Gizmodo

We’re all familiar with Google’s successes. Most folks reading this probably use one of the company’s services every day, be it Google Maps, Search, Android Auto, or Chrome OS. But for every megahit, there is a lengthy list of duds—apps, social platforms, or hardware that, for one reason or another, never reached the…Read more...

Sheryl Sandberg, Meta’s second-in-command for 14 years, is leaving amid perhaps the most tumultuous and uncertain period in the company’s history. Meta is fundamentally pivoting its business, and that change will occur without the original architect of that business in the picture.Read more...

Tesla will cut its workforce by about 10% because CEO Elon Musk has a “super bad feeling” about the future of the economy, according to a new report from Reuters. The news agency cites an internal memo that was reportedly sent to Tesla executives and noted the electric car company would be pausing all hiring across…Read more...

Join the other fast family, the Mario Bros. (if we may so call them), and their friends on Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, the upcoming attraction set to open at Universal Studios Hollywood in 2023. Sure, the Super Nintendo World attraction is technically a track and ride vehicle, but it’s still Mario Kart with all…Read more...

What is essentially kryptonite to the budget of a nerd who grew up in the ‘80s, Lego and Hasbro’s first collaboration is finally available, but is the brick-built version of Optimus Prime worthy of a spot in your collection?Read more...

Reno, Nevada, also known as the “Biggest Little City in the World,” has jumped on the Web3 bandwagon and is rolling out a new blockchain-based pilot program that promises to do what the blockchain does best: keep digital records of stuff.Read more...

The dead speak! Weeks after all but leaving first-run theaters, Jared Leto’s Spider-Man spinoff Morbius is somehow, some way, returning to the big screen. ERC Box Office on Twitter first broke the news that on June 3, the film will be on over 1,000 screens across the U.S. Plus, a quick yet embarrassing Google search…Read more...

It appears that Beavis and Butt-Head, stars of the much-loved ‘90s MTV animated series, have finally extracted themselves from their couch—but their horny snark is still very much intact. Witness this for yourself in the first trailer for Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe, the long-awaited to follow-up to the duo’s…Read more...

In December 1968, the Apollo 8 mission carried three astronauts on a trip around the Moon— further than anyone had ever gone before. For a mission that far, navigation was the biggest unknown factor. Had the spacecraft’s velocity been even a bit off, it would’ve crashed onto the far side of the Moon.Read more...

Amazon has become the latest big tech company to scale back its ambitions in the Chinese market, announcing Thursday that it would stop shipping its Kindle e-reader there and shutter its ebook store in the country in 2023. The company closed its ecommerce business there in 2019.Read more...

The streaming wars are no longer about which app and service you like using the most, but which one has the content library you want access to at the drop of a hat. Services like YouTube TV and Sling TV exist for folks who want a more traditional cable TV experience, like a live timeline to shuffle through and DVR…Read more...

A California judge ruled this week that bees can now be legally defined as “fish” under a state conservation law, but they’re still biologically bees (obviously).

Long before Webb even launched from French Guiana, we’ve been waiting for this moment: the first full-color images from this cutting-edge space telescope. NASA announced yesterday that those pictures will be available on July 12, along with some spectroscopic data.Read more...

In new research this week, an experimental treatment seems to have helped beat back a woman’s advanced pancreatic cancer. The woman’s tumors have since substantially shrunk in size and she has remained in stable health a year after the treatment—results that hold promise for a new approach to these kinds of often…Read more...

Arguably the most intriguing thing about the upcoming Jurassic World Dominion is the return of the original cast. Though Jurassic Park stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum all returned in previous sequels, they never returned all at once, and never on screen with the franchise’s new heroes. But that happens…Read more...

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, AKA the Winklevoss Twins, AKA the “Winklevii,” are losing a bit of that crypto-based twinkle in their eyes.Read more...

Warner Bros. is not going to throw away a movie that’s its Spider-Verse, its No Way Home, and its Multiverse of Madness rolled into one. That movie is DC’s The Flash, directed by Andy Muschietti and starring Ezra Miller. It’s widely expected to be Warner Bros.’ answer to the mega-popular Marvel multiverse movies, with…Read more...

A key use of giraffes’ long necks is necking, a form of combat in which two giraffes swing their necks at one another, slamming opponents with their heads, to establish dominance. Now, researchers have described a previously unknown giraffe ancestor with a similar anatomy for fighting, in the form of a reinforced,…Read more...

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Ring announced today that it’s increasing the price of its Protect Basic subscription plan. Starting on July 1, Protect Basic subscribers will pay a dollar more each month. Currently, it’s still $3/month or $30/year for the Protect Basic plan. It’s going up to $4/month, or $40/year if you pay upfront.

Any good episodic TV series knows how to deal with often dramatic tone shifts that, in our era of heavily serialized programming, might seem tone-deaf or jarring. Star Trek, of course, is no exception to this having been episodic for so much of its 50+ year history—some weeks you fight god, some weeks the holodeck’s…Read more...

A team of researchers studying satellite images of the Alps made a concerning find: Since 1984, most of the high-elevation parts of European mountain range have seen an increase in vegetation. While that might not sound particularly troublesome, this “greening” is likely due to global warming and may be facilitating a…Read more...

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft has been out of commission for most of the year, but owing to a very clever hack, the probe is now using the stars to navigate its way around the Red Planet.Read more...

Step into the multiverse on Disney+ when Marvel Studios drops Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness onto the streaming service this month. The Sam Raimi-directed superhero blockbuster is still in theaters (watch it in 3D for full Raimi horror effect)—but if you’re ready for more Doctor Strange (Benedict…Read more...

Boaters hanging out on drought-stricken Lake Powell on Memorial Day were treated to a dramatic sight: a monumental section of canyon falling into the water. Footage taken by boater Mila Carter and posted to Instagram shows an enormous chunk of a red canyon wall toppling over into the lake, releasing a cloud of dust…Read more...

In Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film Jurassic Park, life finds a way. An island comprised entirely of female dinosaurs finds a way to create new life when some of the creatures spontaneously change sex. It’s a crucial plot point and, according to a popular theory, it’s teased near the beginning of the film.Read more...

Valve is still struggling to make good on one of the Steam Deck’s biggest promised features: the Nintendo Switch-like ability to charge and connect to a TV or monitor for a more-relaxed gaming session.Read more...

Considering that it comes from the mind of Seth MacFarlane, you’d expect sci-fi series The Orville to lean more into comedy than drama. But while the show, which is back on Hulu today for its third season, has had its share of hilarious moments in the past, somber season premiere “Electric Sheep” doesn’t have too many…Read more...

“Okay Google… Set a reminder to remind me to remind you to stop your location reminder feature.”Read more...

Astronomers may have just cracked a confounding solar system mystery: why our two ice giants come in different colors.Read more...

Although high-speed wireless technologies like Wifi 6E and 5G dominate news headlines, analog, and optical cables are still the backbone of the internet, and for good reason. Researchers in Japan just set a new fiber optic data transmission record with a technique that’s compatible with existing cable infrastructure,…Read more...

Netflix debuts its newest offering, “After School,” a programming push aimed at younger children, with Oni: The Thunder God’s Tale, an animated show rooted in Japanese mythology. Oni is led by its creator and showrunner, Dice (Daisuke) Tsutsumi, who co-directed The Dam Keeper, an 2014 Academy-Award nominated short filmRead more...

Our liver stays plenty youthful even as we get older, new research this week suggests. Using a form of radioactive dating, the researchers estimate that the average age of our liver’s cells is around three years. Some cells seem to live longer than others, however, a finding that may one day help scientists better…Read more...

Warner Bros. wants Todd Phillips back in the DC Universe. Go hands-on with a new preview of Netflix’s Wednesday Addams series. The CW’s Diggle-focused DC spinoff might still be happening. Plus, catch up with what’s been going on with Obi-Wan Kenobi, and more behind-the-scenes goofs from Rob Zombie’s Munsters. To me,…Read more...

The Texas law that seeks to stop companies from being mean to fossil fuels is getting popular—even if its execution and implications are still murky. States across the country are looking at adopting similar bills to one passed in Texas that forbids the state from doing business with any institutions that “boycott”…Read more...

Customers at Chipotle will now be able to pay for their burritos with cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ether, and dogecoin, in a move that could help crypto become more mainstream, according to trade publication Restaurant Business. But there’s just one important caveat: Chipotle will accept the crypto through a…Read more...

While the release of Obi-Wan Kenobi and its new roster of characters within the Star Wars universe was for most fans an exciting occasion, the show also supplied a new target for the fandom’s racist and misogynistic trolls: Moses Ingram, who stars as Third Sister Reva Sevander.Read more...

Watch out intrepid web3 entrepreneurs, the feds are cracking down on insider trading. Former OpenSea product manager Nate Chastain was arrested by the FBI early Wednesday morning in New York City and charged with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with an elaborate NFT insider trading scheme. In a press…Read more...

If you lost a loved one but had a chance to bring them back, wouldn’t you risk everything to try and do that? Sci-fi short Red String of Fate—directed by Lance Fernandes and Lovina Yavari, and written by Onna Chan—manages to create a surprisingly gripping sci-fi tale in fewer than 10 minutes.Read more...

This is not entirely surprising news considering he’s one of the creative forces behind the project, but Will Arnett (Lego Masters, The Lego Batman Movie) will voice one of the main characters in Peacock’s action-comedy series adaptation of PlayStation game Twisted Metal.

“I knew my character was going to be the queer one,” Vico Ortiz said in our interview last week. “I’m used to being the queer one.” Ortiz is speaking about their role in the hit pirate comedy, Our Flag Means Death. Their character, Jim (shortened from their last name, Jiminez), is a transgender, nonbinary, Latine…Read more...

Welcome back to io9's monthly Nerd’s Watch, where we pare down the enormous lists of new films and television shows arriving on all your favorite streaming services into the sci-fi, fantasy, and horror titles we think you’ll like most.Read more...

NASA announced today that it has partnered with two private U.S. companies, Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace, to develop its next spacesuits, which will be ready no earlier than 2025.Read more...

I get annoyed by all the jokes people make about Google killing things willy-nilly. I think that’s because I’m so deep into the ecosystem that these kinds of changes usually directly affect me. Google’s latest assassination target is Duo, which is now being combined with Meet into one video-calling app. As much as it…Read more...

The CEO of the notorious spyware vendor NSO Group apparently has a new plan to rebound from the company’s ongoing legal and fiscal tailspin: start re-selling its noxious spyware to the very governments that got it into trouble in the first place.Read more...

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Star Wars is full of forgettable side characters that some people refuse to forget. From the man carrying an ice cream maker in Empire Strikes Back (who has a name, and it’s Willow Hood, for some reason) to my editor’s suggestions of Captain Fordo, Ooryl Qrygg, and Voort “Piggy” saBinring, there’s a lot to choose…Read more...

Meta’s longtime business chief, Sheryl Sandberg, is leaving the company.Read more...

An ongoing drought in Iraq revealed a sunken Bronze Age city.

Canadian regulators on Wednesday found that Tim Hortons—a popular fast-food chain owned by the same multinational company as Burger King—changed its mobile app in 2019 to track and collect sensitive location data on its customers.