Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
In this age of GPS signals, Foursquare check-ins, and iPhone tracking, how did America’s most-wanted man, Osama bin Laden, stay hidden for almost a decade? A better question would ask how he was found, for that is the reason the world is rejoicing today. https://gizmodo.com/why-your-iphone-is-secretly-tracking-you-a-very-probab-5794457 Despite hiding in plain sight of a police station and…
How does someone unknowingly live-tweet the biggest news story of the weekend (sorry royal wedding), if not the decade? @ReallyVirtual knows. The IT consultant was just “taking a break from the rat-race by hiding in the mountains with his laptops,” when he heard a helicopter, then a “huge window shaking bang,” and then the helicopter…
Osama bin Laden’s dead. But before we offed him, he was camped out in a Pakistani mansion—and in typical internet fashion, it’s already pinpointed on Google. The mapper’s anonymous, but they reveal strange things—police station neighbors? https://jalopnik.com/confirmed-osama-bin-laden-is-dead-5797528 Head here for a look at the compound after the raid. [The Atlantic] https://gizmodo.com/inside-osamas-kill-site-5797645 To check out our…
Kids are texting so much it’s literally affecting their health; the President’s secret iPad may or may not have a receipt; and today we learned over at the New York Times that families are too busy staring at screens to give a shit about family anymore. Are we beyond hope? https://gizmodo.com/todays-texting-teenagers-are-ridiculous-5786122 Possibly. Ladies and gents,…
While the Boy Scouts might have their ballyhooed robotics badge, it is actually the Girl Scouts who struck first in this pee-wee tech war with a working prosthetic hand that has helped a 3-year-old Iowa girl write with her fingerless hand. https://gizmodo.com/boy-scouts-of-america-dip-toe-into-robotics-with-latest-5790555 Developed by the Flying Monkeys, an Iowa Girl Scouts troop comprised of 11-…
This menacing, industrial case from LTD Tools isn’t cheap, but there’s really no point in arguing over whether or not it will protect the iPad contained within form a simple fall. Or a baseball bat. Or… Made from powder coated aluminum, this transforming mega case will cost you $140, but that includes a built-in stand…
Kendall Station, the MIT stop here in Massachusetts, was once home to this musical, interactive art piece called the “Kendall Band.” Now, thanks to students at MIT, the music rings again as part of the university’s 150th anniversary. Over the past few months, members of the MIT Kendall Band Preservation Society actually disassembled the sculpture…
So a lack of athletic talent has led you to compensate by desiring “stripes” in your lawn. No big deal! Just pick up this relatively inexpensive striping kit from Toro and go to town on that grass. You won’t be playing at Fenway anytime soon, of course, but who cares? You’ll have geometric shapes in…
When I become an incredibly rich technology magnate, perhaps next year, I will craft my palace as Henry Clay Frick did in 1913. There will be bowling. My staff will have their own diner. And the secrets will be many. In the little montage I’ve assembled above you catch glimpses of the aforementioned bowling alley…
Voila! UPenn’s super-sophisticated uber-bike. Five kids. Substantial funding and sponsorship dollars. Free reign to eliminate clunks gears and cables. It’s called Alpha. But what makes it so special, exactly? For one thing, the drive train is completely enclosed within the bike’s frame. There’s a three-speed electric gearbox contained within the central hub, which is controlled…
So the white iPhone 4 is a bit bigger in the trunk than its black-encased brother. No big deal, really, unless you’re trying to swap cases between the two. Inside, however, we’re learning there’s even more to this peculiar story. https://gizmodo.com/white-iphone-4-possibly-fat-and-definitely-cursed-5796820 As discovered during one of the inevitable tear-downs that any popular electronic device receives…
Ambitious Florida-based Oppenheim Architecture + Design have quite the design in mind for a resort in Wadi Rum, Jordan. Modeled after the mountain city of Petra, the design would see 47 lodges carved into the side of a sandstone mountain. 80,000 square feet of desert luxury. The design calls for many “green” features, including wastewater…
Theo Jansen’s amazing-yet-slightly-haunting Strandbeests are something we’ve featured here before, but that was usually the work of someone else, and you would have to observe. Now, courtesy his partnering up with Shapeways, you can create your own. https://gizmodo.com/theophile-lego-technic-walking-machine-slowly-inevit-5049583 Shaepways, if you didn’t know, is a 3D printing press, and now Jansen will sell you miniature…
The dwindling iMac stock we talked about earlier in the week does in fact appear to be related to a refresh, as further reports all but indicate a change is coming—and could arrive as early as next week. https://gizmodo.com/apple-delaying-imac-orders-imac-update-coming-soon-5795444 The refresh is allegedly internal, with Intel’s latest Core processor line, called Sandy Bridge, set to…
Will there be a Castle in the iCloud when Mac OS X 10.7 Lion arrives? New screens suggest there could be, although what’s contained in this strange feature remains very much a mystery. The feature (or platform, or…?) was discovered by French blog Consomac, which had stumbled across the reference to a “Castle” while digging…
If you haven’t completely abandoned the PlayStation Network for good following the massive data breach and leak of user information that’s slowly, painfully come to light over the past couple of weeks, take note of this story! https://kotaku.com/sony-playstation-network-will-return-this-week-5797412 Late last night, you see, at about 1 a.m. EST, Sony’s Kaz Hirai took the stage in…
I remember hating it when Clippy popped up for no good reason while working. Now, even after Microsoft officially put him to rest, he’s doing it again. Only this time it’s in game form. Which is marginally better, I suppose? Microsoft is having the much-maligned cartoon paperclip star in his own game, Ribbon Hero 2:…
Organic! Local! Grass-fed! Fanned with palm fronds! All those terms used to describe food usually mean diddly squat to me because I’m a simpleton eater. If it tastes good, it is good. But athletes—people who need to care about their body—are starting to get into eating grass-fed beef craze because of the health benefits. The…
The Spalding Building in Portland, Oregon is a historic office building that has one of the coolest parking spots for bicycles: an old school bank vault complete with a 16,000 pound door. I’d feel pretty good about putting my bike there. But sadly, because of the size (and probably the liability) of the door, it…
A 91-year old Grandma is selling $60 suicide kits over the Internet. The kit is rather basic actually, it’s a large plastic bag with an elastic band opening and a slot for a plastic tube to be inserted. The tube is supposed to be connected to a helium tank and then pumped into the bag.…
