Gizmodo

Dream Chaser, built by Sierra Space, is being prepped for transport to a NASA facility in Ohio, where it will undergo a series of tests to make sure the spaceplane can survive its heated reentry through Earth's atmosphere. Starting these tests is crucial, demonstrating Dream Chaser's readiness for flights and...Read more...

Deep into the night before All Hallows Eve, Apple's Cupertino spaceship headquarters was shrouded in a dense, black fog as if preparing to release a malevolent force upon the world. Thankfully, when the fog cleared, what we had instead was three new chips, a MacBook Pro update, and an iMac refresh.Read more...

Casey Bloys, who gets very upset when people don't like his shows, announced that the second season of House of the Dragon-the prequel series to George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones-will premier in early summer' of 2024, according to Variety. This news comes by way of a press event, where apparently a trailer for the ...Read more...

Northwestern University scientists may have figured out why pulling an all-nighter can leave us feeling loopy and downright giddy for days after. In a new study out this week, the researchers found that acute sleep deprivation in mice can trigger a rapid release of dopamine within the brain and boost its plasticity,...Read more...

We all know how the story goes: a large asteroid falls to Earth from space, slamming into the Yucatan Peninsula with 100 million megatons of force. The impact spawned tsunami waves best measured in miles and kicked up dust, soot, and sulfur that blotted out the Sun, causing the death of about 75% of Earth's species,...Read more...

Uber and Lyft will pay drivers a combined $328 million as part of a settlement that the companies unlawfully withheld pay and benefits including paid sick leave in New York state. As part of the settlement, New York drivers for the ride-hailing companies are now guaranteed minimum hourly wages, and paid sick leave,...Read more...

Communities throughout the East Coast woke up to a cold blast of air, as temperatures dropped below freezing overnight. Even people in the overheated Southneeded to break out their warm-weather apparel today.

If you're going to put Invincible's Viltrumite turncoat Omni-Man into a fighting game as infamous for its over-the-top gore like Mortal Kombat, then there's only really one way this could've gone.Read more...

OpenAI updated ChatGPT to include PDF services over the weekend, according to user reports. Several AI startups built themselves around PDF analysis to be used as an add-on to ChatGPT, but OpenAI's latest update may have just rendered these startups useless.Read more...

In a not-so-spooky Halloween event, Apple announced its new MacBook Pro and iMac line with its new M3 chips. The new products will be available early next week, and a few early benchmark tests were done very recently to give an idea of how accurate the company's claims were regarding the new chip's performance.

The trailer for the fourth installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot series, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, has been released. The reboot franchise has, to date, been a totally new retelling of the original premise, although it uses some similar characters and locations.Read more...

It's not a glitch. Twitch said it is done with the Nintendo Switch. On Thursday, the streaming company said the app on Nintendo's seven-year console was just too niche. Still, there's a hitch. Nintendo might be preparing to pitch customers with an all-new console to scratch their itch-a sequel Switch-where perhaps...Read more...

The Department of Justice and Google just rumbled their way past the halfway point of a landmark antitrust trial vying to answer a potentially industry-rupturing question: Does Google maintain its ironfisted stranglehold over internet search results because of its superior innovation or as a byproduct of ruthless...Read more...

A24's new unicorn murder comedy whips up a hell of a cast. Eli Roth talks about pushing the far end of the R-Rating for Thanksgiving. See the Hunger Games begin in a new clip from Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Plus, get ready to see more from the next Ghostbusters. Spoilers now!

Nearing the end of an unintended year in space, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio reflected on Earthly pleasures that he was eager to indulge in as soon as he returned home. I think just going out in the yard and enjoying the trees and the silence," Rubio said during a live broadcast from the International Space Station...Read more...

Stranger Things just got a whole lot cuter with Little People Collector versions of iconic moments from the Netflix series.Read more...

A team of scientists at Northwestern University has developed a synthetic version of melanin that could have a million and one uses. In new research, they showed that their melanin can prevent blistering and accelerate the healing process in tissue samples of freshly injured human skin. The team now plans to further...Read more...

The cohort of Silicon Valley tech titans who have been hoovering up Bay Area farmland in the hopes of converting it into a new city have been accused of deploying strong-arm tactics" and a divide-and-conquer" strategy to gobble up as much acreage as possible. A number of local farmers say Flannery Associates, the...Read more...

The last remnants of the fall holidays are getting snowed in as theme parks start to announce their imminent winter takeovers.Read more...

Let's get streaming! Welcome to io9's latest edition of the Nerd's Watch, where we pare down the enormous lists of new films and television shows arriving on all your favorite streaming services into the sci-fi, fantasy, and horror titles we think you'll like most. (And sometimes, just the ones that we like most.)

U.S. lawmakers are questioning Costco's decision to sell banned Chinese-based security products reportedly linked to human rights abuses and cybersecurity risks. Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) wrote a letter to the retailer on Tuesday, calling for Costco to remove Lorex surveillance...Read more...

A new lawsuit alleges that HBO's Casey Bloys told staffers to tweet snarky comments at critics who were mean to his shows online. According to a report in Rolling Stone, starting in 2020, HBO's then-president of original programming allegedly instructed staffers to create false Twitter (now X) accounts for this...Read more...

Welp, it's about to become official: Disney will soon own all of Hulu, scooping up the remaining third that Comcast has held onto since Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox four years ago. The deal has been in the works for a while but will reportedly take effect on December 1.Read more...

Google launched new features for Search and Lens in an update to help users solve difficult math, physics, and geometry problems, the company said in a blog post Monday. Simply type an equation into the search bar, or take a picture of your homework with Lens, and the update will provide you with a step-by-step...Read more...

The Pentagon's UFO investigation unit wants anyone who has been employed by the United States to report first-hand knowledge of government projects related to alien activity on their new website, according to Vice Wednesday. A submission form on the unit's website allows former government employees to report UFO...Read more...

This song is ending," the Tenth Doctor is told as he limps painfully back to the TARDIS to begin his regeneration in The End of Time," but the story never ends." It's an incredibly Doctor Who thing that this poignancy is delivered by a choir-backed, tentacle-faced psychic alien with a glowing ball attached to said...Read more...

Nothing gives best friend energy quite like silicon and some 1's and 0's. Fresh off the heels of Meta's dystopian AI influencers modeled after real celebrities, the social networking platform Instagram is reportedly working on its own customizable artificial intelligence friends.Read more...

Apple's request to throw out a mass lawsuit over the accusation that the company used subpar iPhone batteries was rejected by a UK judge Wednesday. The lawsuit claims Apple used updates to slow down the functionality of the iPhone operating systems to hide the defective batteries.Read more...

A wildfire in Southern California has burned more than 2,000 acres and prompted more than 4,000 people in Riverside County to evacuate.Read more...

You've got one month left to wait if you've been holding out to see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny on Disney+. The streamer has announced that Harrison Ford's final turn as the history-loving hero arrives December 1, and it won't be alone: a feature-length doc, Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford,...Read more...

Xbox claims its latest efforts to clamp down on third-party accessories won't impact accessibility-minded gamers who rely on third-party devices to play their games, so long as they keep using the Xbox-branded accessible controller.Read more...

Chinese-made drones remain one of the federal government's big boogeymen. Now, House lawmakers are making another effort to ban China-made drones.Read more...

Lego's monthly releases always wax and wane, and November is certainly one of the most waning months we've had in a while. With the seasonal sets already announced last month, and an eye toward the end-of-month of deals, this month is so far very, very light.

Say see ya' to Scott's oriole, a black and yellow bird native to the Southwestern U.S. The bird isn't going anywhere-but its moniker is to be nixed, along with the terms for many other birds named for individuals with less-than-illustrious histories.

For years, tech companies have been on a mission to create a wearable that will kill"-or replace-the smartphone. The reasons for this are manifold but, in general, the idea has been to usher in the next it" device, one that will prove as ubiquitous and indispensable as the phone while also surpassing it in terms...Read more...

The Apple Watch Series 9 is already a solid smartwatch. But Apple plans to add even more health-related features on the next release of the wearable. According to Bloomberg, Apple is working on new sensors that detect elevated blood pressure and if you suffer from sleep apnea. Apple has adjacent plans for the AirPods...Read more...

The climate crisis is making weather unpredictable. It's hotter for longer and we're seeing extreme precipitation changes. New research shows that, if we don't lower emissions, climate change is going to boost water and power demand for cities facing these weather changes.

The power of Tom Cruise has reached the White House and has done some good, apparently.Read more...

All those pencil pushers out there chomping at the bit for an Apple-brand USB-C stylus no longer have to wait. On Wednesday, Apple put its new Apple Pencil with USB-C up for order, and customers can expect delivery beginning Nov. 3.Read more...

Between now and the 2024 presidential election, AI is going to make the political cycle all the more unpleasant. You've probably heard about the AI misinformation problem, but the technology presents another issue for voters that's far more surreal. Over the next year, politicians will flood the world with robot...Read more...

November is upon us, and it's bringing exciting titles like a new Murderbot tale from Martha Wells, a return to the world of the Kingkiller Chronicle from Patrick Rothfuss, and Jim Butcher's long-awaited next Cinder Spires novel-and more! Check out these 44 new sci-fi, fantasy, and horror releases coming to...Read more...

If you've made a habit of binging popular Netflix series like October hits Beckham and The Fall of the House of Usher, and you subscribe to the ad tier, your couch-potato experience will soon contain fewer interruptions. According to a Netflix press release, starting in 2024, after watching three consecutive...Read more...

The Federal Aviation Administration has completed the safety review of SpaceX's Starship, moving the company one step closer to its second test flight, pending an environmental review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The explosive inaugural launch of Starship turned into a safety and environmental fiasco-a...Read more...

Variety has released an extensive cover story alleging a series of crises for the one-time seemingly unstoppable star of Hollywood: Disney's Marvel Studios, which, facing behind-the-scenes challenges and a scattered plan for its post-Avengers: Endgame movie slate, could consider some very drastic measures to win back...Read more...

Last week, the season two finale of Our Flag Means Death aired on Max. The eight-episode season was marked by incredible acting, a mix of goofy swashbuckling and brutal nose-peeling mutilation, and an encompassing acceptance of queerness that made the first season lightning in a bottle.

Vice President Kamala Harris announced a swath of new initiatives at the United Kingdom's Global Summit on AI Safety Wednesday, including the establishment of the United States AI Safety Institute. One of the initiatives outlined by the White House is to combat fraudulent robocalls using artificial intelligence.Read more...

If AI might be responsible for jobs being lost, then the tech could be used to get another one at least that's what LinkedIn is trying to do. Users of the career-centric social network can access an AI-powered job seeker coach" starting Wednesday to guide them to their next job. The Microsoft-owned LinkedIn hopes to...Read more...

Sony's new slimmer PS5 could be on its way sooner than expected. Leakers have managed to snap a few pics of the new console in all its fish-tail glory. Plus, if these leaks are right, we may only need to wait a little more than a week before the PS5 starts shipping to U.S.-based customers.Read more...

Get a new look at Timothee Chalamet's Wonka in a new poster. Rick & Morty teases what's to come in a new poster. Plus, the Salem's Lot reboot may be going straight to Max. Spoilers go!

Two NASA astronauts are gearing up for their first spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) for maintenance work in low Earth orbit, marking just the fourth time two women will exit the station together.Read more...