Gizmodo

As the National Transportation Safety Board continues to investigate what caused an engine explosion on a Southwest flight that led to the death of a passenger earlier this week, Reuters reported the airlines fought against new inspections rules proposed by the engine manufacturer.

A recent change to Google’s App Engine will discontinue a practice called domain-fronting, an essential technique used by dozens of internet freedom tools designed to allow users to work around state-level internet censorship.Read more...

It’s a tough race to be the most crooked bank in America, but Wells Fargo, God bless ‘em, has been making a strong case for quite some time now.Read more...

Google employees have spent the past few months pushing back against their company’s involvement in Project Maven, a Department of Defense initiative to enhance image processing of drone footage using artificial intelligence. As Gizmodo first reported, Google is contracted with the DoD to provide artificial…Read more...

When confronted by an enemy, Southeast Asian “exploding ants” do exactly what their name implies: they explode. Ignored for decades, researchers have completed a detailed survey of these enigmatic ants, discovering over a dozen species that fit into this group, including one that’s completely new to science.Read more...

The latest and final trailer for Deadpool 2 added a new member to the X-Force: Peter. He doesn’t have any powers, he just responded to the ad. And, as it turns out, he’s also got a dad-tastic Twitter presence.

Ever since researchers first discovered that bacterial immune systems could be hijacked to selectively change DNA in living creatures, CRISPR gene-editing technology has been limited by the boundaries of the cell wall. CRISPR allows scientists to cut and paste little bits of DNA, swapping out even single letters of…Read more...

When Mark Zuckerberg appeared before Congress last week, several lawmakers grilled him on Facebook’s failures to comply with a 2012 consent decree that required the social media company to submit routine privacy audits to the Federal Trade Commission.Read more...

A Phoenix news station reports a bizarre incident involving a $500,000 check mistakenly deposited into the bank account of a recent law school graduate.

A team of physicists has figured out how to bend diamonds, according to a new paper. Okay, we’re talking about nano-scale diamond needles here. But it’s an impressive feat, because while diamonds are known for their hardness, these rocks will break if they are bent even a tiny bit.Read more...

EarthNow is a new company looking to provide satellite imagery and live video in virtually real-time. Its unsettling pitch describes a network of satellites that can see any corner of the globe and provide live video with a latency of about a second. And a look at the startup’s top investors gives a lot of confidence…Read more...

Hawaii’s Department of Natural Resources released footage this week of a monk seal pup brandishing a knife. It’s equal parts menacing, adorable, and depressing as hell.

The US Senate voted to confirm Jim Bridenstine as the NASA administrator in a 50-49 vote today. The position has been vacant since January 2017. President Trump first nominated Bridenstine this past September.Read more...

Netflix wants to get into the movie theater business, according to a new report from The Los Angeles Times. Anonymous sources told the paper that the Los Gatos-based entertainment giant pursued a deal to buy the Mark Cuban-owned Landmark Theaters but ultimately backed out due to a high sale price. While it might sound…Read more...

Admit it, you dun goofed. You hemmed and hawed and reasoned that no one else would buy them, but now they’re gone. The last of the remaining Windows Phones are finally out of stock, and you can be pretty damn sure they aren’t coming back.Read more...

Jupiter’s sandy swirls and blue-hued poles are visible even from Earth. But the Juno spacecraft’s crisp and colorful images begin as warped and dull raw files. The fantastic finished visuals are the result of enthusiastic amateur astronomers, software developers, and artists communicating over message boards. They…Read more...

Last month, Apple released a snazzy new music video commercial directed by Spike Jonze with music by Anderson Paak and starring FKA Twigs. So far it has been viewed roughly 8,725,000 on YouTube. I can’t be the only one that noticed this incredibly dark switcheroo it pulls right in front of your eyes.

In 2012, a ruling by Britain’s High Court found that keeping the mugshots of innocent people in police databases was unlawful. But almost six years later, the country’s Home Office has defended the continued retention of such images, saying, basically, the problem is too expensive to fix.Read more...

Amazon wants you to use that tax return money on some new classy furniture. Today, they’ve discounted some pieces of their most popular brands by $75 or more.Read more...

Edward Minor had a paper due for his English class on income inequality at Wayne County Community College in Detroit. He’d completed all the research and knew what he wanted to write. The main issue was time—he only had a few hours.Read more...

There is some confusion around New York City’s “trafficking hotline.” But the mess isn’t as dumb and bad as a recent report makes it seem.Read more...

Are you a billionaire suffering from wrist cramps brought on by the endless stacks of checks you need to endorse? A two-dollar rubber stamp is one solution, but more befitting of your fiduciary status could be Jaquet Droz’s Signing Machine, which uses sophisticated clockwork mechanisms to flawlessly recreate your…Read more...

Amazon bills itself as a creator of jobs. Look no further than the ludicrous subsidy packages offered by cities in competition to host its second headquarters. But according to public records requests obtained by the Intercept, Amazon can drain public coffers in other ways, with five states listing Bezos’s empire as a…Read more...

The Bajau people of Malaysia and the Philippines are renowned for their free-diving abilities, often working eight-hour shifts in search of fish and other sea critters. Underwater sessions can last upwards of two minutes, with accumulated daily totals of breath-holding often reaching five hours. New research suggests…Read more...

It was the worst military aircraft of all time. Developed by a man described as “the greatest charlatan ever to see his name associated with an airplane,” the Christmas Bullet was the rare kind of fighter which had a perfect kill ratio: it killed everyone who ever tried to fly it.Read more...

A Canadian woman who was caught smuggling a fuck-ton of cocaine after posting ritzy photos of herself on Instagram was just sentenced to minimum four years and nine months in prison.Read more...

Despite the fact they are flesh-eating guerilla warriors capable of thoroughly thrashing a vastly technologically superior foe, everyone’s takeaway about the Ewoks is that they’re cute, stress-lowering, fuzzy teddy bears. But Star Wars: Battlefront II has added a new mode that reminds us that these teddies can be…Read more...

If there’s one thing I know about human males, it’s that they love ejaculating. It can sometimes seem like their entire existence is motivated by a need to shoot sperm and seminal fluid from their genitalia. But have you ever wondered from where they acquired such a desire?

If you’re a gamer who doesn’t want to haul a PC with you on vacation, you could book your next trip to Panama City where the local Hilton has packed a ridiculously customized hotel room full of high-end gaming gear and accessories. The beanbag chairs, VR goggles, and racing seat all make sense to me, but why did the…Read more...

It’s shaping to be one of the most convenient excuses to avoid ordering a salad yet: An outbreak of Escherichia coli linked to chopped romaine lettuce has now spread to 16 states and sickened over 50 people since mid-March, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Read more...

The term “Asperger’s syndrome” will never be heard the same way again, owing to new research showing that Hans Asperger—the Austrian pediatrician for whom the disorder was named—was an active participant in the Nazi eugenics program, recommending that patients deemed “not fit for life” be sent to a notorious…Read more...

When Krypton was first announced, many people dismissed it as a simple prequel starring Superman’s grandfather. Then it was revealed that the stakes were much higher: Brainiac had gone back in time to attack the planet and prevent Superman from ever being born, while space adventurer Adam Strange traveled back to stop…Read more...

I’ve been waiting for this to happen for a long time, and I’m actually a little surprised it’s only happening now. But with the launch of the Nubia’s Red Magic, there’s finally a gaming phone with built-in RGB lighting.Read more...

Damn, I’ve never seen a tech company give up on a project so quickly since Microsoft bet big on the Kin, but Intel may have taken the cake as it announces the closure of the division responsible for its intriguing Vaunt smart glasses. Just five years after creating the New Devices Group, Intel is shuttering it, and…Read more...

Moronic YouTube personalities commonly have a problem discerning what goes into a funny prank. For Barcelona-based YouTuber ReSet, his lack of a sense of humor could cost him two years in prison. Spanish prosecutors reportedly intend to throw the book at him for giving a homeless man Oreos filled with toothpaste.Read more...

For years, Motorola has been the leader in making cheap phones feel like quality products, instead of gadgets designed only to hit a certain price point. And while the next generation of Moto’s low cost handsets don’t seem super exciting, from what I’ve seen so far, they should continue Motorola’s legacy of making,…Read more...

David Cope didn’t set out to make anyone mad. In 1980, the composer envisioned a tool to help cure his creative block: a machine that could keep track of all the sounds and loose threads running through his mind, find similarities, and produce an entire piece of music inspired by it. So he built it.Read more...

If, for you, Halloween is less about trying to score free candy, and more about terrifying every last adult and child that crosses your path, then a company called VFX Crates has the perfect prank for you. What looks like an empty (suspiciously blood-splattered) box breaks open to send a screaming, heart…Read more...

Jeff Pringle is an Oakland-based swordsmith, so it’s no surprise he has has hundreds of pre-industrial and viking-era swords, axes, knives and other sharp, wonderful artifacts in his collection. But Pringle describes his collection as almost “accidental”, and he the way he uses his collection has put the blades he…Read more...

Lynda Carter says she’s could be making an appearance in Wonder Woman 2. There’s more rumors about who’ll be joining Harley Quinn in the Birds of Prey movie. Colin Trevorrow is already teasing Jurassic World 3. Plus, intriguing casting for Stranger Things’ third season, and new looks at Cloak and Dagger. Spoilers get!

The last trailer for Deadpool 2 namedropped the infamous black ops X-Team, X-Force. Now, we get to meet the actual members of the team as Wade Wilson goes on a mission against his longtime time-hopping frenemy.

Humans have been drilling holes into each others’ heads for thousands of years, and, surprisingly, we’ve actually been pretty good at it, even way back when. A re-analysis of a 5,000-year-old cow’s skull suggests humans were performing cranial surgery on animals as well—but why would they even bother? The answer could…Read more...

Last year AMD finally gave us something we desperately needed with the release of Ryzen: A viable rival to Intel in the CPU space. The rivalry has meant faster CPUs for desktops and laptops as each company races to surpass the other, but there’s a potential problem for AMD. It doesn’t have the same track record for…Read more...

Later this month, Van Eaton Galleries is holding an auction of art and memorabilia from designer Rolly Crump. The eccentric artist helped design some of Disney’s most iconic theme park rides, and some of the most fascinating items going up for sale come from Crump’s early days working on what would become the Haunted…Read more...

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a strict set of laws governing what data tech companies can collect on users, requiring them to seek explicit opt-in consent before doing so, and promptly disclose breaches, goes into effect on May 25th, 2018. Currently, the GDPR would require Facebook to…Read more...

The notorious Florida Man is at it again, this time allegedly placing nearly 100 million robocalls offering fake travel deals, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

San Bruno, California police responded to a threat of a copycat shooting on YouTube’s headquarters the day after a woman named Nasim Aghdam opened fire there on April 3rd, 2018, shooting and injuring three employees before killing herself.

Amazon CEO and Lex Luthor lookalike Jeff Bezos announced Wednesday in a letter to shareholders that more than 100 million people around the world are subscribers to Amazon Prime, providing them the privilege of getting all the shit they buy delivered in just two days.Read more...

Not if it means this...Read more...