Midtown Blogger/Manhattan Valley Follies: Gizmodo Australia

REGULARS

Why 2016 Will Be The Year Of E-Sports

2015 was by far the biggest year for professional video gaming, with 334 million people watching the championships for League of Legends, a multiplayer battle video game. Mix in bigger sponsors, more tech company money, better hardware, and virtual reality, and 2016 could be the year this phenomenon really takes off.

SCIENCE & HEALTH

These Freezing Drops Of Oil Are Hypnotically Beautiful

GEORGE DVORSKYTODAY 4:00 PM

An international team of researchers has shown that specially treated drops of oily chemicals can take on bizarre shapes and structures during the freezing process. These insights could allow us to create artificial structures with very life-like properties.

GADGETS

The Hoverboard Claims Another Victim As NSW's Ban Looks More And More Apt

JUNGLISTTODAY 3:30 PM

A boy in Elanora Heights, in the northern area of Sydney, has fallen off a hoverboard he was given as a Christmas gift and been rushed to hospital for head injuries.

ENTERTAINMENT

This Hundred-Year-Old Industrial Gem Is Like Jabba's Real Life Palace

ATTILA NAGYTODAY 3:00 PM

The Óbuda Gas Works produced city gas from 1914 to 1984 in the 3rd district of Budapest, on the right bank of River Danube. When it opened, it was not just the most advanced gas producing plant in the world; it was also the most beautiful, with a group of buildings in the middle middle resembling Jabba’s Palace from the Return of the Jedi.

MOBILE

New Year's Eve Might Be The One Night A Normal Taxi Is Cheaper Than Uber

JUNGLISTTODAY 2:30 PM

UberX was just legalised in NSW, which is great news for anyone who doesn’t like paying through the nose. But Uber’s surge pricing is set to make New Year’s Eve a costly night.

SOFTWARE & DESIGN

How To Start Any Office Application In Safe Mode

DAVID NIELDTODAY 2:00 PM

Word starting to wobble? Excel eating itself? PowerPoint playing up? If you’re having trouble with your Office apps, then launch them in a special stripped-down Safe Mode. Like Windows Safe Mode, it loads the software in its most basic configuration, enabling you to troubleshoot issues and hopefully identify what’s causing your problems. Here’s how it’s done.

REVIEWS

LG's V10 Smartphone Is One Big Handful Of Weird, But I Kind Of Love It

DARREN ORFTODAY 1:00 PM

How do you make a smartphone different? Over the past decade, smartphones have evolved so that there’s little room for surprise anymore. Maybe a processor jump here, and weird camera set up there. But for the most part, smartphones across the board can feel painfully similar. But then there’s LG’s new V10.

GADGETS

How The Hell Did I End Up In Michigan?

BRENT ROSETODAY 12:00 PM

Welcome back to the Connected States, the project that involves me living in a van for a year, driving around and telling stories. After going live last week I was absolutely overwhelmed by the positive response. I received so many tips, well-wishes, and offers of help that I haven’t been able to respond to them all yet. It was truly moving.

SCIENCE & HEALTH

Most Notorious Science Scandals Of 2015

GEORGE DVORSKYTODAY 10:30 AM

There were an alarming number of science scandals in 2015, from fabricated data to sexual harassment. Here are our picks for the worst of the worst — including that time the Medical Journal of Australia imploded.

MOBILE

Samsung's New Galaxy A9: Huge Screen, Massive Battery

JAMIE CONDLIFFETODAY 10:15 AM

Samsung has announced the latest in its A series of phones at an event in China today. The Galaxy A9 is a slight departure compared to the svelte A8, with a monstrous screen and battery capacity to match.