Several star commenters have noted recently that the troll factor is rising again. This post is reminder that all comments wasting words and the comment moderator's time wondering about such issues as "why does gizmodo love/hate/get paid by company XYZ?" may result in zero warnings and then a ban. And whatever happens to your comment account, remember: it's not my fault if you lose your account because you said something stupid. Black Ninja Monday is when the action goes down, so you've got two days to turn things around. The obvious choices: You can have fun in troll hell, or join the ranks of the thoughtful, starred, proud and clever commenters everyone appreciates. Again, Monday: that's when there'll be internet blood everywhere. But it won't be mine. More »

What if computers could be turned into a worldwide earthquake detecting network? With the Quake Catcher software and your laptop's built-in accelerometer, that might just be possible. More »

It's been a long week and we could use a laugh. We've already started worrying about taxes and pre-ordering iPads, among other stresses. To sum it all up, here are some illustrations from a cartoon maestro called Lunchbreath. More »

Instead of harpooning a whale for samples, wouldn't it be easier to just collect their snot using an R/C helicopter? More »

New research shows that the advantages of HDTV aren't lost on octopuses. A recent study on octopus behavior made the upgrade from CRT sets to HDTVs for the playback of octopus-related videos, like one of a tasty crab. More »

Maybe the whole cosmos isn't in this pillow, but the LEDs hidden in a zippered compartment and causing these glowing, swirling patterns sure do give the illusion that it is. More »

First Apple COO Tim Cook received $12.3 million in stock for watching the company while Steve Jobs was on sick leave and now he's receiving an additional cash-and-stock bonus worth $22 million. More »

I don't know about you, but I used to be the case a day type. You know, pick up a 24 pack in the morning, sort my cardboard and aluminum recycling in the evening. Then, one app changed my life. More »

Normally they're contained in a box, so the fact that this 3D printer isn't confined means it's theoretically capable of building much larger objects that most. In fact, the owner wants to build a cathedral with it. More »

It doesn't really come as a huge surprise, but apparently the only way to get your hands on a Verizon-based Nexus One will be to order it straight from Google. More »

Wired is reporting that Slacker Radio has secretly been prepping an on-demand music subscription service that will give users unprecedented control over streaming radio. More »

GuitarBud is a $29 adapter that allows you to plug a guitar right into an iPhone. How is that useful? Well if I ever learned to play that guitar in my closet, I could: More »

You know how you pay a fixed monthly fee for your phone, and can check email and Twitter, surf the web and the Yelp app anytime you like without counting minutes or megabytes? Yeah, well that's all gonna end. More »

In today's Remainders: sights! Visit Paris in your browser with a magnificent 24 gigapixel photograph; behold America, circa 1972, in the EPA's 15,000 photograph Documerica project, and more. More »

I should be in awe of this autonomous, two-wheeled prototype robot by Toyota, dreaming of The Jetsons and Wall-E. But instead, all I can think is, "Who needs a robot that just balances crap on its head?" [PlasticPals via CrunchGear] More »

After seeing it at CES, there was little doubt. The 50-inch Panasonic TC-P50VT20 wouldn't just be among the first 3DTVs on the market, it would be among the best. The first two reviews are in, and they're relatively positive. More »

Are you real? You may seem real and solid, but you are mostly made of empty space. To demonstrate it, someone enlarged an electron to the size of one pixel, proportionally showing its distance from a equally scaled proton. More »

Feel like your broadband's not living up to how it's advertised? Here's your chance to prove it: the FCC's introduced a Consumer Broadband Test that'll let you know exactly how good a connection you've got. More »

I've got to hand it to Mosspuppet: he's always on top of the latest trends. This time out: Chatroulette! And while it ends with Mosspuppet's most cherished dream fulfilled, it's also. Totally. Gross. NSFW. [Mosspuppet] More »

Sony's XMB may be a bit of a RAM hog, and Microsoft's Project Natal will require about 15% of the Xbox 360's resources. But the new PlayStation Move controller? Its footprint looks light. More »