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Gun rights activist Cody Wilson reportedly fled from Texas to Taiwan after getting tipped off that he was going to be charged for allegedly paying a 16-year-old girl $500 for sex. But now local news outlets in Taiwan report that he has been captured. Citing an Apple Daily report, English-language Taiwan News said that Wilson…
With the launch of a new national cyber strategy, President Donald Trump has authorized the increased use of “offensive cyber operations” against U.S. adversaries, National Security Adviser John Bolton told reporters on Thursday. The U.S. hopes by deploying offensive measures it can deter cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure and other systems, Bolton said, by demonstrating to…
Twitch had a rush of popularity in China last month, but now reports indicate that the live streaming video platform is no longer available in the country. Abacas, a Hong Kong-based China tech news site, noticed that Twitch’s website was not accessible in parts of China as of earlier this week, and then found that…
A voice-activated microwave is a terrible idea and a pointless frivolity, a device which solves a problem almost no one had. Why trust your lying eyes? Amazon’s Basics microwave (with Alexa!) is no such bauble, and as silly a creation as it may appear, it’s the company’s cutthroat business as usual. What I can almost…
The digital assistant wars are in full swing, and with Google just recently notching the latest victory by finishing Q2 with the top-selling smart speaker in the world, Amazon is revamping its Alexa-powered roster in a very big way. At the start of its presentation, Amazon’s devices head David Limp set the tone by saying…
The U.S. House Committee on Science, Space & Technology has sent a list of recommendations to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), asking that federal research grants be taken away from researchers who engage in sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior. The congressional committee, chaired by Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, is currently overseeing allegations of sexual…
Thanks to the seemingly endless number of Pixel 3 leaks, we’ve got a pretty good idea of the kind of phones Google will probably launch on October 9. However, info on other product announcements scheduled for Google Day are still a little sparse, which is why these pics that appear to show Google’s new Chrome…
After weeks of suspicion about the mysterious closure of the National Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico, unsealed FBI records have provided an explanation: a child porn investigation. The observatory at Sacramento Peak was suddenly closed and evacuated on September 6 because of a “security threat.” The organization that runs the facility—Association of Universities for…
“That’s great news!” The Wall Street Journal spoke with numerous Gmail users who are a little weirded out by the now-fully rolled out Smart Reply feature that scans your email for context and suggests three potential replies. Among the anecdotes about awkward interactions and giving up our personhood to the machines, the piece also revealed…
Following another round of in-store display leaks that GoPro just can’t seem to avoid, the action cam maker officially announced today a new 7-series line featuring three compact cameras differentiated by scaling features, but now easily distinguished by black, silver, and white housings. At the top end of the line is the $399 GoPro Hero…
Facebook’s internal policies allow users to advocate for white nationalism, but not white supremacy. What’s the difference? Facebook seems to believe that’s up for debate. But Facebook is reportedly reviewing its policies on white supremacy after outcry from civil rights groups. As Motherboard reports, leaked documents from inside Facebook show that the company allows content…
Many Newegg customers reportedly had their credit card information exposed in a breach that researchers are attributing to the Magecart group. The payment page for the electronic and computer retailer remained breached for more than a month, from August 14 until September 18, according to security researchers. On Wednesday, security firms RiskIQ and Volexity released…
The astonishing scope of election interference on the world’s biggest social platforms came glaringly to light following the 2016 presidential election. The issue is hardly resolved, so it should not come as a surprise that Facebook has created a team—and a room—dedicated to weeding out disinformation in the run-up to the U.S. midterm elections. It’s…
The three architects of the Mirai botnet just wanted to devise a scheme to make some money in the competitive business of hosting Minecraft servers. The weapon they built ended up showing the world how dangerous DDoS attacks can be. Now, their lives have taken another unexpected turn as the U.S. Justice Department has given…
Typically, robots are built to perform a single task. To make them more adaptable, researchers from Yale University have developed a kind of “robotic skin” that transforms ordinary objects into multifunctional robots. It’s called OmniSkins, and it’s the brainchild of assistant professor Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio and her colleagues at Yale University. The neat thing about OmniSkins…
On Sunday, the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah were witness to yet another land speed record being shattered. Extreme cyclist Denise Mueller-Korenek hopped on her two-wheeled ride, and with the assistance of a streamlined pace vehicle, hit an average speed of 183.932 miles per hour over a distance of three-and-a-half miles. The bike that Mueller-Korenek…
As exciting as three new iPhones and a new Apple Watch with a built-in ECG may (or may not) have been for you, there were lot of updates for other Apple products that we expected to see last week, but didn’t get. This left many wondering if Apple was going to simply hold off on…
The European Union is informally investigating how Amazon uses the data it collects from third-party sellers hosted on its website, Europe’s antitrust chief said Wednesday. Amazon openly collects data from its sellers and is legally allowed to use that information to improve its service. The question raised by EU regulators, however, is whether Amazon is…
Chrome OS, itself based on the Linux kernel, can now run Linux apps—the circle is complete. If you’ve got the latest version of Chrome OS, and a fairly new Chromebook, you can now install some of the best applications Linux has to offer. Here’s how to go about it, and why you might do it…
Cody Rutledge Wilson, the 30-year-old Texas man who’s been fighting with the U.S. government to publish instructions for 3D-printed guns on the internet, was charged today with the sexual assault of a child. Wilson allegedly met the girl on a website called SugarDaddyMeet.com. Wilson allegedly paid the girl, whose name has been withheld in court…
