Matt Novak, Author at Gizmodo

Trump Gets a Young Lady to Do It in the Office, But After 7pm He Does It Himself

Last night Donald Trump shed some light on one of the great mysteries of our time: How does the most infamous man on Twitter actually tweet? The answer? He spends most of the day shouting his tweets at assistants for them to send. But after 7pm it’s all him, baby. “During the day, I’m in…

Tech News Matt Novak Apr 13 '16

Stephen Hawking Just Dropped a Sick Zinger [Updated: He’s Dropping Zingers Left and Right]

Stephen Hawking is currently making a big announcement about aliens or something. And Hawking just dropped a zinger that made me LOL. “What makes human beings unique? Some say it’s language or tools. Others say it’s logical reasoning,” Hawking said, teeing it up. “They obviously haven’t met many humans.” I really want to watch Stephen…

Tech News Matt Novak Apr 12 '16

This Photo of Earth From the Hubble Telescope is Totally Fake

Have you seen this photo of Earth from the perspective of the Hubble telescope? Well, it’s 100 percent fake. It’s a stunning image, but it’s actually computer generated. And there’s still some confusion over who first created it. Snopes figures it’s from 2013 and done by an artist named Mike Kiev. But I suspect it’s…

Tech News Matt Novak Apr 7 '16

Ivanka Trump’s Chinese-Made Scarves Recalled Because They’re Super Flammable

Roughly 20,000 Ivanka Trump brand scarves have been recalled for not meeting federal flammability standards. To put it plainly, you don’t want to smoke while wearing these Chinese-made neck-blankets if you value the way your face currently looks. The trouble with these scarves is that they’re made from 100 percent rayon, a highly flammable material…

Tech News Matt Novak Apr 6 '16

Dog Talent Agency Helps ‘Dogfluencers’ Advertise Products On Instagram

Do you love cute dog photos on Instagram? Well, much like everything in our world, there’s a good chance that those precocious pups are trying to sell you something. And it’s largely thanks to The Dog Agency, the first talent agency catering exclusively to Instagram-famous canines. The Wall Street Journal has a new interview with…

Tech News Matt Novak Apr 6 '16

Google’s Parent Company (Probably) Wants to Build a City From Scratch

Rumors are swirling that Alphabet, the parent company formerly known as Google, wants to build its own techno-utopian town. But the size and feasibility of a town “built from the internet up” remains in question. Sidewalk Labs, a company under the Alphabet umbrella, is rumored to be spearheading the project. Sidewalk CEO Dan Doctoroff hinted…

Tech News Matt Novak Apr 5 '16

Chase’s New $1,000 ATM Limit Is Fucked Up

As flesh-and-blood bank tellers disappear, ATMs are becoming the only way to get access to your cash. But new limits from Chase on how much you’re allowed to withdraw are a privacy advocate’s nightmare come true. According to the Wall Street Journal, Chase is limiting cash withdrawals for non-customers to $1,000. This doesn’t seem like…

Tech News Matt Novak Apr 4 '16

22 April Fools’ Day Products That Are Totally Fake But Should Be Real

Scientifically speaking, April Fools’ Day is the worst day of the year. And as consumers we have only two options to survive the horror that is brands flogging the dead horse known as April Fools’ Day. The first is to humor them by politely chuckling at their whipping of the stallion’s corpse. The second is…

Tech News Matt Novak Apr 1 '16

Drug Companies Are Paying Millions to Delay The Release of Generic Drugs

Today, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against a drug company called Endo who’s accused of paying generic drug manufacturers hundreds of millions of dollars to delay the release of generic drugs. It’s called “pay-for-delay,” and it’s just another way that Americans are getting fucked over by the healthcare industry. Endo makes the brand…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 31 '16

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 '16

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 '16

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 '16

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 '16

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 '16

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 '16

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 '16

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 '16

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 '16

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 '16

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 '16

Matt Novak

Trump Gets a Young Lady to Do It in the Office, But After 7pm He Does It Himself

Stephen Hawking Just Dropped a Sick Zinger [Updated: He’s Dropping Zingers Left and Right]

This Photo of Earth From the Hubble Telescope is Totally Fake

Ivanka Trump’s Chinese-Made Scarves Recalled Because They’re Super Flammable

Dog Talent Agency Helps ‘Dogfluencers’ Advertise Products On Instagram

Google’s Parent Company (Probably) Wants to Build a City From Scratch

Chase’s New $1,000 ATM Limit Is Fucked Up

22 April Fools’ Day Products That Are Totally Fake But Should Be Real

Drug Companies Are Paying Millions to Delay The Release of Generic Drugs

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

Google Engineer Charged With Using Insider Info for $1 Million Haul on Polymarket

This Plug-and-Play Switch 2 Portable Dock Adapter Is for Around $10 After Sudden Price Drops on Amazon

We Dive Deep Into ‘The Lost Boys’ Musical With the Star of the Show

Anker’s 300W Portable Power Station Drops Again to an All-Time Low, Charge 7 Devices at Once for Less

Scientists Identify Potential New Source of Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs—and It’s Not What You Think

A Widely Used Mosquito Repellent Might Be Training Them to Seek Your Blood

Sony WH-1000XM5 Headphones No Longer Carry a Premium Price Tag, Now Over 2x Cheaper Than AirPods Max

Why Noninvasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Is Still the Holy Grail of Wearables

The Meta Ray-Ban Display Can Now Unlock Your Car, I Guess

LEGO Goes Big on Both Star Wars Droid Figure Deals, R2-D2 and Ahsoka Chopper Hit a Record Low

Alienware Fixed the One Problem With the Area-51, and Now I’m Afraid I Love It

Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max Review: Wireless Earbuds With Enough Features to Make Your Head Spin

Anker Solix E10 Review: No Power? No Problem

Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker Review: Sonos Can Start Sweating Now

Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar Review: A Boisterous Stab at Dominating Home Theater

Dell’s XPS 16 (2026) Is Almost Everything I Could Have Asked for… Almost

Smart Glasses With Subscriptions Are As Bad as They Sound

iBuyPower’s Trace X Gaming PC Is the Fishbowl You Want to Swim In

Govee Ceiling Light Ultra Review: AI Art Ain’t It

JBL Live 780NC Review: Solid Wireless Headphones You Can Live Without