Sam Biddle, Author at Gizmodo

Why Anonymous Isn’t LulzSec

LulzSec’s dead. They had their streak of chaos, hacker-on-hacker pissing matches, takedowns, limelight, laughs, silly Tweets, monocled mascots and general web frenzy. But it was just that—frenzy. And at least Anonymous will carry on the mad hacker spirit, right? Nope. https://gizmodo.com/lulzsec-calls-it-quits-5815546 LulzSec was a loose, self-contradictory blob. A mess, albeit an effective one. Despite their…

Tech News Sam Biddle

PC Mag Says Verizon 4G Punches Other Carriers in Collective Stomach

After a nationwide mobile bandwidth test, PC Mag has some pretty plain results: Verizon’s LTE network socks the cud out of other carriers, often beating them by double across the board. Unless you live in a rural area. Stacking Verizon up against AT&T, Cricket, MetroPCS, T-Mobile, and Sprint’s 3G/4G networks, the former came out strongly…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Fukushima Plant Leaks 15 Tons of Radioactive Water

TEPCO’s been struggling to keep Fukushima’s scorching reactors cool. They’ve also been struggling to deal with the massive volume of (now radioactive) coolant water. It’s not going so well—tons of it are spilling into the ground, Reuters reports. The leak’s a consequence of TEPCO’s botched attempts to purify contaminated water held in giant storage containers—an…

Tech News Sam Biddle

This Is Why You Don’t Light a Flammable Balloon on Fire

So it’s a lazy weekend afternoon. The videogames are beat, the girls are off elsewhere, and the internet is barren. What are two bored dudes to do, other than fill a balloon with some flammable substance and blow themselves up? We’re not sure what’s in this thing—propane, maybe—but it was clearly a really, really bad…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Is Microsoft Trying to Patent Skype Spying?

Patents are usually either completely mundane, or kinda far-fetched. Rarely are they entirely ominous, as is the case with one Microsoft just filed a method for a 3rd party to “silently record [a] communication”—say, one on Skype. We don’t actually have to surmise Skype, as Microsoft’s filing names the recently-acquired VOIP darling by name. The…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Sometimes Crazy-Low Jet Flyovers End in Disintegrated Fuel Tanks

This month’s daring (to say the least!) grass-buzzing Argentine flyover was pretty great. He didn’t crash! But sometimes aerial hotdogging isn’t so clean—as was the case with this other Argentine pilot. https://gizmodo.com/watch-the-pilots-view-of-the-craziest-flyby-ever-5809436 Flight guru David Cenciotti brings us this footage of an Argentine AF A-4AR Fightinghawk attempting a gravity-torturing climb from very close to the…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Fring Brings Four-Way Video Chat Gangbang to iPad

Popular vidchat client Fring isn’t content with the usual one-on-one routine. If you’ve got three other friends, you can all talk to each other (or over each other) now, through an app orgy of chattering faces. The new Fring doesn’t just put a foursome on your screen, but is free, works over cell data as…

Tech News Sam Biddle

The Trashy MySpace Mirror-Shot Reaches Its Horrifying Logical Conclusion

Half-pound of makeup? Check. Low-cut top from Baby Gap? Check. Hair iron? Check. Snooki hair? Check. Facial expression of sultriness and agony combined? Check. OK! Time to snap that profile picture. Just get your… iPad?!?! My god. Destroy the internet. The iPad’s rear camera is a bit of a joke—the quality is poor, and really,…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Will Samsung’s “Nexus Prime” Be the Next Best Android Phone?

Following their previous report on a beastly Ice Cream Sandwich phone, BGR’s extending extra details—and confirming that Samsung will make the thing, possibly named Nexus Prime. The monster will be purebred—-no 3rd party skins. Just Android 4.0. https://gizmodo.com/leak-google-nexus-4g-will-be-an-absolute-monster-5812146 BGR also claims the Nexus Prime will indeed hold a dual-core OMAP4460 processor. The pairing of beefy…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Cowardly Seagull Thief Steals GoPro and Flies Away

GoPro, just admit you’re paying animals to steal cameras as part of some adorable viral marketing scheme. First the lion, and now a seagull? How did the seagull get the camera? How did the guy find it? We want answers. https://gizmodo.com/lion-steals-and-chomps-on-gopro-while-filming-5805961 YouTube user opica1983 says he was filming in Cannes, France, when he apparently put…

Biology Sam Biddle

Fukushima Residents Peeing Out Radiation

The spread of radioactive material tens of miles away from their source has its consequences. It doesn’t just sit in the dirt—it finds its way into human bodies. And now it’s in their pee. https://gizmodo.com/more-radioactive-dirt-found-almost-40-miles-from-fukush-5810269 Japanese government and hospital workers conducted the study, which found radioactive levels of up to 3 millisieverts residents’ urine up…

Health Sam Biddle

Bizarre iPad-Carrying Jogger Mugged in Central Park

This is terrible—any mugging is. Having your stuff taken from you by force is a shame, and wrong, and everything, yeah—but why the hell was this guy jogging and holding an iPad at the same time? The only conceivable explanation I can think of is that the victim was 12 feet tall, making the tablet…

Tech News Sam Biddle

LulzSec Leaks Hundreds of Classified Arizona Police Documents in Attack Against Border Patrol (Updated)

Lashing out against the “racial profiling anti-immigrant police state that is Arizona,” LulzSec has released their newest data dump: “hundreds of private intelligence bulletins, training manuals, personal email correspondence, names, phone numbers, addresses and passwords belonging to Arizona law enforcement.” The release, entitled “Chinga La Migra” (Fuck the Border Patrol) is the first time LulzSec’s…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Pottermore Is the Ebook’s Beatles on iTunes Moment

Well, that rumor about Pottermore being a smartphone was completely wrong. But that’s okay, because that was an idiotic prospect, and the truth is more interesting: Harry Potter will sell as ebooks for the first time ever. And that’s huge. https://gizmodo.com/is-j-k-rowlings-mystery-site-hiding-a-harry-potter-sma-5812697 The Harry Potter print saga’s sold more than 400 million copies across the world.…

Books & Comics Sam Biddle

The Media’s Awkward Attempts Explaining What the Hell LulzSec Means

LulzSec’s recent chaos-spree has earned it a lot of press coverage, some of which is spent painfully attempting to explain just what in Internet God’s name LulzSec means. Here are a few (painfully struggling) highlights: “The group takes the name Lulz from 4chan slang derived from LOL, shorthand for laughing out loud, tweaked to refer…

Tech News Sam Biddle and Alyssa Bereznak

HTC Evo View 4G: Wanna Buy a Giant Phone That Doesn’t Make Calls?

The running joke since the iPad laced up its shoes is that tablets are big, over-glorified phones. That’s silly! They share electricity, touchscreens, apps, and rectangularity, but that’s about it. Except the Evo View, which is the joke’s punchline. Like The 7-inch tablet is a maligned genus (and some might say an oxymoron), but whatever…

Reviews Sam Biddle

The Next Google TV’s Borrowing a Lot from Honeycomb

Google TV: not much of a success. Android Honeycomb: pretty well-received! So Google’s pouring sugar from one hand onto dirt in the other for their next stab at the holy union of internet and. Geek.com’s spilling what’s new. The freshest details come from Google’s “Fishtank” program, wherein devs are given access to a pre-release box…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Don’t Inspect a Gas Tanker with a Lighter if You Don’t Want to Catch on Fire

I would have assumed this was within the bounds of common sense, but, you know, you can never be too careful. Apparently the notion wasn’t obvious to this fellow, who blew apart an entire gas station through his idiot-curiosity. Maybe it was the fumes? Maybe it was a fundamental misunderstanding of what gasoline is and…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Netflix’s Newest Feature Is Letting You Make Your Video Quality Worse

If you’re rubbing up against data caps or a generally poor connection, gleaming, streaming HD probably isn’t helping at all. So now Netflix is letting you dial down, Technologizer reports: choose from “good,” “better,” or “best.” The difference in the resolution settings is pretty profound: “‘Good quality’ consumes up to 0.3 GB per hour, ‘Better…

Tech News Sam Biddle

This High School Principal Is Cooler than Yours Because He Arrived at Graduation Dressed as Iron Man

Today, a chapter in your lives ends. But tomorrow holds new promises for the future, and blah blah etc. etc.—graduation speeches are awful. Unless your principal gives the address in a full Iron Man suit. Ming-Dao High in Taiwan must have the operating budget of Disney World, as their principal arrived on the scene with…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Sam Biddle

Why Anonymous Isn’t LulzSec

PC Mag Says Verizon 4G Punches Other Carriers in Collective Stomach

Fukushima Plant Leaks 15 Tons of Radioactive Water

This Is Why You Don’t Light a Flammable Balloon on Fire

Is Microsoft Trying to Patent Skype Spying?

Sometimes Crazy-Low Jet Flyovers End in Disintegrated Fuel Tanks

Fring Brings Four-Way Video Chat Gangbang to iPad

The Trashy MySpace Mirror-Shot Reaches Its Horrifying Logical Conclusion

Will Samsung’s “Nexus Prime” Be the Next Best Android Phone?

Cowardly Seagull Thief Steals GoPro and Flies Away

Fukushima Residents Peeing Out Radiation

Bizarre iPad-Carrying Jogger Mugged in Central Park

LulzSec Leaks Hundreds of Classified Arizona Police Documents in Attack Against Border Patrol (Updated)

Pottermore Is the Ebook’s Beatles on iTunes Moment

The Media’s Awkward Attempts Explaining What the Hell LulzSec Means

HTC Evo View 4G: Wanna Buy a Giant Phone That Doesn’t Make Calls?

The Next Google TV’s Borrowing a Lot from Honeycomb

Don’t Inspect a Gas Tanker with a Lighter if You Don’t Want to Catch on Fire

Netflix’s Newest Feature Is Letting You Make Your Video Quality Worse

This High School Principal Is Cooler than Yours Because He Arrived at Graduation Dressed as Iron Man

Artemis 2 Crew Become First Humans to Travel Beyond Earth Orbit Since the 1970s

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

Labubus Might Be Labu-Bust After Pop Mart Posts Record Share Loss

Cursor’s New Tool Lets Users Delegate to a Team of Coding Agents

Nvidia Needs to Remind Itself What PC Gamers Actually Want

Iran Says It Hit Oracle Facilities in UAE

‘Invincible’ Season 4 Is Doing Right By Debbie

New Theory Says We’ve Been Overcomplicating the Big Bang

Marvel Might Have Finally Dealt With One of the Most Hated ‘Spider-Man’ Characters Around

China Is Trying to Grow New Forests in This Notorious Mega-Desert. It’s Working

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

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?