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WhatsApp just agreed not to share the personal information of its users in the European Union with Facebook until it can comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will be enforced in May. It’s not a permanent commitment, and there are a few noteworthy exceptions, but it’s good news for WhatsApp users who…
Physicist Stephen Hawking died today at the age of 76. In the latter stages of his illustrious career, Hawking devoted a considerable amount of time and effort to issuing warnings of future threats—from the perils of climate change and nuclear war through to artificial superintelligence and alien invasions. And for this he was often ridiculed.…
On YouTube, 28-year-old Brandon Joseph Boyles went by “VenomMan20.” Now, he goes by “defendant.” Maryland Natural Resources Police have charged the former zoo worker with multiple counts of illegal possession of venomous snakes and animal cruelty. Boyles worked at Catoctin Wildlife Preserve until September, and is believed to have taken a crocodile, three alligators, and…
Despite being the biggest smartphone marker in the world, Samsung’s handset repair and service game has often lagged far behind Apple, especially in the US where the number of Apple Stores with Genius Bars is far greater than the tally of Samsung-specific alternatives. To address the situation, starting tomorrow March 15th Samsung is partnering with…
Using a technique developed three years ago, researchers from MIT and 21st Century Medicine have shown that it’s possible to preserve the microscopic structures contained within a large mammalian brain. The breakthrough means scientists now have the means to store and study samples of the human brain over longer timescales—but the method could eventually, maybe,…
More bad news rattled the cryptocurrency markets on Wednesday. Google has announced that it will no longer allow cryptocurrency-related ads on its platforms. Prices fell as the news spread and a message from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) pushing for a global regulatory crackdown isn’t helping anything. Google and Facebook control somewhere between 60 and…
3D audio in headphones that envelops you like a surround sound home theater is an elusive thing. The market is dominated by products for gamers, who play content that’s mixed for surround sound, and who want to hear the crunch of opponents in the bushes behind them as it’s a matter of life and death…
Facebook has permanently banned Britain First, the racist and anti-Muslim political group, from its platform after multiple warnings about hate speech. Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen, two leaders of the group who were jailed earlier this month for religious harassment, also had their pages removed on Wednesday as Facebook has come under increasing pressure in…
Renowned British theoretical physicist and Cambridge Professor Stephen Hawking has “died peacefully at his home in Cambridge” at the age of 76, according to a spokesperson for the Hawking family. In a statement released to several media outlets, Professor Hawking’s children Lucy, Robert, and Tim requested “time and privacy to mourn.” “We are deeply saddened…
On Tuesday at tech festival SXSW, streaming site and Google subsidiary YouTube’s CEO Susan Wojcicki proposed one solution to the conspiracy screeds and “false flag” hoax videos that are slowly but surely taking over the site by gaming its algorithms. No, it’s not really a critical self-examination of whether YouTube’s business model is all about…
President Donald Trump is such a huge Twitter troll he allegedly fired his secretary of state via tweet on Tuesday just to be a real asshole about it. So it’s a really unfortunate coincidence for first lady of the United States Melania Trump that Tuesday was the same day news broke that she is apparently…
Madison Square Garden security has been secretly using facial recognition software to scan spectators’ faces, the New York Times reports. This would make MSG the latest space to be using face-scanning tech on an unknowing public. The MSG arena hosts concerts and performances from A-list stars and major sporting events, including basketball, hockey, and boxing, with…
If you can’t stand a sad story, stop reading now. This one is just as heart-breaking as it is infuriating, and it might make you never fly United again. That’s because United just took responsibility for the death of a puppy, a small dog that just wanted to arrive in New York City unharmed. On…
An American power company has reached a settlement to pay an unprecedented $2.7 million penalty over significant security oversights that could have allowed hackers to gain remote access to the power provider’s systems. According to an electronic filing, power regulators reached a settlement with an unidentified power company after a security researcher discovered more than…
Remember when we told you to look at the Moon? Some folks really looked, and they were blown away. Rightfully so. Director Alex Gorosh and writer Wylie Overstreet captured folks on Los Angeles sidewalks looking at the Moon through a Dobsonian telescope to the tune of Claude Debussy’s “Clair de lune.” “Oh my god” and…
In a speech to military personnel in San Diego bookended by digs at former political opponent Hillary Clinton and the media, President Trump proposed a new branch of the armed forces, which he offhandedly named the “space force.” “My new national strategy for space recognizes that space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land,…
Kranj, a self-described “picturesque old town in the center of Slovenian Alps,” unveiled a monument to Bitcoin this week. To many regulators around the world, cryptocurrency is increasingly viewed as a perplexing nuisance. Accordingly, the three-ton monument resides in the center of a three-road intersection. Touted as the world’s first cryptocurrency landmark, the intentionally rusty,…
A witness to the horrific murder of a counter-protester at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia is suing InfoWars and several other media outlets for defamation. Brennan Gilmore, a foreign service officer at the State Department, alleges that the outlets harmed his career by alleging he was part of a “deep state” conspiracy. The…
While the rest of us are still waiting for self-driving cars to become available, Google cofounder Larry Page and self-driving car pioneer Sebastian Thrun are already working on the Next Big Thing™ with Cora, the pilot-less air taxi from the ambitiously named Kitty Hawk aircraft company. Unlike a lot of other flying car concepts, the…
A white paper published by an Israeli security firm on Tuesday describes 13 vulnerabilities allegedly affecting AMD chips currently being shipped to customers. In a statement, AMD said it is investigating the report “by a company called CTS Labs” but raised concerns over the way in which the firm disseminated its white paper, which was…
