Adrian Covert, Author at Gizmodo

The Transistor Was Almost Called the Iotatron

When Bell Laboratories wrapped up work on the transistor in 1948, they let 25 employees vote on the name. And for some reason, those stodgy bastards passed up options such as the crystal triode and the iotatron. Sad face. According to Adafruit, the transistor was originally referred to as a semiconductor triode, but Bell Labs…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 7

Completely Negate the Thinness of Your iPad or Macbook with These Bamboo Cases

Well done! You bought a Blackbox case, crafted from bamboo, for your Apple device and now you’re eco-friendly and green, and sustainable and so on and so forth. But now your Apple whatever is also wonderfully bulky. Bamboo looks very nice, and I’m glad this case can protect your device against 25-foot falls. But you…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 7

People Only Care About Your Twitter and Facebook Links for a Few Hours

That Cracked article you linked to on Twitter? That music video you posted on Facebook? Bitly’s data suggests those links only have a half-life of 3-5 hours (in terms of your friends and followers actually clicking). [Bitly]

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 7

Sony’s MDR-NC200D Noise-Canceling Headphones Help Kill the (External) Noise

Maybe you spend more time on a plane than you do your house. Or maybe you just live/work/suffer with someone who talks REALLY REALLY LOUD. Sony’s latest noise-canceling headphones, the MDR-NC200D, are made for someone like yourself. Equipped with 40mm drivers and Sony’s own digital canceling technology—which listens to the noise around you, then adjusts…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 7

The New Tivo Elite Lets You Simultaneously Record More Shows Than You’ll Know What to Do With

Though it has already been spotted before, the Tivo Elite is out from hiding, and will let you record an ungodly four shows at once, with room to let you watch a fifth. I feel overwhelmed already. https://gizmodo.com/the-age-of-the-600-tivo-is-nearly-upon-us-5830477 Having all of this archival power through a lone multi-stream CableCard is great. But there’s a twist!…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 7

Will Windows 8 Run Windows Phone 7 Apps?

NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang seems to think that Windows 8 will run Windows Phone 7 apps in some capacity. While there are parts of Windows 8 that appear very similar to windows 7, could this really be the case? From Cnet’s interview with Huang: ARM processors hold a strong advantage because a majority of mobile…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 6

Amazon and 7-Eleven Want You to Pick Up Your Packages Whenever You Feel Like

We hate waiting for things. Whether that be cable guys or package deliveries, it’s tedious and annoying. But Amazon and 7-Eleven are now teaming up to address this problem (for packages at least) in the form of a parcel locker. https://gizmodo.com/why-the-cable-guy-cant-keep-an-appointment-like-the-res-5831536 Simply dubbed O, Amazon’s experimental project currently allows residents of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood…

Commerce Adrian Covert Sep 6

Rumor: Google Wants Hulu Really, Really Bad

All Things D’s Peter Kafka says that Google is willing to offer significantly more than what Amazon, Yahoo or Dish Network would be willing to offer in the bidding war for Hulu. But they also want more than what’s being offered. Kafka doesn’t have exact details from his sources, but he believes Google wants more…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 6

7 Tools to Stay Young Forever (…in Theory)

Getting old is terrifying. What if we could stay 21-years-old forever? There are plenty contraptions and substances out there which can do just that. Here are seven that will help you maintain your youth. [At least, that’s the pitch.] Baby Quasar Is your face not as fresh as it once was? Those wrinkles making you…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 6

The World’s Smallest Electric Motor Is Made From a Single Molecule

How silly of us all to never realize that the butyl methyl sulfide molecule is not a liquid, but a motor. Thankfully, some clearheaded chemists at Tufts University were able to make us see this compound’s true nature. According to the BBC, by running an electric current through the molecule, the entire structure spins along…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 6

I Don’t Want to Live in a World Where Machines Can Read My Mind. Or Do I?

Researchers equipped with fMRI machines have shown that they can link specific brainwave functions to specific objects, ideas or emotions. What they see as innovation, I see as the goddamn thought police running amuck in 30 years. The fMRI brain scans showed certain patterns of human brain activity sparked by thinking about physical objects, such…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 5

The Best Photo Gear Deals Money Can Buy

Popular Photo has gone and drummed up 28 of the best deals for photography-related gear. Cameras, lenses, flashes, bags, storage mediums, etc. If you’re looking to up your photo game, here’s the place to start. We picked six deals from the list that look awesome and posted them here. But be sure to check out…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 2

Harman Kardon SB16 Sound Bar Lightning Review: How Much Is Good Sound Worth?

At $600, Harman Kardon’s SB16 sound bar is intended for someone who isn’t quite impressed with a $200 soundbar, but doesn’t want to drop $1000 on one that will inspire envy. Like With the volume turned up, the SB16 transforms into a sound monster. It roars. I had the SB16 set up in a fairly…

Reviews Adrian Covert Sep 2

Lenovo IdeaPad A1 Is a $250 Android Tablet for the Masses

The Lenovo IdeaPad A1 is not a cutting-edge device. Nor is it a niche product that will attract a minuscule subsection of fawning geeks. But it is a 7-inch tablet that only costs $250. Your shamelessly cheap friends will be thrilled. The A1 runs on ARM’s last-generation, 1GHz Cortex A8 processor and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread),…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 2

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, Legoized

The Robie House is at the pinnacle of American architecture. One of the first houses to be turned into a national landmark, Lego has released a replica kit of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 101-year-old masterpiece. Built in 1910, the Robie House could have been built yesterday and still be seen as an innovative architectural achievement. Built…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 1

What Do Apple and Viagra Have in Common?

Apple and Viagra seem like two brands least likely to share a common bond, but in fact, both have employed the services of, as the New Yorker’s Evan Osnos puts it, “the Seal Team Six of global manufacturing.” John Theriault and Don Shruhan both spent five years in Viagra’s security unit helping to shut down…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 1

I Hope These Philips Headphones Sound as Good as They Look

I hope we see these Philips Fidelio L1 headphones—debuted at the IFA Conference in Berlin—in the U.S., because they just look so nice. Made of leather, aluminum and memory foam, these headphones mix retro inspiration with clean, modern lines. Philips hasn’t really been a high-end manufacturer of anything for awhile now, so who knows how…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 1

Lenovo U400: Where Have I Seen This Laptop Before?

Let’s call a spade a spade: the Lenovo U400 looks a lot like the MacBook Pro. But that’s not bad, because it’s a fantastic design. And don’t mistake it for a cheap knockoff either, because it stands up on its own. The U400 has an all-metal body that’s 0.8 inches thick, a 14-inch display, an…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 1

Lenovo U300s Ultrabook Is Beautiful on the Inside and Outside

Lenovo’s ThinkPads have always been extremely well built, but pretty ugly. Lenovo’s all-metal U300s is another story. Only 0.6 inches thick and equipped with a 1.8 Ghz Core i7, it’s not merely interesting. Dare I say it’s a little exciting? Design-wise, the U300s has an all-metal body which strays from the usual plasticky designs of…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 1

Toshiba AT200 ‘Excite’ Is the Thinnest Tablet Yet

If you were already amazed by the thinness of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the iPad 2, prepare to have your mind blown. Toshiba’s AT200 checks in at 7.7mm, which is about 1mm thinner than the two aforementioned tablets. https://gizmodo.com/samsung-galaxy-tab-human-outside-android-inside-5806426 And not just content with form (which looks great, BTW), Toshiba made sure the specs…

Tech News Adrian Covert Sep 1

Adrian Covert

The Transistor Was Almost Called the Iotatron

Completely Negate the Thinness of Your iPad or Macbook with These Bamboo Cases

People Only Care About Your Twitter and Facebook Links for a Few Hours

Sony’s MDR-NC200D Noise-Canceling Headphones Help Kill the (External) Noise

The New Tivo Elite Lets You Simultaneously Record More Shows Than You’ll Know What to Do With

Will Windows 8 Run Windows Phone 7 Apps?

Amazon and 7-Eleven Want You to Pick Up Your Packages Whenever You Feel Like

Rumor: Google Wants Hulu Really, Really Bad

7 Tools to Stay Young Forever (…in Theory)

The World’s Smallest Electric Motor Is Made From a Single Molecule

I Don’t Want to Live in a World Where Machines Can Read My Mind. Or Do I?

The Best Photo Gear Deals Money Can Buy

Harman Kardon SB16 Sound Bar Lightning Review: How Much Is Good Sound Worth?

Lenovo IdeaPad A1 Is a $250 Android Tablet for the Masses

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, Legoized

What Do Apple and Viagra Have in Common?

I Hope These Philips Headphones Sound as Good as They Look

Lenovo U400: Where Have I Seen This Laptop Before?

Lenovo U300s Ultrabook Is Beautiful on the Inside and Outside

Toshiba AT200 ‘Excite’ Is the Thinnest Tablet Yet

We’ve Seen the First 18 Minutes of ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’

The New ‘Mandalorian and Grogu’ Trailer Amps Up the Nostalgia

Hollywood’s First Big Budget AI-Generated Movie Is About Bitcoin, of Course

White House Is Reportedly Ready to Drop Its Anthropic Beef and Embrace the Spooky New Model

A Critical Ocean Current System May Be Unraveling Faster Than We Thought

Lana Del Rey Just Released the First Bond Theme We’ll Hear for Years

Tesla Wants a $50,000 Penalty for Anyone Who Tries to Resell Its Signature Model S and X

Google Wants to Put Gucci Smart Glasses on Your Face

Disneyland Makes Up for That Han Solo Situation With a Lovely Leia Look

The Cockroach of Dinosaurs Likely Survived Extinction Because of Its Big Wet Eggs

Alienware’s $350 QD-OLED Gaming Monitor Nixes Everything for a Pretty Screen

Sony Inzone H6 Air Review: A Perfect Case for Open-Back Gaming Headsets

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

The Soundboks Mix Is Going to Make You the Most Popular Guy at the Park

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026