Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The holidays are here, and if you’re unwrapping a new Kindle (or a non-Amazon-branded e-reader, or just a device with an e-book app on it), you might be looking for some new books to read. If you need some recommendations, here’s a list of some of the
Read MoreThis year’s Las Vegas tech show should offer us more insights than ever about the role robots will play in life. Robots at CES 2020: Robo-cats, sex tech, pizza makers and more – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreImages that made an impact this year. The best CNET photography of 2019 – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreWell, if you want to get on board with a lifetime subscription to learning up to 14 languages with a world-renowned language training system like Babbel, you better do it now. We hate to break the news, but this is your last chance at getting the entire Babbel catalog for only $159. Today’s your last
Read MoreThese podcasts, guided runs and helpful tips will keep you from shedding a tear of boredom with every step. How to make running on a treadmill more fun – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreClocks with hands that turn are all well and good for the common folk, but hacker types prefer something different. [Sjm4306] is one such person, and developed this analog dial clock with parts we’d almost consider retro by modern standards. The microcontroller at the heart of the build is a PIC16F886. An 8-bit micro from
Read MoreGet outdoors or crush your next treadmill run with these iOS and Android apps. Nike Run Club, Strava, Daily Burn: The 7 best running apps – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreGené Teare / Crunchbase News: Analysis: 142 startups, including 78 from the US and 22 from China, became unicorns in 2019, down from 158 in 2018; unicorns raised $85.1B vs. $139B in 2018 — In 2019, unicorns were far from mythical and Crunchbase followed them every step of the way. This year (as of Dec.
Read MoreI’ve been covering the nascent — and often weird — world of cryptocurrency and blockchain since January 2015. During this time, I’ve seen banks dismiss the digital currency but declare their undying love for its underlying blockchain technology, and more recently open up about plans to possibly launch their own version. I’ve witnessed the wild
Read MoreThe statute was meant to standardize how companies disclose their consumer data-mining practices. So far, not so much. What Does California’s New Data Privacy Law Mean? Nobody Agrees Source: NY Times Tech
Read MoreIf you want to build a small robot with a motor, you are likely to reach for an L298N to interface your microcontroller to the motor, probably in an H-bridge configuration. [Dronebot] has used L298N chips like this many times. In the video below, he uses a TB6612FNG instead, taking advantage of the device’s use
Read MoreSomething’s been missing in my life lately. Cash? No. I work in media, I’m rich. Power? Sure, I could always use more of that. But that’s not it. Beauty? Fuck no, I’m gorgeous. Yet I still feel like a loser. Because my house lacks a certain… Instagrammableness. (Disclaimer: this review is a piece of satire, but the
Read MoreNicholas Vinocur / Politico: Since GDPR became law in May 2018, the only substantial privacy-related action against a major tech company happened in the US, where Facebook was fined $5B — The world’s toughest privacy law proves toothless in the eyes of many critics. — More than 18 months after the European Union began implementing
Read MoreCatalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: IoT device vendor Wyze says a server leak exposed data, including email addresses, camera user IDs, and WiFi SSIDs, of ~2.4M customers from Dec. 4 to Dec. 26 — Details for 2.4 million users were exposed online for 22 days. — Wyze, a company that sells smart devices like security cameras
Read MoreA concise, comical explanation of Moiré patterns, via XKCD. Moiré patterns are interference patterns created when grids of different size or alignment are placed over each other. You’ve probably seen these when photographing a TV screen or looking through a pair of windows screens at the same time. [ChrysN] put the effect to work with
Read MoreJosh Constine / TechCrunch: Snapchat will launch Bitmoji TV, a personalized cartoon show featuring a user’s avatar and their friends in regularly-scheduled adventures, starting in February — Snapchat’s most popular yet under-exploited feature is finally getting the spotlight in 2020. Snapchat will launch Bitmoji TV, a personalized cartoon show featuring a user's avatar and their
Read MoreKaren Hao / MIT Technology Review: How a difference between Chinese and English languages helped Baidu make an important advancement in natural language processing — Inspired by a difference between Chinese and English, it shows how AI research benefits from diversity. — MS Tech / Source: Unsplash How a difference between Chinese and English languages
Read MoreLIDAR has gained much popularity as a means for self-driving cars to survey the space around them. At their most basic, LIDAR is a surveying method that uses lasers to paints the space around the sensors and assembles the distances measured from reflected light into a digital three-dimensional representation. That’s something that has quite a
Read More“With amputations being reported on a daily basis, India’s vast rural hinterland is comparable to a warzone,” says Abhit Kumar, who makes practical, affordable prosthetic devices designed to get amputees back into the workforce. More than two thirds of India’s 1.3 billion inhabitants live in low-income rural areas, where accidents resulting in loss of limbs
Read MoreYahoo News: Internal Pentagon memo warns service members against using consumer DNA testing kits from 23andMe and others, citing security risks — WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is advising members of the military not to use consumer DNA kits, saying the information collected by private companies could pose … Internal Pentagon memo warns service members against
Read MoreWhere was the evolutionary birthplace of modern humans? The East African Great Rift Valley has long been the favored contender – until today. Our new research has used DNA to trace humanity’s earliest footsteps to a prehistoric wetland called Makgadikgadi-Okavango, south of the Great Zambezi River. Our analysis, published in Nature today, shows that the
Read MoreHave you ever wrapped up a nice blinky project only to be disappointed by the predictability of the light or the color patterns? When it came to lighting this LED candle, so was [fungus amungus]. But there’s a better way, and it involves noise. Perlin noise was created in the early 80s by Ken Perlin
Read MoreSam Dean / Los Angeles Times: An overview of the CCPA, set to go into effect Jan. 1, and the confusion surrounding it due to its technical complexity and rushed timeline — A sweeping new law that aims to rewrite the rules of the internet in California is set to go into effect on Jan.
Read MoreAdopt Baby Yoda … in cat form. Rescue cat that looks like Baby Yoda needs a new home – CNET Source: CNet
Read MorePolice are called to investigate possible home intruders and find a hard-working robotic vacuum instead. Roomba mistaken for a burglar by spooked homeowners – CNET Source: CNet
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