Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
The recent Taliban prison escape was undeniably crafty. But especially noteworthy was the creation of the 320+ meter tunnel without power tools, which would have been too noisy. Here are six other great escapes, and the gear that made them possible. https://gizmodo.com/500-taliban-prisoners-just-escaped-through-a-long-under-5795362 Alcatraz Federal Prison, San Francisco, 1962 The most famous escape attempt from Alcatraz…
We’ve been thinking a lot today about moving earth to make pathways. Tunnels. What if you’re not talking about thin, dirt tubes to move humans, though, but holes so big entire industries can flow through them? This is the world’s largest tunnel boring machine: an Earth Pressure Balance (EPB) Shield developed by Herrenknecht AG. https://gizmodo.com/500-taliban-prisoners-just-escaped-through-a-long-under-5795362…
South Park’s 15th season is kicking off this Wednesday with an introduction of Apple’s lastest revolutionary new product: The HUMANCENTiPad. Yup. It’s exactly what it sounds like. The Human Centipede, which was disturbingly gross, combined with the iPad, which hasn’t been gross until now. Watch the quick teaser (complete with accurate cartoon image). Is comedians…
It’s not exactly practical to do—what with different screen resolutions and such—but it’s possible to run iPad apps on your jailbroken iPhone. And true, the idea isn’t exactly new—enterprising folks did it when Netflix was iPad only—but it’s a bit easier to do now. Here’s how. Basically, you’ll need to download and install the iTelePad2Pod…
Life in the cloud is all well and good until a server goes down. Tweetage Wasteland’s David Pell posits on the pitfalls of entrusting our offline lives to online services. A few months ago my friend Hudson was working on a new and promising internet business. He hired contractors for most of the work –…
Ah, childhood nostalgia. It’s great, right? Especially when you have a love for that semi-obscure cartoon that only you have any memory of. For some of you, that cartoon is probably Defenders of the Earth, the ’80s cartoon which saw Flash Gordon, the Phantom and Mandrake the Magician doing battle against the likes of Ming…
I love supermarkets. The ginormousness and excessiveness of everything makes me happy. But I hate waiting in line in supermarkets. Seriously, I have to stand and wait in this line for 5 minutes in order to give you my money? But no more! I’m only shopping at Stop and Shop from now on, a supermarket…
Black & Decker’s RapidRoller’s frame pivots to three positions so that you can use it for different angles and jobs. It also sucks paint right out of the can through special lids and stores it in its body. The paint can then be applied to the roller with a squeeze of the handle. And to…
iMac supplies have already been dwindling and now customers who’ve recently ordered an iMac have received notice from Apple that their iMac purchase will be ‘delayed’ until May 2nd. That matches with what 9to5 Mac’s source has been telling them: “to expect new iMacs the week of May 2nd as Apple will officially stop shipping…
Places I never thought needed more sweat: my crotchular region. But maybe I’ve been doing it wrong! This pair of vibrating sauna pants takes the hot hot heat of the sauna and packages it onto your package. Why oh why. The pants fit waists from 28 inches to 54 inches and have Velcro straps to…
South Korea is officially on Apple’s ass, looking for an answer about the company’s hidden tracking scandal. But they’re not alone: France, Germany, and Italy are also beginning privacy investigations. With Apple remaining silent, this may be our best shot. https://kotaku.com/ispy-conspiracy-your-iphone-is-secretly-tracking-every-5793925 Germany’s presence in the international investigatory headlock could be most promising of all—the country’s…
It’s iPhone 5 rumor season! And while we have no reason to think that these rumored white iPhone 5 pictures at MIC Gadget are any more—or less—legitimate than the rounded-back iPhone 5 mockup that emerged last week, it certainly lines up with what the rumor mill has churned out so far. https://gizmodo.com/the-iphone-5-looks-weird-if-this-is-what-it-looks-like-5794940 The wider screen?…
You might already be creeped out about what your phone knows. But as The Atlantic points out, iPhone tracking isn’t the half of it—there’s gear out there so powerful, the ACLU demanded answers from the state of Michigan. https://gizmodo.com/are-cops-using-devices-to-illegally-extract-data-from-y-5793261 Cellbrite’s handheld forensic tools are made to dump the entirety of your phone—and ergo, a large,…
Dryer sheets. You probably think their utility ended with soft jeans and cozy socks. Nope! Turns out there’s a whole mess of other uses for ’em. 1. De-static your clothes. Shirt sticking to your arms like a temporary tattoo? Wipe the shirt down with a dryer sheet, and enjoy the release. 2. Pick up pet…
There are obvious rules you must adhere to when in another country—and this drunk Brit just broke one of Japan’s most well-known. Instead of shuffling along and ignoring campaigning political parties’ megaphone announcements like everyone else, he grabbed the megaphone and shouted something drunken about how loud and irritating the megaphones are. Arrested he may…
All you Hipstamatic Instagram-addicts that love nothing more than cloaking something digital in an analog costume need to rally Black DA with me and demand that their Leica i9 iPhone standalone camera case goes into production. Calling it a “dream project,” Black DA proposes to combine the Leica cameras’s good looks and smart lens with…
In their biggest prison break since 2008, nearly 500 Afghani detainees (mostly Taliban members) escaped from the Sarposa Prison through an underground tunnel, dug from the outside. Now the U.S. military is searching high and low, hoping to corral the escapees back in. The crazy thing is that they built this long tunnel using nothing…
If you don’t mind getting your face punched in, New York’s public libraries might just be your new favorite place to watch people have sex with each other on the internet. Sure, you’re surrounded by other patrons, but it’s free! https://gizmodo.com/library-porn-lover-punched-out-by-vigilante-5794107 You might think that watching people pound away at each other in the most…
MIT Professor Hari Balakrishnan thinks wireless carriers aren’t using their networks in the most efficient way possible when it comes to mobile broadband, resulting in slower speeds. His solution involves using your phone’s accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, barometer and GPS. According to the Economist, Balakrishnan believes the main problem with current mobile broadband is how phones…
AT&T Just started selling the ARMZ, a cellular tower that fits into a suitcase. It’s meant to fill the air with cellular signals in the case of a disaster where existing towers cease to work or, well, exist. There are fixed location and vehicle mounted ARMZ kits, but the fly away set up is the…
