Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
It’s good to be back. I’m John Biggs, the new Editor-in-Chief of Gizmodo. I’ve been here once before, back in 2005, when a single person ran each Gawker Media site and who had to write everything all day. I was the third editor and it was my job to write 28 posts about phones, laptops,…
As studios grapple with the impact of coronavirus on the entertainment industry at large, Warner Bros. is reportedly planning to roll out an anonymous reporting system in the United Kingdom that would allow workers on production sets to flag violations of covid-19 safety protocols. Deadline reported Monday that the initiative was presented by Kevin Trehy,…
The algorithms that underlie most Silicon Valley bigwigs are usually locked up in the name of “protecting trade secrets,” but that’s an excuse that’s starting to wear a little thin in recent months. Maybe it’s because these companies are that much harder to regulate or compete against when we don’t ask them to reveal their…
Your phone’s power brick is typically a relatively innocuous piece of tech, but recently, researchers at a Chinese security firm discovered a way to hack a fast charge power adapter so that when connected to a phone, the power brick can melt the phone or even start a fire. In a study published by Xuanwu…
When Apple bought Dark Sky back in March, it was a death knell for Android fans of the app. A small reprieve was granted earlier this month, when Dark Sky co-founder Adam Grossman said the Android app would work an additional month before shutting down on August 1. Well, that day is fast approaching, and…
Even the most expensive bike locks can be compromised in just a few minutes, and mostly serve as deterrents so your ride is a less appealing target. But researchers from Durham University in the UK and the Fraunhofer Institute have created what they’re claiming is the first man-made material that is non-cuttable, by actively destroying…
Working from home, which a lot of us are a lot more familiar with nowadays, comes with its own set of pros and cons. Pro: No commute. Con: Without a commute, you’re not moving quite as much. If you’ve found yourself congealing on the couch for days on end, you can change up your routine…
The year is 1997. You’re wearing whatever people wore back then—some kind of jean jacket, I’m guessing—and talking to your friend about your new favorite movie, the recently released Mike Myers vehicle Austin Powers. You’re quoting the movie, and your friend thinks this is hilarious. Then things take a dark turn. “I thought Randy Quaid…
CNN aired a viral video on Sunday of U.S. secret police kidnapping people in Portland, Oregon—a tactic that White House officials say could be coming to several other cities in the coming weeks. CNN made an odd journalistic choice to blur the faces of the police in the video, but CNN’s Jake Tapper took to…
Sometimes, the world is just so unbelievable that it’s hard to find words to describe it. In those situations, since I have no words, I look for the next best thing: something to make me laugh. And I don’t know if it’s because I communicate very well with my inner child or what, but there…
President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News Sunday that he would not consider issuing a nationwide mandate requiring people to wear masks to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus, effectively adding fuel to the ridiculous debate on masks in the U.S. In the interview, which aired on Sunday, Trump told host…
As we all know, President Donald Trump isn’t one to forget the people or things he believes have “wronged” him. It therefore comes as no surprise that Trump’s campaign has launched an online ad campaign urging his supporters to sign a “petition” to ban TikTok weeks after apparently getting trolled by teens on the platform…
Twitter has released new details about the hack heard round the world this week, which is apparently a massive scam that aimed to get users to send bitcoin to a random cryptocurrency wallet. It was carried out by targeting some of the highest profile accounts on the social media network, such as those belonging to…
Scores of websites and services went down Friday afternoon due to problems with Cloudflare’s DNS service, sparking rampant speculation about the cause. After all, a global DDOS attack would totally fit the real-life apocalypse movie that 2020 is increasingly turning into. The outage, which started shortly after 5 p.m. ET, brought down popular sites and…
If you live in a city with a shared motor scooter program, you’ve likely spotted at least one reckless driver zipping down the street without any regard for basic traffic rules or safety. Maybe the rider or riders failed to wear a helmet, or maybe they were riding on sidewalks or bike lanes. I’ve personally…
Nearly two dozen House Democrats signed letters on Friday demanding answers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Customs and Border Protection regarding the use of aerial surveillance deployed to monitor protesters after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd in May. Rep. Anna G. Eshoo and Rep. Bobby Rush, Democrats of California and Illinois,…
Apple has already been quite outspoken in regards to support for equality and the Black Lives Matter movement, with CEO Tim Cook having penned a statement titled Speaking Up on Racism last month in June. But more recently, Apple released an updated style guide seeking to improve the kind of language used in its products…
There’s a lot of intrigue and ~mystery~ surrounding the public conception of hacking, but the truth is, even the most elite hackers are regular people. And just like regular people, they screw up on the job more than you might think. We’ve seen cybercriminals screw themselves over in some of the dumbest ways imaginable over the…
If you posted a project to GitHub before February 2, the fruits of your labor are now likely entombed for a millennium in a frozen ark. Yesterday, the world’s largest source code repository announced that, on July 8, it enshrined its archive below hundreds of meters of permafrost in an Arctic vault, inside a chamber…
Twitch, home to popular esports streamers, is partnering with Radio.com parent Entercom for interactive livestreams of sports radio stations in major cities in the U.S. The partnership, first reported by Variety, will see popular Radio.com sports stations in Boston (WEEI in Boston), New York (WFAN 101.9 FM/660 AM), Dallas (105.3 The Fan), Chicago (670 The…