Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's round up of the latest in wallet-draining plastic goodness. This week: Star Wars gets ready for the holidays, droid style, Mattel reveals its wildest ever Masters of the Universe playset, and... teeny tiny trains? Check it out!

A host of companies are in the process of developing commercial space stations. Aside from the complexities of assembling these structures in low Earth orbit, these companies are also trying to figure out which government agency should serve as the regulator once their orbital outposts are up and running.

In the digital space, corporations and companies are faced with the dilemma of creating a social media presence that people actually engage with. Recently, Duolingo has emerged as a success story of how to wrap the entirety of social media around its finger, but a recent tweet may be a sign that the brand needs to…Read more...

Meta’s finally shutting down its Instant Articles service after seven years of dutifully serving up fast news and meandering listicles. The departure marks the clearest sign yet of Meta’s pivot towards video and away from hard news.Read more...

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has ended its first season, and with it lifted the lid on mysteries that have hounded viewers for the past seven episodes before it. But it also revealed another secret, binding them all in darkness: that what we’ve watched was less of an actual season of television and more…Read more...

Astronomers have detected a big boom in the distant universe that they believe may be the most powerful explosion ever recorded. It’s already got a nickname: ‘BOAT,’ or the Brightest Of All Time.Read more...

Perhaps the most accurate portrayal of horror-loving friends ever captured on screen, Los Espookys—HBO’s underrated comedy series—is back for season two with its earnest eccentric vibes. It comes from the brilliant minds of stars and writers Ana Fabrega, Julio Torres, and Fred Armisen, and while it’s easy to liken the…Read more...

Beyond Meat is looking a little thin lately, especially considering the repeated blows the fake meat market has taken since 2021. Now it’s becoming more clear the company’s profits have been butterflied and pounded into a thin morsel of what they once were.Read more...

In horror, it’s often the most simple premise that makes for the most potent frights. That’s definitely the case for short film There’s Something in the Silence, about a woman who suspects her new hearing aids might be tuned into a supernatural frequency.

The microscopic world is filled with as much terror and delight as the one visible to our pedestrian eyes. And for 47 years, Nikon’s Small World Photomicrography Competition has celebrated the tiny by showcasing some of the most memorable images taken under an optical microscope using a variety of different methods.…Read more...

Snow crab fishing season in Alaska’s Bering Sea has been canceled for the first time in history. Bristol Bay’s red king crab fishery will also be closed, for the second year in a row. Both decisions follow shellfish surveys that revealed startling population collapses.

Nvidia is delaunchifying, un-unleasing, decatapulting, or—OK fine, we’ll use the word the company used—“unlaunching” its 12 GB version of the upcoming RTX 4080 graphics card. Why? Well according to a Friday blog post, the card is “fantastic,” but “it’s not named right. Having two GPUs with the 4080 designation is…Read more...

The Mississippi River’s water levels are so low that it’s messing with barge traffic and recreational boat travel along the crucial waterway.Read more...

Equifax is sending a message to its work force by firing at least two dozen of them. The company has allegedly used its own software to identify remote employees working another full-time job while employed by Equifax.

There is something deeply nostalgic about returning to the world of Supernatural. Sure, the whole thing lasted 15 seasons and only just ended in 2020, but for me, Supernatural is the show that I watched on repeat in college, back in 2010. While there were definitely some more absurd arcs towards the end of that era of…Read more...

It’s been a year since NASA launched its Lucy spacecraft on a mission to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. On Sunday, Lucy will wave hello to Earth for the first time during a brief, but potentially dangerous, rendezvous. In the unlikely event of a collision, the mission team has prepared maneuvers to protect the…Read more...

I wrote earlier that I’m still getting to know the Pixel Watch after being stuck on Samsung watches for so long. But I’m concurrently learning the Apple Watch Series 8. I’ve had the Apple Watch for only a few weeks, but it’s already given me an idea of how Google can improve the Pixel Watch.

The Scottish actor and comedian Robbie Coltrane has died, as reported by the Hollywood Reporter.

Scammers posing as Canadian immigration experts exploited Facebook and WhatsApp groups to target migrants in a months long data harvesting scheme. In some cases, migrants wrapped up in the scam are convinced to recruit over a dozen more desperate people, allegedly in exchange for help applying and paying for a visa.…Read more...

The National Science Foundation announced this week that the site of the destroyed Arecibo Observatory radio telescope in Puerto Rico will become a STEM-focused educational center, and it’s seeking proposals to manage the new project.Read more...

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Earlier this week, NASA announced that its DART spacecraft successfully moved an asteroid by a few dozen feet. This raises a valid question: How the heck did scientists figure this out, given that Dimorphos is nearly 7 million miles away? Needless to say, this task required some clever astronomy and a veritable…Read more...

Ron Watkins, the alleged mastermind behind the QAnon conspiracy, has shut down his campaign for an Arizona congressional seat. Watkins was running as a Republican and announced the termination of his campaign to the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday.

There is a certain charm to immersive experiences at comic cons. If you get the right concept, the right actors, the right vibe, you can transform a 10-to-15 minute timeslot into something transportive and intriguing. That is, of course, if everything goes right. And for the The Sandman’s immersive experience at NYCC,…Read more...

True the Vote, the Texas-based non-profit that’s dedicated itself to denying the validity of the 2020 election and spreading conspiracy theories about voter fraud, was directly involved in the arrest of the CEO of a small election software company earlier this month. A complaint from Gregg Phillips, a True the Vote…Read more...

To say the season finale of She-Hulk broke the fourth wall is an understatement; instead, it would be more accurate to say it was Hulk-Smashed into a fine powder. Your appreciation for the unbelievably meta ending may vary, but it’s worth noting that the... entity pulling the strings of season one was originally…Read more...

Disney+’s Percy Jackson show has found a few more gods. Warrior Nun returns for season 2 in a new trailer. Plus, another look at the new Little Mermaid, and what’s coming on Stargirl, Reginald the Vampire, and more. Spoilers, away!

A young man who was not even old enough to drive back in 2018 managed to yoink nearly $24 million from a major crypto investor’s account. Now, over four years later and thousands likely invested in both an investigation and lawyers fees, Michael Terpin can now claim he has reclaimed all… (presses earpiece closer)...…Read more...

File management has only recently arrived on smartphones in a serious way, but the default Files apps that now appear on Android and iOS are now steadily growing in terms of the functions and features they offer. In not much time at all, we’ve got from not being able to access the files on a phone at all, to having…Read more...

Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX has officially asked the Pentagon to pay for 100% of Ukraine’s access to Starlink, the satellite internet service the billionaire previously said he’d donated to the country, according to documents obtained by CNN. SpaceX also wants the U.S. government to pay for thousands of new…Read more...

After inhabiting our vocabulary and our devices for more than 30 years, “Microsoft Office” is retiring. That doesn’t mean apps like Word and Excel are going away, but rather that the company’s suite of tools is taking on a new, somewhat familiar name: Microsoft 365.Read more...

Good luck on the minefield of social media today as the post-credits scene of DC’s Black Adam has leaked, over a week before the film’s October 21 release. As Warner Bros. gets to work scrubbing posts, we imagine the Rock is gearing up to take back his thunder.Read more...

Studio Ghibli’s beloved 1988 animated film My Neighbor Totoro has come to life on the London stage in a limited offering through January 21, 2023. It joins the expansion of Ghibli’s world in the realms of theme parks and other stage adaptations of Hayao Miyazaki classics, and features the work of the film’s original…Read more...

Sequels are always a challenging endeavor, in Star Trek or otherwise. But there’s something about Star Trek cinematically that makes it really difficult—the franchise rarely ever escaped the cursed of the odd-numbered sequel, and so it’s fitting that Lower Decks approaches its own first attempt at a direct sequel with…Read more...

Advertisers are using insights gleaned from targeted digital advertising and applying it to create physical billboards capable of serving up tailored advertisements catered to the types of people viewing them. If that concept sounds eerily familiar that’s because it’s precisely the type of physical targeted…Read more...

Amazon is preparing to launch its first two Project Kuiper internet satellites later this year, booking a trip on board United Launch Alliance’s upcoming Vulcan Centaur rocket, and not with an ABL Space Systems rocket as was the previous plan.

Food and Drug Administration officials have confirmed what pharmacists have known for weeks: there’s not enough Adderall to go around. The agency declared an official shortage of the stimulant on Wednesday. And though it is focusing on Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals, which makes the bulk of the U.S. stimulant…Read more...

The cast of Dune: The Sisterhood keeps getting more stacked with another exciting addition. Deadline reports that Indira Varma has joined the ensemble of the HBO Max and Legendary prequel series to their Dune franchise. She was most recently seen as the heroic Imperial double agent Tala in the Star Wars Disney+ series …Read more...

The spectral entities of global hackers have haunted DeFi projects throughout the month of October, so much so that we’re not even halfway through the month and yet “Spooky Season” has proved to be the biggest month for hacking activity this year, according to a report by Chainalysis.Read more...

We’ve finally got some concrete details on the long-rumored Netflix ad-supported tier, this time straight from the horse’s mouth. Netflix’s Basic with Ads is expected to launch on November 3 and will cost $6.99 per month in the United States.

Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah gave Ms. Marvel a look and energy never before seen in a Marvel TV series or movie, one that was deliberately meant to appear influenced by the young Avengers fan who also happened to be the show’s protagonist. But bringing a teen’s whimsical doodles to life apparently required…Read more...

Halley’s Comet won’t be visible for 39 more years, but at least we can enjoy its dust. The annual Orionid meteor shower, a byproduct of Halley’s most recent pass near Earth, has begun.

Those who complain about the sound quality of wireless earbuds are missing the point. There are obviously better sounding headphone options out there, but it’s the convenience of wire-free tiny earbuds that consumers have embraced. Beyerdynamic’s second generation Xelento Wireless thinks it can deliver both: wireless…Read more...

This week Meta revealed the Meta Quest Pro, a new virtual reality headset that costs about as much as a pre-inflation mortgage payment. It’s a sleek device, with upgraded hardware, advanced features—and cameras that point inward to track your eyes and face.Read more...

I am still finding my way with the Pixel Watch. Until now, I’ve been faithfully wearing a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 on my left wrist to track my steps and, most importantly, my stress levels. Before Samsung adopted Android’s Wear OS, I was on a first-gen Galaxy Watch Active, which used Tizen but integrated with Samsung’s…Read more...

Covering New York Comic Con is not a sprint, but a marathon. And every now and then you get to take a break and really enjoy a panel. Within the crash of cosplay, incredible artists, and a barrage of news, the Shadow and Bone panel with author Leigh Bardugo and Netflix series stars Amita Suman (Inej Ghafa), Freddy…Read more...

“The latest Marvel movie/TV show/something or other just changed the Marvel universe forever!!!” is a sentiment you hear about practically every Marvel movie/TV show/something or other at this point. Game-changing potentiality drives scope and scale and pushes us onto the next thing, and the thing after that. She-Hulk…Read more...

In a recent case study, doctors describe the unfortunate tale of a man who developed an allergy-like reaction to his own orgasms. The bizarre and rare affliction left him unable to pursue sexual and romantic relationships. But thankfully, the doctors managed to treat his problem using a simple over-the-counter…Read more...

They’re objects so important they’re in the title—twice!—but it’s taken Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power an entire season to get any hint of rings into the picture. Even casual J.R.R. Tolkien fans know what the rings bring once they’re part of the story, so it makes sense the Prime Video series would take its…Read more...

After two years of fieldwork, a group of researchers and First Nations Australians have announced the discovery of centuries-old carvings on 12 boab trees in Australia’s Tanami Desert.Read more...