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We hate the way a lot of Apple design looks, these days: virtual leather, felt, wood, and glass. It’s like a sleazy game room in your Cool Uncle’s basement. Who is making these eye-screwing decisions? Fast Company says it was Jobs. https://gizmodo.com/ugh-god-why-is-apple-making-everything-look-like-an-u-5849940 Skeumorphism—the design technique of making a virtual thing look like a real thing…
Taking their inspiration from the spherical wheeled Audi RSQ concept seen in the Will Smith film, I, Robot, a group of students at the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering at San Jose State University have created a similar concept, but with just two wheels. Besides an eco-friendly electric drivetrain, the bike’s spherical drive system…
Hidden away, deep within a forest in central Africa, is something quite special. But the Pollia berry’s name doesn’t quite do it justice, because this thing is shiny. Damn shiny. In fact, it’s the shiniest living thing in the world. These fruits, which look a bit like something you might hang on a Christmas tree,…
Big news in the UK: Brits are finally getting LTE thanks to newly named provider EE. Took ’em long enough. [Gizmodo UK]
Earlier this year the New York Times wrote about the massive gender gap among Wikipedia contributors: just 13 percent of them are women. Now Santiago Ortiz has crunched the data behind the encyclopaedia, and the results are telling. Using a gender API, Ortiz sucked out details about contributors from articles across Wikipedia in order to…
Here’s something ultra-nerdy but incredibly fun: you can hack your Kindle to work as a display for a tiny portable computer like the Raspberry Pi. That’s exactly what Gef Tremblay did on a recent trip to Europe where he was travelling light: he took just a Kindle, a camera, an android phone and a Raspberry…
I like when people see an office rule and they find creative ways to 1) break it and 2) make fun of it. I don’t know who made this but well played, sir/lady. Well played. [Thanks Karl!]
Days after a judge settled price fixing allegations, Amazon is slashing HarperCollins ebooks prices. Buy! [PaidContent]
This is officially the world’s largest QR code. Carved into a field of maize in Alberta, Canada, it measures 309,570 Square feet and links to the Kraay Family Farm website. It is also dumber than every other stupid QR code that exists. https://gizmodo.com/wtf-qr-codes-the-definitive-compendium-of-a-sad-and-ho-5890314 Photographs of it—all invariably taken at an angle unless the photographer happens…
Last month, Apple yanked the YouTube app that’d been collecting mold on your iPhone since 2007. On the one hand, nobody will miss it in iOS 6, because it was terrible. On the other, YouTube. But fret not: it’s back. https://gizmodo.com/apple-is-removing-youtube-from-ios-6-5932215 But more important than simply being back, it’s back in a proper way, built…
This hilarious video made by Pleated Jeans pokes fun at the universal suckiness of all food packaging. From plastic wraps on a bread loaf to zip-loc cheese bags to even chips and soda and meat and everything in between, food packaging is terrible and impossible to open. Why can’t someone fix all these awful little…
Every cat should be so lucky as Rufus, whose owner built him this incredible room-size climbing structure out of a whole bunch of storage boxes. Watch it materialize in the video above! [Neatorama]
The FAA has approved American Airlines to be the first commercial airline to have its pilots use iPads in “all phases of flight,” rather than the 35lb paper reference manuals they’re used to. Based on current fuel prices, The Next Web estimates that this will save the airline some $1.2M annually, across all of its…
Jimi Hendrix – Stockholm 1969 Jimi and the rest of the Experience get together for a Swedish jam session. I swear, Hendrix makes playing that guitar look about as difficult as breathing. Please Stop With the Stunt Scooters Yes, we get it, you you march to the beat of a different drum. Seriously though ,…
Twerking? Winston Bananas? Fry That Chicken? Everyone has a favorite Youtube video that they love to share. What’s yours?
I have a gigantic case full of CDs that I have no idea what to do with. Do I toss them out? Do I save them for my kids? I’m sure other people have the same questions with their dead physical media—CDs, video tapes, DVDs, soon to be Blu-Rays—what’s going to happen to all of…
Jugs! There, I got your attention. But, similar to the spate of twee tea infusers of late, a gimmicky milk jug is a great thing. This one, which features udders, will never let you forget what you’re actually pouring voer your cereal: 2% cow juice. This soy milk jug had the same idea—but it’s sad…
If I was a pilot and I saw a plane headed straight toward me, I’d figure I was doomed. If I was a pilot and I saw a plane stuck to my own plane, I’d figure we were both doomed. Luckily for these two pilots in Holland, who hit each other in mid-air and then…
Chronic slouchers and hunchers, listen up. Risr is a new technology that uses safe vibration feedback to correct poor posture, a special vest made of a delicate network of wires and vibrating sensors. Already we’ve seen smart clothing that logs data to help with your posture, and a posture-correcting computer monitor, but this Risr can…
Field Day’s gorgeous Envelope Chest borrows its design from the classic interoffice envelope. Made of smooth maple with a satin lacquer finish, this simple storage chest closes with a simple leather tie. The Envelope Chest ($1400) is the perfect place to store all your grown-up toys and gear and gadgets. (Width: 40″ Height: 20″ Depth:…
