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Every third Thursday of the month California-based Signal Snowboards likes to experiment with unique board designs that push the boundaries of form and function. And this time around it created a snowboard with inflatable inner tubes like a bike tire. While a snowboard that inflated like a balloon would certainly be easier to travel with,…
Freedom of speech is a fundamental part of American culture. A lot of Americans, or protestors in other countries, would stare down the barrel of a gun to defend it. Unless that gun happens to be this insane SpeechJammer device that renders you incapable of forming coherent sentences. The SpeechJammer, developed at the National Institute…
Because Florida is running out of unique ways to embarrass itself, a 26-year old meth enthusiast set fire to and destroyed the world’s fifth oldest tree last month. While she was in it. Smoking meth. Sarah Barnes had climbed the tree to smoke, because where better to get high than in the branches of a…
Sprinkles is the Beverly Hills-based cupcake shop that’s credited with re-kindling the trend that’s sweeping America’s waistlines. And it will soon make it even easier to get your miniature cake fix—at all hours of the day—with an automated ATM. The store has officially announced they’re opening what they call the “world’s first cupcake automat” that…
Even though HTC makes some admirable phones, there has long been one common complaint about its handsets: Sense. The UI, that the company insists on plastering over the Android OS, is bloated, slow and a pain in the ass. Turns out HTC agrees, and it’s changing it. https://gizmodo.com/will-the-htc-ville-be-the-first-phone-to-screw-up-ice-c-5857886 Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in…
Remember the defendant in that fraud case who claimed to have forgotten the password for her encrypted laptop? Well, the Feds have gone ahead and cracked it right open, without her permission. https://gizmodo.com/defendant-ordered-to-decrypt-hard-drive-says-she-forgot-5882811 The move ends what has been a lengthy legal battle, and makes a judge’s order that the defendant unlock the laptop herself…
Kim Dotcom may be many things—international playboy, car collector, ladies man—but as far as he’s concerned, a pirate he is not. In his eyes, he’s simply a man who offered a storage solution. https://gizmodo.com/this-is-what-the-megaupload-million-dollar-car-seize-lo-5877807/ Released on bail last week, Dotcom has wasted no time in talking to the media. He has a bit of a…
If there’s one thing the nerd community hates, it’s locked bootloaders. They make installing custom ROMs or second operating systems impossible, and that’s just not cool. But when it comes to phones, we have carriers to thank for restrictions, not just OEMs. Over at Droid Life, a reader has submitted a letter they received from…
If you spend a lot of time in Photoshop, chances are you use—or would benefit from—a tablet instead of a mouse. Wacom’s offerings tend to be some of the best, and their new Intuos5 range seems no exception. The new Intuos5 tablets come with multitouch gesture support and “Express View” head-up display software, alongside a…
Some people are so stupid they deserve to be arrested. Like an accused bank robber from Atlanta, Georgia, whose failed bank robbery saw him head out to his getaway taxi—only to realize he didn’t have any money for the fare and return to the bank to take out some cash. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “According…
China’s new fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) could reportedly find use as an autonomous, ship-launched defense against submarines. And, according to a paper published in the journal Advanced Materials Research, the UAV’s will use genetic algorithms to spot the subs faster. A genetic algorithm is one that works much like natural evolution. It narrows…
As Japan continues to rebuild after last year’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, one company has developed an ingenious new method to protect homes from the shaking—let them ride it out on a cushion of air. The method, developed by Air Danshin Systems Inc., is radically different than conventionally employed dampers and band isolation systems. When…
The National Security Agency, America’s eyes and ears, constantly deals with highly-sensitive data. Problem is, discussing that data over unprotected airwaves represents a huge security risk, often requiring agents to communicate in code. That’s why the Agency has developed its own super-secure Android handset. Dubbed the “Fishbowl,” these devices make fully-encrypted calls that are secure…
Spending an afternoon drinking in the alley with your favorite neighbors is all well and good, but around the 8th bottle of Alamo things might get hazy. The Intoxicase for iPhone not only tracks how many man sodas you’ve consumed, it will even crack you open a freshie as well. The Intoxicase is a two…
If you asked the 6-year-old me to think of the single awesomest activity possible, I would have have answered, trike drifting (I was huge into Big Wheels). And, after watching this video, my 30-year-old self is still inclined to agree. From the crew that brought us the most epic of rope swings, this montage of…
Even though you’re only shooting with the crappy camera built into your smartphone, Photoshop CS6’s new Blur Gallery will easily make it look like your shots came from an expensive DSLR. Properly faking a shallow depth of field usually involves creating and strategically masking multiple layers with various levels of blur on each of them.…
When an earthquake ravaged Fukushima and terrified all of Japan, the entire country had one reaction: is everyone OK? And if you knew someone in an afflicted area, you might’ve been thinking, is my husband okay? Now Facebook will tell you. Facebook’s new Disaster (currently in trial for Japan only) feature is so simple and…
The New York Times’ Facebook Timeline goes all the way back to 1851, and it’s filled with some choice photos and milestones from the paper’s history. It also tells the story of how technology changed the business of keeping you informed. Newspapers have changed a ton since the Times was founded in 1851, and it’s…
Autocorrect has been behind more than its share of misunderstandings, but today it stirred up a whole heap of trouble, even by its sketchy standards. Some poor college student’s phone corrected “gunna” to “gunman” and got a school put into lockdown by the police. At West Hall High and Middle schools in Gainesville, GA, the…
Are you tired of going all Zapruder on every piece of Apple minutiae and discussing it in public forums? Now you can put your money where your mouth is. Then, take the money out of there and make a bet. https://gizmodo.com/this-is-the-ipad-3-hiding-in-plain-sight-5888989 Will the iPad 3 have a Retina Display? If you say yes, that’s one…
