Tech News

To Improve Online Maps, Microsoft Analyzes GPS Recordings of 30,000 Beijing Cabbies

Cab drivers know their cities intimately, using shortcuts and side streets to bypass traffic jams and (hopefully) get you to your destination more quickly. Now Microsoft is hoping to tap into this talent and design better driving directions for online maps. Engineers at Microsoft Research Asia are analyzing GPS data culled from 30,000 Beijing cab…

Tech News Rebecca Boyle - Pop Sci

Air Force to End the Need for Pilots In 6th Generation Fighters

The United States Air Force is now looking for a F-22 Raptor replacement. It must be in service by 2030 and, for the first time ever, they want to be able to deploy these combat fighters unmanned and remotely controlled. https://gizmodo.com/f-22-raptor-airframes-falling-apart-due-to-bad-glue-373205 While the USAF wants to use actual pilots too, they are clear that they…

Tech News Jesus Diaz

This Is the Most Delicious Eye Candy I’ve Seen All Week

This movie has no dialog, no plot, and absolutely no point except to leave you in complete awe. TimeScapes achieves that objective, and then some more. All this eye candy is irresistible. Don’t believe me? Here’s a few sequences: Filmed with Canon DSLR and Red MX cameras by Tom Lowe and his team, TimeScapes will…

Tech News Jesus Diaz

Dirty Bandit Watches Some Porn Before Finishing Off His Burglary

A 25-year old guy broke into a woman’s house in New Jersey, and rather than getting the goods and getting out of there, he took a mid-robbery porn break on her computer in the living room. The man, Dwan Koonce, was charged with second-degree burglary, first-degree robbery, and third-degree charges for terroristic threats and possession…

Tech News Christina Bonnington

Former HP CEO Mark Hurd May Have Leaked Company Secrets

Just when we thought that the gossip about former HP CEO had quieted down, we hear this gem: The fellow may have shared company secrets with Jodie Fisher, the pretty lady who accused him of sexual harassment. https://gizmodo.com/apparently-former-hp-ceo-mark-hurd-was-a-thug-5609780 According to a report by the WSJ, there is a letter revealing Mark Hurd‘s slip up: [The…

Tech News Rosa Golijan

This Week’s Top Web Comedy Video: A Gross Misuse of Inception

Let’s be honest: if you really had the power of inception, you wouldn’t waste it on something as mundane as corporate espionage. You’d do exactly what this guy does. Creep. Rounding out the rest of the week’s best comedy vids over at Splitsider: one bad therapist, a few great fake ads, and what it’s like…

Tech News Splitsider

Yes, That’s a Goddamn Flying Shark

It may not be a motherf*cking invisible shark but it’s a motherf*cking flying shark, remote controlled. I can’t wait for the summer to be back, to fly it low over Coney Island Beach. https://gizmodo.com/motherf-cking-sharks-can-become-motherf-cking-invisible-5547252 It’s only $99, teeth and fake blood not included. [Nitroplanes]

Tech News Jesus Diaz

The Pool Noodle Girlfriend

The Pool Noodle Girlfriend, courtesy of the weirdos at Vice, is a masturbatory contraption comprised of a pool noodle, a few condoms, and a plunger. I hope your Friday night doesn’t resemble this in any way. Here’s the inventor recounting his Eureka! moment: I cut it up while I was on the can taking a…

Tech News Kyle VanHemert

Video: Thomas Edison Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge in 1899

The bridge was only 16-years-old when Edison shot this video from a BMT train crossing to Manhattan. It may not be HD, or 3D, or whatever fancy-format you kids like these days, but it takes me right back. [KottkeviaBoingBoing]

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Here’s the Bizarro Sam Spratt Illustration You Asked For

Earlier today we asked you to come up with something really really strange for our illustrator extraordinaire Sam Spratt to draw. Well, here it is: “Chewbacca breast-feeding Macaulay Culkin… in Space.” A masterpiece. https://gizmodo.com/come-up-with-a-batshit-crazy-scene-for-sam-spratt-to-il-5682730 Have a good weekend, all. Illustration by Gizmodo illustrator Sam Spratt. Check out Sam’s portfolio and become a fan of his…

Tech News Kyle VanHemert

It’s Never Too Late For a Great Social Network Parody

Finally, a parody of The Social Network that’s actually about The Social Network. It’s funny! And as is so often the case in life, the highlights mostly come from Justin Timberlake. The video’s from How It Should Have Ended, though I’m glad they branched out to skewer the whole movie instead of just the final…

Social Media Brian Barrett

Your Packages Never Arrive Because UPS Employs Ninjas

An eagerly anticipated package that never seems to come. Frustrating! You track it online, you wait diligently at home—and yet, all you get is a HEY SORRY WE MISSED YA notice. So that’s how they pull it off. This informative page from your carrier of choice’s training manual clears it all up. You see, they…

Tech News Sam Biddle

What It’s Like to Have a High-Powered Laser Shot Into Your Eyeball

So the Wicked Laser was a letdown, but it’s still super dangerous, so that’s kind of cool, right? We wondered what it might be like to get Wicked lasered in the eyeball. So we shot one into a camera. Ouch. https://gizmodo.com/what-happened-to-wicked-lasers-spyder-iii-pro-arctic-la-5628925 Our poor little pocket HD cam couldn’t vocalize any feelings of intense pain or…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Check Out The Kickass Covers Gizmodo’s Contributing Artist Sam Spratt Drew For Game Informer

You might’ve not guessed it, but when he’s not drawing creepy zombie families or batshit crazy scenes, Gizmodo’s Contributing Artist Sam Spratt is working on some serious projects and producing fantastic art—like these amazing covers he drew for Game Informer: https://gizmodo.com/the-prize-portrait-from-our-halloween-illustration-cont-5676960 Illustration by Sam Spratt. Check out Sam’s newly redesigned portfolio website and become a…

Tech News Rosa Golijan

Android Apps November 5th

Twitter for Android: The official Twitter app for Android gets an update and it’s now more like Twitter for iPhone. Which is actually a good thing! What’s new? @brbarrett says: https://gizmodo.com/twitter-for-android-update-catches-up-with-ios-version-5680929 As part of the update, you can now pull down to refresh your feed, swipe across a tweet for options like sharing or replying,…

Tech News Casey Chan

Fold Up This iPad Case Like Origami and Make a Stand

It’s a two-in-one iPad case! We’ve seen a few multipurpose cases now, but Incase’s Origami has a particular surfer-wetsuit-look that I really dig. It’s $35 so is a lot cheaper than some of the other cases we’ve seen (like Griffin’s Standle, at $50), and does the job of protecting iPads when put in case-form, but…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

How Did Apple Let Kinect Slip Through Its Fingers?

The year is 2008. Inon Beracha, CEO of the company that engineered the brain of what is now Microsoft’s shiny Kinect, is trying to find a buyer for the miracle tech. He tried Apple. No dice. Why? It was complicated. Even two years ago, in its demo form, the PrimeSense sensor that powers Kinect was…

Tech News Sam Biddle

The Rent Is Too Damn High Video Should Be #1 In the Music Charts

Funny that this video came out the same day I renewed my apartment lease. Indeed, the rent is still too damn high. And while Jimmy McMillan lost the New York governor election, we should make him #1 in the charts. Now. http://gawker.com/5667450/meet-jimmy-mcmillan-founder-and-ceo-of-the-rent-is-2-damn-high-party I’m saving this as an MP3 file and playing it the next time…

Tech News Jesus Diaz

App Deals of the Day

What’s better than ending your week with some great #appdealz? Many great men and women have tried—and failed—to answer this question. Free Apps: iOS: • Goooooal (iPhone) for $0 (normally $0.99) • Ancient Puzzles (iPhone) for $0 (normally $0.99) • Lemming Rampage (iPhone) for $0 (normally $0.99) • BlueCam – Premium Edition (iPhone) for $0…

Tech News Adam Harris

The Truth Behind the Everlasting Happy Meal: Burgers That Size Don’t Rot

The internet was totally grossed out recently by images that showed a McDonald’s hamburger sitting out in the open for six months without decomposing or rotting. But one blogger dug a bit deeper, and it turns out no hamburgers rot. https://gizmodo.com/video-six-months-of-the-everlasting-happy-meal-5662271 Well, no burgers that are roughly the shape and size of McDonald’s plain burger,…

Tech News Kyle VanHemert

To Improve Online Maps, Microsoft Analyzes GPS Recordings of 30,000 Beijing Cabbies

Air Force to End the Need for Pilots In 6th Generation Fighters

This Is the Most Delicious Eye Candy I’ve Seen All Week

Dirty Bandit Watches Some Porn Before Finishing Off His Burglary

Former HP CEO Mark Hurd May Have Leaked Company Secrets