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So your favorite little startup just got bought out by an Internet behemoth. We’ve played this game before! It usually doesn’t turn out too well for anyone without a financial stake in the deal. Which is to say: you. https://gizmodo.com/facebooks-buying-instagram-for-a-billion-dollars-5900352 When small startups with passionate user bases are absorbed by larger companies—think Flickr, Blogger, Brizzly,…
Launched in September 2010 by Harvard Business School pals Katie Beauchamp and Hayley Barna, Birchbox is the mystery-box subscription service that for $10/month sends a box containing jumbo-size new and novel cosmetics samples to each of its 100k subscribers. So far, Birchbox has been essentially ladies-only. The boxes, made of recycled materiels and embossed with…
This man looks like he’s magically floating in the air, standing on some sort of elevated invisible ground above Manhattan. How does he manage to do this? Does he have special powers? Is it magic? Can he teach us how to do it too? The man is actually longtime performance artist Johan Lorbeer who is…
As AOL, in the equivalent of selling sperm to pay the cable bill, offloaded a billion dollar’s worth of patents to Microsoft, something strange happened: the latter became the owner of Netscape. Remember Netscape? The browser. From 1994. A steal! https://gizmodo.com/desperate-aol-sells-800-patents-to-microsoft-for-1-bil-5900244 AllThingsD’s Peter Kafka was clued in to the acquisition, which is particularly fun given…
Today’s high-resolution displays mean we don’t see pixelated images that often anymore. And let’s face it, once the colored pencil enters your life, you rarely pick up a crayon ever again. Except for nostalgia’s sake, which these pixelated crayons have in spades. For $15 you get a set of six multi-colored crayons which can be…
Did you know that whale vomit is often used in perfumes to prolong the scent? Sperm whales produce a waxy substance known as ambergris which protects their stomach lining. And when regurgitated into the sea, it reacts with salt water forming the hard substance which can sell for as much as ten grand for just…
Nothing says class and modern charm like building speakers into furniture, and the UK Sound Sofa by CSL isn’t going to miss this trend-wave. For just $1,500, you can own (and nap on!) the world’s worst idea. Fifteen hundred bucks is sort of bizarrely cheap for a giant sofa—which means it’s probably a shitty thing…
You’ve seen the reports that individuals with a lower economic and social status suffer from poor health more often than folks in higher tax brackets. Now, thanks to a multi-year study of rhesus macaques monkeys, researchers have found genetic changes caused by stressful environments are likely contributing to that poor health. On the bright side,…
I don’t like the winter. It’s cold. Granted, the past 12 months have barely broken into winter-like conditions. El Nino, global warming, and changing weather patterns or something. Weather patterns? That’s Extreme Weather to you. You get a little snow in July and lose your minds, but sunny and 80’F in January and you’re out…
Machines that create art have caught people’s imagination throughout history. So it’s only natural that one day a machine would exist to draw those very machines. Friends, that day has come. Art and design researcher Pablo Garcia has programmed a computer numerical control (CNC) machine to reproduce 12 historical drawings of drawing machines from the…
Clearly designed for Julia Child-types who prefer a modern twist on classic French cooking, La Cornue’s W stovetop, designed by architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, looks like it was yanked from a quaint turn-of-the-century farmhouse in the French countryside. But you won’t need to power it with a roaring fire or even hot coals. Its smooth glass…
So Facebook’s buying Instagram. That might not be such a bad thing, but if you’re one of those who can’t stand any Facebook in her Instagram Cheerios, there’s a solution. Instaport.Me will let you export all your photos right now, to wherever you want. https://gizmodo.com/facebooks-buying-instagram-for-a-billion-dollars-5900352 The service is incredibly easy: All you do is go…
Casey Neistat, filmmaker and awesome liver of life, set off on a worldwide trek that blazed through New York, Paris, Rome, Johannesburg, Egypt, Thailand, Japan and more in just 10 days. It’s like a spin around the world in fast forward. Much like the guys who went on the epic 44-day, 1-minute worldwide trip, Neistat…
Mark Zuckerburg just announced that Facebook has agreed to buy mega-popular photo sharing service Instagram for $1 billion. Facebook’s been on a buying spree of late, and has been beefing up its own already-ubiquitous photo sharing service lately as well. But it looks like it just landed a whale. https://gizmodo.com/facebooks-huge-new-photo-viewer-is-its-best-ever-5883095 Facebook is already one of…
Yamaha’s home theaters and soundbars have always been excellent—even before you consider that they offer great value for the money. The newly refreshed $850 YHT-897 home theater in a box might make it one of the best deals out there right now. The YHT-897 introduces two new features to Yamaha’s top-end home theater system: AirPlay…
In a horrifying real life cross between Happy Gilmore and a Bon Jovi song, a New Jersey man accidentally shot himself in the heart with a 4-inch nail while trying to un-jam a nail gun. Somehow, he survived. 52-year-old Dennis Hennis, whose parents were obviously jerks, shot himself in the chest with a nail gun…
Remember Rose, the cute little 2-year-old whose favorite toy last year was a set of periodic table of elements flashcards? Well, now she’s three, she’s learned to sing, and she’s still all about the elements. https://gizmodo.com/this-2-year-old-girl-knows-the-elements-better-than-i-d-5751874 Does she pronounce all the elements perfectly? Of course not. She’s only three; she’s still barely able to support…
AT&T is now unlocking iPhones, which is awesome, but also a hassle if you don’t live near an AT&T store. So here’s a quick how-to on unlocking your phone without ever leaving your house. https://gizmodo.com/at-t-will-unlock-off-contract-iphones-starting-sunday-5899826 Are You Qualified? You need to meet three criteria to qualify to unlock your phone: Your account can’t be in…
Google’s Project Glass glasses aren’t available yet but the idea is undoubtedly exciting and could very well be the future. But until we actually get to wear them, we have no idea what they’ll be like. Hopefully, they won’t be as hilariously awful and physically harmful as these Google Glasses parody videos. Or actually… hopefully…
Apple costs over $600 a share, and has nearly an unfathomable $100 billion in cash lying around. So is it any wonder its CEO is paid more than the national wealth of a small island nation? Bloomberg reports “Tim Cook was the highest-paid chief executive officer in the U.S. last year,” comprised of a modest…
