Gizmodo

A combination of dry lightning and drought conditions have caused some of the worst wildfires in California’s history, a new study finds.

Domino’s foray into the motherland of pizza—Italy—proved to be a failure. The pizza restaurant company has closed its final Italy-based store after seven years of operating in the country.

A new Russian-made, Iranian-operated satellite launched to orbit on Tuesday, joining the growing cloud of devices circling the Earth. Though unlike your average SpaceX Starlink, the high-powered imaging satellite has U.S. intelligence officials biting their nails, concerned over what both Russia and Iran could be…Read more...

The biggest challenge facing the growing number of clamp-on gamepads that promise to turn your smartphone into a handheld console is their limited compatibility, especially when it comes to fitting your phone. The Gamevice Flex wants to change that with a modular design that can be reconfigured to support almost any…Read more...

Samsung’s almost unveiled its next-generation foldables, which means the days of relying on leaks are almost over. The company’s virtual Galaxy Unpacked event will start on Aug. 10 at 9 a.m. ET / 6 a.m. P.T. You can watch along with us on Samsung’s website or in YouTube embed below. Samsung will also publish all the…Read more...

There are a lot of expectations around the new House of the Dragon series from HBO Max, and nobody is more concerned than George R.R. Martin himself. He has apparently been more active in this production than the original Game of Thrones series—and he was particularly insistent on three details that, unfortunately,…Read more...

A large-scale trial for a crucially needed vaccine has just gotten underway. Over the weekend, the first volunteers enrolled in the trial testing out a Lyme disease vaccine candidate developed by Pfizer and Valneva. Researchers hope that the multi-dose shot will protect kids and adults against six strains of the…Read more...

Cobra Kai season four ended on a few massive cliffhangers. Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) had successfully framed John Kreese (Martin Kove) for assault and taken full control of Cobra Kai, while Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) called in an old friend from his past, Chozen (Yuji Okumoto), to help him defeat the evil…Read more...

Look. Let’s be honest with each other. I know you don’t have any questions, let alone frequent ones, about 2009’s Dragonball Evolution. Critically and commercially scorned, the movie based loosely (ever-so-loosely) on Akira Toriyama’s best-selling manga and anime of (kind of) the same name has been largely forgotten…Read more...

Snapchat has introduced its first ever parental controls, under an app section called Family Center. The company described the new feature in a blogpost on Tuesday. Parents and guardians will now be able to keep tabs on who their teens are friends with and who they’ve chatted with recently (provided the aforementioned…Read more...

WhatsApp will be rolling out a number of new privacy features that allow its users to be a lot more discreet with their online chats. The new features include exiting a group chat without notifying its members, hiding your online status, and preventing other users from screenshotting ‘view once’ messages.Read more...

When the saga of Japanese tokusatsu hero Kamen Rider Zero-One, star of the 2019 Japanese TV show of the same name, returns in comic form this November, the Rider won’t be alone. Unfortunately for him, he’ll be accompanied by an all-new villain named Ragnarok, whom you can meet here.

The latest crypto bro on the block happens to be the country of Iran. Reports from the Tasnim news agency Tuesday said that, according to the country’s head of its Trade Promotion Organization Alireza Peyman-Pak, the country made its first official import order using crypto worth $10 million. Further, the official…Read more...

Not only is Sennheiser known for its excellent sounding audio gear, it’s also known for its distinct styling, particularly with headphones like its wireless over-ear Momentum line. In past iterations, the line featured an exposed metal headband strap that aesthetically stood out against the competition, but for the…Read more...

Some Burger King customers were left confused and rightfully a little freaked out this morning when they woke up to a receipt for a fast food order in their email—except they didn’t order any food, and the receipt is completely blank.Read more...

There’s a lot to love about pop culture, but not everyone can get every reference. Sometimes you need an actual reference book—or a memoir, an essay collection, an oral history, or something written by an expert. These nerdy nonfiction books are perfect for brushing up on all the incredibly niche parts of the…Read more...

Large swaths of U.S. internet users last night briefly experienced the dark, frustrating realities of a world devoid of Google services. Though Google has since resolved the outage issues, new reports suggest the disruptions may be tied to an “electrical incident” at a Council Bluffs, Iowa data center that left at…Read more...

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Last November, we called the Beats Fit Pro a perfect pair of wireless earbuds, but that was assuming the black, white, gray, and lilac color options fulfilled your idea of perfection. Nearly 10 months later, Beats has partnered with Kim Kardashian for three new Beats Fit Pro colorways, featuring far subtler shades…Read more...

During a news briefing at the Johnson Space Center on Friday, a NASA official revealed that all active NASA astronauts are eligible to take part in the Artemis Moon program, regardless of age.

Although it’s not for sure, apparently Idris Elba is working on something “big” for DC. My bet’s on a reprise of his Suicide Squad 2 character, Bloodsport, but lips are otherwise sealed. Set pics from the Marvel TV series Ironheart and Madame Web offer new clues. Plus, a hint that J.J. Abrams’ gritty Constantine is…Read more...

Hinge wants to make dating a little easier with a new feature called Not-so-Frequently Asked Questions. NFAQ seeks to answer the questions that daters, especially those in the LGBTQ+ community want to ask, but don’t exactly know how to do it.Read more...

The FBI executed a search warrant at Donald Trump’s Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, on Monday to retrieve presidential records that were never properly handed over to the U.S. National Archives, according to the Washington Post. And Republicans had a complete freak-out on social media over the fact that Trump might finally…Read more...

There’s a joke in the visual effects industry that goes like this: Someone hears you work on films, so they ask you, “What movie made you cry?” The artist will respond, “In theaters or in the office?”

Todd Phillips’ Joker purposefully ended with many questions left unanswered, but now we can cross at least one off the list. Deadline reports that Zazie Beetz is in talks to reprise her role as Arthur Fleck’s neighbor, Sophie, in 2024's Joker: Folie à Deux. She’ll join Joaquin Phoenix, who’ll reprise his role as…Read more...

Just in case you thought the current wave of ‘80s nostalgia was in any danger of breaking, it now appears that Pac-Man is getting its own live-action feature. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the classic arcade game from Bandai Namco Entertainment, known for Galaga and Tekken in addition to Pac-Man, has a feature film…Read more...

Intel this week revealed its new lineup of Arc Pro series GPUs intended primarily for powerful small form factor desktops and professionally focused laptops. All three of the GPUs, which Intel says are targeted at professional software applications in the architecture, construction, design, and manufacturing…Read more...

Another person has died in New Mexico flash floods. The state has been grappling with flooding in the aftermath of its largest ever recorded wildfire. Three people were found killed in flash floods on July 21, according to the Associated Press. The victims were a family from West Texas visiting their cabin in New…Read more...

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The infamous notch is still a contested design decision on Apple’s part, and one of the many, many reasons to hate it was the disappearance of the status bar’s battery percentage indicator when the iPhone X arrived. But as Apple continues to slowly roll back some of the more questionable design choices it’s made in…Read more...

It’s not uncommon to see a superhero so powerful that a bullet can’t get through their skin. Soon though, the whole genre is going to need skin that thick because Armando Iannucci is coming for them.Read more...

Crypto mixers have caught the hot end of the stick that is the U.S.’ efforts to sanction North Korea, thanks to their inability to stop DPRK-affiliated groups from using their services to launder ill-gotten gains.Read more...

Like a screen protector for your entire car, a new protective coating developed by researchers at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology could actually go one step further than the plastic films you apply to your smartphone’s display. When exposed to the sun, it’s able to heal itself, making scratches…Read more...

Mon dieu! Zut alors! Merde! French fries! The Walking Dead’s ever-expanding TV universe head honcho, Scott Gimple, has revealed that the upcoming spin-off starring Norman Reedus’ Daryl will somehow take place in France, and I simply can’t wrap my tête around it.

Locke & Key season three arrives on Netflix this week—and we’re excited to see how this well-crafted, highly entertaining series wraps up the supernatural drama surrounding the Locke family, their friends, and their demonic enemies. But if you binged season two back when it dropped last October, you might be in need…Read more...

Apple is avoiding any deep stake in the consumer VR pricing rat race, reportedly, with a very expensive and very low-key first release. As first noted by MacRumors, consistent Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote Sunday that the tech giant will only be releasing less than 1.5 million units of its first gen AR/VR headset …Read more...

Spider-Man might be the most popular insect-adjacent superhero in the United States, but in Japan, he’ll always play second fiddle to Kamen Rider. The masked, motorcycle-riding hero, one of the stalwarts of the tokusatsu genre, has been a mainstay on Japanese TV for over 50 years. Now, the story of the 2019 series …Read more...

Season two of webcomic Lore Olympus just concluded, with season three coming very soon, and io9 got a chance to speak with Eisner-winning creator Rachel Smythe all about it. Since its 2018 launch, Lore Olympus—a retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth—has gained a dedicated fandom (it’s the number one most-read…Read more...

Believe it or not, the fish sticks available in the frozen food sections of most supermarkets actually do come from a dead animal. One day in the future though, that may no longer be true. Seafood made without the sea is gaining ground in the ever-growing “cultured meat” world.

Google is firing back at Sonos Inc., filing two lawsuits against the audio products company that claim that its voice control technology infringes on a number of Google patents.Read more...

NASA’s SLS rocket is slated to launch for the first time in just three weeks, rumbling off the launch pad with 8.8 million pounds of thrust. There to see it take flight will be thousands upon thousands of spectators, as the Artemis era officially gets underway.Read more...

You’ve likely heard of the House Republican Congress and the Congressional Black Caucus, but what about a caucus geared specifically for self-driving vehicles? A pair of bipartisan House representatives are advocating for a new group, called the Congressional Autonomous Vehicle Caucus, which they hope could…Read more...

If you didn’t make it to theaters to watch League of Super-Pets, or just weren’t interested in forking over cash to watch Batman’s dog Ace talking about peeing on things, you can still see the movie’s silly post-credits scene thanks to star Dwayne Johnson. As befits the movie’s kid-friendly mien, it’s not a tease for…Read more...

Imagine living in New Jersey (I know, such a thought sent shivers down my spine as well). So after spending a day listening to wannabe The Sopranos accents while trying to avoid both Philadelphia and the Jersey Shore, seeing a heart-melting story on GoFundMe over a homeless man’s good deed might make you more keen to…Read more...

Printers remain one of the most frustrating pieces of consumer electronics, but it turns out a thirst for pricey ink and occasionally chewing up and choking on paper aren’t the biggest challenges of using an Epson printer. As some users have discovered, the hardware might be programmed to simply stop working one day,…Read more...

Zillow’s artificial intelligence guided house hunting service is now here nationwide to make your home buying experience a little less painful. Zillow surfing 2.0 generates viewable floor plans using machine learning and seller photos, allowing buyers to effectively tour a house without stepping foot in it.

Fans of the Predator franchise surely found lots of little winks and nods to the previous films in Hulu’s new prequel, Prey. A line of dialogue here. A piece of set dressing there. Then... that one big reveal at the end you were certainly not expecting. As cool as the one specific thing was, it’s actually even better …Read more...

For those of you worried about the Colin Farrell-led TV series, The Penguin, don’t be. For those of you worried about HBO’s Strange Adventures TV series, do be. We also have a sweet little teaser for new episodes of Cuphead on Netflix. Forth, spoilers!