Internet

You Can Read the First Chapter of Harper Lee’s New Novel Online

It’s 55 years since To Kill a Mockingbird was published, but Harper Lee’s second book, Go Set A Watchman, is about to be released. Now you can read the first chapter online. The first 3,500 words of the novel have been published on the websites of The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal. If it’s…

Books & Comics Jamie Condliffe Jul 10

Why Is This Bizarre Illustration Taking Over The Internet?

Back in 2011, illustrator Erica Glasier created this artwork for a Forbes article titled ‘The Bank of Facebook: Currency, Identity, Reputation’. For reasons that no-one can find out, that image now makes up one in every 120 images on Imgur, the internet’s leading photo repository. The phenomenon seems to have been first spotted by a…

Tech News Chris Mills Jul 9

You Can Now Tweet From Atop Mt. Fuji Using Its New Free WiFi

Getting on the Internet from your phone can still be next to impossible on New York subways, but now, even Mt. Fuji offers free wifi, up to 12,000 feet above sea level. Starting Friday, Japan’s iconic peak will give climbers wifi access at eight hotspots on the mountain, including three cottages on the summit, Asahi…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin Jul 8

AT&T Thinks Shitty Internet For Poor Families Will Help Its Merger

AT&T is trying to acquire DirecTV, a deal worth some $67 billion that would create a soul-sucking leviathan telecoms company. The deed is all but done, and just awaiting FCC approval — something AT&T is hoping to help along by (temporarily) offering (shitty) internet to low-income families. In a regulatory filing submitted to the FCC…

Tech News Chris Mills Jul 7

Major Government Spying Service Supplier Hacked, 400GB of Data Stolen

An Italian company called Hacking Team, which supplies intrusion and surveillance tools to governments and law enforcement agencies, has been hacked. The intruders have made off with 400GB of data which is now being leaked online. The tranche of document reveals details about the company’s clients, along with passwords and details about the use of…

Privacy & Security Jamie Condliffe Jul 6

Reddit’s AMA Sub Is Back Online and Throwing Punches

Following a day-long blackout, Reddit’s Ask Me Anything /r/IAmA subreddit is back online. But in the same post it used to welcome back users, it also stuck two fingers in the general direction of Reddit’s management. In case you haven’t been following the Reddit drama, here’s the short version: Reddit’s Director of Communications and all-round…

Tech News Chris Mills Jul 3

Uber’s Suspending Its UberPop Operations in France (Updated)

Following protests and police raids, Uber has announced that it’s shutting down operations of UberPop in France as of 8pm local time this evening. Update: Note that Uber is only shutting down operation of UberPop—not all of its operations. Uber has been operating a low-cost service called UberPop in Paris. French authorities passed a new…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Jul 3

Reddit Is Tearing Itself Apart

If you take a look at the front page of Reddit right now, you might find it a bit… empty. Here’s the reason: /r/IAmA, /r/AskReddit, /r/science, /r/gaming, /r/history, /r/Art, and /r/movies have all made themselves private in response to the removal of an administrator key to the AMA process, /u/chooter, as well as underlying resentment…

Tech News Campbell Simpson - Gizmodo Australia Jul 2

Internet Shutdowns and State Violence in Syria Related, Shows Research

EFF has noted and protested when authorities deliberately cut off Internet access in times of unrest. As a restraint on the freedom of expression of those affected, communication blackouts during protests are unconscionable. But recent research by Anita Gohdes, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Mannheim, suggests that Internet shutdowns are becoming part of…

Tech News Sarah Myers West - EFF Jul 2

How To Make Your Gmail Look Way, Way Better

The handful of themes offered by Gmail have let you make your inbox look less like a faceless, nameless sprawl of email and more like something you actually enjoy gazing at. And now, Google has added hundreds of photos and new theme options that are going to make it look much better. You’ve been able…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Jul 1

Mark Zuckerberg on VR, AI and Sending Thoughts Over the Internet

Yesterday, Mark Zuckerberg ran a Q&A on Facebook, answering questions about the future of the social network, its technology and the Internet more generally. Here are some of the choice cuts. We’ve already covered his first public statements on real names and LGBT users. But elsewhere in the Q&A his discussed some of the less…

Social Media Jamie Condliffe Jul 1

FBI Investigating Attacks On Physical Internet Infrastructure In SF

Squads of Chinese hackers aren’t the only threat to internet infrastructure in the US, it would seem: the FBI is reportedly investigating “at least 11” physical attacks on high-capacity internet cables in the Bay Area dating back a year. According to a report in USA Today, agents have confirmed that they are looking into a…

Privacy & Security Chris Mills Jun 30

Engineers Just Broke the Capacity Limit For Fiber Optic Transmission

So, that Internet apocalypse that’s going to befall us when our fiber optic cables max out? Maybe not so much. On Thursday, engineers reported in Science that they’d broken the “capacity limit” for fiber optic transmission, opening the door to future networks that carry more data further at lower costs. As the world’s collective Internet…

Tech News Maddie Stone Jun 27

Charter Is Acting Like a Spoiled Brat to Get TWC Merger Passed

How does Charter convince us that buying Time Warner Cable is good for people like you and me? Infuriatingly. One of the consumer benefits of the merger, according to Charter, is that they’ll actually obey the FCC’s net neutrality rules if it passes. How gracious! Were they planning to disobey if they don’t get their…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Jun 26

The Reason Your City Can’t Have Fast Internet Access

Earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission voted to ease the way for cities to become Internet service providers. So-called municipal broadband is already a reality in a few towns, often providing Internet access and faster service to rural communities that cable companies don’t serve. The cable and telecommunications industry have long lobbied against city-run…

Tech News Leticia Miranda-Pro Publica Jun 26

Now It’s Europe’s Turn to Fight For Net Neutrality

Americans won big on net neutrality in February, when the FCC voted to adopt new rules that would allow it to rein in the abusive and discriminatory practices of big telecommunications operators, such as blocking or throttling of Internet data, and charging content providers for access to an Internet “fast lane.” Four months later, while…

Tech News Jeremy Malcolm Jun 26

Russia Is Banning the Internet Archive and Blaming It On Terrorism

Russian internet users can no longer time warp through internet history. This week, the Russian government blocked the Internet Archive domain–which makes the nonprofit’s popular and useful time-warping tool, the Wayback Machine, off limits. The Kremlin has an explanation for blocking the Internet Archive, of course: A censorship monitoring project run by the Russian Pirate…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Jun 25

The Mr. Robot Pilot Was So Popular They Renewed the Show Before It Aired

The pilot for the new hacker drama Mr. Robot was officially posted online a month ahead of the TV series premiere (which was last night on USA) and netizens have spoken: Mr. Robot is so popular, the cable network ordered season 2 before the first episode had hit airwaves. The pilot was watched by 2.6…

Commerce Bryan Lufkin Jun 25

Google Has Its Own Alternative to GitHub: Cloud Source Repositories

If you work with code every day, you’re likely used to GitHub—a place to store code with all the revision history you ever need. Now, though, Google has its own take on the service, open as a beta release for you to use for free. VentureBeat has unearthed the new service, which is called Cloud…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Jun 25

ICANN’s Tweaks to Domain Name Rules Could Put Your Privacy in Jeopardy

TG Storytime is a free community website for transgender authors, operated by Joe Six-Pack, himself a transgender author and publisher. If you look up the registration details of Joe’s domain tgstorytime.com using the WHOIS application, you get this result: Registrant Name: Registration Private Registrant Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC Registrant Street: DomainsByProxy.com Registrant Street: 14747…

Privacy & Security Jeremy Malcolm and Mitch Stoltz Jun 25

You Can Read the First Chapter of Harper Lee’s New Novel Online

Why Is This Bizarre Illustration Taking Over The Internet?

You Can Now Tweet From Atop Mt. Fuji Using Its New Free WiFi

AT&T Thinks Shitty Internet For Poor Families Will Help Its Merger

Major Government Spying Service Supplier Hacked, 400GB of Data Stolen

Reddit’s AMA Sub Is Back Online and Throwing Punches

Uber’s Suspending Its UberPop Operations in France (Updated)

Reddit Is Tearing Itself Apart

Internet Shutdowns and State Violence in Syria Related, Shows Research

How To Make Your Gmail Look Way, Way Better

Mark Zuckerberg on VR, AI and Sending Thoughts Over the Internet

FBI Investigating Attacks On Physical Internet Infrastructure In SF

Engineers Just Broke the Capacity Limit For Fiber Optic Transmission

Charter Is Acting Like a Spoiled Brat to Get TWC Merger Passed

The Reason Your City Can’t Have Fast Internet Access

Now It’s Europe’s Turn to Fight For Net Neutrality

Russia Is Banning the Internet Archive and Blaming It On Terrorism

The Mr. Robot Pilot Was So Popular They Renewed the Show Before It Aired

Google Has Its Own Alternative to GitHub: Cloud Source Repositories

ICANN’s Tweaks to Domain Name Rules Could Put Your Privacy in Jeopardy

Ozempic Shreds Bones? How a Small Study Turned Into a Big Health Myth

Anker’s Soundcore Translation Earbuds Are Now Nearly 7x Cheaper Than AirPods Pro 3 After a Sudden Price Drop on Amazon

Volkswagen Shuts Down Tennessee Plant’s EV Production at the Worst Possible Time

Using Emojis at Work? You’re Not Going to Like This Study 😮

A Terrifying Invasion Feels Eerily Familiar in This Short Horror Story

Shark AI Ultra Robot Vacuum at 51% Off Quietly Undercuts Dyson’s Stick Cleaner Prices

Tubi Manages to Turn People Against Recommendations With Bad AI Branding

Gizmodo’s Favorite Photos From NASA’s Artemis 2 Mission

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

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

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