Jamie Condliffe, Author at Gizmodo

The Government Revealed That Lavabit Shut Down Because of Edward Snowden

Remember that the secure and private email provider Lavabit shut down back in 2013 rather than comply with the feds? While people speculated it was because the government was chasing Edward Snowden, un-redacted files now show that to be the case. Wired reports that the files were published online to a federal court system called…

Privacy & Security Jamie Condliffe

SeaWorld Will Finally Stop Using Killer Whales… After Just a Few More Years of Exploitation

SeaWorld has announced that it’s ended the practice of breeding orcas in captivity. It’ll also stop running its theatrical shows, replacing them with what it calls “natural” encounters with the animals—but only by 2019. SeaWorld currently looks after 24 orcas. In a statement, Joel Manby, the company’s President and CEO, explained that these will be…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

This Amazing Expanding Material Is Based on Islamic Art

Pull this small tile outwards and it doesn’t shorten in the other dimension like a normal piece of material. Instead, its Islamic-inspired pattern twists and deforms so that it can grown in both directions. Creating structures that unfurl when pulled apart isn’t anything particularly new: There are all kinds of exotic deployable structures that are…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

American Express Admits to Theft of Customer Data Three Years Late [Updated]

American Express has warned its customers that they may have had their personal information stolen during a data breach—which happened in 2013. The company explained to California’s attorney general in a letter sent on March 10th that a merchant suffered a data breach. The first version of the letter sent to the attorney general incorrectly…

Privacy & Security Jamie Condliffe

Experimental Dengue Vaccine Protects Every Participant in Small-Scale Trial

An experimental vaccine for Dengue fever has been tested on participants who were all exposed to the virus—none of whom went on to show any signs of illness. The new vaccine, known as TV003, was developed by National Institutes of Health. During a double-blind trial each participants received either a placebo or the vaccine. When…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

These Self-Assembling Nanowires Could Grow Into the Computer Chips of the Future

Imagine if instead of painstakingly creating computer chips using complex nanoscale engineering you could simply let raw materials assemble themselves into the same structure from the molecule up. These self-assmebling nanowires could be first step in that direction. Try to get past the fact they look a bit like something you may have stumbled across…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Apple’s iCloud Will Apparently Partly Run on Google’s Servers

It’s not just you that needs to upgrade your iCloud storage. A new set of reports claims that Apple has had to sign up with Google’s Cloud Platform to help power its own cloud storage service. The Financial Times and CRN both report that Apple has signed a deal to run parts of iCloud on…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Why You Suck at Rock-Paper-Scissors

There’s no better way to settle an argument than a round of rock-paper-scissors. But while you might think you have fool-proof set of tactics, a new study reveals why many of us suck so hard at the game. Fundamentally, rock-paper-scissors is a game of pure chance. If you forget about the psychology of the game,…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Peabody, the Biggest US Coal Miner, Faces Bankruptcy

The future looks dark for coal miner Peabody. America’s biggest provider of the fossil fuel has admitted that it may have to seek bankruptcy protection. Bloomberg reports that the company thinks it may not be able to continue to operate in its current form. The news is contained in a filing submitted to the US…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

The Five Biggest #Foodporn Trends in Countries Around the World

Love it or loathe it, taking pictures of food to post on social networks is very much a thing. But what are the most popular types of #foodporn around the world? That’s exactly what a trio of researchers from Qatar Computing Research Institute and Queen Mary University of London wondered. They wanted to find out…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

World’s First All-Electric Double-Deck Buses Hit London’s Streets

This London bus looks a lot like every other London bus. But beneath its bright red exterior lurks an all-electric powertrain that makes it the first ever double-deck bus to be powered by electrons alone. The new buses are designed to travel 180 miles on a single charge, which should mean they can cruise London’s…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Machine Uses Focused Electrons to Slice Aerospace-Grade Titanium in Minutes

Cutting large lumps of aerospace-grade metals can be hard work. So GE has developed a tool called Blue Arc which uses a high-speed beam of electrons to cut through titanium alloy 15 times faster than other techniques. The problem with working with exotic new metals is that they’re tougher than the metals that can be…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

These Are the World’s Thinnest Folds

A team of scientists has created the world’s thinnest ever folds in a sheet of graphene, taking origami to the atomic scale. Folding a piece of paper is easy and, in theory, the same rules hold for a sheet of graphene. But putting a crisp fold into a one atom-thick sheet of graphene is troublesome,…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

These Are the First-Ever High-Res Images of Naturally Occuring Biological Motors

We’ve known for years now that some bacteria have tails known as flagellum to propel them forwards, but we’ve never managed to take a detailed look at what powers them. These new images, however, reveal how the naturally occurring motors work. New Scientist reports that researchers from Imperial College London have used a technique called…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

This $30, 300GB Hard Drive Was Designed Especially for Raspberry Pi

Need some pocketable storage for your pint-sized computer? Western Digital’s new PiDrive is probably the answer, squeezing just over 300GB into its quarter-inch-thick frame—and it’ll only set you back $30. The new drive was, unsurprisingly, designed with the Raspberry Pi in mind. Not all external drives work with the simple little computers, so Western Digital…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

New Malware Attacks When You Type a URL Wrong

Better watch where those fingers fall on the keyboard next time you type out a URL. Security researchers have discovered a new trend they’re calling typosquatting, where users are attacked after they mis-type web addresses. Security firm Endgame has discovered 300 popular .com domain names—for the likes of Netflix, Dell and Citibank—that have been registered…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Lee Sedol Loses Final Go Match Making It a 4-1 Victory for Google’s AI

Google’s AlphaGo has stomped to victory for a fourth time against Go world champion Lee Sedol. That makes it a resounding victory for the AI, which has won four of the five games it’s played against its human opponent. Google’s AI won the first three matches in the best-of-five tournament, but it’s traditional in Go…

Artificial Intelligence Jamie Condliffe

GM Will Now Rent Out Cars to Lyft Drivers

Want to drive for Lyft but lack the fundamental car? No problem: GM will now rent out a Chevy Equinox for you to use, which will cost between $100 per week or nothing at all if you clock up enough Lyft journeys in the vehicle. The new service will first launch in Chicago, before rolling…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Take a Peek Inside Google’s New Planned Campus

Google has been planning to build a new set of offices, just down the road from its existing HQ in Mountain View, for a while. Now, a new series of renders show what it might look like to spend time in. We already knew that the new Campus, which will be situated in Charleston East,…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

An Alternative Battery Burns Carbon Nanotubes to Make Electricity

If you thought lithium-ion batteries catching fire were dangerous, how about a portable power source that actually relies on igniting its fuel from the get-go? That’s pretty much what a new battery alternative developed at MIT does. A few years ago, researchers found that they could coat a long thin carbon nanotube—like a sheet of…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Jamie Condliffe

The Government Revealed That Lavabit Shut Down Because of Edward Snowden

SeaWorld Will Finally Stop Using Killer Whales… After Just a Few More Years of Exploitation

This Amazing Expanding Material Is Based on Islamic Art

American Express Admits to Theft of Customer Data Three Years Late [Updated]

Experimental Dengue Vaccine Protects Every Participant in Small-Scale Trial

These Self-Assembling Nanowires Could Grow Into the Computer Chips of the Future

Apple’s iCloud Will Apparently Partly Run on Google’s Servers

Why You Suck at Rock-Paper-Scissors

Peabody, the Biggest US Coal Miner, Faces Bankruptcy

The Five Biggest #Foodporn Trends in Countries Around the World

World’s First All-Electric Double-Deck Buses Hit London’s Streets

Machine Uses Focused Electrons to Slice Aerospace-Grade Titanium in Minutes

These Are the World’s Thinnest Folds

These Are the First-Ever High-Res Images of Naturally Occuring Biological Motors

This $30, 300GB Hard Drive Was Designed Especially for Raspberry Pi

New Malware Attacks When You Type a URL Wrong

Lee Sedol Loses Final Go Match Making It a 4-1 Victory for Google’s AI

GM Will Now Rent Out Cars to Lyft Drivers

Take a Peek Inside Google’s New Planned Campus

An Alternative Battery Burns Carbon Nanotubes to Make Electricity

Can You Run a Computer Without RAM? Surprisingly, Yes—But You’ll Be Miserable

Artemis 2 Live Updates: Countdown to the Moon 🔴

How Adult Swim Skipped the April Fools’ Nonsense and Dropped a ‘Smiling Friends’ Claymation Horror Short Instead

Oracle Lays Off Thousands to Offset AI Spending

The Films and Shows You Should Be Streaming in April 2026

Chinese Startup Debuts Super-Bendy Robotic Arm for Orbital Repairs

Your Devices Are Targets. Bitdefender Shields Them All — For Less Than You Think

Of Course, ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Post Credit Scene Is Another Big Cameo

Proton Just Launched Meet, and It Makes Zoom Look Like a Privacy Nightmare

America’s Latest Unfounded Health Panic: ‘Vaccinated’ Blood Donations

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

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

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?