Rhett Jones, Author at Gizmodo

Twitter Promptly Suspends Tesla Whistleblower Following Tweets About His Former Employer

Martin Tripp is currently embroiled in a nasty legal dispute over claims he’s made about his former employer, Tesla. On Wednesday evening, Tripp began tweeting out details and photos about his time at Tesla and found himself suspended faster than you can say, “Infowars was an inside job.” A former technician for the electric vehicle…

Tech News Rhett Jones Aug 15

Google Releases Political Ad Database and Trump Is the Big Winner

Google has finally opened up about political ad-spending on its platforms and published a living archive of who’s paying what for your eyeballs while you’re just trying to consume some content. As we head into the heart of the midterm elections, Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign is outspending everyone. Google’s advertising library is similar to…

Tech News Rhett Jones Aug 15

San Francisco’s So Literally Shitty, It’s Getting a ‘Poop Patrol’

A spectre is haunting San Francisco—the spectre of feces. The Golden City has the second-highest cost of living in the U.S. and a major factor contributing to that fact is its housing crisis. Jeff Kositsky, director of the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, told ABC in June that homelessness isn’t on the…

Tech News Rhett Jones Aug 14

Australia Hopes to Strong-Arm Tech Companies Into Giving Up That Precious Encrypted Data

Last year, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull became the subject of ridicule when he insisted his country’s laws would “prevail” in a war with mathematics to ensure law enforcement’s access to encrypted data. Now we know what the anti-encryption law says, and legislators have apparently changed tactics but learned very little. Like the Department of…

Privacy & Security Rhett Jones Aug 14

It’s Time to Let MoviePass Die

It’s finally time to admit that MoviePass is fumbling around like a wounded golden goose that needs to be put out of its misery. It may still give up the gift of “free” movies every now and then, but this weekend’s latest service changes and screwups show the free ride is coming to an end.…

Tech News Rhett Jones Aug 13

Google Stores Location Data Even With ‘Location History’ Turned Off—Here’s How to Stop That

When a user chooses to pause Google’s collection of location data with the “Location History” option, the search giant continues to collect and store that information. It’s a sleight of hand that’s enough to make someone shut off everything just to be safe. Following a blog post by K. Shankari, a graduate researcher at UC…

Tech News Rhett Jones Aug 13

Sunken Warship Said to Have Billions in Gold Looks Like It Was a Cryptocurrency Scam

Last month, a sunken Russian warship believed to have been carrying billions of dollars worth of gold was “discovered” by a South Korean company that immediately started making claims of how it was going to distribute its found treasure. Now, police are investigating leaders of the company and have reason to believe it was all…

Tech News Rhett Jones Aug 10

Facebook Starts Forcing Popular Page Admins to Prove Who They Are

On Friday, in the latest round of Facebook’s whack-a-mole attempts to fix itself, the company launched new requirements for admins of Pages. Today’s changes to the admin privileges for Pages has been in the works since April, when Facebook said it would “[require] people who manage high potential reach Pages to get authorized to publish…

Social Media Rhett Jones Aug 10

Broadcom’s Billionaire Co-Founder Arrested on Suspicion of Drug Trafficking

Broadcom co-founder Henry Nicholas was arrested in Las Vegas on suspicion of trafficking narcotics, police told reporters on Thursday. Authorities say the billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist was found with heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and ecstasy in his hotel suite. According to the Los Angeles Times, Nicholas was staying at the Encore hotel when security alerted Las…

Tech News Rhett Jones Aug 10

Trump Wants You to Choose a Space Force Logo… for the Merch He’ll Sell You

No one but defense contractors and their accountants knows why America needs a Space Force. But moments after announcing the new U.S. military branch, the Trump campaign gave us a hint at this arguably idiotic idea’s true purpose: Lining the campaign’s pockets. At this point, it’s a tired cliche to claim the president is just…

Space & Spaceflight Rhett Jones Aug 9

This Candidate for Governor Wants to Put Colorado on the Blockchain

It’s become all too clear this election season that issues involving technology are becoming a core part of campaigns and voter concerns. The Democratic nominee for governor of Colorado, U.S. Representative Jared Polis, wants to add blockchain to the list of items voters consider this year. But what does that mean? Polis currently represents Colorado’s…

Politics Rhett Jones Aug 9

Leave These Crayons Found to Contain Asbestos Off Your Back-to-School Shopping List

Parents picking up school supplies for their kids this season may want to go for the more expensive crayon brands this time around. A new study found that Playskool’s crayons were the only major brand that contained traces of asbestos. Before you panic and start yanking crayons out of your kids’ hands and burning their…

Health Rhett Jones Aug 8

Airbnb Ditches Plan to Offer Luxury Night on China’s Great Wall After Backlash

Airbnb, a company that considers everyone’s home to be part of one big hotel, recently decided it might be a good idea to bring cultural heritage sites into its real estate portfolio. But a special offer to spend a night on the Great Wall of China has been canceled after complaints on social media. The…

Tech News Rhett Jones Aug 8

Elon Musk’s ‘420’ Tesla Tweet Sparks a Total Shitshow

Investors may be wondering what Elon is smoking this afternoon following a tweet in which he claimed he’s considering taking Tesla private at $420 per share. What seemed like a joke at first may be serious and as the company’s stock price went crazy, trading has been halted. Musk’s tweet came almost simultaneously with a new…

Tech News Rhett Jones Aug 7

Medical Records of 90 Million People Left Vulnerable to Critical Security Flaws

Security researchers have found more than 20 bugs in the world’s most popular open source software for managing medical records. Many of the vulnerabilities were classified as severe, leaving the personal information of an estimated 90 million patients exposed to bad actors. OpenEMR is open source software that’s used by medical offices around the world…

Privacy & Security Rhett Jones Aug 7

Verizon Swears It’ll Release the Correct Privacy Policy for Its ‘Safe Wi-Fi’ VPN Sometime Soon

Verizon recently started offering a VPN service to make users feel more secure when connecting to public wi-fi, but the premium feature’s associated privacy policy is a disaster. The company is reportedly trying to fix it and says the whole thing was just a mistake. The age of the privacy grift is upon us. Over…

Privacy & Security Rhett Jones Aug 6

MoviePass Nukes Unlimited Plan But Won’t Raise Prices

Okay, forget everything MoviePass has recently said about changes to its movie theater subscription plan. And kiss “unlimited” goodbye. It’s abundantly clear that the free ride is over. MoviePass is out of money, its parent company currently has a market cap of about $460,000, and it’s still paying out full price to theaters every time…

Movies Rhett Jones Aug 6

Senators Demand Answers on Google’s Reported Plans for Censored Search Engine in China

Earlier this week, reports emerged that Google has been internally developing a censored search engine that would bring the company back within the confines of China’s Great Firewall. The company has refused to answer questions about the project but it may have to open up. On Friday, a group of lawmakers demanded to know more…

Tech News Rhett Jones Aug 3

FCC Almost Does Something Right, and It May Give Google Fiber a Boost

There is plenty of reason to be skeptical when this FCC decides to do anything that isn’t a gift to the biggest telecoms in the nation. But on Thursday, it created new rules that could help upstarts like Google Fiber break into wireless and broadband markets. It’s a rare instance in which less regulation might…

Tech Policy Rhett Jones Aug 3

Congress Votes to Force Software Makers to Say When Foreign Governments Peep Their Code

The U.S. government is stepping up its sensitivity to foreign governments insisting on reviews of software company’s source code. A provision in the defense spending bill that passed on Wednesday will require companies to disclose if they’ve allowed other governments to review the code of any software that is used in U.S. military systems. The…

Tech News Rhett Jones Aug 2

Rhett Jones

Twitter Promptly Suspends Tesla Whistleblower Following Tweets About His Former Employer

Google Releases Political Ad Database and Trump Is the Big Winner

San Francisco’s So Literally Shitty, It’s Getting a ‘Poop Patrol’

Australia Hopes to Strong-Arm Tech Companies Into Giving Up That Precious Encrypted Data

It’s Time to Let MoviePass Die

Google Stores Location Data Even With ‘Location History’ Turned Off—Here’s How to Stop That

Sunken Warship Said to Have Billions in Gold Looks Like It Was a Cryptocurrency Scam

Facebook Starts Forcing Popular Page Admins to Prove Who They Are

Broadcom’s Billionaire Co-Founder Arrested on Suspicion of Drug Trafficking

Trump Wants You to Choose a Space Force Logo… for the Merch He’ll Sell You

This Candidate for Governor Wants to Put Colorado on the Blockchain

Leave These Crayons Found to Contain Asbestos Off Your Back-to-School Shopping List

Airbnb Ditches Plan to Offer Luxury Night on China’s Great Wall After Backlash

Elon Musk’s ‘420’ Tesla Tweet Sparks a Total Shitshow

Medical Records of 90 Million People Left Vulnerable to Critical Security Flaws

Verizon Swears It’ll Release the Correct Privacy Policy for Its ‘Safe Wi-Fi’ VPN Sometime Soon

MoviePass Nukes Unlimited Plan But Won’t Raise Prices

Senators Demand Answers on Google’s Reported Plans for Censored Search Engine in China

FCC Almost Does Something Right, and It May Give Google Fiber a Boost

Congress Votes to Force Software Makers to Say When Foreign Governments Peep Their Code

Return to ‘Tron: Legacy’ With Hasbro’s Electric New Action Figures (Exclusive)

These 1970s Predictions for Inflation in 2026 Show Things Could Be a Lot Worse

Bring Your Artemis II and ‘Project Hail Mary’ Excitement Back Down to Earth With this LEGO Technic Set of the the Sun, Earth, and Moon, Now at All-Time Low

Artemis 2 Day 10: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Maul’s Lightsabers in ‘Shadow Lord’ Are Powered by Sam Witwer’s Screams

ASUS ROG Xbox Ally Hits Its Lowest Price on Amazon, Now Bundled With 3 Months of Xbox Game Pass as Stock Runs Low

Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 1) Quietly Drops to Black Friday Pricing for the First Time This Year, Now a More Affordable AI Smart Glasses Pick

Sony Raises PlayStation 5 Slim Disc Edition Prices, but Amazon Still Sells It at the Old Price

Andy Weir Wrote a New ‘Project Hail Mary’ Adventure, Just Not in the Way You’d Expect

Samsung 990 EVO Plus SSD 2TB Drops to $0.17 per GB, a Rare Low While Storage Costs Trend Upward

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?

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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