Gizmodo

First-time filmmakers usually start their careers with something simple. Something small. Something to prove they can tell a story, which can then be used as a calling card to do bigger and better things. Very few first-time filmmakers start off with a film that’s largely set on water, with scenes underwater, about a…Read more...

TCL has been the premier Roku TV brand ever since it first partnered with the streaming platform in 2014, but on Tuesday, the company announced that it’s broadening its horizons—specifically with Google, which will power newly debuted versions of its 5-Series and 6-Series models.Read more...

Have you ever been turned on by someone—or something—you knew was trash? Reading the news today, you’d think that was happening to crabs. A number of media outlets have reported that crabs are horny for plastic pollution. While I love a horny crab as much as the next person, I have some bad news: New research…Read more...

Many parts of the world are on fire right now, but California is in a league of its own. The Dixie Fire, which is currently roaring through Northern California, has burned through 487,764 acres as of Tuesday morning, making it the second-largest overall fire in state history and the largest single fire on record in…Read more...

Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday added far-right networks Newsmax and One America News Network (OAN), as well as chaotic former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, to its growing list of entities the company says pushed damaging election fraud conspiracy theories.

Lucifer’s sixth and final season arrives one month from today, and to mark the occasion Netflix has shared a truly over-the-top trailer teasing what’s to come.Read more...

Fans generally think of pop culture conventions as being tied to a specific city: San Diego, Chicago, New York, etc. But those conventions are usually run by larger companies—and now, after its latest acquisition, one company in particular has become the biggest of all. Fan Expo, which already runs almost a dozen…Read more...

A depressing new report finds that kids and teens are eating even more ultra-processed foods than they were 20 years ago, with those foods now constituting over two-thirds of their diets.

The Blackstone-owned genealogy giant Ancestry.com raised a ton of red flags earlier this month with an update to its terms and conditions that give the company a bit more power over your family photos. From here on out, the August 3 update reads, Ancestry can use these pics for any reason, at any time, forever.

Last year, AT&T announced its plans to sell off Crunchyroll, its anime streaming service, to Sony, the entertainment megacorporation that also owns Funimation. This came after years of the two companies working together to release their respective programs on one another’s digital platforms. Synergy between the two…Read more...

New details are emerging about a technical problem that prevented NASA and Boeing from conducting a test launch of a CST-100 Starliner spacecraft last week. The problem appears to be more severe than previously believed, casting doubt on plans to launch the spacecraft later this month.Read more...

If you’re a Dish Network subscriber, brace for impact: Thanks to an ongoing carriage dispute between the satellite television provider and the broadcasting company Sinclair, more than 100 local TV stations could soon be removed from the TV service.Read more...

Though all of Marvel’s newer live-action shows were presented as stories that viewers could (in theory) watch without being deeply familiar with every detail from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the studio’s comic book adaptations have become increasingly harder to just jump into in the buildup to Phase 4. The Disney+…Read more...

Google’s Titan Key has been credited with eliminating phishing attacks on Google employees, and now this week Google is updating its line of security dongles with wider support for NFC.Read more...

It’s a tough time for amateur watch collectors trying to break into the hobby. Even though a Swiss watch is considered the pinnacle of fine craftsmanship and engineering, knock-offs have been created that are nearly impossible to spot without a highly trained eye, or a side-by-side comparison with the real thing.…Read more...

While next year’s iPhone is thought to bring more significant upgrades, it appears Apple still has a few tricks up its sleeve for the iPhone 13 lineup. A new Bloomberg report says the new iPhones will receive at least three major camera and video upgrades—including a Portrait Video mode.Read more...

Now that the Fast and Furious franchise has gone to space, the question is how can they top that? Well, maybe they can’t. Maybe instead they have to go under. Way, way under.Read more...

John Wick: Chapter 4 just made a really fun addition to its cast. The Boys’ propaganda news network has released more stories and the Dune cast gathers on a new poster. Plus we’ve got updates from the season finale of Superman & Lois, Legends of Tomorrow, and more. Spoilers away!

As Chrome OS becomes more popular, we’re now seeing different types of devices running Google’s lightweight OS. HP is releasing two new Chrome OS laptops designed to address your needs on the road or at home.Read more...

The screenwriter who penned the 2007 zombie movie I Am Legend starring Will Smith has been forced to clarify something on Twitter that’s sure to make us all depressed today. The writer, Akiva Goldsman, had to explain that I Am Legend is, in fact, fiction. It’s not a documentary about zombies or something like that.

AMC Theaters will accept the cryptocurrency bitcoin for movie tickets and concessions in the U.S. by the end of 2021, according to CEO Adam Aron, who first made the announcement during an earnings call on Monday. The theater chain will also start accepting Apple Pay and Google Pay, but there are still plenty of…Read more...

After facing a whole lot of criticism, Apple has doubled down and defended its plans to launch controversial new tools aimed at identifying and reporting child sex abuse material (or CSAM) on its platforms.Read more...

Carolyn Jones and Anjelica Huston (and the voice of Charlize Theron) came before her, and now it’s Catherine Zeta-Jones’ chance to glam it up as spooky, ooky Addams family matriarch Morticia. The Oscar winner is the latest casting addition to Tim Burton’s upcoming series for Netflix following the supernatural…Read more...

If you’ve been reading Gizmodo for awhile, you’ve probably realized that I’m bullish on flexible displays, due in large part to their ability to expand or enhance the capabilities of smartphones, laptops, and even smartwatches (OK, that last one’s a little iffy). So after I reviewed Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 2 last…Read more...

If things at DC Comics seem a little different in the coming months, it’s because writer James Tynion IV is leaving. He announced today that he’ll exit Batman after issue #117 in November and The Joker after issue #14 in April 2022. Where is he headed? Well, he’ll be moving his talents exclusively to Substack, with…Read more...

If you’re morbidly curious about the reams of data Facebook collects on you, then good news: earlier today, Facebook announced that users could now move their data to two more destinations with the help of the company’s Transfer Your Information (TYI) Tool. Starting today, the company said, you can now move your pics…Read more...

Biologists in Hawaii have detected a previously unknown strain of cetacean morbillivirus, a pathogen that can cause deadly infections in marine mammals across the globe. The virus was detected in a lone Fraser’s dolphin—a highly social species—leading to concerns that the disease could spread and wreak havoc outside…Read more...

In director William Crain’s original Blacula from 1972, an 18th-century Nigerian prince named Mamuwalde (William Marshall) meets his untimely first death at the hands of the Dracula (Charles Macaulay), who scoffs at the mortal man’s earnest pleas for assistance dismantling the transatlantic slave trade.Read more...

A bipartisan group of senators led by Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) today announced a proposed tweak to a contentious cryptocurrency tax amendment to the sprawling infrastructure bill. The amendment dictates that brokers will be subject to report crypto transactions to the IRS. This relates to…Read more...

Seems like Big Oil’s chickens may be coming home to roost. On Friday, the Climate Leadership Council, a bipartisan, industry-supported group that advocates for centrist climate solutions, announced that former founding member ExxonMobil had been kicked out. The move follows a Greenpeace exposé that caught an Exxon…Read more...

Behind each and every one of Marvel Studios and DC Entertainment’s comic book adaptations are teams of comic book creators whose ideas laid the groundwork for what would eventually become the films and TV shows powering the megacorporations’ respective multi-billion dollar entertainment franchises. Unfortunately, that…Read more...

Stranger Things creators/showrunner duo Matt and Ross Duffer always envisioned their supernatural horror show would have at least five seasons. While the two haven’t confirmed if season five is the last, the show’s executive producer Shawn Levy is on the record saying they do have an endgame plan in place.

Comedian Luis Guzman is Gomez Addams in the Netflix Addams Family spin-off series, Wednesday.

Medical professionals have become some of the most important individuals in society during the pandemic, working countless hours to save the lives of covid-19 patients and encouraging the public to get vaccinated. However, it appears that even the medical community isn’t immune to the vaccine misinformation plaguing…Read more...

So much is revealed when court documents are officially unsealed, and in the case of Epic Games’ antitrust complaint against Google, we now know that Google considered buying the Fortnite maker outright “squelch this threat.” Google also apparently attempted to convince Epic Games not to limit Fortnite to sideloading…Read more...

Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's regular round up of the latest and greatest things in toys. We’re still preparing for the holiday festivities even as we sweat our way through a scorching summer, but we’ve also got a perfect Power Rangers meets the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover, some tempting 12-inch figures…Read more...

Last week brought the sad news that time’s up for the TARDIS’s latest owner: Jodie Whittaker is exiting Doctor Who at the end of 2022, leaving alongside showrunner Chris Chibnall. But in true Doctor Who manner, now that we’ve already wondered about the future, it’s time to reflect on the past—with the moments we’ve…Read more...

Apple’s new tool to suss out potential child abuse in iPhone photos is already sparking controversy. On Friday, just one day after it was announced, Will Cathcart, the head of Facebook’s messaging app, WhatsApp, said that the company would decline to adopt the software on the grounds that it introduced a host of legal…Read more...

When the Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5 billion for deceiving its users on privacy, it celebrated the fine as “record-breaking and history-making.” Two years and $200 billion in revenue later, Facebook has found a way to turn lemons into lemonade, deceiving its users once again and using a seemingly…Read more...

Lake Oroville is the latest reservoir across the West to sink to a new low. The reservoir is getting so empty that a major hydropower plant has had to shut down months ahead of what officials expected in late June, reflecting the worsening situation across the state.Read more...

The story of a woman coming into her power after getting a supernatural boost is hardly a new one—but much like more traditional makeover narratives, it’s often rewarding enough to justify being so familiar. The most delicious version of this tale usually involves a frumpy lass becoming a glamorous villain, like Uma…Read more...

The late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s 414-foot superyacht has finally been sold to an unnamed mystery buyer for the low, low price of 235 million euros (about $276 million USD). The vessel, nicknamed “Octopus” before Allen’s death in 2018, is slightly longer than the average football field, and considered one of…Read more...

Because Disney+ and Marvel’s What If is an anthology series, each of its self-contained episodes can be appreciated as individual stories set within the MCU’s expanding multiverse. As a whole, though, What If is establishing just how important the multiverse itself is going to be for the MCU’s future, something that’s…Read more...

The Congressional Record chronicles nearly everything that happens in the House and Senate. It includes watershed moments such as Rep. Barbara Lee’s speech as the only vote against authorizing the use of force in Afghanistan and Sen. Edward Dirksen’s speech that ended up helping quash a filibuster against landmark…Read more...

Yes, people still play Pokémon Go. In fact, I’m currently in competition with a neighbor over claiming the gym down the street. But today, I’m holding off on logging on in solidarity with #PokémonNoDay.

With Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Natasha Romanoff now gone, who will rise up to lead the Marvel Cinematic Universe? There are certainly some candidates already around, but the newest contender is arriving September 3: Shang-Chi in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

While these days you’re more likely to buy a smartwatch that can withstand water, now there are smartwatches that can dissolve in water. Researchers from Tianjin University used a two-metal nanocomposite material to create a fully functioning prototype smartwatch that dissolves when submerged.Read more...

The Federal Aviation Administration is practically begging airports to stop selling to-go alcohol that passengers can take onto flights, ABC News reported on Thursday, citing a dramatic spike in unruly passengers and violence against flight crews since the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic.Read more...

It’s been over 13 years since Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s Y: The Last Man—which imagines a world in which almost all men perish in a sudden outbreak, with a few notable exceptions, including main character Yorick and his pet monkey—ended its run at DC Comics. Hollywood’s been nosing around an adaptation for what…Read more...

Everything old is new again. In 2021, fanny packs are high fashion, Clippy is a beloved icon, and KidPix—the beloved art toy that’s been untouched since the early 2000's—is back.Read more...