Avery Ellis, Author at Gizmodo

Five Years Later, Google Express Is No Closer to Beating Amazon

September 25 will mark five years since Google first launched Shopping Express, the e-commerce offering meant to challenge Amazon’s dominance. But despite Google parent company Alphabet’s staffing brain trust and impressive coffers, Express has done little to reinvent fulfillment—in fact, according to several current and former workers, it’s been running much the same playbook as…

Tech News Avery Ellis Aug 29

Why Is Amazon Scared of Bernie Sanders?

Amazon took the time this morning to respond to Senator Bernie Sanders in a blog post where the company decried his “misleading statements about pay and benefits.” We can (and will) address the many counter-claims the company makes. But the inescapable question resulting from this response by a usually tight-lipped, media-averse firm is: Just what…

Commerce Avery Ellis Aug 29

Facebook Pushes Back on Reporting About its User Trust Ranking

As disclosed by the Washington Post this morning, Facebook has been ranking users on their trustworthiness in identifying false information—though in a statement to Gizmodo, the platform distanced itself from implications that trust rank is broadly applicable to all facets of the network. “The idea that we have a centralized ‘reputation’ score for people that…

Social Media Avery Ellis Aug 21

Second Lawyer Pleads Guilty in Bizarre Scheme to Extort Millions From Porn Pirates

Paul Hansmeier, a Minnesota lawyer who could generously be called enterprising, has plead guilty to charges of money laundering and wire fraud, concluding a bizarre saga of porn, piracy, and extortion. As Gizmodo covered when the charges first came down in Minnesota District Court nearly two years ago, Hansmeier and his codefendant John L Steele…

Tech News Avery Ellis Aug 20

‘This Guy Is Super [Nuts Emoji]’: Elon Musk on Whistleblower Accusing Tesla of Illegally Spying on Employee

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Thursday moved to discredit a former employee and self-proclaimed whistleblower whose attorneys have accused Musk of authorizing Tesla to allegedly engage in “unauthorized wiretapping and hacking” of another former employee of the electric car manufacturer. “This guy is super 🥜,” Musk told Gizmodo over Twitter DM. (That last bit is…

Tech News Avery Ellis Aug 16

Here’s the Letter 1,400 Google Workers Sent Leadership in Protest of Censored Search Engine for China

Following similar action against secretive AI drone imaging program for the U.S. military, Project Maven, Googlers are once again organizing internally to push back against their leadership—this time around a project dubbed Dragonfly, the proposed search product the company intends to build for the Chinese market in accordance with government-mandated censorship. The letter, first reported…

Tech News Avery Ellis Aug 16

What Am I Worth to Advertisers? My Obsessive Quest to Put a Price on My Attention

319. That’s the number of discrete advertisements, both online and off, served to me over the course of one Tuesday in July. I know because I counted each and every one. Why catalog the informational noise that, in many cases, our brains have quite literally trained themselves to ignore? Hidden in plain sight, ad money…

Tech News Avery Ellis Aug 15

Tesla Hit With Third Class-Action Suit Over Musk’s Stock Tweets

Embattled electric car manufacturer Tesla racked up its third class-action suit, filed this evening in California’s Northern District Court, stemming from bizarre and potentially unfounded tweets sent last week by CEO Elon Musk. The first such suit was filed Friday by Tesla short seller Kalman Isaacs, who contended that the tweets were solely intended to…

Tech News Avery Ellis Aug 13

Wikileaks Served With DNC Lawsuit Over Twitter

In what may be a first for the American legal system, Wikileaks—the radical transparency organization turned Russia propaganda cell run—was served a lawsuit today in a tweet by law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC. The firm, which has not tweeted from this account before or since, appears to have created it specifically for…

Tech News Avery Ellis Aug 10

Uber, Lyft Dealt Blow as NYC Council Votes to Cap Licenses for Rideshare Vehicles

In a stunning blow to companies like Uber and Lyft, the New York City Council today approved a one-year halt on issuing new licenses to rideshare drivers. The yearlong halt will give the council time to survey the current state of ridesharing in the city, and potentially enact minimum pay rules for drivers using these…

Tech News Avery Ellis Aug 8

Alex Jones Is Shirtlessly Screaming Into the Void on Popular Social Network Google+

Anti-government conspiracy theorist turned pro-Trump mouthpiece Alex Jones found his hard-won followings on the web’s biggest platforms stripped away this week. In this day and age, there’s just nowhere left online for a red-blooded patriot to speak his mind. Nowhere, it seems, except for Google+. The frequently shirtless Truth Crusader best known for repeatedly and…

Tech News Avery Ellis Aug 7

Amazon Imagines Future Employee Surveillance With Patent Application for AR Goggles

Amazon was criticized earlier this year for a controversial patent application that detailed an “ultrasonic bracelet” that could be used to surveil workers. The company’s newly public application for augmented reality goggles made specifically for warehouse workers is far more alarming. The purpose of “Augmented Reality User Interface Facilitating Fulfillment” is, on its face, a…

Commerce Avery Ellis Aug 2

Reddit Hacked, Some User Data Stolen

According to chief technology officer Christopher Slowe, Reddit—the fifth-most trafficked website in the U.S.—suffered a data breach at the hands of a hacker or a group of hackers between June 14 and June 18. Veteran users of the “frontpage of the internet” should consider securing their accounts. In a post to r/announcements, Slowe explains that…

Privacy & Security Avery Ellis Aug 1

Six Arrested at Amazon Store Amid Anti-ICE Protest in NYC

Coinciding with a national “we won’t be complicit” day of action aimed against US Immigrations Customs and Enforcement (ICE) approximately 100 protesters gathered in Midtown to pressure tech companies, which in recently months have drawn criticism for providing infrastructural support to the agency. Beginning around 5:30 outside Microsoft’s offices across from the Port Authority, demonstrators…

Tech News Avery Ellis Jul 31

For Better or Worse, YouTube Now Adapts to Multiple Aspect Ratios

To anyone whose YouTube pages started to look strange today, you’re not alone: with little fanfare, the site pushed a change that now adapts its video player to match the aspect ratio of your content. Until now YouTube forced all videos into a 16:9 ratio by windowboxing them, meaning surround them with black vertical or…

Tech News Avery Ellis Jul 27

Twitter Responds to Claims of ‘Shadow Banning’

Following an apparent change to Twitter’s auto-populating search dropdown first discovered by Gizmodo over the weekend, the platform has responded to a wave of angry, uninformed criticism on its official blog. https://gizmodo.com/twitter-may-be-demoting-controversial-accounts-in-searc-1827788070 While Gizmodo’s findings indicated the platform had made it slightly more difficult to discover the accounts of known bad-faith actors, this unannounced change…

Tech News Avery Ellis Jul 26

Twitter May Be Demoting Controversial Accounts in Search Results

In what appears to be new ranking behavior, Gizmodo has identified several prominent far-right accounts now buried by Twitter’s search feature. The accounts—which belong to figures like Unite The Right organizer Jason Kessler and white nationalist Richard Spencer—no longer appear in the social platform’s dropdown results, when searching either for their display names or @…

Tech News Avery Ellis Jul 22

Uber Drivers Win Unemployment Eligibility in New York

The New York State labor review board has found that three Uber drivers and “other similarly situated drivers” qualify as employees for the purposes of applying for unemployment. The ruling, which the New York Taxi Workers Alliance hailed as a “historic victory,” came down last Friday and was first reported yesterday by Politico. This represents…

Tech News Avery Ellis Jul 20

Salesforce Faces Boycott Threat as RAICES Rejects $250,000 Donation Over CBP Contract

Embroiled cloud computing company Salesforce tried to sanitize its image through a hefty donation to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services—one of the highest-profile organizations resisting our draconian immigration policy. RAICES said no thanks—and at least six other high-profile organizations are now threatening to cut ties with the company. Salesforce’s work…

Tech News Avery Ellis Jul 19

Trump’s FDA, Sticking to Pressing Issues, Takes Aim at Nut Milks

Scott Gottlieb is the current head of the FDA, and as of today, his most notable contribution to the agency is the following phrase, spoken at the Politico Pro Summit on Tuesday: “An almond doesn’t lactate, I will confess.” Not much of a confession, unless he has attempted to find the teat of a tree…

Tech News Avery Ellis Jul 17

Avery Ellis

Five Years Later, Google Express Is No Closer to Beating Amazon

Why Is Amazon Scared of Bernie Sanders?

Facebook Pushes Back on Reporting About its User Trust Ranking

Second Lawyer Pleads Guilty in Bizarre Scheme to Extort Millions From Porn Pirates

‘This Guy Is Super [Nuts Emoji]’: Elon Musk on Whistleblower Accusing Tesla of Illegally Spying on Employee

Here’s the Letter 1,400 Google Workers Sent Leadership in Protest of Censored Search Engine for China

What Am I Worth to Advertisers? My Obsessive Quest to Put a Price on My Attention

Tesla Hit With Third Class-Action Suit Over Musk’s Stock Tweets

Wikileaks Served With DNC Lawsuit Over Twitter

Uber, Lyft Dealt Blow as NYC Council Votes to Cap Licenses for Rideshare Vehicles

Alex Jones Is Shirtlessly Screaming Into the Void on Popular Social Network Google+

Amazon Imagines Future Employee Surveillance With Patent Application for AR Goggles

Reddit Hacked, Some User Data Stolen

Six Arrested at Amazon Store Amid Anti-ICE Protest in NYC

For Better or Worse, YouTube Now Adapts to Multiple Aspect Ratios

Twitter Responds to Claims of ‘Shadow Banning’

Twitter May Be Demoting Controversial Accounts in Search Results

Uber Drivers Win Unemployment Eligibility in New York

Salesforce Faces Boycott Threat as RAICES Rejects $250,000 Donation Over CBP Contract

Trump’s FDA, Sticking to Pressing Issues, Takes Aim at Nut Milks

Ryan Coogler Is Shifting ‘Animorphs’ Into a Disney+ Show

No Fooling, ‘Spaceballs 2’ Will Hit Theaters April 2027

I Regret to Inform You That the Artemis II Astronauts Are Having Lots of Screen Time

The First ‘Maul: Shadow Lord’ Reactions Are Most Solid

‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 3 Is Doing What You Hoped

Wearables Are Getting Very Messy

Trump Wants to Start Privatizing TSA in Latest Budget Proposal

Lost Warship From Battle of Copenhagen Found After 225 Years

These One-of-a-Kind Objects Are in the Wrong Museums

Two Songs We Really Wish Were the Anime Outros for ‘Steel Ball Run’

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life