Kate Knibbs, Author at Gizmodo

.Sucks Seller Accused of Ripping Off Poor Helpless Celebrities

The company selling off .SUCKS domains is making celebrities and brands pay premium prices to snatch up their .SUCKS addresses before their enemies do first. This is pissing off ICANN, the group tasked with regulating domains, which sees the scheme as a coercive shakedown. Vox Populi, the company selling off the new .SUCKS domains, is…

Tech News Kate Knibbs Apr 10

How Much Do You Spend on Uber?

I need to make a confession. Uber has terrible business practices, but makes up for it by being almost disturbingly less expensive than cabs. And I keep getting “inexpensive” mixed up with “free.” I spent the past year convincing myself that the only reason I use Uber is because it’s so cheap. When I actually…

Tech News Kate Knibbs Apr 9

CSI: Cyber and the Crowdsourced iPad Internet Addiction Bomb

We open in a movie theater, where two guys are arguing about cell phone etiquette. This discussion is perhaps the only vaguely realistic element of tonight’s episode, which is by far the dumbest CSI: Cyber installment yet, and yes, I am aware that is a bold statement. The offending screen light isn’t coming from a…

Television Kate Knibbs Apr 9

The UN Will Debate Whether to Ban Killer Robots

Whether or not to preemptively ban killer robots will be a debate point at a United Nations meeting next week. And yes, “killer robots” sounds like a sci-fi cliche. But this is the reality of the future of warfare, and this debate is unlikely to do much other than highlight how sinister military tech may…

Tech News Kate Knibbs Apr 9

AT&T Let Scammers Steal Personal Data from at Least 280,000 Customers

Nearly 280,000 AT&T customers had their personal data stolen by scammers, including the last four digits of social security numbers and other identifying information. The huge breach happened when at least three AT&T employees at a Mexico-based call center sold customer data to scammers. The breach went down from November 2013 to April 2014, lasting…

Tech News Kate Knibbs Apr 8

Facebook’s Messenger App Is Now a Full-Fledged Social Network

Facebook just checked off another step in its plan to turn Messenger into its own separate service— launching a distinct web version of its messaging app. If you go to Messenger.com today, you’ll see all your Facebook messages without dealing with Newsfeed. When Facebook spun Messenger off into its own mobile app, it felt like…

Social Media Kate Knibbs Apr 8

The FBI Lets Criminals Walk in Order to Keep This Device a Secret

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is notoriously secretive about its cell phone tracking tools known as Stingrays. Now, new documents obtained by the ACLU show how the Feds keep their surveillance gadgets shrouded in mystery: the FBImakes cops dismiss criminal cases if they threaten to reveal secrets about Stingrays. The American Civil Liberties Union received…

Privacy & Security Kate Knibbs Apr 8

Police in India Will Use Weaponized Pepper Spray Drones on Protesters

Indian police recently purchased five drones so they could dump pepper spray on protesters during political demonstrations. The police force in Lucknow, India (population 2 million) is prepping the drones to start releasing pepper spray as a form of crowd control, starting next month. Yashasvi Yadav, police chief of Lucknow, said his officers have successfully…

Tech News Kate Knibbs Apr 8

DEA Was Dragnet Spying on Billions of American Phone Calls for Decades

Indiscriminate spying was the DEA’s blunt force weapon of choice in its “War on Drugs.” The Drug Enforcement Agency and the Justice Department tracked billions of Americans’ phone calls, even people not suspected of crimes, for decades—and it looks like collateral damage wasn’t much of a concern. New details from a USA Today investigation made…

Privacy & Security Kate Knibbs Apr 8

A Look at the Tefifon, Germany’s Doomed 1950s Music Player

After World War II, people in the U.S. started buying vinyl and record players more than ever before. But over in West Germany, another music player took off: the Tefifon. Invented in the 1930s by a German engineer named Karl Daniel, the Tefifon is like a mash-up of several obsolete music technologies. Like an 8-track,…

Tech News Kate Knibbs Apr 7

Stolen Credit Card Data Spreads Around the World “Staggeringly” Fast

How do thieves share their stolen data online? Security firm BitGlass tried to answer the question by leaking a fake trove of profiles that included credit card info and social security numbers. BitGlass placed tracking watermark on the falsified data, so researchers could see each time someone clicked on it. After dropping the bait (a…

Tech News Kate Knibbs Apr 7

Lawsuit: Helicopter Pilot Crashed After Fooling Around on FaceTime

A helicopter pilot was goofing off on FaceTime shortly before a fatal crash, according to a lawsuit filed by a surviving passenger. The plaintiff, Jonathan Desouza, was getting a flying lesson from pilot Luis Aviles through Palm Beach Helicopters last December when things went horribly wrong. The helicopter crashed while Aviles was showing Desouza a…

Tech News Kate Knibbs Apr 7

Scammers and Skeptics Are Strangling the Future of Digital Money

Bitcoin devotees and other cryptocurrency fans say that math gives their radical ideas so much potential. But starting a new value system also requires a level of faith in the people using the math. As “shitcoin” scams pile up, it’s becoming clear that new currencies need trust, too. And they don’t have it. Nowhere is…

Tech News Kate Knibbs Apr 7

Trying to Make Game of Thrones Valyrian Steel Sword With Real Materials

Nothing reigns consistently in HBO’s Game of Thrones (and George R.R. Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire” book series that inspired it) except Valyrian steel, a magical sword material. Valyrian steel is, of course, extremely not real. But materials scientist Ryan Conselltook a look at its chemistry anyway. In the video below, Consell ponders what…

Tech News Kate Knibbs Apr 7

The TSA Is Using Behavior Screening To Identify Undocumented Immigrants

The Transportation Security Administration uses full-body scanners and other equipment to gauge whether travelers are a threat or not. And as much as it sucks to go through the TSA’s invasive X-ray and scanning checkpoints, it turns out the TSA’s tactics are pretty messed upeven when they’re low-tech. One of the TSA’s lowest-tech methods of…

Tech News Kate Knibbs Apr 6

NSA Has a Special Room to Find Terrorist Memos Hidden in Porn

If you’re working for the National Security Agency, watching hours of hardcore porno can be just another day at work. So much so, there’s even a special porn room in which to protect national security, where agents look past boobs for clues in the glut of smut. NSA agents analyze the pornography that terrorists and…

Privacy & Security Kate Knibbs Apr 6

I’m Not Sure This Senator Knows How the Internet Works

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca.) wants to remove The Anarchist Cookbook from the internet— you know, that notorious DIY bomb-making manual that has been around since the 1970s, is still available in print, the one you can buy on Amazon and find literally thousands of places online and offline for a pittance. Feinstein made her modest,…

Commerce Kate Knibbs Apr 3

Inside Morgellons, the Internet’s Disease

Joni Mitchell was hospitalized this week, but the songwriter has been sick for years. She has described her debilitating illness as “a slow, unpredictable killer–a terrorist disease. It will blow up one of your organs, leaving you in bed for a year.” Yet doctors have described this same illness as an internet meme, a delusion…

Tech News Kate Knibbs Apr 3

Netflix’s Nostalgia Trips Are Squelching TV’s Creativity

Netflix is apparently super close to inking a deal to rebootFull House, everyone’s favorite family-oriented sitcom about a grieving widower, his children, and his fuckup adult permanent houseguests leeching off his benevolence and remarkable real estate in San Francisco. And you know what? Uncles Jesse and Joey aren’t the only leeches in this situation. Netflix…

Movies Kate Knibbs Apr 3

The FBI Has Its Own Secret Brand of Malware

It’s not only digital criminals who like to secretly infect people’s computers with invasive malware. In fact, the FBI likes malware so much, it created its own special brand. We don’t know much about it, but now that the US Department of Justice is pushing for policy changes that’llallow the FBI to install spyware on…

Privacy & Security Kate Knibbs Apr 2

Kate Knibbs

.Sucks Seller Accused of Ripping Off Poor Helpless Celebrities

How Much Do You Spend on Uber?

CSI: Cyber and the Crowdsourced iPad Internet Addiction Bomb

The UN Will Debate Whether to Ban Killer Robots

AT&T Let Scammers Steal Personal Data from at Least 280,000 Customers

Facebook’s Messenger App Is Now a Full-Fledged Social Network

The FBI Lets Criminals Walk in Order to Keep This Device a Secret

Police in India Will Use Weaponized Pepper Spray Drones on Protesters

DEA Was Dragnet Spying on Billions of American Phone Calls for Decades

A Look at the Tefifon, Germany’s Doomed 1950s Music Player

Stolen Credit Card Data Spreads Around the World “Staggeringly” Fast

Lawsuit: Helicopter Pilot Crashed After Fooling Around on FaceTime

Scammers and Skeptics Are Strangling the Future of Digital Money

Trying to Make Game of Thrones Valyrian Steel Sword With Real Materials

The TSA Is Using Behavior Screening To Identify Undocumented Immigrants

NSA Has a Special Room to Find Terrorist Memos Hidden in Porn

I’m Not Sure This Senator Knows How the Internet Works

Inside Morgellons, the Internet’s Disease

Netflix’s Nostalgia Trips Are Squelching TV’s Creativity

The FBI Has Its Own Secret Brand of Malware

Bose SoundLink Max Bluetooth Speaker Quietly Drops to Its Lowest Price, Now Cheaper Than Last Week’s Low

The Wicked Stepmother of ‘The Testaments’ Is So Much Fun to Hate

Apple’s Smart Glasses Are Stepping Into a Privacy Minefield

Allbirds Is Getting Out of the Shoe Business and Pivoting to AI Infrastructure

Anker Nebula P1i Portable Projector Debuted at CES 2026 and Now Hits Record Low Just Weeks After Launch

There’s No Saving Windows 11. It’s Time for Windows 12

Axiom Space Is Ready to Test Its Next-Generation Spacesuit in 2027

Astronomers Just Dropped the Largest High-Res 3D Map of the Universe

Samsung 27″ Monitor Now Cheaper Than 24″ After Quiet Price Drop, Basically a Free Upgrade to a Bigger Screen

The ‘Good Omens’ Finale Trailer Wants You to Think About the End and Nothing Else

Sony Inzone H6 Air Review: A Perfect Case for Open-Back Gaming Headsets

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

The Soundboks Mix Is Going to Make You the Most Popular Guy at the Park

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

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