Author Archives: Carol Edwards

Grindr has a communication problem. 

The social networking app used by 3.6 million people has been doing more than simply facilitating hookups, and in the process has potentially put the privacy of its users at risk. 

According a report from BuzzFeed News, the company is sharing user data with two other companies — data that includes email addresses, GPS data, phone IDs, and HIV statuses. Taken as a whole, this information could be used to determine the HIV status of individuals by name. 

After all, how many of you use some form of your real name as your email address? This, paired with your phone ID and GPS location, is likely more than enough to peg data to a specific person. What’s more, even if Grindr doesn’t have specific health data on you, this information might be enough to identify you as a user of a queer-focused app.  Read more…

More about Privacy, Hiv, Grindr, Tech, and Health

You don’t have to look too hard on Reddit to find anti-Trump subreddits, but somewhere in between r/TrumpForPrison and r/EnoughTrumpSpam, a new sub has risen up to firmly plant a wry tongue in the cheek of the current administration. 

The_Mueller is a subreddit completely dedicated to spreading memes and disseminating news related to special counsel Robert Mueller III’s investigation exploring possible ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign and possible obstruction of justice from the president. It now has around 75,000 subscribers and growing. 

The_Mueller is a place where Redditors come to gleefully celebrate what they see as Trump’s looming downfall at the hands of a former FBI director who has become an unexpected celebrity for the left. After all, Mueller is a Republican, initially appointed to his FBI position by George W. Bush. But that’s not going stop anti-Trumpers from anti-Trumpin’.  Read more…

More about Reddit, Donald Trump, Robert Mueller, Culture, and Web Culture

Toilet seats tend to be very uniform: the standard porcelain white. Snoresville. 

So naturally, when one UK mum purchased what she thought was a bright blue toilet seat at IKEA, she was initially hesitant to introduce it into her powder room. But after considering it, she became super excited and showed it off to her daughter. 

Her daughter, Amber, however, took a closer look at the label on the toilet seat and ruined her mom’s dreams of a colorful commode.

More about Ikea, Culture, and Web Culture

‘Weird Type’ is an augmented reality app that lets you draw in a 3D space. There are a few different features that you can play around with, including ones that explode, paint, and stamp your words.  Read more…

More about Space, Instagram, App, Mashable Video, and Virtual Reality

If your social media feed hasn’t been blowing up all night with people excited about NBC’s live broadcast of Jesus Christ Superstar, then you’re clearly not following the right people.

The whole show is a blast, but Sara Bareilles owned this standout moment when she sang one of the musical’s most well-known numbers, “I Don’t Know How To Love Him.”

No more words. Just hit play and soak it in. Read more…

More about Entertainment, Tv, Sara Bareilles, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Entertainment

China’s Tiangong-1 space station is officially no more.

According to multiple agencies tracking the space station’s movements, 34-foot-long spacecraft re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at 8:16 p.m. ET above the southern Pacific Ocean.

While a few of the charred bits of Tiangong-1 — which translates to Heavenly Palace — may have made it all the way to the ground, it’s still unclear exactly where they may have landed. In all likelihood, the bits of space debris wouldn’t have landed in a populated area.

More about Space, Science, China, Tiangong 1, and Science

Two minor right-wing celebrities, two half-assed apologies that feel more forced than sincere. They might have gotten away with it too, if not for those meddling kids and their pesky tweets.

In the weeks since a lone gunman murdered 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., some of the more outspoken students have embraced the platform of celebrity-esque activists. They’re young, they’re smart, they’re pushing for change in all the right ways. They exhude the sort of presence that social media tends to rally around.

More about Culture, Activism, Laura Ingraham, Parkland Shooting, and David Hogg

Is there anything less funny than when one ethically questionable tech giant trolls another for lulz?

Most of the time, the answer is a resounding “No.” But every once in a while, we’re forced to offer a very hesitant yes.

For April Fool’s Day this year, Snapchat decided to create a Facebook filter that makes it appear as if a Russian bot has liked your post. I’m confident the teens of America could GAF, but for us adults obsessed with the Mueller investigation (and likely not on Snapchat), we have no choice but to love it.

More about Watercooler, Facebook, Snapchat, April Fools Day, and Russian Bots

If you wake up this morning not feeling frightened, you clearly haven’t spent enough time watching local news stan for Donald Trump.

Last month, CNN’s Brian Stelter revealed that Sinclair Broadcast Group, operator of nearly 200 local television stations across the United States, would be recording promotional content about “irresponsible, one-sided news stories plaguing our country.” Deadspin has since found that content and compiled it all into a terrifyingly synchronized montage. 

All of my childhood dystopian YA fiction has come true. Read more…

More about Watercooler, Fake News, Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Culture, and Media Industry

On a beautiful spring morning at Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump appears to have woken up in a very foul mood.

So the president did as he’s wont to do on days like this: He announced a dramatic shift in policy affecting the nation’s most vulnerable people. “NO DACA deal,” Trump tweeted on Sunday morning. The Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) sought to protect undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children until Trump ended it in Sept. 2017.

Religious leaders and more secular observers couldn’t help but notice that Trump was spouting his anti-immigration views on Easter Sunday and during Passover. Both holidays celebrate liberation, hope, and freedom from oppression and tyranny. Read more…

More about Watercooler, Easter, Passover, President Trump, and Daca