Well, there’s cheerful news to start off the week: Researchers have discovered and disclosed a massive WiFi vulnerability that puts everyone’s private data at risk. How massive? Basically, if you can read this story, congratulations — you’re almost certainly affected. [More]
oh crap
After Hack, Registry-Cleaning App CCleaner Infected Users With Malware
By 9.18.17
When you download an app meant to clean your computer, you assume that it’s supposed to remove junk from your machine, not add more. Yet for about a month, downloads of the popular program CCleaner came with a free bonus dose of malware, installed on millions of PCs around the world. [More]
Heads Up: You May Need To Change Your Passwords On Thousands Of Sites
By 2.24.17
It’s a rough day for users of, well, basically the entire internet: A major vulnerability in a huge web services company has been disclosed, and it means your personal data may have leaked into public view from a whole lot of places. [More]
Yahoo Confirms Massive Data Breach; At Least 500 Million Users Affected
By 9.22.16 — Updated: 10.13.16
As was rumored this morning, so it has come to pass. Yahoo has confirmed a massive data breach — and it’s far, far bigger than anyone guessed at first. [More]
Self-Driving Cars: Fewer Accidents, But More Motion Sickness
By 5.29.15
Cars increasingly drive themselves. If tech companies have their way, then entirely autonomous vehicles will be the future as soon as possible. But that future isn’t exactly primed to be glorious for everyone. For those of us at all prone to motion sickness, that future — despite being lower on accidents and higher on energy efficiency — is not going to be fun. [More]
Man Texts While Driving, Crashes Into Tractor Transporting Manure
By 8.22.13
Everyone knows that that you shouldn’t text while driving, but most people do it anyway. Need an incentive not to? Consider the man in Wisconsin who, according to police, was tapping away on his phone when he hit a tractor pulling a trailer filled with unfathomable quantities of liquid manure. Neither driver was seriously injured, but there was a trailer filled with liquid manure. [WFTV] [More]
If Your Smart Toilet Freaks Out, It Probably Isn’t Possessed; Just Hacked
By 8.5.13
UPDATE: A rep for Lixil, the company behind the toilet in question, tells Consumerist that American consumers need not worry about hacked toilets. “The Bluetooth technology is only available in Japan and does not apply to the INAX products sold in the U.S.A.,” says the rep in a statement. [More]
FTC: Dannon Agrees To Stop Selling Activia As Cure For Irregularity
By 12.15.10
More than a year after settling a class-action lawsuit over false advertising claims, Dannon has finally settled a separate but related complaint from the Federal Trade Commission. As a result, the company says it will no longer market unproven health benefits of its Activia and DanActive yogurts. [More]
