Tech News

Health Insurance Giant Agrees to Record $115 Million Payout Over Data Breach

Holy crap, that is a huge friggin’ payout. Health insurance giant Anthem Inc. will cough up $115 million to end a court battle over a 2015 data breach that exposed the sensitive information of nearly 80 million Americans. That’s a new record, for those of you keeping count. (Target, for example, settled for a measly…

Tech News Dell Cameron

Windows 10 S Doesn’t Appear to Be as Invulnerable to Ransomware as Microsoft Claims

Microsoft’s tall claim that “no known ransomware” will run on its Windows 10 S operating system has been weighed, measured, and found wanting. In a report published Friday by ZDNet, Hacker House security researcher Matthew Hickey reportedly broke through the operating system’s security in a little over three hours. Hickey was able to attain remote…

Tech News Dell Cameron

Sexually Active Old People Seem to Be Smarter

Fucking is good. What else can you say? We’re a species that gets to actually enjoy sexual activity. It makes babies. When consenting adults do sex-making, it is good. A new study suggests that when old people do sex, it is also good. Maybe even more good. The researchers behind a new study already knew…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Yahoo Shutters That $30 Million App It Bought From a Teen

Yahoo is shutting down an app created by teenager. Four years ago, said teenager sold the app to the struggling internet company for a reported $30 million. It’s one of many casualties from Verizon’s recent acquisition of the big purple Dot Com giant, but it’s especially interesting since Yahoo turned so many heads by spending…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes

Evolution Will No Longer Be Taught in Turkish Schools

Claiming that evolution is “debatable, controversial, and too complicated for students,” Turkey’s board of education has decided to stop teaching Darwinian natural selection in its schools. The move has infuriated the country’s secular opposition, but it could embolden other countries to do the same. The Guardian reports that Turkey’s senior education official, Alpaslan Durmuş, says…

Tech News George Dvorsky

Apple Unveils World’s Least Portable Laptop

You can say a lot about Apple—it brought smartphones and personal computers to the mass market, it changed the technology industry forever, it was controlled by a megalomaniacal asshole for much of its existence—but you’d have a hard time getting even the staunchest critic of the company to argue its products weren’t groundbreakingly pretty. Alas,…

Tech News Sophie Kleeman

The Dumbo Octopus Is Eight Cute Legs of Stone Cold Murder

Hey, sailors! Welcome back to Animals Are Good: Cephalopod Week edition. Cephalopods, in case you’re wondering, are a class of mollusks to which octopus, squid, and cuttlefish belong. As the week comes to a close, we’d like to give a much-deserved shoutout to one of the cutest tentacle-babies out there: the dumbo octopus (genus Grimpoteuthis).…

Tech News Rae Paoletta

Google Says It Will Stop Scanning Your Emails to Serve Ads

Gmail is free, in part because Google has always scanned the contents of users’ inboxes in order to serve targeted ads. It’s a sleazy business model, but Google certainly isn’t alone: Most other free email services (and, hi, social media platforms) do the same thing. But Google has finally decided to end the practice of…

Tech News Kate Conger

Obama Authorized Cyberstrikes Against Russia Through Secret Program That Continues Under Trump

Following the Kremlin-directed cyberattacks that upended the Democratic Party last summer, then-President Barack Obama reportedly approved the use of cyberweapons targeting sensitive Russian computer systems, according to a new report from the Washington Post—one of the most comprehensive so far to describe the administration’s response to the Kremlin’s aggression. The covert measures followed intelligence gathered…

Tech News Dell Cameron

All the Best Ways to Back Up Your Data

You’ve got more choices than ever when it comes to backing up your data—you are backing up your data, right?—so how do you choose the best one for your needs? First, it’s a good idea to pick up some kind of external hard drive. You can go the Network Attached Storage (NAS) route if you…

Gadgets David Nield

A New Variety of Poppy Seed Won’t Make Drug Tests Think You’re an Addict

Bad news if you were hoping to beat a drug test by blaming it on your breakfast. A British company called FDL, a “global supplier of speciality ingredients,” is claiming to have developed a new type of poppy seed with reduced levels of morphine that won’t produce a false positive result on a drug test.…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski

Newly Declassified Documents Show Nazis Plotted to Destroy Panama Canal

Investigators in Chile have released thousands of declassified documents dating back to the Second World War, revealing the extent to which Nazi spies had infiltrated the country. Among the more shocking revelations is the discovery of a Nazi plot to destroy the Panama Canal—an act that would have changed “the history of the whole world.”…

Tech News George Dvorsky

This Endless Montage of Tunnels Somehow Makes Nightmarish Commutes Look Beautiful

The London underground and subway is made up of one of the most complex tunnel systems in the world. As a commuter, it’s hard to see the beauty of that complex maze racing through it every morning on the way to work, but this short film manages to paint those endless tunnels as a work…

Sploid Andrew Liszewski

This Is the Last Word on Coconut Oil

Coconut oil has had quite the week! The supposed health food has turned into a pariah thanks to the American Heart Association reviewing existing evidence and deciding it advises against the oil’s use. The headlines are still raging, with smart people are telling you that coconut oil is fine (just not a health food) and…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum and Rae Paoletta

Supplement Wildly Unreliable, Despite FDA Regulations

Lots of people have an opinion on supplements. But when you go to the store to buy one, you’d expect the amount of the active ingredient to be consistent, right? Apparently, that doesn’t seem to be happening. Scientists tested one supplement which is sometimes used to treat high cholesterol called “red yeast rice.” They bought…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum

The Sexless Rubbermen Are Back, and They’re Hungry

After nearly four years, David Lewandowski has created a new entry in his highly successful rubbermen videos. Now they’re hungry. Back in 2011, Lewandowski scored a hit with a short video titled “Going to the Store,” in which one impossibly flexible, sexless computerized humanoid traipsed through real world footage—like a Marty Cooper video, only 3D.…

Sploid Avery Ellis

Ancient Manufacturing Technique Exposed Indigenous Peoples to Dangerous Toxins

Thousands of years ago, indigenous people living in the California Channel Islands relied on a manufacturing process that exposed them to dangerous chemicals that likely compromised their health. The discovery shows that toxic substances of our own making have been around for a lot longer than we realized. By replicating a traditional method used to…

Tech News George Dvorsky

Smash Mouth Retweeted an Anime Porn Nazi

Smash Mouth just found out about one of the alt-right’s favorite artists in a very embarrassing way. To a well-adjusted person whose brain hasn’t been systematically poisoned by the internet, this looks like a normal interaction: fan tweets artwork, band shows appreciation. Except Shadman—Marshall Shadders as it’s listed on his YouTube page, though likely not…

Tech News Avery Ellis

Comcast Accused of Sabotaging Small ISP Owner’s Business By Destroying His Cables

The former owner of a small internet service provider in South Texas is suing Comcast, accusing the telecom giant of intentionally—or by way of its own negligence—destroying his business and seizing his customers. The lawsuit was filed in the District Court of Harris County, Texas, by Anthony Luna, the owner of Telecom Cable LLC, a…

Tech News Dell Cameron

The Government Says It Wasted Millions of Dollars Dressing the Afghan Army in Proprietary Camouflage

The price tag for the never-ending, but occasionally paused, war in Afghanistan is well north of a trillion dollars by now. Nearly $100 million of that is attributable to our generous decision to buy uniforms for the struggling Afghan National Army—and a newly released inspector general report says that as much as $28 million of…

Tech News Kashmir Hill

Health Insurance Giant Agrees to Record $115 Million Payout Over Data Breach

Windows 10 S Doesn’t Appear to Be as Invulnerable to Ransomware as Microsoft Claims

Sexually Active Old People Seem to Be Smarter

Yahoo Shutters That $30 Million App It Bought From a Teen

Evolution Will No Longer Be Taught in Turkish Schools

Apple Unveils World’s Least Portable Laptop

The Dumbo Octopus Is Eight Cute Legs of Stone Cold Murder

Google Says It Will Stop Scanning Your Emails to Serve Ads

Obama Authorized Cyberstrikes Against Russia Through Secret Program That Continues Under Trump

All the Best Ways to Back Up Your Data

A New Variety of Poppy Seed Won’t Make Drug Tests Think You’re an Addict

Newly Declassified Documents Show Nazis Plotted to Destroy Panama Canal

This Endless Montage of Tunnels Somehow Makes Nightmarish Commutes Look Beautiful

This Is the Last Word on Coconut Oil

Supplement Wildly Unreliable, Despite FDA Regulations

The Sexless Rubbermen Are Back, and They’re Hungry

Ancient Manufacturing Technique Exposed Indigenous Peoples to Dangerous Toxins

Smash Mouth Retweeted an Anime Porn Nazi

Comcast Accused of Sabotaging Small ISP Owner’s Business By Destroying His Cables

The Government Says It Wasted Millions of Dollars Dressing the Afghan Army in Proprietary Camouflage

Trump Posts Concept Art of His Presidential Library, and It’s AI Slop

Forget Tower Desktop, GMKtec Mini PC Drops to a Record Low as Amazon Clears Out Final Spring Sale Stock

‘Fallout’ Season 2 Was a Hit Despite That Unsatisfying Release Strategy Change

JBL Authentics 500 Retro-Style Home Speaker Hits 40% Off, Now at Its Lowest Price as Amazon’s Spring Sale Clearance Begins

ExpressVPN Spring Sale Special: Up to 73% Off + Free eSIM and Password Manager

You Too Will Learn to Fear the XenoFrog

Amazon Echo Dot Sees Its Last Price Drop in the Spring Sale, Final Hours Tick Down Ahead of an Uncertain Prime Day

Artemis 2 by the Numbers: Breaking Down NASA’s Big Return to the Moon

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

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