Flexispy is the creepy stalkerware advertised to abusive spouses and exes that Motherboard's Joseph Cox has been relentlessly tracking; when he acquired a leaked trove of the company's files, he started to mine it to see who was buying the potentially illegal app. Read the rest
One thousands teenagers were asked to rank brands by coolness [PDF]. YouTube and Netflix are the coolest. The Wall Street Journal and Vice are the least cool. Many are surprised by the latter, but it must be said, they aren't teenagers.
(If you're wondering why Chrome and other polo-shirted, khaki-shortsed Googlebrands are cool, well, take a guess who commissioned and published the research.) Read the rest
Skateboarder Rick McCrank hosts Abandoned, a series from Vice where he explores abandoned malls, amusement parks, racetracks, and even nuclear missile silos. Many of these are excellent places to skate. Read the rest
Vice, the media powerhouse said to be worth upwards of $5bn and "sloshing with cash" thanks to annual revenues in the $900m range, treats its freelancers badly, according to Columbia Journalism Review. Work goes unpaid, payment is late when it comes, assignments are rescinded, and freelancers seem generally expected to work like salaried staff, pitching in on tasks related to their work without further compensation. Read the rest
