Matt Novak, Author at Gizmodo

Fun April Fools’ Day Ideas

Back in the 19th century, April Fools Day was way more vicious. People could get maimed and even killed. In that spirit, we have a list of fun April Fools Day pranks to play with technology. Enough with the hokey plastic-wrap-over-the-toilet-seat nonsense. These ideas will really liven up April Fools. Install Russian ransomware on a…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 31

This Anti-Trump Grandma With a Meme Is Our Only Hope

The Republicans have tried everything to stop Trump. But every time they attack Stubs* he only seems to grow stronger. Allow me to humbly suggest that we’ve finally found Trump’s kryptonite: This elderly Wisconsin woman holding up a meme she printed off the internet. Today groups of protesters gathered in places like Janesville, Wisconsin to…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 29

Hijack Pics or It Didn’t Happen

Why is this man on the right, identified as a 26-year-old British hostage named Ben Innes, posing with Seifedeen Mustafa, the man who hijacked an EgyptAir flight today? Nobody knows yet. But if it weren’t for the fake suicide belt, this looks like it’d be a pretty funny buddy comedy. Mustafa’s “suicide belt” turned out…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 29

How to Watch Tonight’s Republican Town Hall Where Nobody Will Ask Ted Cruz About The Thing™

The Republican candidates have been relatively quiet recently. Too quiet. That all changes tonight when Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich converge on the city of Milwaukee for a special town hall hosted by CNN. It should be a glorious shitshow filled with questions screened by CNN. Here’s how to watch! Who: Donald Trump…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 29

Obama Keeps Inviting Star Wars Stormtroopers to The White House

Today’s Easter Egg Roll at the White House had everything: The Easter Bunny, lots of Easter eggs, and… stormtroopers? For some reason Star Wars stormtroopers keep showing up at Obama events. But the weirdest part might be that Obama hasn’t even seen The Force Awakens yet. Every two-term president has a scandal in their second…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 28

FBI Claims They Don’t Have a File on the Inventor of Email, David Bowie, And Many Others

Sometimes I’m more surprised by who doesn’t have an FBI file than who does. Yesterday I got a letter from the FBI in response to my Freedom of Information Act request for any records they might have on Ray Tomlinson, one of the inventors of email. They insist that he doesn’t have a file. I’m…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 25

Libertarian Presidential Hopeful John McAfee Calls For Chinese-Style Cybersecurity State

John McAfee wants to run for president on the Libertarian ticket. He may or may not make that happen. But either way, he has some rather non-Libertarian ideas about cybersecurity. Namely, that all terrorist plots can be detected with the right technology. From CNN: “I wouldn’t care if the entire country of Syria came here,…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 23

The Deepwater Horizon Movie Ironically Looks Like an Ad For BP

The trailer for Deepwater Horizon was just released—an upcoming movie about the 2010 oil rig explosion that killed eleven people and caused one of America’s worst environmental disasters. And if the finished film is anything like the trailer, I suspect it will be one giant (and perhaps unintentional) crisis management advertisement for the BP oil…

Movies Matt Novak Mar 23

ESPN Tried to Shame Cuba’s Slums But Instead Highlighted America’s Own Sports Dystopias

ESPN’s SportsCenter tried to publicly shame President Obama today and his attendance at a Cuban baseball game by tweeting the photo above with the caption, “Meanwhile, next to the stadium in Havana…” The implication was that there was poverty just outside the stadium where Obama was watching the game between the Tampa Bay Rays and…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 22

Silicon Valley Has Officially Invaded Cuba

Cuban sculptor Alexis Leiva Machado, better known as Kcho, has helped Google open a small “technology center” in Havana that offers free internet via Chromebooks, complete with those goofy cardboard VR headsets. And it’s a State Department dream. The opening is a small but vitally important victory for both Google and the US State Department,…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 22

Everything We Know About the Syrian Hackers Who Hijacked AP’s Twitter, Said White House Was Bombed

Today the FBI unsealed documents charging three hackers of the Syrian Electronic Army with everything from extortion to hacking a US Marines website. Remember when the Associated Press Twitter account got hacked in 2013 and said that the White House had been bombed, injuring the President? It sent the stock market into a nosedive. And…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 22

The US Air Force Wants Suggestions For What to Name Their New Bomber

First it was Boaty McBoatface. Now it’s… Planey McPlanerson? I don’t know why, but for some reason, everyone wants to crowdsource the names for multi-million dollar projects. Today the US Air Force even got in on the act. What would you name America’s newest bomber? I suspect this will go about as well as Boaty…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 21

The FBI Says It Might Not Need Apple to Unlock Terrorist’s Phone Anymore

Apparently it was a busy weekend for the FBI. The agency was all set to face off with Apple on Tuesday over the unlocking of terrorist Syed Farook’s phone. But it now says that an “outside party” approached them on Sunday with a way to possibly unlock the phone. TLDR: They might not need Apple…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 21

That Photo of Obama Pointing at a Naked Portrait of Trump is Totally Fake (NSFW)

There’s a photo currently swirling around the great big toilet bowl of social media that supposedly shows President Obama in Cuba. He’s pointing and smiling at an illustration of a naked Donald Trump. An illustration of Donald Trump sporting a micropenis, no less. But it’s completely fake. To make things even weirder, it’s a photoshop…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 21

‘Drunk’ Policeman Who Went Viral Was Actually Having a Stroke

Salim PK, a police officer in Delhi, India, was captured on video while allegedly drunk on a metro train. Video of him staggering and falling over went viral. But doctors have confirmed what he insisted all along: He was actually having a stroke. Salim was videotaped on the train back in August of 2015, where…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 21

No, The Uber Driver Accused of Murder Spree Isn’t Suing Uber For $10 Million

The internet went into a tizzy this week when headlines proclaimed that the Uber driver in Kalamazoo, Michigan who’s accused of murdering six people was suing Uber for $10 million. But the lawsuit is a hoax. As MLive first reported, a handwritten lawsuit was indeed filed on Tuesday. But the killer, 45-year-old Jason Brian Dalton,…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 17

Soggy Bags of Smelly Garbage Unearthed, Helpfully Reminding Time Capsule Enthusiasts Of Their Own Mortality

“This is not a good commercial for Ziploc,” said one disgusted onlooker in Burke, South Dakota. And they weren’t wrong. A wet mess of magazines, books, and other unidentifiable garbage was unearthed in South Dakota on Tuesday. It was supposed to be a time capsule. But like so many time capsule ceremonies, this one turned…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 16

US Officially Bans Hoverboard Imports

Today the US International Trade Commission issued an order banning virtually all imports of hoverboards into the United States. But this time it has nothing to do with safety. The reason for the ban involves Segway’s patent claims on self-balancing personal transport technology in the United States. Hoverboard imports, most of which are coming from…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 16

Is This a Wired Cover From 1996 Or Drone Competition From 2016?

It’s the 2016 drone one. It’s 15-year-old British pilot Luke Bannister at the World Drone Prix in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to be exact. But! But….!

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 15

Here’s a Preview of the Presidential Tattoos People Will Be Getting Removed In 2017

Tattoo removal is a growth industry. And I suspect it’s only going to get bigger in 2017 when people sober up after the general election this November. With Donald Trump closer than ever to being the next President of the United States, supporters are showing their allegiance to the man in increasingly drastic fashion. And…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 15

Matt Novak

Fun April Fools’ Day Ideas

This Anti-Trump Grandma With a Meme Is Our Only Hope

Hijack Pics or It Didn’t Happen

How to Watch Tonight’s Republican Town Hall Where Nobody Will Ask Ted Cruz About The Thing™

Obama Keeps Inviting Star Wars Stormtroopers to The White House

FBI Claims They Don’t Have a File on the Inventor of Email, David Bowie, And Many Others

Libertarian Presidential Hopeful John McAfee Calls For Chinese-Style Cybersecurity State

The Deepwater Horizon Movie Ironically Looks Like an Ad For BP

ESPN Tried to Shame Cuba’s Slums But Instead Highlighted America’s Own Sports Dystopias

Silicon Valley Has Officially Invaded Cuba

Everything We Know About the Syrian Hackers Who Hijacked AP’s Twitter, Said White House Was Bombed

The US Air Force Wants Suggestions For What to Name Their New Bomber

The FBI Says It Might Not Need Apple to Unlock Terrorist’s Phone Anymore

That Photo of Obama Pointing at a Naked Portrait of Trump is Totally Fake (NSFW)

‘Drunk’ Policeman Who Went Viral Was Actually Having a Stroke

No, The Uber Driver Accused of Murder Spree Isn’t Suing Uber For $10 Million

Soggy Bags of Smelly Garbage Unearthed, Helpfully Reminding Time Capsule Enthusiasts Of Their Own Mortality

US Officially Bans Hoverboard Imports

Is This a Wired Cover From 1996 Or Drone Competition From 2016?

Here’s a Preview of the Presidential Tattoos People Will Be Getting Removed In 2017

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

Elon Musk Scores a Victory Against Free Speech

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

The Canceled ‘Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Filming Likely Won’t Stop It Coming Out Next Year

Berklee College of Music Offers AI Course, Students Are Pissed

US Renewable Power Generation Beats Natural Gas for the First Time, Defying Trump

Dan Stevens Cracks Open the Mouth of Madness in ‘The Terror: Devil in Silver’

Disney’s Massive Layoffs Have Seemingly Hit Marvel Hard

Anthropic Is Jacking Up the Price for Power Users Amid Complaints Its Model Is Getting Worse

Bose SoundLink Max Bluetooth Speaker Quietly Drops to Its Lowest Price, Now Cheaper Than Last Week’s Low

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

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice