Gizmodo

As you look back on a year spent in as much isolation as you’ll ever experience (hopefully), what do you have to show for all that time at home? Did you learn to cook? Master an instrument? Clean out the garage? Whatever it was it probably wasn’t as gung-ho as the LaRochelle family, who put us all to shame by building…Read more...

December is usually a pretty light month for new book releases, and while 2020 has been anything but traditional, that’s still the case here. However, you’ll find there are plenty of enticing new volumes heading to shelves, including an entire book of stories written during lockdown. Stay home, stay safe, stay reading!Read more...

Black Widow by Waid & Samnee: The Complete Collection | $20 | Amazon

Cloud-based business software mammoth Salesforce is reportedly buying Slack, the searchable workplace chatroom interface for team organization and office-appropriate dog photos. This probably won’t impact the daily lives of us users, for whom Slack will remain a record where everything we say can be held against us in…Read more...

As The Mandalorian’s stakes have gradually risen with each episode, the series’ connections to the Star Wars franchise’s larger epic narrative have grown stronger, particularly as characters like Bo-Katan and important items like the Darksaber have been incorporated into the plot.Read more...

The world’s leading climate scientists have made it abundantly clear that the only way to avert catastrophic climate breakdown is to quickly decarbonize the entire global economy. But so far, world leaders aren’t making anything close to the necessary changes. To avoid subjecting any more people to a hellish future,…Read more...

Cartoonish internet supervillain Ajit Pai, the Donald Trump-appointed Republican chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, announced Monday that he is leaving the agency on Jan. 20 before the incoming Biden administration shows him the door. Pai’s departure marks the end of an era at the FCC overshadowed by…Read more...

Et tu, Spotify?Read more...

The European Space Agency has signed a historic deal with Swiss startup ClearSpace to remove a single item of space debris in 2025. The $103 million price tag is steep, but this mission—involving an orbiting, mouth-like net—could herald the beginning of an entirely new space industry.

Wi-Fi 6 has accelerated its creep into mainstream wireless networking, urged along by the similarly accelerating spread of gigabit internet. Until the last few months or so, purchasing a Wi-Fi 6 device has largely been a decision more about future-proofing and less about immediate gain. That’s quickly changing,…Read more...

Atlantic hurricane season began early, ran wild all year, and is now, officially, at an end. Just don’t tell that to the actual Atlantic, which may well churn out another cyclone.Read more...

43% Off Select Anker Gear | AmazonRead more...

For folks living in the world of AMC’s The Walking Dead, only three things matter: How do I survive, how can we fix this...and why is this happening? The last question might seem like the easiest one to answer, but it’s something TWD’s chief content officer Scott Gimple says we may never know.

Biotech company Moderna will ask for an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for its covid-19 vaccine on Monday, according to a new press release posted to the firm’s website. Moderna also released new information indicating its messenger RNA-based vaccine has a 94.1% efficacy rate in a…Read more...

Two folks from Marvel’s Thor universe hang out...what could it all mean?? The Walking Dead: World Beyond’s showrunner gives some big season two hints. Plus Sonic the Hedgehog 2 may start running pretty soon, Lucifer is about to have his hands full, and more. Spoilers away!Read more...

Look, 2020 was supposed to be my year. I set out with what I thought were pretty reasonable New Year’s resolutions—one of which was to spend less time on my screens. And then the pandemic hit. During the endless hours that ensued, I noticed something: My digital filing system was a goddamn mess.

To be alive is to feel fucking terrible, if not all then at least some of the time. Headaches, nausea, mysterious aches and pains—all conspire to make our short time on Earth something less than a nonstop thrill-ride. Worse than the routine ailments are the ones you can’t even name: sudden strobes of unwellness you…Read more...

Rahm Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago, is rumored to be president-elect Joe Biden’s pick for Secretary of Transportation, according to a new report from Axios. But Emanuel would be a very weird choice for the position, not only because the longtime political operative has quite a list of political scandals. One of…Read more...

Anker Power Bank 1000mAh | $15 | AmazonRead more...

The UK has taken another step towards removing Huawei from its 5G network. On Sunday, the British government announced that the country’s telecommunications companies would not be allowed to install new 5G equipment from Huawei after September 2021, Bloomberg reported.Read more...

Finally, some good news in 2020. And we have Cher to thank for it. Yes, that Cher.

The mysterious shiny metallic monolith that was found in Utah’s Red Rock Country more than a week ago and set off various online and offline investigations into who—or what, dun, dun, dun—put it there is gone. On Saturday, the federal Bureau of Land Management’s Utah office announced that the monolith had been removed…Read more...

Mistakes are a beautiful part of film and television production. Let ‘em be. They’re great.Read more...

The viral short-form video app TikTok (which still isn’t banned, by the way) is becoming the unlikely new home for creators claiming to have first-hand experience with the covid-19 vaccine and giving expert testimonials about ongoing vaccine trials.

It’s here: your first full look at the upcoming Doctor Who holiday special, “Revolution of the Daleks.” It’s going to be a big one.Read more...

Dave Prowse, born in 1935 in Bristol, was an actor and bodybuilder best known for his role as Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, a role he played on screen while James Earl Jones dubbed over his voice. Now, the actor has passed away. He was 85 years old.Read more...

Toddler Baby Yoda Ugly Holiday Sweater | $12 | Target

It’s almost as if the little glowing story circles are following us everywhere. They’re on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Twitter and now, even on Spotify.Read more...

How much are a CEO’s email credentials worth? According to one hacker, anywhere between $100 and $1,500 will do, although the specific price will be set depending on the company’s size and the person’s role in it. Unfortunately, this is not a drill: There are purportedly hundreds of C-suite level email credentials…Read more...

Tony Hsieh, a Las Vegas visionary and the former CEO of Zappos who rocketed the online shoe retailer to the big leagues with its billion-dollar sale to Amazon, has died at the age of 46. He died after sustaining injuries from a fire at his home in New London, Connecticut, his attorney Puoy Premsrirut told the Wall…Read more...

Sound familiar?Read more...

If you, like me, ever asked yourself, “What’s next? Santa Claus on Zoom?” during the coronavirus pandemic, let me just say: 2020 is the year of virtual hangouts. It’s now clear that anything can happen on video chat, from work meetings to birthday parties. I can personally attest that I gave my maid of honor speech…Read more...

The original British version of Utopia, Gillian Flynn’s conspiracy theory thriller, had a two-season run. Amazon’s adaptation/remake isn’t getting the same luck.Read more...

Paleontologists are lucky to find complete sets of fossilized bones. Sometimes, they get even luckier, finding preserved impressions of delicate features like feathers. Beyond those clues, though, most of the biology of extinct species—their DNA, internal organs, and unique chemistry—has been totally destroyed by the…Read more...

TCL 75" 4K TV | $500 | Best BuyRead more...

Facebook’s long-anticipated cryptocurrency venture, Libra, could go live as early as January, three people involved with the matter told Financial Times this week. But don’t get too excited just yet: Thanks to a torrent of federal scrutiny and many of its chief investors bailing on the project, its scope has been…Read more...

Google’s fledgling cloud gaming service could really use a win after a year of technical issues and lukewarm reception from gamers. It’s resorted to literally giving Stadia and its accessories away for free to drum up some excitement, but how it handles CD Projekt Red’s oh-so-long-awaited title Cyberpunk 2077 next…Read more...

An analysis of Neanderthal hand bones suggests these extinct humans possessed thumbs better suited for power grips, as opposed to precision grips, which could mean they used their hands differently than we do.

The Mandalorian is already some pretty solid Star War. But what if we could improve on it by looking like an absolute idiot while watching? I, io9's resident idiot, decided to find out.

Ever since cameras first existed people have been pointing the lens at themselves to snap so-called selfies—a term first coined back in 2002. At this point they’re long overdue for an upgrade, so a team of researchers have created what could be the next-generation of selfies: easy to capture 3D models of yourself…Read more...

TCL 65" Android 4K TV | $230 | TargetRead more...

Is it really Christmas if you don’t have a little sci-fi on your tree? Hallmark would say no.Read more...

The Mandalorian has always promised the picture of a much wider place it could encompass in the Star Wars universe, ever since its first episode flipped the script and put our titular hero in front of a little green mystery from the stars. Its latest chapter re-aligns the show’s place in that world even as it grows it…Read more...

Iceberg A68a—currently the world’s largest iceberg—is rotating and possibly moving in a westerly direction away from South Georgia Island, according to new satellite photos. This is potentially good news, as the enormous chunk of ice appeared to be on a collision course with the wildlife-filled island.

Data hoarding is somewhat of a lost art these days, thanks in large part to streaming services, cloud storage, faster internet access, and uh, digital rights management.

Viewers are turning to streaming entertainment more than ever thanks to the global pandemic, and the plethora of services can serve as a much-needed escape. At the start of each month, most streamers do a little shuffle, adding new movies and taking some away, and io9 is here to help with your decision making.Read more...

As the holidays approach you may have added a pair of wireless noise canceling headphones to your wish list. But here’s the thing, despite what all the marketing hype claims, noise canceling technologies aren’t as effective as most headphone makers would have you believe. Unless you spend most of your life on a loud…Read more...

Get your first look at a big red dog in the teaser for Clifford the Big Red Dog. Josh Boone discusses why The Kid won’t be a part of the new adaptation of The Stand. Plus, new rumors about potential characters in the Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series, a brief tease for Lucifer’s return, and what’s up on the next episode…Read more...

With gyms closed, 2020 is the year of working out at home. However, building a home gym isn’t easy. There are lots of considerations like budget, space, and your preferred activity type. Thankfully, fitness tech has come a long way in the past few years. You don’t have to shell out an absurd amount of money for a…Read more...

Intel Core i9 | $365 | Amazon