Matt Novak, Author at Gizmodo

So Many Wizards: Lose Your Mind

I’m unapologetic about my defense of sitcoms. When they’re done well, they’re truly an art. But one thing I don’t expect from my sitcoms is to hear music I like. The Fox comedy The New Girl breaks that rule from time to time. Recently I heard a song on The New Girl that I had…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 11

The Dutch rode horses on their highways during the 1970s oil crisis

The oil crisis of the 1970s meant that Americans had to wait in long lines to fill up their cars. But in the Netherlands, the government decided that the best way to conserve fuel was to ban cars for one day a week. How did people cope? They took their horses on the highway. The…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 11

We’ve Been Incorrectly Predicting Peak Oil For Over a Century

When the residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma buried a car in 1957 as part of an enormous time capsule, they included containers of gasoline. The good people of Tulsa reasoned that the folks of 2007 might not have any gas left to fill up the Plymouth Belvedere that they were interring for a fifty year journey…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 11

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 10

No, Charles Manson never auditioned for the Monkees

Did you ever hear about that time Charles Manson auditioned for the Monkees? Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? That’s because it is. On a recent episode of Gilbert Gottfried’s podcast, Monkees member Mickey Dolenz confessed that it was just a joke that got interpreted as fact. Manson never actually auditioned for the…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 10

The First Episode of Cheers is Sitcom Perfection

In her 2011 book Bossypants, Tina Fey explained the difficulty of writing a TV pilot. There are few things harder to write, since the objective is to introduce characters while maintaining both levity and humanity. Fey noted that Cheers might have one of the greatest pilots of all time. And she’s absolutely right. From Bossypants:…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 9

That Time the Canadian Navy Accidentally Bombed an American Town

Remember that time in the 1960s when the Canadians accidentally launched exploding shells into an American town? Few people do. It’s just one of those embarrassing Cold War flubs that both countries would rather forget. On January 29, 1962 the Canadian Navy destroyer HMCS Skeena was conducting target practice off the coast of Washington state…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 9

7 More Viral Images That Are Totally Fake (Maybe NSFW?)

Today’s forecast calls for viral with a 100 percent chance of fake. And scattered nudity by midday. Is that a real cellphone exploding in the microwave? Is that really JFK lying lifeless after being assassinated? Is that a woman hitchhiking naked at Woodstock? No, no, and no. Today we have a mildly not-safe-for-work version of…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 9

Portland Sues Uber, Issues Cease and Desist Order

Portland has filed suit against Uber Technologies, the ride-sharing company that only recently began operating in the City of Roses. Uber rolled out its UberX service on Friday, explicitly in defiance of the city’s warnings that it would fine anyone who drove for the service. One of the major issues regulators have had with Uber…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 8

President Obama Performs Scripted Segments on Tonight’s Colbert Report

Oh no. Judging by these photos coming over from Getty right now, President Obama is going to try some scripted segments on tonight’s Colbert Report. These never go well. The interview and segments were taped today in Washington, D.C. for a special Colbert Report show that airs tonight. Some of the interview photos look pretty…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 8

This Short Doc On How Napster Changed Everything Is Worth a Watch

The New York Times’ Retro Report series has an excellent new short documentary video about the rise of Napster. Remember the year 2000? We were such pirates back then. One of the most interesting modern interviews from the video is with a former VP at Universal. He’s forced to basically admit that the entire industry…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 8

Fun Facts About Berkeley, California, USA

Some fun facts about Berkeley, California, USA: Berkeley has a population of 112,580 Berkeley was named for the Irish theologian and poet George Berkeley Berkeley has one of the highest rates of bicycle commuting in the country Berkeley’s telephone area code is 510 UC-Berkeley has a student to faculty ratio of 17 to 1 Berkeley…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 7

What to Buy the Paleofuturist Who Has Everything

What do you get for the paleofuturist who has everything? Forget the boring book and DVD sets. How about a real flying car? Or a robot butler? These paleofuturistic wonders can all be yours! Provided you have a few hundred thousand dollars lying around. Aerocar Flying Car (1954) — $975,000 We keep hearing that the…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 5

59% of robberies in San Francisco involve the theft of a smartphone

Thefts involving smartphones are on the rise according to a new FCC study. In 2013, 3.1 million Americans had their smartphones stolen. That was up from 1.6 million thefts in 2012. Some interesting facts from the new report: 22 percent of smartphone users installed software that can locate their phone 34 percent of smartphone users…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 5

The Twilight Zone’s ‘To Serve Man’ Has The Greatest Twist of All Time

If you’ve never seen it, you really should watch the classic 1962 Twilight Zone episode To Serve Man. Spoiler alert… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 4

That Time the NSA Wrote “A Communist Christmas Carol”

Did you ever wonder what A Christmas Carol might look like if the NSA wrote it during the Cold War? And replaced all the characters with Communist icons? Well wonder no longer! The Fall/Winter 1987-1988 issue of NSA’s internal magazine Cryptological Quarterly made all your dreams come true. Karl Marx plays the role of Uncle…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 4

RIP Human Progress (1945-1971)

The moon landing. Birth control. Civil rights. The cultural and technological achievements from 1945 to 1971 represent a “Golden Quarter” in human progress, according to science writer Michael Hanlon in a new article over atAeon. Since then, Hanlon insists, we’ve stalled out. But he really couldn’t be more wrong. Encouragingly, Hanlon’s piece actually opens by…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 4

Ayn Rand personally profited from FDR’s New Deal

In 1936 Ayn Rand was no fan of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal programs. So it may come as a surprise to fans of Rand that the libertarian icon took money from the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Theatre Project. Like a lot of money. Rand’s courtroom drama “Night of January 16th” closed in…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 4

Tonight’s Episode of The Goldbergs is All About Hoverboard Promises

Were you one of those kids who saw Robert Zemeckis insist that hoverboards were real back in 1989? Then tonight’s episode of the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs is for you. In the episode Adam wants to come up with a cool explanation for how he broke his arm, so he decides that he’ll tell people…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 3

No, Facebook Isn’t Reporting People Who Pose With Guns to the Feds

Is Facebook really reporting people who post pictures of themselves with guns to the Department of Homeland Security? No. It’s just another case of a news “parody” site being mistaken as a legitimate new source. As Snopes reports, this rumor started most recently with Empire News, a site with other completely fabricated articles like “Gas…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 3

Matt Novak

So Many Wizards: Lose Your Mind

The Dutch rode horses on their highways during the 1970s oil crisis

We’ve Been Incorrectly Predicting Peak Oil For Over a Century

No, Charles Manson never auditioned for the Monkees

The First Episode of Cheers is Sitcom Perfection

That Time the Canadian Navy Accidentally Bombed an American Town

7 More Viral Images That Are Totally Fake (Maybe NSFW?)

Portland Sues Uber, Issues Cease and Desist Order

President Obama Performs Scripted Segments on Tonight’s Colbert Report

This Short Doc On How Napster Changed Everything Is Worth a Watch

Fun Facts About Berkeley, California, USA

What to Buy the Paleofuturist Who Has Everything

59% of robberies in San Francisco involve the theft of a smartphone

The Twilight Zone’s ‘To Serve Man’ Has The Greatest Twist of All Time

That Time the NSA Wrote “A Communist Christmas Carol”

RIP Human Progress (1945-1971)

Ayn Rand personally profited from FDR’s New Deal

Tonight’s Episode of The Goldbergs is All About Hoverboard Promises

No, Facebook Isn’t Reporting People Who Pose With Guns to the Feds

Seagate NVMe SSD 2TB Hits Record Low, Making It the Cheapest and Smartest Way to Expand Xbox Storage

‘Dune: Part Three’ Begins Like a Sci-Fi ‘Saving Private Ryan’

First Statewide Data Center Ban Passed by Maine Legislature

FCC Exempts Netgear from Foreign-Made Router Ban for Some Reason

Jamie Dornan Is Your New Aragorn in ‘The Hunt for Gollum’

Trump’s Fed Pick Is Knee Deep in Tech and Crypto Investments

The First Trailer for ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Takes Terror Stateside

The Trump Phone Still Looks Like Total Trash

‘Masters of the Universe’ Really, Really Wants to Be the Next ‘Barbie’

Samsung’s Micro RGB TVs Provide So Much Color It May Be Too Much

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