Gizmodo

Virtual Private Networks or VPNs can protect the privacy of your browsing, cloaking your online activities and making it much harder for websites, internet providers, advertisers, and a hacker sitting behind you in a coffee shop to see what you’re doing. Generally speaking, VPNs are a Good Thing, and Google offers one…Read more...

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has called on all citizens of Kyiv who own hobby drones to bring them in and help monitor the city as Russia invades, according to a new Facebook post by the military. Even if people don’t know how to fly their own drones very well they’re still being encouraged to bring them in so that…Read more...

In an online world where ads have become inseparable from social media, Tumblr—yes, it’s still around—is going against the grain. Its message: Say goodbye to the bizarre ads on Tumblr, if you want.Read more...

It’s probably safe to say Marvel has put out some reasonably good comics over the last 60 years. It’s probably also safe to say that it’s put out some of the greatest and most beloved comic stories of all time. We asked you, the readers, to give us your favorites, and here’s some of what you told us. Please note:…Read more...

Though Hasbro has yet to let the incredibly malleable world of Transformers really shine on the big screen, the opposite is the case on toy shelves. We’ve seen Transformers figures mash-up with Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Top Gun, and more. Now, the Robots in Disguise are teaming up with their most natural…Read more...

If you haven’t seen the trailer for Everything Everywhere All at Once, you’re missing out on probably the best damn teaser for an upcoming movie, truly. The mind-melting multiverse family dramedy from directing duo Daniels (Swiss Army Man) stars the legendary Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn, a Chinese immigrant thrust into a…Read more...

There’s a new Batman film in theaters next week, but in a shocking twist, it doesn’t show the death of his parents. That Bruce Wayne’s parents are killed in cold blood is, of course, a key component to the character, so it’s mentioned—but for the first time in a while, we don’t actually see it happen.Read more...

Semiconductor chips, the seemingly unremarkable component responsible for derailing global supply chains over the past two years, may play a pivotal role in the international community’s efforts to curtail Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Whether those tactics will actually work as intended remains far from certain.Read more...

Last week, Comixology launched a 4.0 update that radically overhauled the biggest digital storefront in comics—a new app that replaced the original bespoke mobile experience with a Kindle-esque format, and the loss of Comixology’s own website in exchange for a presence within its owner Amazon’s website. To say that…Read more...

In a press conference Thursday, NASA described the final steps in anticipation of the Artemis 1 uncrewed test flight, which set to occur this spring. The immediate focus is on a “wet dress rehearsal” of the Orion spacecraft that is scheduled for mid-March. Eventually, the Artemis program aims to put humans on the Moon…Read more...

Seemingly for the first time ever, doctors have gotten a detailed look at the brain of a person during their final moments of life. The findings were obtained from a hospital patient who suddenly died while having his brain monitored for seizures, and they may offer some support for the idea that people see their…Read more...

Cult-beloved ‘80s sitcom ALF, about a sarcastic alien who crash-lands on Earth and finds refuge in a middle-class suburb, is (finally) set to come back to screens in a big way.

A team of scientists has combined modern and ancient genomes to build a new “genealogy of everyone,” in an achievement that sets the groundwork for future studies into our evolution and global spread.Read more...

NBC reports that President Joe Biden has been presented with a “menu of options” for massive cyberattacks against Russia, an obvious retaliation for Putin’s illegal military campaign in Ukraine. However, the White House has since denounced the report, claiming that it does not “reflect what is actually being discussed…Read more...

IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic series has taken the titular heroes and their half-shells on some wild adventures, playing with established TMNT canon in some fascinating ways. Now, their current story is going to include a major shock to the system: the return of a controversial, major figure from the team’s…Read more...

The fossil fuel industry has a big methane problem—and we’re only just beginning to realize how serious it is. The International Energy Agency released a new analysis Wednesday finding that methane emissions from energy production are being severely undercounted and are up to 70% higher than official estimates…Read more...

As Texas makes significant moves toward preventing and criminalizing gender and life-affirming medical care for transgender children (flying in the face of major studies from the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association), many transgender people and…Read more...

A team of astronomers recently observed an askew black hole just 10,000 light-years from Earth. The black hole’s spin axis is out of alignment with the plane of debris orbiting it by at least 40 degrees, the most extreme misalignment of its kind yet seen by astronomers.Read more...

The Biden Administration received record-setting bids on its first offshore wind lease sale this week, a promising sign showing U.S. money makers are ready to invest heavily in the long hyped but underdelivered renewable energy source.Read more...

Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 premiered in 2020 to middling reviews (including our own), and after some delays, Netflix has finally released a trailer for the second season of the anime. It does not, unfortunately, look that much more interesting than the lackluster season one.Read more...

Google traditionally reveals its flagship Pixel phones in October every year, and we don’t expect that to change in 2022. Although we’re still eight months out, one trusted leaker has already shown off legit-looking renders of the Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro.Read more...

One of Star Trek: Discovery’s biggest themes has always been the importance of togetherness in times of crisis—from Klingon wars to Mirror Universe incursions, from being flung into the future to the conflict with the Emerald Chain, it’s a topic the show has proselytized time and time again. It’s a lesson worth…Read more...

With a career spanning over 40 years that includes 14 studio albums, five Grammy awards, a TV show, and a movie, Weird Al may have only just revealed his greatest accomplishment to date: a new Weird Al-themed pinball table called Weird Al’s Museum of Natural Hilarity packed full of his musical parodies and endless…Read more...

The death of a dog can be devastating for families, but new evidence from Italy suggests surviving dogs can also be profoundly affected by the loss, resulting in an assortment of behavioral changes that scientists say are consistent with grieving.Read more...

Put the word “dinosaur” in front of anything and it automatically gets cooler. “Dinosaur” baseball. “Dinosaur” dinner. “Dinosaur” table. “Dinosaur” phone. See what we mean? The same goes for “Dinosaur” book, “dinosaur” war, and “dinosaur” movie—three of which are about to smash together like a T-Rex through a Jeep.Read more...

Bat meets Cat, Penguin, and Riddler without an origin story in what we know so far about The Batman, which was stipulated by design in order for Matt Reeves to sign onto the film. Robert Pattinson’s masked crusader is centered in his sophomore year of crime fighting and encountering figures that will begin to fill out…Read more...

At the dawn of the ‘90s, Star Wars’ “dark ages”—with the end of Marvel’s Star Wars comics, new toys on the decline, and the movies long over in the eyes of fans and perhaps even its creator—suddenly ended in a brilliant flash. Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire heralded a new, post-Return of the Jedi saga that would be…Read more...

Argentina is on fire. For weeks, firefighters have battled the flames that have burned some 800,000 hectares in total, with about 30,000 hectares burning each day, Al Jazeera reported.Read more...

Like it or not, Meta’s doubling down on its efforts to make 3D avatar playpens synonymous with future computing. In an event on Tuesday, the company showcased a variety of new AI tools, including a voice assistant, a universal language translator, and a programming tool capable of generating digital objects through…Read more...

Vaccines seem to significantly reduce the risk of long covid, UK health officials say. In a recent review of the evidence, they concluded that vaccinated people who developed covid-19 were much less likely to experience long-term symptoms than those unvaccinated. Vaccines may also show some promise in reducing…Read more...

As an ongoing political crisis continues to roil Ukraine, the nation’s banks and government agencies have been struck with disruptive cyberattacks for the second time in two weeks.Read more...

A California court ruled this week to let Waymo hide some of the safety data for its autonomous vehicles—a decision that could have ripple effects for how other autonomous vehicle makers handle the trade secrets of their self-driving tech moving forward.Read more...

The Oscar broadcast has cut eight awards presentations from its live line-up—including craft categories like Production Design, Film Editing, and Sound that have often been where science fiction and fantasy films have found their most success.Read more...

A well-known erectile dysfunction drug might just have added benefits for dogs, too. A recent study suggests that liquid sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra, may help treat dogs with an enlarged esophagus that makes them unable to eat food easily and can sometimes prove fatal. More research will be needed to…Read more...

The Fairly OddParents is back—but not exactly how you remember it. Paramount+’s new series The Fairly Oddparents: Fairly Odder picks up years after the original animated series ended and reboots the beloved characters... into our world.Read more...

Production workers on Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites—both popular animated series co-created by Justin Roiland—are unionizing; they’ve filed to join the Animation Guild, also known as IATSE Local 839. Neither Adult Swim nor Hulu’s parent company, 20th Century Fox, have voluntarily recognized the unit.Read more...

Frontier, the financially troubled telecom previously dogged by lawmakers and consumer rights advocates, has officially become the first national provider to offer a 2Gbps fiber plan across its entire network.

A pair of translucent glass spheres, each measuring over a half-inch thick, have been spotted in an impact crater near the lunar south pole. They’re the first of their kind to ever be discovered on the Moon.

Because all things Stephen King never go out of style—and because pop culture never tires of stories revolving around kids with spooky powers—there’s a new Firestarter movie arriving in May. With that in mind, we figured now was as good a time as any to hop in the rewind machine and watch tiny Drew Barrymore start…Read more...

The Environmental Protection Agency has fined Tesla a paltry $275,000 for repeated Clean Air Act violations—chump change for the $800 billion electric vehicle company heralded as an environmental champion. I love a little irony in the morning!Read more...

Sea ice around Antarctica has dropped to the lowest level in more than 40 years, according to satellite data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.Read more...

Law enforcement’s use of facial recognition technology during investigations has blossomed in recent years thanks in no small part to a booming surveillance industry built on the back of an ever-expanding buffet of publicly available biometric data. The limits on where and how that technology can be used though remain…Read more...

Hey, remember in Spider-Man: No Way Home, when they did the Thing? Well, they did the Thing again in a clearer, more convenient form for all your Thing-based posting needs. But you’ll finally get a chance to own the first version of the Thing when No Way Home gets its home release next month.

In 2016, a massive heist shook the crypto world. Someone robbed The DAO—an early, Ethereum-based, decentralized autonomous organization. The DAO was supposed to be a “revolutionary” entity that showed all the promise that the crypto industry had to offer, but, instead, it became an early warning about the industry’s…Read more...

If your Wordle streak isn’t as share-worthy as it was before the New York Times bought out Josh Wardle’s creation, just do what Chris Greening did and transform a 3D printer into a simple robot whose only task is to solve the daily Wordle puzzle using some added smarts and access to the entire dictionary.Read more...

For those willing to splurge on a truly big-screen experience at home, all-in-one projectors have made it incredibly easy to build a solid home theater without completely breaking the bank, and the latest offering from BenQ caters to gamers too with 4ms response times and impressive brightness.

Marvel’s Blade movie adds another mystery role. Matt Reeves is teaming up with director William McGregor for a new vampire movie at Netflix. Lin-Manuel Miranda teases his new material for the live-action Little Mermaid. Plus, what’s coming on Naomi and Superman & Lois. To me, my spoilers!

When we put the leading MagSafe battery options to the test last year, one feature was oddly missing: None of them could actually be charged using a MagSafe charging pad—only wires. It’s a seemingly obvious feature that’s only now being introduced by OtterBox with its new 5K Wireless Power Bank for MagSafe.Read more...

A group of paleontologists discovered a large, well-preserved pterosaur on a rocky beach off the coast of Scotland. Boasting roughly an 8-foot wingspan, the ancient reptile is the largest of its kind to be found from the Jurassic Period.Read more...

If you want to buy a new Android phone and Google’s new Pixel lineup isn’t doing it for you, the Samsung Galaxy S22+ is the flagship to buy. While it’s not an over-the-top, cutting-edge phone like Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra, it has many of the same bells and whistles, including an ultra digital zoom, a gorgeous…Read more...