Annalee Newitz

Microsoft Is Being Sued for Sex Discrimination

Remember when Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told women not to ask for raises, but to “have faith” that they’d get one eventually? According to a class action suit against Microsoft, this kind of talk was just par for the course at a company that undervalues women and does little to discourage sexual harassment. Former Microsoft…

Syrian Refugees Are Finding Safe Haven Using Apps

When Hungary violently closed its border this week to refugees streaming in from Syria, people took to social media to find another way out. Using their phones, refugees charted a course to Croatia, whose leaders have pledged to welcome them. William Booth, writing in the Washington Post, captures the scene: “We hit a stone and…

Why Apple Decided to Block Ads on the Same Day It Started Pushing a News App

Well that’s quite a coincidence. The very same day Apple turned its News app into a mandatory blob on your home screen, it also rolled out ad blocking capabilities in iOS 9. The day after iOS 9’s release, over ten percent of iOS users have already downloaded iOS 9, according to Paddle Analytics. That means…

Google’s OnHub Is a Mysterious and Slightly Terrible Device

The OnHub is Google’s latest weird experiment. It’s a $200 router stuffed with fourteen antennas that’s being marketed as a cure-all for people who have a zillion wireless devices with different network needs. But what does that actually mean? I tore down my OnHub with the hardware hackers at iFixit to find out. For those…

This Week, Your Survival Is at Stake

You know you worry about it sometimes. What if there were a massive earthquake, or a huge storm … or you just got lost in the wilderness, with nothing more than your wits and a few gadgets in your pockets? This week on io9 and Gizmodo, we’ll tell you how to survive. Or not. All…

These Anti-Surveillance Cosplayers Are the Best

We’ve got an amazing gallery of cosplay from last weekend’s massive Dragon Con convention, taken from the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Project Secret Identity. EFF activist Dave Maass says: Cosplayers get it: anonymity can be a form of speech. What we learned this weekend is that the fandoms understand the importance of encryption and the dangers…

Our Apple iPhone Liveblog Is Right Here

Just like you, we weren’t invited to the Apple Day frenzy at San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. So we’ve got a completely candid liveblog of the keynote, bringing you Apple without the Kool Aid. It’ll be right here at 12:30 PM ET/9:30AM PT. Also, be sure to watch the livestream! Contact the author at…

Where to Watch the Apple Day Keynote

Today is Apple Day, which means we’ll be huddled ‘round the old livestream, boiling peanuts and thinking about the glorious iPhones, iPads, and maybe even Apple TV services that await us. Come join us — we’ll be tuning in with you. To watch the livestream, visit the Apple Events page at 10 AM pacific time…

Welp, We Need to Update Godwin’s Law

Godwin’s Law is one of the oldest laws of the internet. Attorney Mike Godwin invented it back in the 1990s, and it goes as follows: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.” And now there’s a new addendum to the law for the social media…

How Ashley Madison Hid Its Fembot Con From Users and Investigators

The developers at Ashley Madison created their first artificial woman sometime in early 2002. Her nickname was Sensuous Kitten, and she is listed as the tenth member of Ashley Madison in the company’s leaked user database. On her profile, she announces: “I’m having trouble with my computer … send a message!” Sensuous Kitten was the…

P-phubbing Is Ruining Your Relationships

Have you ever p-phubbed? You know, snubbed your partner by checking your phone during your date? Or leaving your iPhone out within reach while you’re on the sofa snogging? Now two researchers say there’s strong evidence that your p-phubbing is wrecking your relationships and making you depressed. The term phubbing became wildly popular in Australia…

Going to DragonCon in Atlanta this weekend to show off your cosplay swag? Look for Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Project Secret Identity. Gizmodo is co-sponsoring this weekend-long project to photograph cosplayers — and protect anonymity and privacy at the same time! You have a right to be in disguise. Contact the author at [email protected]. Public PGP…

One Chart That Shows How Much Money Ashley Madison Made Using Bots

Earlier today, I reported that Ashley Madison’s source code reveals a concerted effort to create an army of thousands of female bots called “engagers” to coax men into paying more for the site’s services. Now we have a chart from the company’s leaked emails that shows how much money they made from the bots. This…

Ashley Madison Code Shows More Women, and More Bots

After searching through the Ashley Madison database and private email last week, I reported that there might be roughly 12,000 real women active on Ashley Madison. Now, after looking at the company’s source code, it’s clear that I arrived at that low number based in part on a misunderstanding of the evidence. Equally clear is…

The Fembots of Ashley Madison [Updated]

Now we know that almost none of the woman in the Ashley Madison database ever used the site. The question is, was this a deliberate fraud? Or was it just a dating site gone wrong? Editor’s Note: The number of female users reported in this article are based in part on a misinterpretation of the…

Almost None of the Women in the Ashley Madison Database Ever Used the Site [Updated]

When hacker group Impact Team released the Ashley Madison data, they asserted that “thousands” of the women’s profiles were fake. Later, this number got blown up in news stories that asserted “90-95%” of them were fake, though nobody put forth any evidence for such an enormous number. So I downloaded the data and analyzed it…

The Best Techno-thriller of the Weekend is American Ultra

If you love action and futuristic conspiracies, you can skip the blockbuster sequels this weekend and head straight for the funny, fiendish flick American Ultra. It’s billed as a stoner comedy, but this weird secret agent, mind control ninja story is so much better than that. American Ultra stars Jesse Eisenberg as Mike, a twenty-something…

When Is Flash Finally Going to Die?

Apparently the answer is pretty much never, despite the efforts of Apple, Google … and now, Amazon. The mega-retailer made the announcement this week in the “technical guidelines” section of its site devoted to advertising on Amazon. It will no longer support Flash content in advertising, which means Flash has now lost the support of…

This Rotary Dial Smartphone Hack Fills Me With Glee

Rotary dials are one of my favorite UI devices. I like the force feedback they provide as you spin a number in, and the sound they make as the dial zips back into position. At last, I can have that feeling every time I make a call, using Polish engineer Paweł Zadrożniak’s crazy DiY rotary…

Gizmodo’s own Alissa Walker, who covers urbanism with burning insight and flair, has been honored by the Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Architects this year as an outstanding design advocate for the city. Congrats, Alissa! You rock. Contact the author at [email protected]. Public PGP key PGP fingerprint: CA58 326B 1ACB 133B 0D15…