Gizmodo

A familiar voice joins Sonic the Hedgehog 2. There’s even more purported hints at the other Spider-Men of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Get a glimpse at what’s coming on Flash’s “Armageddon” finale and the second season of Superman & Lois. Plus, even Riverdale has a multiverse now. Spoilers, away!

The city of Harbin, China has started offering 10,000 yuan ($1,570 U.S.) to anyone who proactively comes forward to report their own covid-19 symptoms or a positive test, according to the South China Morning Post and Chinese state media.

Police in Oregon are trying to solve some recent fatal poisonings among the already-fragile gray wolf population. Authorities believe that at least eight wolves have been killed by poison this year, including five from a single pack. They’re now calling for any potential tips from the public, while conservation groups…Read more...

Tesla has gained its fair share of interest from regulators and safety advocates in recent months over the fraught deployment of its “Full Self Driving” beta system, but it has so far managed to largely avoid scrutiny over its decision to quietly add in the ability to play video games while driving.Read more...

After a recent screening of Don’t Look Up, the new Netflix original from writer/director Adam McKay, star Leonardo DiCaprio explained why he did this film. DiCaprio has long been an advocate for the environment and, for years, had been looking for a film to underline the message that climate change is killing this…Read more...

As first reported by Axios, a collective of some 200 newspapers are currently suing Google and Facebook, alleging that the tech giants have unfairly manipulated the advertising market in ways that directly damage their publications.

For years now, reports have emerged of Myanmar’s military using Facebook as a key tool in its ongoing slaughter of the country’s Muslim Rohingya population. Investigations have found the platform’s been openly used to incite vicious rumors and organize planned attacks on the Rohingya, whose lives have been thrown into …Read more...

People who regularly use cannabis may be more prone to sleep problems, new research suggests. The observational study found that self-described cannabis users were more likely to report trouble getting the optimal amount of sleep, both in not getting enough rest or too much. This link was more pronounced for heavy…Read more...

You saw the new Dune movie. You loved the new Dune movie. You want to know what happens next. In this scenario, you probably think you have two options. One: wait until 2023 to see the next movie. Two: pick up Frank Herbert’s legendary 1965 book. Either one will provide the answers you seek, but now we’re happy to…Read more...

Fifth Element cosplayer Elon Musk would like the government to knock it off with the whole trying to pass climate legislation thing. His beef with the Build Back Better Act? Among other things, subsidies for electric vehicles. Thus, Musk continues a long tradition of what people in “the biz” call “pulling up the…Read more...

In a big reshuffle, Samsung announced on Tuesday plans to merge its mobile and consumer electronics divisions in an effort to consolidate its structure to focus on chip production.Read more...

Those fans who have been patiently awaiting the long-anticipated crossover between Riverdale and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina need to wait no longer. Tonight’s episode will finally see Keirnan Shirpka’s teenage witch meeting her fellow Archie Comics characters as part of the show’s increasingly bizarre…Read more...

Dark matter is the invisible something that gloms together galaxies like cosmic duct tape. But a team of researchers say they’ve found a distant galaxy entirely devoid of dark matter, a finding that could shake up understandings of both dark matter and galaxy formation.Read more...

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the engine that powers many of the internet’s most-trafficked websites and apps, appears to be experiencing a widespread outage that is bringing down several popular services.

Way back in the early 1980s, Star Wars put movie-themed action figures on the map. The toys were so successful, they basically created a whole new industry, and to this day, the link between Star Wars and toys remains one of the franchise’s most enduring legacies. Over the years though, as the kids that originally…Read more...

Hawaii has been home to the wildest weather in the U.S. The island chain saw rare blizzard warnings as a powerful storm system moved across the island chain over the weekend and into the early part of the week.

Wearing protective suits to guard against toxic chemicals, a small team of mission specialists has completed the 10-day fueling of the upcoming Webb space telescope. For what seems like the first time ever, the long-delayed mission is actually starting to feel real.

President Joe Biden has pitched himself as a presidential version of Captain Planet. His campaign climate plan included “banning new oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters.” But a new report shows he’s approving fossil fuel leases on public lands at a faster clip than his climate-denying predecessor, Donald…Read more...

Of course a third Venom movie is on the way. New Spider-Man: No Way Home footage gives a better glimpse at its multiversal menaces. A former Power Ranger heads behind the camera on Superman & Lois to give us a look at Clark’s updated suit. Plus, what’s coming when Sabrina weaves her magic in Riverdale. Spoilers away!

I’m a huge Tamagotchi fan (Exhibit A, B, and C), but after a week with the R2-D2 Tamagotchi, I realize I just spent $20 on something too extreme even for me.Read more...

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki mocked the idea of mailing out free covid-19 tests to every American household on Monday, in just the latest sign that President Joe Biden’s lack of imagination is making the pandemic worse.Read more...

MyCryptoWallet, an Australia-based cryptocurrency exchange that allowed users to buy and sell coins like ether and bitcoin, has collapsed and left users without access to funds, according to multiple reports. The company called in a firm called SV Partners on Friday to liquidate what remains of the exchange and deal…Read more...

Life360, a popular tracking app that bills itself as “the world’s leading family safety service,” is purportedly selling location data on the 31 million families and kids that use it to data brokers. The chilling revelation may make users of the Tile Bluetooth tracker, which is being bought by Life360, think twice…Read more...

Batman’s world is expanding, and its star power is rising. A few months back, news broke that Warner Bros. was developing a show centered on the new iteration of the Penguin from the upcoming Matt Reeves film The Batman. Colin Farrell plays Penguin in the film but, at the time, it was unclear if the star would reprise…Read more...

Donald Trump’s effort to launch a MAGA-centric tech firm to rival the likes of Google and Facebook landed a new CEO on Monday. It also disclosed that it’s under investigation by the feds.Read more...

Star Wars’ current canonical era—where the series is bigger and more expansive across film, TV, books, comics, and video games than ever, and yet also everything simply must align and matter to the rest of its wider universe—makes for a weird mix. It means that we’ve gone from, say, a side character in a series of…Read more...

Researchers in the UK are beginning an important clinical trial of a relatively new type of weight loss, or bariatric, surgery. The minimally invasive procedure is designed to reduce the production of the so-called “hunger hormone” called ghrelin, but with less cost and upkeep than existing bariatric treatments.…Read more...

James Cameron’s Spider-Man. It’s a phrase film fans have heard and thought about for years. The idea of one of the greatest blockbuster filmmakers in history tackling one of the most popular, cinematic superheroes ever is incredibly enticing. And, in the mid-1990s, it almost happened. Cameron was aggressively trying…Read more...

If you visited the Ocearch marine animal tracker in the last week, your eyes might have been drawn to the eastern seaboard of North America, where a bombardment of blue dots made it look like the coastline was being assaulted by white sharks.Read more...

One of the top executives of a gargantuan texting contractor has been accused of running a secret surveillance business, the likes of which sold access to the company’s partner networks so that governments could spy on various users.

As a longtime Android user, I’ve spent the better part of a decade on the sidelines of an entire product category, awaiting a wearable that could rival the Apple Watch. From startups to traditional watchmakers, many companies have promised a worthy alternative, only to release smartwatches with crippling compromises.…Read more...

While we sometimes mistakenly think of old Hollywood as being a relatively chaste place (compared to the modern film industry), where the Hays Code forced studios to self-censor sexuality and anything that bucked American social norms, that’s not at all the case.

The world dumps some 17.6 billion pounds (8 billion kilograms) of plastic into the ocean every year—and now, you can check out how all that trash moves around. NASA released an animation showing shifting plastic concentrations in the world’s oceans over an 18-month period, the first research of its kind to map…Read more...

In just a few days, the sixth and final season of Amazon’s beloved sci-fi series The Expanse will premiere. This new season is only going to be six episodes, so you know it’s going to hit the ground running—and you gotta be prepared, beltalowda! Here’s a crash course for fans on where things stand.Read more...

Donald Trump’s new tech company has raised $1 billion from investors, according to a press release from the former president and a report from CNBC. But there’s no way of independently checking whether Trump, a man known for lying about literally everything, has actually been able to secure such a huge sum in a…Read more...

Tens of thousands of honeybees in Spain’s Canary Islands can now add “survived a volcano” to their bucket list. Well, since they’re bees, we’ll add it for them.Read more...

Although some of us might forget since we’re too busy laughing, comedians, like songwriters, write content to entertain us. There’s a difference though: Songwriters get paid royalties for their written work, comedians don’t. In the age of streaming, comedians are hoping to change that, especially considering the…Read more...

Having just brought back those Weeping Angels a few weeks ago, Doctor Who is ringing in 2022 by calling in some old(er) foes in the form of the Daleks. Having spent most of Flux out on the sidelines, that emotionless master race is back to terrorize Jodie Whitaker’s Thirteenth Doctor and company in the holiday special…Read more...

We’ve only had six weeks in the TARDIS this time around, and at last: Flux is about to come to its final end. Come talk about Doctor Who’s present and future with us as we await it, why don’t you?

Since it was first reported nearly a full year ago, one of the big things on everyone’s mind in regard to Spider-Man: No Way Home are its villains. The returning baddies of Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin and Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus from Sam Raimi’s original trilogy and Jamie Foxx’s Electro of the Amazing duology…Read more...

It’s a shame that Nintendo used the tagline “everyone is here!” for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, because it may be more apt for Fortnite. After the end of Chapter Two yesterday, the online gaming homunculus of IP rebooted itself today with Chapter Three that brings in the biggest star on the planet at the moment: …Read more...

It’s been a little tough to figure out just what kind of vibe that Morbius is going for. Is it a tragic tale of a doctor desperate to save his life and losing his soul in the process? Is it a solo vampire story in the modern day, something we haven’t seen in movies in quite some time? The answer turns out to…Read more...

Although Facebook Messenger’s entry into personal finance isn’t new, I’ve never quite managed to think about it as a payments platform. It’s more an inbox that aunts, uncles, and friends from high school blow up with messages when I haven’t posted on Facebook in a while. But it’s now becoming more and more clear that …Read more...

Back when HBO Max was getting its feet off the ground in 2020, one of its big shows at the time was Raised by Wolves. Though some found Aaron Guikowski’s series about android parents tasked with raising some important human children to be a bit of a slog, the show was renewed for second season just a few episodes…Read more...

One of the brightest and most underused spots of the relatively short-lived Marvel/Netflix partnership was Jessica Henwick. As Colleen Wing in Iron Fist, Henwick brought a lot of charm to a show that was in real need of it during that first season and let her shine in season two. Just as the show was priming her for…Read more...

While Disney+ has had no problem putting out MCU shows this year, there’s still a vocal legion of fans who yearn for the stars of the once mighty Netflix series to get their due. Primarily, this hope has reserved for Charlie Cox’s Daredevil and Jon Bernthal’s Punisher, and while Cox has rather gracefully talked about…Read more...

Google has delayed its return to office mandate for workers in the U.S. again as concerns over the new coronavirus omicron variant raise alarm worldwide and prompt new restrictions.Read more...

Some of you may remember the quote “intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism” from Craig Ferguson’s outstanding tribute to Doctor Who on the old (and far superior) The Late Late Show. But thinking back—on what is to be my last day running io9—I think it sums up how I’ve felt about working here for the last…Read more...

It’s not every day that two of the most famous directors in animation history jump into the world of comic books, but that’s about to happen. Directors Ron Clements and John Musker, who made films you may have heard of like Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Moana, are looking to make an animated movie based on the DC…Read more...

When most of us think of “inventors,” we’re probably thinking about folks like the Wright Brothers, Alexander Graham Bell, or Thomas Edison—folks who changed the world by creating something new and lived to tell the tale. What gets talked about less frequently are the folks that aren’t so lucky: the people that tried…Read more...