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If Amazon is Santa, 400 folks living in RVs outside the Coffeyville, Kansas fulfillment center this winter are the elves. A few years back Chris Dunphy and Cherie Ve Ard flipped the bird to their desk jobs, packed their belongings in a custom 17-foot solar-powered fiberglass camper, and hit the road to live “at the…
An optical sensor checks this mini hourglass eventually triggering the rotating mechanism to flip the thing 180 degrees. It also can send the optical sensor’s values to a PC by USB, providing random numbers. I just think it looks cool. There are some good non-deterministic random sources disclosed on the Internet. They make use of…
Skeptics will tell you that Wytheville, Virginia hostage-taker Warren Taylor climbed out of his chair, laid on the ground and surrendered to police by his own will. But I think it’s obvious what really happened here. [DailyMail, AP]
In some ways, this chart showing the spread of broadband in the US sums up the decade better than anything else. [GigaOM]
Since an actual flying RC model of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A is still a few anti-gravity discoveries away, this is the next best thing: A submarine Enterprise that you can fly in your swimming pool, by Japanese modeler Starfleet Yokosuka. I only see one problem to this huge retrofitted 1/350 scale model: How the hell…
If you’re not sure about this whole iPhone turn-by-turn thing, and you’ve been too afraid to try it because the apps are so expensive, hey, look: Motionx Drive, our favorite budget iPhone nav app, is just a dollar right now. Granted, this should be seen as a trial, because it only includes a month of…
This is one of the best power socket ideas I’ve seen in a long while: A socket with an extension cord inside the wall itself. They should make these standard everywhere. I even like the name: The Rambler Socket. It works easily: Pinch the sockets sides, pull it out, and use with your electrical thingamajig.…
Jalopnik has two great essays on driving: one opines that fast is better, but the far cooler one argues successfully that driving a shitty car faster than you should is more exciting. Which do you find more exciting? [Jalop and Jalop] https://jalopnik.com/the-joy-of-driving-fast-5433153
Believe it or not, this is the Burj Dubai. The very end of it, the top of its antenna tickling the sky. It’s just a tiny part of this brain-imploding 2.3 gigapixel photo of the largest skyscraper in the world: https://gizmodo.com/real-sim-city-comes-to-life-in-the-desert-5039300 Of course, Gizmodo reader Gerald Donovan didn’t send the photo itself, as it would…
Happy Festivus, readers! You lot have disappointed me in so many ways, I’m deciding to punish you with these Remainders four: HDMI prepares new 3D-ready spec, Kindle DRM stripped, Steve Jobs takes a $1 salary, and snow snow snow snow! HDMI Spec Updated to Ensure HD 3D Compatibility The fine folks who work on HDMI…
Is it any surprise that when I asked a bunch of Gizmodo readers to share their holiday horror stories, you guys sent in tales of frozen cameras, techno-challenged dads and—yes—porn-filled PS3s? https://gizmodo.com/earn-pizza-and-fame-by-sharing-your-holiday-horror-stor-5424804 Frosty the Frozen Nikon A fellow who goes by Skunkabilly sent his pictorial tale on Flickr, which documents a camping trip to Monument…
You just saw a cute girl. How do you approach her? Do you follow her on Twitter in hopes of catching her attention? Friend her on Facebook? Get her number and call? This chart will help you decide. You can click on the image for a closer look. Yeah, the message is something you probably…
This is my bet for the winner.
According to the NY Times, a former Apple employee has told them that that “Steve is extremely happy with the new tablet.” Guess he might not kill this one then. https://gizmodo.com/wsj-steve-jobs-killed-apple-tablet-twice-already-5344725 I don’t even want to speculate what about this tablet makes Steve so happy or about what will be so surprising about interacting with…
Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory have managed to accidentally cause $3 million of damage as they blew up one of their own buildings using a large-bore powder gun, a weapon which acts like a Civil War cannon. Updated. According to Project on Government Oversight’s Senior Investigator, Peter Stockton, this incident “is a new…
Verizon’s been defending its ridiculous $350 smartphone early termination fee to the FCC, but those folks aren’t having any of it. In fact, the five-person committee dealing with the issue thinks Verizon’s answers are “unsatisfying and, in some cases, troubling.” https://gizmodo.com/verizon-defends-350-early-termination-fee-to-the-fcc-5431184 Mignon Clyburn, a member of that FCC committee, wrote a letter with a laundry…
Click to viewTis the time to be amazed: A 38-year-old man has regained vision in his blind eye thanks to a new stem cell therapy. It won’t cure all blind people, but it’s a giant leap. Here’s how it works. Englishman Russell Thurnbull got attacked with ammonia 15 years ago during a street fight. As…
December! The season of love, family, and most of all, clumsy, desperate larceny. Exhibit 27: This guy, who tries to sneak an entire HDTV out of a big-box store in broad daylight. What was the plan here, exactly? https://gizmodo.com/worlds-stupidest-cellphone-thief-foiled-by-victims-bril-5431293 Click to view Fake? Maybe. But still a must-watch for aspiring idiot thieves, lest they make…
The grand total cost of pulling off a national hoax is whatever balloon-making supplies go for, $42,000 in fines, and 30 days of jail time. Richard “Balloon Dad” Heene probably considers that a bargain in the world of attention-whoring. https://gizmodo.com/balloon-boy-mom-admits-to-hoax-5388979 After Heene’s wife confessed to her part in his grand hoax, we knew that punishment…
“In the years since the new millennium, the world has seen such progress.” So begins a noted Super Bowl commercial from 2000 that milked the Christopher Reeve sympathy/inspiration angle to show how well an investment firm can predict the future. The commercial, for Nuveen Investments, which is still around, says rather general things about advancements…
