Sam Biddle, Author at Gizmodo

Every Single Gadget Should Be Waterproof Like the Motorola Defy+ Android Phone

You know what makes sense? Putting the things we need and love (photos, music, email, talking) into one small handheld thing. What doesn’t make sense? Leaving these objects vulnerable to something that covers 3/4 of our planet. The Defy+ isn’t. And guess what? It doesn’t resemble a hideous bulging tank, as do most pieces of…

Gadgets Sam Biddle

US Says China Photographed Secret Bin Laden Kill-Copter

That mostly-intact tail of the top secret stealth helicopter that helped kill Osama? According to US intelligence figures, Pakistan gave China full access as revenge for the raid—including photos, and chunks of the damn thing, the NYT reports. https://jalopnik.com/that-downed-us-aircraft-was-a-secret-stealth-helicopter-5798199 Although the reports aren’t 100% confirmed, the NYT says American spies are pretty sure China’s military…

Tech News Sam Biddle

This Is Special Ops’ Afghanistan Camo Dirt Bike

When you picture spec ops commandos in Afghanistan, you probably imagine them slinking around silently, quietly rappelling, or crawling through mountain passes. Not roaring around on this supercharged dirt bike. I guess they’re even more badass than we thought. KitUp’s Jack Murphy reports the new spec ops dirt bikes, made by Christini, have been recently…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Even the Orion Spaceship Wants to Have Fun In the Pool

Lockheed Martin’s Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle (MPCV) is still many years and years away from seeing the cold vacuum of space. Until then, it’ll see the cold water of NASA’s Langley testing pool, getting repeatedly dunked at 55 MPH. The crane flinging mechanism is meant to ensure an actual splashdown wouldn’t rip the Orion craft…

Space & Spaceflight Sam Biddle

How a Dying Woman Watched Her Daughter’s Wedding via Skype

Skype’s props up tenuous long distance relationships, allows chats with family and pals in other countries, and supports the occasional fun video chat. But on this one day, it let a mother watch her daughter’s wedding dance before she died. Photographer Andrea Boettcher had a difficult job. The mother of the bride was terminally ill…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Party with Gizmodo at the American Museum of Natural History

Going to one of the largest and most dazzling collections of the planet’s things, extinct and scurrying, is exciting enough. But going behind closed doors for a private lab tour with brilliant scientists? How about an open bar? Join us. What A once in a lifetime chance to go inside New York’s American Museum of…

Tech News Sam Biddle

30 Years Ago Today, IBM Released Its First PC Before Most People Had Any Idea What that Meant

No matter how you’re reading this, you’re reading it on a device unfathomably more powerful than the 4.77 Mhz IBM 5150 PC. But 30 years ago, that machine was so powerful, it defined what PC meant for the entire world. In 1981, the desktop computer was still mostly relegated to the business world. But it…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Fujifilm’s F600EXR Lets You Hunt the Best Shooting Spots via GPS

Fuji’s latest point and shoot isn’t anything particularly jarring—a 16 MP sensor, 15x optical zoom, and 1080p video capture—but the inclusion of built-in GPS navigation sounds pretty neat. Find great new vistas, and record your secret favorites. The Landmark Navigator GPS tech offers a collection of around a million spots, allowing you to trek to…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Jeff Bezos Wants to Put an Airbag on Your Smartphone

It must be nice being an enormous millionaire like Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Maybe it affords free time to sit and cook up strange, fascinating patents like this one: tiny, tiny little smartphone airbags. They’re cute! Does this make sense? The patent, in dry patent-talk, is the following: A method for protecting a portable device…

Commerce Sam Biddle

Is Creating a Fake World Trade Center with Your iPhone Tasteless?

The gaping hole in the Manhattan skyline vacated by the World Trade Center towers is a haunting and conspicuous one. But is the solution an augmented reality app that superimposes the destroyed buildings over reality? That’s debatable. There was a majesty to the towers’ place in the cityscape. And for longtime residents, an unfathomable architectural…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Omipotent Colonialist Photoshopping Hand Remakes 3rd World in Helvetica’s Image

Oh, wretched, impoverished shopkeepers of the developing world! If only you could put down your weary, paint-splattered arm, and stop making handcrafted signs for your stores. If only you had the brilliant Swiss diamond-light of Helvetica. Enter your minimalist paradise. At the Try Helvetica blog, Brazilian design firm NOONO (So, not really a colonialist thing)…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Mercy Hangover Remedy Lightning Review: Just Get Less Wasted

Man has yearned to be able to binge drink sans hangover with the same ferocity as he once wanted to venture to the heavens. Mercy doesn’t say it’ll eliminate the consequences, but claims it’ll help. This is a titanic claim. Like It doesn’t taste as bad as you’d expect something like this to taste. It…

Reviews Sam Biddle

Obama Basher Is the Stupidest, Most Offensive Trash to Contaminate Our Inboxes

We receive lots of moronic emails daily, but this description of the “Obama Basher”—an electronic disc you punch for whatever reason—is perhaps the bottom of the bucket. Oh, idiotic plastic thing, let us count the ways you’re dumb. The Obama Basher is described as a “Punch-friendly gadget let’s right-wingers ‘virtually’ bash Obama without risk of…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Why Does This Guy Have an Assault Rifle at the Apple Store?

HEY ASSHOLES, MY IPHONE SCREEN IS BROKEN AND YOU WILL GIVE ME A REPLACEMENT. Was that this gun-toting Swissmister angle? Or was he just a member of the military, allowed an open carry? What the hell is possibly going on? Is this one of the infamous fake Chinese Apple Stores, finally being eliminated by a…

Tech News Sam Biddle

UK Prime Minister’s Anti-Tech Crackdown: Stupid, Useless, and Wrong

England’s youths are angry and rioting. And, because it’s 2011, they’re using technology to organize. Well, as much as a violent mob can be organized. But British Prime Minister David Cameron wants to cut them off. He’s very, very wrong. And he’s wrong for the exact same reason that the governments of Saudi Arabia and…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Bad Guys Access 75,000 University of Wisconsin Social Security Numbers

If you attend, attended, teach, or taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, you might want to give the ol’ alma mater a call: planted malware just exposed 75,000 student and staff SS numbers to prying eyes. Whose prying eyes? It’s hard to say. The school suspects the target of the backdoor attack wasn’t social security…

Tech News Sam Biddle

The Least Subtle Weapon in the History of Weapons

What do you do when your little island nation is under the constant implied threat of military annihilation from China, and China launches its first ever aircraft carrier? Debut your fancy new aircraft carrier-destroying missile. Complete with scary artwork! https://gizmodo.com/chinas-first-aircraft-carrier-is-sailing-5829480 Taiwan, completely coincidentally of course, revealed their Hsiung Feng III “aircraft carrier killer” missile to…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Twitter Boosts Stimulus Overload with New Realtime Activity Feeds

In case a constant cascade of quips and links wasn’t enough from Twitter, you’ll now have access to an even more activity, TechCrunch reports, making it easier to see the social nebula orbiting around you. Get ready for more ego. The update replaces the @Mentions tab with @[Your Name Here] and Activity. The former shows…

Tech News Sam Biddle

How an F-16 (Might Have) Avenged the Taliban’s Helicopter Killing

The Pentagon’s got some nice heads to stick on the proverbial pike: CENTCOM’s General John Allen claims an F-16 airstrike killed the Taliban RPG gunners who blew up a SEAL-filled helicopter last week. How? The old-fashioned way: huge explosion. Although you’ll have to take the Pentagon at its word (!) that it was able to…

Tech News Sam Biddle

China’s First Aircraft Carrier Is Sailing

Well this sure happened sooner than expected: just a couple of weeks after they flipped on the lights for the first time, China’s refitted Soviet hulk has made its ocean debut. This is their first claim to serious naval power. https://gizmodo.com/chinas-first-ever-aircraft-carrier-its-aliiiiiiive-5825960 Although the movement of the enormous Shi Lang is likely to captivate (and unsettle)…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Sam Biddle

Every Single Gadget Should Be Waterproof Like the Motorola Defy+ Android Phone

US Says China Photographed Secret Bin Laden Kill-Copter

This Is Special Ops’ Afghanistan Camo Dirt Bike

Even the Orion Spaceship Wants to Have Fun In the Pool

How a Dying Woman Watched Her Daughter’s Wedding via Skype

Party with Gizmodo at the American Museum of Natural History

30 Years Ago Today, IBM Released Its First PC Before Most People Had Any Idea What that Meant

Fujifilm’s F600EXR Lets You Hunt the Best Shooting Spots via GPS

Jeff Bezos Wants to Put an Airbag on Your Smartphone

Is Creating a Fake World Trade Center with Your iPhone Tasteless?

Omipotent Colonialist Photoshopping Hand Remakes 3rd World in Helvetica’s Image

Mercy Hangover Remedy Lightning Review: Just Get Less Wasted

Obama Basher Is the Stupidest, Most Offensive Trash to Contaminate Our Inboxes

Why Does This Guy Have an Assault Rifle at the Apple Store?

UK Prime Minister’s Anti-Tech Crackdown: Stupid, Useless, and Wrong

Bad Guys Access 75,000 University of Wisconsin Social Security Numbers

The Least Subtle Weapon in the History of Weapons

Twitter Boosts Stimulus Overload with New Realtime Activity Feeds

How an F-16 (Might Have) Avenged the Taliban’s Helicopter Killing

China’s First Aircraft Carrier Is Sailing

An Embarrassing Mistake May Have Skewed Microplastics Research All Along

Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ Drops to All-Time Low as Amazon Shifts Into Clearance Mode After Spring Sale

You Can Watch the Two Recovered Missing Episodes of ‘Doctor Who’ Right Now

Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 Holds a Record Low Price as Bone Conduction Headphones Stock Quietly Clears Out on Amazon

Avast Premium Isn’t Flashy — But It Might Be the Smartest Cheap Antivirus Right Now

Data Centers Create Heat Islands Stretching 6 Miles, Study Finds

Garmin epix Pro (Gen 2) Sapphire Edition Smartwatch at 41% Off Is Flying Off the Shelves on Amazon

Aragorn Is Officially Being Recast For ‘The Hunt for Gollum’

DJI Slashes $500 Off the Mini 5 Pro Fly More Drone After Avata 360 Launch, Bundled With RC 2, Batteries, and More

Artemis 2 Day 3: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

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

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life