and Stratospheric Cats

Take a 2000 Mile Tour Through the Southwest’s “Grand Circle” This gorgeous time lapse features shots of the desolate beauty of Utah and Arizona. Filmed earlier this month, the video includes scenes from Arches National Park, Monument Valley, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Antelope Canyon, the Grand Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Mesa Verde, Natural Bridges, Canyonlands, and Grand…

What’s Your Favorite Cheesy Online Game?

I’m not asking about the best games on the Internet, I’m talking about wonderfully crappy, horribly cheesy online games like Qwop or the recent Old Spice Dikembe Mutombo’s 4 1/2 weeks to Save the World or anything else so low grade that you can’t stop playing. I don’t care if they’re advertisements masked as video…

Watch Every Apple Commercial Ever

Apple commercials are so popular that they’re like a TV series all by themselves. A YouTube user collected all the Apple commercials—iPad, iPhone, iMac, iPod, etc.—in a giant playlist for you to watch every single one. You can see the themes develop for each product and laugh at the horrible mistakes Apple made (those Genius…

The King’s Speech: How King George Overcame His Stutter Struggle

Prince Albert, a.k.a. England’s King George VI was never supposed to be King George VI at all. In fact, his older brother, Edward, was the country’s reigning monarch until he abdicated to marry a divorcée. And thus, soft spoken stammering George was thrust into a position of power on the eve of the second world…