Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
An Uber driver was arrested by authorities outside Atlanta after a license plate check revealed he had a litany of outstanding warrants. Those charges included two counts of attempted rape, two counts of sexual battery, and three counts of aggravated burglary. At the time of his arrest mid-day Sunday the driver, Kevin Jerome, was on…
Come June 30th, you will no longer be able to click on that little StumbleUpon icon to discover new websites. StumbleUpon is shutting down, and its makers are putting all their energy into founder Garret Camp’s other venture. No, not Uber, which he also also co-founded. But Mix. As TNW notes, Mix is kind of…
It can be difficult to muster anger about every bitcoin scam out there, but when con artists go after our Very Good Dogs, consider me invested. This weekend, a basset hound named Happy went missing in North Carolina, and a scammer claiming to have the dog soon demanded hundreds of dollars in bitcoin for his…
When Amazon launched the Echo back in late 2014, it kicked off one of the biggest trends in tech. Almost overnight, it seemed like every company wanted to get in on that sweet smart speaker action. However, largely because Amazon was first to market, the Echo has consistently been the top-selling smart speaker for the…
Researchers at Avast Threat Labs say that more than 100 different low-cost Android devices from manufacturers like ZTE, Archos, and myPhone come with malware pre-installed. Users in more than 90 countries, including the US, are said to be infected. The good news is there’s a fix. According to the report, this adware variant has been…
While some of his classmates wanted to execute senior pranks that would potentially disrupt classes, Missouri high school student Kylan Scheele opted for some tomfoolery that was a little more chill. “Other people were going to release live mice or, you know, building a beach in the front lobby area,” Scheele told Kansas City’s Fox…
Instapaper has informed its European users that it will temporarily cut off their access to the platform starting today. The reason? This Pinterest-owned service needs more than the two years it had to comply with the European Union’s new batch of privacy rules that go into effect on May 25. Sorry, Europe! Here’s the message…
With the U.S. midterm elections less than six months away, Twitter has announced a new effort to combat fake news and the impersonation of public figures. Twitter will be rolling out a new verification badge for all major U.S. political candidates on Twitter next week, complete with a new icon that goes beyond the familiar…
The U.S. Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the manipulation of popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. It’s believed that some traders are manipulating the price of cryptocurrencies through illegal tactics like issuing fake orders, causing the price to go up and down at will. Bloomberg first reported the investigation, which is being…
Following an announcement Wednesday that Uber will lay off about 300 employees and close up shop on its self-driving car testing operations in Arizona, the company revealed it would revive the program in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Uber apparently did not bother to run that idea by the mayor of the city, as he was completely blindsided…
Spotify has faced a number of accusations regarding violations of copyright in recent years and this week saw one of those looming lawsuits put to bed. On Tuesday, a federal judge approved a $112 million settlement in a class action suit that accused Spotify of failing to adequately pay artists for the use of their…
Update: The FBI says it seized part of VPNFilter’s command and control infrastructure. The DOJ attributed the botnet to APT 28 (a.k.a. Fancy Bear). See the full update below the article. Security researchers said Wednesday that at least 500,000 home and small business routers in up to 54 countries are infected with a new breed…
How many times has this happened to you? You’re trying to organize the destruction of a major metropolitan area and the overthrow of a system you view as irredeemably corrupt, but you keep having to step out of the office to take a call. That problem is no more thanks to Bloxvox, the voice muffling…
Controversy over Apple’s battery management choices on older, out-of-warranty iPhones drove the company to offer discounted battery replacement services for affected customers toward the end of 2017. Now Apple is issuing a $50 credit to customers who paid $79 to replace their batteries last year, instead of the current $29 fee. Trust in Apple and…
Following critical coverage of his electric car company, Tesla, Elon Musk has been on a Twitter tear against the media, threatening to build a service that would allow the general public to rank the trustworthiness and “core truth” of stories, journalists, publications, and editors. Musk claimed to be toying with the name “Pravda,” a reference…
As schools across the country remake themselves as surveillance sites, installing facial recognition and other high-tech monitoring devices to detect shooters, the laws governing public transparency are more important than ever. So when a bill that would permit schools to discuss critical safety issues without public input was proposed in Pennsylvania, criticism was swift. The…
The FCC chairman has been formally accused of dodging and deceiving the federal lawmakers charged with the oversight of his agency. In a letter sent Wednesday, House Democrats said the chairman, Ajit Pai, has been avoiding important questions sent by members of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, the legislative group tasked with reviewing and…
At Acer’s annual global press conference today, the company announced its usual assortment of new computers ranging from humble tablets built for education to the wild desktop rigs with dual Xeon CPUs. But among Acer’s avalanche of metal and silicon, there was one device that felt like an anchor for the company’s growth and success:…
On Wednesday, Apple announced a new privacy website to help users better navigate just how much of their data is collected by the company, but so far, the feature is only available in Europe. Apple is suddenly offering this option to users in the European Union to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)…
A federal judge in New York has ruled that President Trump cannot block users from seeing his tweets. His shitty, shitty tweets. U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan issued the ruling against Trump and his social media manager Dan Scavino today, which has the potential to impact other cases where public officials have…
