Charlotta Turner, a chemistry professor at Sweden’s Lund University, hired a team of mercenaries to extricate a student from ISIS-occupied territory when she found out they were going to be late on an assignment. Now we know exactly who this mug belongs to: The extraordinary events occurred in 2014 when graduate student Firas Jumaah left
Read MoreThe cold, calculating ‘mind’ of a machine has no capacity for emotion. Alexa doesn’t care if you call it names. DeepMind’s AlphaGo will never actually taste the sweet joy of victory. Despite this, they’re more like humans than you might think. They’re nearly always wrong and virtually incapable of being rational. British statistician George Box famously
Read MoreMeasuring power transfer through a circuit seems a simple task. Measure the current and voltage, do a little math courtesy of [Joule] and [Ohm], and you’ve got your answer. But what if you want to design an instrument that does the math automatically? And what if you had to do this strictly electromechanically? That’s the
Read MoreBokeh in the front. Bokeh in the back. This iPhone XR, XS app lets you blur the background and foreground in portrait mode photos – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreHow does Apple’s most affordable 2018 iPhone compare to the discounted iPhone 8 Plus of last year? iPhone XR vs. iPhone 8 Plus: What iPhone should you buy? – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreCustomers will receive refunds and free streaming service. Charter settlement means up to 0 in refunds for some customers – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreWith the ‘Yellow Vest‘ movement widening the country’s budget shortfall, the French government is accelerating a plan to hit companies like Apple, Facebook and Google with a big bill. France, Not Waiting for European Union, to Tax U.S. Tech Firms as ’19 Starts Source: NY Times Tech
Read MoreMore ways to interact with friends and Instagram celebrities. Instagram stickers now let you send music, ask questions live – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreThe information came in the form of an almost-overlooked tweet. VW estimates 342-mile electric range from I.D. hatchback, pricing near diesels – Roadshow Source: CNet
Read MoreDid you read all 3000+ articles published on Hackaday this year? We did. And to help catch you up, we preset the Hackaday 2018 Year in Review podcast! Join us for the podcast, available on all major podcasting platforms, as Editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams attempt the impossible task of distilling the entire year
Read MoreCan we quantify different features of music? Apparently yes; folks at Spotify have identified and measured songs’ features like danceability, accoustiness, valence, energy, pitchiness, and more. In this humble study I’ll use Spotify data to analyze the greatest Christmas songs of all time and find out how the musical features are connected, in addition to
Read MoreTwo more voices have joined the case against Epic Games, bringing more allegations of intellectual property theft. In this case, the people in question are Alfonso Ribeiro, best known for his role as Carlton Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and the infamous Backpack Kid. Filed yesterday, the complaints are aimed not only at Epic,
Read MoreThe ability to execute code in parallel is crucial in a wide variety of scenarios. Concurrent programming is a key asset for web servers, producer/consumer models, batch number-crunching and pretty much any time an application is bottlenecked by a resource. It’s sadly the case that writing quality concurrent code can be a real headache, but
Read MoreThe renewal comes months ahead of part 2’s debut. Netflix renews Chilling Adventures of Sabrina for parts 3 and 4 – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreMaybe it’s always leg day for Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog's movie leans into its body controversy – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreSpidey’s co-creator offers some advice from beyond the grave. Stan Lee's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse cameo will warm your heart – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreNow that’s one heck of a holiday gift. Land Rover teases new Defender, promises more info on Dec. 27 – Roadshow Source: CNet
Read MoreThe top-rated Series II almost never dips below $299. Grab one before they’re gone! Better than Black Friday: Bose QuietComfort 35 wireless headphones for 5 – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreThe report shows improvements on tackling problems like false information, fake accounts and voter suppression. Facebook shares progress on civil rights audit: 'We need to do more' – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreBetteridge’s Law holds that any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered with a “No.” We’re not sure that [Mr. Betteridge] was exactly correct, though, since 3D-printed stators can work successfully for BLDC motors, for certain values of success. It’s not that [GreatScott!] isn’t aware that 3D-printed motors are a thing; after all,
Read MoreFacebook and Twitter are facing an avalanche of criticism about Russian interference. Social media in crisis: After Senate reports, Facebook apologizes, NAACP leads protest, Trump attacks Source: Washington Post Tech
Read MoreThe goal is to deploy its AV platform in 2021. Luminar lends lidar know-how to Audi's self-driving startup AID – Roadshow Source: CNet
Read MoreThat’s the lowest price to date on this powerhouse portable. Plus: more great game deals and the last vacuum/mop you’ll ever need? The Dell Vostro 15-inch Core i7 laptop is just 9 with this stackable code – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreA little extra power never hurts. GMC Sierra AT4 Off-Road Performance Package beefs up for the dirt – Roadshow Source: CNet
Read MoreThe Chinese tech giant cultivated a hard-charging spirit in its quest for world dominance. Some employees may have been pushed too far. Huawei’s ‘Wolf Culture’ Helped It Grow, and Got It Into Trouble Source: NY Times Tech
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