onion

Onion's Twitter account hacked by Syrian Electronic Army

When it comes to parody news site the Onion, it's hard to tell if anything it publishes is real. So, after the site's Twitter feed had several tweets on Monday saying "The Syrian Electronic Army Was Here" and other similar messages, few people batted an eyelash.

However, both the Syrian Electronic Army and the Onion have confirmed that indeed the site's Twitter account was hacked, according to The New York Times.

Besides announcing that "The Syrian Electronic Army Was Here," the hacking group, which supports Syrian President Bashar Assad, also tweeted a message … Read more

The 404 1,214: Where we stop shaking and start snooping (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Satire site The Onion apologizes for offensive Oscar tweet.

- Daniel Tosh apologizes on Twitter for rape joke during stand-up routine.

- The most terrifying button on Facebook.

- Billboard starts counting YouTube Hits on its Hot 100 lists, Harlem Shake gets first place.

- Video: Harlem residents respond to Harlem Shake.… Read more

The Onion deletes offensive tweet about child Oscar nominee

The Onion has deleted a tweet that called 9-year-old Best Actress Oscar nominee Quvenzhane Wallis an extremely offensive name.

In its original tweet, the parody publication -- which is known for its dark humor and for regularly skewering public figures and institutions -- wrote that, "Everyone else seems afraid to say it, but that Quvenzhane Wallis is kind of a c---, right?"

Normally, The Onion is known by its many fans to be joking about almost everything it publishes -- even though its satire is often seen as legitimate commentary on a wide range of issues. But in … Read more

Amazon's new original comedy programs might not suck

As a guy blogging for a site owned by a television network (CBS Interactive is the parent company of CNET), count me as both excited and worried about Amazon's lineup of pilots for original comedy series.

So far, the forays into original programming by the likes of Netflix and Hulu and Amazon have been a mixed bag -- Netflix's "Lillyhammer"? Blech. Hulu's "Battleground"? More please.

But the six comedy pilots that will be posted to Amazon Instant Video for free viewing look to be upping the game significantly. Some of the names behind … Read more

The Onion uncovers Apple's new 'iPhone 5C'

It's rare that The Onion manages to scoop other news outlets, especially when it comes to tech, but it happened today: Apple will soon unveil the iPhone 5C, a new model with a special feature designed especially for college girls.

And forget grainy leaked snapshots; The Onion has actual video of the 5C, as shown in the below exclusive news report.… Read more

Chinese news site falls for Kim Jong-un 'sexiest man alive' tale

Sexy is in the eye of the beholder. The beholder of the whip, that is.

Many Western news sites couldn't contain their titters after they heard that China's official Communist mouthguard -- the People's Daily -- announced that North Korea's cherubic-faced youth, Kim Jong-un, had been voted "The Sexiest Man Alive."

No, he wasn't voted by the People's Daily. This wasn't even People magazine. It was that sensitive publication dedicated to the human image, the Onion.

As the Associated Press pictured it, the People's Daily decided to honor this momentous … Read more

The Onion's joyous crucifixion of social media gurus

The present is social. The future is social. Media is social.

It's quite amazing that people still manage to hate each other so much.

Perhaps things are a little more complex than we first thought -- or perhaps social media experts truly are the troubling bags of wind that "Saturday Night Live" recently suggested they might be.

Less leaping on the bandwagon and more skewering the still-twitching carcass, The Onion has just released a video that masquerades as a TED talk.

I am grateful to TechCrunch for spotting this phenomenon, in which a sprightly intellectual young thing … Read more

Google's 9/11 doodle and other Onion fakes dupe Facebook users

Sadly, not everyone always gets the joke. But it seems the ranks of the gullible and clueless may be deeper than we originally thought.

The reemergence and apparent pervasiveness of a global meme around satirical Onion articles that some of our fellow humans read to be the literal truth is actually more absurd than the silly fake news stories said people are being duped by.… Read more

'Real or Onion': Can you spot the satire?

"Congress Accidentally Approves Arts Funding."

Did that headline come from a serious news outlet or did you just get duped by The Onion? A new addition to the AppStore called Real or Onion challenges you to a game of spot the satire.

Gelf Magazine co-founder David Goldenberg came up with the idea after pausing for a second to question the sincerity of a Reuters headline ("Rap music glamorizes drug use - study").

The game is simple. You're presented with a headline and it's your job to determine the source. Based on your guess, you'll either be taken to a mainstream news site or to the original article on The Onion, along with results that compare your overall score with that of to other players.… Read more

Onion tweets itself into trouble, but consider the source

Humor is only skin deep. No, wait. That's beauty. Humor is deep beneath the skin and merely masquerades as beautifully superficial.

The Onion has mined the true depths of humor for quite a while now. However, yesterday it seems to have peeled its way into something of a misstep.

You see, unless you were unreasonably detained by your Congressman yesterday, you'll know that the Onion tweeted this: "BREAKING: Witnesses reporting screams and gunfire heard inside Capitol building."

There wasn't so much as a link with this little tweet, which might (or might not) be the … Read more