Tech News

15 Current Technologies We’ll Still Be Using in 2030

Back when I was growing up in the 1970s, we fully expected that, by 2012, we’d all be driving flying cars to our condos on the moon where robotic butlers awaited, ready to bring us the cure for cancer from the bathroom first-aid kit. How’s all of that working out? Sure, we now have faster,…

This Mars Rover Play Set Is Your Explore-Mars-Yourself Deal of the Day

When NASA goes to Mars, they really. Go. To. Mars. NASA has pulled out all the stops for the Curiosity Rover’s recent decent to the surface. They aired the landing at Times Square and had William Shatner voice a promo video. They got Gizmodo reporters covering the landing live, and the coverage hasn’t stopped yet.…

First Color 360-Degree Panorama Sent By Curiosity Rover Shows No Sailors Fighting In the Dance Hall

Curiosity’s day 3 on the Gale Crater, Mars. All systems are running as expected. There is no sign of sailors fighting in the dance hall, cavemen or any freaky show, and here’s the first natural 360-degree color panorama image to prove it. It’s a clear day on Mars. You can see Mount Sharp ahead of…

Leather Strap Packing Tape Really Classes Up Your Moving Day

Even though you might have to salvage the boxes from your local grocery store, and they’ll probably be emblazoned with Rice-A-Roni and Chiquita Banana logos, you can still ensure the next time you move is a classy affair with these upscale rolls of fake leather strap packing tape. Swanky. Each 98-foot roll is printed with…

Powdered Beer and Soda Makes Roughing It Not So Rough

Contraptions like the SodaStream let you mix up your own carbonated beverages at home, but the devices are far from portable. And carrying a six-pack or bottle of soda when camping is extra weight you don’t need. Thankfully an enterprising gent named Pat has created a powdered beer and soda alternative that can be hydrated…

A Perfume-Spraying Phone Is Definitely How Samsung Can Out-Innovate Apple

Apple is convinced that Samsung are just a bunch of shameless copycats, but as this patent shows, Samsung went and conjured up an innovation Apple didn’t have the foresight to do themselves: make a phone that sprays perfume. Yes, perfume. When the scentphone market blows up in 2020, it’ll be Apple having to defend itself…

Meet the big brain at Google who may just have invented the internet as we know it. OH, JUST THAT? [Wired]

Architectural Building Blocks For Aspiring Frank Lloyd Wrights

Your typical set of building blocks can be used to create castles, forts, cabins, and an unlimited number of structures that require a healthy dose of imagination to identify. But ArchiBlox come in a wide array of shapes and sizes that let aspiring builders construct true architectural masterpieces that are instantly recognizable. Like with Lego,…

11 Hours of Hell: The Time I Was a Steve Jobs Movie Extra

The night before I’m supposed to pose as an extra in Jobs, the first biopic to begin filming in the wake of Apple icon Steve Jobs’ untimely 2011 death, I stay out until 2 in the morning. When I order a big bottle of Spanish cider at 1:15, five hours before my alarm is set…

A 500-pound Model Plane Tests the Next Generation of Aircraft Design

While the design has yet to catch on with civilian air travelers (focus groups hate amphitheater-style seating), Blended Wing Body aircraft hold great promise for military operations. To better study this innovative design without sinking untold extra millions into R&D, NASA built the next best thing—a 1:8.5 scale RC demonstrator. The X-48B isn’t a run…

A Rotating Adapter Head Might Just Make This USB Ribbon Cable Worth It

We recently reviewed AViiQ’s line of ribbon-style USB adapter cables, but found that what made them most unique—their flat cable design—also made them difficult to use. So we couldn’t recommend the cables, but maybe the convenience of this new triple-headed all-in-one design might make this cable worth carrying. https://gizmodo.com/aviiq-ready-clips-usb-cables-review-stylish-but-stiff-5932627 It features the exact same flat…

How Craig Newmark Went from Craigslist Creator to Internet Do-Gooder

Craigstlist: it’s the place we find apartments, pets, and love connections. Started by its namesake, Craig Newmark, in 1995 as an emailed newsletter circulated among friends, it’s grown to become the proxy classifieds page for people all over the world. Craig isn’t running things there anymore, but he’s still very much involved in the company.…

The Inside Story on How NASA Invented Curiosity’s Insane Landing System

Adam Steltzner spent nine years working to turn seven minutes of terror into NASA’s finest hour since the landing of Apollo 11 on the Sea of Tranquility. His is a fascinating insider’s view of one of the most amazing space exploration feats in the history of humankind. https://gizmodo.com/why-nasas-mars-curiosity-rover-landing-will-be-seven-mi-5920588 And here he tells you how, when,…

Is This the Worst Gadget of the Year So Far?

There’s still over four and a half months left in 2012, but Brando’s new Retro Mobile MP3 Player could very well have already clinched the title of the year’s worst gadget. It’s a crappy AM/FM radio and MP3 player whose only redeeming feature is that it’s shaped like a retro cellphone. But of course that’s…

A Tiny Keychain Tripod You’ll Always Have On Hand

Just like a camera, the best tripod is the one you have with you. There’s no point in spending hundreds of dollars on a carbon fiber set of sticks if they’re inconvenient to carry. So the tiny Tiltpod Mobile is designed to attach to your keys, ensuring it’s always close at hand—or at least somewhere…

Find That Elusive Empty Taxi With This Handy GPS App

Standing on a street corner and trying to flag down hundreds of already occupied yellow cabs is a rite of passage in New York. ZabKab wants to increase the odds you’ll actually nab one by turning your phone into a homing beacon for free taxis nearby. Think of it as Uber for metered cabs. When…

Water May Not Be So Important for Life After All

Common knowledge suggests that water is the most important molecule required for life to survive. But new research shows that proteins that usually contain it can function perfectly well without it—throwing into question the perceived wisdom that water is so vital. A team of researchers from the Institute for Structural Biology in Grenoble, France, took…

Google Translate for Android Can Read Pictures in Foreign Languages Now

Google Translate just got Word Lens, basically. The new feature in the latest update of the Google Translate app lets you take a picture in-app, and highlight text you want translated from one language into another. It’s pretty cool. https://gizmodo.com/incredible-world-translating-app-word-lens-is-finally-o-5923981 The translation is different from Word Lens in that it’s not live AR translation. You…

Samsung: We’re Not Interested in Buying RIM, or BlackBerry Licenses

On the heels of last week’s news suggesting that RIM was planning to license out its new operating system, BB10, Samsung has firmly denied any desires to become involved with RIM. https://gizmodo.com/rim-planning-to-license-bb10-to-other-manufacturers-5931161 Reuters is reporting that Samsung has told it outright that it “has not considered acquiring Research In Motion or licensing the… new mobile…

Digital DJs Can Say Goodbye to Wires Forever

Unless you’re incredibly organized, it’s highly likely that you have different music tracks dotted around different devices, which can turn digital DJing from a celebration of music to a mess of jumbled cables quicker than you can shout “tune”. Pioneer’s new digital decks, however, swap wires for Wi-Fi. The new XDJ-AERO, you see, can suck…