Gizmodo

Buckle up, Texas. Your Mother’s Day weekend could get sweaty—and you might want to prepare for your power to be on the fritz, too. The state is one of more than a dozen across the U.S. set to see potentially record-breaking temperatures during an extensive heatwave this weekend.

While Critical Role is likely the first that many will think of when it comes to shows based on role-playing games, the world of Actual Play is practically an industry unto itself at this point. There isn’t a shortage of shows wherein players tell enthralling stories while rolling dice and having a good time, and the…Read more...

NASA will attempt another countdown rehearsal of the Space Launch System in early June, but the space agency warned that multiple tests of its finicky rocket might be necessary.Read more...

The consumer graphics card market, for as long as I can remember, has been a two-horse race between Nvidia and AMD (or ATI, before AMD bought it). Intel is finally re-entering the competition, but remains very much in the early training stages as it ramps up its upcoming Arc cards. For now, it’s red versus green.

The world of technology has always been filled with fakes, as people looking to make a quick buck try to pass off their “inventions” as the real deal. The world of robotics, though, holds a special place in the pantheon of phonies. It’s a type of product that thrives on the wow-factor of a live demonstration, which…Read more...

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Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly last week disclosed the latest data from a phase III trial of its experimental type 2 diabetes and obesity drug, tirzepatide: People who took the drug lost up to 22% of their body weight and achieved far greater weight loss on average than the placebo group. The findings, while…Read more...

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is filled with surprises. Seriously. Chock full of ‘em. In fact, the film itself probably has more surprises in it than the ones waiting for you in the end credits. We’re going to dive into all of those early next week but, for now, let’s specifically talk about the end…Read more...

Need another reason to skip the upgrade to a clackety mechanical keyboard, besides a little sympathy for your co-workers who will undoubtedly suffer from your furious typing? It turns out that all that’s needed to eavesdrop on what’s being typed on a loud keyboard is a microphone and some clever software.Read more...

Jamie Fraser’s large adult son is coming to Outlander. Get a look at Netflix’s teenage vampire series, First Kill, as well as the main cast of the CW’s Tom Swift series. Plus, what’s coming on The Flash, Riverdale, and more. Spoilers now!

People seeking abortions in America have had to contend with an absurd amount of digital surveillance since such technology became available. We’ve seen their search histories used to accuse them of murder, their phones targeted with anti-abortion rights ads, and websites created explicitly to snitch on them and the…Read more...

Chromebooks are turning into gaming laptops. Don’t laugh! I’m serious! Now that Valve’s Steam platform is in an early alpha phase on Chrome OS, Chromebooks are suddenly getting access to a lot of PC games, moving beyond the small smattering of Android apps they could play before. These games aren’t streamed over they…Read more...

Today’s the day the truth comes out in the weirdest corner of Wyoming, and the final two episodes of Outer Range arrive on Prime Video. But first, io9's got a peek at a very important scene from the finale. It answers some of the biggest questions the show has put forth so far, including “what’s the deal with Royal…Read more...

io9 is proud to present fiction from LIGHTSPEED MAGAZINE. Once a month, we feature a story from LIGHTSPEED’s current issue. This month’s selection is “Nobody Ever Goes Home to Zhenzhu” by Grace Chan. You can read the story below or listen to the podcast on our website. Enjoy!

Why the hell were two episodes of The Book of Boba Fett about The Mandalorian? That’s one of many questions answered in Disney Gallery: Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett, a brand new one-hour documentary recently added to Disney+ that dives into the making of the most recent Star Wars streaming show.Read more...

Between 2014 and 2016, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft orbited and studied a comet hundreds of millions of miles from Earth, collecting data on the space rock’s structure and geology. Now, the ESA is asking the public to study images of the comet and to report differences in its surface features over…Read more...

As massive crowdfunding campaigns for tabletop role playing games (TTRPG) dominate the games ecosystem, independent designers and presses are adapting the centuries-old tradition of arts grants and patronage in order to raise up small, often marginalized, authors and artists.Read more...

Amazon Labor Union President Chris Smalls had some choice words for South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham during a congressional hearing this week: “The people are the ones that make these corporations go, not the other way around.”Read more...

The Avengers may have messed heavily with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s timeline in Endgame, but the stars of the CW’s Legends of Tomorrow were bending, knotting up, and breaking the timeline of the Arrowverse long before that. The only real difference is that the Legends usually caused as almost much chaos as they…Read more...

There are multiple fires currently burning across the U.S. Southwest. The largest is a megafire in northern New Mexico’s San Miguel County called the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak fire, which has burned more than 165,000 acres (257 square miles) of forest and grassland and is only 20% contained. The fire began as two…Read more...

A proposal for the first-ever space-based observatory for studying gravitational waves just passed a vital feasibility review with flying colors. The mission is called LISA—the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna—and it cleared Phase A of its mission lifetime cycle, the process by which missions are dreamt up and then…Read more...

The right to repair movement has taken off in recent years. With Apple, Google, Samsung, and Microsoft signing on, it feels like the devices we’re buying actually belong to us. But despite the big names signing on, there are still a few caveats to consider—like whether you have the necessary tools to perform phone and…Read more...

It’s easy to hate plastic recycling in the U.S.—even for the most conscious consumer.

In 2018 President Donald Trump first floated the idea of a new branch of the U.S. military known as the Space Force, and ever since, the department has been defined by its branding as much as its actual duties. When Trump personally unveiled the service’s logo in 2020, it immediately inspired derisive comparisons to…Read more...

Sure, you could run to your local comic book store this Saturday, May 7, aka Free Comic Book Day, and grab whatever issues catch your eye in a whirlwind of kleptomania until you run out the door whooping like a loon. Or you could read io9's guide to the best of this year’s FCBD offerings and enter that comic shop with…Read more...

Now you can play Fortnite wherever there’s an internet connection. Microsoft announced today that Epic Games’ flagship title is now available to play for free through the Xbox Cloud Gaming service, including on mobile. Right now, the game is available in 26 countries, including the U.S. and Mexico. This is pretty big…Read more...

The security company best known for making giant armored trucks and inspiring elaborate heist fantasies from bored suburban kids is getting in on crypto.Read more...

A perfect example of how we’re in the midst of more Star Trek than ever right now is quite literally just as one series ends today, another begins. We already broke down our extensive thoughts about that season finale of Star Trek: Picard, but Star Trek: Strange New Worlds also boldly went out today with its season…Read more...

It appears that Senator Bernie Sanders has lost his latest battle against private space ventures, as the Senate has voted against a motion that would’ve cut funding for a second NASA lunar lander.Read more...

Is Elon Musk really that bad?Read more...

Three of the world’s biggest tech companies are promoting the idea that you won’t need to keep entering in your password anymore, in which case you’ll no longer have to remember different variations of your regular “Kingkong05jacksonsbestfilm69!” login to access your email or Amazon accounts.Read more...

With Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness arriving on Friday (read io9's review here!), now’s the perfect time to revisit the uniquely weird and often gruesome filmography of director Sam Raimi—a horror icon who’s achieved blockbuster success while also retaining his cult-beloved status.

Antarctica, far from just a sprawling mass of ice, is a geologically complex continent made of expansive glaciers, jagged bedrock, and, as new research finds, large amounts of groundwater. A study published today in the journal Science describes a thick layer of groundwater underneath West Antarctica with the…Read more...

Subscribers to Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service can now carry their connectivity with them to remote areas as part of a new portability feature that the company announced on Wednesday. In an email to its customers, SpaceX’s Starlink rolled out the new feature for a fee of $25 a month, in addition to the service’s…Read more...

If you’ve ever felt like introducing some Vegas-style odds into your retirement plan, you’re finally in luck.

The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is treacherously close to extinction, but the population could rebound without genetic problems related to inbreeding, according to researchers who recently studied the species’ genome.Read more...

How is Moon Knight over already? It feels like yesterday that news broke Oscar Isaac was going to play the mysterious, powerful Marvel Comics character for Disney+, and now we’ve already seen everything the show has to offer. But could there be more?Read more...

Advocates say that community-run programs across the country are running short on low-cost, injectable naloxone, the opioid overdose treatment. The shortage has been ongoing since May 2021, despite early media coverage and a record-high rise in overdose deaths. And while some of the issues behind the shortage may be…Read more...

As immensely satisfying as battling your friends in a Goldeneye 007 deathmatch on the N64 was, all four players shared the same screen, which made sneaking around a level impossible. Twenty-five years after the game’s release, it turns out there is a way to give every GoldenEye player their own private screen—if…Read more...

Reader, I have to admit: it has been several days since I first saw the Star Trek: Picard season two finale by the time you’re reading this. And I still cannot tell you if I mean to say “unhinged” here as either a good or a bad thing.Read more...

The company responsible for giving your favorite D tier celebrities a financial lifeline reportedly fired a quarter of its staff.Read more...

There’s a sudden squall of something off-smelling coming from Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s planned $44 billion Twitter deal. The prolific tweeter has already pushed the bounds of verbal agreements surrounding the Twitter buyout, but now that a new round of funding has come down the pike, some are questioning just how solid…Read more...

We still have just over three weeks until the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series premieres on Disney+ on May 27, but the Star Wars show’s merchandise has already begun to roll out alongside the new trailer. First up, and introduced on last night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live (guest-hosted by comedian Mike Birbiglia) by Ewan McGregor…Read more...

This year, some people will be getting what I guess you could call a ‘bonus tax refund’ from Intuit, the company that runs TurboTax.

Photos of the Sony WH-1000XM5's retail package have supposedly leaked, giving us our best look yet at the upcoming flagship headphones that are set to take on the Bose 700 and Apple AirPods Max.

Microsoft is telling Windows 11 users to uninstall a recent software update after it was discovered to cause certain apps to crash.

If you used the Internet in the late 1990's or early 2000's, you may remember a certain GIF floating around of an animated baby dancing around on a black background. This little guy was truly a symbol of the novelty and purity of the Internet, and now it’s an NFT because of course it is. *Sigh*

Sent a few centuries before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon chronicles the civil war that tore the ruling Targaryen family apart along with the rest of the world of Westeros. And if this new trailer for the series is any indication, that war will be brutal, sexist, and very, very blond.Read more...

The declining status of some tiny birds in Texas could spell bad news for Elon Musk and his planned expansion at the SpaceX Boca Chica launch facility.