News
“We Are Getting Lasered”: Nearly a Dozen Planes Lasered Last Night During New Jersey Drone Panic
Air traffic control audio reviewed by 404 Media shows 11 aircraft near New Jersey reporting people shining lasers at them during the ongoing drone panic.
Cameras
Traffic Camera 'Selfie' Creator Holds Cease and Desist Letter in Front of Traffic Cam
Traffic Cam Photobooth lets you take a capture from NYC surveillance camera. The city's Department of Transportation does not like that.
News
YouTube “Enhances” Comment Section With AI-Generated Nonsense
YouTube’s rollout of AI tools shows nonsensical AI-generated audience engagement and AI slop thumbnails.
wordpress
WordPress CEO Rage Quits Community Slack After Court Injunction
Automattic is ordered to undo several of the actions of its CEO Matt Mullenweg in its ongoing legal battle with WP Engine. “It's hard to imagine wanting to continue to working on WordPress after this," Mullenweg said in a community Slack message.
AI
I Went to the Premiere of the First Commercially Streaming AI-Generated Movies
“With premium original content, precise ad-targeting capability, and an AI-powered, innovative engaging viewing experience, TCL’s content service will continue its double-digit growth next year.”
Podcast
Podcast: 3D Printed Guns and UnitedHealthcare
This week we talk about the weapon used by the alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO murderer; the sad state of OSINT after a suspect's name is released; how health insurance companies have tried to scrub leadership from the web; moderation challenges on Reddit; and deepfake apps.
Luigi Mangione
Luigi Mangione Played 'Among Us,' Breathes Air
The ritualized rifling through old internet accounts usually muddies the story more than it informs the public.
pornhub
Pornhub Sees Surge of Interest in Tradwife Content, ‘Modesty,’ and Mindfulness
Pornhub's Year in Review report for 2024 reveals a search for something very mindful, and very demure.
News
Congress Pushes Apple to Remove Deepfake Apps After 404 Media Investigation
Congress is asking Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other big tech companies why they can’t get their deepfake problem under control.
News
Location Data Firm Offers to Help Cops Track Targets via Doctor Visits
Fog Data Science is a location tracking company that takes data harvested from smartphones and makes it accessible to cops. A document obtained by 404 Media shows the company explicitly says it will use doctors visits to unmask a target if needed.
News
UnitedHealthcare Shooting Person of Interest Had 3D Printed Glock
In what might be the first assassination in the United States using a 3D printed weapon, multiple people told 404 Media an image of the weapon found on the person of interest in the shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO looks like a specific design of 3D printed Glock.
Announcements
404 Media Objects to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's Subpoena to Access Our Reporting
404 Media's reporting on an internal Google privacy violation database has been subpoenaed by the State of Texas. We are fighting it.
The Abstract
An Alternate Theory for How Life-Giving Water Came to Earth
Come along for a tale of mammoth meals, Venusian deserts, orbital splash parks, and slingshot-wielding spiders.