Bryan Lufkin, Author at Gizmodo

The 10 Most Important Things From Apple’s WWDC Keynote

Apple’s monster developers conference yesterday featured a parade of software announcements, Apple employees excitedly discussing their “big” karaoke potluck, and Drake. We obsessively liveblogged the whole event, but these are the keynote highlights below. iOS 9: Everything You Need To Know iOS 9 is here. But what we saw on stage at Apple’s World Wide…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin Jun 9

Apple Axes Newsstand and Creates News, a Reader You Might Actually Use

Looks like Apple’s Newsstand has officially gone the way of most actual newsstands. The content-sharing service has been axed, but it’s being replaced by something new: The simply-named News. It’s free, and will deliver articles from media companies including The New York Times, Conde Nast, ESPN, and a ton of other content producers—even blogs and…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin Jun 8

Roving Robotic Beds Are the Best Way To Commute While You Sleep

We’ve all fantasized about sleeping comfortably on the way to work. And now, thanks to a new robot on exhibit in London, you can go anywhere without leaving your (robotic, moving) bed. Starting this week at London’s Southbank Centre’s Hayward Gallery, Belgian artist Carsten Höller offers you the chance to spend a night in the…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin Jun 8

This Sturdy Drone Takes Aerial Shots of Your Outdoor Conquests

There’s nothing like gazing upon the Rockies or looking out into a sunkissed desert to remind you that nature is beautiful—or that you’re a puny speck of carbon aimlessly drifting through the universe. Now, there’s a Kickstarted drone specially-designed to help capture those landscapes. Called Sprite, it’s an unmanned aerial vehicle you can throw in…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin Jun 8

The World’s Biggest Aircraft Could Launch a New Age of Airships

Airships lost much of their popularity after the fiery Hindenburg disaster in 1937. But one company’s looking to revive the technology with thebiggest aircraft on Earth. It’s called the Airlander 10: over 300 feet long, it’s a floating airship that’s 25 percent bigger than a Boeing 747. It’s 1,340,000 cubic feet in volume, and can…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin Jun 5

Trapped In an Elevator? In Japan, At Least You’ll Have a Toilet

You’re on an elevator. An earthquake hits. It’s scary. The power goes out, and now you’re stuck. And you gotta go, bad. Luckily, Japan is putting emergency toilets on elevators to prevent such nightmares. Japan’s infrastructure ministry and toilet companies now want to put portable loos on all lifts—as well as drinking water supplies, too.…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin Jun 4

A Therapeutic Robot Teddy Bear Will Play With Kids in the Hospital

Here’s Huggable—Teddy Ruxpin for the new millennium. It’s a talking blue teddy bot designed to care for and comfort hospitalized children. The New York Times reported today it’s currently being used in a study that gathers kids’ physiological responses to various stress-alleviating stimuli to determine whether Huggable offers ill children therapeutic benefits or not. Eventually,…

Health Bryan Lufkin Jun 3

Does Water Really Swirl Differently in Australia? YouTube Stars Find Out

Smarter Every Day and Veritasium, two of the best science channels on YouTube, have teamed up to answer once and for all: Does water really flow the other way in the southern hemisphere? Destin Sandlin, host of Smarter Every Day (based in Huntsville, Alabama) and Derek Muller of Veritasium (who’s in Sydney) each filmed a…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin Jun 3

Hang Out With This Baby Penguin to Learn About His Endangered Species

Love that classic video of polar bear cub learning to walk? Baby bat eating banana? Dog dressed as mutant spider?!? Brace yourselves, netizens. On Thursday, you can chat with a month-old African penguin in a Google Hangout. It’s like you’re in the viral video. This Thursday, June 4 at 1 to 1:30 p.m. EST, log…

Biology Bryan Lufkin Jun 3

Why Japan’s Bullet Train Will Finally Bring High-Speed Rail to America

High-speed trains—which can hit 300 miles per hour or more—are the ultimate example of how futuristic engineering can solve real-world transportation problems. In the past several decades, dozens of safe, sustainable high-speed train systems have started racing across the planet. And the place that does high-speed rail best is where it all started over 50…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin Jun 2

The Ingenious Plan for the Ocean to Clean Itself Is Led By a 20-Year-Old

A Dutch man barely out of his teens is leading one of the most ambitious ocean cleanup efforts ever: to halve the amount of plastic debris floating in the Pacific within a decade. The man’s name is Boyan Slat, and he’s come up with a pretty ingenious way of doing it. Instead of clamoring around…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin Jun 2

A Robot That Pushes Like a Human Is More Impressive Than It Sounds

A truly smart robot adapts to a variety of challenges on the fly—like adjusting its posture to push or pull big objects, just like a person does. But what comes naturally to humans is a lot more complicated for robots. Take this ‘bot developed by the University of Tokyo’s JSK Laboratory, for example. The clever…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin Jun 1

US Vows to Help Japan With Cybersecurity, Japan Has Huge Hack Days Later

This weekend, the US pledged to help beef up Japan’s cyber defense. Two days later, The Japan Times is reporting that 1.25 million sets of personal data from its pension system were leaked in a huge cyberattack. The $1.1 trillion Japan Pension Service said Monday that an employee opened an emailed virus, triggering the massive…

Privacy & Security Bryan Lufkin Jun 1

Google’s New Hands-Free Feature Will Let You Pay With These Magic Words

“I’d like to pay with Google.” Say that phrase at a shop’s register, and you could soon check out without even touching your wallet—or phone. It’s called Hands Free, and it comes on the heels of Google announcing its upcoming payments app, Android Pay, at I/O. With this hands-free method, it seems you simply approach…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin May 29

These Electrical Overload Videos Are Explosively Satisfying

Mad scientists have a home on YouTube. Whether they’re building lasers or performing controlled explosions on the back patio, they’re raking in millions of views. Add Photonicinduction to the list of ridiculously rad YouTube channels with a taste for the combustible. The star, Andy (aka Photon), whose YouTube page states he has 25 years of…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin May 29

Android Pay Is Google’s Plan for the Mobile Payments Future

We suspected that Google would announce a new payments system at I/O, and we were right. Enter Android Pay. Android Pay is an open-platform API that enables customers to make payments from their credit cards within an Android mobile app. To use it, unlock your phone like normal, place it in front of the data-slurping…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin May 28

Facebook Messenger Lets You Send Money In Chat Threads Now

Facebook’s payments feature for the Messenger app has been rolling out slowly across the U.S. and landed in New York City today armed with a couple new features. But how does it stack up against Venmo? I repaid a $5 happy hour debt to fellow Gotham-dwelling Gizmodian Darren Orf to find out. First introduced back…

Social Media Bryan Lufkin May 27

Tiny Lasers on Microchips Could Help Self-Driving Cars “See” The Road

Since self-driving cars don’t have drivers, the cars have to perceive their surroundings themselves. Lidar is a great option—it’s like radar but with lasers instead of radio waves—but it’s big and pricy. However, a new kind of lidar from DARPA could change that. DARPA, the U.S. Department of Defense’s emerging tech branch, announced the new…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin May 27

A Clever Lamp That Requires No Batteries, Outlets, or Sun

About a billion people live without electricity, and they often turn to kerosene lamps: ultra dangerous, carcinogen-spouting, open flames that could turn homes into tinderboxes. So a new Indiegogo campaign’s out to provide safe, reusable lights that need zero outside energy sources. It’s called GravityLight, and it’s kind of like those hand crank-powered camp lanterns…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin May 27

We Can Now Make Computer Chips Out of Wood

We’re one step closer to biodegradable gadgets. These computer chips are made almost entirely out of wood. Scientists at the University of Wisconsin, Madison teamed up with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Products Laboratory to fashion the new semiconductor chip. The paper was published today in Nature Communications. See, most of a computer chip…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin May 26

Bryan Lufkin

The 10 Most Important Things From Apple’s WWDC Keynote

Apple Axes Newsstand and Creates News, a Reader You Might Actually Use

Roving Robotic Beds Are the Best Way To Commute While You Sleep

This Sturdy Drone Takes Aerial Shots of Your Outdoor Conquests

The World’s Biggest Aircraft Could Launch a New Age of Airships

Trapped In an Elevator? In Japan, At Least You’ll Have a Toilet

A Therapeutic Robot Teddy Bear Will Play With Kids in the Hospital

Does Water Really Swirl Differently in Australia? YouTube Stars Find Out

Hang Out With This Baby Penguin to Learn About His Endangered Species

Why Japan’s Bullet Train Will Finally Bring High-Speed Rail to America

The Ingenious Plan for the Ocean to Clean Itself Is Led By a 20-Year-Old

A Robot That Pushes Like a Human Is More Impressive Than It Sounds

US Vows to Help Japan With Cybersecurity, Japan Has Huge Hack Days Later

Google’s New Hands-Free Feature Will Let You Pay With These Magic Words

These Electrical Overload Videos Are Explosively Satisfying

Android Pay Is Google’s Plan for the Mobile Payments Future

Facebook Messenger Lets You Send Money In Chat Threads Now

Tiny Lasers on Microchips Could Help Self-Driving Cars “See” The Road

A Clever Lamp That Requires No Batteries, Outlets, or Sun

We Can Now Make Computer Chips Out of Wood

Scientists Generated Solar Power After Dark, Thanks to a Trick Using Wood

Amazon Clears Out EGO POWER+ String Trimmer at Its Lowest Price of the Year, Battery and Charger Included

Ray-Ban Meta Deal Extended at Record Low, Smart AI Glasses at the Price of Regular Glasses

ADT’s New Big Idea Is a Light-Up ADT Sign for Your Yard

Sony Is Turning ‘Bloodborne’ Into an R-Rated Animated Movie

GoPro’s New Plan to Beat DJI Is a Bigger Action Camera Built for Pros

Sony Soundbar With Bass Reflex Speaker Is Now Under $100 at an All-Time Low, Even Cheaper Than Amazon’s Fire TV Soundbar

New ‘Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse’ Footage Just Swung Into CinemaCon

LEGO Star Wars R2-D2 Is Built to Last, but Its Lowest Price Isn’t (Includes Darth Malak Minifigure)

You Can Now Relive the Golden Age of ‘Warhammer’ PC Games

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

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

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

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled