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According to a newly released Foreign Policy report, leaked communications show Wikileaks declined to release a cache of hacked Russian documents in the summer of 2016, dismissing the only partially published records as “already public.” While there will be plenty of talk about this being proof of founder Julian Assange’s loyalties to Russia, it most prominently…
OkCupid has banned white supremacist Chris Cantwell from their dating site after a Vice News documentary about the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, featured him expressing his violently racist views. Gizmodo first learned of OKCupid’s decision from a now-deleted tweet by Vice News social editor Rex Santus. OkCupid confirmed to Gizmodo that the…
Cells, they’re all different. Even two similar-looking cells that are supposed to work together in the same tissue might express completely different traits, and make different proteins. So how do you make left and right of it all? Being able to quickly classify lots of cells quick and efficiently has been a difficult task, and…
A leading US supplier of voting machines confirmed on Thursday that it exposed the personal information of more than 1.8 million Illinois residents. State authorities and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were alerted this week to a major data leak exposing the names, addresses, dates of birth, partial Social Security numbers, and party affiliations of…
In addition to capturing moments of road rage, an action cam mounted on a motorcycle rider’s helmet can occasionally record a straight-up miracle, as was the case with Matthew Murray who ended up plummeting 250-feet off a mountain road after a problem with his bike’s steering. After a failed attempt to lean into the corner,…
On Wednesday, a Facebook employee in Nigeria shared footage of a minor inconvenience that he says speaks to tech’s larger diversity problem. In the video, a white man and a dark-skinned black man both try to get soap from a soap dispenser. The soap dispenses for the white man, but not the darker skinned man. After…
What was life really like here on planet Earth before animals were big enough to leave fossils behind? How did living things turn from dinky capsules of genetic material into the intelligent, complex organisms that do things like fart and type curse words into posts on the internet? Scientists think they’ve found the answer… in…
Earlier this week, America’s most popular rat-fronted pizza restaurant and entertainment venue announced a plan to phase out some of its animatronic performers, and admirers of Chuck E. Cheese’s iconic leering robots are in mourning. According to a report from CBS News, Chuck E. Cheese plans to modernize several restaurants by toning down the wacky,…
Nearly all the major technology services we’ve come to rely on have been negligent in enforcing their own user protection guidelines. Repeated calls to act on the Terms of Service these companies outlined for themselves without any meaningful response has arguably emboldened the worst elements taking root on them—with years of simmering hatred brought to…
Last week, the 2017 World Yo-Yo Championship was held in Reykjavík, Iceland. And as in years past, watching these performers, including world champion Shu Takada, can only lead you to a single conclusion: these competitors were probably born with yo-yos attached to their arms. How else could someone ever get this good at playing with…
On Thursday morning, people began pointing out that there was a penis hiding on Bing’s homepage. While Google replaces its homepage logo throughout the week with interactive art that celebrates holidays and history, Bing refreshes its digital entryway with photos of places you wish you were instead of wherever you are that requires you to…
There are plenty of people who enjoy the warm sadness cowboy drink known as whiskey. While some might have a John Wayne instinct to drink it neat, the real aficionados know that adding a few drops of water to the drink can improve and expand its flavor profile. Now, in the great whiskey war of…
In the wake of Donald Trump’s refusal to simply condemn the actions of white supremacists at a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, business leaders, politicians, pundits, and many more have issued statements making it clear that racism can not be tolerated. But not everyone has called out the man who is emboldening white supremacists with his…
Two US lawmakers on Thursday called for an independent investigation into the alleged cyberattack that the Federal Communication Commission says impaired its public comment system in May. In a letter obtained by Gizmodo, Senator Brian Schatz and Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. called on the Government Accountability Office to conduct a thorough review of the FCC’s…
At the top of every Alaska-bound tourist’s wish list is the chance to see a bald eagle in the wild. But as the latest mini-doc from CNN’s Great Big Story reveals, to the residents of a small Alaskan town called Unalaska, the birds are as plentiful, and as much a pest, as pigeons are in…
Last week, an amateur drone pilot landed his DJI quadcopter on the deck of Britain’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier. The incident was accidental, but highlights the irony of how difficult it is to neutralize threats from smaller aircraft like drones that are slowly filling the skies. But perhaps modifying a missile that can…
It’s day 209 of the Trump presidency. And the forecast calls for cloudy skies, hot air from the north, and a chance of tweets about Nazis. Early this morning, CNN published an astonishing letter by former CIA Director John Brennan that said President Trump was not only a “national disgrace” but that he was “putting…
Cable giant HBO’s very embarrassing 2017 has continued to get more embarrassing. On Wednesday night, hacker squad OurMine Security Group compromised Game of Thrones’ Twitter account, posting a message to its 6 million plus followers saying “Hi, OurMine are here, we are just testing your security.” “HBO team please contact us to upgrade the security –…
Just when you thought you could chitchat with authority about USB standards at your next dinner party, a new one comes along to shake everything up again. The latest USB 3.2 standard is going to be confirmed in September, and here’s what that means for your laptop, your phone, and those new USB-C cables you…
On Wednesday, Facebook CEO and much-rumored presidential hopeful Mark Zuckerberg posted to his personal page explaining why the company would renew efforts to crack down on hate speech across the site, citing the terrible violence that transpired at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12th. The same night, though, the Wall Street…