Midtown Blogger/Manhattan Valley Follies: Gizmodo Australia

REGULARS

You Can Now Pre-Order Samsung's New Galaxy S7 And S7 Edge

Today is the day that you can lock in your pre-order for Samsung’s latest smartphone — and get yourself a free Gear VR virtual reality headset worth $159 for doing so. Here are all the plans from Australia’s major telcos for the 5.1-inch Galaxy S7 and the 5.5-inch Gear S7 edge.

ENTERTAINMENT

Popcorn Time 'Officially' Announces Its Return

DARREN ORFTODAY 12:30 PM

Popcorn Time is the revolutionary app that’s been continuously dubbed the Netflix for torrents. But after aggressive legal action by the Motion Picture Association of America, the original site Popcorntime.io, shut down indefinitely. After week of mystery surrounding its sudden reappearance, anonymous developers are declaring that illegal Netflix is back, baby.

SCIENCE & HEALTH

US Congress Considers Moon Camps And a Space Station Hotel For NASA's Future

RIA MISRATODAY 12:15 PM

Congress held a meeting today on what NASA’s overall purpose should look like under the next few presidents. But agreement on just what that purpose might be — as witnesses discussed everything from the planned Mars trip to a proposal for a space station hotel — seemed far away.

ONLINE

The Latest Crack Counter-Terror Team Comes From...Facebook?

CHRIS MILLSTODAY 12:00 PM

The War On Terror™ continues apace, with dedicated agencies hunting all threats both foreign and domestic. The Wall Street Journalhas a new look inside one unlikely group: Facebook.

SCIENCE & HEALTH

Doctors Find Zika Virus In A Stillborn Infant With Almost No Brain Tissue

MADDIE STONETODAY 11:45 AM

Doctors have discovered Zika virus in a stillborn infant with a severely under-developed brain, according to a chilling report published today in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

MOBILE

Your Next Phone Might Have 256GB Of Storage Thanks To Samsung's New Chip

MICHAEL NUNEZTODAY 11:30 AM

I love high capacity things. So when Samsung announced that it’s producing 256 GB flash storage that can be used in mobile devices, I swooned. The memory is two times faster than the previous generation of Universal Flash Storage (UFS) memory, meaning that phones will not only have greater storage capacities, but also breeze reading and writing operations.

ENTERTAINMENT

We Finally Know Who Has The Impossible Task Of Bringing Marvel's Iron Fist To Live Action

GERMAIN LUSSIERTODAY 11:15 AM

Netflix already has three major heroes: Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. And now at last, this corner of the Marvel Universe is complete. Game of Thrones actor Finn Jones will play the hero in the upcoming Netflix series, according to Entertainment Weekly. Jones plays Ser Loras Tyrell on Game of Thrones.

MOBILE

Here's All The Cool Stuff From Mobile World Congress

DARREN ORFTODAY 11:00 AM

We’ve just wrapped up the Mobile World Congress, the annual mobile technology conference in Barcelona. We’ve seen smartphones, VR headsets and some batshit crazy stuff (see photo above) — and almost all of it has been awesome. Here are some of our favourites:

MOBILE

The Craziest Line In Apple's Motion To Throw Out The iPhone Case

ADAM CLARK ESTESTODAY 10:45 AM

Apple just took its next swipe in the fight over unlocking a terrorist’s iPhone: a court order to vacate. The company is invoking the First and Fifth Amendments to argue that the court order it received to create a back door for the device is unconstitutional. The motion is embedded below.

MOBILE

App Deals: Upgrade Your Stargazing App

HAYLEY WILLIAMSTODAY 10:30 AM

Today’s best deals include Star Walk 2 for Android, Audio Memos for iOS and Riptide GP2 for Windows Phone. Deals end without warning, so be quick!

GADGETS

Using Nothing But Google's Project Tango Tablet To Escape A Maze

CARLOS ZAHUMENSZKYTODAY 10:15 AM

The Palau Nacional (Catalan for National Palace) is a gigantic Renaissance-style palace built in 1929 that now serves as the main art museum in Barcelona. Google sent me into that gorgeous maze of never-ending halls and corridors armed only with a Project Tango Prototype.