Maddie Stone, Author at Gizmodo

Guess What? The Full Moon Did Not Help Kate Middleton Have Her Baby

The Duchess of Cambridge had her long overdue baby this morning, two days in advance of the full moon. The only reason I bring up the moon is that yesterday, the media was reporting that a full moon Monday might just trigger a royal birth. Only thing is, that’s a crock of crap. Top image:…

Tech News Maddie Stone

The Obscenely Extravagant Beach House Yacht You Can’t Afford

Ever wake up in the morning thinking “man, I sure wish I could combine my beach house and my yacht”? Probably not, because most of us don’t have the financial assets to even hypothetically entertain such wild ideas. Enter the “X-EASY” yacht, which does the imagining for you. This 55 meter-long concept boat, designed by…

Tech News Maddie Stone

The GOP’s New Budget Proposal is a Big Middle Finger to Earth Science

The GOP is trying to eviscerate NASA’s Earth science program. At best, the House Science Committee’s new budget proposal would slash NASA’s Earth science funding by $300 million. At worst, the Earth sciences stand to lose over half a billion federal dollars. Top Image: NASA Earth Observatory Reminding us, yet again, that the anti-science, climate…

Tech News Maddie Stone

Scientists are Brewing Medieval Potions to Fight Hospital Superbugs

Last month, a microbiology lab in Nottingham, England made international headlines when it unearthed a substance that kills methicillin-resistant staph, one of the deadliest superbugs of modern times. The most astounding part about the find? It was a 1,000-year-old Viking potion. “This is something we never, ever expected,” said Christina Lee, the Viking scholar at…

Tech News Maddie Stone

After Nearly Ten Years, the Record Industry Finally Killed Grooveshark

Remember Grooveshark, that bootleggy version of Pandora that let you stream any song, in surprisingly high quality, for free? After nearly a decade of blatant copyright infringement, the site’s finally totally kaput. Top image: Gadgetdude / Flickr Here’s an excerpt of the epitaph that now lives on Grooveshark’s website, which hints at the very serious…

Tech News Maddie Stone

Everything is Better in the World Now That This Tortoise Can Move Again

The 90-year-old tortoise Mrs. T has been unable to walk since rats viciously chewed off her front legs while she was hibernating. Now, her devoted owners have given her a second chance at mobility, by attaching wheels from a model aircraft set onto her shell. As her owner Jude Ryder told The Telegraph, there was…

Tech News Maddie Stone

The Trillion Frame-Per-Second Camera That Will Visualize Atoms

The newest high-speed camera on the block won’t be making its way into Michael Bay’s hands anytime soon, but it will be making his ‘splosions look rather poky. See, this camera will be helping scientists watch atoms zoom around at 28,000 miles-per-second. Top image: Keiichi Nakagawa, University of Tokyo It’s called Sequentially Timed All-optical Mapping…

Tech News Maddie Stone

The US Ivory Trade is Alive and Well on Craigslist

We tend to think of the ivory trade as an elusive black market of hardened criminals and shadowy elites, operating in the darkest recesses of the Internet. But as it turns out, there are plenty more ordinary ivory buyers and sellers, including just about anyone on Craigslist. Top image: Wikimedia As Motherboard reported this week,…

Tech News Maddie Stone

The Pillars of Creation Will Disappear in a Cosmic Blink

One way or another, the Pillars of Creation are toast. Based on new observations at the European Southern Observatory, these awe-inspiring structures have another 3 million years before their ghostly image fizzles away into cosmic nothingness. That’s a maximum lifespan for the pillars, because there’s a good chance they were already destroyed, over a thousand…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

These Stunning Geometric Patterns Were Created From Google Earth Images

Satellite images of our world are incredible on their own. But artist Federico Winer has taken aerial photography to a new level by portraying planet Earth as a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of geometric patterns and colors. Winer’s new series, “Ultradistancia,” is a collection of natural and man-made landscapes that were captured not by traveling the world,…

Tech News Maddie Stone

This Iron Man Glove Shoots Lasers and Metal Bolts

Everybody, it seems, is into making Iron Man replica-gloves these days. And why not, when they’re totally badass looking? Not every would-be Iron Man, however, can shoot lasers and metal bolts out of his hand. Patrick Priebe’s Iron Man glove is one of the more advanced models we’ve seen. It’s got two button-operated lasers, a…

Gadgets Maddie Stone

Smoking Pot May Make You More Prone to False Memories

As we’re all aware, weed makes us a bit forgetful. Say what? But a regular toke might also leave you more prone to remembering stuff that didn’t actually happen, according to new research published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. Top image: Brett Levin / Flickr False memories are one of those weird quirks of our…

Tech News Maddie Stone

The CD Factory Worker Who Broke the Music Industry

Welcome to Reading List, a weekly collection of great tech reads from around the web. This week explores the early days of online music piracy, the implications of America’s military drone base in Germany, the potential pitfalls of artificial intelligence, and more! Enjoy. The story of Benny Glover, the small-town North Carolinian whose day-job involved…

Tech News Maddie Stone

Russian Hackers Read Obama’s Emails During White House Security Breach

Last October, some of President Obama’s emails were leaked to Russian hackers during a White House computer system breach, although no classified networks appear to have been accessed, the New York Times reports. According to officials familiar with the investigation, the servers controlling messages sent from Obama’s BlackBerry were not compromised, but rather, some of…

Privacy & Security Maddie Stone

There are at Least 11 Runaway Galaxies Screaming Across the Universe

Every now and then, astronomers spy a runaway star, one that’s hurling itself across its galaxy at breakneck speeds. But stars aren’t the only things that occasionally go beserker in the cosmic void: Galaxies themselves will sometimes depart home, never to return. In fact, astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have now spotted 11…

Tech News Maddie Stone

A Clever Flip-Dot Display Uses Lego Brick Bitmaps

Flip-dot displays certainly have an old-school charm about them, and they win extra points for energy efficiency. But I think I like them even better when they’re controlled by Lego bitmaps and built to spell out the word “awesome” like this one is. This clever display, the work “Ancient James,” is programmed by arranging single-unit…

Tech News Maddie Stone

Cost Obsessions Around the World, According to Google Autocomplete

If you ever wondered what sorts of things English-speakers are looking to buy in the Middle East, Russia or West Africa, look no further than Google, which has all of our data. That, at least, is what the cost guide website Fixr.com did, by examining the top Google autocomplete search terms for every country on…

Tech News Maddie Stone

UK Cinema Workers Can Earn $1500 For Catching “Cammers” In the Act

If you work at a UK movie theater, there’s never been a better time to go pirate hunting. Until June 30th, UK cinema employees can receive up to 1000 British pounds, or 1500 US dollars, for catching would-be bootleggers in the act. Movie theaters often find themselves a front line in the fight against pre-release…

Tech News Maddie Stone

Two Ways You Can Join Nepal’s Earthquake Relief Effort From a Computer

There are a few important ways you can contribute to the Nepal earthquake relief effort from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. http://gawker.com/more-than-700-people-killed-in-7-9-magnitude-earthquake-1700145641#_ga=1.259856138.1692697548.1425247164 Mapping Relief Routes If you’ve got a keen eye and a bit of patience, consider aiding the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) in their effort to trace disaster relief routes. HOT…

Tech News Maddie Stone

These Images Show the Night Sky That Hides Behind Our City Lights

If you live in LA, or any major city for that matter, you’ll know there’s something very unusual in the image above. It’s called the Milky Way, and it’s about as exotic as a cougar sighting. For most of human history, people could look up at the night sky just about anywhere on Earth and…

Tech News Maddie Stone

Maddie Stone

Guess What? The Full Moon Did Not Help Kate Middleton Have Her Baby

The Obscenely Extravagant Beach House Yacht You Can’t Afford

The GOP’s New Budget Proposal is a Big Middle Finger to Earth Science

Scientists are Brewing Medieval Potions to Fight Hospital Superbugs

After Nearly Ten Years, the Record Industry Finally Killed Grooveshark

Everything is Better in the World Now That This Tortoise Can Move Again

The Trillion Frame-Per-Second Camera That Will Visualize Atoms

The US Ivory Trade is Alive and Well on Craigslist

The Pillars of Creation Will Disappear in a Cosmic Blink

These Stunning Geometric Patterns Were Created From Google Earth Images

This Iron Man Glove Shoots Lasers and Metal Bolts

Smoking Pot May Make You More Prone to False Memories

The CD Factory Worker Who Broke the Music Industry

Russian Hackers Read Obama’s Emails During White House Security Breach

There are at Least 11 Runaway Galaxies Screaming Across the Universe

A Clever Flip-Dot Display Uses Lego Brick Bitmaps

Cost Obsessions Around the World, According to Google Autocomplete

UK Cinema Workers Can Earn $1500 For Catching “Cammers” In the Act

Two Ways You Can Join Nepal’s Earthquake Relief Effort From a Computer

These Images Show the Night Sky That Hides Behind Our City Lights

Do ‘Disclosure Day’ Prep With a Spielberg Sci-Fi Marathon

How to Watch the F1 Japanese GP 2026 on a Free Channel

Ranking 2016’s Superhero Debuts, 10 Years Later

Fourth Most Populous Country in the World Bans Most Social Media for Kids

How to watch UFC Fight Night Adesanya vs Pyfer live this Saturday

‘Steel Ball Run’ Will Return This Year…Eventually

‘The Mummy 4’ Is Getting the Family Back Together

JD Vance Says UFOs Are Actually Demons

Breville Barista Express Espresso Machine Hits Its Lowest Price of the Year for Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, Cut Your Daily Coffee Costs at Home

Amazon Clears Out Govee LED Smart Light Bulbs (2-Pack) at a Record Low, Each Bulb Costs Just a Few Dollars

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?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

Apple Studio Display XDR Review: It Looks So Good, I Wish It Were an iMac

RayNeo Air 4 Pro Review: My Eyes Love These Video Glasses, but My Nose Disagrees