io9MoviesSci-Fi

The Net Is Somehow Both Outdated and Prescient

The Net, starring a post-Speed Sandra Bullock, was made in 1995, so it’s a given the technology it depicts will look outdated 25 years later. But some of the broader ideas the film pokes into—amid many, many, many scenes of Bullock’s character being chased around by bad guys—are actually surprisingly insightful. The story is pretty … Continued

EartherClimate Change

Climate Change Is the Internet’s Worst Enemy

The internet is causing its own demise. Every line of code requires electricity to run, and much of that electricity comes from dirty fossil fuels. And every belch of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel power plants brings the internet one step closer to ruin. The rise of smartphones puts more information at our fingertips than … Continued

Tech NewsNews

Adobe Flash Is Actually Going to Die This Time, For Real

Three years ago, long after the rise (and fall) of Flash, Adobe announced that its once-ubiquitous multimedia platform was finally going away. But Adobe never provided a specific date for when Flash would reach its end-of-life. Now we know: Adobe Flash is going to officially die on December 31, 2020. While younger folks should be … Continued

Tech NewsNews

U.S. Falls Out of Top 10 Average Internet Speeds Globally in 2020, but That’s Just Because Other Countries Are Faster

The covid-19 pandemic has many of us working and learning from home, which means access to fast internet is more important than ever. Unfortunately, despite being the richest country in the world, the U.S. has fallen out of the top 10 list for the countries with the fastest broadband speeds. Based on recent data from … Continued

Tech NewsGoogle

Google Gives Chrome Better Tab Management and Deeper Customization

After rolling out Chrome version 77 earlier this month, Google has returned to update its web browser (on both desktop and Android) with improved tab management, some upgrades to the Chrome address bar, and extra options for enhanced customization. For those who have trouble keeping track of all their tabs, Chrome is getting two different … Continued

Tech NewsSpeech Online Week

How American Corporations Are Policing Online Speech Worldwide

In the winter of 2010, a 19-year-old Moroccan man named Kacem Ghazzali logged into his email to find a message from Facebook informing him that a group he had created just a few days prior had been removed from the platform without explanation. The group, entitled “Jeunes pour la séparation entre Religion et Enseignement” (or … Continued

Tech News

Early Predictions of the Internet Date Back to 19th Century Sci-Fi

Science fiction writers are professional future-dreamers, imagining worlds far beyond their own. With technology advancing at astronomical rates, real life feels more and more like sci-fi every day (for better or worse). So it’s fun to look back at those writers who, decades and even centuries ago, imagined what life would be like now—and some … Continued

Tech News

When the Internet Archive Forgets

On the internet, there are certain institutions we have come to rely on daily to keep truth from becoming nebulous or elastic. Not necessarily in the way that something stupid like Verrit aspired to, but at least in confirming that you aren’t losing your mind, that an old post or article you remember reading did, … Continued

Tech NewsGadgets

Desktops Now Less Popular Than Tablets in the U.S.

The gadgets we use can be a good indicator of where our society is at today, and where it’s going in the future. And judging by numbers from a recent survey by the NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration), some encouraging tech trends have been occurring over the last couple years. The data, which was … Continued

Tech NewsGoogle

Google Declares Victory for HTTPS in Chrome 69 [Nice]

For a long time, Google and other web-minded businesses like Mozilla have been pushing HTTPS as a way to address the shortcomings and security flaws inherent in HTTP. And if Google’s reports are any indication, it seems to be working based on data claiming that over 82 percent of Chrome pages in the US are … Continued

Tech News

The Internet’s Two Biggest Miracles, According to Slate

Monday night, Slate published an explosive new story suggesting shady ties between a server registered to the Trump Organization and ones own by a Russian bank. While the Clinton campaign quickly pounced on the story as possibly “the most direct link yet between Donald Trump and Moscow,” security analysts raised doubts about the story’s conclusions … Continued

Tech News

This Dominatrix Deer Dancing at an ’80s Furry Convention Is What the Internet Is All About

What is the purpose of the “World Wide Web”? Some would say that it’s to facilitate the free exchange of ideas on a global scale. (Hah!) Others might argue that it serves to democratize the tools of mass communication. (LOL) Personally, I believe that “on-line” exists to bring us videos like this: Recorded in 1989 … Continued

io9Movies

Why You Will Never Be Safe from Spoilers on the Internet

A couple years ago, I wanted to find out the name of the actor who played my favorite character on House of Cards, so I googled the character. Big mistake. The very first Google search result was the character’s House of Cards Wikia page—including date of death. I didn’t even have to click on the … Continued

Tech News

Have You Ever Had a Computer-Based Dream?

The other day I woke up convinced that Gawker Media management sent out an email that never actually existed. The dream was so real I had to search my inbox just to be sure. Has this ever happened to you? For those of us who work at Gizmodo, the experience seems pretty common. It makes … Continued

Tech News

A Completely Clean Web Would Be So Boring

For all its wonders, the internet does have some dark sides. Trolls. YouTube comments. 4chan. But as YouTuber Tom Scott explains by showing us what a completely offence-free internet dystopia would look like, even the lowliest of bridge-dwellers are a defining feature of online life. Scott’s ‘Bubble’ — a fictitious, perfect, personalised screening device for … Continued

Tech NewsApple

The Internet Is Rigged

It was the inherent beauty of the web. I had access to the same tools and the same publish button as any big time brand. As an indie player, this was incredibly powerful, and in many ways, that leveling of the creative playing field was what got so many of us so excited about this … Continued

Tech News

Hey Good North Korea Internet Joke, Everybody!

Earlier today, reports abounded that North Korea had suffered an unprecedented internet outage. While it remains unclear whether it’s the result of a cyber attack or the country’s longstanding technological woes, one thing is certain: you got jokes! Well, joke, anyway. In fairness, it’s a good joke, except that everyone knows North Korea has Time … Continued

Tech News

The FCC Gets the Premium Cable Takedown It Deserves

The death of net neutrality is a looming catastrophe that the FCC thinks it can slip past you, while you just twiddle your thumbs and fail to notice how much of a farce the whole process is. And if that hadn’t hit home just yet, John Oliver’s explanation from last night’s Last Week Tonight is … Continued

Tech NewsSploid

Awesome computer software magically turns Star Wars quotes into GIFs

If you ever, for a second, wondered questions like what’s the purpose of life or why the Internet exists or what are you going to eat for lunch today, the answer is simply this magical software tool created by GitHub user LindseyB. It automatically turns any Star Wars quote into an animated GIF, complete with … Continued

Tech News

7 Things You Do On the Internet That’d Be Creepy to Do in Real Life

You’re a different person online compared to your real life. It’s okay. You don’t have to irrationally like cats just because you’re obsessed with cat videos. You don’t have to literally poke the people you poked on Facebook. You don’t have to like or follow or tag or comment or stalk celebrities like you do … Continued