Gizmodo

Russia’s only orbiting space radio telescope, Spektr-R (RadioAstron), has stopped responding to the spacecraft’s control staff, the BBC reported Saturday, though Astro Space Centre chief Nikolai Kardashev told the BBC that it is still transmitting scientific data.

Just days after Elon Musk unveiled the first images of his aerospace company’s Starship test rocket, SpaceX has announced that it is slimming down its workforce by roughly 10 percent.

InfoWars founder and blathering conspiracy theory peddler Alex Jones was handed yet another legal setback on Friday.Read more...

We did not love Glass, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing there to dig into.Read more...

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, was the target of a counterintelligence investigation in 2017 to determine whether he was acting on behalf of the Russian government and posed a national security threat to the United States.Read more...

While the competitive Halo scene has been losing some steam in recent years, there’s no end of love and nostalgia for the earlier games in the series, especially Halo 3. This weekend a mix of pro teams and grass roots teams will duke it out in St. Louis in the first of many Halo 3 tournaments in 2019 as 343 Industries…Read more...

Earlier this week, we reported on a recent food allergy study that, perhaps not surprisingly, stirred up a long of strong feelings among readers. The research suggested that roughly 10 percent of adult Americans are allergic to foods like shellfish, tree nuts, and dairy. But it also found that nearly as many people…Read more...

Late last year, the U.S. government accidentally revealed that a sealed complaint had been filed against Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. Shortly before this was made public, the FBI reconfirmed its investigation of WikiLeaks was ongoing, and the Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice was…Read more...

We see deals on third party GoPro accessory kits all the time, but even by our standards, $18 is a good deal; just use promo code TZTQ394A to get the lower price. This set includes 51 different accessories, including harnesses, mounts, a monopod, and even a carrying case. This will also work with any other action…Read more...

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has confirmed that Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, the 18-year-old Saudi woman who escaped her family and pleaded for protection on social media, has been granted asylum in Canada.

In early December, Boing Boing published a piece about an e-scooter “conversion kit,” a $30 hotwiring option for users who were, in theory, able purchase any number of Bird electric scooters collecting dust at city impound lots. This apparently didn’t sit well with Bird, which promptly issued a “notice of claimed…Read more...

Whether you’re a sentient, technologically-advanced robot designed by Nikola Tesla or a street-level criminal with a knack for getting thrown in the pokey, raising children is a difficult task. And while it can be rewarding, it’s much more often an emotionally and financially draining endeavor.Read more...

The GoFundMe campaign raising money to build Donald Trump’s wall on the southern U.S. border never had a chance of succeeding. And now it is undead, an officially failed effort that somehow lives on. On Friday, the crowdfunding site announced that it will issue refunds to donors, citing the campaign’s failure to…Read more...

Responding to reports this week of unlicensed use of consumer phone location data, House Democrats have moved to call for an emergency staff briefing with the Federal Communications Commission to gauge its progress on addressing an issue that first surfaced eight months ago.

Archaeologists are trying to figure out why so many bodies at a 1,700-year-old site in Suffolk, England, were buried alongside their decapitated heads.Read more...

There are a lot of huge genre projects coming in 2019, like Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars themed lands at Disney. But there are so many other things being released this year that, while not as big as those franchises, we’re definitely looking forward to. Check out io9's list of major things to watch out for this…Read more...

Marriott, the world’s largest hotel chain operator, has been slapped with a class-action lawsuit over the data breach now believed to affect more than 300 million people. The suit, brought by more than 150 past hotel guests, according to Vox, is at least the second to surface since the breach was disclosed in late…Read more...

House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) won the race for New York’s 14th congressional district by leading with her democratic socialist politics and running on a progressive platform advocating for an increased marginal tax rate on the wealthy and universal healthcare. Much to the surprise of her new…Read more...

Forget Bad Winter, a season of Boring Winter is upon us. At least, if you live in the Northeast U.S. Head on over to the North Pacific, and it’s a different story.Read more...

The Consumer Electronics Show is typically an assault on your senses. There are flashing lights, blaring speakers, bizarre stunts, and this year, a yacht. Well, the Shenzhen 3iRobotics Co, LTD booth and a random guy snoozing while sitting upright in crappy chair offered us a perfect metaphor for CES 2019. It was sad,…Read more...

We made it 11 days into 2019 without a meme-inspired accident, but that’s all over now. Someone has officially failed the “Bird Box Challenge.”Read more...

Fields as diverse as video game development, visual effects, and industrial design all rely on 3D software, but the tools used to make it remain firmly stuck in two-dimensions. For the past few years, Magic Leap’s mixed reality goggles have been heralded as the missing link between the digital 3D world and the real…Read more...

Google’s deeply discounted Chromecast Audio dongle is reportedly canceled.

It feels like Alex Kurtzman has been talking about Star Trek: Discovery’s approach to canon pretty much since the dawn of time (or at least, since everyone found out the show was set before the original Trek). Discovery’s already had to toe a pretty weird line when it comes to its approach to Star Trek’s past, but in…Read more...

A viral tweet about the 1960s TV show The Jetsons recently brought up a troubling question. Was Jane Jetson a child bride? The answer: Not quite. But it’s easy to see why people might be outraged.

In his first week in office, Florida’s new Republican Governor Ron Desantis has made the environment and climate change a top focus.Read more...

At the end of its life, our Sun could end up as a crystal—and physicists now have observational evidence to back up that theory.

The Moon’s far side near its southern pole is a dead, dim place littered with pits and rocks, as the first panoramic image taken by China’s Change’ 4 lander confirms.

Amazon’s connected tokens of capitalism have been outlawed in Germany.Read more...

Given how many Lightning cables seem to wear out at the necks, it’s surprising that 90 degree cables aren’t more of a thing. You can grab two nylon braided cables for $11 from Aukey today with promo code AUKEY90L, which would be a great price for two nylon-braided Lightning cables anyway, even without the unique…Read more...

Back in November, just days before Samsung teased its flexible display phone, Royole burst onto the scene with the Flexpai, the world’s first bendy phone. Sadly, demos were held in San Francisco, and I was in New York. By the time I found out, there simply wasn’t enough time for me to get there.Read more...

Police in Palo Alto, California received a phone call on Tuesday night from a man who reportedly claimed to be a Facebook executive who had shot his wife and was holding hostages in his home. A rapid response team arrived at the scene and eventually determined the exec was the victim of a hoax.Read more...

If you call the White House right now, thanks to the government shutdown, you’ll be treated to an automated message: “We apologize but due to the lapse in federal funding, we are unable to take your call. Once funding has been restored, our operations will resume.” The switchboard operators, like so many federal…Read more...

Polish authorities arrested a Chinese executive on Tuesday. The Huawei exec, identified in the Polish and Chinese press as Weijing W. or “Stanislaw Wang,” is charged with spying but details of the allegations have not yet been made public.Read more...

There could be an animated Mortal Kombat film in the works. Rob Marshall says work has already begun on a follow-up to Mary Poppins Returns. Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse is coming to Netflix. Plus, get a look at Jordan Peele’s new Youtube series, what’s to come on The Flash, and another whispery Walking Dead tease.…Read more...

It’s a new year, and the world has its first new species of shark in 2019. Meet Carcharhinus obsolerus! Though, it’d be wise to temper your expectations if you hope to see the newly-described species in the wild. The unique shark—described based on a few specimens caught many decades ago—may actually be extinct, gone…Read more...

If you’ve been curious to give YouTube TV a try, and you could use a new streaming dongle, Walmart’s running a particularly enticing deal today. $59 gets you a month of YouTube TV (a $40 value, new accounts only), plus $15 in VUDU content, meaning the Stick itself is basically tossed in for about $4.

New year, new you and if that happens to be someone who catches fish, you’re in luck. Today, Amazon is discounting everything you need to start reeling in a rainbow trout, including tackle boxes, rods, and, well, reels.Read more...

IMDB has launched a free streaming service called Freedive that features dozens of movies and TV shows. And while it doesn’t have new releases, the selection isn’t half bad, with movies like Drive, Adaptation, Gattaca, True Romance, Last Action Hero, Legends of the Fall, and Panic Room as well as TV shows like Fringe,…Read more...

The so-called Uber of dog-walking apps, Wag, has found itself in the dog house after one of its walkers appeared to physically assault a dog under his care in security footage. The dog’s owners are now raising concerns over the vetting process behind the platform and others like it, Fox-affiliated KTVU reported…Read more...

Folks, former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is concerned about UFOs.

It shouldn’t be the case that inviting smart technology into our homes to safeguard against potential threats might instead lead to serious breaches of individual privacy, and yet reports of such violations of user trust are increasingly common. Now, Amazon’s Ring security cameras have come under fire for just that.

As the shutdown drags on, President Trump’s ideas about how to secure funding for his absurd border wall are becoming more and more villainous. His newest strategy? Using $13.9 billion in Army Corps to build a segment of the wall, according to NBC. That money would otherwise go to fund projects in Puerto Rico and…Read more...

The calendar flipping to 2019 officially marked the end of the 10-year anniversary of the Marvel Cinematic Universe—but, screw it, the celebration goes on.Read more...

Last May, T-Mobile promised to stop selling its subscribers’ location data after reports surfaced that it was being funneled to law enforcement officers who’d otherwise need a warrant to get it. But that hasn’t happened so far.

Red Dead Online didn’t have a great launch. The multiplayer mode of Red Dead Redemption 2 was made available to players last year in late November via a staggered release window. Once players had access to RDO, they found overpriced guns, a broken economy, and a lack of content. Some player also encountered griefers…Read more...

They’re two of the first words we ever learn. We use them every day and, in many cases, probably don’t even think about it. They can be used to agree to life-changing events or get out of horrible situations. They can also be used to hilarious effect when edited and counted in all 10 Star Wars movies.Read more...

Microsoft’s Bing search engine is facing heat for reportedly including images of child pornography in its search results. The issued was described on Thursday by TechCrunch, which said it commissioned a study on the images propagated by Bing from AntiToxin Technologies, an Israeli startup focused on online safety, in…Read more...

As recent industry reports show that nearly half of U.S. calls this year could be scams, there’s finally a glimmer of hope. A major carrier has begun to deploy one of the most effective tools at fighting the plague of illegal calls—but so far, it works on just a single phone model.Read more...

A perfect return date for a perfect TV show, frankly. Plus, the CW has revealed a few others...