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Tech News
Remember All Those Days Everyone Said It Was The Day From Back to the Future… That Day Is TODAY!
When Marty McFly finally arrives in modern-day Hill Valley, California a little later this afternoon, I admit I’ll be a little sad. Because his arrival signifies the end of one of the best internet memes of all time. If you were anywhere near a computer over the last decade, at some point in your electronic … Continued
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Tech News
This Teenager Was Arrested for Making a Clock His Teachers Thought Was a Bomb
When 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed arrived at school on Monday morning with a digital clock he’d built from scratch, he was keen to show his teachers the fruit of his labors. Instead, he was pulled out of class and arrested for attempting to build a bomb. The Dallas Morning News reports that Ahmed built the clock … Continued
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io9
No, Mars Will Not Look the Same Size as the Moon This Week—Or Ever
You hear me? Ever. Top image: NASA takes another swing at dismantling the Mars Spectacular rumor, this time in pictorial form, in 2014. (It didn’t work.) In the world of urban legends, Mars Spectacular is a relatively new (though already remarkably sticky) one. It’s only been around for about the last 13 years or so, … Continued
By Ria Misra -
Tech News
The Dumbest Pro-Russia Hoax on the Internet
David L. Stern is a freelance writer based in Kiev, Ukraine. He’s also, if you believe several Russian media outlets, a covert CIA agent who helped orchestrate a conspiracy to shoot down an airplane and blame Russia. What a busy fellow! The accusation is a whopper: When Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 went down over eastern … Continued
By Kate Knibbs -
Tech NewsFakes
No, a CIA agent didn’t just admit to murdering Marilyn Monroe
Did a retired CIA officer recently admit on his deathbed that he murdered Marilyn Monroe? Nope. It’s all part of a stupid hoax from fake news site World News Daily Report. The story was picked up by conspiracy theory aficionados InfoWars, among a host of other sites. But as Snopes points out, the image used … Continued
By Matt Novak -
io9
Anybody Remember The Long Lost Cartoon Super Turbo Atomic Mega Rabbit?
It’s a shame that Saturday morning animation blocks are now extinct. Was there ever a greater anthropomorphic action cartoon than Super Turbo Atomic Mega Rabbit? Thankfully YouTuber Mr GeekyGod has salvaged the intro from an old VHS and posted it online for your viewing pleasure: What, don’t you remember Super Turbo Atomic Mega Rabbit? How … Continued
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Tech NewsSploid
Update: These images are not computer graphics
Update: This was all a hoax. David O’Reilly and Kim Laughton curate a wonderful head innards shaking website, Hyper Real CG, that shows a collection of pictures that look completely real but are actually just hyper real 3D art made from CG. It’s really crazy how close to real life we can get with art. … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsFakes
10 More Viral Photos That Are Actually Fake
Believe it or not, there are a lot of fake photos on the internet. And the explosion in the number of spammy Twitter accounts like OldPicsArchive and HistoryInPics help them spread like wildfire. Today we’re taking a look at 10 more fake-ish photos you may have seen in your social media streams recently. They’re all … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFacebook
Behind the scenes of “behind the scenes at National Geographic”
Have you seen that “behind the scenes at National Geographic” photo where those guys are running from a bear? It’s pretty amusing. But it’s a fake. Super duper, 100 percent fake. So where did it come from? After I debunked the photo in my latest FAKES round-up, Tim Sparks, a filmmaker in Colorado, contacted me … Continued
By Matt Novak -
io9
7 Scifi Literary and Journalistic Hoaxes that Readers Believed
The idea of sophisticated life on the moon might seem absurd today, but when a story about lunary civilization appeared in newspapers in 1835, many wondered if it could be true. And that’s hardly the only scifi story readers have found credible enough to believe. Top image: Lithograph of the Great Moon Hoax, via Wikimedia … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
Tech News
Why the Moon Landings Could Have Never EVER Been Faked: The Definitive Proof
This video is so good, so incredibly brilliant, solid and simple, that you will want to paste it all over your Facebooks and Twitters just to piss off all the IMBECILES who still claim that the Moon landings were faked.* The reason is simple: the technology to fake it didn’t exist. It’s a very simple … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
io9
Archaeologist suing makers of Indiana Jones, claiming their Crystal Skull is too accurate
Can a fantastical movie be too historically accurate? Dr. Jaime Awe, director of the Institute of Archeology of Belize, has filed suit against Lucasfilm and Paramount Pictures claiming that the prop skull from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull bears a striking resemblance to one of the “real” Crystal Skulls originally discovered … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9
Rash of robot sightings could be a sign of the impending robopocalypse — or an elaborate hoax
Robots of various shapes and sizes have been seen making their way through a number of cities in the United States without any apparent human oversight. Sightings have been reported in Pasadena, Los Angeles, and along Hollywood Boulevard, as well as some undisclosed subway stations and industrial parks. Now, while it’s very possible that this … Continued
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io9
FameDaddy ‘celebrity sperm bank’ revealed to be an elaborate hoax
A comedy show in the UK has just pulled off a rather well executed prank. It all got started earlier this week when Dan Richards, the “CEO” of a fake company called FameDaddy, appeared on a major morning television show. Richards, who is an actor in real life, spoke on live TV about his company, … Continued
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Tech News
How a Fake Erotic Fiction eBook Hit the Top 5 of iTunes
The Diamond Club is an erotic fiction book that reached as high as #4 on the iTunes paid eBooks list just behind the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. It’s an amazing accomplishment as it’s only been on sale for three days. And even more amazing since it’s a fake book. How is the book fake? … Continued
By Casey Chan -
io9
Back in the 1700s, two science professors created the world’s first fossil hoax to prank a religious colleague
Piltdown Man, a fossil that supposedly proved early humans originated in England, was discovered in 1912, and wasn’t proven a hoax until 1953. This fraud was one of the earliest fossil hoaxes out there — but it was actually two centuries too late to claim that distinction. In the 1700s, two professors decided to humiliate … Continued
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Tech News
Is Jonathan’s Starbucks Card a Slick Marketing Campaign? (Updated: Good news, its legit!)
You know that Starbuck’s pay-it-forward idea hatched by Jonathan Stark? The one where you buy a coffee with a card and add money for the next person. Well, it may be a viral marketing campaign, not some feel-good social experiment. The Jonathan’s Starbucks Card hit the tech blogs earlier this week with the story of … Continued
By Kelly -
Tech News
Internet Explorer Users Aren’t Really That Stupid. That Was Just a Hoax! (Yeah, Sure.)
A widely circulated report that showed Internet Explorer users as having lower IQs than people who use other browsers turned out to be fake. I mean, come on, it’s a little too convenient, right? Dumb people and dumb software! The report, put out by ApTiquant, was all faked. The BBC isn’t even sure ApTiquant really … Continued
By Casey Chan -
io9
The very weirdest theories about the Loch Ness Monster
What is the Loch Ness Monster? No one knows, but that hasn’t stopped legions of armchair cryptozoologists from formulating one theory after another on the subject of the world’s most famous lake creature. Ok, it isn’t entirely true that we don’t know anything about what Nessie is – a lot of evidence indicates that the … Continued
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Tech News
Charlie Sheen Is Not Dead
Uh oh! There’s a lot of talk on Twitter and Facebook about that strange Charlie Sheen fellow dying. Could it be true? Or is this yet another hoax designed to spread malware? I suppose the headline gave away the answer to that mystery. Charlie Sheen is not dead, but someone’s posting links with captions that … Continued
By Rosa Golijan