My goodness it’s fun bludgeoning people to death. I know I’ve written scathingly in the past about so-called ultraviolent video games, but that’s before I discovered Postal 2 and began to appreciate the nihilistic abandon of chasing a fat bird down the
Am I alone in silently hoping Band Aid 30 bombs? I mean, how ill-conceived does a charity single have to be for Adele—who demands a $20 donation for her favourite cause from every backstage guest at every show she plays—to
So, an apology to Malala Yousafzai; it seems the people of Pakistan took an earlier column of mine entirely too much to heart. In October, I wrote that the pint-sized social justice warrior was becoming… well, a bit of a
Gosh! How wickedly funny it was of a group of internet pranksters to whip up confected outrage over Dr Matt Taylor’s harmless, if rather loud, shirt. That’s the Matt Taylor who just landed a spacecraft on a comet, by the
British police forces are sharing platforms with Islamic extremists from discredited Islamist organisation MEND, formerly known as iENGAGE—and even co-hosting events with them—throughout November as part of Islamophobia Awareness Month, a Breitbart investigation has revealed. In November, Mark Burns-Williamson, police and crime
Like me, reality television star Kim Kardashian has a big bottom. In fact it’s a gigantic—though very shapely—derrière. It’s kind of a thing. It’s so big that she can apparently balance a coupe on it, if photographs for Paper magazine earlier this week are to
Unless you’re a dork, you will have no idea what “net neutrality” means, although chances are you’ve seen a headline about it in the last few days. Fortunately for you, I am a dork. So let me explain as simply as
In all of the distracting, hysterical, evidence-free and unfair allegations of misogyny and bigotry hurled at supporters of GamerGate, the consumer revolt that continues to surface outrageous misconduct in the video games press, something is being forgotten. GamerGate is remarkable—and
A landmark legal ruling in the UK threatens to criminalise mums-to-be for drinking while pregnant. And although the case that sparked this judgment is undoubtedly horrific, I’m just as worried about the law of unintended consequences… not least because drinking
You’ve probably, at some time in your life, considered showing up to a fancy dress party as a Red Indian–or, as we’re obliged to call them these days, a “Native American.” You probably didn’t then consider the delicate racial politics
Our national governments’ collective appetite for space travel has waned considerably in the past few decades: as citizens have grown restless and dissatisfied with their elected representatives and a series of terrorist attacks and financial crises have forced leaders to
Britain’s spy agency GCHQ has said that social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube are the “command and control networks of choice” for terrorism and that the companies which run them must do more to help combat extremism.
Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, announced today in BusinessWeek that he is gay. The news surprised no one: Cook’s sexuality has been an open secret in the tech industry for years. But perhaps now he’s revealed himself, we’ll see
Wonderful news for concerned Ebola-watchers everywhere: according to the National Center for Homeopathy, a crack team of sugar pill-wielding charlatans is on its way to West Africa to begin “clinical trials.” Says the NCH: “We applaud and congratulate this team’s
Bizarre, ill-fated business ideas such as Dattch, the “lesbian social network,” are being granted places in high-profile corporate accelerators, while ordinary heterosexual sexuality is being policed like never before at prominent gatherings of entrepreneurs, investors and journalists. What’s going wrong
One question supporters of GamerGate, the consumer revolt against shoddy ethics and bias in video games journalism, often ask me is what a successful campaign outcome might look like. Based on my experience in online media, here’s where I think
Adobe, Mercedes and BMW are among the brands understood to have reconsidered relationships with Gawker in response to consumer activism that has cost the publisher thousands of dollars already, according to editor-in-chief Max Read. Gawker has responded to mass withdrawals
“I was Patient Zero,” intoned Monica Lewinsky at the Forbes 30 Under 30 summit this week. (Monica is 41.) “I was the first person to have their reputation completely destroyed worldwide via the internet.” She promptly joined Twitter, and started
One of the things people said would happen with the GamerGate consumer revolt, whose stated aim is to raise standards in video games journalism, is that after an initial flurry of haphazard activism, and a few scary “misogynist” allegations, the
“FEMINIST” blared the stage behind Beyoncé at MTV’s Video Music Awards in August this year. No true megastar would feel the need to declare themselves on the subject one way or another, but the stunt was typical of the neediest,
Few who saw Nobel prize winner Malala Yousafzai – the 17-year-old Pakistani girl who was nearly killed by the Taliban and who then went on to become an activist for female education – finger-wagging about the frivolousness of social media will
Tory MP Brooks Newmark has announced he will not stand again for Parliament next year, following revelations that he had a 2-year-long affair and sexted multiple young girls including a reporter posing as a young girl. It was a horrible
You can’t wage guerrilla warfare armed only with flak cannons. But that’s precisely what the gaming and tech media are trying to do with GamerGate, a consumer revolt against unethical press practices that is striking terror into the heart of
Even with the extravagant, all-expenses-paid parties, consumer electronics companies and games developers don’t hand out cash enough to pay the rent, whinges GameJournoPros founder Kyle Orland in another tranche of leaked emails from the game industry’s private mailing list. The
Everyone dissembles on the internet, whether little white lies on dating sites or whoppers on anonymous forums. The odd harmless bit of embroidery in real life helps to keep conversation sparkling, or avoid awkward moments. But, increasingly, untruths are used
