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Canines beware: Apparently we humans aren’t the only ones who need to worry about our inevitable robot overlords replacing us. This week, New Zealand software firm Rocos announced a partnership with Boston Dynamics to give the latter’s famous robotic dog/four-legged nightmare automaton a new gig: herding sheep. Rocos specializes in developing software for remote robot…
The U.S. Commerce Department has put another 33 Chinese businesses—many of which develop artificial intelligence and face recognition tech—on its economic blacklist as a punitive measure for purportedly conspiring with Beijing and the government’s brutal crackdown on Muslim minorities. The department’s so-called “entity list” bans blacklisted companies from using U.S.-made tech in their devices. Established…
This might not come as a surprise if you ever use Twitter, but it turns out bots are driving the push to “reopen America” on the platform. According to Business Insider, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University found that about half of more than 200 million tweets related to covid-19 that have been sent since January…
A coalition of major tech companies and digital rights organizations sent a letter on Friday to House leaders of both parties urging them to allow a vote on an amendment to prohibit the FBI from collecting Americans’ web browsing data without a warrant. The letter comes as the House prepares to vote as early as…
For reasons known only to Hell itself, an editor—or more likely, several—decided today to run a profile in Bloomberg entitled, “Elon Musk Is the Hero America Deserves.” We can debate whether that’s a hidden dig at the worthiness of this lapsed country, or if recycling quotes from an overrated Batman movie says something deeper about…
If you’re single and stuck inside at home during the pandemic, online dating can be a creative way to pass the time—after all, what’s more romantic than a first date over Zoom? But if, in a fit of boredom, you’re tempted to try Facebook Dating, let me tell you now: Don’t even think about it.…
While lockdowns remain in effect in many states, health officials still say outdoor exercise is a good way to stretch those legs and shake off some cabin fever. I’ve been religiously walking and running—while maintaining the appropriate distance, of course—and so have plenty of other folks in good ol’ New York. And, lately, it seems…
Requiring federal agents to have “probable cause” to eavesdrop on the internet activities of American citizens poses a direct threat to national security and would force the FBI to stand by while terrorist plots unfold on U.S. soil, according to a leaked copy of talking points distributed to Senate lawmakers this month. The talking points,…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated information on its website about how covid-19—the disease caused by the novel coronavirus strain SARS-CoV-2—travels to indicate that the virus “does not spread easily” on surfaces. However, the change comes with a big caveat: The CDC site says it could still be possible for covid-19 to…
The U.S. Copyright Office has released a long-awaited, 192-page report that could give the music and movie industry an opening to fight for stricter enforcement of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The report concludes that the DMCA is largely working, but also found that the section 512 safe harbor provision—a cornerstone of the law that…
No matter how they may make you feel, licking your gadgets and electronics is never recommended. Unless you’re a researcher from Meiji University in Japan who’s invented what’s being described as a taste display that can artificially recreate any flavor by triggering the five different tastes on a user’s tongue. Years ago it was thought…
It seems that the European Union’s digital privacy protections aren’t just a handy way to keep the Facebooks and Googles of the world from snooping into your personal life. According to a recent court ruling in the Netherlands, these same protections can apply to overly invasive family members, too. First detailed in the Register, the…
Earlier this week Google announced that the Google App was finally getting an official dark mode on Android and iOS, which is something that would normally make me happy, but I’ve suffered not one, but two rants from my colleagues complaining about dark mode. So consider this piece a direct rebuttal to my colleagues’ work…
Thanks to a Supreme Court ruling from 2018, most of the evidence that might be hidden on a suspect’s phone is only accessible with some sort of warrant. Now, a Seattle judge is extending these protections even further. That’s the verdict of a case uncovered in a new Ars Technica report, which ruled that federal…
In spite of growing federal demands for transparency regarding the number of covid-19 exposures among the second-largest U.S. workforce, Amazon’s stance so far can be largely characterized as “fuck you, make me.” Unsurprisingly, this disdain is extending to local-level concerns, too—now most urgently in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Lack of company-provided data has led to Amazon workers…
A man in Morrow, Georgia, has been charged for allegedly submitting a fake medical letter for a positive covid-19, defrauding his company and causing an estimated $100,000 in damages after his employer was forced to close and unnecessarily quarantine several of the man’s colleagues. According to a complaint filed last week in the U.S. District…
Despite recently having to announce the lay off of 1,000 employees, it would now appear that Magic Leap has somehow pulled a $350 million miracle out of its ass. In a letter sent to employees—first obtained by Business Insider—Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz said the company had secured a new round of investment to the…
After shutting down its US-based repair centers over two months ago as a result of the pandemic, Nintendo is starting to reopen them again, which is good news for Switch owners still dealing with Joy-Con drift. Hacker Matteo Pisani came up with a different solution: a Switch without joysticks is a Switch that never experiences…
Earlier this year, Airbus unveiled a sleek new concept aircraft with a blended wing that looked incredibly futuristic. And while it looks like it could have been ripped out of a sci-fi movie from the 2010s, the plane concept also has many elements of retro-futurism. Specifically, the plane looks similar to the proposed Northrop Flying…
A mastery of Adobe Photoshop can help streamline your workflow in all kinds of fields, from web design and online publishing to digital art and photography. The software dominates the image-editing space (though alternatives are available), and no matter what your level—from beginner to expert—there’s always more to learn about using the program on Windows…
