Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
As if you needed yet another reason to loathe your ISP, Comcast has dropped the ball when it comes to properly securing its own wireless products. A pair of security researchers have uncovered a bug on Comcast’s website that allowed unauthorized disclosure of Xfinity customers’ personal data, according to a report from ZDNet. All you…
Ever find yourself in the position where you need something but can’t afford it? Lucus Landers did, when he needed a large-format camera for class so he found a laser-cutter and built a pretty janky-looking one out of wood. Now, the Louisiana native has just finished building another camera from scratch. It is a beauty.…
The laptop was supposed to get smaller. When the bezels shrink and the guts get faster, that’s what’s supposed to happen. But instead Razer’s 14-inch Blade laptop is being supersized into a 15.6-inch machine for its next version. And I’m almost convinced that’s the right decision. I won’t know until I actually spend time with…
When Mark Zuckerberg testified in front of members of Congress last month, he made many of them look like out-of-touch idiots. But he may not be so lucky today. The Facebook CEO will be testifying in front of a European Parliament committee, and they’re expected to actually ask him some tough questions. The hearing in…
One of the best controllers you can get for your PC or Xbox is the super customizable Microsoft Elite, but if you’re a PS4 fan you’ll have to go to third party peripheral maker Scuf to get any kind of customization. We’ve liked Scufs PS4 controllers in the past quite a bit, but its latest…
Americans are generally pretty optimistic when it comes to new technologies. But there’s one futuristic tech that Americans are getting more and more afraid of with each passing year: Driverless vehicles. A whopping 73 percent of Americans don’t trust autonomous vehicles, up from 63 percent in late 2017. The new study, conducted by AAA in…
President Trump has at least two iPhones, one dedicated for making calls and another one for Twitter. But a new report states that Trump is often reluctant to hand the phones over to the White House security team to check for vulnerabilities. The president reportedly calls it “too inconvenient.” Politico reports that President Trump’s phones…
In a bipartisan letter on Monday, two US senators called on the FCC to investigate the identity theft and fraud in public comments collected by the agency during its proposal to rollback net neutrality protections last year. Senators Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, and Pat Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, are among the estimated “two million…
Intel is finally confirming that its computer processors are vulnerable to an additional variant of Spectre, the nasty security vulnerability that affects nearly every CPU currently in devices and in the marketplace. German computing magazine C’t first reported the additional flaws, which can be exploited in a browser setting using a runtime (think Javascript), on…
Google has pressed forward with its effort to provide artificial intelligence solutions to the Department of Defense, despite an internal employee petition against the company’s involvement in a pilot program that analyzes drone footage using AI and the resignations of around a dozen employees who objected to the program. But Google isn’t the only company…
The Supreme Court, as you may have read, gave its opinion today on Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis and, in a 5-4 split, decided to uphold forced arbitration agreements that preclude employees from pursuing class-action lawsuits against their bosses in court. Neil Gorsuch penned the majority opinion, so join me in opening a window and…
Siri easter eggs can range from dorky to almost fun, but a new one is hinting that Apple’s voice assistant is about to get a major upgrade. As noted by Australian Apple rumors site the Apple Post, if you ask Siri about WWDC, she won’t provide you with potentially useful information, such as when or…
In an interview just prior to leaving the FCC this month, former Commissioner Mignon Clyburn took aim at the agency where she worked for nearly nine years, saying it has abandoned its mission to safeguard consumers and protect their privacy and speech. Clyburn, a net neutrality proponent who served as interim FCC chief in 2013, equated…
Ever head into the office to find your chair at someone else’s desk? Or a new plant in the break room? What about a live explosive next to where you keep the server racks? That’s what Reddit user WhySoSadCZ appears to have found and photographed after attempting to perform some routine maintenance in a seemingly…
The Obamas are about enter into your Netflix queue. The New York Times reported on Monday that Netflix has partnered with Higher Ground Productions, a company created by the former president and first lady, to produce content for the streaming service. The content that will be produced remains up in the air, as last we…
The most advanced technology in schools is no longer found only in classrooms, computer labs, and libraries. It’s in the networked cameras angled for maximum visibility, the weapons detectors at entrances, and soon, in an advanced surveillance system designed to identify threats—and it may be turned on students as well. The Lockport City School District…
When you imagine the American police officer of the future, what do you see? In the 1980s, one police officer saw “supercops”—a highly trained force of professionals who had the most high-tech toys at their disposal and almost never killed people. James R. Metts wrote an article for the October 1985 issue of The Futurist…
Earlier this year, the media got very excited about Trump.dating, a site for the pro-Donald set that promised to “make dating great again.” Much of the media coverage was critical: The site only allowed users to conduct heterosexual searches; the male-half of the couple originally featured on the homepage had a child sex conviction; and…
The British Royal Family, who exist primarily to own land and outlive other heads of state, threw a banging party this weekend. There were military uniforms, horses, and a gospel choir singing “Stand By Me.” There were also gift bags. Which are now going on eBay for over a thousand in US dollars. Normally a…
Ridesharing companies have been around for years now, but they still have failed to make a convincing case they know how to deal with their sexual assault and harassment problems. On Monday, lawmakers sent a letter to the CEOs of Uber, Lyft, Juno, Curb, and Via, calling on them to provide more information on their…