-
Tech News
Craig Wright, The Man Who Claimed He Invented Bitcoin, Has Erased Himself
As soon as Gizmodo began its investigation into evidence that shows Craig Wright, an Australian academic and serial entrepreneur, claimed to have invented Bitcoin, he started to cover his tracks. After Gizmodo and Wired published separate stories yesterday, Wright’s digital existence has almost completely vanished. Three days before Gizmodo’s story went up, our correspondent in … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech News
How To Order Internet Delivery During a Blizzard and Not Be a Dick
If you live in the blizzard-ridden United States, you might be looking out your window at a harsh, desolate, snowy wasteland. Cars in the middle of the street. Frosty despair. But you’re also hungry. Here’s how to order in, guilt-free. The advent of online food delivery has ushered in an era of indulgent slothfulness for … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech News
Everything You Need to Master Your New Smartphone
Welcome to our annual New Smartphone Set Up Guide. Someone thought enough of you to help replace that dumb ol’ brick you’ve been lugging around these past few years. Now what? Getting Started Out of the box, most smartphones aren’t all that smart. In fact, many can be downright idiotic. Prepping your new pocket ‘puter … Continued
Gizmodo Staff -
Tech News
How to Take Flawless Phone Pics of Your Naked Body
After a spate of recently-hacked phone nudes, it’s clear our advice to never shoot pictures of your own junk isn’t going to catch on. So if you’re going to do it, at least do it well. Here’s how to make your naked shots shine. Take care of lighting Aside from using a phone built after, … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech NewsApple
How to Make an iOS App Icon That Works
I’ve made my fair share of apps, and to me the one question that still bounces around my head is: When taking an app-first approach to designing a product, how should a designer decide on the look and feel of the icon? There are many different icon types I’ve considered, but I wanted to explore … Continued
Dave Stubbs -
Tech News
The Fake Websites of Law & Order Are So Stupid I Wish They Were Real
Law & Order has never been a paragon of TV realism—just take a look at the websites it makes up as plot devices. Poor Ice-T has to browse a web that’s nothing but rape sites and murder porn. So, really, it’s not that far off: the internet really is an amalgam of perverts, exploited tweens, … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech News
Hearing the World’s Tallest Building Creak in a Storm Is Terrifying
Dubai’s Burj Khalifa skyscraper is a lot of things: a testament to humankind’s love of building humungous stuff for the hell of it. It’s very shiny! And in a bad storm, it sounds like it’s about to fall apart. Gizmodo friend (and Dubai documenter) Gerald Donovan says the city was hit with an enormous storm … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech News
Are Sane Adults Allowed to Ever Use ;) ?
You probably haven’t regularly used smileys since your middle school days, when modems screeched and President Clinton rained ordnance against Bosnian war criminals. You’ve grown up since then, but the 😉 has remained inert, a relic of type. In our new modern age, is it ever okay to drop a smiley? In 1982, Carnegie Mellon … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
io9Books
The Day I Forgot How to Use a Book
I was shocked at what I had just done, so I laughed out loud. I was there, in a house in the Swiss mountains, lying comfortably on a sofa. I was reading Canetti’s Crowds and Power, a solid 400-page book. And then, as my eyes were approaching the end of yet another page, I swiped … Continued
David Bauer -
Reviews
Facebook Home Review: Surrender Yourself Unto Zuck
Facebook Home isn’t a Facebook Phone, nor is it really “a bunch of apps,” or a new operating system. It’s an admission: Facebook means a lot to me, and is an interesting view of my life—and I want to look at it all the time, everywhere I go. If that sounds like you, Home is … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech News
Botnet Warlord: Meet the Man Who Will Kill Your Computer
You can blow away any website in the world if you try hard. Throw enough traffic at a server on the internet—friendly or otherwise—and it’ll buckle. For most these attacks are a headache, but here’s one man who makes a sport (and money) out of swarming his enemies online. Julius goes by a few names, … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech NewsGoogle
The Facebook Phone: It’s Finally Sorta Real (Update: Eyes-On)
We’ve been talking about it for years now—half dread, half excitement—and now it’s no longer just our imaginations. The Facebook Phone is as real as it’s probably ever going to get: it’s called Facebook Home a complete Android takeover that converts your smartphone. It’s important to know what Facebook Home, “the Facebook Phone,” isn’t. Facebook … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech NewsFacebook
What’s Facebook’s Big Mysterious Phone?
Next week, Facebook is going to show us its “new home on Android.” What does that mean? We’re not sure—we could be days away from The Facebook Phone, or just a lovely new life-consuming app. But here are our best bets for what Zuck has up his Androidy sleeves. If we take off our cool … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
That Internet War Apocalypse Is a Lie
You might’ve read some headlines today—in very reputable publications—saying that there’s an online attack underway. The biggest in history. Enough to slow down the internet. This would be exciting and scary, except it’s just not true. The entire thing sounds so dramatic—the swarming DDoS onslaught is “jamming crucial infrastructure around the world,” the NYT screams … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Smartphones Have Ruined Our Ability to Make Wasted Fools of Ourselves
The modern smartphone, for all its utility as a way of capturing crimes in process, waddling babies, and public disasters, has one chilling effect on society: it’s now dangerous to get insanely fucked up in public. And that’s a damn shame. Take this gentlelady at Miami’s ULTRA music festival, a carnival of tacky bass, gaudy … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech NewsDesign
Even LinkedIn Can Be Beautiful
I believe that what makes LinkedIn special is the actual content. I would like to propose a more “content driven” LinkedIn where users feel that it’s more engaging and relevant towards their own interests. Business sites do not need to be “stale”, and it could be a layout that is both professional and attractive. LinkedIn’s … Continued
Catherine Lo - The Tech Block -
Tech NewsApple
The Next iOS Needs to Look Like This
It’s not a good sign when the best iOS features are imaginary ones designed by people who aren’t getting paid to do it instead of, you know, Apple. Like this revamped vision for iPhone multitasking. Apple, steal this now. Australian designer Jesse Head cooked up this rendering, which imagines a beautified, more versatile iOS that … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Reviews
Roku 3 Review: The New Best Streaming Box
How many Roku models are there? Like, twelve? But it doesn’t matter: the newest one is here, and thankfully (predictably?) it’s the best one yet. So good that you’ll stop using other crap you own. So good you’ll use your cable box less. That good. The Roku 3 is very, very simple. It’s more or … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech NewsApple
Why My iPhone Is Better as a Dumbphone
When people see my iPhone they’re like, “My God, man, do you have some kind of crazy phone virus?” It’s got no web browser. No email. No Twitter, no Instagram, no Facebook. But no, the phone isn’t broken. I actually did it on purpose. It was supposed to be a one week experiment, and now … Continued
Jake Knapp