Blake
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The Guardian

I write a weekly newsletter interpreting the biggest stories in tech. 
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I pick up my phone 111 times a day – it doesn’t matter how much time we spend on it
Is Meta’s ad-free service just another way to make people pay for privacy?
Podcast: He’s back: Sam Altman and the chaos at the heart of the AI industry
‘Huge egos are in play’: behind the firing and rehiring of OpenAI’s Sam Altman
Shattered wunderkind image: five key takeaways from Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial

Gizmodo

Perhaps my two favorite stories from my time at Gizmodo.
‘I Was Shadowbanned:’ How Hinge's Algorithm Decides Who You Date
The Completely Unbelievable Story of the ‘Deepfake Cheer Mom’
Stories about Apple's privacy failings:
After a Dozen Lawsuits, Apple Breaks Its Silence on Privacy Problems
Apple Faces Second Class-Action Suit Over Privacy Settings After Gizmodo Story
From the lawsuit: "Gizmodo broke the story on the issue."
Apple Sued for Allegedly Deceiving Users With Privacy Settings After Gizmodo Story
Apple Says Your iPhone's Usage Data is Anonymous, but New Tests Say That's Not True
Apple Is Tracking You Even When Its Own Privacy Settings Say It’s Not, New Research Says
Stories about a group of adult performers' lawsuit accusing Meta and OnlyFans of unprecedented bribery:
Exclusive: Nick Clegg, Other Meta Executives 'Inadvertently' Identified in OnlyFans Bribery Suit
Exclusive: Facebook Received Whistleblower Report Alleging Bribery Six Months Ahead of OnlyFans Suit
Adult Performers File Allegedly Leaked Offshore Bank Records in OnlyFans-Meta Bribery Suit
Gizmodo's continuing release of the Facebook Papers was cited by Amnesty International in its report on Facebook's role in the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar:
Read the Facebook Papers for Yourself
An assortment of other stories:
Scoop: CNET Deletes Thousands of Old Articles to Game Google Search
Inside Google's Plan to Kill the Cookie
Google Pixel Fold Review: A Folding Phone That Still Has Some Wrinkles to Work Out
Google Pixel Tablet Review: A Solid Android Tablet, but an Even Better Smart Home Hub
Anker Powerhouse 767 Review: Anker's 67-Pound Rolling Battery Is Peace of Mind on Wheels
‘Our Free Will Is Being Taken’: Montana TikTokers Caught in Legal Limbo After State’s Unprecedented Ban
How Montana's TikTokers Are Fighting Back Against the State's Ban
Welcome to the Kings League, Gerard Piqué’s New Soccer ‘Circus’ Going Viral on Twitch
Exclusive: We Found 28,000 Apps Sending TikTok Data. Banning the App Won't Help.
Homeland Security Admits It Tried to Manufacture Fake Terrorists for Trump
Exclusive: These Companies Know When You're Pregnant—And They're Not Keeping It Secret
Exclusive: Meta Didn’t Bother to Translate Horizon Worlds Into Spanish When It Launched the Game in Spain
Exclusive: Google Had to Stop Google Homes From Saying the N-Word
The Government Made This Fake News Broadcast About a Nuclear Attack on Indianapolis
Exclusive: Pet Owners Begged Feds for Help With Seresto Flea Collars They Claim Killed Their Pets
Exclusive: 'They Are Robbing Me': Angry Robinhood Users Flood the FTC With Complaints
Exclusive: SNAFU: The Air Force Just Survived a Reply-All Apocalypse
Exclusive: New Pentagon Budget Could Force the Military to Disclose When it Buys Americans’ Location Data
Exclusive: Someone Hacked the Spelling Bee
Donald Trump’s Disgraced Campaign Manager Seems to Have a New Gig: Pushing Big Oil's ‘Pink Slime’
Justice Department Admits: We Don't Even Know How Many Predictive Policing Tools We've Funded
Does Texas' Idiot Attorney General Have a Point About Incognito Mode?
Twitter Admits It Hid Tweets About HBO's QAnon Docuseries [Updated]

Essays

When I'm not editing news stories, I write about technology's cultural significance and how it makes me feel. 
Growing Up Gay in the Age of Apps
Goodbye to San Francisco, Self-Driving Cars, and Solitude
The Twitter Files, Explained
I appeared on WYNC's On the Media to discuss the significance of The Twitter Files.
The Twitter Files, Part Two, Explained
Grieving Yu-Gi-Oh, My Favorite Childhood Game
SOPHIE’s Beautiful Music Hoped for a World Freed From Gender

The Daily Beast

Cuomo ‘Livid’ After Shock Firing by CNN
White Supremacists Stage Bizarro Rally in Downtown D.C., Find Themselves Stranded
Exclusive: ‘To Catch a Predator’ Host Says the Warrant for His Arrest Was ‘the Silliest Thing’
Anti-Vax Radio Host Who Called Fauci a ‘Power Tripping Lying Freak’ Dies of COVID
‘Redneck Rave’ Descends Into Throat Slashing, Impalements, and Mass Arrests
‘Avenge Her Murder’: The Grisly Killing of an Ex-Diplomat’s Daughter Ignites a Wave of Fury Worldwide
Being Sick Made Them Famous—and a Target of Trolls
Scoop: Woke Butler Service Faces Worker Rage Over Coronavirus
Scoop: ‘Warzone’: MIT Students Enraged by Coronavirus Banishment
Breathalyzer Giant Accused of Fraud Won’t Come Clean About Booze Tests
Salesforce Is Ditching Its Awkward Corporate Obsession With Hawaiian Culture
Scoop: California Class-Action Lawsuit Accuses TikTok of Illegally Harvesting Data and Sending It to China
Google and Twitter Approved Our BS Anti-Vaxx Ads
Facebook Axed Pro-Vaccine Ads, Let Anti-Vaxxer Conspiracies Slip Through
New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez requested and received a briefing from Facebook on anti-vaccine ads as a result of my reporting.
Scoop: Blizzard Employees Staged a Walkout to Protest Ban of Pro-Hong Kong Gamer
Scoop: ICE Has a New $30M Contract With Israeli Phone Cracking Company Cellebrite
Facial Recognition Bans: Coming to a City Near You
How a Cooling Vest Invented by a Furry Made Its Way Into the U.S. Military
Crime Scene Cleanup Specialists Are Making It Big On Instagram

Freelance

The New York Times: We Live In Packs
The Atlantic: The Amazon Publishing Juggernaut
Them.US: Empire Actor Jussie Smollett Allegedly Suffers a Racist, Homophobic Attack

BuzzFeed News

When A Blogger Died From Silicone Genital Injections, His Fans Blamed His Partner
I was arrested and jailed while seeking comment from the subject of this story. No charges were filed, and the associated restraining orders were dismissed.
Porn Stars Are Now Making Content Just For You — For A Price
here's what really happened in charlottesville
How white nationalists lost at the second Unite The Right rally
A White Supremacist Has Been Found Guilty Of Murder For Killing A Unite The Right Counterprotester
For two weeks in December 2018, I covered the trial of James Alex Fields, who drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters at the "Unite The Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

EdSurge

Scoop: Noodle Slashes Editorial, Marketing Divisions Amid Slow Growth
An Exercise in Empathy: When Principals Shadow Students
Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero/The Daily Beast/Getty
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