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The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an international watchdog group, has confirmed that Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned using a military-grade nerve agent called Novichok. The findings come as Russian officials continue to deny that Russia had anything to do with the poisoning of the former double agent. The…
Silly fringe theories about Planet X—an imagined planet typically named Nibiru that is on course to hit or pass by Earth with disastrous consequences—are the kind of thing normally relegated to vanity press-published books or those tabloids you browse in the supermarket checkout aisle. On Wednesday, they made it into Fox News, with the added…
NASCAR has hired DroneShield, a company that sells devices that look like oversized cosplay weapons but which actually remotely disable UAVs, to protect its sporting events. Per TechCrunch, NASCAR has contracted with the company for races held at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, which hosts many of the racing league’s events like the…
Soylent, the powder-based “food product” slash “meal replacement” that became all the rage for joyless Silicon Valley employees in recent years, will soon be offered in Walmart stores across the US. Per the Verge, Soylent’s maker Rosa Foods announced on Wednesday that it is bringing the signature brand of packaged, flavored sludge—which takes its name…
Artificial intelligence is all the rage these days, so naturally we want to throw it at all of our problems. Yesterday, Mark Zuckerberg’s comment that Facebook won’t have effective tools to filter hate speech for another “five to 10 years” seemed both dismissive and uninspiring. No doubt, it was classic Silicon Valley speak for “we…
The pistol emoji has existed in one form or another since at least 2010, but in 2016 Apple shook shit up by replacing it with something completely different: a harmless, lime-green water gun. Today, about a year-and-a-half later, Twitter is following suit. With the release of Twemoji 2.6, Twitter is changing the way a handful…
Instagram will soon introduce a new data portability feature, which will let users download a copy of the photos and messages they’ve shared on the app. A spokesperson confirmed the forthcoming feature to TechCrunch on Wednesday: “We are building a new data portability tool. You’ll soon be able to download a copy of what you’ve…
On Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg faced some tougher questions from the House than he did in yesterday’s Senate hearing. And one GOP Congressman decided to throw Zuck a bone by bringing up his original sin: Facemash. Mark didn’t seem happy. Today’s hearing has shown a stronger divide in the line of questioning coming from each party.…
If you’ve got kids at home, or if you’re just incredibly careless with your own Lego collection, YouTube’s The Brick Wall has built a Roomba-like robovac that sweeps any errant plastic pieces off your floors, letting you finally walk around barefoot with impunity. The vacuum—it itself, made from Lego bricks—relies on a sweeping conveyor belt…
Six-sided dice date back nearly 5,000 years to ancient Persia, so finding 600-year-old dice in Norway isn’t anything special. But this recently discovered dice—with its conspicuously absent one-side and two-side—is unique, pointing to some Medieval-era shenanigans. This cheater’s dice was discovered at a dig in Bergen, Norway by archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural…
In the midst of Mark Zuckerberg’s hours-long testimony before the Senate Commerce and Judiciary Committees, Reddit dropped its 2017 transparency report. It contained a list of nearly 1,000 user accounts the company believed were involved with the Russia-backed Internet Research Agency—and unlike other social media companies, Reddit has also preserved those banned accounts’ posts for…
President Donald Trump signed a controversial bill today that’s designed to combat sex trafficking online, but has incited strong opposition from sex workers who say that the law, if enacted, will jeopardize their safety. The new law, the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act or FOSTA, carves out exceptions to the Communications Decency Act, which prevents…
Using well-established machine learning techniques, researchers from University of California, Berkeley have taught simulated humanoids to perform over 25 natural motions, from somersaults and cartwheels through to high leg kicks and breakdancing. The technique could lead to more realistic video gameplay and more agile robots. Computer animation has never been better, but there’s still plenty…
While Congress grills Silicon Valley’s most lifeless Jello Jiggler today, the folks over at 9to5Google noticed that Google’s dialer app for Pixel and other stock Android phones has been upgraded with the ability to send spam calls straight to voicemail. The added functionality is an improvement to the Phone app’s existing spam call protection, which turns…
Congresswoman Anna Eshoo just asked Mark Zuckerberg a really great question. Was Zuck’s own personal data sold to third parties like Cambridge Analytica? The one word answer: Yes. You can watch a clip of the exchange below: Unfortunately, Eshoo didn’t ask a follow-up question about this shocking response. She was in the middle of a…
Well, it looks like we actually might see the return of Snapchat’s overhyped Spectacles soon. As Variety first reported, the FCC published a filing by Snap for a “wearable video camera” on Tuesday, just a month after rumors came out that the company might release not one, but two different versions of its video recording…
Airbus apparently didn’t get the memo that air travel is only supposed to get more cramped and uncomfortable year after year. Instead of designing even tinier seats, the company has revealed plans to create swappable modules that turn a plane’s cargo hold into spacious flying dorm rooms packed full of comfy-looking beds. As a six-foot-two-inch…
A fire-ravaged home in San Jose is selling for a staggering $800,000, local Fox affiliate KTVU reports. The high asking price is for both the abandoned home and the 5,800 square foot lot surrounding it. “They did leave it standing so you can remodel it versus tearing it down,” Realtor Holly Barr told KTVU. “You…
In a joint press release today, Hulu and Spotify announced they would be offering a package deal: services from both companies for just $13 a month. It’s an admittedly pretty solid deal, but you’re going to have to suffer through commercials on your rewatch of the Handmaid’s Tale if you want to take advantage of…
You’re at work, or on the other side of the world, or both, and you need something from your computer at home—in years gone by, you would need an IT degree and an expensive software package to connect up to your home computer remotely, but now a number of apps will do the job, simply…
