Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Like Amazon, Opera wants to build a more efficient web browser for Android than what is offered by Google. According to Cnet, they’re calling it Opera with Turbo. Inelegant as the name may sound, the idea behind it is anything but. https://gizmodo.com/what-is-amazon-silk-5844663 Referred to as a hybrid browser, It is the marriage of Opera’s Mobile…
We’ve seen this bizarre dual-screen, split-keyboard Android phone once or twice before, but we just got some more specs. It’s a whole lot of crazy and weird packed into a single phone. https://gizmodo.com/what-is-this-crazy-dual-screen-split-keyboard-android-5828651 We thought this guy might be called the LG Flip II, but it’s looking like DoublePlay may be the name that sticks.…
Instapaper, the cure for having a hundred tabs open in your browser, just got a huge 4.0 update featuring better social integration, a new search service and a sleek new look. The biggest addition to the app is the new server-side search service, which for $1 a month allows you to search the entirety of…
It’s easy to avoid pushy sales clerks when shopping for new threads. So a department store in Japan now uses inescapable RFID-equipped clothing hangers that try to sell you other products and accessories when you take a garment off a rack. The system was developed by Teamlab and is now used by Vanquish in one…
Modern haunted houses don’t feature rubber bats and bowls full of peeled grapes masquerading as eyeballs, they screw with your phobias and recreate nightmares. I thought that going through with a thermal cam would be less unnerving. Wrongo. The good people at Blackout Haunted House NYC were willing to let me test this little theory.…
SquareTrade really likes breaking new things. And true to form, they’ve gone and abused not only the new iPhone 4S, but also Samsung’s Galaxy S II. But which one proved more durable? Guess. https://gizmodo.com/heres-what-happens-when-you-hit-a-smart-covered-ipad-2-5805090 The iPhone 4 has never been lauded for the durability of its glass panels. The iPhone 4S is no different. While…
We’ve lamented that handheld projectors aren’t quite worth toting around just yet. But that could soon change if Disney’s research wing manages to get their SideBySide interactive projectors past the prototype stage. https://gizmodo.com/the-worlds-brightest-pico-projector-still-isnt-bright-e-5850137 Users point their specially modified and enhanced handheld projector at a flat surface and their projections, whether they be a video game…
You’re about to have one less excuse for ringing up a preposterous cell phone bill. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile have agreed to a voluntary industry standard to send alerts to customers who are about to go over their voice, text, or data plans, or who enter international roaming zones. http://gizmodo.com/5715034/att-mum-on-soldiers-16000-cell-phone-bill The “voluntary” in voluntary…
You ready with your grains of salt? Good, because a supposedly leaked document from Verizon has pegged the much-anticipated Galaxy Nexus to launch on November 10th. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it’ll run you 300 bones. The Galaxy Nexus has been the most eagerly await phone next to the iPhone 4S.…
Remember how bummed everyone was about The New iPhone being a 4S and not a 5? Well they must not have been that upset: Apple just sold an impossible four million in three days—double the iPhone 4’s record. These are extraordinary numbers, especially given that the phone’s not even fully rolled-out: you can only buy…
Quixotic patent commando Samsung continues its doomed crusade against Apple, pushing for more national bans against the sale of the iPhone 4S. This time? Japan and Australia, where Sammy’s lawyers say Apple’s stealing mobile tech. This is getting sad. https://gizmodo.com/samsung-already-trying-to-ban-the-iphone-5-5841630 According to the WSJ and FOSS Patents, Samsung’s crying foul over Apple’s elements of 3G…
Business Insider heard from an indie record label-owner that Google’s download store will be available this quarter, with the big name labels launching their wares first, followed by the indies thereafter. [BI via Gizmodo UK; Image Credit: Shutterstock] Our newest offspring Gizmodo UK is gobbling up the news in a different timezone, so check them…
A smaller, touchscreen-only and therefore hopefully cheaper BlackBerry Curve Touch is on the way, with RIM telling its app developers to prepare for a modest 3.2″ touch-only BlackBerry. It most definitely won’t look like the Torch then (pictured). https://gizmodo.com/blackberry-torch-review-5604747 According to BlackBerry’s own developer site, the Curve Touch 9380 will run its touchscreen at a…
BlackBerry maker RIM has announced it’s giving away a stack of apps and games to its users over the next few months, as a combined apology and peace-offering to those who suffered during last week’s “BlackBerry Jam” network failures. The company is making a decent number of apps and games free on its BlackBerry App…
Comic Con NY is wrapping up this weekend and it’s mostly a nerdfest shit show with the occasional girl dressed in cosplay, creeps who don’t know they’re being creepy creeping and the same people over and over again. Here’s 15 people you’ll see at Comic Con: I feel like they’re missing some. Speak up in…
There’s something going on with Occupy Wall Street—good, bad, monumental, anarchy, I don’t know—but there is a clear disparity between the 1% and the 99% and the voice of the 99% is slowly ringing louder. Here’s one way to get the 1% to pay even more attention: taint their money. Occupy George is a movement…
Sesame Street’s YouTube was hacked earlier today by people who replaced Muppet clips with graphic porn. It apparently took Google more than 20 minutes to react to the hack, which means porn was floating around on the iconic children’s TV show channel. PBS and Google haven’t said anything but according to CNN, a message posted…
It’s not quite Minority Report but Santa Cruz police are field testing a new crime prediction program that’ll help stop crime before they even happen. It doesn’t predict exactly who will commit the crime but will try and predict where crimes will happen. It’s pretty smart, the program, designed by George Mohler at Santa Clara…
Photographer Jan von Holleben came up with a clever way to re-create his famous “Dreams of Flying” series by photographing a girl sleeping on her bed and having the girl’s dreams fully displayed around her. I love it. The whole series represents one girl’s full night’s worth of dreams, there’s her sleeping on couds, her…
The Situation, from the MTV hit freak show Jersey Shore, was apparently trying to get an iPhone 4S from the Apple Store but got kicked out instead. Was the fake tan and hair gel combo smell unbearable? Nope! Sitch foolishly tried to cut the line. When an Apple Store employee saw Mike up to no…