Sketchy ads, like those for miracle weight loss pills and suspicious-looking software, sometimes appear on legitimate, well-regarded websites. It turns out that most websites don’t actually decide who gets to show ads to their viewers. Instead, most sites outsource this task to a complex network of advertising tech companies that do the work of figuring out which ads are shown to each particular person. The online ad ecosystem is largely built around “programmatic advertising, 
If you’ve got an Android phone and you haven’t yet tried Google Messages as your texting go-to, give it a whirl. It’s got a great mix of features without feeling overly bloated. It’s simple enough to use right out of the gate: Sending and receiving messages is about as straightforward as it gets. However, there are a few under-the-radar features worth checking out as well. Set reminders Thanks to the instantaneous nature of messaging, it can often feel like you have t
A report published this month by marketing watchdog Fairplay finds that Instagram’s algorithm promotes an extensive network of pro-eating disorder content. According to the report, “Designing for Disorder,” there are over 90,000 unique accounts promoting such content, all of which collectively reaches some 20 million users around the world. More troublingly, the report notes that one in three exposed accounts belong to someone under the age of 18. Meta, Instagramȁ
Ever wondered about the strangest thing six-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady has signed? A fan’s forearm, he revealed, in an invite-only Discord this March. “They got a tattoo over that…it was pretty cool,” he said. Rob Gronkowski, a.ka. “The greatest NFL tight end,” a.k.a. “The Gronk” chuckled. “I signed 10 kids in a row [on] their forehead [at football camp], and they ran away showing it off,” he told Brady. “Weird [b
You may not know who Tiffany Dover is, but a small faction of Americans are obsessed with her. In late 2020, a rumor started circulating online that Tiffany Dover, a nurse in Tennessee, had died after receiving her COVID-19 vaccination shot. But none of that was true: Despite any claims otherwise, Dover is very much alive. And Brandy Zadrozny, a journalist known for her extensive reporting on misinformation, wants to prove it to the people spreading these lies. A senior reporter for NBC News, Za
If you’re using the free version of Zoom and you’re not a huge fan of meetings to begin with, the 40-minute meeting limit could arguably be seen as a feature. But sometimes you’ve just got to meet for longer than two-thirds of an hour, right? And if you’re looking for free Zoom alternatives that are more generous, have we got a list for you.
RingCentral Video: Unlimited for 100 people, plus recording Probably best known for its business phone systems, RingCentral als
Russia used a hypersonic missile against a Ukrainian arms depot in the western part of the country on March 18, 2022. That might sound scary, but the technology the Russians used is not particularly advanced. However, next-generation hypersonic missiles that Russia, China, and the U.S. are developing do pose a significant threat to national and global security. I am an aerospace engineer who studies space and defense systems, including hypersonic systems. These new systems pose an
Thanks to The Verge’s Alex Heath, we now know more about Meta’s plans to shape the metaverse by building its own wildly ambitious augmented-reality hardware. Heath’s article, “Mark Zuckerberg’s Augmented Reality,” covers two codenamed products. “Project Nazere” is a high-end pair of AR glasses that don’t require a smartphone, with the first version shipping in 2024, followed by upgraded ones in 2026 and 2028. Also due in 2024 is 
Sitting in a sunny room in his Miami home, Ryan Breslow, cofounder and executive chairman of Bolt, says he’s doing fantastically. In the last three months, Breslow has been on a Twitter thread spree, calling out perceived detractors and as he tells it, speaking the truth. These rants often focus on corruption among Silicon Valley’s most elite venture capitalists and how he thinks they wield power and money to keep little guys like him down. Some reports suggest that these tira
The world’s billionaires are pouring money into age-reversal investments. Last September, it came out that Jeff Bezos had invested in Altos Labs, a company pursuing biological reprogramming technology. “Reprogramming” is the scientific term for turning old cells young again. It was discovered in 2012 by Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka, who called it a potential “elixir of life.” The Nobel Prize in Medicine Committee seemed to agree. Bezos