Tech News

The NY Post reports that Apple’s music-streaming Pandora ripoff has hit a snag; Sony wants more cash. No rush, guys! https://gizmodo.com/apple-might-be-trying-to-launch-its-own-pandora-knock-o-5941217

Pee Pro Urinal Target Turns Your Toilet Into a Carnival Game

The easiest way to get anyone to do anything is to make the task fun and enjoyable. And while it’s sad that gents have to be coerced into properly using a urinal, the Pee Pro promises to promote accuracy by encouraging every user to be as on-target as possible. Priced at just $16 it’s exactly…

Top of the First Antarctic Explorers’ Packing List: Lots and Lots of Cocaine

Headed out to explore the frigid Arctic? Better pack some blow. Scottish author Gavin Francis details the medical supplies early 20th century expeditions took on their treks to the South Pole, and they read more like the inventory list of a heavily stocked drug den than a voyage to the coldest place on the planet.…

Iranian News Agency Copies the Onion, Says Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama

The semi-official Iranian news agency FNA has just published this news item: “Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama.” But of course they do! Here’s their complete text: Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama TEHRAN (FNA)- According to the results of a Gallup poll released Monday, the overwhelming majority of rural white…

Google finally made Gmail iPhone 5 look ungoofy on the iPhone 5. Next up: Maps? Maybe? Please?

How to Listen to Something Besides Local Radio on Your Never-Ending Road Trip

Fall is a great time for cross-country sojourns. Nothing is better than grabbing a gaggle of friends, loading up on individually-wrapped snack foods, and hitting the open road. Unfortunately, nothing is worse than being on said open road and being forced to listen to the Bible Belt-musings of Pastor Jim on WKOR. Fortunately, if you…

Yep, The TSA Is Definitely Stealing iPads

An ABC investigation has found what you might have suspected all along; if you leave your iPad with airport security, a TSA agent might just keep it for himself. The investigators went to 10 airports and put iPads through the screening machines in the little plastic containers, and then didn’t claim them just to see…

The World’s Largest Aluminum Smelter Dealt 585,000 Tons of It Last Year

The Qatalum smelter in Qatar is the largest, highest output aluminum smelter in the world. With a mind-boggling 704 individual smelting pots, it produces upwards of 585,000 tons of aluminum each year. That’s a lot of Coke cans. The Qatalum smelter was built in 2009 by the ABB company out of Auburn Hills, Michigan. It’s…

16 Scary Probes That You Don’t Want Inside of You

The worst part of going to the doctor’s is being poked and prodded with any number of terrifying probes and needles, but you probably haven’t seen many of the really scary implements that are out there. Here are 16 crazy ones you probably don’t want anywhere near you. This is one of the two probes…

First Images Inside North Korea’s Ghost Skyscraper

That eerie wonderland of weird and misery that is North Korea has its epicenter on this place: the Ryugyong Hotel—the 105-story skyscraper erected in Pyongyang to the glory of whatever Kim was ruling back in 1987, when construction started. That construction stopped in 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union, and restarted in 2008…

A Stiff Bendy Cable Keeps This Power Bar Exactly Where You Put It

If you ever try to use a power bar anywhere but on the floor, you’ll quickly realize that gravity will do everything it can to drag it off a table, a ladder, or anything not at ground level. That’s not the case with Quirky’s new Prop Power extension cord, though. Its six-foot cable is made…

Watch the World Get Attacked By Cyber Criminals in Real Time

If you’re an IT security nerd specialist holed up in some corporation’s basement, you probably don’t find this real-time visualization of the world’s cyber attacks to be beautiful. But the rest of us can sit back and appreciate the eye candy. All of the red dots on your on HoneyMap represent locations that are currently…

Google Maps Adds New High-Res Satellite Images and (Basically) Flyover for a Bunch of Cities

This sort of seems like piling on. Google just added a bunch of new high res images to its maps. That means its overhead satellite data should be even more up to date, and its 45-degree Flyover-like images will be more abundant. Fifty one new cities got the update to 45-degree images, which show cities…

Sharp: Don’t Blame Us for iPhone 5 Shortage

You’re going to wait three to four weeks for your iPhone 5 if you order it online. But Sharp—one of Apple’s touch panel suppliers—says it’s not to blame for the hold up. Wait times and shortages are business as usual when it comes to an Apple launch. Part of the reason this time around, due…

Folding Jointed Bike Lock Introduces More Places For It To Fail

Abus has been making its unique bike locks that fold away like a carpenter’s ruler for years now. But it claims the latest iteration—the Bordo 6000 Ecolution—can be broken down and fully recycled when you no longer need to secure your bike. Instead of protecting the 5 millimeter thick steel bars with anti-corrosive rubber, Abus…

Severely Burned Corpse Identified By the Maggots Infesting Her Body

If you ever come across a body that’s so badly burned you can’t identify the corpse, don’t worry: just keep your eyes open for maggots. Because a police forensics team in Mexico managed to identify a body through maggot ID alone. New Scientist reports that Mexican police found a body that was so badly burned…

Apple CEO Tim Cook Apologizes for Apple Maps, Suggests You Download… Bing

Apple Maps is a mess, to the point that now Apple CEO Tim Cook has now issued a public apology for it. And—in a very un-Apple fashion—has directed iPhone users to alternatives like Bing, Waze, and, well, Google. https://gizmodo.com/why-apple-maps-wont-get-better-anytime-soon-5945014 Here’s the full letter: To our customers, At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that…

Brian Eno’s Bonkers New iPad App Thinks for Itself

Brian Eno has made some trippy iOS music apps before but the latest, Scape, takes Tiger Mountain by wackiness. Look at the video above. What are all those strange symbols and shapes? Is this a music app or a weird new age religion? Or Scientology? https://gizmodo.com/trope-the-new-brian-eno-iphone-app-is-the-true-follow-5364329 In Scape (a collaboration with Peter Chilvers) you make…

This Is Not a Brain

You are not looking at a human brain. Nor for that matter are you looking at the brain of any living creature. In fact, this is a scanning electron microscope image of a tiny little seed of a plant called rumia crithmifolia. Captured by British photographer, and professor, Rob Kesseler, it was created by sputter-coating…

California Protects Social Media Accounts From the Grasp of Employers

A small victory in the fight for digital privacy: California Governor Jerry Brown has announced his signing of bills to prevent employers and universities from demanding social network login. https://gizmodo.com/facebook-tells-users-not-to-give-passwords-to-employers-5895846 In fact he’s signing two bills: Assembly Bill 1844 and Senate Bill 1349. The first prevents employers from asking workers for social media usernames or…