Gizmodo

I know it’s summer and everything, but weighted blankets can work wonders for your anxiety in addition to keeping you warm, and several different models are on sale today for some of the best prices we’ve seen, including a rare discount on a 25 pounder. Just note the promo codes.Read more...

The two-person crew aboard a Russian-made Soyuz rocket made an emergency landing in Kazakhstan today shortly after launch. The crew, which was traveling to the International Space Station, is reportedly safe and in “good condition” after the scary failure was broadcast on the web.Read more...

People do astoundingly stupid shit online. But for all the noise we make about everything you should never post on social media, it should really go without saying that potentially implicating yourself in a felony crime by way of a publicly available video is a no-go. Alas, such is the case for one Missouri man who…Read more...

The cryptocurrency markets saw a significant crash on Wednesday (Eastern local time), with just short of $13 billion in value wiped out over the course of just three hours, CNBC reported.

Facebook already has a veritable treasure trove of data on anyone who uses the site, including stuff users do on the web outside of it. It still has an appetite for even more.

The first time you test something, you check out its design, you try all the new features, but even after an hour or more, the device still doesn’t feel as familiar as something you own and use every day. And yet, the first time I sat down and played a round of PUBG Mobile using the Razer Phone 2, I finished with a…Read more...

You never realize how attached to a laptop’s color a brand is until you see it in a new shade. Razer’s known for black and green fingerprint magnets, so it’s a bit of a (pleasant) surprise to learn that the company has a new white laptop you can potentially use without showcasing your affection for games next time you…Read more...

In yet another case of a search engine finding itself in hot water over racist, sexist, or otherwise problematic search results, it appears Microsoft’s Bing—whose technology also powers Yahoo’s search function—is returning wildly offensive related search suggestions in its image search function. A report from online…Read more...

Last week we kicked off the annual io9 Halloween Costume show—and like the good, alarmingly well-prepared readers you are, some of you have already gotten plans sorted for your Halloween costumes three weeks ahead of time! Still looking for inspiration? Come see what our commenters have shown off so far.Read more...

The Grapevine The People’s Eyeroll: Dwayne Johnson’s Casting as John Henry Prompts Deserved Backlash | Deadspin Report: Jimmy Butler Showed Up At Timberwolves Practice To Humiliate The Stars And Yell At The GM | The A.V. Club Fox News briefly forgets films aren’t real, chastises Jamie Lee Curtis for using a gun in HalloweenRead more...

AT&T announced on Wednesday that it is developing yet another streaming service. The so far unnamed project is slated for launch late next year.Read more...

Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has many characters who are familiar to fans of the horror series from Archie Comics, as well as Melissa Joan Hart’s ‘90s TV show. There’s Sabrina (of course), the aunts, Harvey Kinkle, Ambrose, and beloved black cat Salem. However, there’s a new addition to Sabrina’s circle,…Read more...

Harvard physicist Cumrun Vafa is one of string theory’s strongest proponents. But this summer, other string theorists have been reeling from his latest conjecture, which might invalidate their ideas built on a decade-long assumption that dark energy is constant. Vafa’s work implies that dark energy’s value changes.Read more...

A new computer model is revealing the unseen and often bizarre behaviors of particles streaming around rapidly spinning neutron stars, also known as pulsars.

Notch haters of the world certainly had one more thing to complain about yesterday, as Google confirmed the XL version of the new Pixel 3 would include a cutout at the top of the screen to accommodate the phone’s two front-facing cameras and sensors. But in a tweet yesterday, the Made by Google account noted that the …Read more...

Last week, Amazon stunned critics by announcing a $15-per-hour pay floor for all employees and temps across its own facilities and those of its subsidiaries like Whole Foods Market. Excitement gave way to confusion among workers operating with scant details as to how these raises would impact hourly employees making…Read more...

James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch and a non-executive Tesla director, is “in line” to replace Elon Musk as chairman of the company, according to the Financial Times. Musk must relinquish the title after settling a fraud case last month with the SEC over tweets.Read more...

Australian scientists have discovered a previously unknown chain of volcanic seamounts near Tasmania. The area appears to be brimming with marine life, including a surprising number of whales who may be using the undersea volcanoes as a navigational tool.

On Tuesday, a researcher for Google’s Project Zero security team published a report revealing how WhatsApp users could lose control of their account just by answering a video call from a bad actor.Read more...

Back in April, Mark Zuckerberg got caught deleting old messages he’d sent through Facebook. The tech company was forced to confirm that the CEO was reaching into other people’s inboxes and deleting old messages, but assured us that it was fine because Facebook would be giving the feature to everyone soon. Well, it’s…Read more...

After 10 women were assaulted in northwest London over the past nine months, local police are now urging women to not use headphones when they’re out walking alone.

The Home Hub appeared at this week’s Made by Google event like a dessert you forgot to order. Sure, there were plenty of rumors that Google would announce its own touchscreen-enabled Home device. But after spending just a few minutes with the thing, I realized what a treat it might be. This little hub might be the…Read more...

Now we know just who’s behind two crucial figures in The Witcher television series. Netflix has confirmed the actors who will bring Ciri and Yennefer to life in its new fantasy epic.

Making smartphones is hard, and despite having one of the best pedigrees in the business, Andy Rubin’s company stumbled out of the gate when it launched the Essential PH-1 last year. At first, the Essential Phone’s camera wasn’t great and it’s software wasn’t quite as smooth as we’d like, but thanks to continued…Read more...

British billionaire Richard Branson says Virgin Galactic—after years of promises and delays—is just weeks away from conducting its first suborbital test flight.Read more...

I’ve never been able to quite figure out why I hate snakes, but my disdain of slithering serpents extends to the robot variety as well. I’m sure part of it comes from the way they wriggle and writhe to get around; it just freaks me out. But at the same time, I’m also impressed that robotics researchers have taught robo…Read more...

Inquisitive kids ask some questions that parents just can’t answer. Astronomer Juna Kollmeier’s son gave her a real stumper one night back in 2014:Read more...

For years, a team at Amazon reportedly worked on software that vetted the resumes of job applicants in an effort to surface the most likely hires. It gradually became clear that no matter how hard engineers tried to fix it, the recruitment engine found a way to discriminate against women, Reuters reports.Read more...

Zoe Saldana offers some cryptic Avengers 4 clues. The Rock is teaming up with his Jumanji director for a wild new fantasy film on Netflix. Mädchen Amick offers a detailed take on Alice Cooper’s headspace going into Riverdale’s return. Plus, Richard Wenk on his script for the Kraven movie. Put Captain Spoilers in the…Read more...

Concerts can be boring. Typically, you’ve got an artist on stage singing songs and stuff, and then a bunch of spotlights beaming columns of color through some fake smoke. But something new is on the horizon, and it’s equal parts creepy and futuristic.Read more...

If you love inky blacks and vibrant colors—and who doesn’t?—this 55" 2017 OLED LG TV is down to an all-time low $1000 today at Woot as a refurb, o $1800 for 65" (though we’ve seen refurbs from Walmart for $1,600, in that case).

If there’s anything Walmart shoppers needed, it is shopping carts that spy on you. And those shoppers are in luck: Per Vice, the retail giant has filed a patent for shopping carts that could potentially host a range of sensors that would track shoppers throughout the store.

There are a lot of things to be tired about in 2018—really, take your pick. But it’s possible that the most exhausting thing to surface in the frothing tide of tedium that is social media has made its way to Twitter in an obvious challenge to all of us to log off forever. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you an…Read more...

Environmental Protection Agency chief and former energy lobbyist Andrew Wheeler—who is pretty much ex-EPA chief Scott Pruitt minus the latter’s most obviously corrupt tendencies—isn’t the most discerning social media user. In fact, judging by Twitter and Facebook discoveries on Tuesday by the Huffington Post, Wheeler…Read more...

Over the weekend, Microsoft pulled the latest update build of Windows 10 (version 1809) after a bug that flew past its Feedback Hub without the company’s notice resulted in mass file deletion for some users. Now, the company’s director of program management for Windows servicing and delivery, John Cable, says that the…Read more...

In pop culture, even unrelated characters can have something significant in common. They’re both clowns. They’re both purple. They’re both cyborgs. And that middle ground is where artist Alex Solis likes to play.Read more...

It’s been a little more than a month since it was announced that Goop, the controversial lifestyle brand of actress Gwyneth Paltrow, settled a false advertising lawsuit over scientifically unproven claims about its vaginal quartz and jade eggs—you may remember the ones. However, in a new interview with BBC addressing…Read more...

Some of the most fascinating things about Starz’s adaptation of American Gods revolve around the major changes made in order to make the show feel contemporary. Neil Gaiman first penned the original novel back in 1999 when the world was a drastically different place—and heading into season two, the show is still…Read more...

Two years ago Dyson used its expertise in pushing air to create a premium hair dryer that was absurdly expensive, but, in our testing at the time, surprisingly worth the investment. Today the company is announcing its first follow-up to the Supersonic: a new styling tool called the Airwrap that replaces the…Read more...

A bipartisan coalition of 35 attorneys general signed a formal request today for the Federal Communications Commission to do something about all the damn spoofing robocalls that have driven us all to basically stop answering our phones ever.Read more...

During the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 79 AD, clouds of superheated gas enveloped the ancient city of Pompeii and its surrounding areas, instantly vaporizing bodily fluids and soft tissues, according to new research. Sounds grim, but this mode of death was actually a blessing in disguise, given the alternatives.Read more...

They don’t look remarkable to the untrained eye. The skull bones are fragmentary, unrecognizable to most. The story of a fearsome tyrannosaur, who lived millions of years before T. rex, would remain lost to the ages had it not been for the fossil’s discovery in New Mexico by a dedicated team of dinosaur hunters.

Warner Bros. has just confirmed to io9 that James Gunn is in discussions to write, with an eye to direct, the next installment of the Suicide Squad franchise. He’ll have a completely new take on the property.Read more...

Two-factor authentication is a simple and crucial step toward preventing someone from hacking into your account, and Instagram just updated this key security feature for all users.

In September, the Netherlands counterterrorism unit the NCTV identified a new group threatening public safety: anti-wind farm activists.Read more...

Google’s Pixel 2 was a good smartphone with a great camera. For the Pixel 3, the company’s bringing us a bunch of new software solutions to make the photos look even better.

You might wonder why, given all the hype, there isn’t graphene in every product you own yet. Well, a new study has found that 60 companies that sell the Nobel prize-winning ultra-thin carbon sheets produce utter trash.Read more...

Google’s attempt at a splashy Pixel 3 launch event today may have been dulled by some of the most expansive product leaks in recent memory, but luckily the company had a bit more to talk about than a couple of iterative smartphone updates. Here’s a rundown of everything Google announced today, as well as some of the…Read more...

As anyone who has spent any amount of time on Twitter can tell you, the internet can bring out the worst in us. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that scientists in Europe are now hoping to catalogue exactly how the online hellscape affects mental health and well-being.Read more...

As hundreds of millions of people flood social networks, tech companies are struggling to weed out harassment on their platforms—and so they’re turning to machines for help. On Tuesday, Instagram announced it was doing just that.Read more...