Hasta La Gadget!

As you can see in the video above, Apple’s new fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5s isn’t restricted to human users. After commandeering a cat, I tested a colleague’s hypothesis that you could register the identifying skin segments of your favorite furry friends for Touch ID, too.

The cat’s paw worked, and while it encountered more frequent failures than did a fingerprint, it was able to unlock the phone again repeatedly when positioned correctly on the sensor. Note that no other paw pads would unlock the device, and that cats essentially have unique “fingerprints” just like people, so this doesn’t make the Touch ID sensor any less secure.

For the curious, I also tested the 5s fingerprint sensor on the heel of my palm, as well as on the inside of my forearm up around the wrist, and found that I could register and successfully unlock with both skin regions. Again, it was trickier to get the unlock to work consistently, and trying to fool the sensor by using the same part of the body on the opposing limb never worked.

To clarify, this isn’t a ‘hack’ of Apple Touch ID tech, like the kind a group of individuals is trying to crowdfund via the istouchidhackedyet.com covered earlier this morning by ZDNet. But it is a broadening of the definition of what counts as a “fingerprint” by the iPhone 5s scanner’s standards, so if you think your pet needs access to your accounts, feel free to register them as one of your five stored Touch ID profiles.

TechCrunch’s Natasha Lomas contributed to this article.

Normally I silently wish a moving violation on anyone I see cruising the streets of my town with stickers of any sort on their car. I harbor particular ill will for anyone with stick-figure families adorning their vehicle. However, I have found an interesting sticker that I wouldn’t mind seeing on someone’s car over at ThinkGeek.

The sticker is officially called the Moving Tail Kitty Car Decal. The name does a very nice job of describing exactly what the sticker is all about. You actually get two cat sticker bodies with one smiling and another that looks rather like Grumpy Cat.

You place the body of the kitty around the rear windshield wiper of your vehicle. You then take another sticker that matches the kitty and apply it to the windshield wiper itself. The idea is when the windshield wiper is running it looks like the kitty is wagging its tail.

Like a cat would ever be caught performing such a menial task.

You can pick the sticker kit up at ThinkGeek for $12.99 (USD).

After a too-long hiatus, we’re happy to announce that Gizmodo’s Photoshop Contest has returned. And what better occasion to inspire its revival than the brand new cat Monopoly token sitting our desk, just begging to be put in outrageous situations.

Read more…

Cats know just what to purr and what to meow to get their owners to do anything. So if you own a cat, don’t look into their eyes. Don’t listen to their purrs too intently and never rub their tummies more than you have to… or you might end up like this dude who built the ultimate catwalk for his cat outside his out: cat-notized.

This over-the-top walkway was discovered and brought to the attention of thousands of other cat lovers by Nekomemo, a Japanese site for cat-loving dudes and dudettes. It provides your cat with a safe, caged walkway so eagles won’t be able to swoop down on him and carry him away.  (Yeah, I know, that was far-fetched. But still.)

It just goes to show that the cat is the boss and you are just his lowly servant. He’s got nine lives, you’ve got one – even Mother Nature’s against you!

[via Rocket News via Neatorama]

Grumpy Cat has been entertaining men and women, young and old, with his stone-faced expression ever since he hit the web. You’ve seen his memes and parody videos. You’ve seen the busts and sculptures that he’s inspired artists to create. You’ve probably already seen the Grumpy Cat-themed nail art and shirts all over the web.

And now you’re going to be seeing him on your mail pretty soon, too!

The postage stamp is available in three sizes and was created at  Zazzle. It’s available in a bunch of denominations, and you can choose the stamp value you want from a drop-down menu. Values start at $0.33 for mailing postcards, with the highest value at $5.60 for priority mail.

Now your mail can look just as grumpy as the postal workers delivering it.

[via Laughing Squid]