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Apple, whose CEO Tim Cook likes to talk a big game about how the tech industry should be more socially responsible while overseeing an international tax-avoidance regime that puts Scrooge McDuck’s gold-filled vault/swimming pool to shame, has agreed to repay Ireland $14.6 billion (around €13 billion) in unpaid taxes, the Wall Street Journal reported. In…
The Securities and Exchange Commission launched a new cyber fraud unit earlier this year amid the internet’s ongoing Bitcoin boom, seemingly telegraphing its intent to crack down on a cryptocurrency market rife with hacking, fraud, and scams. The first thing on its agenda was likely always going to be initial coin offerings—a form of almost…
Facebook announced a new messaging service today for children as young as six. The new app, Messenger Kids, enables Facebook to target parents whose kids are still too young to use world’s largest social network (which requires users to be at least 13 years old). Messenger Kids has parental controls and policies in place to…
Uber recently revealed that hackers stole data on 57 million passengers and drivers in October 2016, and instead of warning consumers about the breach, the company paid the hackers to stay quiet. Predictably, this has pissed a bunch of people off—and now Uber is facing multiple lawsuits over the 2016 breach. Today, the city of…
James Howells is a British IT worker and an early investor in Bitcoin. He also has every right to be the most furious man on Earth. You see, Howells got in on the ground floor of the cryptocoin economy back in February of 2009. Through his computational labors, he amassed around 7,500 bitcoin before his…
For years, we’ve been sharing videos and images showing the destructive power of the United State Navy’s electromagnetic railgun. But we might soon be seeing the last of those horrifying GIFs. Instead of using chemical combustion, the railgun fires projectiles using magnetic fields generated by enormous amount of energy. The superweapon is capable of shooting…
If you happened to be in Tokyo, Japan, this past weekend, you might had a chance to check out the 2017 International Robot Exhibition, where companies demonstrate cutting-edge robotics by having them perform pointless tasks. I, for one, could watch this magical living table roll soccer balls around all day long. The table, which was…
Blind, disabled, and estranged from her family, 65-year-old Sajidha Begum has survived on a monthly pension check of 1,000 rupees (about $16) in Bangalore, India. In August, however, the Indian government sent a letter to the leprosy hospital where she’s lived for over 10 years saying her pension was being taken away unless it was…
As I powered up the PSVR to play the recently released Skyrim VR, I wondered whether this was yet another company’s lazy cash grab exploiting a new tech fad, or a genuine new step for the franchise. This was my third first time playing it. First released in 2011, the same exact game now had…
In June of 1957, Alvin Horn, a 45-year-old Grand Dragon of the KKK, married a 15-year-old. It set off a major scandal in Alabama and around the country, causing Horn to resign in disgrace—or at least what counts for disgrace in a hate group. But does the story sound at all familiar? (Except for the…
In a surprise twist, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced on Monday that FCC officials charged with investigating incidents of fraud have agreed to cooperate with a law enforcement investigation into potentially millions of fake comments submitted using the FCC’s website this year. In an open letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last month,…
Senator John McCain is learning the hard way that follows do not equal endorsements. Around noon on Monday, McCain tweeted a call to action requesting help from his audience. “We’re only 74 Twitter followers away from 3M – spread the word & help us reach this big milestone,” he tweeted. Doing the math, that means…
A Utah man reportedly spent 30 years building a series of underground bunkers that he hoped would outlive the apocalypse, but half of them couldn’t even survive a wildfire. The system comprised four dugouts and cabins built of concrete and corrugated metal, and a few other spots where he stashed his provisions and arsenal of…
Netflix has announced its future plans for its first original series, House of Cards. Following sexual assault allegations against the show’s star, Kevin Spacey, the future of the sixth season was uncertain. But Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos has now confirmed details of how it will all wrap up. In November, Netflix said it…
Portable hard drives seem like they’re bound to go way of the dinosaur, thanks to the rise of services like Dropbox and Google Drive. But if you wanted to take a large file home with you back in 1985, you didn’t have quite so many options. Your best bet? Maybe this hard drive from Maynard.…
While preserving an 18th century wooden statue of Jesus, a team of Spanish restorers was surprised to discover a time capsule hidden within the hollowed-out ass portion of the carving. Written by a Catholic chaplain, the detailed document contains economic, political, and cultural information about the time period. The Madrid-based Da Vinci Restauro team uncovered…
Bitcoin managed to set a new price record on Sunday, briefly hitting $11,826 per coin. And governments around the world are taking note of the boom in divergent ways. In the European Union, a new plan is expected to regulate cryptocurrencies under the same anti-money laundering laws as fiat money. It’s expected to take effect…
As soon as cameras got small enough to ride along with drones, the internet quickly filled with amazing aerial footage shot by pros and amateurs alike. But in addition to a camera-equipped drone, filmmaker Ian Montgomery used a second quadcopter carrying a bright spotlight to capture these eerie videos of what barely looks like Earth.…
A healthy baby has been born at a Dallas hospital to a mother who received a uterus transplant. It’s a medical first for the United States, and an important milestone in the battle against infertility. As Time magazine reports, the landmark birth happened at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. The sex, weight, and…
The OnePlus 5T launched with a choice of five color calibration options; Google has been pushed to add an extra color mode to the Pixel 2 XL; while DisplayMate says the iPhone X manages colors better than any other phone. So why are colors on smartphone displays suddenly an issue? Here’s what you need to…
