Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Don’t for a second think your lunch is safe just because you’re eating it at a restaurant. Turn your back for just a second and your bowl of guac and rice could be snatched out from under you, unless you happen to be eating it with a tactical plastic spork that’s hiding an intimidating looking…
For the record, planet Earth is still in the Holocene. I mention this because earlier in the week, news made the rounds that scientists have declared an end to the geologic epoch of the past 12,000 years. According to numerous reports, the Anthropocene, a new epoch of man and machine, has been upon us since…
If YouTube’s AstonishingStudios was ever able to convince Lego to turn all of its creations into real sets, we’d never have to leave our desks to get breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Their latest creation is a Burger King vending machine that serves up fries, Whoppers, and even dispenses Coca-Cola. Powered by a Lego Mindstorms module…
Google has reportedly killed its long-delayed, much-hyped modular smartphone initiative, Project Ara. I say good riddance. Project Ara—and modular smartphones in general—are a terrible, terrible idea that no actual consumer really wants. The big sell behind Project Ara was that users could upgrade or switch out components of their phone at will. So if you…
ITT Technical Institute might be closing down for good. Today, we received a tip from someone whose wife works for ITT. They said this morning “she and everyone else on staff—including the school director—got a mysterious direct deposit to their bank accounts for their full normal pay.” It’s an off-week from normal payday, so this…
Sorry, that antibacterial soap isn’t doing anything more to clean you up than any other plain bar of soap. The FDA just announced it is eliminating almost all of the active ingredients used in antibacterial soaps after determining that the soaps didn’t have any more impact on preventing the spread of germs and infections than…
This week the city of Dana Point, California opened up a time capsule that the community sealed back in 1966. The metal tube, safely tucked inside a boulder in 1968, contained a lot of things you’d expect in your average 20th century capsule—like photos and newspapers. But the most interesting thing inside might be the…
Yesterday, Elon Musk’s Falcon 9 rocket exploded during a test fire. But that wasn’t all—by the time the day was over, Musk had also lost nearly $780 million and Mark Zuckerberg’s love. According to Bloomberg, Musk’s fortune shrank by $779 million on Thursday, although the reasons don’t appear to be explosion-related. Rather, they can be…
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia definitely didn’t hack the Democratic National Committee and expose embarrassing emails, but dang, he sure is glad someone did it. You know, for the American people. “Listen, does it even matter who hacked this data?’’ Putin told Bloomberg. “The important thing is the content that was given to the…
For the upcoming ‘Hacked on Classics’ show being held as part of the Brighton Digital Festival in the UK this month, hacker Seb Lee-Delisle modified the classic NES’ Zapper accessory with LEDs, a green laser, the smoke-generating parts from an e-cigarette, and a small blower to create the convincing effect of a functional laser pistol.…
Each year, around 6,000 birds are incinerated after chasing bugs within the Ivanpah concentrated solar thermal plant in the California Mojave Desert. Officials at the facility are enacting all sorts of measures to prevent this ongoing avian massacre—but it’s not clear if anything’s working. Workers at the plant call them “streamers.” It’s when a bird…
The glory days of Nintendo consoles will forever be tied to endlessly blowing in plastic game cartridges. With its upcoming convertible system, Nintendo will try to recapture that magic, a source told The Wall Street Journal. Nintendo is no stranger to mining nostalgia. But a move to flash-based carts makes an awful lot of sense.…
Did you know there was an official vaping sport called Cloud Chasing? Competitors compete to make the most impressive smoke plumes, but few would be able to challenge the world’s largest air cannon that can blast massive smoke rings capable of toppling mighty box forts. Built for a Czech TV show called Wonders of Nature,…
Google has “suspended” Project Ara, its modular phone initiative, according to a Reuters report. Project Ara was one of the flagship programs at Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group, its skunkworks team created by a former DARPA director Regina Dugan. The goal of the project was to build a phone with interchangeable parts, so…
Apple has issued an urgent security update for OS X El Capitan, OS X Yosemite and Safari to protect against the same security vulnerability that hit iOS last week. To update on OS X, go to App Store > Updates and then install the Security Update 2016-001 (for El Capitan) or 2016-005 (for Yosemite). For…
In an email to Gizmodo, Samsung confirmed reports that it would recall its new Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, following several reports that the phone was overheating and exploding. Earlier this week, the company delayed plans to ship the Galaxy Note 7 to many markets. The phone was announced in early August, and it received positive…
While most of us eventually stop playing spies, American police departments have found it increasingly tough to grow up, using military-developed surveillance equipment for crimes as minor as 911 hangups in recent years. Sensing an opportunity, defense contractors apparently stepped in to fulfill the demand, as demonstrated by a newly leaked 2014 product catalog from…
Logitech used to make the best cheap gaming mouse in the business. The Logitech MX518 was the under $100 dream machine everyone recommended to new gamers. Whether you spent twelve hours a day in World of Warcraft or were constantly fragging infants in Counterstrike, the MX518 was a workhorse mouse with the best sensor available…
After reports emerged on social media of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 exploding when charged, the company announced on Wednesday that it was delaying shipments of its new flagship device for “additional tests being conducted for product quality.” Now, it seems the smartphone maker is taking more drastic measures, with South Korean media reporting that Samsung…
In Infinitude, abstract, geometrical shapes condense into stars, which explode into supernovae, sending an asteroid careening through space towards a nascent Earth. The mixed media short film is the creation of Canadian filmmaker Scott Portingale. Portingale shot all the visuals in camera using a variety of techniques: time-lapse, stop-motion, light painting, and high-speed photography. He…
