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Most TikTok posts contain music. Whether the video shows a user performing a short comedy skit, a meme, cosplay, or a weird art piece—there’s usually music playing. The platform was originally designed as a lip-synching app and it encourages every video to be uploaded with a song or sound bite. The company now has a…
Back in 2012, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced that it would vastly expand the number of top-level domains, allowing hundreds of new ones to flourish. You can now buy domains for .mango, .luxury, and .republican if you’re so inclined. But there’s one top-level domain that’s still engaged in a bitter…
Flying has become an altogether unpleasant experience, from long security lines at the airport to cramped, uncomfortable seats. But one of the more unsettling parts of flying, those airplane lavatory toilets that sound like jet engines when flushed, might soon be much quieter thanks to some long overdue research from Brigham Young University. Minimizing weight…
Last Friday, 81 women filed a lawsuit against a San Diego hospital for allegedly recording them during intimate medical procedures without their knowledge or consent. Women were filmed during Caesarean births, birth complications, treatment after a miscarriage, and other operations, according to the lawsuit. On Thursday, 50 additional women joined the complaint against Sharp Grossmont…
Scientists researching the microbial life on volcanic vents uncovered more incredible ocean landscapes from the seafloor off the coast of California. Just check this out: An international team, led by University of Georgia associate professor Samantha Joye, set out to explore sites in both the northern and southern Gulf of California, analyzing how microorganisms live…
In a grift for the ages, two engineering students allegedly scammed Apple out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s hard to say if the students were very clever or if Apple is just really bad at preventing this kind of thing. Yangyang Zhou and Quan Jiang, two engineering students in Oregon, allegedly brought thousands…
Going to the movies or binge-watching TV can be fun, sure, but it’s also time-consuming, and quite possibly expensive too—and thanks to the wonders of the modern-day internet, it’s no longer necessary. You can get clued up on that killer twist, or super-emotional showdown, or scarcely believable character arc, via a web browser in minutes……
Less than a week after it was announced, Google is pulling the plug on its controversial AI ethics advisory board—an about-face attributable to Googlers themselves. The formation of the eight-member Advanced Technology External Advisory Council (ATEAC) was broadly met with apprehension. Wasn’t this just Google policing itself with the blessing of a handful of academics?…
In the early days of radio broadcasting, there was no easy way to tell how many people were listening to the soap operas and prestige crime dramas, and, subsequently, how many were actually hearing the radio ads for tooth powder and name brand coal for your furnace—information that advertisers desperately wanted. It wasn’t like counting…
The ongoing, tiresome feud between Apple and Amazon continues. According to a Thursday report from Bloomberg, Amazon is looking to kick this competition into high gear with Alexa-linked earbuds it hopes will rival AirPods. Not only will these earbuds aim for higher quality audio than AirPods, according to Bloomberg’s sources familiar with the matter, they…
The British government is preparing to publish its plans to clamp down on social networks that distribute and promote harmful content. According to a leaked document, the proposed measures include enabling regulators to hold company executives personally liable in cases entailing negligence. The government is expected to release a white paper detailing the plans on…
In a bid to remain relevant, Snap Inc. has launched a slew of new products for its Snapchat app, including an augmented reality (AR) developer platform and a games platform. The announcements were made earlier today at the company’s first-ever Snap Partner Summit in Los Angeles. First up, Snap introduced Scan, a platform designed to…
Ketamine may have helped save the lives of the twelve boys and their soccer coach who were rescued from a Thai cave last summer. The group was spelunking in the Tham Luang cave complex on June 23 when a sudden rainstorm flooded the caverns and trapped them inside. A group of divers saved the team…
An internal Microsoft email chain, first reported by Quartz, reportedly details a litany of egregious acts of sexual harassment and discrimination experienced by women at the company. The chain received hundreds of responses since it began on March 20, according to Wired, prompting employees to protest the toxic work culture at a Q&A with CEO…
All of a sudden, YouTube can’t escape the spotlight. Normally the spotlight is exactly what the video streaming site wants but lately the temperature has been rising. Earlier this week, a devastating report was published examining how YouTube executives seem to have continuously abdicated their responsibility to deal with toxic videos spreading on the platform…
Elon Musk’s prolonged battle with the SEC over his tweets reached a tentative conclusion on Thursday. For now, he’s still allowed to post and you better believe he will excercise that right. After being accused of contempt over a series of tweets, Elon Musk exited federal court on Thursday with a judge’s order to meet…
A journal published by Russia’s Ministry of Defense became the subject of mockery this week after publishing claims that “Russian specialists” have communicated with dolphins, crashed computer programs, and even looked into safes using the power of telepathy. As first highlighted by Russian media outlet RBC, the February issue of Army Collection featured a story…
When Palm came back from the dead last year with what I have dubbed as the “baby phone,” even though that cute little device was far from perfect, I couldn’t help but appreciate Palm’s attempt at making something that allowed people to stay connected but didn’t constantly beg for your attention. However, the Palm did…
In order for Alexa to answer sensitive healthcare questions, it needs to be compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). And, as of Thursday, Amazon says its voice assistant is offering services that are. In a blog post today, the company announced that a number of new health skills can now be…
When corporations become monolithic, they tend to stalk familiar, doomed territory. The planned communities of the world’s Disneys and Fords are largely out of vogue now, but for tech giants, the white whale is always skywards, in the form of a grandiose universal internet initiative. It’s only surprising that Amazon, in all its splendor, hasn’t…
