Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Whoever thought Angry Birds could be as delicious as it is addictive? I’m mostly just happy to find a level know I can clear in no time. This amazing cake homage by Anya Richardson may also be the only one of its kind, according to its creator’s tweet: “Had someone ask how much $ to…
Ooh la la! Looks like the Instapaper iOS app, one of our favorite tools, has received quite a makeover and plenty of new features in its latest update: – Article list on iPhone now includes the first few lines of text from articles, like on iPad. On iPad, more text is now shown. The text…
Yeah, OK, it’s a water dispersant not a lubricant. And sure, true enough, you probably don’t want to put WD-40 anywhere near your lovemaking parts. But besides all that, I see what you did there, Spanish-language ad agency. [Reddit]
As promised, the D-Link Boxee Box is finally shipping! And that’s not all the good news its makers have for us today: https://gizmodo.com/boxee-box-will-finally-ship-november-10th-5668675 We’re planning to bring Netflix to the Boxee Box before the end of the year. We are also working with Hulu to bring Hulu Plus to the Boxee Box. Until those services…
Carrying a boom box down the street on your shoulder? Old and busted. Docking your iPod on a teeny tiny boombox and carrying it around the house between your thumb and forefinger? New and… uh… tiny. Just to be clear, the Boom Dock from Homade doesn’t involve any batteries, which means it’s not exactly going…
If you’ve got an almost elegant Bluetooth headset that feels as un-silly as the Stone, how do you change it for the inevitable sequel? Make it smarter. https://gizmodo.com/jabra-stone-the-time-when-bluetooth-got-self-aware-5385317 Jabra’s Stone2 has more extensive voice controls, commands and features versus the original, like fully voice-powered calling, answering and ignoring. It’s still $130, though it’s exclusive to…
Last Monday, the cruise ship Carnival Splendor suffered a fire in the engine room, leaving her stranded 150 nautical miles southwest of San Diego. Thankfully, the Nimitz-class supercarrier USS Ronald Reagan was around and they had lots of extra Spam cans. Yes, that’s right. On top of having to deal with the lack of air…
Remember that totally adorable kid who had his superhero backpack (and his Halloween candy and PSP) stolen last week? Remember how you saw him and hoped that somehow, someway he’d be happy again? Well he IS, thanks to the internet! https://gizmodo.com/lets-help-this-cute-kid-find-his-stolen-backpack-5681889 Thanks to the internet and Jimmy Kimmel, that is. According to Kai’s Dad, the…
Click to viewJudging by the panicked screams in this video, the folks demolishing a 275-foot smoke stack in Springfield, Ohio didn’t expect it to snap power lines, destroy power equipment, or terrify children when it collapsed into the wrong direction. There were no injuries resulting from this incident, but 8,000 people did lose their electricity…
Lately I’ve been obsessed with finding the current location of 1950’s robot star Garco. Garco appeared on numerous TV shows, including one of my favorite pieces of retro-space-futurism, the 1957 Disneyland TV episode, “Mars and Beyond.” I can’t seem to find any clue as to where this robot might be stored. Is Garco sitting in…
Fox has decided to join the big broadcaster blockade of Google TV, blocking it from accessing its website to stream video content. https://gizmodo.com/the-big-networks-big-google-tv-fear-5670259 Now, if you go to any major broadcaster’s website—ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox—to stream episodes of Lost or 30 Rock or whatever, instead you’ll get a big fat error message, keeping your Google…
Google has a lesson for its employees: Don’t tell the world how well we treat you, or you’ll be fired. The company apparently told staff today it terminated the employee who leaked word of a 10 percent companywide pay raise. http://gawker.com/5685991/christmas-comes-early-for-employees-of-google Last night, Business Insider got hold of an internal memo from CEO Eric Schmidt—for…
The most vivid icons of Cold War militarism—the ever-looming destruction that could be unleashed—are usually a mushroom cloud or gleaming ICBM. But we should count Jackson Pollock, too. The CIA spent millions weaponizing modern art against Russia. There’s little more divisive than modern art—most take a staunch “brilliance” or “bullshit” stance. So it should come…
Amazon was just granted a weird patent for a “gift conversion” system, basically a means to ensure that you’ll always end up with whatever gift you want, no matter how bad your batty aunt wants to give you a turtleneck. The patent, awarded to Colin Bryar and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, lets potential gift recipients…
Whoever is responsible for the Kennedy Space Center’s Twitter account just posted this impressive picture. “Here’s a view you don’t see every day,” he or she says. Indeed. This is the first time I’ve seen a photo like this. [Twitpic]
Stuck in the office, feeling blue? Pick yourself up a free app or two! A new game is just what the doctor ordered to liven up your evening subway commute. Free Apps: iOS: • SpeedTraps Live (iPhone) App for $0 (normally $.99) • Craigly (iPhone) App for $0 (normally $0.99) • Hot Pool 2 (iPhone)…
Prior rumors may have sounded reasonably convincing, but apparently Apple did not acquire Wi-Gear, a company famous for making the iMuffs Bluetooth headphones. https://gizmodo.com/apple-may-have-bought-out-the-designers-of-imuffs-5685034 After proclaiming that he wishes the rumors were true, Wi-Gear CEO Mark Pundsack did explain what happened to his company: Pundsack says that there’s no truth to the purported purchase by…
Okay, I think we’ve gotten to the point where those Taiwanese news CGI recreations have officially gotten out of control. Don’t believe me? Maybe this Barack Obama-Hu Jintao rap battle will convince you. https://gizmodo.com/this-is-how-the-evening-news-should-be-done-from-now-on-5421180/ The throwdown between the US and Chinese presidents is actually not a terrible in what’s being discussed in the G20 this…
If you happen to check for software updates on your Mac now, you should find that the Mac OS X 10.6.5 update is available for download. It appears to be a lovely update with plenty of bug fixes, performance improvements, and stability enhancements: Improves reliability with Microsoft Exchange servers. Addresses performance of some image-processing operations…
Parents of the world, you search for the perfect plush toy ends now. Because My First Bacon is the only lovable, huggable, talking pork byproduct your precious little cherub will ever need. Like the Monolith action figure before it, My First Bacon started out as a ThinkGeek April Fool’s product complete with its own amazing…
