Matt Novak, Author at Gizmodo

The San Bernardino Terrorist’s iCloud Password Was Reset By His Employer

Everybody is in a tizzy over whether Apple should comply with a court order to unlock the iPhone of one of the dead San Bernardino terrorists. But there’s one detail in this whole mess that’s completely bizarre. The terrorist’s employer, the San Bernardino Health Department, reset the guy’s iCloud password. Technically, the iPhone in question…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 19 '16

Ronda Rousey Apologizes For Posting Photoshopped Image That Made Her Arms Skinnier

Ronda Rousey, MMA fighter and general badass, has apologized to her followers on Instagram for sharing a picture of her that had been photoshopped. The image was intended to promote her appearance on Jimmy Fallon and she didn’t notice the alterations until later. As you can see from the side-by-side that she posted, her right…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 19 '16

The Latest Teen Craze Is Shovering, Shoveling Snow With a Hoverboard

Hoverboards still don’t hover. But people are finding some pretty creative ways to use them. Like this 14-year-old boy who discovered a way to utilize his hoverboard while shoveling snow. The Canadians are calling it “shovering.” And we can’t wait for this teen craze to sweep America. The clever kid is Julius de Paz of…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 19 '16

Amazing Footage of a Sniper Killing ISIS Fighters Turns Out to Be a Video Game

Iranian state TV recently aired some amazing video of a sniper killing six ISIS fighters in under two minutes. He’s an impressive marksman. It’s just too bad that the video is fake. This “Hezbollah sniper” is actually just playing the video game Medal of Honor. According to the French news outlet France 24 the footage…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 18 '16

The Future Needs Trump, According to This Sign That Was Definitely Not Written in Blood

According to this sign held by a Donald Trump supporter in Walterboro, South Carolina, “The Future Needs Trump.” It remains unclear whether the sign was written in the blood of a sacrificed animal or whether Trump donated the blood personally. The Future was unavailable for comment.

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 17 '16

Fandango Buys Rotten Tomatoes But Will Probably Ruin It

You may have heard that online movie ticket seller Fandango just purchased Rotten Tomatoes and Flixster. But you may not have heard the bad news: Fandango will probably ruin Rotten Tomatoes. The number-crunching nerds over at FiveThirtyEight compared the movie ratings on Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes a few months ago. And since Fandango has a…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 17 '16

Companies Are Using Big Data to Discourage Employees From Having Costly Surgery

Do you work for a big company? Have you been having back pain? Your company probably knows about it already thanks to high-tech healthcare companies that it hired. Welcome to our brave new world of big data. The Wall Street Journal has a chilling new report about the ways that companies like Walmart and J.P.…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 17 '16

China Is Kicking America’s Ass in the Robot Waiter Wars

America is getting crushed by China. Not in trade or weapons or any of those things that don’t matter. We’re losing the war of the Roseys. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the new robot above, serving up deliciousness at a farmhouse restaurant in Sanmenxia, China. Or look at this December photo of Tete,…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 17 '16

Things That Are America.

Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush tweeted a photo of a gun engraved with his name. The text of the tweet simply read, “America.” There are a number of ways to interpret this tweet, just as there are so many ways to interpret the concept of America. Helpfully, the good people of Twitter dot com gave…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 16 '16

History Will Not Be Kind to the Political Selfie

If only one photo survives the nuclear apocalypse, I hope it’s this one. Ted Cruz is taking a selfie with confused onlookers as his other hand hangs in the air like normal humans would pose. This photo sums up politics in 2016 as far as I’m concerned. The Presidential campaign trail is rough. In the…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 16 '16

Whopping $50,000 Reward Offered For Lost 1970 Time Capsule

Have you seen this big metal tube from 1970? It’s a time capsule. And there’s a $50,000 reward for anybody who can find it. The time capsule tube was interred in a foundation stone at Singapore’s National Stadium on February 23, 1970. But nobody knows where it is today. People have been searching for it…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 16 '16

All Your Favorite Brands Are Celebrating Presidents Day on Twitter For Some Reason

I’m of the opinion that only mattress companies should be able to celebrate Presidents Day. But that’s not particularly popular, given the swarm of Brands™ wishing us all a happy Presidents Day on Twitter. KFC definitely takes the cake for weirdness. Or drumstick. I don’t know. The year 2016 is just too weird for me…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 15 '16

That Viral Photo of The Martian DVD Next to Potatoes Is No Accident

This photo of a DVD of The Martian being sold next to potatoes has gone viral. If you’ve seen the movie, it seems like perfect cross-promotion, done perhaps by some clever person at a random grocery store. But it’s no accident. The Albert Bartlett potato company has an official deal with Twentieth Century Fox to…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 15 '16

That Time Eisenhower’s Presidential Motorcade Picked Up Two Hitchhikers

I was going through President Dwight Eisenhower’s daily schedule (as one does) and just noticed what might be the weirdest entry I’ve ever seen. On December 10, 1954 Eisenhower was on his way from the White House to Camp David, and he picked up two hitchhikers. Granted these weren’t your average hitchhikers. They were Marines…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 12 '16

This Kid Predicted What the Year 2016 Would Be Like in 1996, and He Was Adorably Wrong

Back in 1996 a young boy wrote a letter for school with predictions about the year 2016. Christopher Janitz was just nine years old and little did he know his mother would save that letter and present it to him on his 29th birthday. Here at Paleofuture we love to look at past visions of…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 12 '16

Tell Us Your Old Secrets About Technology, Utopian Communities, and the Machines of War

Do you have an old secret about the history of technology, a defunct cult, or a futuristic weapon that never made it off the drawing board? Would you like the world to know about it? Tell us. News outlets usually love scoops that involve breaking news. It’s right there in the name: News. But here…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 11 '16

American Scientists Advised Guards to Shoot at Nukes If There Was a Security Breach

Back in late 2014 the National Security Archive published a historical documentary produced in 2010 that went largely unnoticed. The film explores the history of nuclear weapons safety. And if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s pretty frightening. Titled Always Never: The Quest For Safety, Control and Survivability, the most terrifying story from the film…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 11 '16

Obama Calls Americans a Bunch of Nerds

Popular Science has a new interview with President Obama about science and technology. And with it, he has effectively helped kill the word “nerd.” The word hasn’t been a pejorative in roughly 30 years. But when the President of the United States acknowledges that, we can officially call it a meaningless term. PS: Do you…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 11 '16

These 1989 Stamps Showcased the Amazing Lies of Future Space Travel

Back in olden times, people used what were called “postage stamps” to send “letters” to “friends” and relatives. Back in olden times people also believed that the US space program would expand exponentially, returning humans to the moon. These stamps from 1989 survive as an artifact of that vision. Moon rovers, far-out space travel… these…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 10 '16

This Is the Drone That Iran Flew Over an American Aircraft Carrier

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a… yeti? Nope, you got it right the second time. According to the US Navy, this is the Iranian drone that flew over the USS Harry S. Truman on January 12, 2016. The Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get a…

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 10 '16

Matt Novak

The San Bernardino Terrorist’s iCloud Password Was Reset By His Employer

Ronda Rousey Apologizes For Posting Photoshopped Image That Made Her Arms Skinnier

The Latest Teen Craze Is Shovering, Shoveling Snow With a Hoverboard

Amazing Footage of a Sniper Killing ISIS Fighters Turns Out to Be a Video Game

The Future Needs Trump, According to This Sign That Was Definitely Not Written in Blood

Fandango Buys Rotten Tomatoes But Will Probably Ruin It

Companies Are Using Big Data to Discourage Employees From Having Costly Surgery

China Is Kicking America’s Ass in the Robot Waiter Wars

Things That Are America.

History Will Not Be Kind to the Political Selfie

Whopping $50,000 Reward Offered For Lost 1970 Time Capsule

All Your Favorite Brands Are Celebrating Presidents Day on Twitter For Some Reason

That Viral Photo of The Martian DVD Next to Potatoes Is No Accident

That Time Eisenhower’s Presidential Motorcade Picked Up Two Hitchhikers

This Kid Predicted What the Year 2016 Would Be Like in 1996, and He Was Adorably Wrong

Tell Us Your Old Secrets About Technology, Utopian Communities, and the Machines of War

American Scientists Advised Guards to Shoot at Nukes If There Was a Security Breach

Obama Calls Americans a Bunch of Nerds

These 1989 Stamps Showcased the Amazing Lies of Future Space Travel

This Is the Drone That Iran Flew Over an American Aircraft Carrier

‘Sugar’ Season 2 Teases a New Case and More Neo-Noir Ennui

Samsung 990 PRO SSD 2TB Is 39% Off in Amazon’s Final Clearance Push (NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen4, Read Speeds Up to 7,450 MB/s)

Millie Bobby Brown Rescues Henry Cavill in ‘Enola Holmes 3’

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Lite Is Now Nearly as Cheap as Galaxy Buds After Quiet Price Drops, Now an Affordable Android Tablet

Qualcomm’s New ‘Compute’ Chip Wants to Knock the MacBook Neo off Its Pedestal

It’s Time for Intel to Prove It Can Keep Handheld PC Gaming Alive

Acer’s Predator Atlas Could Make Gaming Handhelds Efficient, for Once

PlayStation DualSense Drops to All-Time Low for the First Time This Year as Sony Goes All-In on Gaming Controllers

The MyPillow Guy Is Getting Dragged Back Into Cyber Warfare

Seagate Cuts 2TB NVMe SSD for Xbox Again to Near Historic Low in Amazon’s Final Clearance Push

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