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Authorities in Iran arrested four girls and women last week for posting videos of themselves dancing on Instagram. Only one of the girls, 17-year-old gymnast Maedeh Hojabri, has been identified. State TV in Iran aired her “confession” on Friday. Instagram is one of the few Western social media sites not heavily blocked in Iran, and…
For the past week, we here at Gizmodo have been celebrating IRL Week: A series of stories dedicated to appreciating the remaining slice of our existence that is experienced offline. We’ve covered everything from how spray sunscreen is kind of terrible and the quiet joy of birdwatching to Airbnb horror stories and what, exactly, a…
The Metropolitan Police said on Sunday that 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess, one of two more individuals exposed to the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok in the UK this week, has died. In a statement to CNN, UK Counter Terrorism official Neil Basu said that “This is shocking and tragic news. Dawn leaves behind her family, including three…
Police in Detroit are looking for two suspects who allegedly managed to hack a gas pump and steal over 600 gallons of gasoline, valued at about $1,800. The theft took place in the middle of the day and went on for about 90 minutes, with the gas station attendant unable to thwart the hackers. The…
It’s difficult (and generally not all that productive) to guess how wealthy someone is based on appearances. But if you really need a shorthand to figure out if someone is rich or not, a new study suggests all you need to do is see what kind of phone they own. If it’s an iPhone, odds…
Thai authorities announced on Sunday that they have successfully extracted four of the dozen boys who, alongside their soccer coach, have been trapped on a muddy ledge in the flooded Tham Luang cave complex in northern Thailand since June 23rd. Per CNN, rescuers commenced with a daring plan to give the boys a crash course…
In the latest incident of seemingly innocuous data sharing leading to potentially dangerous exposure, the popular fitness app and activity trackers Polar Flow has been revealing the location of military and government personnel working at sensitive locations, according to ZDNet. The report cites an investigation conducted by Dutch news site De Correspondent and Bellingcat, which…
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Saturday that he is building “a tiny, kid-size submarine” to rescue the 12 Thai boys and their soccer coach infamously trapped within the submerged Tham Luang cave complex. According to the Bangkok Post, a nine-person engineering team assembled by Musk has already begun to arrive in the…
MoviePass, makers of an increasingly complicated and likely unsustainable movie ticket subscription service, experienced a significant outage Friday that left users out in the cold (or if you were in California and trying to find a place with air conditioning, in the heat). Now, MoviePass subscribers snubbed by the technical difficulties can get a refund.…
Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which the social media giant gave access to the data of up to 87 million users to an app partnered with an ultra-sketchy election data firm, still isn’t totally resolved, with news breaking this week investigators from four agencies are looking into Facebook’s conduct. But all the negative attention the…
The passage of the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA)—two well-intentioned but ultimately deeply-flawed laws—have been devastating for sex workers in the United States by pushing them off the internet. Despite the heaps of criticism, the laws have attracted, politicians in the UK are reportedly ready to…
Late last year, the Federal Communications Commission under Ajit Pai voted to make it harder for American Indians to receive subsidies for broadband internet service. Despite legal challenges, the commission decided this week not to reverse its position, opting instead to continue to deny expanded assistance for phone and internet access. The original 3-2 vote…
A girl falls into a manhole, another lady face-plants on some stairs, and one guy almost gets mauled by a goddam bear. At this point, we’re way past ridiculous, and it’s all happening simply because people are walking around like techno zombies whose life-forces are seemingly sustained by the digital fix coming out of their…
I should start by saying I do not hate Airbnb. Actually, despite its shortcomings, I love it, and I use the app almost exclusively when I’m traveling for leisure. I’ve had plenty of great experiences: a villa on the beach of a surf island in the Philippines, a cabin in Scotland with a fireplace complete…
Apparently sick of being criticized by everyone from US Congress to Seth Rogan for not doing enough to purge its platform of bots, trolls, and malicious foreign actors, Twitter has started liberally dropping the ban hammer on suspicious accounts, suspending more than 70 million users over the course of May and June. The massive purge,…
Disney’s massively popular resorts on both coasts of the United States are in a state of meltdown, as a company-wide network outage has knocked a bunch of the company’s online services and apps offline. The outage has been ongoing since at least 4pm ET. Walt Disney World News Today first reported the outage. According to…
The skies aren’t big enough for everyone. On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit reversed a ruling from last year that found the FAA cannot regulate small drones used by hobbyists. New regulations are expected to come soon, which should please companies that are trying to break into the commercial drone…
Last month, the New York Times published a report detailing ways in which domestic abusers have weaponized smart home technology, exploiting devices such as internet-connected doorbells, speakers, and thermostats to harass their partners. This month, a research team at University College London published a resource list for victims of domestic abuse, specifically through the exploitation…
In times of great strife and uncertainty, it’s natural to look for heroes, leaders whom we can point to and say, “that right there, that’s what we believe in.” In a more armorial age, these heroes were warriors and generals. Throughout the political turmoil of the 20th century, champions of conscience earned our admiration. These…
When I was in high school, before phones and cars directed you to your destination, I would sharpie directions on the tops of my hands so I could read them as I drove. It was an effective (if problematic) way to get from point A to point B without looking down at printed MapQuest directions,…
