Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
A stolen car. The iPhone’s “Find My Phone” feature and a high-tech, high-speed chase. A daring escape from the police. A Sonic fast food restaurant. This story has it all! And it all went down on Christmas Day. Here’s the story a reader told to 9to5Mac: Pretty amazing Christmas Story! Early this morning my 2005…
This isn’t your typical glowing, inflatable picnic roof. No no. This Dutch design is inflated via hot air produced by a wood-burning oven, used to cook nuts, hot chocolate, or whatever else you’d like. And it looks amazing. The pillowy project, entitled “The Roof That Goes Up in Smoke” (we hope only figuratively), is a…
It’s only a few feet of snow, but this is how New York looks right now. People consider this The Snowpocalypse but, while it looks like Yeti zombies are going to appear at anytime, it’s nothing compared to this [Updated] That, my friends, is real snow. And no, these photos are not Photoshopped. This one…
Remember how the Gorillaz were recording their new album almost entirely on an iPad? Now you can download it for free! It sounds…somewhere between “good” and “like it was recorded on an iPad.” And here are the apps they used: https://gizmodo.com/gorillaz-next-album-was-created-on-ipad-5688442 Speak It! SoundyThingie Mugician Solo Synth Synth Funk Box Gliss AmpliTube Xenon iElectribe BS-16i…
Dust off that copy of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band you found in the $.50 bin at the local Salvation Army. Fill out this survey, email the last question to [email protected], and you’ll be entered to win a Crosley Keepsake USB Turntable that will play your 45s and convert your vinyl to digital. Standard…
Amazon doesn’t like to talk numbers when it comes to Kindles—a reported 8 million were sold in 2010 alone—but they’re happy to confirm this factoid: the new Kindle is the best selling product in the site’s history. https://gizmodo.com/eight-million-kindles-sold-in-2010-5715837 The new bestseller status means that Kindle 3 has vanquished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book…
OK, OK, a little late—we know. But this photog’s holiday miracle is worth seeing. A lavish (and massively expensive) assemblage of tripods, cameras, lenses, and lighting, the “tree” will probably take you until Christmas 2045 to afford anyway. The project was actually put together by BorrowLenses, the same photographic rogues who made the teetering makeshift…
This case is a bit Jerry Springer, but interesting nonetheless. Rochester Hills man Leon Walker has been charged with unlawfully reading his wife’s emails—which showed she was having an affair with her violent second husband. Walker forwarded the emails to the woman’s first husband, who is the father of her son, out of a sense…
Why should pipes and tubes pin an entire city down? “A Rolling Master Plan,” a new design from Swedish architecture firm Jagnefalt Milton, makes public spaces like concert hall and hotels rearrangeable on old railway lines. The design puts modular buildings such as hotels, concert spaces, and public baths on railways new and old, allowing…
Daniel Balsam used to be a marketer. Then he found something he wanted to do more: Sue spammers for a living. So he quit his job and went to law school—and he’s made $1 million doing it. You want to know how great America is? This is how great America is: Not only can you…
Make getting evicted from your home easy with the Traveller’s Closet, a concept suitcase that comes compartmentalized into drawers—and its pulling handle extends to become a hanger rail. You’d never have to pack/unpack/pack again. [Psychic Factory via Yanko]
If you’re a left-handed Apple fan this prototype Mac Portable is the perfect novelty. The test machine’s trackball is placed to the left of the keyboard, but was switched to the right on the final retail machine. https://gizmodo.com/macintosh-portable-turns-20-gets-undressed-in-front-of-5364075 Prototype hardware is usually rather strictly protected by the owner—and the seller points out this test Mac…
There was a bit of a false start regarding Samsung’s iPod Touch rival, with the long-awaited Galaxy S-without-calling-options turning out to be a disappointingly lower-spec device. Now Samsung’s doing it properly with this. https://gizmodo.com/the-galaxy-player-looks-like-one-sweet-android-ipod-tou-5670624 It’s the latest Galaxy Player and this one has much, much more in common with the winning Galaxy S series of…
Want to fly a Saturn V rocket? Easy! Just pick up one of these bad boys and get learnin’. Having an actual Saturn V rocket, launch pad and government clearance for such things also helps immensely. [Reddit]
Earlier this year one of the worst oil-related disasters ever caused by man started with a deadly explosion. Now, eight months later, questions are answered. Chief among them is how a rig with so many failsafes could fail so spectacularly. Some of those questions were answered this weekend as part of an exhaustive New York…
Third person “video game” rigs have been constructed and featured before, but this one’s a wireless DIY version that’s sure to freak out onlookers you pass by on your own personal, hooded 3D adventure across town. The build comes courtesy Instrucables user BigRedRocket. You literally see yourself, walking or running along, probably looking a bit…
Marriage, huh? Maybe some day. In the mean time I’ll just sit here and chuckle about the manner in which Chris Trivizas chose to deliver his wedding invitations: “We are going to tie the knot. In the Greek language, there is an expression that uses the word “hang” in order to say “marry”. So, traditionally,…
I pity the young children, really I do. We make “movies” about Terminators and smart AI for entertainment purposes, but in the future, with obstacle-dominating robots like HRP-2, it will be their reality. HRP-2, you see, takes obstacles and makes them into tools; uses them to its advantage. Take this video example. In it, HRP-2…
For the second time this year an India Space Research Organizations (ISRO) rocket has failed spectacularly mere moments after launch. This most recent failure, captured for all time in this image, occurred 47 seconds after liftoff on Christmas Day. Earlier this year a test rocket flight entered the Bay of Bengal, not orbit, when its…
Deicing. It’s more than just something that delays your flight as the airport searches for that missing truck—it keeps your plane from falling like a stone too! MIT scientists want to help with the delay part. Enter ice-proof planes. Working at the molecular level, the MIT folks are attempting to understand how frost forms on…
