Gizmodo

Did a hacktivist group hack the Belarusian railway system or not? Confirmation of the alleged breach remains elusive, though the allegations continue to intrigue security experts and commentators.Read more...

Please be warned: I am about to type out a deeply cursed sentence. In a new episode of his podcast, Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson talked at length about climate change in an exchange that makes Rogan’s recent anti-vax content seem scientifically sound enough to win a Nobel Prize.

Everyone knows a battle in Mortal Kombat can’t end in round one. There needs to be at least a round two and now, thanks to New Line Cinema and writer Jeremy Slater, there probably will be.Read more...

Spyware developed by Israeli surveillance for hire company NSO Group was reportedly used to spy on yet another member of civil society, this time targeting a senior member at rights group Human Rights Watch. That revelation comes despite NSO’s own rules against spying on activists or journalists and comes less than 24…Read more...

The aid effort to help volcano- and tsunami-stricken Tonga is running into a covid-19 roadblock.Read more...

A debilitating parasitic worm could soon be eradicated as one of humanity’s longtime foes. On Wednesday, the Carter Center announced that only 14 cases of guinea worm disease were reported worldwide in 2021—the lowest toll yet and a sharp decline from the year before. There are still ongoing challenges impeding…Read more...

If a significant portion of your time is spent cruising pop culture websites, you’ve seen roughly a million different pieces of Star Wars art. You’ve seen all the real posters, fan posters, artistic interpretations, parodies, and on and on. Star Wars art is everywhere. And yet, with this new piece, artist Daniel…Read more...

A Falcon 9 second stage has been tumbling uncontrollably in space since 2015, but experts say its seven-year journey is coming to an end, as the 4-ton rocket part is expected to hit the Moon in a matter of weeks.

Microsoft today previewed its first major Windows 11 update, which will bring taskbar improvements and long-awaited Android app integration. Also coming to the desktop OS are redesigned Notepad and Media Player apps and new ways to share windows. Windows head Panos Panay briefly teased the changes in a blog post that…Read more...

This week’s episode of The Book of Boba Fett has an energy quite unlike anything the show has delivered so far. It also has a story quite unlike anything the show has delivered so far. And a cast. And a premise. Because, as strong as it was, it wasn’t an episode of The Book of Boba Fett at all—and being as good as it…Read more...

The Supreme Court agreed this week to hear a case brought by two Idaho residents who have fought the Environmental Protection Agency for years over a wetland on their property. This isn’t just a simple case of some long-suffering landowners, though; it’s one that is backed by industry interests. And with the Court in…Read more...

In an effort to be at your beck and call 24 hours a day, your smart speaker or hub is constantly listening so that it can immediately respond to every inquiry. But for those times when they respond accidentally or ramble on too long with a response, Google Assistant devices can now be quickly silenced by simply saying…Read more...

Karen Gillan’s Dual has been acquired after its Sundance debut. Sam Raimi has an update on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ reshoots. Lucy Liu is joining the latest Stephen King adaptation. Plus, what’s ahead for Naomi and The Flash. Spoilers, away!

For years, Samsung laptops reminded me of a kid who was forced by their parents to play sports. They keep showing up, but the obvious lack of effort made you wonder if they even want to be there. Recently, though, Samsung has started to kick the ball in the right direction. Products like the Galaxy Book Pro 360 and …Read more...

The video game industry has more or less settled on a standard design for controllers with a pair of matching analog joysticks, a directional pad, four action buttons, and shoulder triggers on top. It’s a design that the PlayStation DualShock controller popularized, but one that I genuinely feel Nintendo perfectly…Read more...

Before the pandemic, Google would introduce a new version of its lower-cost A-series smartphone around the same time as its Google I/O developers conference. The company may return to that launch timeline with the Pixel 6a, and it could accompany the long-anticipated Pixel Watch, plus a wallet-friendly HD version of…Read more...

After over a month in theaters, Spider-Man: No Way Home is still number one at the box office. And while it’s rumored to be coming home for digital download in late February, today you can bring a piece of it home yourself. The entire script is online.Read more...

In his virtual introduction for Speak No Evil at the film’s 2022 Sundance Film Festival premiere, director Christian Tafdrup (and co-writer, with his brother Mads Tafdrup) explained that he set out to make “the most unpleasant experience for an audience ever.” With this grim exploration of social boundaries pushed to…Read more...

Apple has historically reeled in a wide range of users with the promise of top-notch digital security and a safe, walled-off ecosystem. However, its new(ish) AirTags, which critics warn can be manipulated by creeps and criminals to track users, have drawn Apple directly into the privacy spotlight. Those growing…Read more...

If you want to capture 3D photos or footage on a budget, Ricoh’s Theta line continues to be a relatively affordable alternative to multi-camera rigs. It’s a much easier solution now, too: The new Theta X is the company’s first 360-degree camera with a touchscreen and other upgrades that make it easier to use as a…Read more...

As a site that regularly reaches out to movie studios to comment on things, we have to say this is a bit of a shocker. But a welcome one. A potentially controversial problem was pointed out to Disney and the world’s biggest film studio has responded. Which, trust us, does not happen all that often.Read more...

Samsung’s next Galaxy Unpacked event is official: The company announced that it will be livestreaming something “epic” on Feb. 9 beginning at 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT on Samsung’s website.

A team of astrophysicists believe that a glob of stars in our next-door galaxy is hiding an intermediate-mass black hole, a type predicted to exist but that has never been observed for certain.

Climate change is coming for the UK’s history.Read more...

New research continues to affirm the safety of the covid-19 vaccines for people planning or expecting to have children. The study found no evidence that vaccination affected the outcomes of patients getting in-vitro fertilization (IVF), either in their chances of becoming pregnant or experiencing complications like an…Read more...

We’ve known since we got our first glimpses of it in action that Star Trek: Picard’s second season was going to delve into some time travel shenanigans. But our recent, Guinan-laden look at the season gave us a few more specifics... and told us that Picard and his friends are being thrust nearly into our own timeline,…Read more...

A new study shows cybercriminals have been hijacking the Instagram accounts of high-profile users, then extorting them for restored access.Read more...

For a movie about a millionaire who dresses up like a bat to combat a riddle-loving serial killer, it’s still obvious that Matt Reeves’s The Batman is supposed the most “realistic” (you know, comparatively) cinematic take on the Dark Knight so far. That begins by setting the movie at the start of Bruce Wayne’s…Read more...

The first Percy Jackson book was released in 2005. The first Percy Jackson movie was released in 2010. And now, 22 months after news broke of a Percy Jackson streaming show, that’s officially happening too.Read more...

A robotic telescope in Italy has caught a faint glimpse of the Webb Space Telescope at its final location some 1 million miles from Earth.Read more...

Donald Trump’s vision for a hellhole social media site free of liberal censorship, the yet-to-be-launched Truth Social, will rely on the same auto-moderation tools as its competitors—you know, the liberal censorship bots.Read more...

What’s better than Kate Mulgrew finally reprising her role as Kathryn Janeway for Star Trek Online? Being so good she gets to do it twice in one go.

The 19-year-old German security researcher who somehow managed to gain remote access to dozens of Teslas spread out around the world has spilled the beans on how he did it.Read more...

Google is planning to banish third-party cookies, and last year the company proposed an alternative to user tracking called FLoC (“Federated Learning of Cohorts”). This week, Google said FLoC had officially flown the coop. In its place, the company announced on Tuesday that it would be trying out another cookie…Read more...

We often think of sci-fi films as bombastic, grand canvases for spaceships, lasers, and robots. But After Yang, the new film by South Korean-born filmmaker Kogonada, uses a handful of those elements to be grand in a whole other way. It’s an emotionally fulfilling story of family and loss set in a fascinating world…Read more...

A science expedition in 2016 revealed a subsurface habitat in which microbes were found living at temperatures approaching 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Now, a follow-up study reveals how this remarkable microbial community manages to beat the heat.

The biggest semiconductor acquisition in history is apparently on the brink of collapse. Nvidia is reportedly preparing to declare defeat in its attempted $40 billion purchase of Arm from SoftBank, according to a Bloomberg report.

It’s a winter wonderland in parts of the Mediterranean—a rare sight in a region of the world known for its azure seas and beautiful beaches. A major snowstorm blanketed parts of Greece and Turkey this weekend, causing havoc in an area not accustomed to winter weather.Read more...

In the last year Lucasfilm has announced its intent to bring Star Wars to a broader range of gaming developers, ahead of a decade-long exclusivity deal with EA Games that ends in 2023. But just because Lucasfilm has altered the deal doesn’t mean it’s not working with the developer on more Star Wars adventures.

Large parts of Newark, New Jersey, and nearby New York City woke up to a cloud of cough-inducing smoke early Tuesday caused by a massive junkyard fire. The blaze, which reportedly broke out at the Eastern Metal Recycling Terminal in Port Newark around 8:30 p.m. local time on Monday, was still raging nearly 12 hours…Read more...

Its tusks were thick and relatively straight; its ears broad and leathery. Its nimble trunk could reach over the heads of giant ground sloths and huge armored glyptodonts to pluck leaves high up in trees. Wide, column-like legs supported 6 tons of weight. But don’t call it an elephant.

It may be January, but Amazon already has very silly plans for a Chris Evans/Dwayne Johnson holiday movie team up. Chukwudi Iwuji gives an intriguing tease for his Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 character. Plus, a few more snippets of The Batman footage, and Ethan Hawke talks Moon Knight. To me, my spoilers!

If you’re a gamer who uses Steam, then you also have access to the Remote Play service, which essentially beams gameplay around your home or across the internet to other laptops, phones, tablets, and even big-screen TVs. It’s not difficult to set up, and it means that you can keep on gaming even if you move to another…Read more...

Neil Young wants all his music pulled from streaming service Spotify as quickly as possible, according to an open letter the veteran rock musician posted to his website that’s since been deleted. What’s the problem? Young doesn’t like the misinformation about vaccines being peddled by Joe Rogan, the podcast host who…Read more...

The cast of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah’s HBO Max film Batgirl keeps growing, today adding a best friend for Barbara Gordon: Ivory Aquino, who’ll play bartender Alysia Yeoh—a former roommate of Barbara’s who also happens to be one of DC Comics’ most notable trans characters. Deadline reported the news.Read more...

Star Trek has had a particularly weird history with action figures. Never the most toyetic of franchises when it came to things that weren’t models of spaceships, prop replicas, or imaginary Vulcan headgear, nevertheless companies have tried to turn Trek into an action figure brand—and now one company in particular is…Read more...

In an apparent bid to stop a Russian arms build-up near the Ukrainian border, a “pro-democracy” hacktivist group claims to have hacked the Belarusian railway system—allegedly one of the conduits for tanks and weaponry into the region. The incident comes as Russian and NATO-allied forces continue to spar over the…Read more...

With the production of next-gen batteries growing near, Teslas will soon round another corner in its race to put range anxiety in the rearview mirror. Panasonic will reportedly begin mass-producing new lithium-ion batteries as early as 2023 that could increase EV range by up to 20%, according to a Nikkei report.Read more...

“I had a religious conversion... I saw my messiah,” Guillermo del Toro says early in Thomas Hamilton’s new documentary Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster. The moment that so moved the Oscar-winning filmmaker? The first time he saw Karloff’s iconic monster face the camera in 1931's Frankenstein.Read more...

AT&T’s fiber-optic internet service just got a serious speed boost.