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Tech NewsThe Antidote to a Lifetime of Overplaying Semi-Charmed Life
Semi-Charmed Life, Third Eye Blind’s meth-addled anthem of the 90s, came out 17 years ago last week. And for me, that has meant 17 years of playing the song to death—over, and over, and over again. Thankfully, North Carolina-based singer/songwriter Jackson Scott (the patriotic off-brand-Nerf-enthusiast you see above) has the cure to what ails me … Continued
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Tech NewsCommerceYes! You Can Buy a Waterproof Kindle Paperwhite
If reading really is all you’re in for, the Kindle Paperwhite is hands-down the best little e-reader around. But how do you improve on (near) perfection? Apparently, you waterproof the hell out of it. Gadget-waterproofing aficionados, Waterfi, have gone and answered every beach- and pool-side reading enthusiast’s prayers with a custom waterproof Paperwhite. Since the … Continued
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Tech News
Tracking Brooklyn’s Rapid-Fire Gentrification With Google Street View
Open any issue of The New York Times, and you’re all but guaranteed to hit a passing reference to the mecca of all things gentrified and hip: Brooklyn, New York. But the real testament to the borough’s changing face lies not in trend pieces, but in the nearly unrecognizable streets and buildings themselves. As Manhattanites … Continued
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ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
The Problem With 3D Printing in Space
Recently, NASA’s been toying with the idea of 3D-printed spacecrafts, and the prospect alone has fans of the medium positively giddy. But in our 3D-printing-for-space frenzy, we’ve overlooked the simplest problem of all: Imperfect surfaces and outer space don’t mix. The potential of 3D printing in space is phenomenal. Not only does the process itself … Continued
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Tech News
Why Snapchat’s Imitators Don’t Work
The last few months have seen a crushing wave of Snapchat imitators, pretenders to the ephemeral throne. And every one of them has completely missed the point. There’s a reason Snapchat’s become so popular, and it’s not just because it was first. Yes, it’s only a vague likeness of real, human interaction, but it’s a … Continued
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Tech NewsSocial Media
How to Stop Facebook From Using Your Browsing History
Earlier this week, Facebook announced that it was going to start using all of that ever-so-illuminating app and website data it collects to serve us with more targeted ads. In other words, Facebook is getting ready to use your browsing history to benefit advertisers. Here’s how to stop them. Of course, just because you’re getting … Continued
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Tech News9 Crazy 3D Typefaces Made From Everyday Objects
Whether we realize it or not, the fonts we interact with on a daily basis can be wildly impactful in some pretty surprising ways. These everyday fonts blend in so seamlessly with the world around us, though, that we hardly even notice them. So instead, what would happen if we tried blending our world into … Continued
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Tech News
The Three Biggest Airlines Just Made Carry-On Sizes Even Smaller
It’s a tale as old as time: Traveler meets luggage. Traveler falls in love. Traveler buys luggage. Traveler causes a scene as flight attendant forces traveler to pay $75 for improperly-sized baggage. And if you’ve secretly been holding out hope that we might one day be able to put this bit of passenger pageantry behind … Continued
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Tech News
Watch a Mind-Controlled Cyborg Leg Make the World Cup’s First Kick
The FIFA World Cup may be a nearly century-old institution, but mere minutes ago, it kicked off with the most advanced mind-controlled exoskeleton the world has ever seen. The first-of-its-kind kickoff came from the cyborg-like toes of someone who is, in fact, paralyzed from the waist down. But paralysis is no match for the Walk … Continued
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Tech NewsHow Yesterday’s Huge TweetDeck Vulnerability Happened
If you use TweetDeck in any capacity, you’re probably aware of a nasty little bug that was running rampant around TweetDeck’s hallowed columns yesterday afternoon. But what, exactly, was causing all the retweeted trouble? Computerphile’s Tom Scott breaks it down. It all has to do with cross-site scripting, a vulnerability that allows hackers to inject … Continued
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Tech NewsWhat’s Actually in a Slim Jim
Meat sticks. They’re nature’s (perverted) candy. But what’s actually in those delicious meat-like tubes? And do we even want to know? Well, too bad. Because either way, Wired has your answer. Some of you may be pleased to find out that, yes, that is indeed (at least partially) real beef you’re shoving into your body. … Continued
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Tech NewsCommerce
Best Buy Will Deliver a Dryer for Free But the Power Cord Has a $70 Fee
What with Amazon and Google Shopping Express winning the world’s laziest misanthropes’ affections, other companies are left doing everything they can to stay in the fight. In Best Buy’s case, that means offering free shipping on major appliances—and (apparently) praying that folks don’t realize the $30 required cord ships for more than double that. Discovered … Continued
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Tech NewsHow to Build the Best PC 1991 Had to Offer
In 1991, the reliably delightfulComputer Chronicles gave us a peek into the intrepid world of custom PC builders—or as they were called back then, “homebrewers.” And looking back a solid 23 years later, the once so-called “Volkswagen of PCs” is downright adorable. Of course, the custom computing world can be intimidating, we know. So we’ve … Continued
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Tech News
Apple Maps Will Soon Remember Where You Parked Your Car
It looks like Apple’s doing everything it can to get its in-house Maps software back in our good graces. Thanks to a hidden asset buried deep in iOS 8, new icons seem to reveal a Maps feature that would remember exactly where users last parked their cars. Of course, how the new feature would actually … Continued
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Tech NewsPrivacy & Security
The NSA Won’t Hand Over Data Because It Literally Can’t Keep Track of It
Last week, a US District judge ordered the NSA to stop destroying data that pertains to a pre-Snowden lawsuit against the agency. There’s just one teensy weensy problem with that: Apparently NSA’s systems handle so much data that it literally cannot find what it’s supposed to stop deleting. The data, which the NSA collects under … Continued
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Tech NewsSocial Media
Slingshot, Facebook’s Snapchat-Like Competitor, Is Finally Here (Update: Patience!)
Adding to Facebook’s ever increasing lineup of standalone apps, Slingshot is the social media giant’s latest attempt to take on Snapchat. Hey—it can’t be any worse than Poke. Just like Snapchat, Slingshot lets you annotate and draw all over self-destructing images. Unlike Snapchat, it seems that your friends won’t actually be able to see the … Continued
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Tech News
Watch San Francisco’s Rapid Gentrification Unfold on Google Street View
These days, it’s rare to find a piece of San Francisco news that doesn’t at least make a passing reference to the city’s rapid-fire gentrification. And while numbers like the 115 percent increase in evictions over the past year are certainly astounding, nothing drives the point home quite like seeing the city evolve right before … Continued
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Tech News
23 Better Uses For the Terrifying New McDonald’s Mascot
Earlier this week, we asked you to help us come up with some applications for McDonald’s new mascot, Happy, that were a bit more suited to his—er, unique set of talents. And then, dear readers, something incredible happened. Maybe it’s that, for a cardboard box, Happy looks alarmingly human. Or maybe it’s that all-encompassing horror … Continued
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Tech NewsReport: Here’s the Face-Tracking Tech Amazon’s 3D Smartphone Will Use
At this point, we’re damn near certain that Amazon’s big June 18 announcement will be its first foray into the (3D?) smartphone market. But now, thanks to a report from TechCrunch, it looks like the four front-mounted IR cameras will be powered by Omron’s Okao Vision’s face-tracking face-tracking technology. Amazon’s teaser video certainly seems to … Continued
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Tech News
Tracking Detroit’s Decay Through Google Street View
Though it’s easy to crack jokes about Detroit’s downfall from afar, it doesn’t change the fact that there are very real people forced to look on as the place they call home slowly descends into decay. One of the most poignant depictions of this has come from none other than Google Maps. Using Google Street … Continued
Ashley Feinberg
Ashley Feinberg's posts