Gizmodo

This week, we’ve been assaulted with a barrage of 5G “news” and announcements, but without a real good reason for why things are happening now. Companies like Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, and others have been out talking big about making 5G capable phones, while wireless carriers—most notably AT&T and Verizon—have been…Read more...

Sometimes the number of built-in LAN ports in your sexy, modern router isn’t enough. Luckily there’s a cheap solution: Networking switches, like this $16 Netgear 8-Port model.Read more...

Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on behalf of the U.S. last weekend and the incident grabbed the global spotlight after the arrest was revealed publicly on Wednesday night. Meng was apprehended for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, but we won’t officially hear the…Read more...

We’ve known for some time that Andrew Smith, who was hired to lead the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection earlier this year, had a significant number of corporate ties that called into question whether he was fit for the role. But those corporate links apparently run much, much deeper than…Read more...

Though it resembles a coral, root system, or some other kind of growth, the above photo actually depicts a six-inch-wide blood clot in the near-perfect form of the right bronchial tree of a human lung, the Atlantic reported on Thursday. Even more uncomfortable is the revelation that it was not removed by medical…Read more...

After rumors circulated that such a move was imminent, Microsoft has confirmed that it is indeed shifting from its EdgeHTML back end to Chromium, the open-source project that powers Google Chrome. In confirming the rumor, the company also said it expected this shift could allow it to introduce Microsoft Edge to macOS.Read more...

Mobile giant Verizon has faced withering criticism in the months since it throttled Santa Clara County Fire Department firefighters trying to contain California’s Mendocino Complex Fire, then tried to force them to purchase increased data even as they were begging for immediate assistance. It said it would immediately…Read more...

The Environmental Protection Agency is using energy affordability among low-income communities and people of color as an argument to bring back coal. Yes, the same coal responsible for an estimated 3,000 American deaths a year.Read more...

It’s been quite a year for Mark Zuckerberg and his friends at Facebook. You might even say that 2018 has been the single worst year in the company’s history. But you wouldn’t know it by reading “Facebook’s 2018 Year in Review.” The annual blog post leaves one with the impression that Facebook’s involvement in global…Read more...

The atmosphere of a gas giant exoplanet located 163 light-years from Earth is being blasted into space by its host star, forming a ghostly tail. Excessive ultraviolet radiation is responsible for the celestial phenomenon, according to a new study, a discovery that could provide new insights into planetary formation.

Winter may have already arrived around the globe, but next year we’ll also be getting a winter the likes of which we’ve never seen. We’re a few months away from the final season of Game of Thrones, where good will take its last stand against the forces of the undead, and we’ve gotten a gorgeously symbolic teaser for…Read more...

Subscription movie theater service MoviePass gained massive popularity last year by offering something so simple and sensible it was unavoidable: a movie a day for 10 bucks a month. But that plan didn’t work for MoviePass’s bank account, and it started bleeding cash and customers. Now, it hopes to make a comeback…Read more...

Thanks to the Windows on Snapdragon initiative, Qualcomm has been dabbling in the laptop processor business for about a year now. And while systems like the Asus Nova Go and Samsung Galaxy Book 2 have their share of flaws, those laptops demonstrated the potential benefits of ARM-based chips through things like…Read more...

The Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest atom smasher, will be turned off for the next two years for upgrades. Hopefully, its particle-hunting abilities will be even better once it restarts in 2021.Read more...

Automation is killing jobs

American’s largest annual Earth science conference doesn’t kick off until next week, but things are already getting heated. Members of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) are up in arms over the organization’s decision to give a prestigious award to Senator Cory Gardner, who in 2015 voted against a measure declaring…Read more...

The manufacturer of a common infants’ over-the-counter pain medication is pulling some of its products off the shelves of several big box and discount stores, over concerns that the affected products might be too potent for infants to take.

Allo is the latest casualty in Google’s long and tired road to building a chat app that can rival Apple’s iMessage. After passing on further Allo investment back in April, Google officially announced this week that it’s pulling the plug on the chat app in March 2019.Read more...

Long before the two deadliest pandemics in history—the Plague of Justinian and the Black Plague—an ancient strain of the bacterium responsible for these scourges, Yersinia pestis, may have already wreaked havoc among Neolithic European communities over 5,000 years ago, according to a controversial new study.

Go big or go home, that’s what I always say. And with this deal from Walmart, you can go home to a bigass TV for just $480.Read more...

I’ve attempted to watch rockets launch from Vandenburg Air Force Base a few times when I was in California, and the thing I remember most about it was just how far away the official viewing areas were. The rocket is a tiny spike in the distance, and it’s like that for many valid safety reasons. At the Baikonur…Read more...

A dark matter experiment in South Korea may soon confirm or deny an outstanding piece of dark matter evidence.

Last week, the Marriott hotel group disclosed that it had been the victim of what’s shaping up to be the second biggest data breach of all time. Few details have been made public on who might be responsible for the theft of data from 500 million guest records, but Reuters reports that investigators believe espionage…Read more...

When I was a kid, I was certain that by the time I was a grown woman, I’d have a friendly little robot friend. Adulthood was in the FUTURE, and the FUTURE had robots like R2-D2, Threepio, Data, and so on. Alas, I am a tax-paying adult with a full-time job, and no, I do not have an adorable mechanical friend that…Read more...

When the Apple Watch Series 4 shipped a few months ago, its electrocardiogram feature was still in the works. Not anymore. Apple just released its watchOS 5.1.2 update, which adds the highly anticipated ECG app.Read more...

If you’ve ever been disappointed by the performance of a Nerf toy, you’re not alone. For safety (and legal) reasons the blasters come with limited power out of the box, but there’s a thriving community of modders online who’ve found ways to give them more kick. That includes Peter Sripol who hacked a Nerf blaster so…Read more...

The idea seemed silly at first. Bose made an Alexa-powered wireless speaker with a little screen, a big $400 price tag and a promise “to fill any room with an astonishing stereo performance.” I’ve been using the Bose Home Speaker 500 for a little more than a month, and there are a few things I don’t like about it. But…Read more...

Nicolas Cage could be joining a new Lovecraftian adaptation. The Resident Evil reboot has found a director. Tony Todd reacts to the Candyman revival. Plus, Barry and Oliver play switcheroo in a new Elseworlds trailer, Kevin Smith raves about Star Wars: Episode IX, and M. Night Shyamalan hints at the Unbreakable…Read more...

Last week, at least 8,000 barrels of crude oil gushed into the northern Amazon rainforest in Peru, creating one of the worst spills the region has seen in years. State oil company Petroperú is blaming a local indigenous community for sabotaging a pipeline and triggering the spill, but the leader of Peru’s Wampis…Read more...

Today the Chinese government called for the release of Meng Wanzhou, an executive at Chinese electronics maker Huawei after she was arrested in Canada last weekend while transferring flights. Meng reportedly faces extradition to the U.S. for allegedly violating American sanctions against Iran.Read more...

In what is truly a bizarre phenomenon reportedly stumping researchers, a handful of dumbass Hawaiian monk seals have recently been observed with eels stuck up their noses—possibly from shoving their faces into crevices, but researchers tasked with observing these fools can’t say for sure.Read more...

Dozens of Amazon workers at one of the company’s fulfillment centers in New Jersey were hospitalized after an aerosol can containing bear repellent was hit. The incident occurred at the company’s Robbinsville fulfillment center and left at least one person in critical condition.Read more...

Facebook’s board of directors appears to be sticking to the script in the defense of its opposition research into George Soros, a vocal critic of the platform. In a letter reported Wednesday by the Wall Street Journal from Facebook’s board of directors to Patrick Gaspard, the president of George Soros’ Open Society…Read more...

The alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos is in trouble. Thanks to an Australian lawsuit, his finances were made public for the first time this week, and folks... they’re not good. The one-time Breitbart writer owes at least $2 million in debt to various lawyers and funders, including $400,000 to right-wing…Read more...

Some of the people submitting tickets to get their replacement Fallout 76 canvas bag have encountered a surprise: they’ve been given access to parts of Bethesda’s support system, including the ability to open and close tickets, as well as check out customer’s personal information.

Over 12,000 Uber drivers found a way to weaponize the ridesharing platform’s restrictive contract in what’s possibly the funniest labor strategy of the year.Read more...

Google is rolling out Chrome 71 today and with it, you can apparently expect to kiss abusive ads from “persistently offending sites” goodbye. The latest version of Chrome will also include billing warning screens to help prevent unwanted charges and subscriptions.

It’s hardly a novel concept for parents to spy on their kids, but a new device is troubling for just how big, ugly, and shitty it is: an ankle monitoring service that tracks troublesome teens.

The world’s oldest wild bird, Wisdom the Laysan albatross, has once again returned to her breeding grounds, and she has laid another egg. She is at least 68 years old, but doesn’t look a day over 6.

Archaeologists in London, England have uncovered a dramatic 500-year-old male skeleton lying face-down in the mud of the River Thames. Extraordinarily, the skeleton is still wearing his thigh-high leather boots.

Yesterday, Qualcomm announced the name of its next big mobile chip—the Snapdragon 855 (Surprise!)—but didn’t say much about what it could do until now. And while innovations in mobile processors can often seem opaque and difficult to follow, advances in tech between generations are the kind of things that give phones…Read more...

Rumor has it the first trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home is coming this Saturday out of Brazil Comic-Con. If that’s true, fans are soon going to learn a lot more about what Peter Parker has been up to since, well, we don’t know when. But, we do now have really good images of some of his new duds.

If you lose your keys, or your bag, or your phone, you don’t have to lose your mind, too. Prepare for any bouts of forgetfulness with this Tile Mate, now just $10. The tiny Bluetooth tracker pairs with your phone and beeps when you push a button on the smartphone app, so you can find what you’re looking for. And if…Read more...

Back in 2015, Facebook had a pickle of a problem. It was time to update the Android version of the Facebook app, and two different groups within Facebook were at odds over what the data grab should be.

iTunes gift card discounts are a dime a dozen, but for whatever reason, deals on Google Play credit are far less common. That makes today’s $50 Google Play gift card for $40 deal from Walmart so impressive. 20% off would be a sizable savings for any gift card, but especially for one that’s so universally useful (at…Read more...

Ichthyosaurs and dolphins are the archetypal examples of convergent evolution in action, in which two completely unrelated species acquire near identical characteristics. The discovery of a new ichthyosaur fossil suggests this Jurassic-era creature was even more dolphin-like than we appreciated, featuring warm-blood,…Read more...

What has two short, chunky arms, a mane of feathery gills, and a sleek, green-marbled, eel-like body as long as your leg? No guesses? Meet the reticulated siren, a massive, two and a half foot-long salamander, described for the first time in a paper published today in the journal PLOS ONE, hailing from the remote,…Read more...

The road ahead is rocky for those hoping to build quantum computers, according to a new report from the National Academy of Sciences. But as these computers become possible, the government should prioritize preparing for the potential consequences, which could be dire for cybersecurity.

“It still makes me laugh thinking that Punisher: War Zone was unspooling in theaters while outside people were Christmas shopping,” says Patton Oswalt, Emmy Award-winning comedian, writer, actor, and author. “I don’t think they were doing any kind of courageous counter-programming…It felt like a studio dump.” One of…Read more...

A blast at an Indian research laboratory on Wednesday left one dead and three severely injured, according to Indian news reports.Read more...