Lily Hay Newman, Author at Gizmodo

There Was an Incredible Hybrid Solar Eclipse this Morning

This morning’s hybrid solar eclipse was stunning. But, depending on where you are in the world, you may not have been able to see it at all: cloud cover may have messed with visibility or you might only have had a partial view. So, for anyone who missed it, this is what the eclipse looked…

Space & Spaceflight Lily Hay Newman Nov 3

You Don’t Have To Use Google’s Search Encryption If You Don’t Want To

It’s pretty much agreed that Google’s Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption is a good thing. Why not get a little free protection given that our search queries are often a good way of piecing together exactly what’s going on in our lives? https://gizmodo.com/google-searches-just-got-a-bit-safer-5851530 But if there’s one thing all the leaked NSA revelations and international…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Nov 3

How Many Clocks Did You Change Yourself For Daylight Savings?

I did the thing this morning. I woke up, looked at the clock, saw that it was time to get up, jumped out of bed even though the alarm on my phone hadn’t gone off yet, started turning lights on, remembered daylight savings, checked the time on my phone, went back to sleep for an…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Nov 3

The Hardest Part of Skateboarding Is Not Getting Hit By Your Drone

Yo dude, it would be badass if we used a quadcopter and a GoPro to get good air footage of ourselves. Let’s do that. Dude don’t worry, it’s gonna be great. Yeah just don’t worry about it. Yeah. Yeah! Okay WE’RE DOIN IT. This is gonna be the best. Not to provide context through dialogue…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Nov 3

Two Laptops Locked In An Endless Rock-Paper-Scissors Battle

Playing rock-paper-scissors with a friend or family member is actually a pretty sophisticated intellectual challenge. You might choose your move based on a personal preference or whim, but you’re probably also thinking about what your opponent is going to pick. Sometimes you can just feel your brother leaning paper, or your best friend thinking that…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Nov 3

Netflix Is Doing Streaming Tests With 4K Video

Everything from ads to porn is getting the 4K treatment lately, and now Netflix is experimenting with it too. This week the company posted six 4K videos at various frames per second rates to test their streaming performance. They’re all standard Netflix stock footage called “El Fuente.” https://gizmodo.com/sony-made-a-volcano-spew-8-million-flowers-for-this-stu-1456718649 A spokesperson told GigaOM that Netflix “hopes…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Nov 3

The Only Motion In This Music Video Is From Spinning CDs

Phenakistoscopes are old school machines that used illustrated discs to create animation. Kind of the round version of a flip book. And the Japanese band SOUR wanted those methods in their music video. The whole thing is pretty mesmerizing. The group had Kickstarter and GreenFunding campaigns to raise money for the video, and promised CDs…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Oct 27

A Doomed Comet Hurtling Toward the Sun

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), launched in 1995, stares mostly at . . . yeah. The sun. But when its instruments are trying to image other things near the sun, all that light gets kind of overwhelming. So sometimes instruments on the SOHO just block the sun out and turn their attention to other…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Oct 27

Go Where You Want in These Immersive 360 Degree iPad Animations

Movies, TV and video are great. Someone made all the decisions and you just get to sit back and watch. If you want to take control you play video games. Right? But HEAD-Geneva wanted to develop a hybrid genre so the group created IDNA. Devised by Sylvain Joly, the story uses “spatial storytelling” to put…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Oct 27

How Many Electric Car Charging Stations Are Actually Out There?

Hybrid and electric cars have gone pretty mainstream. But it’s hard to get a sense of whether the charging infrastructure is keeping pace. Especially since there are lots of proposals for how we could transition away from the gas station model. https://gizmodo.com/this-is-officially-how-youll-be-fueling-your-car-in-the-5953021 In fact, if you don’t have an electric car you might not even…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Oct 27

A Detailed Description of Why Human Skin Is Amazing

As Minute Earth rightly points out, we could avoid a lot of flesh wounds by having thicker armored skin like a pangolin. But the energy needed to generate and maintain that armor wasn’t evolutionarily worth it for us to expend because we put so much fuel into our enormous brains. We can think of ways…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Oct 27

Competitive Dairy Tasting Is A Thing That Exists

So this is the situation. Human tastings are a crucial component in milk safety evaluations and by extension the dairy industry as a whole. So the Future Farmers of America (FFA) have an event called the Milk Quality and Products Career Development. A big part of it is a milk tasting contest for high school…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Oct 27

Have You Ever Gotten Sick from Using a Gadget?

There are lots of diseases and health issues for humans to worry about in general, and yet we tend to create more of them as time goes on. Lead poisoning, cancer from tanning beds, lots of stuff from smoking. And now that we’re addicted to gadgets it was only a matter of time before the…

Health Lily Hay Newman Oct 27

Bike Navigation That Actually Might Not Kill You

Using any gadget on a bike is pretty dangerous. But it makes sense that you might want driving directions while biking. There’s tons of GPS and mapping tech out there, let’s put it to work, right? Hammerhead is on it. The company just raised $190,000 through a Dragon campaign to mass produce their portable device…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Oct 27

The Color Blue Has Conquered the Internet

Shades of Gray. Orange Is The New Black. The Scarlet Letter. Colors are clearly important in marketing. We know. And you have also probably noticed that a lot of companies use blue in their logos. Plus Blue Is The Warmest Color. Sooooo yeah. To prove that internet companies are a little out of control with…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Oct 27

Healthcare.gov’s Technical Problems Are Taking Their Toll

First it was a bad script at the tech support hotline. Then it was general institutional failure stemming from the U.S. government’s reliance on outside contractors. And now it’s just the plain fact that when you’re on a schedule and things go wrong you get behind. https://gizmodo.com/obamacare-customer-service-blindly-told-people-to-reset-1444331078 The deadline for having active health insurance coverage…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Oct 27

Brian Eno — Ambient 1: Music for Airports

In high school I had a weird ritual where I would listen to this suite while I did my math homework. But it sort of makes sense because Brian Eno wanted this music to reduce tension. He conceived it while observing the stress and rush at a German airport during the mid-1970s. And it really…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Oct 20

Why Is There 35mm Film Burning In the Olympic Torch?

Out with the old in with the new is a good motto for staying on top of new technology, but there’s really no reason to burn the 35mm film we have left. Don’t worry Olympic committee, we’ve solidly transitioned to the age of digital photography. Photographer Tom Waugh contacted PetaPixel when he realized that something…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Oct 20

This Supercut Proves That All Running Should Be In Slow Motion

Just admit it. Sometimes you’re jogging in the park or you’re on the treadmill and you visualize yourself running in slow motion. Sweat pouring off you, hair swinging, face contorted as you fight for your goal. It’s pretty epic. And we’re definitely all drawing that image from movies where slow motion montages actually make running…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Oct 20

Trains In The NYC Subway Might Become One Continuous Car

The MTA is always looking at different ways to redesign subway cars for efficiency, cost-effectiveness, safety, capacity and more. But their rate of ideas frequently outpaces their budget. According to The New York Times, a new design included in a 142-page release is being pushed heavily by planners, though, and could materialize in 30 to…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Oct 20

Lily Hay Newman

There Was an Incredible Hybrid Solar Eclipse this Morning

You Don’t Have To Use Google’s Search Encryption If You Don’t Want To

How Many Clocks Did You Change Yourself For Daylight Savings?

The Hardest Part of Skateboarding Is Not Getting Hit By Your Drone

Two Laptops Locked In An Endless Rock-Paper-Scissors Battle

Netflix Is Doing Streaming Tests With 4K Video

The Only Motion In This Music Video Is From Spinning CDs

A Doomed Comet Hurtling Toward the Sun

Go Where You Want in These Immersive 360 Degree iPad Animations

How Many Electric Car Charging Stations Are Actually Out There?

A Detailed Description of Why Human Skin Is Amazing

Competitive Dairy Tasting Is A Thing That Exists

Have You Ever Gotten Sick from Using a Gadget?

Bike Navigation That Actually Might Not Kill You

The Color Blue Has Conquered the Internet

Healthcare.gov’s Technical Problems Are Taking Their Toll

Brian Eno — Ambient 1: Music for Airports

Why Is There 35mm Film Burning In the Olympic Torch?

This Supercut Proves That All Running Should Be In Slow Motion

Trains In The NYC Subway Might Become One Continuous Car

Two Songs We Really Wish Were the Anime Outros for ‘Steel Ball Run’

AI Training Data Giant Mercor Is Reportedly Looking to Buy the Work You Did at Your Old Job

Utah Is Giving Dr. AI the Power to Renew Drug Prescriptions

Here’s the Perfect Excuse to See ‘Project Hail Mary’ Again

US Airlines Are Hiking Bag Fees Amid Iran War Oil Crisis

This Ridiculously Simple Trick Might Stop Gulls From Nabbing Your Lunch

‘Starfleet Academy’ Season 3 Could Have Done the ‘Voyager’ Sequel Episode of Robert Picardo’s Dreams

Judge Kills Lawsuit Against Infamous Study That Might Have Increased Teen Suicides

Artemis 2: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Researchers Discover How to Add Psilocybin, DMT, and Other Psychedelics to Tobacco

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