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Oh, good. A Department of Justice-proposed rule change that would make it way easier for FBI agents to obtain warrants to hack a computer from basically anywhere was just approved by a US Court committee. Which is to say, we’re one step closer to having our digital privacy rights eviscerated in the name of federal…
I don’t go to shopping malls much these days–in fact, they kinda terrify me. But if a geothermally heated, solar powered, sky-garden capped extravaganza like this ever made its way into my neighborhood, okay, I’d probably check it out. Architectural design firm Vincent Callebaut has brought us many an incredible eco-urban concept in the past,…
When we last checked in on Project Loon—Google’s moonshot project to blanket the world with internet-packing weather balloons—one had just circumnavigated the globe in a very quick 22 days. I just attended a talk at Google I/O and got some more info about the challenges the team faces in making this wild-ass project happen. First…
The most important news about Android M is how it will handle the way apps get permission to access your private data. That sounds like a humble little technical detail until you realize what a revolution it will be when we can set our own permissions on apps, any time we want. And Chrome is…
Disaster-plagued cities. Hellish landscapes. Post-apocalyptic society. It’s just your average day in California. With one special exception: A 9.6 earthquake has rippled up and down the state, unleashing unimaginable devastation. That’s the plot of San Andreas—but could any of this happen in real life? Let’s ask SCIENCE. Among the many luminaries invited to preview the…
Sometimes being an intensely secretive regime trading in relentless obscurity has its perks: The US tried to secretly attack North Korea’s nuclear program with a computer virus, but failed because it couldn’t find the information necessary to infect the North Korean system with a virus. When the US launched a cyber-attack on Iran in 2009,…
Google’s Project Tango is amazing, but it’s taking its sweet time making it to market. This crazy alien head of a camera could change all that. Qualcomm and Google just teamed up to shrink it down to a size suitable for your pocket. You’re looking at the Project Tango Smartphone Development Platform, coming later this…
This was not a toy. This was supposed to be a medical device to cure all female complaints. Or in the words of the inventor: …when placed in the womb of a patient where it will be subject to the chemical action of the mucous fluid, to develop a mild electric action and thereby stimulate…
The deadly heatwave that swept through India this week has melted streets with its searing 118-degree temperatures. But it’s also making life even worse for its cities’ most vulnerable residents—the millions of Indian children suffering from lung damage due to the toxic urban air. As a country, India has a number of converging factors which…
You know what happens in a real earthquake? A pause. And then slight confusion. And then frantically trying to remember what elementary school taught you on where you should go. And then panic because you don’t remember. You know what happens when you film an earthquake disaster movie such as San Andreas? Comedy. We took…
The most futuristic projects at Google come out of its advanced technologies and projects group, or ATAP. And today at Google I/O, the ATAP team unveiled their vision of tomorrow, where your body, behavior and clothing will be the new interfaces that control your gadgets — and keep them secure, too. Project Soli: A Radar…
The coldest case ever? The discovery of a 430,000-year-old skull in Spain’s “Pit of Bones” may offer “the earliest evidence of lethal interpersonal violence,” a.k.a. murder. Pieced together from 50 fragments, the skull has two lesions above one eye, implying a series of blows and “an intention to kill.”
Howdy friends! It’s Friday and you know what that means… everybody in California should be dead right now! Seriously, some dude on YouTube predicted it. But it didn’t happen. 🙁 Maybe next time. Anyways, tell us what you’re thinking. Did you have a good week? Are you looking forward to the weekend? Seen any good…
“I’d like to pay with Google.” Say that phrase at a shop’s register, and you could soon check out without even touching your wallet—or phone. It’s called Hands Free, and it comes on the heels of Google announcing its upcoming payments app, Android Pay, at I/O. With this hands-free method, it seems you simply approach…
Tony Zhou of Every Frame a Painting focuses in on something that’s not always noticed in movies but is incredibly important in how we view a film: chairs. Yep, the things we sit on. By focusing on chairs, he’s making a larger point about production design but it’s really interesting to see how something as…
It’s a feeling I hope you never experience: You crack open an ice cold beer after a long day, take a sip expecting the familiar hoppy, bubbly goodness to hit your taste buds, and instead, you get a mouthful of flat, acrid sludge. You’ve just tasted rotten beer. And no one’s higher on your shit…
Ross Ulbricht, the California hippie convicted for founding notorious online drug market Silk Road, has been sentenced to life in prison. The man once known as the “Dread Pirate Roberts” was found guilty on seven counts earlier this year, including a “drug kingpin” charge that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison.…
Contrary to what New Yorkers would like to tell you, Los Angeles is freaking old. Older than the United States of America, in fact. And it’s easy to see just how old the city is with built:LA, an interactive map that color-codes the age of over three million LA buildings. Each building is assigned a…
Your spam folder is probably full of the offers. (Mine certainly is.) But none of the emails promising to let you “please your partner” by making you a “giant for girls” with “strong erections” say a thing about how the penis gets erect in the first place. Here’s how it really works. Image: Dr. Horrible’s…
YES. If you don’t remember the crazy bananas movie that was Kung Fury, go and watch the trailer again. You’ll see a completely over the top preview that includes Kung Fu, dinosaurs, DeLoreans, time travel, killing Hitler, Vikings and more. It was glorious. Now the entire movie is online for free to watch on YouTube.…
