Gizmodo

After announcing its pivot to podcasts, Spotify appears to have kind of a wonky idea for how to get you to listen to them.Read more...

Scientists found a radioactive signature of atomic bomb blasts in crustaceans living in the ocean’s depths, according to a new paper.

More than 700 cases of the measles have been reported in the United States this year, according to federal health officials, with hundreds in quarantine. It’s been characterized as the largest outbreak of the preventable disease since 2000, the year that it was declared eliminated from the country. But it’s continuing…Read more...

Apple engineer Walter Huang was driving his 2017 Tesla Model X on U.S. Highway 101 in Mountain View, California, the morning of March 23, 2018, when the car steered left into a concrete median, killing Huang in the resulting crash.

The archaeology world is abuzz today with news of the first Denisovan fossil found outside of Siberia. The 160,000-year-old jawbone was uncovered by a Buddhist monk in a Chinese cave nearly 40 years ago—an aspect of this story that’s as intriguing as it is frustrating.

Knowing that our apps gather boatloads of information about us—some for years—can be unsettling. Google’s various apps are chief among these, and the company said it has heard user requests to make managing their data a simpler process. The company announced Wednesday that it’s rolling out a new feature to allow users…Read more...

In 2017, observatories around the world observed a high-energy collision between a pair of dense objects, each slightly more massive than the Sun but only the size of a city. A similar collision closer to home could have been responsible for producing some of the heaviest elements in our own solar system—and…Read more...

There’s a scene about a third of the way into Avengers: Endgame that has three levels of surprise. Two of them, everyone gets. But the third one is only for a very select group of people: fantasy football players.

New research seems to show encouraging progress in helping treat the complex neurodevelopmental disorder autism. Two unrelated clinical trials, involving men and children with autism, suggest that using drugs to interact with a hormone called vasopressin could improve the social functioning of people living with the…Read more...

Everyone makes a bad tweet now and then. And sometimes a tweet is so bad, that the user has to delete it forever. But the internet never forgets.

In 2010, archaeologists found evidence of a previously unknown hominin, the Denisovans, in a Siberian cave. Researchers are now reporting the discovery of a 160,000-year-old Denisovan jawbone pulled from a cave on the Tibetan Plateau. The fossil is now the first evidence of this mysterious human species outside of…Read more...

A public Slack channel that offered up cash prizes of $1,000 to guess a random word—yes, you read that right—has been shut down by the company, which said the game violated its rules.Read more...

TCL’s affordable 6-series TVs are a favorite of ours since they offering every form of HDR (including top-shelf Dolby Vision), local dimming zones for better contrast and black levels, and Roku software.Read more...

While space agencies simulate an asteroid impact this week at the 2019 Planetary Defense Conference, there’s a real asteroid they’re monitoring that will make a close appearance in just 10 years.

The Nintendo Switch is better with friends, and you can add an extra player by picking up an extra set of Joy-Con for $48 if you’re okay with refurbished. Woot’s price is a $20 less than buying new, and a few bucks off of Amazon’s refurbished price.

Dungeons & Dragons is, dare I say it, cool now? Or at the very least, trendy. If you’re curious to try it out for yourself, but don’t know how to get started, this starter set is down to $8 on Amazon, a new all-time low.

When Apple kills a piece of tech, it’s typically gone for good. That’s how things went for the FireWire and USB Type-A ports on old MacBooks, along with the “courageous” removal of the headphone jack back on the iPhone 7. However, if a new patent obtained by Apple is any indication, it’s possible that we might see the…Read more...

In the future, we were promised flying cars and fake meat. While the flying car part hasn’t panned out, fake meat appears poised to make inroads in Americans’ lives, particularly through fast foods. And in the process, it could end up being a big deal for the planet.

In November, thousands of Google staffers walked out of their offices around the world to protest how the company handled alleged misconduct by several top executives. It marked what’s likely the largest collective action of tech workers to date. And on Wednesday, exactly six months later, Google workers will protest…Read more...

If you live in a tiny apartment or condo, it’s doubtful you have the luxury of a walk-in shower. A cramped tub probably does double-duty for all your bath time needs, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The Aircurv is an expanding inflatable curtain that lets you move around and stretch out without rubbing up against…Read more...

Amidst a rise in reports that emergency rooms are seeing a spike in visits from people who have seriously messed themselves up while riding electric scooters, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided to assess the threat of the increasingly popular vehicles, which are only going to become more prevalent…Read more...

After five long years, Google has finally done what every other major smartwatch maker has already figured out: How to add widgets.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will start using Rapid DNA tests on some asylum seekers at the U.S.–Mexico border next week, according to a new report from CNN. The tests are intended to determine whether adults and children who are traveling together are actually family members.Read more...

Blue whales are impressive creatures. Stretching up to 90 feet long and weighing over 300,000 pounds, these gentle giants often migrate hundreds of miles between their summer feeding grounds and winter breeding grounds. It’s no surprise, then, that the whales are pros at long distance communication, producing calls…Read more...

The new season of Agents of SHIELD is closer than you think. Child’s Play commits to a very peculiar marketing campaign. The Suicide Squad adds another Batman villain. Plus, what’s to come in iZombie’s final season, and a new John Wick clip. To me, my spoilers!

The Food and Drug Administration has cleared for sale tobacco giant Phillip Morris International (PMI) and its sister company Altria’s baffling, “heat not burn” iQOS dry tobacco vaporizer on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported, handing Big Tobacco a major win despite there not actually being any evidence it is safer than…Read more...

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been sentenced to 50 weeks in prison, just shy of a year, for jumping bail in London back in the summer of 2012. Assange appeared before a UK court this morning and received close to the maximum sentence, but may only serve half of his 50-week sentence after other factors like…Read more...

Downtown Davenport, Iowa flooded after HESCO barriers in the region failed sometime around 3:30 p.m. local time as the Mississippi River rose to nearly 22 feet, with no injuries reported but authorities and volunteers having to rescue some people by boat, the Quad-City Times reported on Tuesday.

Everyone has a theory: Maybe it’s that iPhones are too expensive. Maybe it’s that Apple’s quality control seems weaker, or that they’ve alienated consumers by removing consumer-friendly features like the headphone jack. Maybe it’s that iPhones keep getting more and more expensive at a time when consumers have realized…Read more...

There’s a lot going on in pop culture at the moment, but somehow we’re still thinking about The Orville’s thrilling season two finale. Our immediate concern is that Seth MacFarlane’s sci-fi series has yet to be renewed by Fox, but here’s hoping that’s coming soon, and we can turn our attention to the other things on…Read more...

The so-called vampire facials that have been touted by celebrities for ostensible rejuvenation benefits have been linked to two cases of HIV in New Mexico, according to health officials.

13 Reasons Why, a Netflix show exploring why its protagonist died by suicide, has sparked debate among the research community as to whether it contributed to an uptick in suicide rates. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings responded to this indictment after the first season, simply stating that “nobody has to watch it.” But…Read more...

To open the decade, Mark Zuckerberg defiantly announced that the age of privacy was over. Now, as we approach the decade’s end, the Facebook founder and CEO says he’s rebuilding the world’s biggest social network around privacy first.

The Food and Drug Administration is forcing certain sleep drugs to carry a deadly serious warning about the rare, frightening side effects they can cause. The side effects, which have reportedly caused serious injuries and even deaths, include sleepwalking and other intricate behaviors done while a person is sleeping…Read more...

Stories about amusement parks are typically dominated by two topics: either the opening of a new attraction or the catastrophic failure of an old one. This time it was neither, as two crash test dummies designed to ensure a roller coaster was operating safely failed, causing them to be launched through the roof of a…Read more...

Remember back in ye olde days when you would poke that cute friend of yours on Facebook? Well, at its yearly F8 conference today, Facebook announced it’s bringing that weird fuck-y energy back to the platform with a new feature called Secret Crush.Read more...

This past January, astronomers managed to capture the moment a space rock struck the Moon during a total lunar eclipse. Now we’re learning more about this unprecedented event, including the speed of the offending object and the intense temperatures reached during the impact.Read more...

About a month ago, Valve teased that it was working on its own VR headset separate from the HTC’s Vive and Vive Pro, but still compatible with all the Steam VR games that are currently available. Now, Valve has finally released a ton of details about the Index, including some of its new and unusual abilities.Read more...

You can hang around as many laboratories as you want, but there are zero chances you’ll ever get bitten by a spider and find yourself with superpowers. The easiest (and safest) way to realize your Spider-Man fantasies is to build this DIY web shooter instead, which also ensures no music stands will ever pose a threat…Read more...

For as long as Indonesia has existed—even during colonial times—Jakarta has been its capital. But the 10 million-strong coastal city that sits on the northern coast of Java will soon lose that title, thanks to some serious infrastructural and environmental challenges.Read more...

Facebook’s F8 conference is currently underway, which means that Mark Zuckerberg’s company will attempt to rebrand itself as new and improved following its absolute shitshow of a year in 2018. Also: privacy, I guess.Read more...

Researchers at Stanford University and elsewhere say they’ve taken an important step in potentially helping people with a barely understood ailment that’s long been viewed skeptically by the public and even some doctors. They claim to have created a blood test that may be able to readily identify people who have…Read more...

Lyft and Uber are halting onboarding for new drivers in New York City following last year’s historic vote that lifted the wage minimum for drivers ride-hailing companies late last year, Politico reported Monday.Read more...

A pair of genetic experts are claiming that the controversial human gene-editing experiment conducted by Chinese scientist He Jiankui was not only unethical, it was also deeply flawed from a scientific perspective. The experiment, they said, likely won’t work as intended, and the two girls produced by the project now…Read more...

The latest episode of Game of Thrones shocked audiences when it seemingly ended one of the show’s greatest conflicts and dashed hopes about a prophecy that’s been in place since the beginning. But we still have three episodes left, and the return of Azor Ahai and Lightbringer could still be fulfilled. But it would…Read more...

Cars are as wrapped up in Los Angeles’ identity as tacos, the Hollywood sign, and palm trees. But the auto culture could change dramatically in the next few decades. On Monday, the city introduced its version of a Green New Deal and while it won’t quite ban cars, it will alter transit in the city.Read more...

Scientists think that they’ve stumbled upon the remains of a stellar explosion first observed by Chinese astronomers over 2,000 years ago, according to a new paper.

A smart doorbell company owned by Amazon is looking for a new managing editor to oversee a team of journalists breaking crime news for an app tailor-made to stoke fear in its users and loop in the cops.

For most Soviet citizens, buying a new car was financially impossible. To put things in perspective, Alexander Petrovych (who built one of the cars you’ll see here) made a monthly salary of 140 rubles in the 1970s. At the time, a new Lada cost 6,030 rubles. So, if Alexander really wanted a Lada, he would need to…Read more...

If you have any old hard drives or SSDs gathering dust, this $8 enclosure can turn it into a handy USB-C external drive. No tools are required: just pop in the drive, and plug it in.