Biggs is the East Coast Editor of TechCrunch.
Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. Email him directly at john@techcrunch.com.
In all the discussions I’ve had with hardware makers about their products, one thing is becoming clear: in the end, the cheap part is never cheap. Take a look at this post about a Kickstarter project for example. A maker, Michael Ciuffo, had recently funded a very cool QR code clock that used a simple array of LEDs to display the time in QR code. → Read More
After the amazing success of our New York Pitch-Off in February, we thought it would be fun to bring the energy and excitement of a mini-Disrupt to more cities across the country. We’re pleased to announced the 2013 Meetups + Pitch-Offs will begin in Austin on May 30 at Stage On Sixth in downtown Austin from 6pm to 10pm. You can buy tickets now! → Read More
Now that we have confirmation that the Liberator 3D-printed pistol can be fired without destroying the body, let’s address what this means for 3D printed weapons and, presumably, homemade weapons in general. → Read More
Beep boop boop bee squeee! Happy May 4th a k a Star Wars Day (say the date out loud and you’ll figure out why). In celebration, quite a few hardware vendors have released special gear for the day, thereby allowing you to celebrate the magic of George Lucas in proper Mandalorian fashion. → Read More
This week on the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast we talk about Acer (WTF, Acer?), Disrupt, and Bitponics. This time we’re joined by Matt Burns, Darrell Etherington, Greg Kumparak, and Michael Seo as the Beaver. Enjoy! We invite you to enjoy our weekly podcasts every Friday at 3pm Eastern and noon Pacific. Click here to download an MP3 of this show. You can subscribe to the show via RSS. Subscribe… → Read More
While Defense Distributed, the Thingiverse for gun parts, has been working on a 3D-printed lower receiver for the AR-15 for some time now, they’ve finally announced that they’ve completed a real 3D-printed handgun called the Liberator. Made entirely out of 3D-printed ABS with the exclusion of a single nail used as the firing pin, it looks to be the fruition of DefDist’s mission… → Read More
While I kid a bit in the headline, this is actually pretty cool: Swatch, the largest manufacturer of mechanical watch movements in the world, has created a movement that is assembled entirely using automated systems. Why is this important? The watch industry was originally gutted by the rise of cheap quartz watches, making this piece quite ironic, and this means that more people will be able to… → Read More
Do you guys have any Green Day? Really? Yeah, like the early Knitting Factory stuff. Not this Dookie garbage. Yeah, I liked them before they sold out. What about Neutral Milk Hotel? Is the new album any good? Yeah, I know, dude. What’s the Avery Island junk? Serious bummer after Aeroplane. → Read More
Dogs, drones, and digital controllers, oh my! This year’s Disrupt conference in New York was full of amazing webs services and software, but Hardware Alley brought out the best in hardware startups and showed the world that hardware is finally serious business. → Read More
Bike sharing service Social Bicycles has raised $1.1 million to expand the reach of their social bike sharing service to new markets. The company, led by Ryan Rzepecki, reported the funding this morning. → Read More
A Columbus, Ohio woman found that her HTC Evo Shift had branded her after overheating while it was under her waistband. The woman, Jennifer Grago, reported that she was using the phone’s FM radio while she did yard work. → Read More
Cincinnati, Ohio is best known for the Bengals, Bootsy Collins, and Skyline Chili but it’s about to become famous as one of the first cities with a true market for 3D printable designs. 3DLT, a small company based in Cincy and founded by a team of programmers, is bringing the free-for-all world of 3D modellers into line and essentially making an Etsy for ABS. → Read More
When we first saw the Jamstik at CES this year we called it amazing. Now you can call it yours. → Read More
The builders of Wii hacking devices, Wiikey, have announced that they’ve found a method to hack the Wii U to play content via USB media. The kit also claims to work on devices from any region and requires no soldering. → Read More
Everyone’s favorite tiny video maker Vine just updated their app with a few important features. First, the service has added front-facing camera support, allowing you to swap camera angles mid-Vine. You can also now @ identify folks by pressing the “mention” button when publishing the post. → Read More
John Borthwick and his investment company Betaworks made news last week by acquiring Instapaper, a popular read-it-later app. However, he’s not just looking for companies that are situating themselves on the virtual plane. Instead, he recommends entrepreneurs seriously consider New York as a launch spot, especially if they’re in the media, ad, or hardware game. → Read More
Everyone’s favorite electronics hobby shop, Adafruit has posted instructions for building your own HAL 9000 replica out of a big red button, an Arduino board, and some cleverly cut plastic. Best of all? With the press of a button you can make HAL tell you what to do – until you kill it. → Read More
This is a fascinating little blip that popped up this morning and bears a mention. Games company GreenHeart released an $8 game called Game Dev Tycoon. The creator, Patrick Klug, sold a few hundred copies and, as a special treat, released a torrent of the game with a special feature built-in: after hours of play, the little virtual game devs would get a sales report that said pirates were stealing… → Read More
Tom and Tony Cannon are former Silicon Valley programmers who, in 2011, turned to indie game making. They are launching a new game, called Stonehearth, that looks like a cross between Civilization, Minecraft, and Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. → Read More
I took a few minutes to sit down with Jonah Peretti, founder of BuzzFeed, at TechCrunch Disrupt NY today. I wanted to ask him about how we, as humans, were changing due to new pressures on our brains and bodies associated with hanging out too much on sites like BuzzFeed. → Read More
If trapped on a deserted island, you may want to spend months looking for the Pearl Station and figuring out the smoke monster, you could just pull the antenna out of the Breitling Emergency II and call in a rescue party. The original Emergency watch, designed in the 1990s, sent 121.5 MHz signal that could be heard by rescue craft within 100 miles of the watch. The new model also transmits at… → Read More
This week on the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast we talk about the Blackberry Q10, The HTC One, and the Fitbit Flex. This time we’re joined by Matt Burns, Darrell Etherington, Chris Velazco, and a tiny thinger that won’t fit into the bracelet. Enjoy! → Read More
Founded by Dan Gellert and Jeff Arena, Time Warner Ventures and Yahoo! alums respectively, GateGuru is second behind TripIt in terms of users and downloads. The app helps you build itineraries with simple input methods including selecting flights by number or even emailing itineraries into the program. Once you’ve set up your itinerary, the company makes money by pitching last minute car and hotel… → Read More
If the whole of human knowledge were to be wiped out tomorrow, how would you recreate the consumer electronics industry so you can jam out to some rockin’ tunes? Why you’d build these unique 3D-printed headphones. Except for some twists of wire, these cans consist of thin pieces of printed plastic and the speakers are actually plastic with a coil of copper wire embedded, by hand, into a set of… → Read More
Whether you’re fighting mutant cyborg dogs in a hellish, post-apocalyptic wasteland or, more likely, dealing with potentially radioactive substances on a daily basis, the MTM ‘Rad’ watch may be the wrist droid you’re looking for. → Read More
In case you can’t wait for Jony Ive to give iOS a complete revamp, there’s Classic Note, an app that will bring back a bit of the Woz-Jobs magic in fully 128K glory. The app includes a note taker and calculator into a package that harkens back to the days of the original Macintosh. → Read More
While I’m not a big fan of ostentatious watches that cost too much and are aimed at buyers with more money than sense (in short, most of the Hublot line) I will give this odd-looking watch a moment of reflection. It is the MP-05 LaFerrari, a tourbillon watch with a 50-day power reserve, a number almost unheard of in the watch world, and a unique styling that is reminiscent of a certain Arashikage… → Read More
As a man who spends most of his time in his attic, it’s nice to hit the open roads, feel a little wind in your hair, and run over crack vials as you motor through downtown Manhattan. That’s exactly what I did yesterday as when I tried to ride an Ultra Motors A2B Metro electric bike from Bay Ridge to our offices on Broadway, thereby cementing my love for electric bikes and this electric bike in… → Read More
I was lucky enough to get Incident Tech’s new gTar, a MIDI/DSP-based guitar that is perfect for both teaching and composition. The guitar, with the current software and feature set, isn’t quite the shredder’s dream – yet – but as a teaching system it’s excellent and I found it quite playable both “live” and while recording MIDI music. → Read More
CharityBuzz in conjunction with the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights is auctioning off a coffee break with Apple CEO Tim Cook at his Cupertino office, a prize valued at $50,000. That’s right: if you have a great idea for the next Apple TV With Smellovision this could be your chance. → Read More
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