Tom McKay, Author at Gizmodo

One Dead, Dozens Injured After Car Slams Counter-Protesters at White Supremacist Rally in Charlottesville [Updating]

Amid the chaos of a canceled “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia attended by white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and other members of the so-called alt-right on Saturday, a man who has now been arrested drove a car directly into other vehicles and a crowd of people protesting the march. According to the AP, at least…

Tech News Bryan Menegus & Tom McKay Aug 12

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Study: North Korea’s Missiles Built For Show, Can’t Hit US Mainland Yet

Are we on the brink of all-out nuclear war with North Korea? Experts say no, probably not. But according to a new technical analysis of North Korea’s missile technology in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, even if it did come to that, the closest to the heartland Kim Jong Un can strike is Anchorage,…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 12

These Climate Scientists Think House Science Chair Lamar Smith Has No Idea What He’s Talking About

Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, the Republican chair of the House Science Committee who also happens to believe global warming might actually be a really good thing, flew off the hook this week. The cause? The New York Times publicized a draft version of a federal scientific report which climate scientists worry Donald Trump’s administration is…

Climate Change Tom McKay Aug 10

Eric Bolling Sues Reporter Yashar Ali for $50 Million for Revealing His Alleged Unsolicited Dick Pic Habit

Fox News host Eric Bolling is very, very angry at Yashar Ali, the Huffington Post freelancer who last week reported Bolling “sent an unsolicited photo of male genitalia via text message to at least two colleagues at Fox Business and one colleague at Fox News.” So angry he is suing Ali for $50 million. According…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 9

Facebook’s New Watch Tab Does Not Look Like a YouTube Killer at All

On Wednesday, Facebook announced the rollout of Watch, what it is calling “a new platform for shows on Facebook.” It’s yet another foray by the social media company from the business of distributing other people’s content into producing and licensing its own, and differs from its existing video content in that it looks a lot…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 9

Leaked Emails Reveal Bill de Blasio Gets Kind of Dad-Feisty When His Staff Forgets to Help Him Speak Spanish

On Tuesday, notorious rag the New York Post took a swing at the king, publishing excerpts from emails sent by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio to staffers and claiming that the emails proved beyond all doubt de Blasio is an “imperious bully of a boss who threatens his underlings with dire punishment if they fail…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 9

That Wave of Jewish Community Center Bomb Threats Might Have Been Bought in Bitcoin on AlphaBay

Earlier this year, authorities accused 18-year-old dual US-Israeli citizen Michael Kadar of being the individual behind a terrifying, nationwide wave of bomb threats at predominantly Jewish schools and community centers. This week, it emerged authorities also believe Kadar was advertising a “School Email Bomb Threat Service” on AlphaBay, the massive dark net market which law…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 8

Surprise, This Sig Sauer Pistol That ‘Won’t Fire Unless You Want It To’ Fires When You Drop It

Firearms manufacturer Sig Sauer is offering a “voluntary upgrade” to owners of its P320 line of semi-automatic pistols, which have been on the market since 2014, after they became aware that the damn things fire when dropped on the ground. Per CNBC, Sig Sauer admitted on Tuesday that dropping the pistols could cause an “unintentional…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 8

New York Times Posts Major Federal Climate Change Report Before Trump and Pruitt Can Cook the Books [Updated]

On Monday, the New York Times published a copy of the special science section of the draft 2018 National Climate Assessment, which federal climate researchers had completed but feared Donald Trump’s administration and new Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt were plotting to smother in its crib. The draft report reflects federal scientists’ continued and unshaken…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 8

Here Are at Least 196 ISPs Which Put Caps on Their Customers’ Data Use

Last month, internet service provider Cox began charging residential customers in Arizona, Louisiana, Nevada, and Oklahoma an extra $10 for every 50 gigabytes of data they use over 1 terabyte in a month, bringing the total number of states it charges caps for to 16. Cox’s moved matched other leaders in the industry aggressively implementing…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 7

HBO Hackers Leak Senior Executive’s Emails, Demand Undisclosed Amount of Money as Ransom

The hackers behind a massive intrusion into HBO systems have released a month’s worth of a senior HBO executive’s emails, dumping a “publicly accessible link to a cache of internal documents” which also included the script to yet another upcoming episode of Game of Thrones, Hollywood Reporter wrote Monday. The Reporter said evidence of the…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 7

Surely Nothing but Satan Himself Could Explain This European Heat Wave Named ‘Lucifer’

A devastating heat wave surging through southern Europe has earned the unofficial moniker of “Lucifer,” according to several news reports this weekend. Things over there do seem pretty bad, real bad, bad enough there that the only logical conclusion is Satan danced down there himself, possibly with a fiddle, and played a song which cursed…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 6

CNN Pundit Who Quit on Saturday Reappears as Donald Trump’s Low-Rent Facebook Propagandist

CNN’s resident Donald Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany, whose pundit gig insisting the president is really playing 4D chess none of us can understand came to an abrupt end on Saturday, now has a new job reading pro-Trump propaganda online. McEnany has secured a gig regurgitating the administration’s preferred “real news” on Trump’s official Facebook page,…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 6

Nightmare Turbulence Injures 10 on American Airlines Flight, Covers Ceilings in Hot Coffee

At least seven crew members and three passengers were hospitalized when an American Airlines flight from Athens, Greece to Philadelphia hit extreme turbulence on Saturday, terrifying passengers and sending some flying through the cabin. “Thirty minutes out,” passenger Ian Smith told WPVI. “They were giving us our drinks. The flight attendants were in the last…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 6

Israel Will Ban Al Jazeera and Censor Its Cable and Satellite Transmissions, Comms Ministry Says

Israel’s communications minister, Ayoub Kara, is moving forward with a plan to ban Qatari state-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera throughout the country. According to Al Jazeera, the plan would revoke the credentials of all journalists working for the broadcaster’s Arabic and English credentials, shut down its cable and satellite transmissions, and evict staff from their Jerusalem…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 6

Watching Adam Savage Build a Replica of Excalibur Will Help Slake Your Thirst For Battle, Just a Little

Adam Savage’s One Day Builds series for Tested has taken him everywhere from making faux Apollo-era spacesuit parts to a ping pong machine gun, but this time he went a little more medieval. In this week’s installment, Savage decided to remake the legendary sword from 1981 fantasy film Excalibur using some of the same techniques…

Sploid Tom McKay Aug 5

Uber Can’t Find a Woman to Be CEO, So Has Bravely Narrowed Their Search Down to Three Dudes

Uber, the ride-hailing giant which became mired in internal fighting and leadership intrigue after the resignation of its former CEO Travis Kalanick, appears to have scared off every female candidate willing to entertain the notion of replacing him. In fact, the Washington Post reported Friday, numerous high-profile female executives including Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, YouTube’s Susan…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 5

US Army to Troops: Immediately Stop Using Off-the-Shelf DJI Drones, Especially on the Battlefield

The US Army has ordered all service members to immediately cease using drones manufactured by Chinese tech company DJI, hinting the company’s products could be easily compromised by third parties. An Army memo obtained by Small UAS News noted DJI drones “are the most widely used non-program of record commercial off-the-shelf” unmanned aerial vehicles in…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 5

Jaden Smith’s Recyclable Water Box Startup Is Suing Sketchy Mayo Startup Hampton Creek Over a Font

Jaden Smith, co-founder of boxed water startup Just Good Inc., has launched a legal war with another startup selling mayonnaise. According to Bloomberg, Smith’s company which sells water in recyclable cartons has filed suit against Hampton Creek, claiming the latter company violated a trademark agreement established in 2014. Hampton Creek markets itself as a science-driven…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 3

God Help Us All, Mark Zuckerberg Has Hired Hillary Clinton’s Chief Strategist

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg publicly claims he is not preparing to run for president, despite the fact he has spent an awful lot of time traveling around the country in an effort to understand the little people. So news from Politico that Zuckerberg has secured the services of Democratic pollster Joel Benenson, one of Barack…

Tech News Tom McKay Aug 2

Tom McKay

One Dead, Dozens Injured After Car Slams Counter-Protesters at White Supremacist Rally in Charlottesville [Updating]

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Study: North Korea’s Missiles Built For Show, Can’t Hit US Mainland Yet

These Climate Scientists Think House Science Chair Lamar Smith Has No Idea What He’s Talking About

Eric Bolling Sues Reporter Yashar Ali for $50 Million for Revealing His Alleged Unsolicited Dick Pic Habit

Facebook’s New Watch Tab Does Not Look Like a YouTube Killer at All

Leaked Emails Reveal Bill de Blasio Gets Kind of Dad-Feisty When His Staff Forgets to Help Him Speak Spanish

That Wave of Jewish Community Center Bomb Threats Might Have Been Bought in Bitcoin on AlphaBay

Surprise, This Sig Sauer Pistol That ‘Won’t Fire Unless You Want It To’ Fires When You Drop It

New York Times Posts Major Federal Climate Change Report Before Trump and Pruitt Can Cook the Books [Updated]

Here Are at Least 196 ISPs Which Put Caps on Their Customers’ Data Use

HBO Hackers Leak Senior Executive’s Emails, Demand Undisclosed Amount of Money as Ransom

Surely Nothing but Satan Himself Could Explain This European Heat Wave Named ‘Lucifer’

CNN Pundit Who Quit on Saturday Reappears as Donald Trump’s Low-Rent Facebook Propagandist

Nightmare Turbulence Injures 10 on American Airlines Flight, Covers Ceilings in Hot Coffee

Israel Will Ban Al Jazeera and Censor Its Cable and Satellite Transmissions, Comms Ministry Says

Watching Adam Savage Build a Replica of Excalibur Will Help Slake Your Thirst For Battle, Just a Little

Uber Can’t Find a Woman to Be CEO, So Has Bravely Narrowed Their Search Down to Three Dudes

US Army to Troops: Immediately Stop Using Off-the-Shelf DJI Drones, Especially on the Battlefield

Jaden Smith’s Recyclable Water Box Startup Is Suing Sketchy Mayo Startup Hampton Creek Over a Font

God Help Us All, Mark Zuckerberg Has Hired Hillary Clinton’s Chief Strategist

First Statewide Data Center Ban Passed by Maine Legislature

FCC Exempts Netgear from Foreign-Made Router Ban for Some Reason

Jamie Dornan Is Your New Aragorn in ‘The Hunt for Gollum’

Trump’s Fed Pick Is Knee Deep in Tech and Crypto Investments

The First Trailer for ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Takes Terror Stateside

The Trump Phone Still Looks Like Total Trash

‘Masters of the Universe’ Really, Really Wants to Be the Next ‘Barbie’

Samsung’s Micro RGB TVs Provide So Much Color It May Be Too Much

The Crypto Bros Want to Get Their Hands on Anthropic’s ‘Super Dangerous’ Model

This Is What a Music Industry ‘Plant’ Looks Like in 2026

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