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io9MoviesThe First (Spoiler-Free) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Reactions Are Finally Here!
It’s almost here: The end of the Skywalker saga that began its stealthy takeover of pop culture all the way back in 1977, and has since changed both sci-fi and blockbuster movies forever. The Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker world premiere has just ended, and critics are sharing their (spoiler-free) reactions now! Here’s an initial … Continued
By Cheryl Eddy -
Tech NewsDisgraced Ex-Google Exec Andy Rubin Blocks Everyone on Twitter, and Good Riddance
Android creator and disgraced former Google executive Andy Rubin has gone on some type of bizarre Twitter blocking spree, blocking virtually everyone who follows him on the site. Rubin now only has eight followers on the site, down from 11 on Wednesday and some 117,000 others that were following his account as of mid-September. Rubin’s … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech News30 Viral Fakes That Defined the 2010s
The decade of the 2010s saw the rise of social media and the proliferation of digital tools that allow people to alter photos and videos. When you put those two forces together, you get a lot of fake images circulating. And these were the ones that helped define the past 10 years. 1) Shark on … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsYou Can Now Convert Live Photos to GIFs on Twitter
Good news for everyone who likes Live Photos. If you want to share them on Twitter, you can now convert them to GIFs. So you know, they’ll move now as God intended. The change was announced on Twitter’s official account, albeit dramatically. “Every day millions of iOS Live Photos go unshared. They live in isolation … Continued
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Tech NewsPhoto Uploads to Twitter Just Got a Big Upgrade in Quality
If you’ve ever wondered why photos you upload to Twitter don’t look as nice as the pics in your camera roll or gallery, it’s because typically Twitter reduces the quality of your photos in order to save space. But starting today, that’s about to change. According to Twitter engineer Nolan O’Brien, Twitter will now preserve … Continued
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Tech NewsI Want That on a T-Shirt
Artists on Twitter say that their work is regularly stolen by armies of bots that generate t-shirts from popular designs—and they’ve got the receipts to prove it. Here’s the scam: Bots linked to popular t-shirt sales platforms appear to be crawling Twitter for replies to artists that mention phrases like “I want that on a … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecuritySocial Media Companies Aren’t Even Close to Fixing Their Bot Problem, Report Finds
Researchers with the NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence released a report this week showing that—shocker!—it remains as easy as ever to buy followers and engagement on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. The researchers wrote in the report that they tested the preparedness of the four sites by purchasing engagement on … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsTwitter’s NSFW Purge Looms
Terms of Service updates are messy, particularly for sex workers, who are always a casualty of moderation wars. Instagram shadowbans fully-clothed bodies; Patreon suspends adult content creators; Tumblr boots them altogether; payment processors indiscriminately shutter accounts. So when Twitter, the last major social media sanctuary for porn and artful nudity, announced that it’s banning “violent … Continued
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io9Movies39 Tattoos of Baby Yoda That Prove We’re All Obsessed With The Mandalorian
People are absolutely obsessed with Baby Yoda, a breakout character from the new Disney+ show, The Mandalorian. And it’s easy to see why. Baby Yoda is so adorable we just want to squeeze his little face and protect him forever. Fans are so obsessed that they’re already getting Baby Yoda tattoos, even before the first … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsTrump Regime Threatens 100 Percent Tariffs on French Goods to Retaliate Against Tax on Big Tech
The Trump regime is threatening to slap tariffs on over $2.4 billion worth of French goods imported into the United States as retaliation for a new digital services tax recently instituted in France. The French tax of 3 percent is applied on the revenues of about 30 Big Tech companies, most of which are based … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsPoliticsRepublican Challenger to Rep. Ilhan Omar Banned From Twitter for Rhetoric Trump Uses All the Time
Danielle Stella, a Republican who’s trying to unseat Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar in Minnesota, has been banned from Twitter. Stella’s last tweet, while admittedly horrible, is pretty damn close to the kind of tweets that President Donald Trump sends on a daily basis. “If it is proven @IlhanMN passed sensitive info to Iran, she should … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsPoliticsViral Photo of Joe Biden Biting a Woman’s Finger Slightly Less Weird in Context
Have you seen that viral photo of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden biting or sucking on a woman’s finger? It’s a real photo, believe it or not. But the bizarre moment looks slightly less weird when you see the video. Slightly. The photo comes from an event on Saturday, November 30 in Council Bluffs, Iowa—the … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsTwitter: We Did Not Mean to Delete the Dead
On Tuesday, Twitter announced that it would soon be launching a purge of inactive users to free up choice usernames for others, potentially allowing users to claim sweet handles like @badguy, @vomit, @logoff, or @gillbates. Just one problem: Twitter forgot that some of those accounts may belong to people who are dead. In a tweet … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsSome Pretty Good Twitter Handles That May Soon Become Available
Twitter is gearing up to remove scads of inactive accounts. That means one thing and one thing only: one lucky idiot might soon have rights to the handle @sexhaver, leaving the rest of us (losers; virgins) in their digital dust. More specifically, Twitter has been sending mass emails with the subject “Don’t lose access to … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
Tech NewsMusk to Testify He Didn’t Do the Thing and Furthermore, He Deleted the Thing That He Did
Elon Musk, who called a British national “pedo guy” for publicly flogging his fragile ego over the Thai cave submarine fiasco last year, will evidently defend himself during his testimony in court by claiming that he didn’t call Unsworth a pedophile. British diver Vernon Unsworth—who aided in the effort to rescue a group of young … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityHow to Use Twitter’s Best Security Feature
Twitter just made a huge adjustment to its best security feature. And now, you won’t have to hand your phone number over to Jack to use it. Multi-factor authentication is one of the best ways to prevent someone else from accessing and taking over your account. Where it’s available, you should always have it enabled. … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsSocial MediaSacha Baron Cohen Says Social Media Companies Have Created the ‘Greatest Propaganda Machine in History’
Sacha Baron Cohen accepted an international leadership award from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in New York last night and the comedian did not hold back when it came to the role of social media in the world. Cohen, famous for characters like Borat and Ali G, spent the majority of his speech denouncing social media companies … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsPoliticsTrump Overrules the Navy’s Internal Review Live on Twitter
President Donald Trump made it clear Thursday he’s far from finished inserting himself into the military’s internal disciplinary processes. In a tweet harshly rebuking the U.S. Navy, Trump forbid officials from stripping the SEAL status of a serviceman whose demotion he recently reversed despite a military jury’s conviction. “The Navy will NOT be taking away … Continued
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Tech NewsGoogle Will Restrict Political Ads Worldwide Starting in 2020
Everything about digital political ads, from their truthfulness to even their design, has been a hot-button issue for the past few months. Facebook and Twitter have already weighed in with their stances, and now Google has also announced that it will restrict how political groups can target audiences starting early next year. In a nutshell, … Continued
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Tech NewsPoliticsTrump’s ‘I Want Nothing’ Rant Transformed Into Songs By The Ramones, Morrissey, and More
President Donald Trump went on a bizarre rant at the White House yesterday, selectively quoting from Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s damning testimony about Trump’s crimes. Countless people have pointed out that Trump’s handwritten notes from the rant looked like lyrics to a song, inspiring some people on Twitter to put those words to music. And surprisingly, … Continued
By Matt Novak