Tech News

SOPA’s Back From the Dead and This Time It’s a Virus

If you thought SOPA was dead, well, you’d be mostly right. Its bloated corpse, however, has been resurrected by hacker puppeteers for the valiant purpose of scamming people out of their cash. The new virus is a pretty standard piece of ransomware that claims to have locked down your computer and offers to unlock it…

Calmly Breathing Minnie Doll Guarantees Kids a Good Night’s Sleep

Sometimes all a child needs is their favorite stuffed animal to fall asleep. Other times, it’s not so easy. So Takara Tomy worked with Ikuo Honma—a cognitive and respiratory science researcher—to develop this plush Minnie Mouse doll with a realistic breathing mechanism that supposedly helps anyone drift off to sleep. Besides a muted color scheme…

Here’s the Biggest Animated GIF Party Ever—and You’re Invited to Join

We just had the biggest animated GIF party in history in Campfire, our virtual workplace. Or shall I say the beginning, because now you people have to post your own. You have to help us until there’s no computer in the world capable of powering this page. WARNING: THIS MAY DESTROY YOUR COMPUTER AND CAUSE…

Pleased to Meet the Facebook Version of You

Hats off to your laissez–faire attitude about the beautiful dinner you guys cooked up at the beach this summer. I was cracking up at the joke you made in the caption (“Looks like we’re eating outside AGAIN. Oh, well…”) under the snapshot of the gorgeous lobsters. The potatoes looked amazing fading off into the blur…

Do You Search for Things More on Your Phone or Computer?

A ComScore study shows that desktop search traffic is declining for the first time ever. Meanwhile, as phones and tablets become more prevalent, mobile search queries are on the rise, accounting for nearly a third of all search traffic. Do you find your self using your mobile devices more than your computer when it comes…

How NYC Transformed Times Square Into a Cultural Icon

Say hello to the world’s most visited destination—Times Square in New York City. This single attraction hosts more visitors every year than Canadia has residents. This collection of shots from our friends at Oobject illustrate the Square’s radical evolution over the past century from former NYT publishing house to giant, glitter ball-topped billboard. Be sure…

The Apple vs Android Fanboy Wars In One GIF

Here’s a brief note intended for the fanboys who ruin technology for everyone else: Look, your war doesn’t make any sense, ok? This whole fanboys vs fandroids thing, the iPhone vs Galaxy, the iPad vs Kindle Fire… who the hell cares? They’re just machines. And companies are not your friends. They are not here to…

Rumor: Six-Strikes Anti-Piracy Plan Rolling Out Next Month

For over a year now, there have been rumors floating around about major ISPs’ plans to institute a “six-strikes” plan to curb piracy. According to some leaked AT&T training documents drudged up by TorrentFreak, it’s finally rolling out for real on November 28th. https://gizmodo.com/the-isps-are-about-to-take-a-harder-stance-against-pira-5814819 The six-strikes plan, a set of private agreements between major ISPs…

NASA on Mercury’s Craters: “Anyone Else Think This Looks Like the Cookie Monster?”

The Messenger spacecraft has photographed some neat craters on Mercury’s surface and NASA thinks they look like the cookie monster. What kind of magic cookies are you eating, NASA? Hmmm, wait. I think they are right. Anyone Else Think This Looks Like the Cookie Monster? Ok, so maybe it’s just me. But the superposition of…

South Korea’s Kamikaze UAV Could Scare the Ojom Out of Kim Jong-un

Kamikaze attacks can utterly devastate an enemy’s morale but come at a steep price—namely, the pilot’s life. But what if there is no pilot? What if it’s just a kamikaze drone aimed straight at the heart of North Korean military targets? South Korea’s aptly named the Devil Killer fits that bill; it’s a portable kamikaze…

These Simple Tips Ensure You Don’t Look Like Crap On a Webcam

Gone are the days when video chats were limited to tiny pixelated windows that had you stuttering through conversations with a friend. High quality webcams and broadband connections mean you can now chat in high-definition, so why not do everything you can to look fabulous on camera? If you’ve got a minute and change, check…

How to Take Better Photos With Your Smartphone

There’s a large contingent of photo enthusiasts online who will dismiss a photo straight away if they find out it was taken with a smartphone. The rally cry of “get a real camera” can be heard echoing through the rafters of comment sections for many websites. We think everyone should have a dedicated camera, but…

Pregnant Doll With Pregnant Fetus Confirms the Apocalypse Is Nigh

Sex education is an important tool for minimizing the spread of certain diseases and unwanted pregnancies, but how far is too far? If you’ve ever asked yourself that question, here’s the answer. This Baby’s First Baby doll comes with a tiny fetus it’s apparently just given birth to. And the doll’s packaging boasts that the…

A New Great Depression and Ladies on the Moon: 1970s Middle School Kids Look to the Year 2000

The February 26, 1977 edition of the Herald-Star in Steubenville, Ohio published dozens of predictions for the year 2000 made by the people of Steubenville, a working class town in eastern Ohio (and the birthplace of Dean Martin). Some of these letters came from local middle school kids 10-12 years old and they provide a…

RIM’s BlackBerry 10 Smartphone Makes an Early Surprise Appearance

If you’re champing at the bit for BlackBerry OS 10 (how many of you are there?), here’s something to hold you over until it’s ready: RIM’s L-Series hardware was apparently shown off in public—whether or not that was intentional remains to be seen—and offers a glimpse at what RIM’s next slate-style phone might look like.…

Microsoft Finds the Worst Way to Advertise Cloud Storage

When you’ve got a cloud platform in a world of cloud platforms, you have to find a way to make yours stand out in the crowd. This is the wrong way. This new Windows Azure “theme song” by NoClue is just about as comprehensible as it is a good idea, but at least it’s not…

Apple’s Going to Pay Up for the iOS 6 Clock Design It Stole

Apple shamlessly swiped the design of iOS 6’s iPad clock from the Swiss National Railway, and a couple of weeks ago, it was called out. Now that its copycatism has been exposed, Apple has agreed to licensing terms. https://gizmodo.com/apple-totally-stole-the-design-of-the-ios-6-ipad-clock-5945008 The classic ticker was originally designed in 1944 by Hans Hilfiker, and the railroad owns the…

Mysterious Monster Eye Washes Ashore in Florida

Yesterday, Gino Covacci was walking peacefully by the sea when he found this: a gigantic, monstrous eye still oozing blood. Scientists haven’t identified the leviathan who lost it yet. Was it a giant squid, a whale, or the eye from a titanic monster born mutant because of nuclear tests? Talking to the Sun Sentinel, the…

It’s almost here! You can reserve a copy of Windows 8 Pro for 70 bucks now.

This Is Not a Flower

This isn’t a romantic pink rose, nor any other kind of flower you can name. In fact, it’s a wonderfully delicate crystalline bloom of germanium sulphide with petals that are just 20 nanometers thick. It was created by a team of researchers who are trying to make incredibly high surface area crystals for use in…