Gizmodo

Folks across Texas are receiving outrageous energy bills in the wake of widespread utility shutoffs during last week’s cold snap. Thankfully, state officials issued some stopgap measures on Sunday to protect them from those ridiculous financial burdens.

We’ve reviewed a ton of laptops and played around with even more. While we have an entire guide dedicated to laptops, we know some people just want to game, and so no matter your budget, we’ve curated some of the best gaming laptops currently on the market. Many of them are great for other tasks besides gaming, too,…Read more...

One of the many, many things that’s made WandaVision so compelling to watch are the ways it has poked and prodded at the format of television to tell the story of Scarlet Witch and Vision’s unlikely love. But in an episode that was all about the fakeness of that metatext finally breaking down, a sincere turning point…Read more...

Israel is scrambling to clean up black tar that has washed ashore on its beaches following an oil spill that officials are calling one of the worst environmental disasters in years.Read more...

Despite being considered one of the greatest handheld consoles of all time, every version of the Nintendo Game Boy Advance had a problematic design flaw, from missing headphone jacks to screens that were either too small or dark. They can now all be fixed with mods, and a new aluminum housing from Boxy Pixel can even…Read more...

It looks like Apple and Facebook aren’t the only tech giants developing a pair of augmented reality smart glasses. Over the weekend, Twitter user @WalkingCat leaked two videos allegedly from Samsung showcasing a pair of AR glasses dubbed “Glasses Lite” and what appears to be the company’s vision for “Next Wearable…Read more...

Marvel Studios productions are chugging along with new casting and fun filming details. Discovery of Witches gets a few new castmembers. Plus updates from The Flash, Batwoman, Black Lightning, and more. Spoilers away!

Laptops are fantastic for portable computing on the go, letting you move from the home to the office, or from the study to the bedroom, or from planes to trains with ease. They’ve got a lot of advantages, but if you’re going to be stuck in one place for an extended period of time (sound familiar?), the disadvantages…Read more...

Cyberpunk 2077 (PS4) w/ SteelBook Case | $30 | Best Buy

The Neanderthal of popular imagination is a hideous, ape-like being, lumbering around with his or her crude spear. Rarely do we picture this person, or pre-person, engaged in any kind of conversation, beyond the occasional grunt-off over a spoiled piece of meat. But—depending on which archaeologist/linguist you happen…Read more...

Have you seen those viral videos on TikTok and Twitter where users are burning snow to “prove” that it’s actually fake? Needless to say, the snow is real. The viral videos actually show a perfectly normal reaction to placing the flame of a lighter or match against a snowball. But that hasn’t stopped these videos from…Read more...

As if gig workers didn’t have it hard enough already, they now have to be on the lookout for possible phishing scams from malicious actors that pretend to represent their company.Read more...

The Federal Aviation Administration has ended its investigations into SpaceX’s last two Starship prototype tests, dubbed SN8 and SN9, according to CNN’s Jackie Wattles. News of the federal probes threw the launch of SpaceX’s SN10 prototype into legal limbo, but on Sunday CEO Elon Musk seemed confident that the matter…Read more...

On Saturday, residents of a Colorado suburb witnessed a scene straight out of a disaster movie: The sound of an explosion overhead followed by huge chunks of metal raining down from above.Read more...

After causing a huge virtual meltdown with the announcement of its new privacy policy, and then postponing the implementation of said policy due to online fury, WhatsApp has spent the last few weeks trying not to stir up trouble. However, it has just revealed what will happen to users who do not accept its new privacy…Read more...

Tacklife Fire Pit Table | $270 | Amazon | Use code 40919XJ8 + Clip coupon

After years of everyone being all “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia” about his Justice League cut, I almost forgot about Zack Snyder’s return to the zombie genre. But since everything’s coming up Snyder this month, we’ve got a poster and an upcoming teaser.Read more...

Fans on the official Twitch gaming stream hoping to enjoy Metallica’s virtual performance at BlizzCon, Blizzard’s annual gaming convention, on Friday heard something that was, uh, definitely not Metallica.Read more...

Huge metal chunks of debris rained down on a Colorado suburb Saturday afternoon after the engine on a United Airlines plane overhead burst into flames.Read more...

As if freezing for days and living with power outrages weren’t bad enough, some Texans now have to deal with the steep financial consequences from the storm. The latest blow came via the electricity bills, some of which have reached outrageous sums that can reach $5,000 or even $17,000 for just a few days.Read more...

It’s hard to believe that almost a year into the pandemic pushing everything virtual, there are people still struggling to get the hang of Zoom. And yet here we are.Read more...

Google has fired another top artificial intelligence researcher, Margaret Mitchell, in the latest escalation of internal tensions at the company following December’s controversial ouster of Timnit Gebru, a Black AI ethicist. As if the PR fire with Google’s AI ethics team didn’t have enough fuel already.Read more...

Paul Feig continues on his personal mission to give us gifts in the form of powerful lady team-ups. This time, it’s Kerry Washington and Charlize Theron playing best friends and the Deans of The School of Good and Evil.Read more...

On Monday night, the temperature in Lake Charles, Louisiana dipped to 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-10 degrees Celsius), more than 30 degrees Fahrenheit (16.7 degrees Celsius) below average. Hours later, just before the sun rose on Tuesday morning, the city’s power supply abruptly shut off, taking the six local water…Read more...

Unfortunately, it’s not hard to find information about the disturbing, unhealthy, and inhumane conditions that immigrants face in ICE detention centers, many of which are privately-owned. It is, however, more complicated to find photos of these detention centers. Access to photographers is often not on the table.Read more...

A new J.J. Abrams-created thriller is coming to HBO Max. No, not that one, another one.Read more...

Nyan Cat is turning 10 years old in April (feel old yet?), and to celebrate the anniversary of one of the internet’s most wholesome memes, the artist behind the gif, Chris Torres, put a newly remastered version up for auction. On Friday, the piece sold for 300 Ether on the crypto art platform Foundation, which…Read more...

Plex appears to be exploring an integration with Apple’s streaming app.

If you’re anything like me, the last year of social distancing and lockdowns has not been good for your social life, hobbies, or generally doing interesting things at all. Going to movies, restaurants, bars, concerts, or events are for the most part non-starters; parties and other social gatherings involving more…Read more...

This winter has been a complete nightmare for Americans, thanks to the raging covid-19 pandemic. But new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to show one bright spot: The flu has been suppressed to some of the lowest levels on record. It’s likely that the interventions meant to slow the…Read more...

Razer Kishi (iPhone) | $90 | Amazon

NASA has a new toy to play with on Mars, but the space agency has some important work to do before the Perseverance rover is ready to start rolling through its new stomping grounds.

Comcast has once again decided to cut some of its customers a break with their data caps, Ars Technica reports. Facing ever-increasing pressure from customers and lawmakers, the internet service provider has decided to not enforce data cap overage fees on its Northeast customers until 2022.

The results of a new clinical trial suggest that vitamin D supplements don’t help people hospitalized with moderate to severe covid-19. Elsewhere, a controversial and preliminary paper that had suggested vitamin D did offer a benefit has now been pulled by the Lancet due to “concerns” over the research design.Read more...

Just as WandaVision’s stakes have grown—both literally and metaphorically— the show’s begun answering of some its most mysterious questions with revelations that have only made it that much more difficult to parse what the show’s building to. “Breaking the Fourth Wall,” WandaVision’s seventh episode, lives up to its…Read more...

The government of Norway is moving to decriminalize possession of small amounts of all recreational drugs as well as their use, including everything from weed and coke to heroin, per Bloomberg.

A ransomware gang called “Cuba” claims to be selling off data on the dark web belonging to Automatic Funds Transfer Services (AFTS), a Seattle-based financial services and data management firm that suffered a bad ransomware attack in early February.Read more...

A new docuseries from Mark Wahlberg’s production company will examine the spectacular failure of subscription service MoviePass.

NASA released a stunning photo of yesterday’s historic landing, showing the Perseverance rover being lowered to the surface during the skycrane maneuver.

Almost exactly a month before Texas plunged into darkness, a panel convened in Austin to host a discussion about the superiority of the Texan electric grid. Called “Keep the Lights and Ventilators On: The Future of Texas’ Grid Reliability,” the panel was part of an annual conference held by the Texas Public Policy…Read more...

Space fans all over the world breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when NASA’s Perseverance rover reached the surface of Mars safely. Humanity’s recent spate of bad luck aside, Mars is famous for ending missions before they even begin, with its inhospitable climate and the whole being-140-million-miles-away thing.…Read more...

With summer right around the corner, you might want to consider JBL’s Xtreme 3. It’s a durable and portable Bluetooth speaker that delivers a surprising amount of bass for those who like to listen to music even at top volumes.Read more...

Scalpers buying up graphics cards and gaming consoles only to resell them at hugely inflated prices is a problem. And iD Software co-founder John Carmack has an idea as to how to stop it, as he laid out on Twitter last night. What if manufacturers simply auctioned their own stock directly to consumers?Read more...

Even in a suburb of Montreal that’s well versed in dealing with winter storms, inclement weather can still overwhelm basic services like power, an issue with which millions of people in Texas are still currently struggling. After an especially bad ice storm in 1998, the mayor of Boucherville, Quebec, had a clever idea…Read more...

Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (Core i5/128GB) | $800 | Best Buy

After the iPad Air got refreshed last fall, people have been waiting for the iPad Pro to get a similar revamp, which according to new leaks could happen—along with the release of Apple’s AirTags—sometime soon in mid-March.Read more...

The return of MagSafe was a big surprise with the iPhone 12 lineup, and with it came the promise of new, magnetic accessories. Aside from the ones introduced with the new iPhones last fall, Apple is reportedly working on a MagSafe battery pack.Read more...

10% off BodyBlendz Skincare Glacial Dip Set | Promo code NICOLE10Read more...

Humans have forced the Earth’s ecosystems to deal with a lot of crap, from deforestation and biodiversity loss to the climate crisis. Then, there’s our, um, literal crap, which a new study shows that the planet is surprisingly well-equipped to manage.

Elizabeth Ann is the first clone of a black-footed ferret, but more importantly, she’s the first endangered species to be cloned in the United States. Her birth represents an important milestone in the ongoing effort to increase the genetic diversity of this threatened species.Read more...