This is some kind of ugly. When law enforcement starts talking about being “proactive,” it’s time to start worrying about your rights. Here’s what happened to Myriam Parada after a routine traffic stop. Parada ended up in the Anoka County Jail after an officer discovered that she had been driving without a license. While going […]
We’ve noted several times how telecom and media giants are running a sleazy year-long smear campaign against Biden FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, in the hopes of blocking her confirmation vote and miring the agency in perpetual consumer protection gridlock. The attacks have been carefully seeded across the US press through various think tanks and nonprofits, and accuse […]
The US Supreme Court has a big year ahead with lots of weighty matters to consider in 2023. But the seriousness of their job doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate each justice’s special day! If you would like to know when to fill your heart with warm birthday wishes for your favorite justice, here are all […]
Get hands-free access to your phone conveniently displayed from your rearview mirror. Phone Vine Plus will maintain a steady grip on your device with the adjustable power grippers that expand to accommodate a phone up to 3.75 inches wide. The added pop-down feet give your phone extra support. Phone Vine Plus has the 360-degree rotating […]
Malware and exploit developers are generating a seemingly endless number of headlines, thanks to misuse of their products by government entities. Israel’s NSO Group has made the most headlines, but other Israel-located malware purveyors have made the news as well. Candiru, another Israeli exploit developer, was hit with the same sanctions the US Commerce Department […]
Techirt has long discussed how in the modern era, the things you buy aren’t actually the things you buy. And the things you own aren’t actually the things you own. Things you thought you owned can be downgraded, bricked, or killed off entirely without much notice. That game console with backward compatibility? It no longer has backward compatibility. That smart home […]
Square Enix, the game studio behind famous video game franchises like the Final Fantasy series, is well known to be a big believer in intellectual property enforcement. Just on our pages alone, we’ve talked about the times they struck out against folks selling replica swords from its games, or fan-made productions featuring Square IP in […]
Hilarious Update: A few minutes ago, the @ElonJet account returned to Twitter, but that came about 20 minutes after Elon himself justified the ban, saying it violated the company’s (new) doxxing policies (see the original update to this story at the bottom. Hilarious Update 2: And, a couple hours later, the account was suspended a […]
Here’s some potentially very big news in the world of the mobile internet: after years of refusing to do so, Apple is finally going to allow third party app stores on iOS devices. This has been a discussion for a long, long time. Many people forget now, but the app store didn’t even exist until […]
All’s well OK that ends well OK. Months of reporting tied to lawsuits filed by Hertz renters falsely accused of theft should now come to a halt. Maybe. Here’s the company’s statement on the multi-million dollar settlement, which doesn’t say much about Hertz’s culpability, nor any plans it has in place to prevent something that […]
MasterWriter is a powerful collection of writing tools, reference and organization assembled in one easy-to-use program. Why struggle to find the right word when you can have all the possibilities in an instant? Their Word Families dictionary is like having a thesaurus on steroids. Also included are Phrases, Synonyms, Rhymes, Definitions, Metaphors, Similes, Onomatopoeia, Idioms, […]
The good folks over at Platformer broke the news that Twitter is experimenting with Elon’s desperate attempt to make money: forcing people to “opt-in” to share personal info so they can better target ads. And, yes, there’s a contradiction between “force” and “opt-in.” As everyone already knows, Elon is desperate for revenue, seeing as he […]
For several years we’ve noted how most of the calls to ban TikTok are bad faith bullshit made by a rotating crop of characters that not only couldn’t care less about consumer privacy, but are directly responsible for the privacy oversight vacuum TikTok (and everybody else) exploits. Right on cue, Texas Senator Marco Rubio and […]
It’s no secret that Nintendo is one of my common targets to slap around for its draconian enforcement of intellectual property, much to the annoyance of some Nintendo fans. It’s just that it’s… hard not to? This is an enormous player in the video game industry that wields IP as a method for taking down […]
While Space X’s Starlink is a promising broadband option if you’re out of range of traditional options (and can afford the $710 first month price tag), many users who’ve pre-ordered aren’t having a great time. Some say they’ve been waiting for service more than a year, during which time Starlink has often refused to answer basic […]
It’s been a little over a year since we learned about Meta’s “X-Check” program for whitelisting high-profile Facebook accounts from various content moderation efforts. Now, after a long wait, the Oversight Board has released the results of its review of the use of the tool, and there’s plenty to dig in into. This week, we’re […]
For years, attempts have been made to make access to federal court records free. To date, not one of these efforts have been successful. The federal judiciary likes its antiquated cash cow, raking in PACER fees meant to improve and free up (as in “free”) document access and redistributing the profit amongst itself, (illegally) blowing […]
So, look, it’s been quite clear for a while now that Elon Musk has no clue what “free speech” actually means. We’ve covered this point from so many different angles that at this point anyone claiming that Elon Musk “supports free speech” is ignorant or stupid. Constitutional scholar Steve Vladeck has a short, but useful […]
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Last month, Facebook/Meta laid off more than 11,000 employees as part of the company’s attempt to recover from sagging ad revenues, inflation, and Zuckerberg’s clumsy, poorly executed, and widely ridiculed pivot toward virtual and augmented reality. Buried in that announcement was the fact that Facebook had also shut down “MetaConnectivity,” its decade-old attempt to shore […]
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