Kat Hannaford, Author at Gizmodo

When In Doubt, Just Get a Sharpie-Armed Robot to Do Your Work Instead

Terrible drawers of the world, unite—and arm yourselves with a 3-axis CNC machine that’s been outfitted with a Sharpie pen for converting a vector image file to a tangible drawing in seconds. MWM Graphics, aarn and Paper Fortress Films did just that; the artworks of which you can purchase for—gulp—$175 each. [Vimeo via What Katie…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Do We Turn the Volume Up to Hear Louder Music, Or to Feel the Vibrations?

One of the James Dyson Award entrants, Stefan Zwegers, thinks it’s the latter, which is why his Sensible Music invention turns bass into vibrations when listening to music through headphones. This is achieved by placing two vibrating motors in the headphones’ cord, located around the user’s chest. Like listening to live music at a concert…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

I Hope Colgate Sees This Clever Toothpaste Tetra Packaging

Smart packaging is always appreciated, particularly when it’s for a product that we all use several times a day. Well, I hope you do anyway. Moving the paste-opening to the corner reduces packaging, and increases paste usage. Very smart, Sang Min Yu and Wong Sang Lee. [Yanko via Technabob]

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Entourage Special Bypasses DVD For iTunes

I’ve been awaiting the eight season of Entourage like Eminem’s been awaiting a proper dueling-sesh with Vince (no spoilers, honest!), but if you want to see the special Hollywood Sunset: A Farewell Tribute to Entourage before it hits DVD and HBO, the only way to get it is through iTunes (for now.) This is notable…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Tortoise Gets Chair Wheel Prosthesis to Replace Missing Leg

Thankfully someone had the common sense to glue a wheel from a rolling office chair to our 12-year-old African tortoise-friend’s missing leg, instead of going down the popular route of making tortoise soup out of him. Suffering tissue damage on his front-left leg, Gamera went through an amputation, which would leave any man distressed. Washington…

Biology Kat Hannaford

Nasa’s Official Android App Makes Me Cry

Downloading the new-and-official Nasa app on my Android phone today was a bittersweet experience, what with Atlantis—and NASA’s—last journey ending today. There’re heaps of features considering it’s free—live Nasa TV, images, future mission details *sniffles* and sighting opportunities. https://gizmodo.com/welcome-home-atlantis-5823356 Judging by the information supplied to me, the next opportunity I have to spy on the…

Space & Spaceflight Kat Hannaford

Lomography Paints the Town (Well, the LC-A+) Red For Russia Day

11 months before the next Russia Day, Lomography’s wrapped the classic Ruski film-camera in red goats’ leather and painted fertility symbols on it. Why they did that, I’m not sure, but I do like the soviet badge on the back. Unlike the $8 the new-Lomography founder paid for his original LC-A years back when he…

Gadgets Kat Hannaford

Watch Where Your Gadgets Go When They Die

I know where my black MacBook is going after I swap it for one of those new Airs (you owe me, Mum and Dad!), but what happens after? Luckily MIT is sticking GPS trackers on gadgets, following their eventual conclusions. https://gizmodo.com/new-macbook-airs-get-hit-with-a-thunderbolt-5822966 Run by MIT’s SENSEable City Lab, the Backtalk project will culminate in an exhibition…

Gadgets Kat Hannaford

Facebook Users Spend a Friends Episode-Length Poking and Liking; Google+ Just An Ad Break

In the 23 days since Google+ launched, users have been spending longer periods on the site, culminating in 5mins 50 secs visits on average last week. Facebook users? Why, they spent 21mins 57secs per visit. Does that make Facebook more compelling, or Google+ more efficient? [Hitwise via @ChrismoranUK via @JackSchofield]

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Welcome Home, Atlantis

5 million miles later, and Atlantis has arrived home with a thud, and likely a few tears in Nasa employees’ eyes. https://gizmodo.com/watch-the-last-space-shuttle-launch-ever-right-here-5819368 Touching down at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida early this morning, Commander Christopher Ferguson, Pilot Douglas Hurley, Mission Specialist 1 Sandra Magnus and Mission Specialist 2 Rex Walheim returned Atlantis safely home…

Space & Spaceflight Kat Hannaford

Bjork’s First Song From the Biophilia Album Is Now Out (as an iOS App)

After all the hoopla surrounding the fact Bjork’s got a new album and that she’s releasing it as ten in-app purchases, it’s finally here, with the app itself costing zilch, and the first song just $2. https://gizmodo.com/bjork-to-release-next-album-biophilia-as-10-ipad-apps-5808477 You can pre-purchase all ten songs for $10, which would be the better option for true fans—and lest…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Nokia’s Sales Are “Clearly Disappointing” According to, Erm, Nokia

Thought the situation at Nokia was dire already? They’ve just reported their first quarterly loss in 18 months, recording $521m loss, compared to the $322m profit they made in the same period last year. Sales of phones dropped 20 per cent to 88.5 million devices in the last quarter, which can partly be attributed to…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Hackers Hacked the Hackers’ AnonPlus Social Network

My brain hurts trying to keep all the different factions of hackers in line. After being booted off Google+, Anonymous started building their own site, AnonPlus—which has now been hacked by a group calling themselves “TURKIYE.” https://gizmodo.com/anonymous-is-working-on-anonplus-a-facebook-for-hacker-5822130 While it could be some elaborate joke played out on us ordinary non-hackin’ folk, to grab more headlines…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

PayPal’s Signed Up a Major US Retailer For Non-NFC Payments

eBay’s CEO confirmed Tuesday they’ll be enabling customers to pay for products in a major US street store, with up to 20 national retailers adopting their payment service by 2012. How they intend to do this remains to be seen—whether they go the NFC route, or do something similar to the Pizza Express chain in…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Is Chewing Gum Still Chewing Gum If It Doesn’t Stick?

I don’t know, gum today—when I was a kid, you could stick it behind your ear and still guarantee it’d be there nine days later. Kids of today will never know the pain of having it scraped from their hair. Developed at Bristol University in England, the Rev7 gum is amphiphilic, which means it both…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Panasonic’s DMC-FZ47 Has Manual Control When Shooting Video, and a Faux-3D Photo Mode

Falling into that grey “bridge” area of cameras, Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-FZ47 (or FZ48 in Europe) has a massive 24x optical zoom, and a 25mm wide-angle lens which records 1080i video. So far, so goodish. When shooting video on the FZ47, users will have full manual control over the options, thanks to the new Creative Control…

Gadgets Kat Hannaford

Largest Lite-Brite Board Is Also a Massive 9/11 Tribute

Most 9/11 tributes don’t involve a toy you last played with as a kid, but artist Rob Surette wanted to stand out from the crowd. Enter the Lite-Brite pegs, and a canvas measuring 20 x 10 feet and weighing 1,750lbs. Exactly 504,000 pegs were plugged into the glowing board—pegs of different colors, to denote people…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

It’s Going to Be a Real Pain Downloading Harry Potter Books to Kindle

J.K. Rowling made a splash when she announced Harry Potter will be available as ebooks for the first time, through a Pottermore website launching this Fall. Thankfully she’s allowed Google—and these ereaders—a chance to actually, y’know, read them. https://gizmodo.com/pottermore-is-the-ebooks-beatles-on-itunes-moment-5814906 If you’ve got an Android or iOS device, Nook, BeBook or readers from Sony, you’ll be…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

The FDA Is Gonna Look at Health Apps with a Microscope

So far it’s only been the manufacturers, such as Apple, which have screened any apps for potential wrongdoings, but the Food and Drug Administration has decided to step in and regulate any app that offers medical or health guidance. We’ve written about some of those apps in the past—the Withings blood pressure monitor; Google’s human…

Health Kat Hannaford

Google Will Alert You to Any Possible Malware On Your Computer

We’re more accustomed to ignoring flashing ads saying “your computer is infected!” but Google’s hoping people will pay attention once they start advertising the state of your computer’s health at the top of Google search pages. [Google Blog]

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Kat Hannaford

When In Doubt, Just Get a Sharpie-Armed Robot to Do Your Work Instead

Do We Turn the Volume Up to Hear Louder Music, Or to Feel the Vibrations?

I Hope Colgate Sees This Clever Toothpaste Tetra Packaging

Entourage Special Bypasses DVD For iTunes

Tortoise Gets Chair Wheel Prosthesis to Replace Missing Leg

Nasa’s Official Android App Makes Me Cry

Lomography Paints the Town (Well, the LC-A+) Red For Russia Day

Watch Where Your Gadgets Go When They Die

Facebook Users Spend a Friends Episode-Length Poking and Liking; Google+ Just An Ad Break

Welcome Home, Atlantis

Bjork’s First Song From the Biophilia Album Is Now Out (as an iOS App)

Nokia’s Sales Are “Clearly Disappointing” According to, Erm, Nokia

Hackers Hacked the Hackers’ AnonPlus Social Network

PayPal’s Signed Up a Major US Retailer For Non-NFC Payments

Is Chewing Gum Still Chewing Gum If It Doesn’t Stick?

Panasonic’s DMC-FZ47 Has Manual Control When Shooting Video, and a Faux-3D Photo Mode

Largest Lite-Brite Board Is Also a Massive 9/11 Tribute

It’s Going to Be a Real Pain Downloading Harry Potter Books to Kindle

The FDA Is Gonna Look at Health Apps with a Microscope

Google Will Alert You to Any Possible Malware On Your Computer

Anthropic Can’t Cover Up Its Claude Code Leak Fast Enough

Zach Cregger Recruits Second Zach for His Aunt Gladys Spinoff

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

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?