Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Three former Google employees have filed a class-action lawsuit against the company for allegedly discriminating against women. The complaint claims that Google systematically pays women less than men performing similar jobs, promotes men more often than similarly qualified women, and keeps women in lower-paying and lower-level positions. The lawsuit was filed on Thursday by Kelly…
Now that Apple has officially announced its new iPhone 8 and iPhone X, it’s Google’s turn to try to wow the world with what it thinks is the future of smartphones. And even though last year’s Pixel was a success in many ways, there are still a number of improvements I’d like to see on…
If you don’t have the budget for a $500 Oculus Rift headset and a thousand dollar VR-ready gaming PC, here’s a far cheaper solution. A die-hard Commodore 64 fan created a pair of virtual reality goggles for the classic 8-bit computer that can be easily found for just a few bucks at thrift shops around…
The baffling story of US diplomats in Cuba suffering hearing loss and brain damage in some sort of covert “health attack” just gets stranger and more terrifying with every new report. The Associated Press has learned that victims’ recollections and symptoms are even more varied and serious than we previously knew. https://gizmodo.com/diplomats-plagued-by-sonic-weapon-in-cuba-reported-to-s-1798359405 The AP spoke…
Google, a company that spends billions of dollars on research and development, still hasn’t found a good reason for everyone to own a pair of smart glasses. But an international team of researchers is rethinking how upgraded glasses could be useful—by turning the wearer’s nose into a remote control for other devices. Computer scientists from…
When the iPhone X eventually arrives in November it will come loaded with a futuristic camera module that, if all goes right, should let you securely open your phone with little more than a glance. The promise is enticing—a perfect blend of convenience and security that’s hard to come by in mobile computing devices. After…
Thanks to intense public outcry, the Federal Trade Commission has confirmed that it is investigating Equifax’s vast array of screw-ups surrounding the security breach that compromised the personal data of an estimated 143 million Americans. The public announcement demonstrates just how alarming this breach is. “The FTC typically does not comment on ongoing investigations. However,…
Why does the internet feel so fundamentally broken? Ev Williams, the co-founder of Twitter, Medium, and Blogger, gave his two cents while speaking with CNN Money today. The interview’s moment of refreshing honesty came when Williams—who is still a Twitter board member but sold 30 percent of his stock for “personal” reasons—hypothesized on why the…
Before Twitter killed it off, Kevin Parry was a Vine star (who has since jumped ship to Instagram) known for his simplistic yet mind-blowing optical illusions. He’s since compiled a few of them into a longer video that will have you spending the rest of the day trying to figure out how he made each…
The astronomical prices printer makers charge for cartridges have long been a favorite subject of internet comedians (with more than one noting that printer ink is now more valuable than gold), so it came as a bit of a surprise when HP actually made some concessions after pushing out an update that bricked unofficial ink…
It’s that time of year again, folks, but this time shit’s a little more complicated. Apple turned heads at the annual iPhone lovefest by introducing not just one, not two, but three new iPhones—one of which is a pricey monster we’ve addressed in another post. If you’re thinking about placing an order for an iPhone…
Taking your hard-earned dollars away from one carrier and giving them to another instead is not a decision to be made lightly, no matter how much you’ve grown to loathe your current provider of cellular services. If you’re thinking about switching carriers to take advantage of big deals for cool new phones, than here are…
Talking to Martin Shkreli is neither easy nor enjoyable. The “pharma bro,” who once jacked up the price of a life-saving drug from $13.50 to $750 a pill, likes to needle reporters. But I managed to get a few questions answered over email during the past week. And now that Shkreli has been sent to…
Sean Spicer was on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night for an excruciating 20 minutes of bullshit. Kimmel asked him about everything from his infamous claims about inauguration crowd size to President Trump’s tweeting habits. And it’s honestly painful to watch. There’s clearly an effort by Spicer to become more likable now that he’s not constantly…
Equifax, the major credit reporting agency which collected extensive financial data on hundreds of millions of Americans before losing said data on 143 million of those people to hackers, has finally explained what went wrong. You are so not going to like it. In a post on a website designed to spread information on how…
Ever since the term was popularized by then-presidential candidate Donald Trump—and subsequently appropriated by Democrats—the stupid controversy over “fake news” has become a swirling vortex of pointlessness that refuses to go all the way down the drain. Now everyone’s calling legitimate articles and opinion pieces that contradict their own prejudices “fake,” as though disagreeing with…
If there was a downside to snacking on candy at the office all day, it would be the inconvenience of having to interrupt your work to actually fetch some processed sugar. It’s a pain that hacker Vije Miller knew all to well, until he built a licorice-launching catapult that automatically flings candy in the direction…
American government agencies are now banned from using software created by the Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab and will have to begin removing Kaspersky products from their systems within three months, the Department of Homeland Security announced today. The company has faced rumors that it could be coerced into sharing information with the Russian government…
At first, it seemed to be a quirky prank—a man was driving around town dressed up like a car seat and convincing people his car had no one at the wheel. Then we learned that it was all a shadowy research project by Virginia Tech. And now we know that Ford was behind the whole…
Americans who say their phones and laptops were seized by US border agents filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts on Wednesday arguing that their First and Fourth Amendment rights had been violated. Eleven plaintiffs, including journalists, a military veteran, an independent filmmaker, and a NASA engineer, contend that they were detained at the US border, coerced…