Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales One of my favorite essays for understanding modern life was published in May of 2016 by Jeremy Gordon. In “Is Everything Wrestling?”, Gordon examined the way that the news cycle had come to resemble a scripted WWE spectacle. As in a wrestling match, the boundaries between reality and fiction had
Read MoreOnePlus phones are known for their performance, speed, and fast charging — but not the picture quality of its cameras. That’s why the company decided to go all out and rectify this by putting three cameras on the back of its latest flagship: the OnePlus 7 Pro. The phone manufacturer boasted a lot about its
Read MoreSwiss Post and Matternet have been using drones to make deliveries for the healthcare sector. | Image: Swiss Post A drone delivery program in Switzerland has been suspended indefinitely after one of the vehicles crashed just 50 yards away from a group of children. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports (via IEEE Spectrum) that the 10-kg (22-pound)
Read MoreFacebook has removed hundreds of fake accounts and pages associated with individuals connected to the Saudi Arabian government as part of its ongoing fight to curtail coordinated inauthentic behavior on the platform. To that effect, the social network said it had taken down 217 accounts, 144 pages, five Facebook groups, and 31 Instagram accounts that were
Read MoreWe’ve heard about auctions using blockchain to record sales of expensive works of art. We’ve seen the abstract musings of the cryptoart world, too. But what about a cryptoart charity auction that’s using blockchain to pick the winner? Well, an initiative being run by a trio of firms including cryptocurrency swap exchange service ChangeAngel, crypto-clothing
Read MoreWhen shopping online, there’s plenty of great deals out there on modern graphics hardware. Of course, if you’re like [Dawid] and bought a GTX1050 Ti for $48 from Wish, you probably suspect it’s too good to be true. Of course, you’d be correct. [Dawid] notes from the outset that the packaging the card ships in
Read MoreAt a press event at the ChinaJoy gaming conference in Shanghai today, Tencent and Nintendo announced the first details of their strategy for releasing the Nintendo Switch console in China. The Chinese internet giant will be providing cloud services and servers for the Switch’s online platform in China as well as localizing Nintendo’s games into
Read MoreIllustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Starting in early 2020, Google will present a new search provider choice screen to Android users in Europe when first setting up a new phone or tablet. The selection will then be the default search provider that powers the search box on the Android home screen as well
Read MoreApple is globally suspending the use of Siri voice recordings after reports emerged that contractors hired by the company listen to them to improve the voice assistant. TechCrunch, which broke the news, said Apple plans to issue a software update to seek users’ consent before letting them participate in the product improvement program. “We are
Read MoreThe Economic Times: UrbanClap, an India-based on-demand home services marketplace with a presence in ten Indian cities and in the UAE, raises $75M Series E led by Tiger Global — On-demand home services marketplace UrbanClap has raised $75 million in its Series E round led by Tiger Global with participation … UrbanClap, an India-based on-demand
Read MoreFacebook today announced it’s open-sourcing two technologies that help it curb the spread of problematic content like child exploitation, terrorist propaganda, or graphic violence online. These technologies aid the social network in detecting identical and nearly identical photos and video in order to weed out content that’s been flagged as being in violation of its
Read MoreElon Musk’s spaceflight company pushes back launch of its workhorse rocket to fix up a valve issue. SpaceX Falcon 9 launch delayed to replace 'suspect valve' – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreIt always sounded a bit crunchy, but crunchy in a good way. SEGA’s 16-bit console, whether you call it the Genesis or Mega Drive, always had a unique sound thanks to it’s Yamaha YM2612 sound chip. The chip’s ability to reproduce shredding guitars and blasting bass drums was a joy to hear when placed in
Read MorePhoto by James Bareham / The Verge Apple has said that it will temporarily suspend its practice of using human contractors to grade snippets of Siri voice recordings for accuracy. The move follows a report in The Guardian where a former worker detailed the program, claiming that contractors “regularly hear confidential medical information, drug deals,
Read MoreMatthew Panzarino / TechCrunch: Apple is suspending Siri response grading, the program in which humans review recordings of Siri queries for quality control, in response to privacy concerns — In response to concerns raised by a Guardian story last week over how recordings of Siri queries are used for quality control, Apple is suspending the
Read MoreThe ’70s movie made famous by David Bowie will come to CBS All Access. The Man Who Fell to Earth sci-fi classic is becoming a TV series – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreJon Brodkin / Ars Technica: FCC says ISPs must provide geospatial maps of where they provide service, instead of just listing census blocks, will let the public comment on their accuracy — ISPs will have to submit geospatial maps of broadband service areas. — The Federal Communications Commission voted today … FCC says ISPs must
Read MoreOne of them can run for 53 straight hours to keep your space smelling good. The 9 best essential oil diffusers of 2019, according to enthusiastic Amazon reviews – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreKarl Bode / VICE: FTC asks that the 147M people affected by the Equifax breach take free credit monitoring as only $31M of the $575M+ Equifax settlement is allocated to consumers — After “overwhelming” public interest, the FTC now urges users to settle for free credit monitoring instead. FTC asks that the 147M people affected
Read MoreIt’s clobbering time. WWE SummerSlam 2019: Start time, how to watch, full card and WWE Network – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreOf all the things you never would have guessed you’d need just ten years ago, a YouTube subscriber counter would probably rank highly. You would have guessed that the little hits of dopamine accompanying each tick upward of a number would be so addictive? As it turns out, lots of people wanted to keep a
Read MoreNew York Times: Records show the NYPD has uploaded arrest photos of juveniles into a facial recognition database since 2015, despite higher risk of false matches in young faces — With little oversight, the N.Y.P.D. has been using powerful surveillance technology on photos of children and teenagers. Records show the NYPD has uploaded arrest photos
Read MoreNASA’s TESS telescope helps find an exoplanet that may contain liquid water. Planet hunters just spotted a new super-Earth that could support life – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreZack Whittaker / TechCrunch: Poshmark, an online clothes marketplace with 50M+ users, says some user info, including names and encrypted passwords, was taken by an unauthorized third party — Poshmark, an online marketplace for buying and selling clothes, has reported a data breach. — The company said in a brief blog post … Poshmark, an
Read MoreZack Whittaker / TechCrunch: Online sneaker marketplace StockX reset customer passwords after it was “alerted to suspicious activity”, initially said the reset was due to “system updates” — StockX, a popular site for buying and selling sneakers and other apparel, has admitted it reset customer passwords … Online sneaker marketplace StockX reset customer passwords after
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