Gizmodo Is Back on Gizmodo.com! By Harry Sawyers After spending the better part of last week...

Gizmodo Is Back on Gizmodo.com!

By Harry Sawyers

After spending the better part of last week rescuing our servers from the storm, Gawker Media’s tech team has restored gizmodo.com to its former glory. Thanks guys!

And thank all of you for reading our Tumblr over the past week. It’s been fun. The posts have migrated back to the main site, with the discussions open—so feel free to let loose with the witty, incisive reactions you’ve been holding back. We missed you.

[Gizmodo]

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/n4FCYxAsayo/35057777073

Movie Night: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen By Brian Barrett One of the biggest commercial...

Movie Night: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

By Brian Barrett

One of the biggest commercial flops of the late 1980s also happens to be one of the most wonderfully imaginative, whimsical, and downright silly movies of the last several decades. Not that you’d expect any less from Terry Gilliam, especially when he was in his prime.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is a fable within a story, a twisted romp where Leviathon and Venus and the man in the moon coalesce around a civilized, pugnacious British Baron. Robin Williams shows up, hammily. Uma Thurman disrobes. And Eric Idle gets to enjoy what’s arguably his best non-Monty-Python role.

It would be impossible to describe the plot in less than an hour. And even then you wouldn’t have a good sense of the joy that drives it. But if you have two hours to carve out of your life tonight—and if you have an age-appropriate kid to share it with—go ahead and load it up. Even when it doesn’t make sense, it makes entertaining viewing. [Amazon Prime]

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/KSI0fa9kgjU/35021159103

Soundtrack: Dinosaur Jr. - Don’t Pretend You Didn’t Know I hadn’t thought much...

Soundtrack: Dinosaur Jr. - Don’t Pretend You Didn’t Know

I hadn’t thought much about Dinosaur Jr. since the mid-90s. Why would I have? They broke up in 1997, and got back together without much fanfare in 2005. But the group’s latest album, and particularly this lead track, hits me with a jolt. It belongs in 2012, but feels like 1994. It’s a thread strung through a wormhole, a reminder that even as you get older (and older), you haven’t changed as dramatically as you might think. And neither has the world around you.

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ozBRiZa4lMs/35016570712

The Surest Way to a Viral Hit: Professional Clicking By Brian Barrett Need a viral smash? No point...

The Surest Way to a Viral Hit: Professional Clicking

By Brian Barrett

Need a viral smash? No point leaving it to chance. Just get Buyral on case. Their team of expert clickers will get your views up in no time; whether or not anyone actually sees it is another matter altogether.

As Buzzfeed points out, it’s a great parody of the viral rat race that drives so much of the Professional Internet these days. And, like all good satire, perilously close to becoming a reality.

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/W2uxmG1ZUW0/35011920710

Maybe We Wouldn’t Pirate Music If There Were Anywhere Else to Hear It By Brian Barrett It may...

Maybe We Wouldn’t Pirate Music If There Were Anywhere Else to Hear It

By Brian Barrett

It may not be totally fair to blame piracy’s ascension on MTV’s decline. But you know what? Neither was sending Snooki to the Vatican.

Look, I’ll be honest, all I want is 120 Minutes back. Wait, it is? Okay, then let’s just get Bill Bellamy’s career back on track and all will be forgiven. [The Doghouse Diaries]

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/a4TVPfV4tKg/35007179562

Copyright-Infringing Tweets Will Now Be “Withdrawn” Instead of “Disappeared...

Copyright-Infringing Tweets Will Now Be “Withdrawn” Instead of “Disappeared Forever”

By Brian Barrett

Twitter received 4,410 DMCA takedown notices last year alone. But while previously a successful claim would lead to a tweet being vanished under dark of night, from here on out it will be replaced by a notice that it’s being withheld.

The tweet in question will still be gone and irretrievable, so this won’t lead to a DMCA revolution. But it’s nice that there’s a permanent record now of the time you were smote by the copyright zealots. Wear it as a badge of honor. Or at least, one of transparency. [GigaOm]

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/mxpMaaNwoqc/34997716771

Here’s the Mother Lode of Windows 8 Nerdery By Brian Barrett Sure, you watched the Microsoft...

Here’s the Mother Lode of Windows 8 Nerdery

By Brian Barrett

Sure, you watched the Microsoft Build conference keynote last week. Why not? It had a comprehensive Windows 8 overview, Ballmer being Ballmer, some jaunty pre-show music. You know, typical keynote stuff. But if that didn’t satisfy your Windows 8 itch, well, here’s your chance to scratch it raw.

Microsoft has posted full videos of session after session of Windows 8 nerdtime fun. We’re talking an hour of Workflow & Workflow Manager 1.0, a deep dive into bringing existing C++ code to Windows Store apps. And that’s just day one of the four-day, dev-heavy dalliance. There are 16 pages in all, which means you should be able to ride out the weekend—and well into next week—with more Windows 8 knowledge than you ever knew existed. [Microsoft via Engadget]

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/QvX2R2f1PjE/34993043613

Hackers Take Down NBC Video Page For Some Reason By Brian Barrett Those in search of SNL and 30...

Hackers Take Down NBC Video Page For Some Reason

By Brian Barrett

Those in search of SNL and 30 Rock clips over at NBC’s videos page have been met with something quite different: a hacked page of weirdness with a surprisingly catchy soundtrack. It’s most prominent website hack we’ve seen in a while, and also one of the least coherent.

Here’s the message as it reads in full:

Hacked by

 __ .__ ______ ___.__.| | __ ____ |__| ____ \____ < | || |/ // \| |/ ___\ | |_> >___ || <| | \ \ \___ | __// ____||__|_ \___| /__|\___ > |__| \/ \/ \/ \/ 

REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER, THE GUNPOWDER TREASON AND PLOT. I KNOW OF NO REASON WHY THE GUNPOWDER TREASON SHOULD EVER BE FORGOT. REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER, THE GUNPOWDER TREASON AND PLOT. I KNOW OF NO REASON WHY THE GUNPOWDER TREASON SHOULD EVER BE FORGOT. REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER, THE GUNPOWDER TREASON AND PLOT. I KNOW OF NO REASON WHY THE GUNPOWDER TREASON SHOULD EVER BE FORGOT. REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER, THE GUNPOWDER TREASON AND PLOT. I KNOW OF NO REASON WHY THE GUNPOWDER TREASON SHOULD EVER BE FORGOT.

GREETZ TO ODAY, BRUT4L & S4VAGE

FUCK THE FEDS, 419 IS JUST A GAME~~

USER INFO - EXPOSED

PASSWORDS - DUMPED

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/I5pfsMORYdw/34988818791

The Onion’s TED Talk Parodies Keep Getting Better (And More Scathing) By Brian Barrett We...

The Onion’s TED Talk Parodies Keep Getting Better (And More Scathing)

By Brian Barrett

We haven’t checked in on The Onion’s brutal TED Talk parody series, but now’s as good a time as any to get caught up. Above is the most recent, a breakdown of farm animal noises with rapidly escalating pretension. And below? Maybe the purest distillation of TED yet.

Ridiculous theme? Check. Absurd invention? Double check. An audience that feels equal parts captivated and captive? Yes, yes, and yes. Ladies and gentlemen, here’s Loudness Equals Power:

[The Onion]

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/mhpfx8wW6UQ/34988597756

South Ferry Station: Before and After By Jesús Díaz The MTA...

South Ferry Station: Before and After

By Jesús Díaz

The MTA reports that “the South Ferry station, which had been a large fish tank, has now been pumped dry.” Click here to see the complete story of Sandy so far, updated live.

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/mM5DqRgEolA/34980362561

The iPad Mini Costs $141 More Than Its Components Add Up To By Brian Barrett According to a...

The iPad Mini Costs $141 More Than Its Components Add Up To

By Brian Barrett

According to a teardown by IHS, renowned estimator of how much companies actually pay for components, Apple’s iPad Mini carries a $188 cost of materials. You know how Google and Amazon are just barely breaking even on their tiny tablets? This is the opposite of that.

For some perspective, the 16GB Nexus 7 carries a $159.25 material cost and a $200 price tag. And Amazon has been very candid that it loses money on every Kindle Fire HD it sells. By contrast, there’s a $141 gap between the 16GB iPad mini’s asking price and its component value. Ka-ching!

It’s always been clear that Apple’s playing a different game from its tiny tablet competition; Google’s just desperately angling for a hardware foothold, while Amazon relies on content sales after the fact to make its initial losses worth it. Apple, meanwhile, wants to make money on hardware and software. Imagine! There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but reports like this only reinforce the notion that the iPad mini is heftily overpriced given its competitors.

There are also, of course, other factors that go into a device’s cost. Research and development, packaging, etc. But it’s not like Google and Amazon aren’t throwing great gobs of money in those directions either. And whether you love the iPad mini or hate it, at least now it’s clear that there are better bargains to be had elsewhere. [AllThingsD]

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/tY0P3xV2b90/34977208505