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Timothy Seppala

  • Copywriter and Freelance Reporter, Freelance
Detroit
As seen in: Wirecutter, Yahoo News, Engadget, IGN, Netflix Tudum, Yahoo Finance, Ars Technica, Entrepreneur, The Daily Beast, Flipboard and
Covers:  Michigan tech, STEM, Detroit, small business, science, xbox one, video games, ps4, hd, nintendo, heavy metal, tech, automotive, home theater
Doesn't Cover: finance, theater, enterprise software,
Multimedia storyteller est. 2008 | Previous: Daily Beast, Wired, Engadget, Ars Technica | Jeff Hanneman over Dimebag Darrell | Pitch: timothyseppala @ gmail
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Michigan's manufacturing past is fueling its tech future

Michigan's manufacturing past is fueling its tech future

Engadget — Between writing and reporting, I had seven months in this piece. It's the biggest story I've ever worked on in terms of breadth and scope, and I couldn't be more proud of how it turned out. From March 2017 to October 2017 I interviewed and photographed my governor and dozens of others across the state like the president of luxury watchmaker Shinola in Detroit and directors at Rick DeVos' Start Garden startup accelerator in Grand Rapids. I wanted to find out what was driving the state's comeback from the brink. It turns out Michigan's manufacturing prowess and hardworking people have played as big of, if not a bigger, role in its renaissance than that of recent multimillion-dollar investments from the likes of Amazon, Facebook and LG.
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The charity that wants video game karts in every hospital

The charity that wants video game karts in every hospital

Engadget — He has a rare disease called pyruvate kinase deficiency. Essentially, his red blood cells can't produce the right molecules fast enough and die at a rapid rate. He's been coming to the infusion center at the University of Michigan's Mott hospital for four years.
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The Army could save hydrogen cars from a premature death

The Army could save hydrogen cars from a premature death

Engadget — But while HFC tech struggles in the civilian world thanks to high prices and a dearth of refueling infrastructure, there's one area where neither of those shortcomings has much bearing: the military.
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Shooting a laser-guided rifle made me feel like a robot

Shooting a laser-guided rifle made me feel like a robot

Engadget — brand-new and you have a recipe for failure. Or should have. While I can barely pull off a headshot in a video game, I nailed one on my first try with TrackingPoint's high-powered, precision-guided rifle. Once the initial wave of "Holy shit!" wore off, something else replaced my elation: I didn't feel I'd earned that bull's-eye because basically all I had to do was pull the trigger. On my way back into Sin City, I couldn't get over just how cold and emotionless that left me feeling.
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Why sneakerheads are leaving eBay for Detroit startup StockX

Why sneakerheads are leaving eBay for Detroit startup StockX

Engadget — My profile on Detroit startup StockX, which bills itself as a "stock market of things." Right now it's mostly used for high-end sneakers and streetwear. But, it also verifies authenticity for everything it sells including luxury watches and handbags. The company is beating eBay at its own game, and now StockX wants to sell everything.
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Ascape Audio and the economics of making headphones in America

Ascape Audio and the economics of making headphones in America

Engadget — Ascape Audio's home page proudly proclaims "Designed in Detroit," but at this point it's not helping business. "It hasn't made any goddamn impact," marketing director Dean Clancy said. "I want to put that in as many places as possible, because regardless of how it impacts our sales, I just want people to know we're doing it here," he said. "Designed in Detroit" they may be, but economics makes manufacturing Ascape's earbuds in the Motor City impossible. President Paul Schrems estimated it'd take at least $5 million to build a factory and staff it, so the company has offshore-manufacturing contracts for the wireless earbuds it designs in the D. "These things I wanna make are not made here," Schrems told me recently.
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The most eye-catching cars and tech from NAIAS 2018 in Detroit

The most eye-catching cars and tech from NAIAS 2018 in Detroit

Engadget — My photo gallery from the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
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TED founder thinks big data needs a big makeover

TED founder thinks big data needs a big makeover

Engadget — Richard Saul Wurman isn't a fan of President Barack Obama's push for data.gov, an online repository for big data. "That's just politicians talking," the 79-year-old TED (technology, entertainment, design) conference founder told me. "I think there will be a pushback saying, 'We don't understand all this fucking data.'" The way Wurman sees it, that bulk collection of raw information has no value without a creative means of diagramming, mapping and comparing it all in a way that gives it meaning. "[You] have to have it in a form that you can understand. They're leaving that step out," he said.
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Inside the automotive startup taking EVs off-road

Inside the automotive startup taking EVs off-road

Engadget — The Tesla Model X is the "least capable SUV ever made," according to Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe. It sits too low to the ground, for one, and yet, somehow, most American garages aren't tall enough for the rear doors to open. It's something that looks great sitting next to a Lamborghini or a Porsche, but it's more style than substance. It's an SUV in name alone. You won't take your Model X to ride the sand dunes for a weekend, but that's precisely what Scaringe wants you to do with anything his startup makes.
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The science behind the 'beats to study to' craze

The science behind the 'beats to study to' craze

Engadget — I've listened to The Social Network soundtrack for the last eight years as my goto music when I'm on deadline, but couldn't tell you what makes it work so well for me. Or, why ChilledCow's "lofi beats to relax/study to" was so popular for others. So, I did some digging and found out.
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Grand Rapids rock is deader than dead: What really killed the Grand Rapids's heavy metal scene?

Grand Rapids rock is deader than dead: What really killed the Grand Rapids's heavy metal scene?

MLive — NPR plays heavy metal. The week prior to the release of doom metal titan High on Fire's new album, the highly respected news source streamed it on its website. Wired.com recently did a rundown of the most metal apps for your smartphone.
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HD vinyl is a promise, not a product

HD vinyl is a promise, not a product

Engadget — I did a deep dive on something that sounded too good to be true: HD Vinyl, speaking to the format's inventor and folks in the music industry to see if the high-tech take on making records was more than just snake-oil.
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Destroying net neutrality will hurt artists and small businesses the most

Destroying net neutrality will hurt artists and small businesses the most

Engadget — "How hasn't [an open internet] benefited me would be a more fitting question," Martin Smith, a DJ and digital marketer told me. "Without an open internet, the music industry wouldn't be where it is today." Smith runs the digital-marketing firm Overflow, whose client list includes Coca-Cola, T-Mobile and Universal Music Group.
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LaughFest: What's so funny?

LaughFest: What's so funny?

MLive — Grand Rapids' comedy scene is more vibrant than you think. Its club and open mic nights are well respected by both local and national talent. Then there's LaughFest, which brings in some of the biggest names in comedy for ten days each March. The other 355 days aren't without laughs.
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Beer City: How Grand Rapids' craft brewing past influences its future

Beer City: How Grand Rapids' craft brewing past influences its future

MLive — Craft beer isn't a fad, it's a vital part of Grand Rapids's past, present, and future. Grand Rapids is home to the No. 2-rated brewery in the world and the third-best beer bar on the planet. This summer, we tied with Asheville, North Carolina, for the title of Beer City, U.S.A.
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Atari's betting its future on gays and gamblers

Atari's betting its future on gays and gamblers

Engadget — "If I had a hole in New Mexico, maybe that one [the Project Runway game] would have made it there." Todd Shallbetter, Atari's chief operating officer, is just joking of course. He's referencing the company's infamous 1983 move to bury countless amounts of unsold gaming hardware and E.T. game cartridges under a slab of cement in the desert. Shallbetter doesn't deny his company's rocky legacy. On the contrary, he embraces it, using its failures as a counterpoint for a new version of Atari he's helping to build.
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Finding truth in the legend of the Ada Witch

Finding truth in the legend of the Ada Witch

On-the-Town — What you know about the Ada Witch is wrong. "There are over a hundred different versions of the story," said Nikole Bray, founder of the West Michigan Ghost Hunter Society (WMGHS) and author of the Paranormal Michigan book series. Legend has it the Ada Witch was a polyamorous young bride. Late one night in the late-nineteenth or early-twentieth century (depending on whom you talk to), it's said she went out to meet her lover in the woods near Findlay Cemetery, on Two Mile Road in Ada. Her husband, suspecting infidelity, followed her. When he saw the two embrace, he killed his wife.
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'Mortal Kombat X' and the comedy of violence

'Mortal Kombat X' and the comedy of violence

Engadget — Mortal Kombat is synonymous with violence -- hell, it's baked into the franchise's name. But despite how increasingly gruesome the series has become with each successive release throughout its 23-year history, it hasn't lost sight of keeping the tone light as a counterbalance. Whether that's a head popping up saying, "Toasty!" in falsetto after a particularly brutal uppercut, or turning an opponent into a crying baby that slips on a puddle of frozen urine at the end of a match, humor is just as intrinsic to the game as its bloodshed.
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Microsoft Research helped 'Gears of War 4' sound so good

Microsoft Research helped 'Gears of War 4' sound so good

Engadget — At its simplest, Triton looks at an entire video game level and calculates the reverb properties of every material. From there, it applies realistic echo/reflection effects to the soundscape. This means incoming fire passing over a wooden crate sounds different than it would a brick wall.
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The story of the Duke, the Xbox pad that existed because it had to

The story of the Duke, the Xbox pad that existed because it had to

Engadget — My deep dive on the original Xbox's Duke gamepad, told by the people who made it over 16 years ago.
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PlayStation 4 Slim review: Wait for the PS4 Pro if you can

PlayStation 4 Slim review: Wait for the PS4 Pro if you can

Engadget — The touch-sensitive power and eject buttons have been replaced with physical buttons. The power key is physically larger, while the eject button is a cute circle. Both are slightly recessed, but differentiating between them in the dark shouldn't be a problem.
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A night in Richard Branson's state-of-the-art Virgin Hotel

A night in Richard Branson's state-of-the-art Virgin Hotel

Engadget — Richard Branson knows how to make a first impression. The first thing I saw when I arrived at Virgin's debut hotel was a statuesque blonde in a bright-red trench coat stepping out of a matching-hued Tesla, with a photographer documenting the whole ordeal. The photographer was there for glamour shots, naturally, and the Model S serves as the hotel's house car that'll drop guests off anywhere within a 2-mile radius. However, it wasn't in service just yet. Virgin bills the hotel as "brilliant," and to see just how smart it actually was, I spent a night in the premiere Chicago location.
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PS4's 'Detroit' couldn't have taken place anywhere else

PS4's 'Detroit' couldn't have taken place anywhere else

Engadget — Detroit tells the story of several humanoid robots and is set entirely in the Motor City. Like Cage's and Indigo Prophecy , Detroit is a narrative-based, choose-your-own-adventure game where the decisions you make in the story have huge ripple effects. Ultimately your actions could lead to main characters dying. As Cage told it, the game couldn't have taken place anywhere else. He said that the tale of an industrial titan -- Detroit and its automotive-manufacturing background -- going through difficult times and being reborn was a natural fit for his narrative. "Where would an android industry go?
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How 'Ratchet and Clank' preserves history by starting over

How 'Ratchet and Clank' preserves history by starting over

Engadget — "There are times I'd want to play a game in its exact original format almost to see how things have changed over the years," he continues. "That's not exactly what we were after for this one." And besides, they had already done something like that on the PlayStation 3 in 2012. With the new Ratchet and Clank, Insomniac has the opportunity to reconsider the game using everything it's learned in the intervening 14 years. How would Insomniac approach this as a foundation for future games while maintaining the spirit of the original?
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