Jamie Condliffe, Author at Gizmodo

A Dumb Typo Saw Comcast Penalize the Wrong Guy For Heavy Data Usage

When a programmer from Tennessee returned home off vacation, he found Comcast hassling him for using 120GB of data while he was away from home. But it turns out that a simple typo in Comcast’s records was what saw him copping the blame for someone else’s data habit. In a very thorough explanation posted to…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Real-Time 3D Imaging Shows How Disposable Lithium Batteries Degrade

We all know that lithium-ion batteries can fail catastrophically. But other batteries can also burst into flame unprovoked, and a team of researchers is using real-time 3D imaging to understand exactly how. A team of engineers form University College London has been using X-ray imaging techniques to captures 3D views of what happens inside disposable…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

NASA’s 3D-Printed Rocket Engine Spews Fire and 20,000 Pounds of Thrust

This NASA rocket is, bewilderingly, mainly built from 3D-printed parts. And yet pumped full of liquid hydrogen and oxygen it spews flame and generates an insane 20,000 pounds of thrust. NASA has been developing 3D-printed rocket engines for a while now. But in its latest test, it’s pieced together a rocket engine where 75 percent…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

A New Kind of Bionic Eye Will Feed Images Directly Into Your Brain

Most types of bionic vision rely on using large parts of the existing human visual system to restore sight. But a new technique will simply feed the output from a digital camera directly into the brain. New Scientist reports that a new kind of bionic eye will “bypass most of the visual system entirely.” The…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

The James Webb Telescope Will Probe the Depths of Space Starting in October 2018

The European Space Agency has announced that the James Webb Space Telescope will finally be launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket in October 2018. The new telescope, which is planned to search space for the first galaxies in the Universe, as well as finding new stars and planets, has already been a long time in…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

This Wonderfully Silly App Translates Your Voice Into Emoji

If 2015 really was the year of the emoji, then what better way to round it off than a speech-to-emoticon app that allows anyone to communicate using the stupid little images. Siri and Cortana, eat your heart out. SpeakEmoji claims to help translate “grown-up speak into cool emoji messages to help adults engage with their…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Fear Can Actually Curdle Your Blood

The next time someone refers to a horror movie as “bloodcurdling,” they might actually be kinda right. A new study shows that the fear experienced when watching scary movies is in fact associated with an increase in clotting agents in the blood. A team of researchers from the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Larry King Sure Does Love Old Technology

Larry King has a flip phone, misses typewriters, and thinks that snail mail is a minor miracle. And don’t get him started on taking your iPhone along to dinner. He explains why to Conan in the video below. [Conan]

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

There’s Mercury in Californian Fog

Fog can be a pain in the ass, but it might also yield more profound problems. At least in California, where researchers have discovered that coastal fog can contain peculiarly large concentrations of mercury. Popular Science reports that scientists from UC Santa Cruz have discovered that the concentration of a form of mercury called monomethylmercury…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Clear Ceramic Makes This Filter 10x Tougher Than Your Usual Lens Protector

This protective lens filter might look like any other, but it’s got an invisible secret. Making use of a new kind of clear ceramic, it’s ten times tougher than most conventional protective filters, and therefore able to keep your lens perfectly safe. Developed by Sigma, the clear glass ceramic is made using a special heat…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

The LHC’s Seen an Intriguing Glimpse of What Could Be a New Particle

Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider have seen the first traces of what they believe could be a new fundamental particle. At a meeting on Tuesday, two separate teams of physicists reported that they’d made observations at the LHC which appear to hint at a new kind of particle. Both the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS)…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

Spotify Now Has Professionally Mixed Playlists to Get Your Party Started

Spotify certainly has enough music to keep you entertained, but its playlists can lurch from one track to the next with little finesse. Now, it’s launching a new Party feature that includes mixed, beat-matched songs so that things feel a little more professional. The new playlists, part of a feature that will be known as…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Plans to Issue Stock Using Bitcoin’s Blockchain Technology Have Been Approved

Bitcoin has been shaking up the world of finance, but its underlying technology—known as blockchain—may yet have an even more pervasive effect. Now, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given the green light for shares to be issued on the blockchain. According to public documents filed by the company Overstock, the SEC has…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Safeway Stores Have Been Hit By Card Skimming Attacks

If you’ve shopped at Safeway in California or Colorado recently, you may want to check your bank accounts. The supermarket chain has admitted that it’s investigating card skimming attacks at several of its stores in those states. Krebs on Security reports that financial institutions are investigating a series of attacks that seem to have taken…

Privacy & Security Jamie Condliffe

This Mathematical Guide Will Help You Neatly Wrap Any Gift

Do all the presents you give away over the holidays look like they were wrapped in the dark? Don’t worry: this video features a series of mathematical tricks to help you ensure your gifts always look neatly wrapped. Covering the full gamut of geometrical shapes and squishy items, mathematician Katie Steckles shows us how to…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Firefox Finally Goes 64-Bit on Windows

Weirdly, there’s never been a 64-bit version of Firefox until now. But if you’re running Windows 7 or later, you can now explore the internet with the browser while using twice its current 32 bits. Making use of the full 64 bits will allow the software to capitalize on the assets of modern processors. It…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

All Reading Apps Should Feature Play Books’ New Light Filter

The blue light that emanates from your phone’s screen is known to disrupt your sleep. So it’s good news that Google has added a light filter to its Play Books app, which gradually tapers the amount of blue light used by your display as you inch closer to bedtime. Now all apps need it. The…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Man Arrested in UK Suspected of Horrible VTech Hack

A 21-year-old man has been arrested in the UK on suspicion of “unauthorised access” to a computer over the VTech hack, which saw the personal information of nearly 6.4 million children stolen from servers. The BBC reports that the man was arrested in Berkshire following an investigation by the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit.…

Privacy & Security Jamie Condliffe

This Morning’s Soyuz Launch Made It Safely Into Orbit

Bang on schedule, Yuri Malenchenko, Tim Kopra, and Tim Peake took off on a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan this morning. They made it safely into orbit. Now en route to the International Space Station, the crew seems relaxed. Indeed, Tim Peake gave this rather enthusiastic thumbs up from the Soyuz capsule. Top…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

Watching Computer Scientists Recall Their First Computer Is So Adorable

Your first computer is (kind of) like your first kiss: exciting at the time, deeply memorable later in life, and yet still potentially embarrassing when recounted in public. For those reasons, watching dozens of computer scientists recall their first (computer) in this video is oddly compelling. Computerphile has been asking every single interviewee it’s spoken…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Jamie Condliffe

A Dumb Typo Saw Comcast Penalize the Wrong Guy For Heavy Data Usage

Real-Time 3D Imaging Shows How Disposable Lithium Batteries Degrade

NASA’s 3D-Printed Rocket Engine Spews Fire and 20,000 Pounds of Thrust

A New Kind of Bionic Eye Will Feed Images Directly Into Your Brain

The James Webb Telescope Will Probe the Depths of Space Starting in October 2018

This Wonderfully Silly App Translates Your Voice Into Emoji

Fear Can Actually Curdle Your Blood

Larry King Sure Does Love Old Technology

There’s Mercury in Californian Fog

Clear Ceramic Makes This Filter 10x Tougher Than Your Usual Lens Protector

The LHC’s Seen an Intriguing Glimpse of What Could Be a New Particle

Spotify Now Has Professionally Mixed Playlists to Get Your Party Started

Plans to Issue Stock Using Bitcoin’s Blockchain Technology Have Been Approved

Safeway Stores Have Been Hit By Card Skimming Attacks

This Mathematical Guide Will Help You Neatly Wrap Any Gift

Firefox Finally Goes 64-Bit on Windows

All Reading Apps Should Feature Play Books’ New Light Filter

Man Arrested in UK Suspected of Horrible VTech Hack

This Morning’s Soyuz Launch Made It Safely Into Orbit

Watching Computer Scientists Recall Their First Computer Is So Adorable

Getting Stuck Inside a Glitching Robotaxi Is a Whole New Thing to Be Scared of

Artemis 2 Live Updates: Humanity’s Epic Return to the Moon 🔴

NASA’s Artemis 2 Mission Blasts Off

Disney’s Robot Olaf Dying Is the Funniest Thing to Happen in 2026

Kia’s EV3 Is Headed to the US This Year With Up to 320 Miles of Range

This Is the Way to Lego’s April Releases

Group Pushing Age Verification Requirements for AI Turns Out to Be Sneakily Backed by OpenAI

Amazon Facilities in Bahrain Hit Again as Iran Follows Through on Threat, Report Says

Why the PS6 Handheld Will Matter More Than the PS6

DNA Study Casts Even More Doubt on Shroud of Turin’s True Origin

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?