Shoshana Wodinsky, Author at Gizmodo

Clubhouse Is Losing Steam

Clubhouse—the company that was making headlines just a few months back for drawing major celebrities (and Elon Musk)—seems to have reached a tipping point. In April, the app reached a grand total of 922,000 downloads, new research found, a sharp downturn after bringing in millions of new users just a month earlier. These numbers come…

Tech News Shoshana Wodinsky

Verizon’s Selling Off AOL and Yahoo for $5 Billion

Verizon’s officially selling off its media assets to the private equity firm Apollo Global for $5 billion, the company announced on Monday. Alongside that bundle of cash, Verizon will also be keeping a 10% stake in the company, which will simply be renamed—no joke—Yahoo. It’s a bit of a fall from grace for Verizon, which…

Tech News Shoshana Wodinsky

Sites That Ban Politicians May Soon Get Fined in Florida (Unless the Site Is Owned by Disney)

Florida’s really gone and done it. On Thursday, the House voted 77-38 to pass SB 7072, a bill that would dole out massive fines to companies like Twitter and Facebook for booting public officials from their sites. The piece of legislation was spearheaded by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—a close political ally of former President Donald…

Tech Policy Shoshana Wodinsky

Biden’s Labor Secretary Wants to See Gig Workers Reclassified as Employees

Tech stocks tumbled on Thursday following a Reutersinterview in which U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh stated that many of the millions of gig workers across the country should, in fact, be classified as employees, rather than independent contractors. As Reuters noted in their own coverage, shares tanked to varying degrees for four companies in particular:…

Tech Policy Shoshana Wodinsky

NYPD Puts Down Its Godforesaken Robot Dog

The New York City Police Department’s contract with the robot dog that spawned countless Black Mirror memes has been mercifully cut short. On Wednesday, an NYPD deputy commissioner confirmed to the New York Times that in response to the pretty universal backlash stirred up by the so-called Digidog—along with a hefty subpoena from city council…

Tech News Shoshana Wodinsky

Oracle VP Ken Glueck Suspended by Twitter for Doxing an Intercept Reporter

A tweet from Oracle Executive VP Ken Glueck goading his followers into harassing a female reporter was found to violate Twitter’s policies, the company told Gizmodo on Wednesday. Glueck, who’s previously made headlines as one of the top lobbyists under Oracle, was forced to take down the tweet and have his account suspended in a…

Tech News Shoshana Wodinsky

Relax, You Now Have Until 2023 to Get a REAL ID

If you’re worried about needing to swap your current driver’s license for a REAL ID, then good news. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would be holding off on enforcing the new ID cards until May 3rd, 2023. This marks the second time that the agency’s postponed enforcing the new identifier, which…

Tech News Shoshana Wodinsky

Please, Don’t Trade Your Cookies for Cookies

MSCHF, the Brooklyn-based art collective you might remember from the recent Satanic Shoes debacle featuring Lil Nas X, has a new pitch for you: trade in your digital cookies for real ones. The conceit of this project is pretty simple: you download the Cooooookies browser extension, which then hangs out in the corner of your…

Privacy & Security Shoshana Wodinsky

A Single Snapchat Might Change the Way We Define Free Speech

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will be hearing a case that started with a few swears shared on one teen’s Snapchat account, before turning into a major suit that tests the limits of what students are allowed to say on their campus. At the center of the case is Brandi Levy, who in ninth grade…

Tech Policy Shoshana Wodinsky

Woman Hit With Embezzlement Charges for 20-Year-Old Overdue VHS Tape Rental

My how we’ve forgotten what a big deal late fees used to be. In 1999, an Oklahoman woman rented a VHS tape of the then-hit sitcom, Sabrina the Teenage Witch. About two decades later, that VHS tape has come back to haunt her, after her failure to return it ended up branding her record with…

Tech News Shoshana Wodinsky

New Lawsuit Claims Reddit Knowingly Let Child Sexual Abuse Material Flourish

Reddit’s facing a class-action suit from a woman alleging the platform did little to stop a stream of revenge porn—featuring her as a minor—from being uploaded countless times. The Jane Doe behind the suit is pursuing the class action on behalf of anyone whose own illicit (and underage) content was allowed to surge across the…

Tech News Shoshana Wodinsky

Amazon Might Make Its Drivers Assemble Your Furniture

In yet another bid to completely dominate all things e-commerce, Amazon’s reportedly begun testing a premium service that lets its customers opt into having their deliveries assembled once they reach their door. The service is planned to first hit shoppers based in Virginia and “two other markets,” according to an internal Amazon presentation leaked to…

Commerce Shoshana Wodinsky

Google Misled Android Users About Location Data, Australian Court Finds

In the first ruling of its kind, the Australian Federal Court announced on Friday that Google violated the country’s laws surrounding consumer safety when it misled Australian Android users about the location data that their phones were collecting. The decision was a partial win for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission—or ACCC—that first raised charges…

Tech News Shoshana Wodinsky

AdBlock Is Borking Google Docs

For the past day or so, countless Google Docs and Google Drive users have reported a slew of formatting hiccups that rendered writing tools unusable. Cursors would freeze, highlighting wouldn’t work, and any text typed looked like utter shit. And now we have a culprit. On Wednesday, Google Drive product manager Remy Burger confirmed that…

Tech News Shoshana Wodinsky

There’s a Black Market for Ketchup Packets Now

If you’re one of the fast-food aficionados left reeling from stories of the current nationwide ketchup shortage, then get a squirt of this. People are now putting their unopened packets up for sale across eBay and Facebook Marketplace right now, for prices ranging from $1 per pack to over $1,000 for just a few. The…

Tech News Shoshana Wodinsky

Gaze Upon My Browser Extensions and Despair

They’re not what any of us would call “intimate,” but you can really tell a lot about a person from a quick glance at the browser extensions they use. Is your boyfriend’s browser decorated with favicons from Evernote, Trello, and literally nothing else? He’s either a type-A perfectionist or zen to a fault. Is your…

Privacy & Security Shoshana Wodinsky

You Can Finally Flag Bad Takes Directly to Facebook’s Oversight Board

If you have problems with any hate speech, harassment, or generally bad takes that appear on your Facebook feed, good news! On Tuesday, the (supposedly) independent Oversight Board announced that users can appeal directly to it directly regarding questionable content that’s been left up on Facebook and Instagram. Here’s how it works: After you’ve gone…

Social Media Shoshana Wodinsky

What You Need to Know About FLoC, the Ad-Targeting Tech Google Plans to Drop on Us All

About two weeks ago, millions of Google Chrome users were signed up for an experiment they never agreed to be a part of. Google had just launched a test run for Federated Learning of Cohorts—or FLoC–a new kind of ad-targeting tech meant to be less invasive than the average cookie. In a blog post announcing…

Tech News Shoshana Wodinsky

Don’t Blame the ACLU for Facebook’s Ills

Earlier this week, folks in tech-savvy onlookers were utterly scandalized when a tweet thread from former Federal Trade Commission CTO Ashkan Soltani began being passed around. In it, Soltani calls out the American Civil Liberties Union for committing one of the cardinal sins of the tech privacy sphere: sharing data with Facebook. Soltani’s lengthy thread…

Privacy & Security Shoshana Wodinsky

We’re Archiving Yahoo Answers So You’ll Always Know How Babby Is Formed

When the internet was mourning the impending shutdown of Yahoo Answers, announced earlier this week, there was a sentiment that you saw over and over again: that shutting the site down was akin to the library of Alexandria burning down. Honestly, that’s not too much of an exaggeration. When the service rolled out in the…

Tech News Shoshana Wodinsky & Dhruv Mehrotra

Shoshana Wodinsky

Clubhouse Is Losing Steam

Verizon’s Selling Off AOL and Yahoo for $5 Billion

Sites That Ban Politicians May Soon Get Fined in Florida (Unless the Site Is Owned by Disney)

Biden’s Labor Secretary Wants to See Gig Workers Reclassified as Employees

NYPD Puts Down Its Godforesaken Robot Dog

Oracle VP Ken Glueck Suspended by Twitter for Doxing an Intercept Reporter

Relax, You Now Have Until 2023 to Get a REAL ID

Please, Don’t Trade Your Cookies for Cookies

A Single Snapchat Might Change the Way We Define Free Speech

Woman Hit With Embezzlement Charges for 20-Year-Old Overdue VHS Tape Rental

New Lawsuit Claims Reddit Knowingly Let Child Sexual Abuse Material Flourish

Amazon Might Make Its Drivers Assemble Your Furniture

Google Misled Android Users About Location Data, Australian Court Finds

AdBlock Is Borking Google Docs

There’s a Black Market for Ketchup Packets Now

Gaze Upon My Browser Extensions and Despair

You Can Finally Flag Bad Takes Directly to Facebook’s Oversight Board

What You Need to Know About FLoC, the Ad-Targeting Tech Google Plans to Drop on Us All

Don’t Blame the ACLU for Facebook’s Ills

We’re Archiving Yahoo Answers So You’ll Always Know How Babby Is Formed

Feds Sniffing Around Polymarket After Suspicious Bets

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

Don’t Get Too Attached to Any AI App

‘Paradise’ Writer Teases What’s Coming in Season 3 After That Huge Twist

Trump’s New White House App Is Mildly Concerning and Weird for a Lot of Reasons

Bloodsucking Ticks Can Survive Inside Your Home Longer Than You Might Think

The Best New Toys of March 2026

Judge Denies Liking LinkedIn Post Critical of Elon Musk But Reassigns His Cases Anyway

Amazon Slashes 50% Off Keurig K-Cup Pod Coffee Maker, Now a Budget Alternative to Breville and Nespresso Espresso Machines

Sun’s Latest Outburst Complicates Planned Launch of Artemis 2

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

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets