Scott Timberg, Author at Gizmodo

Will The Google Settlement Leave Ursula Le Guin Dispossessed?

Now that Google has declared war on China, can it take on a diminutive 80-year-old science-fiction and fantasy author? Probably, but Ursula K. Le Guin is not going down without a fight. It all started when the formidable author of the classic Earthsea novels and, most recently, the Virgil-inspired Lavinia, resigned her long membership in…

io9 Scott Timberg Jan 25

The Perfect Near-Future Novel To Get You Through The Recession

Need a book to get you through another year of unemployment, glacier melts or maybe even another oil crisis? World Made By Hand could do the trick. The soft-apocalypse novel, by the sometimes kooky upstate New York social critic James Howard Kunstler, was well received when it came out in March 2008 — it drew…

Books & Comics Scott Timberg Jan 25

Could This Be The Beginning of the AI Revolution?

A devious device looking suspiciously like the pain box from Dune — or a minimalist sculpture from the ’60s — is now selling on eBay. In fact, that’s all it does. This robot sells itself on eBay every week. Called “A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter (2009),” by the artist Caleb Larsen, the imposing cube…

io9 Scott Timberg Jan 25

Philip K. Dick’s Decade in the O.C.

Though he’s thought of as a Bay Area writer, Philip K. Dick spent 10 happy and productive — and sometimes difficult and hallucinatory — years in famously conservative Orange County. What happened to him in the O.C.? This new LA Times story, by yours truly, traces this strange and contradictory period in the writer’s life,…

Books & Comics Scott Timberg Jan 25

Scandinavian Eco Smackdown

Here’s a strange and possibly wonderful new idea for ecotourism in Norway: Wind turbine getaways. A lot of agricultural tourism is backward looking, driven by pastoral nostalgia – in Italy, tourists stay in farmhouses where vegetables and wine grapes are raised; and in California they visit creameries where they watch artisanal cheese produced after being…

io9 Scott Timberg Jan 25

Scott Timberg

Will The Google Settlement Leave Ursula Le Guin Dispossessed?

The Perfect Near-Future Novel To Get You Through The Recession

Could This Be The Beginning of the AI Revolution?

Philip K. Dick’s Decade in the O.C.

Scandinavian Eco Smackdown

‘Cognitive Surrender’ Is a New and Useful Term for How AI Melts Brains

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Marshall Acton III Home Speaker Drops to a Record Low, the Deal Countdown Has Already Started

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

I’m Worried About the Helpless AI Disruptors of the Future

Russia Allegedly Swung at VPNs but Accidentally Hit Its Own Banking Sector Instead

Ryan Coogler Is Shifting ‘Animorphs’ Into a Disney+ Show

No Fooling, ‘Spaceballs 2’ Will Hit Theaters April 2027

I Regret to Inform You That the Artemis II Astronauts Are Having Lots of Screen Time

The First ‘Maul: Shadow Lord’ Reactions Are Most Solid

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