Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
As part of its ever-expanding slate of services, Apple is betting on original podcasting with its newly announced daily news program, Apple News Today. The daily news podcast was part of a series of new offerings Apple announced in a blog post on Wednesday and follows a report from Bloomberg last year that the company…
Last year, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg said its millimeter-wave 5G coverage would only be available in select areas instead of nationwide, clarifying that the company would use high-frequency millimeter waves “as far as [they’re] economically sustainable.” But that didn’t stop the company from falsely implying its millimeter-wave 5G coverage was widely available across the U.S.…
Twitter spectacularly shit the bed on Wednesday evening as it scrambled to stamp out a widespread hack of high-profile accounts. Soon after 6 pm ET, several verified Twitter accounts were blocked from publishing tweets, which was probably for the best. Not because they were at risk of being hacked seemingly as part of some bitcoin…
This may look like the president possibly violating ethics rules by posing with several Goya products in a blurry Instagram photo to spite a loosely organized boycott over the company’s pro-Trump CEO. But watch out there, Mr. Trump: One of those delicious Goya foodstuffs is filled with bees. Gizmodo couldn’t confirm which Goya product contains…
Something normal happened on Twitter earlier this afternoon. Someone claiming to be Elon Musk started tweeting an obvious scam to entice his loyal bootlickers to send bitcoin to a random cryptocurrency wallet. This happens all the time, but the strange thing about today was that the tweets were coming from Musk’s verified account. And nearly…
An explosive Yahoo News report out Wednesday describes the Trump administration’s efforts to expand the Central Intelligence Agency’s power in 2018 to launch offensive cyberattacks against America’s foes. Under a secret 2018 presidential finding, the CIA is given the power to more easily authorize its own offensive cyberattacks against specific foreign adversaries and organizations suspected…
As with almost everything, the roller coaster wars, where theme parks across the country try to top each other with wilder attractions every Summer, were put on hold for 2020. But that hasn’t stopped coaster designers from continuing to toy with the laws of physics. If you love to spend your weekends vomiting, the Axis…
Mozilla, the privacy and security nonprofit and maker of the Firefox browser, is launching its very own VPN
Microsoft just can’t catch a break with all its updates that seem to cause more problems. The company rolled out a Windows 10 update yesterday which fixed a major DNS security flaw (and a few other things), but in the process might have removed Notepad, Paint, or WordPad for some users if they were updating…
Zoom, the de facto pandemic video-conferencing software company of choice, is getting into the hardware game. Today, the company announced the Zoom For Home—DTEN ME, a 27-inch tablet that comes with Zoom pre-installed. It’s $600. The gadget was created in collaboration with DTEN, which makes video-conferencing hardware. It’s an all-in-one standalone device with a multi-touch…
Every year, companies like GoPro manage to pack more and more functionality into smaller and smaller action cameras that are less obtrusive to wear. But a team of researchers from the University of Washington has managed to build a live-streaming wireless camera that’s so small even an insect can wear it. The camera, developed at…
An abundance of reporting has confirmed that you’re not paranoid, Minority Report was nonfiction, and face paint isn’t just an art project. We hear about how law enforcement can match our faces with photos scraped from our social media profiles and monitor us through neighbors’ doorbells. The near-weekly updates send a shiver down our spine,…
Phone charging speeds have gotten pretty good over the last few years, but today, Oppo may have revealed what might be the fastest smartphone power brick in the world. Building off its previous SuperVooc charging tech, Oppo’s new 125-watt Flash Charge power adapter promises the ability to recharge a 4,000 mAh phone battery to 41%…
Where does all your time go? At least when it comes to the hours you spend on your phone and your computer, this isn’t a rhetorical question. There are plenty of tools out there will track and monitor your time automatically, telling you exactly which apps and sites are sucking up your precious minutes. These…
Apple is doing a victory dance today. The second-highest European Union court has overturned a decision that the Cupertino-based tech giant would have to pay $14.9 billion (€13 billion) in back taxes to Ireland. It’s a landmark win, and a huge blow to the European Commission’s attempts to crack down on multinational companies that cut…
Walmart announced on Wednesday it will require all customers nationwide to wear masks to help slow the spread of coronavirus. The new Walmart policy will start to be enforced on Monday, July 20. Roughly 65% of Walmart stores in the U.S. were already covered by mask requirements passed by local and state governments, according to…
You wouldn’t head outside on a scorching hot summer day in dark clothing; lighter colored garments help reflect the sun’s heat. That strategy works for buildings too, and thanks to researchers at UCLA, a new formulation for white paint could effectively reflect up to 98% of the sun’s heat, reducing the demands on artificial cooling…
Hong Kong has been a leader in the fight against the novel coronavirus, with just 1,589 cases and eight deaths, despite sharing a border with mainland China, the location of the first covid-19 outbreak back in December of 2019. And while some of Hong Kong’s success can be credited to most people wearing masks, even…
After being sued by dozens of institutions, Donald Trump’s administration has backed off its bullshit plan to deny entry to international students (or require they leave the country) if their institutions switch to online-only instruction during the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Washington Post, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reversed a July 6 policy that…
For the past week, House lawmakers have taken a brief pause from, say, probing into Silicon Valley’s potential antitrust issues, and deciding just how we should all feel about the FBI’s practice of warrantless wiretapping, in the name of rallying around a common enemy: foreign tech companies. Over the past seven days, we’ve seen the…
