Science fiction tales don’t stand or fall on story alone. They also need strange details and subplots to give you a sense that the world you’ve entered is truly alien. What would 2001 be without the bizarre advertisements in the background? And would Snow Crash really be as great of a novel if it weren’t … Continued

I love pork. I like pigs. They’re cute, and fun to eat, and intelligent among mud-dwelling beasts. But what I don’t like is for my dinner to artificially resemble the killed animal from which it was derived. This is gross. Or is it amazing? The shrink wrapped pseudo-pig, a pork roast molded into the vague … Continued

Ashton Kutcher has profited immensely from Twitter. His Twitter presence in large part, drove his rise as a celebrity venture capitalist. But now things have gotten tough, so he’s quitting. It’s a pathetic, cowardly move. Last night, as idiots in Pennsylvania rioted in support of a man who protected a child rapist, Kutcher weighed into … Continued

We all have opinions about the people on Big Brother-style TV shows. But spare a thought for nine girls who were duped into taking part in a fake show — then held captive while naked images of them were sold online. Turkish military police stormed an Istanbul villa to rescue the women this week. They … Continued

Apple just rolled out the update we’ve been waiting for. The one that fixes the incredible shrinking battery life. Just plug your iPhone into iTunes and start updating. No where near your computer? The over the air update of iOS 5.0.1 is available now. The update only seems to available via iTunes right now. Hopefully … Continued

Some people (ahem, Matt Buchanan) claim that the coffee maker is the worst of all possible brewing methods. Maybe so—but it’s still a machine that bazillions of people use daily. https://gizmodo.com/giz-explains-how-to-actually-make-coffee-5345785 They make life too easy not to. Mine fixes my coffee while I’m in the shower! You can tell a lazy person 1,000 times … Continued

Last night, Ashton Kutcher posted a dumb tweet about Joe Paterno getting fired. He didn’t have all the details, and later retracted his tweet. Now he’s turning over his Twitter feed to a team of media experts to make sure he only makes an idiot of himself on purpose. https://deadspin.com/america-tips-ashton-kutcher-like-wtaj-news-van-after-pa-5858165 According to a post on … Continued

If you’ve read Hunger Games you know how important food is to the tributes (whether they’re dining in the Capitol, or fighting for their lives in the wilderness). One amazing fan has recreated some of our favorite recipes from the Suzanne Collins books, including lunch with Cinna (with the flower shaped rolls), District 11’s crescent … Continued

Some frighteningly muscular mice and nematode worms are running and squirming around a laboratory in Switzerland where scientists have genetically manipulated the critters to be harder, faster and stronger. Personally I like mine to be very scared of me and scurry far, far away. But in a study published in the November 10 issue of … Continued

Seven Eastern European men have been charged in New York with operating a clickjacking scheme that infected more than 4 million computers in order to hijack surfers trying to get to the iTunes store or the IRS. The enterprise allegedly netted the crooks more than $14 million. The scam appears to have begun in 2007 … Continued

Move over mustaches, it looks like November belongs to the Muppets this year. They’ve got a new movie coming out, there’s an online movement to have them host the Oscars, and now TomTom has announced a series of Sesame Street voices, starting with Bert and Ernie. https://gizmodo.com/new-meta-muppets-parody-trailer-possibly-best-yet-5854031 Their voicepack is available now for just $13, … Continued

The earth has naturally occurring magnetized rocks appearing, in part, because of its moving internal core which gives it a massive magnetic field. The moon has no such core, but it too has magnetized rocks. Planetary scientists believe, though, that the moon has its own ways of creating magnets. The internal motion of the earth’s … Continued

You’ve probably heard that Melancholia is depressing and nihilistic — after all, it starts with the world being destroyed, and then rewinds, so that the rest of the film takes place on an Earth we know is doomed. What you might not have heard, though, is that Melancholia is intermittently hilarious, with a savage black … Continued

When reading about online security threats, it’s easy to feel as if you’re a bit character in a sci-fi novel. Yet, trojans, rootkits, and spyware are all very real dangers. Fortunately for those who don’t like getting their LARPing and computer safety mixed up, GFI Software has unveiled GFI VIPRE® Antivirus 2012 and GFI VIPRE® … Continued

We’ve got a bit of Lumia lust around here. It’s the slickest Windows Phone hardware there is, by a long shot. And We. Can’t. Buy. It. Here. But the Verge reports that AT&T LTE might make it worth the wait. https://gizmodo.com/nokia-lumia-800-lightning-review-the-unattainable-fore-5857409 According to those infamous “people familiar with the matter,” one reason Nokia’s holding off … Continued

Apparently, the latest version of HTC Sync will let the HTC Rhyme and HTC Sensation XL sync with iTunes. What? Yep. According to Taiwan News, the HTC Sync app will “automatically detect iTunes (or Windows Media Player) to copy media files such as music, pictures and contacts to their phones.” https://gizmodo.com/htc-rhyme-hands-on-dont-call-it-a-lady-phone-or-do-5841986 Once detected, you can … Continued

Journey to the Center of the Earth’s sequel is minus one Brendan Fraser but plus one Dwayne Johnson. The Rock, who has teamed up with the boy from the first movie because he’s his new Step-Dad (did Fraser die in the first movie?!), is trying to find Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island (yes from the story). … Continued

Earlier this week, a hunk of rock called asteroid 2005 YU55 came within smashing distance of Earth. It was purported to be the size of an aircraft carrier, and wound up flying by us at a distance of just under 200,000 miles, much closer than the Moon. But as close as the asteroid came to … Continued

When iFixit originally tore down the iPhone 4S, they discovered a sensor whose function they were unsure of. Now they’ve determined that its an infrared sensor tasked with activating Siri when the phone is held up to your ear. Could it be the reason why Siri is a 4S exclusive? https://gizmodo.com/the-iphone-4s-costs-0-49-more-to-build-than-the-iphone-5851709 Sure, Apple could probably … Continued

So just how much can a digital camera the size of a Hyundai see? Hopefully, if you’re the Stanford team building it, enough to answer some fundamental questions about our galaxy. It will be the world’s largest digital camera by a good margin, built by the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center for the Large Synoptic Survey … Continued