Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Boots with a thick tread are a must-have accessory for safely traversing ice and snow in the winter, but slipping hazards can exist anywhere, especially for people with mobility challenges. Researchers at MIT and Harvard University have developed a new material that could radically improve the grip on the bottom of a shoe—without making it…
The saga of Netflix’s Tiger King continues. Yesterday, a federal judge handed over control of Joe Exotic’s Oklahoma zoo to his nemesis Carole Baskin, saying he fraudulently transferred the property to his mother in 2011 to keep it away from creditors. If you haven’t watched the documentary series, Tiger King is mostly about the terrible…
Joining Minneapolis, Louisville, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and the nation’s capitol, New York City instituted a curfew last night meant to curb ongoing protests against lynchings of black and brown Americans by police. For reasons unknown, and at Mayor de Blasio’s behest, this curfew also included service stoppages for app-booked mobility options like Citibike and…
Roku is making free, ad-supported TV channels a greater focus of its Roku Channel offerings, an attempt to lean into the kind of channel-flipping, sit-back-and watch experience you typically get with cable. And while its free TV offerings are still relatively meager at around 100 channels, the addition signals a greater focus on improvements to…
While a lot of other gaming laptop makers pushed out refreshed systems earlier this spring, HP took some extra time to give its flagship gaming laptop a full redesign and now HP is releasing the new Omen 15 alongside an updated line of accessories and peripherals. Compared to previous Omen gaming laptops, the new Omen…
Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, has contacted his country’s embassy in the U.S. to call for an investigation after police in Washington D.C. were captured on live TV assaulting journalists from Australia’s Channel 7 news network on Monday. The Australian journalists were covering the protests in Washington D.C., one of the many demonstrations first sparked…
Protests against systemic racism and brutality by police departments around the country ignited by the May 25 Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd are being met with tear gas, rubber bullets, riot shields, and worse as the president threatens to impose martial law. Shortly after Donald Trump addressed the nation from the White House on…
The Dallas police asked the public to snitch, and the Dallas police got a face full of K-pop. Yesterday, the Dallas Police Department tweeted a solicitation for videos of “illegal activity” from protests via their “iWatch” app. A K-pop troupe promptly flooded the replies with fancam clips. “FLOOD THIS SHIT WITH FAN CAMS,” a leader…
At some point, everyone reaches a limit where they can no longer sit back and stay silent about injustice in the world. However, if you do plan on attending a protest—even a peaceful one—there are some important precautions you should take with your phone before you go. Turn off biometric login and enable a PIN…
Facebook employees have staged a virtual walkout in protest of its CEO’s refusal to remove misleading and inflammatory posts made by President Trump. It’s the first walkout protest in the company’s history, reports the New York Times. As Facebook employees are still working from home due to covid-19, those in protest logged off Facebook’s systems…
On the same day that Donald Trump signed an executive order attempting to throttle social media to defend his freedom to lie, Twitter and Reddit highlighted how the administration itself proactively, enthusiastically stifles speech online. On Thursday, the companies submitted evidence in support of a lawsuit against the Trump Administration for surveilling visa applicants’ social…
Amazon has removed a number of product listings that appeared when shoppers searched for Apple’s AirPods after the thumbnails for those products included horrifically racist slurs. The product listings from the company’s UK site were flagged over the weekend by users on social media, with Reuters reporting Sunday that the topic “AirPods” was trending on…
For Nestlé, its meatless beef with Impossible Foods Inc has ended less than incredibly. Last week, a European court ruled that the multi-national food and drink giant must change the name of its “Incredible” plant-based burger for violation of trademarks. The legal tiff began when Nestlé decided it would launch its soy and wheat protein…
A quick peek at the news is probably all it takes to have you polishing off an entire bag of gummy bears, but a South Korean design studio has come up with a way to make you feel less guilt about all that stress-eating. It’s designed a 3D printed face shield that works with empty…
On Friday, President Donald Trump hid in an underground bunker below the White House as hundreds of protesters demonstrated against police brutality in Washington, D.C.—demonstrations first started in Minneapolis after a white police officer killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who was handcuffed on the ground. Unfortunately, we don’t have any photos of Trump…
The Portable Document Format, or PDF, has been with us since 1993. It was created as a way of sharing page layouts—fonts, colors, and graphics—that would look the same on any computer system, no matter what software was installed or what operating system was running. A lot has changed in the last 27 years, but…
It’s a fraught thing, selfie-taking. One moment you’re thinking of yourself as more or less human-looking, and then—click—you realize you’ve got it all wrong, and that strangers on the street probably pity you, on account of your dead eyes and strange head. Or you see, on your phone, a perfectly normal-looking person who just happens…
A New York City Police Department union known for its controversial attacks against Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted out the personally identifying information of his daughter on Sunday night, including a residential address and her New York State ID number. The tweet by the Sergeants Benevolent Association, which in February claimed that members of the…
Black lives matter. I know these weekly round-ups usually tread toward more upbeat and light-hearted subjects, but there’s no way to recount these last seven days without focusing first and foremost on the death of George Floyd and the mass protests sparked by this senseless and racist act of police brutality as well as all…
Prominent vlogger Jake Paul (not to be confused with his equally obnoxious brother, the idiot behind the infamous “suicide forest” video) has landed in hot water again this weekend. Several widely circulated videos on Instagram and Twitter show him and his friends at an Arizona mall while looting is taking place, though it’s unclear from the footage…
