Matt Buchanan, Author at Gizmodo

South Park iPhone App Looks Awesome, Almost Perfect

The South Park guys clearly get it. They’ve already put every episode ever online for free. Now they’ve come up with a snazzy South Park iPhone app Xeni at BoingBoing got the first look at. While it doesn’t look like it’ll stream or download full episodes (yet), it’ll grab clips, snag wallpapers, drop news and…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 8

How to Block Ads on Your (Jailbroken) iPhone

It’s always a kick in the nuts waiting for a page to load in mobile Safari when you know like half of it is for an ad. Luckily, there’s a way to block most of them using this method from James Is Bored. It requires a jailbroken iPhone and bit of voodoo, but it’s not…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 8

Start Your WiMax Engines With Laptops From Acer, Asus, Lenovo and Toshiba

Sprint’s Xohm WiMax network got extra super official today with a party and all, so laptop makers are tossing out confetti in the form of WiMax-enabled notebooks. Here’s what you’ve got to pick from. Acer dropped a pair of Aspire cheapies in 14- and 16-inch sizes, while Asus’s 14 and 15-inchers are a bit mo’…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 8

Apple Awarded Patent for OS X Dock, Nine Years Later

Nearly nine years after filing for a patent on the Dock in OS X, it’s finally been awarded to Apple. Steve Jobs is listed as one of its three inventors. Besides the general idea of a userbar with “a plurality of item representations” that consolidates features like “launching and managing running applications,” the patent focuses…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 8

Opera 9.6 Faster, Stronger, Available Now

Opera just popped out the latest version of their desktop browser, 9.6. Besides being just plain faster, it adds feature improvements all around, like a new low-bandwidth mode in the built-in email client, expanded syncing (speed dial, search engines and notes), and RSS feed previews, so you can check out the content before you subscribe…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 8

Circuit City On the Brink of Failure

Banks aren’t the only thing failing right now. Beleaguered big box Circuit City’s stock has dropped below 50 cents a share, meaning it’s on the brink of going under. Since Blockbuster pulled out of a deal to buy them earlier this year, it’s looking like no one will step in to save them. I’m no…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 8

Fisher-Price Doll Reprogrammed by Al-Qaeda

The hard-hitting investigative team at MyFox has just discovered the latest and greatest threat to national security and your children: Fisher-Price’s Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle & Coo Doll, which is sold across the country, has apparently been hijacked by Al-Qaeda to reprogram your children into followers of Allah! If you squint your ears,…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 8

BlackBerry Storm First Hands On

The very first time you touch the BlackBerry Storm—RIM’s first all-touchscreen keyboard-free smartphone, just announced for Verizon Wireless—you will be startled. No matter how many times your fingers dance on the screen like you’ve been trained on every other touchscreen, nothing will happen. At least, not until you push the screen all the way down…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 8

Silverstone Raven Gaming Mouse Has a Tumor on the Side, Can’t Possibly Be Comfortable

Silverstone’s Raven gaming mouse looks really interesting at first glance, what with the giant, glowing and strangely hypnotic tumor bolted to its side. It appears to be a secondary scroll wheel, which sits next to the usual thumb buttons. And you’ve got another pair of buttons next to your middle finger. But when you think…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 7

Democrats Still Most Tech Savvy, Rent Digital Billboard to Text Message Sarah Palin at Rally

Click to viewNeed more evidence that Democrats are more grassroots tech savvy than their elephantine counterparts? At a Sarah Palin rally in LA on Saturday, the California Democratic party rented a digital billboard across the street which displayed questions for the veep candiate sent by text message. Granted, even if Palin did read them, she…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 7

Three New Ways to Watch YouTube: Lights Out, Theater View and Super HD

Not just one, but three new ways to view YouTube today. The first two should be familiar to anyone who’s used Hulu—lights out and theater mode. Lights out dims your whole screen except the video, while the latter also blows up the player and adds tacky/cool theater curtains on the side. Right now, they’re only…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 7

Yep, We’re Screwed: National Debt Clock Runs Out of Numbers

It’s official. We’re hosed. The National Debt Clock near Times Square has just run out of spaces to add more zeroes to its running count of our national debt, thanks to the one-two punch of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout and the $100 billion used to prop up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 7

MLB At Bat iPhone On Sale Because You Have to Re-Buy It Every Season

The MLB’s must-buy At Bat iPhone app for baseball fanatics, which delivers live game info, video, more stats than you can swing a stick and other goodness, is currently on sale for $2.99, two bucks off of its usual $5 pricetag. But it’s more of a bait-and-switch than a steal, because the app will expire…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 7

Best Buy Thinks Girlier Stores Will Make Womenfolk Buy More Gadgets

Best Buy is remodeling some of its newer stores to make them “girlier,” using input from female customers to redesign locations with flourishes like skylights and earth tones, hoping it’ll bring in more of the ladies—presumably to buy more easy-to-use, pink gadgets. I’m all for nicer stores that are less like industrial warehouses packed with…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 7

Where to Watch Tonight’s Presidental Debate Live Online: Hulu, VCAST and More

Whereas a live online stream of the first presidential debate was a bit harder to pin down, our pick for tonight’s at 9PM Eastern is Hulu. Its live stream of the final two presidential debates is actually Hulu’s first ever live broadcast, which is something they might do more of following the debates. (Unfortunately, it…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 7

Razer Arctosa Budget Gaming Keyboard for Cheapass Gamers

Razer has a pair of new keyboards, both spins on their Lycosa keyboard. The more noteworthy of the two is Arctosa, a stripped down model that retains the form factor, macro capabilities, anti-ghosting and response time while dumping the tricked out, flashing bells and whistles like backlighting to bring the price down to $40 $50. The…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 7

RIM Finally Realizes BlackBerry Users Might Own a Mac

The BlackBerry syncing situation on Macs is, to put it lightly, abysmal (from RIM anyway). But it looks they’re finally realizing people who own Blackberrys might just use a Mac too! Boy Genius brings us the first look at their BlackBerry Media Sync for Mac, a clean, appropriately Mactastic version of their standard PC program…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 7

Steve Ballmer Says That Vista Capable Debacle Totally Not His Fault

Bailing on his court appearance in the class-action lawsuit over the fact that “Vista Capable” computers were utter pieces of crap packed with sucky chips that were “capable” of running Vista in only the thinnest, most literal interpretation of term, Steve Ballmer delivered a written deposition that excused himself of all responsibility. “I was not…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 7

AMD Breaks Up

As a former AMD fanboy, this is kind of sad news. AMD will be splitting up into two companies—one that designs chips, and another that makes ’em. The constant need to build expensive new chip plants was a big drag on AMD, which lags behind Intel on multiple fronts. Intel is now the only company…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 7

Microsoft Surface SDK Coming This Month

Do you want to develop niche multitouch applications for a platform that most people will never get their hands on for the foreseeable future? You’re in luck. Later this month, Microsoft will be releasing its Surface SDK beyond the few companies that have been privy to it since launch to attendees of its Professional Developer…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Oct 7

Matt Buchanan

South Park iPhone App Looks Awesome, Almost Perfect

How to Block Ads on Your (Jailbroken) iPhone

Start Your WiMax Engines With Laptops From Acer, Asus, Lenovo and Toshiba

Apple Awarded Patent for OS X Dock, Nine Years Later

Opera 9.6 Faster, Stronger, Available Now

Circuit City On the Brink of Failure

Fisher-Price Doll Reprogrammed by Al-Qaeda

BlackBerry Storm First Hands On

Silverstone Raven Gaming Mouse Has a Tumor on the Side, Can’t Possibly Be Comfortable

Democrats Still Most Tech Savvy, Rent Digital Billboard to Text Message Sarah Palin at Rally

Three New Ways to Watch YouTube: Lights Out, Theater View and Super HD

Yep, We’re Screwed: National Debt Clock Runs Out of Numbers

MLB At Bat iPhone On Sale Because You Have to Re-Buy It Every Season

Best Buy Thinks Girlier Stores Will Make Womenfolk Buy More Gadgets

Where to Watch Tonight’s Presidental Debate Live Online: Hulu, VCAST and More

Razer Arctosa Budget Gaming Keyboard for Cheapass Gamers

RIM Finally Realizes BlackBerry Users Might Own a Mac

Steve Ballmer Says That Vista Capable Debacle Totally Not His Fault

AMD Breaks Up

Microsoft Surface SDK Coming This Month

‘You Can’t Miss What Our Values Are’: Before Its Pivot to AI, Allbirds Sounded Very Different

The First ‘Clayface’ Footage Was Wonderfully Disgusting

Scientists Found Literal Ink From Ballpoint Pens in Martian Meteorites

The ‘Galaxy’s Edge’ Han Solo Proves You Really Can’t Replace Harrison Ford

BYD Is Rolling Out 5-Minute Charging on Several Popular EVs

Jury Does What Trump’s DOJ Wouldn’t, Deems Ticketmaster a Monopoly

Govee RGBIC TV Smart Light Bars Go on Clearance, Bringing Each Down to Under $25 on Amazon

EU Is Rolling Out an Online Age Verification App That Could Become the Global Blueprint

16 Underrated Anime That Deserve Your Love

The West Finally Got Some Snow, but It’s Too Little, Too Late

Alienware’s $350 QD-OLED Gaming Monitor Nixes Everything for a Pretty Screen

Sony Inzone H6 Air Review: A Perfect Case for Open-Back Gaming Headsets

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

The Soundboks Mix Is Going to Make You the Most Popular Guy at the Park

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