Kaila Hale-Stern, Author at Gizmodo

Let’s Talk About Whatever You Want Right Now

What a week. I’m about to go spend my weekend with extended family and old friends. What a weekend. What’ve you got lined up? This week I asked you all about your favorite form of social media, and I’ve been pondering the question a lot myself. I’m going to start hanging around Google+ more, as…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Apr 3

Would You Hack Your Body For a Superpower?

Today, we rediscovered that people are willing to go to extreme lengths to gain mutant-like abilities. Are you one of them? I’m going to guess that most of us wouldn’t turn down strange powers, no matter how many cautionary X-Men comics we’ve read. And while we’re a long way from getting our hands on the…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Apr 2

If You Could Only Use One Social Network, What Would It Be?

Few of us have the mental bandwidth to care about the latest hot new social thing. When Foursquare split its app, I never downloaded Swarm in protest. I never signed up for Ello. Do I sound too get-off-my-lawn when I say screw Snapchat? The never-ending influx of new platforms makes me wonder: If I had…

Social Media Kaila Hale-Stern Mar 30

“It’s Not My Job to Plug Things In,” and Other Nightmare IT Stories

We asked for the worst stories you had about working in IT. You rose to the challenge and then some. We may need to wipe and reboot our brains to recover from these. People are strange Ari Harrison: I told a woman that she needed to plug in her monitor to the wall as the…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Mar 27

What GIF Would You Put In A Time Capsule?

I used to shake my cane at the sky and declare “I just don’t get kids today and their GIFsets.” Then I went to work for Tumblr. Tumblr is a medium where people painstakingly create and share gorgeous original GIFs — and where “reaction GIFs” of memes, pop culture, and, well, pictured responses often take…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Mar 26

How Did You Prepare For Y2K?

We live in a world obsessed with the threat of terrorism. But fifteen years ago, the media was in constant hysterics over Y2K, or “the Millennium bug.” A real coding error that required many a fix, Y2K also provoked outsize paranoia and survivalist tactics that anticipated the end of the world. What were you up…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Mar 24

Tell Us Your Nightmare Stories About Working In IT

A friend of mine once told a tale about his years at the Apple Genius Bar that I never forgot. It involved a customer, a Mac Mini, and a handful of cockroaches. Today I asked him for a refresher, and it turns out the story was even worse than my memories. Does your experience top…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Mar 23

Let’s Talk About Whatever You Want Right Now

Last week at this time it was sunny. Now it’s snowing outside. At the end of March. This week, amiright? All I want to do is think about the movies I’ll be mainlining this weekend. Good riddance, week. This weekend, I’m planning to sleep, sleep some more, then host a mini-Marvel movie marathon (for myself)…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Mar 20

What Are These Bizarre Anti-Banking Ads Doing in New York’s Subways?

Bizarre ads for TransferWise, a P2P money-transfer system, have cropped up overnight in NYC’s subways. I had many questions: who is this guy? Why his face? What is he selling me? Turns out the more you try to learn about TransferWise, the sketchier the whole thing becomes. On the surface, TransferWise looks like any other…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Mar 20

What Are Your Earliest Web Browser Memories?

Microsoft has rung the death knell for Internet Explorer — and it’s likely that few of us will mourn. IE has been sort of a joke for years, but there was a time when it was mighty. How far back into browser history do you go? Tell us what you remember. Certainly there are reasons…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Mar 17

What’s The Weirdest Thing You’ve Got Saved In Email Drafts?

I’m writing this in an email draft right now. I love Gmail’s auto-saving drafts a lot. Putting stuff in drafts makes it easily accessible and searchable. I know I’m not alone in compulsively saving things in “drafts” that aren’t emails. What’s the strangest thing you’ve got saved? For years I’ve used this repository to keep…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Mar 12

Are You Addicted To Tabs Or Do You Love A Clean Browser Screen?

I used to assume everyone browsed Just Like Me, until a friend recoiled in horror from the sight of my stuffed browser. Apparently not everyone works or plays online with roughly 20,000 tabs open. How do you do it? While that’s a (mild) exaggeration, I just counted and I generally have between 10-20 tabs open,…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Mar 10

Have You Ever Been Banned From An Internet Community?

Have you ever been banned from an online community? Tell us everything. I’m still surprised over something that happened earlier today. An article I submitted on Reddit’s /r/politics was rejected unread by a bot. I’m not going to go into the entangled histories of Gawker Media and Reddit; you can go googling if you’re really…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Mar 5

Which American Lady Should Be on the $20 Instead of Andrew Jackson?

There’s an online movement underway to remove our genocidal 7th Prez, Andrew Jackson, from his place of honor on the $20 bill. One advocacy group believes a woman deserves the spot on the $20, since the only lady currently in circulation is Sacagawea on the $1 coin, and all Americans hate dollar coins. Women on…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Mar 4

Movie Theaters Won’t Let You See Idris Elba’s New Movie, Because Netflix

Everyone’s best friend, Netflix, has a problem. The big bad movie theaters of America refuse to screen the upcoming Idris Elba movie Beasts of No Nation—because Netflix owns it. Now we all have a problem, because we need as much Idris Elba on 30-foot silver screens as possible. The four largest movie theater chains have…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Mar 4

What Was Your First Smartphone?

Smartphones were once a boutique item, but now they’re essential. Still, we all remember a time before smartphones — at least, the time before we got our first one. How old were you when you got your first, and what year was it? While younger generations likely received their first smartphone as part of a…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Mar 3

Rest in Peace Leonard Nimoy, My Honorary Space Grandpa

I’m trying not to cry as I write this. Actor Leonard Nimoy has passed away at age 83, leaving behind a legion of grieving fans who have loved him all their lives, and millions of honorary “grandchildren” like me. I don’t go around claiming to be Nimoy’s granddaughter because I watched a few too many…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Feb 27

What Was Your Favorite (Non-Llama) Collective Internet Freakout?

Today the entire internet was riveted by a live llama chase in Arizona. All work ground to a halt while the world watched the furry creatures’ daring escape. This is hardly the first time the internet has had a collective breakdown. What’s the weirdest clusterfuck that got everyone talking? We need your help to remember.…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Feb 26

What Would Your Hacker Group Name Be?

Lizard Squad was back in the news today amidst speculation that it had hacked Lenovo’s website. Whether or not that’s true, we can all agree that Lizard Squad is a freakin’ great name for a hacker crew. In the past we’ve ranked and debated the best hacker monikers, from the kind-of-obvious Goetse Security to the…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Feb 25

Journalists Arrested For Flying Drones In Mystery Drone Scare

Three Al-Jazeera reporters have been arrested in the wake of the drones of Paris mystery. It’s likely the reporters were using drones to film a poorly-thought-out segment on the mystery drones, not the original perpetrators of the problem. We have so many questions. What were the journalists thinking? The “unknown drones” story was big international…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Feb 25

Kaila Hale-Stern

Let’s Talk About Whatever You Want Right Now

Would You Hack Your Body For a Superpower?

If You Could Only Use One Social Network, What Would It Be?

“It’s Not My Job to Plug Things In,” and Other Nightmare IT Stories

What GIF Would You Put In A Time Capsule?

How Did You Prepare For Y2K?

Tell Us Your Nightmare Stories About Working In IT

Let’s Talk About Whatever You Want Right Now

What Are These Bizarre Anti-Banking Ads Doing in New York’s Subways?

What Are Your Earliest Web Browser Memories?

What’s The Weirdest Thing You’ve Got Saved In Email Drafts?

Are You Addicted To Tabs Or Do You Love A Clean Browser Screen?

​Have You Ever Been Banned From An Internet Community?

Which American Lady Should Be on the $20 Instead of Andrew Jackson?

Movie Theaters Won’t Let You See Idris Elba’s New Movie, Because Netflix

What Was Your First Smartphone?

Rest in Peace Leonard Nimoy, My Honorary Space Grandpa

What Was Your Favorite (Non-Llama) Collective Internet Freakout?

What Would Your Hacker Group Name Be?

Journalists Arrested For Flying Drones In Mystery Drone Scare

Amazon Is Sticking With ‘Rings of Power’ to the End

Trump Is Reportedly Going Full Steam Ahead with the Golden Dome

‘Kamen Rider’ Is Ready to Take on the World

Twitter Just Can’t Stop Leaking Movies

The ‘Mass Effect’ Show is Getting Rewritten to Get Greenlit

See the Early Stages of How ‘Project Hail Mary’ Brought Rocky to Life

‘Cognitive Surrender’ Is a New and Useful Term for How AI Melts Brains

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

Marshall Acton III Home Speaker Drops to a Record Low, the Deal Countdown Has Already Started

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

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

Have You Ever Been Banned From An Internet Community?