Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
The iron-fisted crackdown against Syrian rebels (and civilians) has attracted the vandalizing ire of Anonymous, who’ve defaced the government’s Ministry of Defense site. A superficial hack, but a sign that the collective’s got their eye on the country’s bloodshed. The post-hack site, which I’m unable to load at the moment from New York, displayed a…
The request line is open on bald t-shirted madman Joerg Sprave’s Slingshot Channel, and apparently the one thing you’ve wanted to see more of is razor-sharp blades slicing through frozen chunks of meat. Thank god. It’s mostly a victor tour for our favorite vaguely European death carpenter, a welcome review of some greatest hits (slingshot…
You’ve got to admire the audacity of the Chinese hucksters who were illegally importing iPads and iPhones across the border from Hong Kong, by way of a rope-and-pulley system, triggered by a crossbow and desire to make some cash. The Chinese news report of the sting operation, below, shows the flying fox-style cable that crossed…
Instead of using the porch area of your tent to house your rucksack and cooking equipment, Redverz Gear tailored this section to fit motorbikes so riders can avoid theft, rain, sandstorms or just bears pissing on the exhaust pipe overnight. Still capable of sleeping three people plus a bike, the Redverz Tenere Expedition tent costs…
They call it the “ancient Australian art of genital origami,” and considering the country’s youth I suppose the Melbourne comedy-circuit duo’s 13-year-history is a fair claim. But disregarding all that, the beginner and expert-level apps are chockablock with dick tricks. The apps obviously contain a fair bit of nudity, but if you’re serious about upping…
Those Ruskis sure are a classy lot, aren’t they? They’ve just gone and set a new Guinness Book of World Records record for the biggest-ever champagne glass. Measuring 1.5m high, it was filled with bubbly from 75 bottles. Hic! [EnglishRussia]
Apple failed to introduce a new educational discount for iPads, but that doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten about students altogether. 9to5Mac has heard that a new, more affordable iMac aimed at students will be released this month, maybe on August 16th. https://gizmodo.com/rumor-apple-to-discount-ipads-by-200-for-students-5806282 According to their sources, it’ll be a basic machine with a 3.1GHz dual-core processor…
Otherwise known as “Guess the Movie/TV Show This MS Paint Logo Appeared In,” the Fauxgo Tumblr will test your memory and your design-appreciation skills all at once. How bad was the Slusho logo, for instance? [Fauxgo via Tymn via SwissMiss]
A Pwnie award was given to Sony at last week’s Black Hat computer security conference’s Pwnie Awards, which looks at the past year’s hacking efforts and awards them with My Little Pony trophies. Sony’s major security breach from earlier in the year was the only hacking incident to be nominated for the top prize. https://gizmodo.com/sony-will-have-psn-up-and-running-with-a-week-5796528…
There weren’t many color photographs taken in World War 2, but there were a few, and In Focus has a nice look at a selected few with this week’s edition of their weekly tribute to that global conflict. While many of the shots were staged, In Focus’s Alan Taylor notes these people and their jobs…
Robot buses at Heathrow. Robot haulers deployed to Afghanistan. Is the Isaac Asimov estate getting kickbacks for all the future that’s happening this weekend or what? https://gizmodo.com/alien-looking-automatons-have-taken-over-heathrow-airpo-5828465 This latest robo-development involves the U.S. Army’s deployment of four Lockheed Martin Squad Mission Support Systems to war-torn Afganistan. As the largest robot transports ever deployed in Army…
Here’s pretty much all I know about Scott Adams: Sometimes he says (or does) wacky things. Most of the time he draws funny comics about a luckless office drone named Dilbert. I can relate! But not today. https://jezebel.com/dilbert-creator-deletes-misogynist-rant-5786019 Today, Adams is on the soap box again, penning his way into the public discourse with a…
There are all sorts of goodies coming out of the iCloud developer build that arrived this weekend, the first being news that MobileMe customers transitioning to the service will receive 25GB of storage space once the service launches. Says Mac Rumors, Apple has confirmed MobileMe users will automatically get this upgrade, which is comprised of…
We love design at Gizmodo. It’s one of our things. But what happens when design doesn’t love us back, comes alive one night (I dunno, because of the debt ceiling or something) and decides to strangle us in our sleep? That could never happen? OK, fine. I guess maybe you’re right. Maybe. Anyway, eight hands…
Thanks to the quirky chaps at Yanko, the humble duster—that feathery thing you never use over in the storage closet right now—has received a conceptual makeover involving static electricity called the Du.Static. The name is a combination of dust (yuck!) and static (yay!). Static, as in static electricity, which is what designers say can be…
Patents aren’t the only malady affecting Android this weekend—a newly discovered “design flaw” could potentially allow malicious hackers to create pop-ups or other phishing schemes right on your device. https://gizmodo.com/brash-android-email-duo-could-prove-very-costly-for-goo-5828457 As reported by CNET from the DefCon conference, the Android flaw was revealed by researchers Sean Schulte, SSL developer at Trustwave, and Nicholas Percoco, senior…
Having trouble reaching your Verizon telephone contact today? Could be because he or she, along with 45,000 other workers, went on strike at midnight following failed 11th-hour contract negotiations. Verizon claims customers will only experience “limited disruption” due to the strike because manager-level employees and retirees are quickly filling the just-vacated union ranks. The company…
These happy-looking automatons are currently jetting passengers around Heathrow airport without any supervision at a 25 mph clip. Man, when did the future happen? I totally missed it. Created by BAA, these Ultra PRTs whiz around Heathrow’s business parking lots independent of human intervention and have yet to experience what we call “an accident.” Breakdowns…
Let’s go “corpsing,” shall we? You know, corpsing? As in let’s create a prop corpse for movie, Halloween or maybe even for nefarious pranking purposes? Usually this is expensive, but Propnomicon shows us how to make one on the cheap. All one needs is some plastic drop cloth, a $30 plastic skeleton and some basic…
Laptop manufacturers better hope the Samsung Series 9 and Asus UX21 and UX31 live up to the ultraportable hype, because the numbers say Apple is set to dominate the “light laptop” space just as they’ve done with tablets. [CNET]