Just before the release of The Force Awakens, Kathleen Kennedy fanned the flames of intrigue when she said that Lucasfilm were actively looking into the plans for Star Wars: Underworld, the long-in-concept Star Wars live action TV show. But don’t get too excited—if anything does happen, it’s not happening any time soon.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/we-still-might...

TV Line reached out to both the Disney-owned ABC network and Lucasfilm in the light of Kennedy’s comments about Underworld—and the cancelled video game associated with it, Star Wars 1313—and got pretty strong denials from both. ABC president Paul Lee told them that Lucasfilm is “focused on their movies, so [ABC] don’t have any plans at the moment,” while a Lucasfilm representative went further and said that their current “focus for TV is on animation.” So it looks like, for now, you won’t be getting any live-action Star Wars on your TV soon.

There’s been plenty of rumors in recent months about Star Wars heading to television—not just the revival of Underworld but also rumblings of multiple Netflix series á la Marvel—but it makes sense that Lucasfilm’s priorities are currently elsewhere. With a whole new movie saga under way, and Rebels diving head-first into awesome material, there’s plenty of good Star Wars stuff to go around for now.

[TV Insider]

It may not be a snow day where you are, but let’s treat it as if you were getting to stay home and do nothing but post gifs in the comments.

Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.

There are trailers that are ridiculous, over-the-top dramatic, and clearly composed of the only good parts of the movie. The third movie in the Divergent series has produced one that we think is supposed be “sexy” and “deep,” but is really more “boring” and “soporific.”

The most surprising thing about the Allegiant trailer is the sudden reminder that there are still two more of these movies to go. You wouldn’t think that a trailer that flirts so close to the line of nudity would be so hard to watch, but here you go. Some of our staff didn’t even make it to the end. The term “the Coldplay of movie trailers” was batted around. But, you know, judge for yourself and all that. Or just use it to fix your persistent insomnia problem.

Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.

Adam Driver hosted Saturday Night Live last week and by far the most talked about skit was the Undercover Boss spoof featuring Driver as his Star Wars character, Kylo Ren. Now, SNL has released the skit’s flubs and outtakes, and they’re funnier than the skit itself.

You can watch the original skit at this link but here are the outtakes, which features some great fourth wall breaking by Driver, Taran Killam and Bobby Moynihan. But the best bit has to be Leslie Jones not breaking as she riffs with Driver and someone dressed as a Stormtrooper. It’s fantastic.

Also, if you love the idea of this character like we do, some intrepid artists went ahead and made action figures of it. Here are a few from Slashgear and SpankyStokes.

[Saturday Night Live]

Contact the author at germain@io9.com.

Steven Moffat will be stepping down as Doctor Who’s showrunner after six seasons, reports the Radio Times. The only episode of Doctor Who left for 2016 will be a Christmas Special, with Moffat’s final season airing in 2017.

Oddly, the old rumor about a dearth of Doctor Who in 2016 seems to have been on the right track. BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore explained the choice to shift the seasons around by saying:

I have decided to schedule Steven’s big finale series in Spring 2017 to bring the nation together for what will be a huge event on the channel. 2016 is spoilt with national moments including the Euros and Olympics and I want to hold something big back for 2017 - I promise it will be worth the wait!

Replacing Moffat will be Chris Chibnall, whose best work is probably not actually any of his Doctor Who episodes (“42,” “The Hungry Earth,” “Cold Blood, “Pond Life,” “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship,” “The Power of Three,” and “P.S.”) but in creating Broadchurch. We also don’t know if a new showrunner will mean a new Doctor—but brace yourselves for a wave of speculation along those lines.

Moffat’s own comments about leaving were:

Feels odd to be talking about leaving when I’m just starting work on the scripts for season 10, but the fact is my timey-wimey is running out. While Chris is doing his last run of Broadchurch, I’ll be finishing up on the best job in the universe and keeping the TARDIS warm for him. It took a lot of gin and tonic to talk him into this, but I am beyond delighted that one of the true stars of British Television drama will be taking the Time Lord even further into the future. At the start of season 11, Chris Chibnall will become the new showrunner of Doctor Who. And I will be thrown in a skip.

With all this time, the tenth season of the revived Doctor Who, combined with Moffat’s swan song as showrunner, will likely be a sight to see.

Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.

Kotaku The Great Destiny Malaise Of 2016 | The Concourse Macklemore’s Problem Is That Macklemore Is Bad | Jezebel The Academy Introduces Major Changes to Increase Oscar Diversity | Gizmodo The New 4-Inch iPhone Doesn’t Even Exist Yet, and I’m Already Over It |

If this year’s Sundance Film Festival is any indication, virtual reality is about to hit the mainstream. Under a program called New Frontier, the festival is promoting eleven independently produced VR films on a smartphone app. The finalists have been chosen from hundreds of entries, and among them are some short documentaries, horrifying acid trips, and even a Reggie Watt music video.

You can watch them using Google Cardboard on your smartphone by downloading the Sundance VR app. The shorts will be available until February 12.

One of the standout shorts, Defrost, is a sci-fi futuristic drama that follows a woman who suffered a massive stroke and was cryogenically frozen. (It’s the VR debut of Grease director Randal Kleiser and it stars Carl Weathers.) The woman’s waking up 30 years later as the film begins. The viewer experiences the story from the perspective of the woman, Mrs. Garrison, who’s wheeled around the hospital after awakening and is reunited with her very emotional family.

Though it’s not exactly the most original story, it’s the first time I’ve seen VR add a new dimension to storytelling. Experiencing the scenes from the perspective of the woman adds more of an emotional wallop, because it feels so much more realistic than a 2D movie. When a doctor leans in to touch the Mrs. Garrison’s knee, it feels real. It feels like there’s a doctor in the room you’re sitting in. And when you look behind you and see the guy pushing your wheelchair, it immerses you that much more in the fictional world.

Another great VR story from Sundance this year is Sonar, which places you in a command center where you’re watching a drone explore the insides of an asteroid following a distress signal. Spoiler on this one: You find a cavern full of petrified human corpses. Yeah, get me the hell out of there.

All of these awesome VR experiences aren’t without some shortcomings. For one, the picture quality isn’t great. With Defrost, it seems like things were less fuzzy and the resolution was better when characters weren’t moving around as much. That would have been a huge setback in an action sequence or something more interactive.

The quality wasn’t great with Sonar, either (but again, we were viewing this on Google Cardboard, not Oculus), and I felt like the scenes changed too quickly for me to get completely immersed in the story. And again, since I was viewing these on Google Cardboard, my arms got tired from holding the headset up the whole time.

The last one I tried out was fabulous wonder.land, based on a musical in England of the same name. It starts in a neon abyss filled with technicolor anemones, when an enormous golden cat head wearing turquoise glittery glasses starts floating inches in front of your face, with a voice like Jack Skellington and singing a haunting hymn that repeated the line “It’s FAAAAAAAAAAABULOUS.”

He also had huge fangs and followed me everywhere I looked. In the background was the sound of a broken record with a British woman going “puuussycat, puuuuussycat” aside the golden cat-dragon’s siren song. I felt trapped and threatened and deeply disturbed. DO NOT consume any mind-bending drugs while watching some kinds of VR, is all I can wager. I’m waiting for the Surgeon General warning to go along with this. It’s all kinds of crazy.

All in all, though, the Sundance VR experiences show that virtual reality storytelling gives us greater emotional access to the characters, as well as an unprecedented sense of oneness with the scene. But there are still many things I’d like to see: Image quality that’s on par with normal HD movies, pursuing cinematography that gets the most out of the technology, and coming up with a way of making VR movies accessible, affordable, and mainstream.

When I interviewed the New York Times about their VR storytelling app, I learned that some people are already considering 2D movies obsolete—dubbing them “flatties.” These Sundance selections could definitely be the very first nails in the flatties’ coffin.

Images via Sundance

This post originally appeared on January 22, 2016.

Contact the author at bryan@gizmodo.com, or follow him on Twitter.

The great storm is finally here. What can we expect? The latest forecast is out—and it’s both weird and grim. Read it tucked safely indoors, with candles, canned goods, and the last of your frail hopes gathered tightly around you.

The heaviest of the snowfall is set to be in Washington DC. Yesterday, they were estimating that by the end of the day we’d see as much as two feet of snow. As of today, that estimate has been upped to say that on the upper end we could see over three feet of snow:

Top image: Satellite imagery of the storm captured by NOAA; Map: DC metro area maximum snowfall estimates by National Weather Service

Of course, that’s the maximum prediction, the more likely scenario according to the National Weather Service is that most areas fall somewhere between 24-30 inches. Still, even in that scenario this would be the biggest snowfall DC has ever seen, the last one that even comes close was a 28-inch snowfall in 1922.

Snowfalls aren’t all that there is to contend with though; this particular storm is unusual in just how many different types of cruel winter tricks it’s putting out into the same mix.

In Chesapeake Bay, winds could go up to 65 mph—practically hurricane-force. Further south, in Kentucky, Tennessee and the Carolinas, they’re already seeing huge swaths of freezing rain and scattered thundersnow. But even areas north of there without ice storms will have unusually icy-conditions because of wildly uneven temperature swings, which are likely to give us periods of rain and sleet mixed in between the snow and ice storms. All of that will be followed by a hard freeze of the whole mess. Meanwhile, Saturday’s full moon is likely to raise tides enough that already high waves are a danger to flood all along the coast, perhaps even in multiple waves.

Basically, this particular winter storm is a horrifying buffet of almost every unpleasant or dangerous cold-weather effect you’re likely to see this season all wrapped up into one weird weekend. So keep a weather-eye out on what’s happening, but do it from safely indoors.

Follow the author at @misra.

Sure, the Millennium Falcon and X-Wing get most of the headlines, but the AT-AT is right up there in terms of truly iconic Star Wars vehicles. Few will ever forget the first time the imposing walkers graced the screen in The Empire Strikes Back and now, with this new poster, you’ll never have to.

Artist Craig Drake and the Hero Complex Gallery just released this slick looking representation of the Empire’s assault vehicle in three different versions. You can get it on paper, foil, or metal, all at this link. If you do, you won’t need a Snowspeeder to get up close and personal to this classic piece of Star Wars.

[Hero Complex]

Contact the author at germain@io9.com.

Back in October, we heard that NBC was planning to adapt True Blood author Charlaine Harris’ Midnight, Texas trilogy. It must’ve gone well, because the network has put in a pilot order for the series.

Variety reports:

“Midnight Texas,” written by Monica Owusu-Breen (“Agents of SHIELD,” “Brothers & Sisters,” “Alias”), is a supernatural project described as “Twin Peaks” meets “True Blood.” Based on the novels of the same name from author Charlaine Harris who wrote the books that inspired HBO’s vampire hit, the pilot is set in the remote town of Midnight, Texas, where your neighbor could be a vampire, a witch, a werewolf and even an angel. Mystery, horror and romance combine to both enthrall and frighten any outsiders who decide to venture into this unusual place. David Janollari will exec produce with Owusu-Breen. Universal TV will also produce this pilot, along with David Janollari Entertainment.

Yep, sounds a lot like True Blood. A lot a lot. (Were there angels on True Blood? Do fairies count?) The big questions still stand, though: how much of the edgy stuff (blood, butts, what have you) that made True Blood so successful will NBC dare to include—and will Midnight, Texas be able to attract audiences without it?

There are fast-paced thrill-a-minute novels where the plot twists and wild action just. Keep. Coming. And then there are introspective books about someone searching for their identity and untangling deep issues of race, sexuality and gender. And then occasionally, you get a book that manages to do both. Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen is one such book, and it’s a goddamn keeper.

Spoilers ahead...

http://www.amazon.com/Wake-Vultures-...

In Wake of Vultures, Nettie Lonesome is a young mixed-race girl who’s lived on a crappy little farm in the middle of nowhere for as long as she can remember. Her adoptive parents, Ma and Pa, are abusive drunks who treat her more or less like a slave. But then one day, Nettie gets attacked by a vampire—and she manages to kill it. After that, she can see supernatural monsters everywhere. She steals the vampire’s clothes, decides to pass as a man, and goes to work as a cattle wrangler, and then as a Texas Ranger, hunting down all the monsters.

That’s just a hint of all the wild action going on in this book, which manages to keep turning everything on its head every few pages without feeling rushed or illogical. Wake of Vultures was seriously the most fun reading experience I’ve had in a while, thanks in part to the fast pace but also the bonkers action.

Don’t believe me? Patrick Rothfuss also gave it five stars on Goodreads.

The thing that really sticks with me, a few days after reading Wake of Vultures, is the character of Nettie Lonesome. The book is written in tight third person, in a way that lets Nettie’s sarcastic sense of humor, her quick anger, and her soul-searching all come to the fore. No matter how wild things get in the book, with harpies or chupacabras or werewolves bursting out of all corners, Nettie remains an engaging and thrilling companion. (Read an excerpt from the book here.)

But meanwhile, even while this book is serving up supernatural action with humor and feels—in a way that rivals the best of Seanan McGuire and Mur Lafferty­—it’s also delving into some pretty deep waters about identity. Nettie is the latest in a long, long line of women who dress in men’s clothing and pass as men for the sake of adventure, but over the course of the book, her male clothing becomes much more of an identity for her. And even as she starts to think of herself as a man (and Bowen told us that the second book will use the male pronoun for Nettie) she also struggles with her own internalized misogyny, based on her horrendous upbringing.

And meanwhile, Nettie can’t disguise the color of her skin, and she has an equal amount of internalized racism, that feels very convincingly portrayed without getting too heavy-handed. As someone with both African and Native American roots, Nettie feels alienated from her own cultures and only knows what the horrendous Ma and Pa taught her—and even when everybody thinks she’s a man, she has to work twice as hard to be accepted among the Rangers.

Add to that the fact that Nettie is attracted to both men and women, and you’ve got yourself one heck of an unconventional protagonist—one whom mainstream publishers might not have even touched a decade ago.

I can’t fully judge whether Bowen, who is white, did a good job with her protagonist of color—she talks about wrestling with that issue in this Mary Sue essay. But I can attest that Nettie feels very real and fleshed-out, and her identity crisis feels lived-in and emotionally complex. She never wallows in self-loathing or misery for very long, but there’s a real feeling of heartbreak and confusion behind her struggles to accept and understand herself (and other people). Nettie’s journey never feels easy, and Bowen never seems to be taking cheap shortcuts.

At this point, some people may be thinking that Wake of Vultures is some kind of lecture about identity politics—to which, first of all, what would be wrong with that? A lecture about identity politics featuring chupacabras and werewolves sounds like kind of a fun evening. But secondly, returning to what I said at the start of this review, the miracle of Wake of Vultures is that it grapples with a lot of complicated stuff about personal identity, while also moving at a crazy fast pace and serving up more fun gunplay, fight scenes, slugfests, vampire bordellos, cattle rustlers and wild stunts than your average action movie. At no point does this book slam on the brakes to explain stuff to you that you can figure out on your own, and Nettie is a lively enough POV character that she can think about stuff and do stuff at the same time.

The one problem I have with the book is that Nettie goes through some changes towards the end of the book that feel slightly as though they come out of nowhere—although that’s probably setup for the forthcoming sequel, so fair enough.

Wake of Vultures is the book that got me thinking about how interesting and exciting Weird West novels have gotten lately. (Read the interview I did with Bowen and three other authors in the genre!) Until I read this book, I—like Rothfuss—did not have a lot of interest in Westerns, between their horrible “Manifest Destiny” baggage and their worn-out gunslinger tropes. But this book was enough to convince me that there’s still a lot of life left in the Old West.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/wild-west-nove...

So if you’re looking for a page-turning read, with action that just doesn’t quit and a hero who’s easy to root for, then Wake of Vultures is highly recommended. The fact that it also grapples with some thorny issues of self-identification is either another major plus, or at least won’t get in the way of the fun, depending on how you feel about such things.

Top image: Moyan Brenn/Flickr.

Charlie Jane Anders is the author of All The Birds in the Sky, coming Jan 26 from Tor Books. Follow her on Twitter, and email her.

Mere days after the sad passing of the film’s star, David Bowie, Hollywood is set to reboot one of his most famous films: Labyrinth. Sony Pictures and the Jim Henson Company will produce the reboot, with Nicole Perlman, co-writer of Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel, writing.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, “It is unclear if the new take is a re-imagining of the story or a sequel, as the new take is being kept deep in the vault.” Either way would obviously work, since the world created by Henson back in 1986 was a rich and vibrant one with tons of potential.

The first film was about a young girl (Jennifer Connelly) who went into a magical, mystical world and had to traverse a maze to save her brother from the Goblin King (Bowie). It was the final film Jim Henson ever directed and its unique aesthetic inspired a legion of filmmakers and artists.

A reboot could tell that story again, or another story of another child sucked into a similar situation. That’s up to Perlman, who co-wrote Guardians of the Galaxy with James Gunn and also wrote the upcoming Captain Marvel with Inside Out writer Meg LeFauve.

[Hollywood Reporter]

Contact the author at germain@io9.com.

More proof that this is the Year of Satan in pop culture. The Exorcist is coming back—but not in the way you’d expect. It’s coming to TV, with a modern twist.

Fox has given a pilot order to The Exorcist, which will be based on the original 1971 William Peter Blatty book. This new take, written by Jeremy Slater (Fantastic Four, The Lazarus Effect) is more modern than the iconic 1973 film, and is being described as “a propulsive, serialized psychological thriller following two very different men tackling one family’s case of horrifying demonic possession, and confronting the face of true evil.”

But can The Exorcist compete on a weekly basis with the hijinks of Damian and Lucifer? Only time (and Satan) will tell.

[Entertainment Weekly]

Contact the author at germain@io9.com.

The distinction between “hard science fiction” and “soft science fiction” means many different things to different people—but that doesn’t prevent people from turning it into a status game. Which science fiction has the most real science, or the most serious scientific discussions? Depends whom you ask.

Over in Tor.com, a bunch of authors weigh in on the “hard vs. soft” debate, and it’s illuminating. I particularly like the responses from Max Gladstone, Ellen Klages and Michael Swanwick. You should definitely read this before your next argument over what science fiction qualifies as “hard.”

Top image: Larry Niven’s Ringworld.

Charlie Jane Anders is the author of All The Birds in the Sky, coming Jan 26 from Tor Books. Follow her on Twitter, and email her.

When you think “fastest land animal,” what do you think of? American Pharaoh? Usain Bolt? Nope, until today that title belonged to Sarah, a cheetah who lived at the Cincinnati Zoo. Sarah died today at age 15.

NPR reported on Sarah’s missile-like sprint, including breaking her own record as the fastest mammal on the planet. In 2012, Sarah ran 100 meters in 5.95 seconds, breaking her previous 2009 record of 6.13 seconds. That means she ran about 61 mph—at 11 years old. Most cheetahs don’t even live that long.

Sarah was also special because she was one of the big cats at the Cincinnati Zoo raised with a puppy, which zoos sometimes do because the domesticated dogs help keep the cheetahs calm. Lexi, an Anatolian shepherd, was her “lifelong companion,” according to the head of the Cat Ambassador program.

Dogs and cats, living together.

[NPR]

On Friday, Blue Origin launched their same New Shepard rocket booster that it launched into space two months ago. Looks like the commercial space race for reusable rockets is on—SpaceX is flashier with bigger trajectories, but Blue Origin keeps winning the race to first.

The original New Shepard flight in November boosted the rocket to 329,839 feet altitude (100.5 kilometers), and landed it vertically back at their test field in Texas. This carried it above above the Karman line, the official definition of the hazy boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and space, making it the first rocket to travel to space and return to land vertically back on Earth.

At the time, SpaceX’s Elon Musk gave Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos grief (mixed with congratulations) that getting to space wasn’t the same as orbital spaceflight. He legitamately emphasized that what he was doing with SpaceX and the Falcon 9 was in a totally different class. SpaceX pulled off its own first post-mission vertical landing a month later, delivering a Falcon 9 rocket to Cape Canaveral in Florida.

We totally agree with Musk—Blue Origin is bopping around the bunny slopes while SpaceX is skipping through moguls on black diamond death traps—but it’s delightful to see so much progress on the same concept. To bring the winter imagery to the snapping point, at least both companies are pushing their individual technologies and techniques for reusable rockets, not hiding in the lodge whining about how it’s cold and impossible outside.

New Shepard landing in November 2015. Image credit: Blue Origin

We’ve covered SpaceX running its recovered Falcon 9 through its post-flight checkup, but haven’t heard a peep from Blue Origin until today. Apparently New Shepard performed almost exactly to modeled predictions, making refurbishment straightforward. Engineers replaced crew capsule parachutes and pyro igniters, ran checkups, and upgraded the software.

In its second flight, New Shepard reached an apogee of 333,582 feet (101.7 kilometers). It’s landing this time was a little different. Part of the software upgrade was reprioritizing how the rocket targets touchdown. The rocket no longer aims for the center of the pad at all costs. Instead although it targets the center, it will down anywhere convenient. In more technical terms, it prioritized the vertical altitude over longitudinal adjustments, meaning that it doesn’t make last-minute swerves compensating for low-altitude gusts just before landing.

The same New Shepard rocket launching and landing again in January 2016. Image credit: Blue Origin

Unlike Musk’s plan to put his landed Falcon 9 in a museum (or at least never fly it again), Bezos is already planning on launching and landing this same rocket again and again and again all year long. In a statement accompanying the video release, he also writes that this year will see more testing of Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine.

This is the best space race ever. Between Blue Origin’s tourism and SpaceX’s payloads, reusable rockets are going to become a mundane reality. It’s going to be an incredible day when vertical landings are on par with the (admittedly always excellent) excitement of a launch where we debate if they’re novel enough to cover. The future is spellbinding.

Update: Blue Origin released an adorable video of just how excited their team was with each landing. Excited engineers are also excellent!

[Blue Origin]

Top image: Blue Origin’s New Shepard launching on January 22, 2016 after previously launching and landing in November 2015. Image credit: Blue Origin/Mika McKinnon.

Contact the author at mika.mckinnon@io9.com or follow her at @MikaMcKinnon.

Kick off your weekend with a popular GPS watch, a safer method of frying turkey, a more convenient blender, and the rest of today’s best deals. Bookmark Kinja Deals and follow us on Twitter to never miss a deal. Commerce Content is independent of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale. Click here to learn more.

If you need a little more motivation to get out and run, this ultra-popular GPS fitness watch is below $200 for the first time ever, today only. To give you some context, this is an all-time low price by nearly $50, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it sold out quickly. [Garmin Forerunner 225, $190]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...

http://gizmodo.com/garmin-has-fin...

We’ve all seen those unfortunate deep fried turkey mishap videos on YouTube, but there is a safer way. This all-in-one turkey fryer is 100% electric, meaning no open flames, and it includes everything you need to fry a delicious, juicy bird. In fact, it’s certified for indoor use, which just seems...wrong? Anyway, today’s Gold Box deal is an all-time low, and $40 less than usual. [Masterbuilt Butterball Indoor XL Fryer with Accessory Pack, $90]

If you’ve ever thought about pulling out your blender to make a smoothie, sauce, or dip, and then held off because you didn’t want to clean 3,000 different parts, this deal is for you.

The big advantage of Cuisinart’s 4.6 star-rated Smart Stick is that, unlike a traditional blender, you can dip it into whatever container you were already using to hold your ingredients; be it a single-serve cup or a huge mixing bowl. That saves you time, and means fewer dishes to clean up once you’re done. Reviewers also say it chops through everything from fruit to ice cubes with no trouble, so it really can be a full blender replacement for most use cases.

As always, we don’t know how long this deal will be available, so be sure to grab one before the price shoots back up. [Cuisinart CSB-75BC Smart Stick 2-Speed Immersion Hand Blender, $31]

http://www.amazon.com/Conair-Cuisina...

At first glance, this looks like any other pocket-sized USB battery pack, and in fact, it’ll work just fine as one. But it’s also a battery-powered hand warmer, which can maintain a pleasant 109 degree temperature for up to five hours on a charge. [EnergyFlux Slim 4400mAh Rechargeable Double-Sided Hand Warmer, $28]

http://www.amazon.com/EnergyFlux-Rec...

It never hurts to have extra microSD cards lying around, especially when they’re this cheap.

PNY U3 64GB MicroSD Card ($20) | Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...

Samsung EVO 16GB MicroSD Card ($7) | Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Class-...

If you’ve been in the market for a ~250GB SSD, you’ve already had two great deals to choose from this week. If you missed out though, here’s a third. [Crucial BX200 240GB SSD, $57]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3814762023...

The Nexus 5X is one of the best midrange phones you can buy, and you can pick one up for $312 unlocked today. That’s about $38 less than usual, and while it was slightly cheaper around the holidays, this is still a great bargain if you’re in the market for a new handset. [Nexus 5X, $312]

http://gizmodo.com/the-nexus-5x-r...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1518764258...

If you’re hosting a Super Bowl party in a few weeks (or just, you know, like snacks), Amazon’s offering 20% off various chocolate products, and 25% off Cheez-Its and Pringles today. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any chicken wing coupons.

One thing I’ve learned in my extensive personal research into toaster ovens is that, with very few exceptions, you need to spend about $200 to get a good one. Sure, there are hundreds of cheap metal boxes with three knobs that will (inconsistently) brown your bread or heat up a slice of pizza, but when it comes to features, speed, and above all, consistency, you really do get what you pay for.

That logic certainly applies to the Cuisinart Chef’s Toaster Convection Oven, which is marked down to $220 today on Amazon. Instead of fiddly knobs, you get a digital screen with precise information. Rather than two small heating elements, you get five, plus convection fans to distribute that heat evenly. And while cheap toasters might hold two or four pieces of bread, this can easily accommodate up to six standard slices (or nine if they’re small), and customize the toast time to achieve your preferred level of doneness. Yes, it’s an investment, but as I said before, you get what you pay for. [Cuisinart Chef’s Toaster Convection Oven, $220]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...

Logitech’s UE Mini Boom Bluetooth speaker earned a Wirecutter recommendation as the best portable Bluetooth speaker, and you can score a refurb from eBay today for $37 shipped, the best price we’ve ever seen. [Refurb Logitech UE Mini Boom Bluetooth Speaker, $37]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2521036334...

If you didn’t get a life-changing wake-up light for Christmas, the high-end model is down to $110 today, which is a match for the best price we’ve ever seen [Philips HF3520 Wake-Up Light, $110]

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-HF3520...

http://gizmodo.com/a-light-up-ala...

Motorola’s absurdly tiny, second generation Hint Bluetooth headset went on sale less than half a year ago for $130, but if you act fast, you can grab a set for $80. [Motorola Hint, $80]

http://gizmodo.com/moto-hint-revi...

http://gizmodo.com/motorola-sneak...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorola-M...

We’ve seen a lot of motion-sensing night light deals, but this one can automatically turn on when it detects a power outage, and will even work as a flashlight for up to 90 minutes while untethered from the wall. [Etekcity LED Night Light, Flashlight: Rechargeable Emergency Light, $14 with code 8FZJEC8C]

http://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-LED-N...

More Deals

Tech

• Garmin Forerunner 225 GPS Running Watch ($190) | Amazon | Today only
• Anker Lightning Cable ($6) | Amazon
• Omaker 5 Pack Premium Micro USB Cable - Multiple Lengths ($8) | Amazon
• Dynex - Selfie Stick ($5) | Best Buy
• PNY U3 64GB MicroSD Card ($20) | Amazon
• Samsung EVO 16GB MicroSD Card ($7) | Amazon
• APC - Back-UPS 1080VA UPS ($100) | Best Buy
• Refurb ION Audio iPA57 Tailgater - Bluetooth Speaker ($65) | Woot
• Anker PowerPort+ 1 Quick Charge 2.0 Wall Charger ($6) | Amazon | Promo code HITW3AYN
  
• DJI - Phantom 3 Intelligent Flight Lithium-Polymer Battery ($75) | eBay

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We’ve been eager to catch our first glimpse of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker before he shows up in Captain America: Civil War, and Marvel co-president Louis D’Esposito gave us our first glimpse.

Spoilers ahead...

Okay, it’s not of Spider-Man, but of Holland’s Peter Parker, on what looks like the cockpit of one of the Avenger’s Quinjets. It looks like he’s been roughed up a bit.

[Twitter via ComicBookMovie]

XKCD has always had best takes on astronomy, and took a fun look at the news that we might actually have a 9th planet in our solar system.

I think overly decorative cakes are silly—like cool, here’s a cake that looks like the Great Barrier Reef, enjoy your edible starfish—but this Super Mario Bros. cake is wonderful because it recreates the entire first level of the video game in perfect, delicious detail. It’s a stop motion animation in cake form. Every video game should come with a cake tossed in.

You can have your cake and eat it too.

SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.