Midtown Blogger/Manhattan Valley Follies: Gizmodo Australia

REGULARS

Choice Wants To School Malcolm Turnbull On Piracy

Not a fan of the proposed code to bust pirates for downloading copyright-protected material? Consumer group Choice isn’t either, and wants your help to school Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

GADGETS

Is That A VR Headset In Your Pocket?

SEAN BUCKLEYTODAY 1:45 PM

Oh, it is a VR headset. How the hell did you fit that in your pocket? It’s collapsible? OK, we need to talk about this.

GADGETS

A Combo Flash Drive-Phone Cable Is The Most Useful Thing On Your Keychain

CHRIS MILLSTODAY 1:30 PM

For the past couple of years, I’ve always carried one of those miniature fold-up flash drives on my key chain. It’s invaluable for those moments when then internet is broken and the world will stop turning if you don’t transfer those photos and that slide deck right the hell now. But if that flash drive would also serve as an emergency phone cable, I would be the happiest geek on the internet.

GADGETS

First Images Of The World's Largest Aeroplane

JESUS DIAZTODAY 12:45 PM

Behold the first glimpse of Microsoft’s co-founder Paul Allen’s crazy space venture: the largest airplane in history, a 117m wingspan beast designed to carry and launch a giant rocket to space, with a combined weight of 540,000kg! Check out these two photos. They blew my mind.

CAMERAS

Man, I Hope Lytro Can Find A Good Use For Its Amazing Tech

MARIO AGUILARTODAY 12:45 PM

I’ve never been more impressed by something as useless as Lytro’s incredible cameras. Let’s hope the company can actually find something useful to do with it before it expires. Right now, the company’s laying people off and going into survival mode.

SCIENCE

Simple Animation Explains Why You Should Vaccinate Your Kids

CASEY CHANTODAY 12:30 PM

There’s a lot of hubbub and crap being spewed about not vaccinating your kids and letting measles creep back into our lives. The animation explaining shop Kurz Gesagt doesn’t want to deal with the arguments of pseudo-science, they just want to explain what measles does inside your body. And why it’s helpful for everyone to get vaccines.

GEEK OUT

Now There's An Awesome Live-Action Dragon Ball Z Fan Film For You To Geek Out Over

LUKE HOPEWELLTODAY 12:15 PM

It’s a great week to be a geek. Yesterday we saw Katee Sackhoff and James Van Der Beek star in the amazing, R-rated Power Rangers fan film, and a day later there’s an excellent live-action Dragon Ball Z pilot with killer effects and awesome cinematography to enjoy. Get this in your eyes: it’s so good.

ONLINE

What Makes An Image Go Viral? Could Be As Simple As Colour

SARAH ZHANGTODAY 12:00 PM

Never before in human history has it been so easy to share, like, pin, reblog, images. That’s, like, totally awesome for teenage girls showing off their prom dresses, but it’s also a pretty huge boon for scientists studying what makes images shareable. And it could be something as simple as colour.

CARS

Watch McLaren Race The P1 GTR Against The Iconic F1 GTR

LUKE HOPEWELLTODAY 11:45 AM

Video: As if the McLaren P1 wasn’t beastly enough, the British hypercar manufacturer has announced a hardened track version — the P1 GTR — which is set to get its public debut at the Geneva Motor Show. In the lead up to the event, McLaren decided to dust off the spiritual father of the P1 GTR in the form of the old McLaren F1 GTR and pit them head-to-head on a track. The result is a flurry of amazing sounds that can only come from two of the best hypercars ever made.

GADGETS

Do You Still Use A Landline?

KAILA HALE-STERNTODAY 11:30 AM

More and more households are ditching landlines. I remember when a landline was the best thing that ever happened to me. Do you still have one? What do you use it for?

COMPUTING

Going Back To Uni? Buy This Orange Printer

CAMPBELL SIMPSONTODAY 11:15 AM

Starting out at a new uni this week? Get ready for a few years of printing off a couple of trees worth of paper every week; most unis are dinosaurs when it comes to PDFs and digital submission. But here’s a tip — don’t print your assignments and tutorial papers on campus; do it at home and save yourself some money.