Kat Hannaford, Author at Gizmodo

New MacBook Airs Get Hit With a Thunderbolt

Apple’s brought both sizes of the MacBook Air line straight up to what you’d expect from a laptop in 2011, adding a Thunderbolt port, but more importantly some sweet Sandy Bridge i5 and i7 chips—and backlit keyboards. The addition of the super-fast Thunderbolt port will future-proof any Thunderbolt-enabled gadgets you purchase in the future, and…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Mac Mini Line Padded Out With Three Thunderbolt-Packin’ Models

Apple’s kept the unibody aluminum casing of last year, and overhauled the Mac Mini inside-only, with three options starting at $599. Notable in all three models is the new Thunderbolt port, for connecting various compatible products with. https://gizmodo.com/apples-unibody-mac-mini-5563708 The base level begins with a Sandy Bridge 2.3GHz processor and 2GB of RAM, plus 500GB of…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Isn’t It Terribly Ironic to Have a Book of Your Instagram Photos?

Blurb is now taking orders for books made from retro-tinged Instagram app photos, with a 20-page book with 40 photos costing just $11, just $11 more than the actual app itself costs. [Blurb via PetaPixel]

Books & Comics Kat Hannaford

Was Heavy Armor a Hindrance to Medieval European Battlers?

Watching a movie set in medieval times isn’t enough to realize just how damn heavy those suits of steel actually are. Weighing between 30 – 50kg, you’d think they would impact and impede the wearer’s actions. Or did they? An article submitted to The Royal Society speculates on how the “medieval soldiers’ locomotor energetics and…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Last-Minute Apple Rumors “Reveal” MacBook Air and Mac Mini Specs, Plus a Thunderbolt Display

Mere moments before Apple shows its hand, and 9to5Mac has leapt in with a killer last-minute reveal. According to them, we can expect new MacBook Airs, Mac Minis and a brand-new Thunderbolt Display, with the following specs: Mac mini Base model: 2.3GHz CPU with 2GB of RAM, and 500GB of storage Mac mini: 2.5GHz CPU…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Clever Video Editing Almost Makes You Forget Sure Shot Isn’t a Sesame Street Song

The new Beastie Boys music video is pretty awesome, is it not? But considering it was directed by Spike Jonze, that’s not at all surprising. Here’s what (the controversial) Final Cut X and about four days’ time is capable of, via the fine effort from the folks at Wonderful Creative. [Vimeo via Jezebel] https://gizmodo.com/new-beastie-boys-video-is-an-action-figure-orgy-of-viol-5822680

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Sound the Alarms, the Apple Store Is Down

This is one of the first occasions where we’ve been handed the day’s launches on a silver platter—Apple’s Peter Oppenheimer confirmed yesterday that OS X Lion will be available for download today. Also expected? MacBook Airs, white MacBooks and Mac Minis. [Apple Store] https://gizmodo.com/confirmed-os-x-lion-hits-mac-app-store-shelves-tomorro-5822791

Tech News Kat Hannaford

What Does It Mean to Be a Photographer These Days?

According to the most popular definition on Urban Dictionary, it’s “what just about every scene kid and hipster under the age of 25 calls themselves these days. Many own Canon Rebel xtis and rely heavily on cropping and Photoshop filters to give their otherwise mundane photos an “artsy” feel.” Continuing on, our wisecrackin’ dictionary writer…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

How to Hook Up With Your Outlook, LinkedIn or Mac Contacts on Google+

Finding friends on Google+ is easy if all your contacts are on Gmail. But what about if they’re stored on your Mac, or in Outlook? Or, for some crazy-in-the-coconut reason, you want to rub shoulders with your LinkedIn contacts? A member of the technical staff at Google, Paul Linder, spells it out: Have an Address…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

I Want Pencil Shavings In My Salad—Parmesan Pencil Shavings, That Is

I’ll get the bad news out with first: unfortunately only 500 sets of these parmesan pencils were made, and they’re all sold out. But perhaps if we petition The Deli Garage, they’ll magic new stock up out of thin air? Designed to look just like pencils, the parmesan cheese is wrapped around what looks like…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Google+ iOS App Is Now Available

That took a good few weeks, didn’t it? Google+ has just literally hit the App Store, with Circles, Stream and Huddle options for sharing, receiving, messaging and annoying. It’s a free download. [iTunes via @Claudineb]

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Two Lenses Will Fix Compact Cameras’ Depth of Field, Proposes Samsung

Rather than be used for 3D photos and video, Samsung’s proposing that this dual-lens camera patent could actually help compact cameras capture a shallower depth of field, where focused objects stand out more, and backgrounds are blurred. It’d work like two cameras, with one lens taking a shot at a lower resolution, and the second…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Facial Recognition Screws With the Wrong Man

Technology may be a pivot for many of our lives, but it’s not exactly infallible. A Massachusetts man learnt that the hard way, after his driver’s license was flagged as a fake on the police system, due to a facial-recognition error. It seems John H. Gass looks rather similar to another Massachusetts driver, causing the…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Celebrities Will Be Given Special Little Badges of Pride on Google+ Too

Like Twitter Verified accounts, celebrities are being lured to Google+ with a “celebrity acquisition plan,” which will help with promotion and cracking down on impersonations. One way Google may check celebrities’ identities? Asking them to fax their drivers licenses. Ouch. [CNN]

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Iran Installing New Centrifuges, Sparking Concerns Over Nuclear Scale-Up

Iran may claim they’re only installing new centrifuges to generate power and medical radioisotopes for cancer-afflicted people, but the UN Security Council is concerned that they’re scaling up their nuclear plants to produce more uranium for weapons. [AP via PBS]

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Half of Earth’s Heat Is from Nuclear Fission

Around 20 terrawatts of heat, which is about double what us humans use, originates from decaying radioactive materials such as potassium, uranium and thorium. The energy released from these materials is so powerful that they can move mountains, according to research undertaken in Japan and Italy. [Scientific American]

Tech News Kat Hannaford

A Glimpse of Star Wars’ Blu-ray Box-Set Goodies Will Be Dumped In an iOS App This Week

Only 59 days until we find out exactly what damage Lucas has done to the Star Wars Blu-ray box-set! Aren’t we all excited? Until then, iOS users are being given a taster of what “extras” we can expect, via an app. https://gizmodo.com/star-wars-blu-ray-set-coming-sept-16-with-days-of-bonu-5798449 The Star Wars Blu-ray: Early Access app hits the App Store Wednesday for…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Hipster Band Wants to Create a Music Video Out of Your Instagram Pics

Either London band The Vaccines think they’re being really clever here, or they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas. Whatever the reason, this could prove very comical, with fans asked to hashtag Instagram pics using #vaccinesvideo or upload to a site. The single they’re making this video for us Wetsuits, and they’re specifically…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

How to Make Photoshop Faster

Pro tip: make Photoshop millions of times faster by changing the cache levels and file handling in preferences. Dan Rubin shows how it’s done: [Make Photoshop Faster via DesignWorkLife via SwissMiss]

Tech News Kat Hannaford

A Shape-Shifting Cellphone That Changes the Center of Gravity For Different Uses

Imagine looking at Google Maps on your tablet, and feeling one corner grow heavier where your destination is located. Or reading an ebook on your phone, and being aware of the fatter side of the book. This innovative design by Fabian Hemmert does just that, by using a moving battery on an axis to change…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Kat Hannaford

New MacBook Airs Get Hit With a Thunderbolt

Mac Mini Line Padded Out With Three Thunderbolt-Packin’ Models

Isn’t It Terribly Ironic to Have a Book of Your Instagram Photos?

Was Heavy Armor a Hindrance to Medieval European Battlers?

Last-Minute Apple Rumors “Reveal” MacBook Air and Mac Mini Specs, Plus a Thunderbolt Display

Clever Video Editing Almost Makes You Forget Sure Shot Isn’t a Sesame Street Song

Sound the Alarms, the Apple Store Is Down

What Does It Mean to Be a Photographer These Days?

How to Hook Up With Your Outlook, LinkedIn or Mac Contacts on Google+

I Want Pencil Shavings In My Salad—Parmesan Pencil Shavings, That Is

Google+ iOS App Is Now Available

Two Lenses Will Fix Compact Cameras’ Depth of Field, Proposes Samsung

Facial Recognition Screws With the Wrong Man

Celebrities Will Be Given Special Little Badges of Pride on Google+ Too

Iran Installing New Centrifuges, Sparking Concerns Over Nuclear Scale-Up

Half of Earth’s Heat Is from Nuclear Fission

A Glimpse of Star Wars’ Blu-ray Box-Set Goodies Will Be Dumped In an iOS App This Week

Hipster Band Wants to Create a Music Video Out of Your Instagram Pics

How to Make Photoshop Faster

A Shape-Shifting Cellphone That Changes the Center of Gravity For Different Uses

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?