Mat Honan, Author at Gizmodo

Bill Gates Spent the Best Money of His Life 30 Years Ago Today

Break out the beer, MS-DOS turns 30 today. On July 27, 1981, Microsoft purchased QDOS from Seattle Computer Products. It was kind of a good deal. When IBM came to Microsoft asking for a 16-bit operating system, the company had to scramble to get one together. Rather than writing a new one from the ground…

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 27

This Is Where the Patent Trolls Live

This American Life had an amazing story this past weekend about patent trolls. It was pegged to Intellectual Ventures, and various others who litigate rather than innovate. But the real patent trolls are being traded on the NYSE. As This American Life reports, from 2004 to 2009 patent infringement lawsuits rose 70 percent while licensing…

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 26

Make Your Music Server Military Grade

Matan Arazi has a better sound system than you do. In this interview with the designer of the Audeeva Conbrio music server, Arazi lays out general and specific steps to make your music server sing. The lifelong audiophile worked on signal processing and communications equipment in the Israeli Defense Force’s military intelligence corp and applied…

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 26

Barack Obama Thinks Your Password Sucks

We aren’t the only ones who want to see an end to passwords. So does the government. Barack Obama wants to kill your password. https://gizmodo.com/its-time-to-abandon-passwords-5812685 In fact, he’s set up a special office just to make that happen. We talked to Jeremy Grant, who runs the program. Here’s what he said. Gizmodo: There have been…

Privacy & Security Mat Honan Jul 25

The Greatest Photo Ever Taken With a BlackBerry?

I’m biased, but this bald eagle photo my stepmother took this morning is basically the greatest phonecam picture ever taken. Check out that depth of field! There’s a trick to it, and it ain’t Photoshop. She took the photo using a BlackBerry Tour 9630, which has a measly 3.2 megapixel camera with a 2x digital…

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 25

Why Ratings Will Ruin Wikipedia

Did you know you can rate pages on Wikipedia now? It’s new. And it’s meant to get you involved, with the ultimate goal of increasing the site’s accuracy, diversity and completeness. It won’t work. Sure. Wikipedia’s new rate this page feature will drive more engagement. The rating tool is sure to get people interacting with…

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 22

Citizen Journalism From the Oslo Blast and Utoya Shootings

We’re using Storify to keep up with citizen journalism breaking on social media channels from the Oslo blast and Utoya shootings. Warning: some of the images are extremely disturbing. We’ll update this in real time.

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 22

Video Footage of Aftermath of Oslo Bombing

There’s been a massive, horrifying bomb blast, followed by a shooting spree directed at a youth group in Oslo, Norway. At least 7 were killed. This video provides a powerful scope of the devastation. It’s a pretty terrible day in Norway today. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families.

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 22

Space Poopin

As NASA completes its final shuttle mission, we thought it would be fun to look back at this training manual from the Apollo program. Ever wondered how an astronaut pooped in zero gravity? Here’s your answer. The garment worn at all times by an Apollo Astronaut. Looks comfy, right? This environmental control system doesn’t look…

Space & Spaceflight Mat Honan Jul 21

Following A Stolen iPhone’s Path in Google’s Getaway Car

This video follows a thief’s movements, using the data from the purloined iPhone itself. Sue Huang’s phone was stolen, and she recovered it five days later, ransoming it from the thief who took it. But the story doesn’t end there. She and Brian House used OpenPaths and Google Street View images to recreate the phones…

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 19

Safe Playgrounds Are Destroying Society

My front tooth is fake. It’s a remnant of when I was a kid, and smacked into the jungle gym. That would never happen today, because kids’ playgrounds are so much safer. As it turns out, that’s a bad thing. The New York Times has a fantastic story today on the de-riskification of kids playgrounds,…

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 19

When Does Following Become Stalking?

Internet superhero and sometimes-Gizmodo contributor Dave Pell has identified the Catch-22 of jumping from one social network to the next, to the next, to the next. We want people to follow us, but we also find it sort of creepy! Because our social graphs aren’t really portable, we end up having to ask people to…

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 18

B.O.B. Ironman Jogging Stroller Won’t Slow Your Roll

I am quite fat. After the birth of my daughter, I packed on 20 pounds because I have no time for anything but work, childcare, and delicious chocolate cake dipped in beer. I need a jogging stroller. Why It Matters Most working parents have very little time to do anything for themselves, including exercise. But…

Reviews Mat Honan Jul 18

Their First Tweets: Famous Tweeters First Words

Today is Twitter’s fifth birthday. It’s so big now, it’s easy to forget how small it started off. We thought it would be fun to look back at the first words from some of the service’s biggest users. Enjoy. https://gizmodo.com/just-224-tweets-were-sent-on-twitters-first-day-of-busi-5821585 We took a look at the first tweets from Twitter’s founders, celebrities, politicians, tech titans…

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 15

How To Keep On Logging Into Multiple Google Accounts

Google changed something today. I’m against it! This morning, for the first time, I could no longer log into both my personal Google account and Google apps account simultaneously. Given that I need both for work, that’s a productivity fart. Of course, there is a kluge method to get around this. You can just run…

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 14

Is This The First Google Plus User?

Low user numbers are like nerd badges of honor. My five digit Twitter user number, and single digit Upcoming user number are bigger deals to me than my highest test scores. So who was Google’s Plus’ O.G. user? Brian White, a program manager on Google’s search quality team (read: the ones who do the heavy…

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 14

Evoz Baby Monitor Monitors Baby So You Don’t Have To

Babies cry. You need to know about it when they do. This new app from Evoz turns your iPhone into a monitor, lets you listen in on your tyke from anywhere, and keep tabs on sleep patterns. What’s it do? The app turns almost any iOS device (other than a first-gen iPhone) with a microphone…

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 13

Summer Is a Walkman in Kuwait

I used to have a waterproof yellow Sony Sports Walkman. This one. I got it in the 8th grade. It was my favorite thing ever. When I think of it, I think of summer. I think of being young. Pretty much all I remember about being a YMCA lifeguard the summer after my 8th grade…

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 13

One Third of iPhone Users Think They Already Have 4G

Our friends at The Loop found a pretty interesting survey that finds 34 percent of all iPhone owners think their phones have 4G. Of course, the actual number of people with 4G iPhones is zero percent. I’d say something snarky about people being dumb, but given how many people have iPhones, the alphabet soup of…

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 12

David Byrne: Computers Will Have No Effect on the Arts

I love David Byrne. The guy is a total geek. He makes great music. He rides bikes. What’s not to like? Well, his prognostication abilities, for one. Over at Paleofuture Matt Novak dug up a 1987 interview with David Byrne from Omni magazine. It was part of a package where the magazine had 14 “great…

Tech News Mat Honan Jul 12

Mat Honan

Bill Gates Spent the Best Money of His Life 30 Years Ago Today

This Is Where the Patent Trolls Live

Make Your Music Server Military Grade

Barack Obama Thinks Your Password Sucks

The Greatest Photo Ever Taken With a BlackBerry?

Why Ratings Will Ruin Wikipedia

Citizen Journalism From the Oslo Blast and Utoya Shootings

Video Footage of Aftermath of Oslo Bombing

Space Poopin

Following A Stolen iPhone’s Path in Google’s Getaway Car

Safe Playgrounds Are Destroying Society

When Does Following Become Stalking?

B.O.B. Ironman Jogging Stroller Won’t Slow Your Roll

Their First Tweets: Famous Tweeters First Words

How To Keep On Logging Into Multiple Google Accounts

Is This The First Google Plus User?

Evoz Baby Monitor Monitors Baby So You Don’t Have To

Summer Is a Walkman in Kuwait

One Third of iPhone Users Think They Already Have 4G

David Byrne: Computers Will Have No Effect on the Arts

Southwest Is About to Limit Power Banks on Flights

Damn, the ‘Power Rangers’ Reboot Could’ve Had Four Movies

The Live-Action ‘One Piece’ Team Wants to Go the Distance

‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’ Will Please Gross Horror Fans

Somehow Paramount’s ‘Avatar’ Movie Has Leaked, Too

The World Is Basically Begging for Another iPod

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

OpenAI Says Elon Musk Is ‘Injecting Chaos’ with Recent Legal Maneuver

Google Displayed Polymarket Bets as News ‘In Error,’ Google Says

‘Marvel Rivals’ Wants to Start Being More Than Just a Hero Shooter

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

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

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