Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Reddit’s AMAs (Ask Me Anything) are the one of the best things about the network. But let’s face it: Reddit isn’t the world’s prettiest website. The learning curve is fairly steep. Clearly, Reddit thinks so too, because it has now released a rather good-looking app to read and participate in AMAs. The AMA app, available…
Samsung has announced a version ofthe Galaxy S smartwatch that comes dripping in Swarovski crystals. So now you really want one, right?
We know that Windows 9 is on its way, but it could appear sooner than we expected. Microsoft China just mistakenly teased the new OS, announcing that it’s “coming soon.” Taking to Weibo, Microsoft China asked: “Microsoft’s latest OS Windows 9 is coming soon, do you think the start menu at the left bottom will…
No matter where Uber goes, trouble follows. A court in Frankfurt has now banned the service in Germany citing the lack of necessary legal permits. Der Spiegel reports that the ruling is a temporary injunction, meaning that the situation could change after a follow-up hearing. [Der Spiegel via BBC]
Ever wondered if Star Wars and Orgazmo were linked? Or whether E.T. and Dogma were connected? Well ponder no longer, because that’s exactly what Culturegraphy does Developed by Kim Albrecht, the interactive visualization brings to life over 100 years of complex relationships between movie references. Each movie is represented by a point, and connecting lines…
Very, very few YouTube video creators make any real money off of those pre-roll ads, but that might soon change. Google has launched Fan Funding, a new way to tip your favorite YouTube stars directly from the video. Here’s how it works: when you play a video from a channel that accepts donations, you’ll see…
Remember Android One? It’s Google’s program to get manufacturers to develop high-quality, low-cost (less than $100) smartphones running stock versions of Android for developing countries. These devices, which will be regularly updated just like the Nexus line, now look like they’re round the corner. Google has sent out invites for a September 15 event in…
Looks like Microsoft has removed the 2GB size limit for uploading files to OneDrive. You can now upload files of pretty much any size. “It’s an old limit that we’ve been working to remove for a long time now,” a Microsoft manager told The Next Web. Good for us. [The Next Web]
NASA is not down with drones flying around town all willy-nilly and potentially electrocuting North West. The space agencyis developing an air traffic control network near Moffett Field, California for unmanned aircrafts at 400 to 500 feet meant to put regulations in place. As the New York Times pointed out, this would “in effect be…
Security researcher Brian Krebs gets sent some pretty weird stuff from fans. His latest in bizarre snail mail booty: A packet full of fake cash. Krebs was given four fake $100 bills and two fake $50 bills. He doesn’t know who sent them, but spent time examining them to illustrate what some pretty decent (but…
BoJack Horseman, the latest Netflix original series, is a good show. Unlike Netflix breakouts like Orange is the New Black and House of Cards, it’s not getting a ton of attention… but it deserves a wide viewership, or at least as wide a viewership a droll adult animated comedy can get. The cast is dynamite.…
Police in Ferguson, Mo., started wearing body cameras this Saturday during the most recent protest following the killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown Jr. by one of the city’s police officers, Darren Wilson. Two companies, Safety Vision and Digital Alley, donated 50 body cameras about a week ago, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The…
Death is unfathomable and terrifying. We try to stave it off with vitamins, checkups, and exercise, to diminish the awful permanence with beliefs in afterlives and miracles. For some people, that’s not enough. There will be no accepting mortality for believers in cryonics, the process of preserving human bodies at low temperatures with hopes of…
After being lost and then found again, the capsule containing the infamous space geckoshave returned to Earth. Alas, the heating system failed, so instead of getting it on, the geckos froze to death.
Apple is investigating several iCloud account violations that may have resulted in hackers spreading leaked photos of naked female celebrities online. “We take user privacy very seriously and are actively investigating this report,” an Apple spokesperson told Recode. Apple has not commented on how exactly hackers got their pathetic, pervy hands on the private photos…
One of the mysteries of Stonehenge has been solved because someone was too lazy to get a longer hose. Usually, the grass around the puzzling collection of Neolithic stones is watered by stewards, but this year, the hose used was too short, and didn’t reach the entire grounds. The unwatered grass dried out. It looked…
This leather bag crafted by Esty user Forgiantica Leather is a delightful recreation of Bag End’s front door – complete with Wizard graffiti! Not only does the bag recreate all the textures of the door in stellar detail – front and back – it’ goes the extra mile with the sigil Gandalf carves into Bilbo’s…
If you’ve ever wondered how it’s possible to make decaf coffee—which you can buy in whole-bean form—when the caffeine is inside the damn bean, then you’re not alone. Fortunately, there is an answer, and it’s in this video. In the first of what promises to be a wonderful new series, Mental Floss discusses decaf. First,…
With the news over the weekend that Guardians of the Galaxy has become the highest grossing movie of 2014 in the US, it feels like we’re seeing the start of something new in sci-fi and fantasy media – you don’t have to hide your properties inherent ‘weirdness’ to find mainstream success any more. https://gizmodo.com/guardians-of-the-galaxy-is-now-the-highest-grossing-mov-1628832126 It’s…
This neat, angular desk tidy is truly 3D—but it hasn’t always been that way. In fact, it’s put together from a 0.8mm-thick carbon steel, laser-cut beforehand to make it easy to fold into shape. Some thorough investigation went into putting this thing, called .ORG, together. In fact, its designers spent hours working out how to…
