hoax

Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend was born and died on social media

Manti Te'o's tale was a portrait of a heartbroken football player overcoming adversity -- triumphing over the tragic death of his girlfriend.

The devout Mormon, Notre Dame linebacker, and runner up to the 2012 Heisman Trophy first suffered the loss of his grandmother, then his girlfriend to leukemia. On the day she died, he had one of the best games of his college career, logging 12 tackles.

The only problem is that she didn't die...because she apparently never existed.

In an exhaustive investigation, Deadspin's Timothy Burke and Jack Dickey detail how Te'o started dating … Read more

Video of child-snatching eagle an animation-student fake

Alas for those excited by a video seemingly showing an eagle's unsuccessful attempt to carry off a child: it's not real.

"A shadow analysis revealed some pretty severe inconsistencies," said Kevin Connor, president of Fourandsix, an imaging forensics specialist. "It appears to be a fake."

Just as Fourandsix was digging into the matter, a Montreal school said animation students were behind the video. It "was made by Normand Archambault, Loic Mireault, and Felix Marquis-Poulin, students at Centre NAD, in the production simulation workshop class of the Bachelors degree in 3D Animation and Digital Design," a statement from the center said. "Hoaxes produced in this class have already garnered attention, amongst others a video of a penguin having escaped the Montreal Biodome." … Read more

Facebook Powerball hoaxer is software engineer, report says

You have probably barely slept for wondering what kind of sniveling snail would put their picture up on Facebook with a fake winning Powerball ticket.

Or you have probably barely slept for wondering what kind of saintly sort would ask people to share on Facebook his picture with a winning Powerball ticket and offer $1 million to a random sharer.

Either way, the excitement generated by Nolan Daniels has been heated and profound -- especially as more than 2 million people have now shared in the experience.

Now, it seems, we know which Nolan Daniels he is.

The Savannah Morning … Read more

The 404 1,123: Where a storm is coming (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- McDonalds to open first vegetarian restaurant.

- Hoax alert: Bruce Willis fights for the right to bequeath his iTunes library.

- How classic games got their names (hat tip to Corey).

- Is this new Prince Harry game using Jeff's likeness?

Episode 1,123 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video  

The 404 1,120: Where we pay you in nickels (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- 51 percent of people believe stormy weather can interfere with cloud computing.

- No, Samsung did not try to pay Apple its $1 billion fine in nickels.

- Apple's AirPlay might soon work without Wi-Fi.

- Stop douching your noses, people.… Read more

Seen that privacy chain letter on Facebook? Ignore it

If you've been on Facebook this week, you may have seen a status update now making the rounds that purports to explain how to safeguard your privacy on the service. Which sounds great, but for one thing: It's pretty much bogus.

In fact, you're much better off just ignoring this latter-day chain letter (see the full thing below) and voting on Facebook's proposed changes to its real privacy policy instead.

The gist of this chain message is unless you post a disclaimer specifying that you forbid organizations and other people from using your Facebook updates, pictures … Read more

Facebook was Abraham Lincoln's idea? Oh, please

So today we were asked to imagine the case of Abraham Lincoln (and his heirs) against Mark Zuckerberg.

For the Web was taken by the idea that President Lincoln had once tried to patent an idea that was very similar to Facebook.

Lincoln was neither so half-witted, nor so trivial to wonder what his neighbor's dog had eaten for dinner.

The Lincoln Museum's spokesman, Dave Blanchette, told me very bluntly: "It is a complete but clever hoax."

Earlier, many like the Next Web got excited over the discovery by self-styled builder of things Nate St. Pierre … Read more

Flying Dutchman is Lying Dutchman in elaborate hoax

Curse you fake birdman! Just when it seemed like we humans might get to spread our wings and fly, it turns out the whole shebang -- videos, plans, everything -- was part of an elaborate plan/scam/hoax by filmmaker Floris Kaayk.

I wrote earlier in the week about the footage produced by Dutch mechanical engineer Jarno Smeets that looked real, if questionable, and has now been disproved and admitted as a very disappointing hoax. As Kaayk put it on his Web site:

Today, I revealed my latest project on Dutch prime-time TV show 'De wereld draait door.' In the … Read more

Facebook is still free, so stop with that silly rumor

It happens every so often; a rumor starts somewhere in cyberspace and people pass it around as if it's true, like they really believe it. With all of the Facebook chatter over changes that have just been implemented--a new News Feed and Ticker--as well as upcoming changes announced at Facebook's f8 developer's conference, Facebook users can't help but join in the conversation.

From members posting about how they welcome the upgrades to many threatening to flee the social network because they liked Facebook sans updates, another Facebook tale started to make the rounds this … Read more