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Well, this is scary. The head of artificial intelligence at Facebook now says the social network’s experimental facial recognition technology is so advanced that it can read other clues in photos to recognize individuals. In other words, Facebook’s technology no longer needs to see your face to know you’re you. The Facebook team lead by…
Did this cute towheaded kid really destroy his phone because he trusted his case too much? The viral video is almost too good to be true. We call bullshit. The setup is perfect. A kid who no doubt considers himself to be the future of gadget blogging makes a video to show off the protective…
Remember last year when Foursquare split its app in two, and got rid of all the fun features that actually made people want to use Foursquare? Well, people like me didn’t like it! Now Foursquare is backing down, at least a little bit. You can now be a mayor of your favorite coffee shop again!…
It wasn’t that the zombies were too realistic. I wasn’t afraid for my life or anything silly like that. No, when I tried The Walking Dead in VR, what I chiefly saw was this: the disturbing possibility that virtual reality might get written off as a fad. Virtual reality was huge at this year’s Electronic…
The US Supreme Court forbids cameras in the courtroom. But apparently one intern from CNN didn’t get the memo. He was removed from the Supreme Court press room today after he was caught with a GoPro strapped to his chest. Politico first reported on the incident this afternoon. CNN claims that the intern, Walbert Castillo,…
A while ago we got a first look at Diamond Select’s Ant-Man figure, complete with an even teenier Ant-Man. But now that the figure is nearly here, the company have given us a closer look at the figure — and it turns out, shooting an Ant-Man figure in a real world environment just makes it…
Before he shot nine black Americans at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, 21-year-old Dylann Roof posed for photos holding a symbol of racial hatred. The same symbol that’s worn on t-shirts, wrapped around beer coozies, intertwined with American pop culture. Even if the flag is removed from South Carolina’s capitol, as leaders called for…
On December 30, 1957, 17-year-old Ann Noblett was seen getting off the bus that was returning her home from a dancing lesson. She had only a short journey on foot to reach her house, but she never made it. A month later, her body was found … frozen to the core, despite England’s mild winter…
What is considered to be the most valuable comic book of all time is finally being immortalized in Lego. For reference, the most recent mint copy of Action Comics #1 featuring Joe Shuster’s Superman art on the cover sold on eBay for $3.2 million. But this 145-piece Lego set? It will only cost you $40.…
When in vitro fertilization was developed in the 1970s, critics of the technique imagined a world a la Aldous Huxley, filled with assembly-line designer babies. It didn’t turn out like that. Instead, the procedure simply gave infertile couples another route to start a family. But it also created a problem that critics never imagined. Couples…
The world of record-breaking real estate is full of strange logic and magical thinking. Now, the city that built the world’s tallest building has commissioned the architects behind it to design a new skyscraper that will claim the title of the tallest commercial building in the world. It’s called the Burj 2020. The view from…
Clicker training has proved effective on virtually any animal, from pigeons to porpoises to people. If you were to train a pack of raptors, it likely is the method you would use. But, Chris Pratt gets it wrong in Jurassic World; here’s how to do it right. Spoiler Alert: There’s not going to be any…
A social media movement has built up around the hashtag #takedowntheflag. Following the murder of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, people are pushing back across platforms against the old, tired “it’s about Southern heritage” argument. And as of today, even South Carolina politicians (who have previously defended the flag) are set to call…
We’ve been imagining a future of ubiquitous videophones for over a century. And today it’s considered no big deal that we’re able to make video calls with devices that we carry around in our pockets. But it took a while to get to that point. One reason? It was incredibly expensive. Above we have a…
The history of the Star Wars logo has long been controversial for its purported connection to fascist or even Nazi typography. After all, the Star Wars saga is an apparent analogy for World War II, where the Empire is the Third Reich and Darth Vader represents Adolf Hitler. So it wouldn’t be a surprise if…
We’ve extensively covered California’s drought, in which farming is playing a key role. While there’s no easy answer about how to restrict agricultural water use, a new startup wants to help farmers all over the country conserve valuable H20 using smart sensors that dictate where—and when—to water their crops. Here’s the problem with the way…
Europol has put together a new task force to shut down social media accounts associated with ISIS, the BBC reports. It’s a tough task—in fact, shutting ISIS’ social media presence down completely may be next to impossible. The new program is administered by European Police, and the hope is that officials can work with a…
If your attempts to own and care for a pet fish have resulted in a non-stop procession of toilet-side funerals, this new aquarium from Takara Tomy should help boost your success rate. It’s filled with colorful virtual fish you draw and color yourself that will only die if your smartphone does. The aquarium—or Picturerium, in…
Thanks to an old-fashioned law that treats ebooks like movies, online booksellers in Germany are eligible for a $56,000 fine if they sell erotic ebooks before 10pm. That means any young fraus desperate to buy sensual Clippy stories may have to wait until after dark if booksellers come up with a plan to comply. After…
A murder is tragic enough on its own. But when a killer carefully leaves some kind of calling card at the scene — like words scrawled on a wall — the act accrues even more horror. Everybody knows the Manson Family did it. But the message attributed to Chicago’s “Lipstick Killer” was just as terrifying.…
