Jack Loftus, Author at Gizmodo

Brain Tumor Treatment, On-the-Go

In today’s active, time-constrained world, even tumor patients don’t have time for treatment. What to do? Wear this: The NovoTTF-100A. It’s portable, cancer zapping headgear and it just got FDA approved. It’s not for every patient, as it only targets GBM (or glioblastoma multiforme), but in testing it displayed a knack for stopping or even…

Tech News Jack Loftus

Meet the Urban Bike Rack Concept That Scales the Sides of City Buildings

Traditional bike racks are so boring that I often forgo their use for more extreme locales, like power lines or roof decks or strapped to the backs of random passersby. In that vein I would probably use this concept, which would see my bike suspended from the side of a building. Called Bike Hanger, this…

Tech News Jack Loftus

Unique Tron Board Game Worthy of Its Own Daft Punk Soundtrack

Some dads just got it going on. Like Brett King. He knew his kids loved the new Tron: Legacy movie so he went and built them this one-of-a-kind board game. Those lucky little bastards now get to play out blacklight-enhanced lightcycle battles on a multi-level grid while I sit here crapping out mundane copy describing…

Tech News Jack Loftus

Latest Alien Life Theory Posits the Quietest Civilizations Probably Live Longest

For decades the Fermi Paradox has stipulated that unless life is unique to Earth, it must exist throughout the galaxy. And yet, so far there’s been no word. Hence, paradox. A new theory, based on natural selection, might explain why. According to paradox-smasher Adrian Kent of the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario, aliens (should they…

Space & Spaceflight Jack Loftus

So, I’m dead. What’s the deal with my digital data?

Like life insurance, most people aren’t keen to talk about what should happen to their digital selves after they die. Morbidity, the macabre, creepy—pick your poison. Nevertheless, there exist companies that deal with such things once you check out. Take this one, for example. Called LifeEnsured, it neatly and succinctly deals with the life you…

Tech News Jack Loftus

This is One Catchy Custom Bike-Building Video

Catchy guitar riffs, filmmaker Michael Evans superb cuts and edits, and Soulcraft owner Sean Walling’s makin’-it-look easy bike-building skills all combine in this incredibly interesting mini-mentary look at how a steel frame custom bicycle is made, from start to finish. The full title is From Steel: The Making of a Soulcraft, and I eat this…

Movies Jack Loftus

Google Mobile Survey Reveals Tablets Are Attacking Television

We’ve heard it said backward and forward that tablets are eating into laptop sales, but rarely if ever do we hear much about the tablet’s influence on TV watching. Turns out all those iPads are disrupting that experience too. So says a new survey out of Google’s mobile division anyway, where we learned that laptop,…

Tech News Jack Loftus

What Is Your First Internet Memory?

Two Gizmodo colleagues, one former and one current, are discussing their first Internet memories as I type out this sentence. Sam Biddle abused his father’s AOL screenname in the name of Valentine’s Day advice, while Jon Herrman rocked Hootie. The whole conversation, which I just creeped on Twitter and did not partake in, got me…

Tech News Jack Loftus

Gender Stereotypes Revealed Anew In Toy Commercials Word Cloud

This is one of those things that won’t surprise, but it’s still certainly interesting. What you’re seeing in the image below is a word cloud, modeled after commercials for boy’s and girl’s toys. Stark differences laid bare, and all that. I imagine many of the commercials that Crystal over at Boys, Masculinity, and Gender Stereotypes…

Tech News Jack Loftus

9,570,000,000,000,000,000,000 Bytes

Or, more succinctly, 9.57 zettabytes. That’s the amount of data the world’s “enterprise” servers blitz through every year. Most of that, I’m sad to report, involves kittens doing something adorable. Blech. I’m a dog person. Update: Changed “computers” to enterprise servers. [Techland]

Tech News Jack Loftus

Praising Failure: James Dyson Talks Vacuum’s 5,127 Prototypes

Sir James Dyson, inventor of perhaps the most recognizable consumer vacuum on the market today, is completely comfortable with failure. He’s good at it—failure I mean—but most great inventors are. So it’s with that in mind that we turn to Dyson’s Wired column that was floating around this weekend. In it, Dyson breaks down the…

Tech News Jack Loftus

Boy Scouts of America Dip Toe Into Robotics with Latest Geeky Merit Badge

The Boy Scouts, already no strangers to interesting, (if not controversial) modern-day badges like “video games,” have added what is an arguably more apt and useful skill to their badge-based repertoire: Robotics. https://gizmodo.com/cub-scouts-give-up-entirely-offer-video-game-badge-5526230 Gracing the face of the new badge is one of the NASA rovers currently stationed on Mars. Scouts will affix one of…

Tech News Jack Loftus

Portable Korg Wavedrum Mini Turns Random Surfaces Into a Drum Kits

The Korg Wavedrum Mini is exactly what it looks like: A portable synthetic drum machine that plays the usual litany of percussion sounds and beats on the go. What’s interesting beyond that is the tiny clip. According to Korg, the clip can be attached to a variety of surfaces (e.g. table tops), at which point…

Tech News Jack Loftus

News of the World Grants “Unreserved Apology” to Victims of Voicemail Hacking Scandal

Eight victims of the News of the World’s “phone hacking” scandal have received an unprecedented apology from that publication this week. The apology marks a 180-degree reversal for NotW, which had maintained for several years that the job was the work of one reporter. It was not, the paper officially admitted this week, and the…

Tech News Jack Loftus

Hollywood User Interface Fakery at Its Finest

Most of the time the computer interfaces we see in Hollywood flicks are all sorts of ridiculous. They mix glam with hints of what we might expect in the future. Sometimes that’s Minority Report (real, see MIT), sometimes it’s this: Access Main Computer File. Which is a Tumblr collection of the never-realized in the real…

Movies Jack Loftus

Prepare for the Worst by Deploying the Best

Members of the U.S. Marines Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF) are in country, ready and willing to help the Japanese respond to the still-critical nuclear disaster that threatens their nation. Seen here is a decontamination exercise, currently underway. [SFGate]

Tech News Jack Loftus

Cessna Begins Research On “Magic Skin” Condom for Future Airplanes

Sometime in the future, perhaps 2030-2035, you or your spawn will be spirited across the skies in airplanes that are wrapped in a magic, protective condom. The reason for this sensitive sheath will be to better protect the craft from lightning strikes and electromagnetic interference, the latter of which will be handy for all the…

Privacy & Security Jack Loftus

Hexapod Robot Manages to Make Innocent Little Waves Looks Six Times More Creepy

New for Spring! Creepy pseudo-arachnid robots—great for going into even creepier, crawlier places so you don’t have to! Also, check out that cute little wave it does in the video! Aww. I say “pseudo” of course because this beastie boasts but six legs. As all arachnologists worth their salt know, spiders have eight wonderful legs,…

Tech News Jack Loftus

The Geeky Serial Killer

A serial killer already linked to the murders of four Long Island area Craigslist prostitutes is so intimately familiar with police investigation techniques that law enforcement officials are now openly speculating he may be one of their own. The absolutely chilling admission arrives in the wake of several untraceable calls made to members of the…

Tech News Jack Loftus

Swarm’s Bike Seat Clamps Hide Hidden, Refreshing Post-Ride Tool

As a cyclist and a drinker of fine craft beers I can’t see much fault with these bottle-opening bike seat clamps. If they make it out of Kickstarter and you procure one, please enjoy responsibly. Asking price for Kickstarter funders is $20 for the bare-bones clamp and $30 for the quick-release (saves $5 each, respectively).…

Tech News Jack Loftus

Jack Loftus

Brain Tumor Treatment, On-the-Go

Meet the Urban Bike Rack Concept That Scales the Sides of City Buildings

Unique Tron Board Game Worthy of Its Own Daft Punk Soundtrack

Latest Alien Life Theory Posits the Quietest Civilizations Probably Live Longest

So, I’m dead. What’s the deal with my digital data?

This is One Catchy Custom Bike-Building Video

Google Mobile Survey Reveals Tablets Are Attacking Television

What Is Your First Internet Memory?

Gender Stereotypes Revealed Anew In Toy Commercials Word Cloud

9,570,000,000,000,000,000,000 Bytes

Praising Failure: James Dyson Talks Vacuum’s 5,127 Prototypes

Boy Scouts of America Dip Toe Into Robotics with Latest Geeky Merit Badge

Portable Korg Wavedrum Mini Turns Random Surfaces Into a Drum Kits

News of the World Grants “Unreserved Apology” to Victims of Voicemail Hacking Scandal

Hollywood User Interface Fakery at Its Finest

Prepare for the Worst by Deploying the Best

Cessna Begins Research On “Magic Skin” Condom for Future Airplanes

Hexapod Robot Manages to Make Innocent Little Waves Looks Six Times More Creepy

The Geeky Serial Killer

Swarm’s Bike Seat Clamps Hide Hidden, Refreshing Post-Ride Tool

Do ‘Disclosure Day’ Prep With a Spielberg Sci-Fi Marathon

How to Watch the F1 Japanese GP 2026 on a Free Channel

Ranking 2016’s Superhero Debuts, 10 Years Later

Fourth Most Populous Country in the World Bans Most Social Media for Kids

How to watch UFC Fight Night Adesanya vs Pyfer live this Saturday

‘Steel Ball Run’ Will Return This Year…Eventually

‘The Mummy 4’ Is Getting the Family Back Together

JD Vance Says UFOs Are Actually Demons

Breville Barista Express Espresso Machine Hits Its Lowest Price of the Year for Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, Cut Your Daily Coffee Costs at Home

Amazon Clears Out Govee LED Smart Light Bulbs (2-Pack) at a Record Low, Each Bulb Costs Just a Few Dollars

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

Apple Studio Display XDR Review: It Looks So Good, I Wish It Were an iMac

RayNeo Air 4 Pro Review: My Eyes Love These Video Glasses, but My Nose Disagrees