John Biggs
John Biggs is a writer, consultant, programmer, former East Coast Editor and current contributing writer for TechCrunch. He writes mainly about technology, security, gadgets, gear, wristwatches, and the internet. After spending four years as an IT programmer, he switched his profession and became a full-time journalist. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Laptop, PC Upgrade, Surge, Gizmodo, Men’s Health, InSync, Linux Journal, Popular Science, Sync, and he has written a book called Black Hat: Misfits, Criminals, and Scammers in the Internet Age.
He builds products, writes books, and consults with startups to help them make cool things.
John Biggs runs the BWL family of blogs, SlushPile.net, Audiomonger, and WristWatchReview.com. He also runs the HourTime Podcast with Ariel Adams at hourtimeshow.com. Born in 1975, he currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.
Crunchbase profile →Featured Picks from John Biggs
Latest from John Biggs
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Whip the llama’s ass with this Javascript WinAmp emulator
If you were an early Internet kid you’ll recall a little app called WinAmp that was, in short, the best MP3 player ever made ever. The little program looked like skeuomorphic stereo receiver with a full range of equalizer sliders and included an important MP3 that explained WinAmp’s primary mission: whipping the llama’s ass. A programmer named Jordan Eldredge has created… Read More
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The LifeClock One will help you escape from mundanity
Whether you’re trapped on a futuristic island prison full of blood-thirsty gang members or simply stuck in a two-hour meeting, the LifeClock One might be the watch for you. Inspired by the movie Escape From New York starring Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken, the watch is an homage to Plissken’s wrist-worn LifeClock, a device that would trigger the an injection of micro-explosives in… Read More
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New credit card skimmer worked in plain sight at Aldi stores
Police in Lower Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania have spotted a group of thieves who are placing completely camouflaged skimmers on top of credit card terminals in Aldi stores. The skimmers, which the gang placed in plain sight of surveillance video cameras, look exactly like the original credit card terminals but would store debit card numbers and PINs of unsuspecting shoppers. “While Aldi… Read More
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I, for one, welcome our robotic waffle-stacking overlords
As a fan of both waffles and robots I present to you the FANUC food and beverage manipulation robot, waffle edition. The robot, as you see below, sorts the waffles by color, stacks them, and then another robot grabs them and puts them into a box. And these bad boys can do some heavy lifting. From the site: We have the largest offering of standard and collaborative robot models with… Read More
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SimpliSafe upgrades the DIY home security experience
SimpliSafe, a Boston-based home security company, launched their first security products in 2009 and the devices were a hit. Thanks to their home-security-in-a-box solution the average homeowner could install door sensors, glass-break microphones, and motion detectors without having to run wires or even have a salesperson visit their home. The Lego-like system of removable components was… Read More
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Where do we go now?
The crypto crash is reverberating through the Internet while the “rest” of the economy – namely the stock market – enters free fall. Commentary on the very human and thus flawed stock market is still well within the realm of pundits and guys who press funny buttons on TV, whither crypto? First, the die hards are chiming in noting that they are retaining their… Read More
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Author Nick Montfort tells us how to define the future
Nick Montfort is a professor in MIT’s Comparative Media Studies/Writing and the author of a new book, “The Future.” His book explores “future makers” – people who create the future with their work. It’s a fascinating read and he’s a fascinating thinker in the space. Our conversation on Technotopia started with the Norman Bel Geddes, designer of… Read More
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The Lucnt SRL1 is a smart bike light for smarter people
When is a bike light not a bike light? When it turns itself off automatically and can signal that you’re braking even before you stop. The Lucnt SRL1 is just that kind of light. Created by a pair of SF-area brothers, the light is hand-made and is rechargeable via USB. It connects to your bike with powerful magnets and can change from blinking to solid simply by flipping the position of… Read More
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Polish hackers create an indoor location system for disabled students
A group of students from the Warsaw University of Technology and the Jagiellonian University in Krakow built an indoor location system for disabled students. They’re rolling out the app, created during a local Campus App Challenge/hackathon. The creators, Łukasz Ławniczak, Jakub Kmiotek, Tomasz Urbaszek, Miron Marczuk, and Szymon Stankiewicz, used a tool called IndoorWay to map and… Read More
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The MB&F MoonMachine 2 reconnects you with the celestial
If and when your crypto investments go back up feel free to spend about $100,000 on one of these new creations from the watchmakers at MB&F and noted horologist Stepan Sarpaneva. The watch, called the MoonMachine 2, has a “heads-up” time display on the back end of the case where you see the hours and minutes in bold numerals along with a Sarpaneva-style moonphase display that… Read More
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Robotic swans now patrol Singapore’s waters
Researchers at the National University of Singapore have created a clever self-driving drone called the Smart Water Assessment Network – the SWAN. These swan-shaped robots swim in Singapore’s waters and assess pollution, drinkability, and temperature, allowing researchers to gather data without scaring people with dangerous-looking traditional water drones. NUSwan – New… Read More
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MIT uses Lego to prototype low-cost micro pumps
Lego bricks (or, if you’re not a pedant, Legos) are highly precise and highly consistent plastic objects. Anywhere you go in the world the Lego is the same. That means that scientists at MIT can use these little sole stabbers to create very precise scientific systems. Their first tests involve creating a microfluid pump and sorter using basic Lego parts. Because they can trust Lego bricks… Read More
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Fools and their crypto
I believe that the token sale economy will drive the next startup revolution. Just as sites like TechCrunch, organizations like Y Combinator and the men in Dockers and fleece sweaters who populate Sand Hill Road defined (and still define) the last startup revolution, crypto will define the next one. But, as it stands, we cannot trust the participants, nor can we trust the products. Read More
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LittleBits’ Droid Inventor kit is the first STEM toy that works
I’ve been watching STEAM and/or STEAM toys with great interest and great skepticism. While many parents and teachers report great success with programming toys like Cleverbot and whatever this thing is, I’ve found that kids (and parents) I know find many STEM toys to be sterile, boring, and just no fun. The same held true for the notoriously fiddly LittleBits kits. These kits… Read More
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Poptheatr is a bucket you put on your head so you can watch movies
Are you afraid of human contact? Do you like movies? Do you like buckets? Sister, have I got a product for you. Poptheatr is a bucket that you put over your head. You put your telecommunications device on top of the bucket and then look up at movies, television, and pornography while you lie comfortably on your back. This keeps your hands free to manage your video playback using an… Read More
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CamSoda announces virtual sex with robots which is pretty much where we’re headed anyway
CamSoda, a adult web-streaming service, has announced VIRP – Virtual Intercourse with Real People – a service that lets you simulate sex with on-screen participants using RealDoll robots. Yep. The CamSoda [NSFW LINK] service is partnering with the folks at RealDoll to add teledildonics to already fairly realistic sex dolls. The dolls range in price from $1,500 and up and… Read More
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Ex-hacker Eric Taylor is working to help manage data centers
Ex-hacker Eric Taylor, also known as CosmoTheGod, and another infosec name, Bryant Townsend have colorful pasts. Most recently Taylor stole the Social Security and personal records of a number of high-ranking Obama administration officials, posting it on a site called exposed.su. Townsend, for his part, was caught up in a denial of service hack that led back to his former DDoS mitigation company. Read More
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Print book sales rose 1.9% in 2017
In what amounts to faint praise for the strength of the physical book NPD reported that print book sales rose 1.9 percent in 2017, less than the 3 percent growth posted in 2013-2016. NPD tracks book sales in the US. They write: “Returning from the huge sales of ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ in 2016, and the rise of adult coloring books, last year’s book sales… Read More
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Cambassy lets you be your country’s digital ambassador
Cambassy is a new app that lets you share the favorite things about your town, city or country. You can think of it as a sort of breadcrumb travelogue that you leave behind for others to find and lets you include photos, tips and comments about your favorite locations. Created by Khalid Twaim and Omar Rabea, the company won a pitch-off in Oman and showed their early versions at Disrupt in Berlin. Read More
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Study: 6 in 10 Americans have heard about Bitcoin
While crypto may be obvious to us overlords of digital media, awareness of all facets of cryptocurrency still belongs to a small – but growing – minority. In a large scale survey by SurveyMonkey and the Global Blockchain Business Council, 5,000 responded to an extensive poll about the popularity and use of cryptocurrency. Some interesting findings? First, only 5 percent of people… Read More
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