- Tech NewsNews
China Claims to Have a Real-Deal Laser Gun That Inflicts ‘Instant Carbonization’ of Human Skin
As the U.S. prepares for war in space, China’s bringing the space war home. Its ZKZM-500 laser assault rifle is reportedly capable of hitting a target from a kilometer away, igniting flammable objects, and burning through human skin. And it’s ready for production, the researchers behind the project claim. A weapon that fires a destructive … Continued
By Rhett Jones - io9Movies
How Both Captain America: Civil War and Infinity War Impact Ant-Man and the Wasp
Ant-Man and the Wasp was born when director Peyton Reed first saw an early version of Captain America: Civil War. In that film, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is recruited to help Captain America fight Iron Man, and ends up revealing in addition to shrinking, he can also grow very big. As audience members, we can … Continued
- Tech NewsGadgets
All Signs Point to a Late August Release for Nvidia’s New GTX 1180 GPU
Even though Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told journalists at Computex that new GPU’s wouldn’t be available for “a long time,” new rumors and leaks indicate that the upcoming Nvidia GTX 1180 could get announced much sooner, possibly as early as late August at Gamescom in Germany. Originally, Nvidia was scheduled to showcase what people expected … Continued
- ScienceSpace
Our Skies Are More Watched Than Ever, So Why Are Reported UFO Sightings on the Decline?
Reported UFO sightings have been declining in the United States for the last few years, according to the statistician tasked with making sense of all the data acquired by the leading civilian UFO investigation group. The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) is a non-profit that investigates reports of UFO sightings. The group encourages people who have … Continued
- io9Television
This Fan Video Might Be More Epic Than Steven Universe‘s Actual Finale
Just before the beginning of ever new batch of Steven Universe episodes drops, Cartoon Network posts bingo cards filled with hints about all of the major things that might happen during the arc. From the looks of it, “Heart of the Crystal Gems” is going to be epic. On Thursday, Cartoon Network posted the latest … Continued
- ScienceSpace
Astronomers Have Captured First Direct Evidence of an Exoplanet Being Born
At this point, we’ve spotted several thousand exoplanets—there’s nothing super exciting anymore about finding a distant star with several worlds orbiting it. But today, scientists are announcing that they have seen an exoplanet in the middle of forming. The dust disk of the star PDS 70 was detected by the Very Large Telescope’s SPHERE and … Continued
- How To
How the New Android Messages Actually Compares to iMessage
Google’s messaging options are a mess, and it just rolled out a new tool to muddy the waters even further: Android Messages, but on the web. It gives you access to your Android SMS chats through a web browser, and lets you send and receive messages. So does it make life any easier for those … Continued
By David Nield - Tech NewsGiz Asks
How Far Can You Get Away From Technology?
Everyone, from time to time—or at every single moment of every single day—wishes they could somehow escape technology. It’s not ultimately that fun to be inundated at all hours with the collapse of society, the weekend activities of people you barely knew ten years ago, bad memes, worse TV, etc. You can smash your phone, … Continued
- ScienceSpace
Asteroid Mining Might Just Work—If Only We Can Land on the Dang Things
The Rosetta mission’s Philae lander descended toward the two-and-a-half-mile-wide comet at a human’s walking pace. For seven tense hours, scientists in Darmstadt, Germany monitored its radio signal. They would have no idea whether they’d done everything correctly until after the moment of touchdown. If all went well, the lander would press two harpoons into the … Continued
- io9TelevisionMorning Spoilers
Samuel Jackson Offers a Sneak Peek at Captain Marvel in Battle Mode
The next season of The Walking Dead is going in a new, less zombie-laden direction. There’s drama behind the scenes of the Snowpiercer TV series. The Unbreakable sequel Glass has a poster so cool it’s worth mentioning here in the intro. Plus: Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek movie, the Watchmen tv series, and so much more. … Continued
- Tech NewsNews
Judge Awards $5 to ‘Free Speech’ Rally Organizer Because a Woman Cursed at Him
Last summer’s infamous neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia was supposedly about “free speech.” But that claim was always ridiculous. The latest evidence? Jason Kessler, one of the organizers of the rally, sued a woman for swearing at him. And a judge in Charlottesville has now awarded Kessler $5. Kessler sued Donna Gasapo for $500 because … Continued
By Matt Novak - Tech News
Doubts About Amazon Prime, Westworld Finale, and Nazi UFO: Best Gizmodo Stories of the Week
Do you ever get that feeling that someone is pulling a fast one on you? That’s the feeling we’re starting to get with Amazon Prime, the flagship service that provides two-day shipping and all sorts of other perks…but quietly keeps trickling up in price. At what point do you consider dropping a service that you’ve … Continued
By AJ Dellinger - Tech NewsAmazon
Amazon’s PillPack Deal Could Give It Reams of Users’ Private Medical Data
E-commerce giant Amazon wiped out nearly $15 billion in value from Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid this week when it announced a nearly $1 billion deal to acquire PillPack, an online prescription service, sending the competition scrambling for cover. It’s unclear just how Amazon plans on integrating PillPack into the rest of its offerings, with … Continued
By Tom McKay - Tech NewsFacebook
Facebook Discloses More Data Sharing Partnerships As the Hits Just Keep Coming
It’s a day of the week, so that means it’s time for more revelations about Facebook’s sharing habits that it hadn’t previously revealed to users. In the latest entry in the endless attempt at retroactive transparency, Facebook revealed to Congress that it shared data with 52 hardware and software companies, including some firms headquartered in … Continued
By AJ Dellinger - Tech NewsNews
AT&T Is Jacking Up the Price of Its DirecTV Now Streaming Service By $5 a Month
AT&T is increasing the price of DirecTV Now, its subscription streaming service, by $5 a month effective August, Cordcutters News, CordCutters and Engadget reported this weekend. That brings the price of the package to $40 per month for basic service and $75 per month for extended offerings. In a statement to the two sites, AT&T … Continued
By Tom McKay - io9Movies
Sounds like Colin Trevorrow Really Would Like to Put More Legacy Characters in Jurassic World 3
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is notable for bringing Jeff Goldblum back to the Jurassic universe as Dr. Ian Malcolm, and it sounds like Colin Trevorrow wants to bring more characters from the original Jurassic Park in the upcoming third Jurassic World film. Trevorrow, who will return to the director’s chair for Jurassic World 3, talked … Continued
By Julie Muncy - io9Television
Actresses From The Flash and Riverdale Talk Playing Classic Comics Characters as Women of Color
CW actresses Candice Patton and Ashleigh Murray have one major thing in common. They’ve both played classic comic book characters, both traditionally portrayed as white, as women of color. And both have had to deal with backlash for it. Appearing at the Play/Ground Festival this weekend, the two appeared on a panel together and discussed … Continued
By Julie Muncy - Tech NewsNews
Huh, MoviePass Leadership Sure Seems Shady
MoviePass has been operating for nearly a full year on its too-good-to-be-true premise of offering essentially unlimited movie passes to subscribers for just $9.99 per month. It’s the monorail and, according to a report from the Miami Herald, company CEO Ted Farnsworth sure seems like a dead ringer for Lyle Lanley. Farnsworth, the head of … Continued
By AJ Dellinger - Tech NewsNews
The EPA’s Top Ethics Official Is Urging More Investigations Into Scott Pruitt
Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt is under 13 concurrent federal investigations into everything from his exorbitant 24/7 security detail and habit of backstabbing whistleblowing subordinates to pricey plane tickets and cozy relationships with lobbyists. But apparently that’s not enough for the EPA’s principal deputy general counsel and chief ethics officer Kevin Minoli, who the New … Continued
By Tom McKay - io9Comics
Welp, Looks Like DC Comics Spoiled Batman and Catwoman’s Wedding in the New York Times
If you’re invested in Batman’s romantic life, you might want to steer clear of the paper of record today. Today, the New York Times ran a story called “It Just Wasn’t Meant to Be, Batman” which is about the upcoming Batman #50, due out Wednesday with writing by Tom King and art by Mikel Janin, … Continued
By Julie Muncy