age verification
Texas Health Department Claims It Has Nothing to Do With Warnings on Porn From Texas Health Department
An age verification law in Texas demands that porn sites put up a warning from Health and Human Services about the dangers of porn. But the department claims it has nothing to do with it, and no records to show.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Face-Scanning Kids, Epstein Documents, and Internet Bike Fandoms
This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss Google face-scanning children, accessing the Epstein documents, and a viral Peloton moment.
cinema
Watch Peloton Instructor Dunk on ‘Tenet’ to Christopher Nolan’s Face
Director Christopher Nolan apparently sweated through Peloton instructor Jenn Sherman calling his 2020 film impossible to understand during a workout class.
age verification
North Carolina and Montana Just Lost Access to Pornhub
As North Carolina and Montana enact new age verification laws effective January 1, residents can’t view sites in Pornhub’s parent company network.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: A Gift Guide, Goals, and Some End of Year Nostalgia
This week, we discuss the year we've had, technology journalism as a complicated feeling, and some gift ideas for your last minute shopping.
Labor
‘No Laughing Matter:’ Clowns Sue Clowns.com for Wage Theft
Former employees of the party entertainer company say they are victims of stolen wages and misclassification. The federal lawsuit details claims of QAnon conspiracy theorist bosses and retaliation for discussing allegedly illegal practices with colleagues.
AI
Largest Dataset Powering AI Images Removed After Discovery of Child Sexual Abuse Material
The model is a massive part of the AI-ecosystem, used by Stable Diffusion and other major generative AI products. The removal follows discoveries made by Stanford researchers, who found thousands instances of suspected child sexual abuse material in the dataset.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Marketing Company Claims It's Listening To Your Convos
This week, we discuss the media giant that claimed to have technology that can actively listen to consumers through their devices.
medicine
Freezing My Eggs Felt Like Spinning a Slot Machine With My Ovaries
The cost of medications, testing, retrieval, and storage involved in egg freezing is just one series of numbers in a process and procedure that feels like a combination of math, alchemy, and luck.
inflation
Hackers Popped a Porn Site for Inflation Fetishists
InflateVids went down after it was hacked in what administrators say was a random attack.
Twitter Is Just Running Ads for Stealing Semen Now
Tweets with the videos, advertising a DIY artificial insemination kit, say “Making him a dad without his permission 😋” and “Should I tell him it’s his kid?”
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: 'Wow Technology,' AI Content Creators, and Fake Cops
This week, we discuss staying connected in remote places, the future of the "content creator," and how a stalker posing as a cop tricked Verizon.