ALEXA, DON'T SNITCH
Police Seek Amazon Echo Data In Murder Case
The company declined to do so, but the case raises bigger questions about IoT privacy.
BUT YOU CAN NEVER LOG OFF
Facebook Knows A Whole Lot About Your Offline Life
Facebook has long let users see all sorts of things the site knows about them, like whether they enjoy soccer, have recently moved, or like Melania Trump. But it also knows far more sensitive info, including users' income, the types of restaurants they frequent and even how many credit cards are in their wallets.
A SWEET NEW GIG
The Farmer Who Built Her Own Broadband
Christine Conder is a farmer — and, for 2,300 members of the rural communities of Lancashire, a revolutionary internet pioneer.
A DEEP CUT
How A 2011 Hack You’ve Never Heard Of Changed The Internet’s Infrastructure
It all started with an internet user in Iran who couldn’t get into his Gmail account.
SHE'S STILL ALIVE, DON'T PANIC
Hacked Sony Music Accounts Spread False News Of Britney Spears’ Death
Some Twitter accounts related to Sony Music were apparently accessed by hacker group OurMine this morning.
LET'S CHILL ON THE RATINGS
How Popular Is A Netflix Show? Maybe Wikipedia Knows
Netflix is notorious for withholding data on how many people are actually watching its shows. Can Wikipedia activity help crack the black box?
DAMN DANIEL, IT'S BEEN A WHILE
What Went Viral In 2016 — And Where Is It Now?
As dazed as we might be by the ravenous online news cycle, it’s nothing compared to whatever happens to the actual people, things, and institutions that made the marquee for each year’s most viral narratives.
VAPORWAVE: DEFINITELY NOT DEAD
Bandcamp Releases Some Cool Stats From 2016
From the smash success of the "Undertale" soundtrack, to a lot of people using the word "Home" in their song titles, here's what happened on Bandcamp this year.
THE HEADSET STARES BACK
The Dark Side Of VR
The kinds of behaviors virtual reality captures have long been a holy grail for data-monetizing companies.
WHEN IT WAS HARD TO GO AFK
2016: The Year The Internet Became Real
For the past several months, regardless of your political leaning, you would probably admit that every device you’ve touched has been a direct window to heaps of very bad news.
NOT FOR PROFIT
Your App Isn't Helping The People Of Saudi Arabia
"As one learns about the lives of atheist and LGBT youths in Gulf states who face rampant threats on social media, it becomes clear that the truth is less comfortable than complacency or righteous rage."
1ST QUESTION: A/S/L?
AOL’s 1995 Chat Rooms Were The Original 'Ask Me Anything'
Folks in the mid-1990s were just as obsessed with celebrity then as we are now, but the internet was still a modestly unknown entity back then. So it was incredibly novel when a major star like Jay Leno would show up on America Online and talk to his throngs of fans.
SOME RESULTS NEED TO BE BURIED
Is Google Profiting From Holocaust Denial?
The Breman Museum in Atlanta says it is paying $2 a click to stop a neo-Nazi site from being top result for "did the Holocaust happen".
FOOD CAN BE PENG, BUT NOT FOOTBALLERS
The Chicken Connoisseur Joins A Couple Lads For Some FIFA And Chill
What could possibly be more British than the Chicken Connoisseur's peng chicken reviews? Hanging out with a couple dudes playing FIFA while talking about the difference between bossman chicken shops and upmarket cheeky Nandos? Yeah... that sounds more British.
WHICH IS... NOT FUNNY
It's Hard To Prove Libel When Everything's A Joke
Twitter's reputation for tomfoolery makes it tougher to prove a tweet meets the legal standard.
THE BERENSTAIN BEARS AGAIN
The Movie That Doesn’t Exist And The Redditors Who Think It Does
Over the years, hundreds of people online have shared memories of a cheesy '90s movie called “Shazaam”. There is no evidence that such a film was ever made. What does this tell us about the quirks of collective memory?
IT'S LIT GARBAGE FAM
2016 Internet Slang: A Year In Review
Vocabulary has always been extra fluid online, but this year — amid the culture wars of the presidential election, the death of our dearest legends, and modern history’s most amazing display of celebrity revenge — it has reached Schrödinger levels.
THAT WAS EASY
Yelling 'Get The **** Out' Into The Intercom Is A Great Way To Lose Your Job At Staples
Either there was no one in the store, or this dude just got a new gig at FedEx. Either way, he's the exact opposite of the voice actor Target employee guy.
JOLLY OLD ST FIC
The Best (And Weirdest) Santa Fan Art On The Internet
This Christmas eve, one man will traverse the globe in a magic sleigh, shimmy down millions of chimneys and deliver presents to nice children (and coal to naughty ones). So how does the internet honor such a fantastic philanthropist? With weird fan art, of course.
PUTTING ON AIRS AND TALKING TO THEM TOO
A Video About Guitars Turns Uber Existential Right Quick
Um... so... uh... how's that strat sound?
That's our best stuff for today. Great job!
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