Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Software wizard Andy Hertzfeld— one of the geniuses behind the original Apple Macintosh—found these rare interviews from an original Macintosh commercial that was never aired. It reminds me of the now-classic product intro infomercials made popular during the Second Coming of Steve Jobs. https://gizmodo.com/apple-design-vs-apple-engineering-5575412 The interviews—recorded in October 1983—feature some of the all-star team of…
The Roomba 500 Series is dead. Long live the 600 Series! iRobot is giving some products a very nice upgrade today, starting with its entry-level robotic floor vacuums. The Looj, its rain gutter cleaning bot, is getting the treatment, too. Roomba 600 Series The 600 Series is going to pick up where the 500 Series…
Google+ is now letting some users pick their own vanity URLs. But it’s not for you. Because your name doesn’t happen to be Britney Spears. Unlike Facebook, it’s only for verified accounts, which means it’s only for famous people and brands. In you haven’t been to your Google+ page in a while, the address is…
There are plenty of rumors circulating about a super-thin screen for the new iPhone which could boost battery life. Now, an Apple patent has appeared which describes exactly the kind of screen technology the rumors have been speculating about. https://gizmodo.com/wsj-iphone-5-will-use-super-thin-screen-technology-5926565 Apple Insider points out a new Apple patent which describes different ways in which the…
While there’s some evidence that chocolate is good for you, the fact remains that it’s so full of fat and sugar that binging on it will make you fat. Now, though, scientists have developed a healthier version of chocolate using fruit juice—but how the hell does it work? https://gizmodo.com/chocolate-keeps-you-slim-5896690 In fact what they’ve done is…
For a lot of folks, the kitchen is the heart of the home. But if meals tend to be more of a moveable feast for you, take a look at Critter: it’s a moveable field kitchen that packs all the kitchen basics into a single bench which can be moved from indoors to the backyard—or…
As part of the Apple-Samsung legal dispute, Apple has revealed a survey which it undertook in January 2011 before the iPhone appeared on Verizon. It revealed that 48 percent of people would choose Android over iPhone if it allowed them to stay with their carrier. Now, that number may or may not be accurate, but…
As the courtroom battles continue, Samsung yesterday went for Apple by arguing that several iOS-wide UI features were actually developed well before the iPhone came into existence. The Verge is reporting that, in particular, Samsung pointed to the DiamondTouch device—developed in 2001 at the Mitsubishi Electronic Research Laboratory—which included predecessors of both pinch-to-zoom and Apple’s…
You can now add “Expecting a Baby” to your Facebook timeline. Worried? Then banish babies from your feed. [Facebook]
Facedeals may still only be in its trial period, but the Foursquare-like deals program that uses facial-recognition software to check you in on Facebook when you enter participating businessed is sure to incite all manner of responses when it’s rolled out for the general user. Relying on the preauthorization of its proprietary app via your…
If you’ve suffering from a touch of the Mars Fever, fear not: you can now take a 360-degree panorama tour of the Red Planet over at 360cities.net. The current panorama up for Earthling exploration is of Curiosity Rover’s Martian solar day 2. [BI]
The Olympics are over. Athletes have been crowned. GIFs have been made. And World records have been broken. In four years, we’ll do the same thing all over again. And world records will continue to be broken. How is that possible? How do Olympic athletes keep getting better and keep breaking records? Will it ever…
We at Gizmodo do our very best to weed out the fakes and hoaxes from the real deal. Most of the time, we’re right, and we can pat ourselves on the shoulder and move onward. But what about the story of the hoax itself? Last week, an image was floated around of what someone on…
The Pig Farmer – Nick Cross Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand fast! Latin America Is Redefining Terms of the Drug War America’s War on Drugs has, by most independent measures, been an utter clusterfuck since its inception in the 1970s. You can still by cocaine more easily than…
Maybe you compose dirty prose. Maybe you snap nude shots to send to your crush. Maybe you have a few faves you keep on hand in the event that a dirty pic is needed ASAP. Maybe you do all of the above—or maybe you do none of it. Do you sext? And if yes, in…
After claiming the kill of an attack helicopter a few days ago, Syrian rebel forces have posted this video showing a MiG-23 being shot down over Al Muhassan, a small town near Dayr az-Zawr, 280 miles northeast of the capital Damascus and west of the country’s Iraqi border. The state media is claiming the plane…
Laptops gets stolen, hard drives fail, and thumb drives disapparate with unrelenting regularity. But with the Kisai Upload, you can keep your most precious power point presentations (read: porn) safely strapped to your wrist. The Upload is Tokyo Flash’s latest user-submitted design offering. It features a low-angle, tilt-to-read LCD screen that’s surprisingly easy to decipher…
It still might be scorching hot but winter is coming (I swear) and you’re soon going to swap out shorts and flip flops for jackets and boots. Burton is showing off its latest gear for the snowboarding season and it’s heavy on the technology to make it easier on the slopes. Burton is bringing more…
In the future we may no longer need knives in the kitchen, at least not food prep knives. That is the idea behind the “Innnovative Laser Device for Cutting of Foodstuff”—entered by a Russian design student into this year’s James Dyson Award competition for problem-solving inventions. The ball-like device, which is still in its early…
This is what happens when a US Navy guided-missile destroyer collides with a Japanese oil tanker. Or gets attacked by Godzilla. It can happen either way. The steel hull just turns into crumpled paper. The Navy hasn’t released any explanation of the accident yet. No injuries were registered in the incident, which happened at night,…