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Following the mass school shooting which killed 17 people and wounded over a dozen others in Parkland, Florida this month, YouTube launched a campaign to use some of its 10,000 new moderators to somewhat thin out the ranks of the conspiracy peddlers and far-right nuts which have become rampant across the site. Though other tech…
The Canadian government unveiled its 2018 budget on Tuesday, committing nearly $4 billion (or over $3 million USD) to a range of science programs over the next several years. It’s the single largest injection of cash for basic science research in the country’s history, but critics say it still falls short of what’s needed. In…
It’s a confusing time for net neutrality legislation. Since the FCC voted to repeal Title II protections for the open web in December, a lot of solutions are being thrown around. One good rule is to never trust any arguments presented by telecoms. Alas, on Tuesday, AT&T issued a laughable statement saying it supports net…
Until today, white supremacist group Atomwaffen had an active presence on YouTube. A previously removed video on its channel featured neo-Nazi members chanting “gas the kikes, race war now” and firing weapons, Motherboard reported, while others included images of swastikas and “black lives don’t matter” signs. When asked about Atomwaffen by The Daily Beast earlier this…
Hi, National Geographic, it’s me, Ryan. I got your package today and I guess I’m wondering—why did you send me a pseudoscientific crystal healing water bottle with your name on it? National Geographic, usually known for photos of animals and the adventures of rich people visiting other countries, is premiering their Will Smith-narrated, Darren Aronofsky-produced…
Less than two years after an aerial surveillance company was caught using a spy plane to record the entire city of Baltimore for police, the so-called “eye-in-the-sky” system is being pitched to the city with a new angle: catching corrupt cops. Persistent Surveillance Systems’ cameras flew over Baltimore in secret for much of 2016, filming…
Loretta Lee, a software engineer who worked at Google for seven years before being fired in February 2016, is suing Google for sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination she says she experienced at the company. Lee says in her lawsuit that the company’s “bro-culture” led to continuous harassment and that Google did nothing to…
The brands are finally ready to take a bold stand against willingly associating themselves with things that lots of people hate. Earlier this month Unilever threatened to yank ads from Google, YouTube, and Facebook if those companies didn’t scrub extremism, hate-speech, misleading propaganda, and disturbing child content from their platforms. And today, Bank of America…
Editor’s note: Security firm UpGuard deleted a report from its website that claimed unsecured data from a third-party software vendor assigned to Capital One could have potentially put the bank at risk. This article has be updated to reflect the report’s deletion as well as additional information made available from all parties following initial publication.…
Vero was supposed to be the better Instagram. It was supposed to save social media. It was supposed to do loads of things that other blip-on-the-radar social networks like Ello and Peach promised. Turns out Vero doesn’t do very much of anything, and its CEO is genuinely awful. At first blush Vero is a sort…
For every professional musician, athlete, or chef, there are hundreds if not thousands of schmucks still playing empty bars on Tuesdays, limping out of the minors on torn ACLs, or flipping burgers at the farthest possible location from a Michelin star. While the barriers to entry might be lower for vlogging fame, new research suggests…
Juggalos can’t catch a break. The misunderstood fans of the Insane Clown Posse have it hard enough with the FBI classifying them as a “gang.” Now, the proprietors of a bar in Michigan are pointing a finger at the Faygo-loving clan after a Valentine’s Day gathering ended with the establishment receiving 500 DMCA notices for…
Aside from the opening ceremonies, how many Olympic events did you watch over the past few weeks? Very few, right? It’s about time the IOC started spicing up the games so they’re more interesting—like letting athletes compete with the aid of electric skateboards, starting with the pole vault. If the International Olympic Committee is ever…
Fitbit may make some of the best, and easiest to use fitness trackers out there, but when it comes to smartwatches the company makes big bold eye sores. However, according to images acquired by Wareable, the next Fitbit smartwatch, expected early this year, could be…. not ugly? On Monday during it’s earnings call Fitbit told…
Dick’s Sporting Goods, one of the largest retailers in America, will stop selling assault rifles like the AR-15, the weapon that was used in the Parkland massacre that killed 17 people. The company has also announced that it will limit gun sales entirely to people at least 21 years old. “We looked at what happened…
Next month, China will amend its constitution to scrap the 5-year term limit for the presidency. The move paves the way for the current president, Xi Jinping, to be leader for life and China’s internet censors are working overtime to erase disparaging remarks about the decision. Censors are erasing any mention of new banned words,…
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, whose recent takes have included that Apple should just build a backdoor into the iPhone because the government might demand it anyway, is now warning that cryptocurrency is killing people. As noted by CNBC, during a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session on Tuesday, Gates explained that he thinks cryptocurrency is really…
Glenn Haab, the father of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School junior and mass shooting survivor Colton Haab, has admitted that he altered words in an email sent by a CNN producer, ultimately producing the illusion the news network had demanded his son only ask their pre-written questions at a televised forum on guns last week.…
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democrats in the upper chamber of Congress, is very concerned about what will happen to screwing once the Federal Communications Commission puts its new rules enabling ISPs to violate net neutrality principles into effect in a little under two months. On Tuesday, Schumer’s official Twitter account…
He’s running!!! Again. On Tuesday, President Trump announced that Brad Parscale, his digital strategist, will serve as campaign manager for his reelection effort. This is, basically, the worst possible news for Facebook right now, and it’s already causing political trouble for the social media giant. Like Trump’s social media director Dan Scavino, Parscale had no…
