404 Media


At Least We Know the Washington Post Isn't Buying Views [link]
404 Media May 13 2026 at 05:02 PM

Jeff Bezos learns being good at YouTube is not so easy....


Jeff Bezos learns being good at YouTube is not so easy.

War and Data Centers Are Driving Up the Cost of Fiber-Optic Cable [link]
404 Media May 13 2026 at 02:24 PM

Spools of cable are critical for internet infrastructure and jam-proof drones bu...


Spools of cable are critical for internet infrastructure and jam-proof drones but skyrocketing costs are making it hard to field them.

Podcast: The Chinese Deepfake Software Powering Scams [link]
404 Media May 13 2026 at 01:10 PM

We got Haotian AI, the Chinese-language deepfake software powering scams. We als...


We got Haotian AI, the Chinese-language deepfake software powering scams. We also talk about a man finding $1 million of Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and how the AI hard drive shortage is impacting internet archiving.

Software Developers Say AI Is Rotting Their Brains [link]
404 Media May 13 2026 at 01:00 PM

“It's making me dumber for sure.”...


“It's making me dumber for sure.”

ICE Agents Have List of 20 Million People on Their iPhones Thanks to Palantir [link]
404 Media May 12 2026 at 01:00 PM

The comments made by a senior ICE official at a trade show highlight how Palanti...


The comments made by a senior ICE official at a trade show highlight how Palantir is increasing the speed at which ICE operates. Most people detained by ICE have no criminal conviction.

How the World Became a Casino [link]
404 Media May 11 2026 at 03:09 PM

The logic behind Polymarket, Kalshi and sports betting apps can be traced back t...


The logic behind Polymarket, Kalshi and sports betting apps can be traced back to the inner workings of the slot machine.

Your AI Use Is Breaking My Brain [link]
404 Media May 11 2026 at 01:57 PM

AI writing is impossible to avoid, is making everything sound the same, and is d...


AI writing is impossible to avoid, is making everything sound the same, and is driving us crazy.

Students Boo Commencement Speaker After She Calls AI the ‘Next Industrial Revolution’ [link]
404 Media May 11 2026 at 01:03 PM

A commencement speaker at the University of Central Florida was booed, with grad...


A commencement speaker at the University of Central Florida was booed, with graduating humanities students yelling out, "AI SUCKS!"

Scientists Studied 906 Mafia Marriages and Found Something Surprising [link]
404 Media May 09 2026 at 01:00 PM

Scientists analyzed over 900 marriages within the ’Ndrangheta, one of the most i...


Scientists analyzed over 900 marriages within the ’Ndrangheta, one of the most infamous mafia syndicates, to understand how “matrimonial ties relate to power and cohesion within the organization.”

University Claims Withholding Water From Nuclear Weapons Data Center Is 'Unlawfully Discriminatory' to Data Centers [link]
404 Media May 08 2026 at 04:57 PM

The University promised “to pursue all rights and claims for necessary relief” i...


The University promised “to pursue all rights and claims for necessary relief” if a small Michigan community won’t pump water into a data center.

Behind the Blog: Storage Woes and RSS [link]
404 Media May 08 2026 at 04:03 PM

This week, we discuss storage, RSS, and a big reporting project....


This week, we discuss storage, RSS, and a big reporting project.

'The Biggest Student Data Privacy Disaster in History': Canvas Hack Shows the Danger of Centralized EdTech [link]
404 Media May 08 2026 at 03:50 PM

Messages could include "medical circumstances, accessibility accommodations, dis...


Messages could include "medical circumstances, accessibility accommodations, disputes, sexual assault allegations," and more.

ICE Plans to Develop Own Smart Glasses to ‘Supplement’ Its Facial Recognition App [link]
404 Media May 07 2026 at 09:05 PM

A DHS official and another person who attended a recent conference described the...


A DHS official and another person who attended a recent conference described the plans to 404 Media.

‘HELLO BOSS’: Inside the Chinese Realtime Deepfake Software Powering Scams Around the World [link]
404 Media May 07 2026 at 01:12 PM

404 Media has obtained a copy of ‘Haotian AI’, a popular piece of realtime deepf...


404 Media has obtained a copy of ‘Haotian AI’, a popular piece of realtime deepfake software marketed to scammers. It can turn a fraudster's face into anyone else's on WhatsApp, Zoom, and Teams.

Scientists Gave ‘Aggressive’ Fish Psychedelic Drugs. A Breakthrough Came Next [link]
404 Media May 07 2026 at 04:01 AM

“We really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into,” said one researcher...


“We really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into,” said one researcher involved in the first-of-its-kind study that dosed fish with psilocybin, the component in magic mushrooms.