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The government, after decades of resistance, is set to finally encourage the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study gun violence. And all it took was near constant mass shootings and the pressure of a federal shutdown. On Wednesday night, as reported by BuzzFeed News, two new provisions were added to a proposed bipartisan…
A lengthy investigation by Mother Jones and Pro Publica alleges IBM targeted older employees with layoffs and forced retirement in order to bring in millennial workers. In a series of interviews with dozens of former employees, the report, released Thursday, alleges both a systematic shedding of employees over 40 and a preoccupation with hiring younger…
A phone’s screen is arguably its most important component, because when it doesn’t work, there aren’t really any other ways to manipulate the device. That’s why it’s distressing to see a number of complaints on both Reddit and Samsung’s official forums from owners of new Galaxy S9s who are running into deadspots on the phone’s…
Get ready to grovel for your next shipment of toilet paper. A recently published Amazon patent depicts a delivery drone capable of recognizing and responding to human gestures and speech, which means you may want to practice the art of supplication to ensure proper delivery of that two-ply to your front porch. The patent, filed…
For years, scientists have been tracking a large accumulation of floating trash, mostly bits of plastic, in the north Pacific ocean called the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” or the “trash vortex.” This region, according to the latest research, has more lost and discarded plastic inside it than previous surveys suggested—like, a lot more. And it’s…
Apple has a definite tendency to get its devices working well with each other before considering such distractions as Android or Windows, and over the years the iPhone and the Mac have built up a strong understanding. You might not appreciate just how many different ways they can seamlessly work together—here’s what you need to…
Best Buy, America’s largest consumer electronics retailer just ahead of Amazon, will stop selling phones and other devices made by the Chinese company Huawei. The decision is a relatively small but important indicator that the New Cold War is spreading deeper into the retail sector as America and its allies square off against China and…
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who also happens to be the chief executive of crypto-friendly mobile payments company Square, appears to be under the impression that Bitcoin will overtake the world’s supply of fiat currency within ten years. In an interview with the Times, Dorsey made the rather dubious proposition that some form of cryptocurrency, and…
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, fresh off of not apologizing for the social media giant’s failure to prevent sketchy election data firm Cambridge Analytica from partnering with a similarly sketchy app to allegedly scrape 50 million users’ profile data, briefly emerged from his gilded panic room on Wednesday evening for an interview with CNN’s Laurie Segall…
Bad weather can make driving extremely dangerous, no matter who’s behind the wheel. But when it comes to dense fog, which makes it all but impossible for human drivers to see more than a few feet ahead of a vehicle, MIT researchers say they have developed a new imaging system that could eventually let autonomous…
Slack, the ubiquitous workplace communication app, can be a bit deceptive when it comes to private channels and direct messages. Employers have long had the option to take a peek at what you’re saying behind the curtain, but a new change is making it easier for them to do so and everyone needs to be…
If you’re even remotely anxious about flying, don’t watch this video without a change of pants close at hand. While practicing a series of stunts, the engine on pilot Chad Barber’s biplane died during a steep climb, causing it to immediately stall and make a direct, terrifying detour back to Earth. After leveling out, the…
The World Anti-Doping Agency is considering using artificial intelligence to flag athletes potentially using banned substances to get unfair advantages. “We’re having discussions on artificial intelligence going forward,” WADA’s general director, Olivier Niggli, told UK outlet iNews on Tuesday. “There’s a lot of promising things.” Niggli, who became WADA’s general director in 2016, worked on…
“New watch alert: Hublot.” The timepiece maker made famous by rapper and Tidal owner Jay Z in a shout-out on his track “Otis,” is releasing a smartwatch powered by Google’s Wear OS. It’s called Big Bang Referee 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. Cute name. Call me when Hov puts one on. Hublot announced the smartwatch…
We found Mark Zuckerberg. The Facebook CEO has come out of hiding after the Cambridge Analytica scandal shaved tens of billions of dollars from his company’s market cap and sent countless users to delete their profiles. After several days of deafening silence, Zuckerberg admitted in a Wednesday afternoon Facebook post that he and Facebook “made…
On Wednesday, the Senate approved a bill that on its face is intended to curb online sex trafficking. However, experts say it will increase online censorship, stifle innovation, and make everyone less safe online. The House had already passed a version of the bill and it will likely become law in a short time. Now,…
Reddit’s bread and butter may be links and comments, but the site has a long history as a facilitator of gift swaps, and a backwoods marketplace. New site rules enacted today make much of that behavior prohibited. A post in Reddit’s site announcements community (aptly titled r/announcements) states: As of today, users may not use…
The ocean covers more than two-thirds of our planet, and there’s so much of it left unexplored. How are we humans supposed to blend in to uncover all of its secrets, when our observation tools are hooked to clunky vehicles with fish-scaring propellers and jets? A team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology has unveiled their…
There’s a new thing to worry about in iOS 11, and this time it involves Siri. With iOS 11, Apple added a new setting that lets you choose whether you want previews of your notifications to appear on your lock screen. By default, iOS shows a preview of your notifications only when your phone is…
YouTube, the world largest video streaming platform, wants you to start paying money to watch Kendrick Lamar’s latest music video—and to force the issue, you’ll start seeing a lot more advertisements between specifically music videos. Bloomberg reported that Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s global head of music, said during a SXSW interview that music video watchers will…
