Gizmodo

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...

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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

Up to 22% Off Gaming PCs, Laptops, Monitors | AmazonRead more...

Apple has reportedly filed a patent application to bring Force Touch to the MacBook’s Touch Bar after ditching the pressure-sensing technology on its smartphones and smartwatches. And honestly, given the string of increasingly niche reboots in recent years, I say why the hell not.

Microsoft rolled out its new “Productivity Score” feature this month, which lets bosses track how their employees use Microsoft’s suite of tools. If that sounds like an Orwellian nightmare in the making to you, you’re not alone—privacy experts are criticizing the company for essentially gamifying workplace…Read more...

Since they’re primarily designed for kids Nerf’s dart blasters, even the battery-powered ones, aren’t actually very powerful. It’s why there are entire communities of Nerf modders out there, but Peter Sripol might be the first to upgrade a Nerf blaster with an internal combustion engine. The only thing you really need…Read more...

Please, this holiday season: be careful when your children enter ritual combat for the right to become Mand’alor.

As a fan of multiple meats, I’m always checking hamburgers, steaks, and other grilled gobbets with a portable thermometer to test for doneness. Until the ThermoWorks Signals, I haven’t been able to find a product that acts as sort of a meat tender, something that will monitor multiple foods at once. It’s not a new…Read more...

Yes, Stan Lee was known for punctuating his commentary with a hearty “excelsior!”. But this cute animated short, using some archival recordings from the Marvel Comics legend in action, sees him express a fondness for a shorter, equally emphatic bit of profanity.

For many kids, crusts are the bane of a delicious PB&J sandwich, but they eventually grow up to embrace a bread’s chewy outer wrapping. There are some holdouts, however, such as Andrew DeGonge who continues to despise crusts so much into adulthood that they built a smart automated robot that can automatically de-crust…Read more...

2020 is a weird year to give gifts and expect anything in return. With the COVID-19 pandemic still in full force—evidently fuller force than before—many businesses have closed either temporarily or for good, and as a result, unemployment has skyrocketed and the economy has taken a turn for the worse. This holiday, I…Read more...

A review of weather patterns in inner East Asia over the past 260 years suggests the region is currently caught in a dangerous cycle of heatwaves and droughts that could forever reshape the area, and possibly turn the Mongolian Plateau into an arid wasteland.

Having watched Cannibal! The Musical is one of those things that feels like a badge of honor. The movie was not something anyone saw first in theaters. It had to be discovered. You had to find it or be told about it by a friend. When you finally watched, you were rewarded with proof of pure genius—a film that by all…Read more...

A manufacturing error is raising concerns about a promising covid-19 vaccine being developed by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.

For millions of people, Thanksgiving is going to look a little different this year. Because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, I’ve chosen to stay home instead of traveling for the holiday and interact with my family over video. But it doesn’t just have to be making an awkward toast to “These Strange Times” before…Read more...

If you’re paying hundreds of dollars extra for a Pro or Pro Max version of the iPhone 12, then you want to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth—and taking advantage of the extra photo-taking capabilities is a key part of that. Here are the features you get, and how to get the most out of them.

Last week’s episode of Star Trek: Discovery put Michael Burnham in a hard place. At a crossroads between the potential new life she’d found in the 32nd century and her commitment to her family in Starfleet, our hero faced the consequences for trying to have it all. This week, the show decides that the actual solution…Read more...

The release of the Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. seems to confirm that Nintendo has no plans to revive or revisit the Game Boy as it did with its NES and SNES throwback consoles. It’s time to move on because there are other companies happy to indulge your Game Boy nostalgia. With a matching Famicom-inspired design, …Read more...

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (PS5) | $48 | Amazon

Fujifilm announced the launch of its updated GFX100 large format mirrorless digital camera on Wednesday, which now comes equipped with infrared image-making capabilities that could be used in forensic, scientific, and cultural preservation capacities.Read more...