Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Mitch McConnell and his tiny cabal of fellow senators are finally ready to unveil their plan to take away health insurance from millions of people. The official presentation of the new bill will happen tomorrow morning but some outlets received a preview of what it contains on Wednesday. It sounds ever so slightly less “mean”…
At some point in time humanity got its wires crossed and parachutes, an invention designed to save lives, became a tool for risking life and limb. Instead of gracefully floating down the side of a mountain, paraglider Joseph Innes skimmed along the bottom of a narrow canyon, just inches away from breaking an ankle, and…
Imagine: You’re at an airport with your fancy new bag rolling behind you. You have spent a little too much time deciding which plane snack will both taste good and doesn’t have too many calories, and now must sprint to catch your plane. You make a turn and suddenly, your bag begins to wobble. No…
There’s more than one moment in the 2006 thriller The Good Shepherd, when any rational movie watcher thinks, “Shit, does Matt Damon know what he’s doing, setting up the CIA as the most powerful spy agency in the world?” Those doubts, however, seem quaint thanks to the recent revelation that a crew of CIA contractors…
At a hearing before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, former Department of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson testified that the Russia government launched an unprecedented attack on the US presidential election and that he had repeatedly warned state officials about the possibility of voting systems being targeted. Johnson and other Obama administration officials were wary…
Late last month, an excavator operator was working at a peat bog in the Polish municipality of Mircze when he accidentally stumbled upon this glorious specimen of 14th century craftsmanship. The remarkably well-preserved longsword is a unique find for the area, and its discovery has prompted an archaeological expedition. The discoverer of the long sword,…
If you’d asked me three years ago which wireless earbuds to buy for the gym, I would’ve laughed and laughed and laughed. The entire category was so hilariously bad back then, how could I recommend anything? Well let me tell you friend: a lot has changed in the best of ways. Historically, the problem with…
Uranus is the loneliest thing in the solar system. It hasn’t had contact with anyone in over 30 years, since NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft whizzed by it on January 24th, 1986. Thankfully, some good folks at NASA and elsewhere are advocating for missions to Uranus and its Ice Giant companion, Neptune, which could take place…
Girl Scouts can start earning cybersecurity badges next year, thanks to an effort by the Girl Scouts of the USA and cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks. The youth organization came up with the idea simply by asking Scouts what they want. And the girls want to hack. “We surveyed a lot of girls,” Girl Scouts…
Dipping bread in a bowl of fresh, extra virgin olive oil ranks as one of the most pleasurable gastronomic experiences possible. But as this new Reactions video explains, there’s more to this delicious and surprisingly healthy condiment than meets the eye. Olive oil is a staple in many kitchens, yet it’s a condiment many of…
Everybody makes mistakes. Like, for instance, let’s say you drive a bus, and you just finished a night shift, and you stop, and you’re tired, and maybe you accidentally put the bus in neutral instead of park on top of a hill, and you hop off and start walking home. And, yes, maybe the bus…
With around 34 percent of the US workforce now freelancing, more and more of us are ditching the traditional office environment for anywhere we can get wi-fi, and if you’re a resident of New York City you’re probably stuck working at home anyway, trapped by the crumbling infrastructure of the NYC subway system. Working away…
See that faint, blue dot in the middle of this NASA image? That’s the Curiosity rover making its way up the rocky slopes of Mount Sharp. The robotic lander, now approaching its fifth year of operation, has never looked so lonely. The remarkable image was captured on June 5, 2017, by a camera aboard NASA’s…
An ongoing reexamination of an ancient Egyptian wooden toe is shedding new light on how the remarkable wooden prosthetic was manufactured, and whether it was used for cosmetic or functional purposes. It’s called the Greville Chester Great Toe, and it’s one of the earliest prosthetic devices known to scientists. The Iron Age prosthetic was discovered…
You’re probably aware of some of the challenges of sending astronauts to space. Getting to space, that’s one for sure. But there’s another insidious effect you might not think of: Tissue damage from radiation. Space radiation comes from all over. There’s more potential harm from the Sun’s rays, unshielded by the Earth’s atmosphere, but also…
News broke overnight that embattled Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is stepping down. Kalanick will still serve on the company’s board, but the company needs a new CEO. And it needs one quickly, if it wants to calm down some nervous investors. People on Twitter are already speculating about who might be the best replacement for…
Uber’s founder and CEO Travis Kalanick has resigned after mounting pressure from shareholders over a string of workplace scandals. Previously, he had said he would take a temporary leave of absence in the wake of an investigation into Uber’s company culture, which was said to foster harassment and discrimination. Five of Uber’s major investors pressured…
Facebook was back in federal court today to plead with a judge to reject ZeniMax’s request to halt sales of the Oculus Rift headset. The argument by Facebook’s lawyers could work, but it sure doesn’t make the company’s defense against the original suit look any stronger. https://gizmodo.com/zenimax-asks-court-to-halt-oculus-sales-completely-1792749089 In February, a jury ordered Facebook to pay…
We typically think of large predatory animals like mountain lions as fearless beasts that’ll stop at nothing to procure a meal—even if that meal consists of human flesh. New research suggests that this view is wrong, and that big cats don’t like to bump into us any more than we like to bump into them.…
One of America’s top defense contractors is facing questions over its security practices after sensitive files tied to a Pentagon project were discovered on a publicly accessible Amazon server. In a letter on Tuesday, US Senator Claire McCaskill aired her concerns about security protocols at Booz Allen Hamilton, one the world’s top consulting firms, which…
