AJ Dellinger, Author at Gizmodo

India Calls on WhatsApp to Stop the Spread of Hoax Messages That Have Led to Lynchings

WhatsApp is promising to introduce new features intended to prevent the spread of hoax messages in India following reports that more than one dozen lynchings have occurred in the country as a result of false rumors spread on the popular, Facebook-owned messaging service. According to BuzzFeed, WhatsApp sent a letter to India’s Ministry of Electronics…

Social Media AJ Dellinger Jul 4 '18

Doubts About Amazon Prime, Westworld Finale, and Nazi UFO: Best Gizmodo Stories of the Week

Do you ever get that feeling that someone is pulling a fast one on you? That’s the feeling we’re starting to get with Amazon Prime, the flagship service that provides two-day shipping and all sorts of other perks…but quietly keeps trickling up in price. At what point do you consider dropping a service that you’ve…

Tech News AJ Dellinger Jul 1 '18

Facebook Discloses More Data Sharing Partnerships As the Hits Just Keep Coming

It’s a day of the week, so that means it’s time for more revelations about Facebook’s sharing habits that it hadn’t previously revealed to users. In the latest entry in the endless attempt at retroactive transparency, Facebook revealed to Congress that it shared data with 52 hardware and software companies, including some firms headquartered in…

Social Media AJ Dellinger Jul 1 '18

Huh, MoviePass Leadership Sure Seems Shady

MoviePass has been operating for nearly a full year on its too-good-to-be-true premise of offering essentially unlimited movie passes to subscribers for just $9.99 per month. It’s the monorail and, according to a report from the Miami Herald, company CEO Ted Farnsworth sure seems like a dead ringer for Lyle Lanley. Farnsworth, the head of…

Tech News AJ Dellinger Jul 1 '18

A Canadian Restaurant Refused to Serve a Man Wearing a MAGA Hat and Now Its Yelp Score is Ruined

Because we’ve apparently learned nothing and are doomed to relive the same news cycle over and over, Yelp has once again become the home for airing political grievances. This time, a Canadian restaurant was made the target of negative reviews after the manager asked a man in a “Make America Great Again” hat to leave.…

Tech News AJ Dellinger Jul 1 '18

Government Study Says You’re Washing Your Hands the Wrong Way, Which Is Gross and You Should Fix It

Hey, did you wash your hands recently? Well, you probably did it wrong. CNN pointed out a recent government study found that 97 percent of the time, people fail to properly wash their hands—a problem that can lead to all sorts of unnecessary illnesses being spread. According to the US Department of Agriculture, people are…

Health AJ Dellinger Jun 30 '18

Smart Home Security Camera Sends Footage to Wrong Person, Is Maybe Not So Smart After All

Internet-connected devices are known for having their fair share of security issues—especially when it comes to cameras. But here’s a new one: the BBC reported this week that a smart home security camera started sending video clips to the wrong person. The BBC first caught wind of the problem shortly after one of its employees…

Privacy & Security AJ Dellinger Jun 30 '18

Capital Gazette Shooting Suspect Was IDed Using Controversial Facial Recognition Database

Law enforcement officers in Maryland used facial recognition technology to identify the suspected shooter believed to be responsible for killing five staff members and injuring at least two others in the offices of newspaper company Capital Gazette on Thursday. Authorities were able to ID the apparent shooter by taking a photo of the suspect in…

Privacy & Security AJ Dellinger Jun 30 '18

Why Adult Content Creators Are Mad at Patreon

Patreon, the service of choice for independent artists and creators, has once again cracked down on adult content makers. This week, a slew of Patreon creators who make suggestive material received notification that their pages were suspended or shut down. According to a report from Motherboard, the primary reason given to those hit by the…

Tech News AJ Dellinger Jun 30 '18

Your Tinder Photos Are Finally Encrypted Thanks to a 69-Year-Old Senator

Tinder may be known primarily as a millennial hookup app but thanks to a little pressure from a 69-year-old, married Baby Boomer senator, the dating service is more secure. Tinder parent company Match Group announced this week in a letter to Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden that it will finally encrypt photos uploaded by its users.…

Tech News AJ Dellinger Jun 29 '18

Juul Raising $1.2 Billion to Get More Teens Hooked on Vaping

Juul Labs, the makers of the Juul e-cigarette that is popular among teens for its discreet design and addictive flavors of nicotine juice, is raising $1.2 billion to hopes of hooking a new generation to a maybe kinda slightly healthier version of smoking. The fundraising effort, reported by Bloomberg, would value the company at $15…

Health AJ Dellinger Jun 29 '18

Majority of Americans Think Social Media Sites Censor Political Viewpoints

It’s a real challenge to find just about anything that Republicans and Democrats can agree upon in the current political climate, but Pew Research Center managed to do just that. As it turns out, in both parties believe their views are being suppressed by social media. A total of 72 percent of all US adults…

Tech News AJ Dellinger Jun 29 '18

Capital Gazette Shooting Suspect Sued Paper for Reporting His Online Threats Against a Former Classmate

The suspect believed to have carried out the shooting at the offices of Annapolis, Maryland newspaper company Capital Gazette that left at least five dead and two injured sued the publication for defamation in 2012. The charges were thrown out by the judge. Authorities identified the shooting suspect as 38-year-old Jarrod Ramos. He was identified…

Tech News AJ Dellinger Jun 28 '18

MoviePass is Selling Merch Now, Which Will Definitely Turn Things Around for It

MoviePass, a company that exists solely to piss off its customers despite offering a service so generously price that it will inevitably lead to its own downfall, entered the “we’re selling flamethrowers” phase of its existence Thursday with the official launch of its merch store. The collapse of the company is sure to follow. At…

Tech News AJ Dellinger Jun 28 '18

Pornhub Adds Closed Captions For the Hearing Impaired and Stenographer Fetishists

Pornhub, the internet’s favorite smut factory, announced Wednesday that it is introducing a new feature to its massive collection of adult videos. The streaming service is adding closed captions to some of its videos to extend its offerings to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. According to the company, it will start its…

Tech News AJ Dellinger Jun 28 '18

Personal Information of 340 Million People and Businesses Leaked By Florida Marketing Firm

A little-known, Florida-based marketing firm called Exactis may be responsible for a significant amount of personal data being exposed. According to a report from Wired, the firm left 340 million individual records on a publicly accessible server that any person could have gotten ahold of. The leak was discovered earlier this month by security researcher…

Privacy & Security AJ Dellinger Jun 27 '18

FTC’s New Head of Consumer Protection is a Major Corporate Shill

At this point when a new person joins the Trump administration as a regulator, the question isn’t if they are a corporate shill, it’s how big of one are they? In the case of Andrew Smith, the new head of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission, he is truly a shill’s…

Tech News AJ Dellinger Jun 27 '18

Editor’s Note

This post has been removed. In June, we wrote a story based on information from the Daily Mail (which was based on reporting by the Daily Mirror) about engineer Dr. Sergi Santos and his artificially intelligent, sensor-packed sex robot Samantha. Since last year, the bot has made headlines for its (relatively) lifelike appearance, and Santos’…

Tech News AJ Dellinger Jun 24 '18

AT&T Employees Reportedly Encouraged to Use Unethical Sales Tactics to Drive Up DirecTV Now Subscriptions

Former AT&T employees are blowing the whistle on the company, accusing higher-ups at the telecommunications giant of pushing its sales team to aggressively sign up customers for its streaming service DirecTV Now, leading to consumers paying for unexpected charges. Hawaii News Now spoke with several AT&T employees, including some who were fired for engaging in…

Tech News AJ Dellinger Jun 24 '18

Best-Selling Carbon Monoxide Detector Removed From Amazon and eBay Because It’s Defective

Amazon and eBay have removed several carbon monoxide detectors from their respective marketplaces after a recent investigation found the devices consistently failed to alert users when gas is present, putting peoples’ lives at risk. According to The Guardian, the UK-based consumer protection group Which? tested four alarms sold through the online marketplaces, including one Amazon…

Commerce AJ Dellinger Jun 24 '18

AJ Dellinger

India Calls on WhatsApp to Stop the Spread of Hoax Messages That Have Led to Lynchings

Doubts About Amazon Prime, Westworld Finale, and Nazi UFO: Best Gizmodo Stories of the Week

Facebook Discloses More Data Sharing Partnerships As the Hits Just Keep Coming

Huh, MoviePass Leadership Sure Seems Shady

A Canadian Restaurant Refused to Serve a Man Wearing a MAGA Hat and Now Its Yelp Score is Ruined

Government Study Says You’re Washing Your Hands the Wrong Way, Which Is Gross and You Should Fix It

Smart Home Security Camera Sends Footage to Wrong Person, Is Maybe Not So Smart After All

Capital Gazette Shooting Suspect Was IDed Using Controversial Facial Recognition Database

Why Adult Content Creators Are Mad at Patreon

Your Tinder Photos Are Finally Encrypted Thanks to a 69-Year-Old Senator

Juul Raising $1.2 Billion to Get More Teens Hooked on Vaping

Majority of Americans Think Social Media Sites Censor Political Viewpoints

Capital Gazette Shooting Suspect Sued Paper for Reporting His Online Threats Against a Former Classmate

MoviePass is Selling Merch Now, Which Will Definitely Turn Things Around for It

Pornhub Adds Closed Captions For the Hearing Impaired and Stenographer Fetishists

Personal Information of 340 Million People and Businesses Leaked By Florida Marketing Firm

FTC’s New Head of Consumer Protection is a Major Corporate Shill

Editor’s Note

AT&T Employees Reportedly Encouraged to Use Unethical Sales Tactics to Drive Up DirecTV Now Subscriptions

Best-Selling Carbon Monoxide Detector Removed From Amazon and eBay Because It’s Defective

Bigger, Faster, Stronger: 3 Reasons Why Starship V3 Will Be a Spaceflight Game Changer

The Young Are Being Battered by AI as Hiring Shifts to Older Workers

An Experiment Put LLMs in Charge of Radio Stations. You’ll Never Guess How It Went

Elon Musk Explains Why the SpaceX Board Must Be Powerless to Fire Him

Peter Jackson Sure Wants to Do More ‘Lord of the Rings’ Movies

‘The Batman Part II’ Turned to Social Media to Reassure Its Fans

American Jobs with AI Exposure Really Are Starting to Disappear, Data Show

The ‘Masters of the Universe’ Score Sounds Good as Hell

ChatGPT Can Now Connect to Your Bank Account and See All Your Transactions

Behold, Your First Look at Metal Sonic for ‘Sonic 4’

Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker Review: Sonos Can Start Sweating Now

Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar Review: A Boisterous Stab at Dominating Home Theater

Dell’s XPS 16 (2026) Is Almost Everything I Could Have Asked for… Almost

Smart Glasses With Subscriptions Are As Bad as They Sound

iBuyPower’s Trace X Gaming PC Is the Fishbowl You Want to Swim In

Govee Ceiling Light Ultra Review: AI Art Ain’t It

JBL Live 780NC Review: Solid Wireless Headphones You Can Live Without

Acer’s Swift 16 AI (2026) Gets a Lot Right, But I Can’t Get Past the Trackpad

Samsung Galaxy A57 5G Review: Not Worth It at Full Price

Logitech G G512 X Review: The Tasting Menu of a Pro Gaming Keyboard