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Comedy is hard, and the past was no better. Just look at, say, what 19th-century jerks considered acceptable territory for an April Fools’ Day prank. Yet some jokes are timeless. Take, for example, this relatable juxtaposition of the dapper self-image of a cartoon man alongside his actual appearance under “flashlight”—a joke that still lands today,…
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a personal security and private flight budget that likely eclipses that of anyone but the highest-profile celebrities and government officials, CNN reported on Saturday. Since 2015, Zuckerberg has spent around $20 million on security and travel, with the company dropping $5.8 million in 2016 and nearly $9 million last year,…
As Donald Trump’s administration, backed by France and the UK, launched a series of missile attacks on Syrian installations allegedly used in the production or deployment of chemical weapons this weekend—and the president bizarrely tweeted “Mission Accomplished!” in a worrying signal with regards to his strategic insight—the question of whether Russia would retaliate on behalf…
The hashtag #IAmGay trended on Chinese social network Sina Weibo after censors launched a crackdown on “illegal” content including media supposedly “related to” homosexuality, Sky News reported on Saturday. According to Sky, the wave of censorship was part of a three-month plan to “create a bright and harmonious community environment” in accordance with a draconian…
A Los Angeles city councilman alleges that Google is still refusing to fix Waze, its GPS software, so that it stops routing drivers down a dangerous 32 percent grade street, Ars Technica writes. According to the report, after Councilman Paul Krekorian read reports in the L.A. Times about Baxter Street, one of the nation’s steepest…
The Federal Trade Commission will not impose fines on ride-sharing giant Uber over the massive data breach it paid hackers $100,000 to cover up, CNN Money reported this week. According to CNN, the FTC has agreed to expand a prior settlement concerning Uber’s data practices and a breach in 2014 to include the 2016 breach,…
Wallet phone cases have always seemed like a total absurdity to me. Am I wrong? My phone is a very large concentration of value in an easy-to-lose, easy-to-break package that I’m constantly waving around recklessly. The next time you plop your phone down on a bar, which is a dark place buzzing with dizzy people…
On April 3rd, a woman named Nasim Aghdam entered YouTube’s main campus in San Bruno, California through a parking garage and opened fire, wounding three employees of the video-sharing platform before fatally shooting herself in the chest. Just hours before, Aghdam had been stopped by police in Mountain View. Footage of the encounter, released by…
Among the unanswered questions at Mark Zuckerberg’s congressional hearings this week, the CEO was a bit stumped when asked if he would be willing to change Facebook’s business model in order to protect users’ privacy. Facebook’s data collection has received a lot of attention from a security perspective, but a new report illustrates why we…
New phone-security research unveiled by researchers at a German hacking conference this week spells bad news for Android users. Several top-tier Android phone vendors—Samsung, HTC, and the like—have mislead users into believing security patches have been installed when in fact they have not. That’s according to Security Research Labs (SRL), which announced its findings at…
Scientists and science fans alike will demonstrate in the second annual March for Science in 200-plus locations around the world tomorrow. The March for Science began last year mostly in response to scientists feeling that evidence-based thinking was in jeopardy following the electron of President Donald Trump. It’s a non-partisan group that hopes, probably first and foremost,…
School districts in New Mexico have begun installing advanced gunshot-detection devices in the wake of February’s Parkland school shooting. Used by the military to detect snipers and missiles, and police in Chicago and Baltimore to deter gun violence, gunshot-detection devices are becoming a popular tool to save lives—and, now, a reminder of the potential violence…
Over 150 experts in AI, robotics, commerce, law, and ethics from 14 countries have signed an open letter denouncing the European Parliament’s proposal to grant personhood status to intelligent machines. The EU says the measure will make it easier to figure out who’s liable when robots screw up or go rogue, but critics say it’s…
Apple would really, really like its employees to keep their mouths shut. At least, that’s the clear takeaway from an internal Apple memo suggesting grave consequences for anyone who leaks company information to the press. On Friday, Bloomberg posted the internal memo in full. In it, Apple said it had caught 29 leakers last year,…
Capitol Hill employees who confidentially made formal complaints about sexual harassment and other workplace violations were left exposed, potentially for years, by the very office charged with handling their complaints. The Office of Compliance (OOC) improperly stored—on a third-party server that lacked basic security measures—sensitive files related to claims of sexual harassment and discrimination, according…
Growing up in the ‘80s, I assumed I was part of the generation that had the best kids’ toys: G.I. Joe, Transformers, Voltron. But after discovering this flawless miniature Volkswagen Camper Van that can actually be driven by a couple of toddlers, I’m genuinely envious of four-year-olds. Yes, I realize the adult version of the…
The most common types of 3D printing involve either extruding melted plastic or using a laser to solidify tiny particles, layer by layer, to slowly build up a solid object. But researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have found a way to radically change that process by 3D printing liquids inside…
Earlier this week, news leaked about Google’s plan to revamp Gmail sometime in the next few weeks, and from what we’ve seen so far, it looks pretty good. The interface seems cleaner and more intuitive to use, and a new sidebar on the right should make multi-tasking easier too. But while the leaked screenshots showed…
Police in the United Kingdom are partnering with credit reporting agencies to predict whether criminals will reoffend, a report from UK civil liberties group, Big Brother Watch, has uncovered. Police in Durham, in Northeastern England, paid international data broker Experian for access to its “Mosaic” database, complex credit profiling information that includes marketing and finance…
Following a breakup with his girlfriend, a lewd photo of a controversial Oregon sheriff appeared on Facebook—an image the sheriff says was released without his consent. Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin first drew national attention when he oversaw the investigation of the Umpqua Community College mass shooting in October 2015. Hanlin faced criticism after it…
