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Tech NewsWow, This New York Times Reporter Sure Likes to Yell at Brands on Twitter
People use Twitter for different reasons. Celebrities use it to self-promote, teens use it to talk about Selena Gomez, and I use it to share my own dumb thoughts with the world. New York Times tech reporter Vindu Goel, however, often uses it to interact with brands—specifically, to yell at them when he’s displeased. Now, … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
How to Use Snapchat Filters in Instagram Stories
In early August, Instagram introduced “Stories,” a new feature the company asserted would let users “share all the moments of your day, not just the ones you want to keep on your profile.” What the platform neglected to mention, however, was that a near-identical feature exists elsewhere—on Snapchat. Following the announcement, most people, including us, … Continued
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Tech NewsThe World’s Dumbest Travel Pillow Looks Like a Torture Device
We’re all more or less dead on the inside while we travel, and now the latest bullshit offering from Kickstarter is here to make sure we look dead on the outside, too. Meet the NodPod, a poorly named travel pillow that more closely resembles a strange, fancy neck brace than anything that might help you … Continued
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Tech News
Court Says Uber’s $24-Per-Driver Settlement Is Trash
A federal judge has thrown out a $100 million class-action settlement offered by Uber to its drivers, calling the proposal “not fair, adequate, and reasonable.” U.S. District Judge Edward Chen rejected the ride sharing company’s offer on Thursday. The original lawsuit contended, among other things, that drivers should be classed as employees rather than contractors, … Continued
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Tech News
This Image Search Turns Your Drawings Into Photos
A neat search engine from photo sharing company 500px uses sketches to help you find the photos you’re looking for—and, luckily, it doesn’t matter if you can’t draw for shit. 500px claims the search engine, called Splash, is “a completely new way to search for images.” Instead of inputting words to find corresponding images, Splash … Continued
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Tech News
Tell Us Your Worst Uber Horror Stories
Today, news broke that Uber is set to launch a self-driving car fleet in Pittsburgh this month. It’s a big move for both the driverless car landscape and for Uber, which has been testing out autonomous cars for some time now. But while these new-fangled innovations may be exciting, they’re not going to solve all … Continued
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Tech NewsWhat Is an Alien Megastructure, Anyway?
“Alien megastructure” is one of those cool-sounding phrases that inspires thoughts of far-off worlds populated with little green creatures. But what exactly is it? David Kipping, a professor of astronomy at Columbia University, is here to explain. In a new video, Kipping explains some of the mystery surrounding KIC 8462852, also known as Tabby’s Star. … Continued
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Tech News
Uber Will Launch Its First Self-Driving Car Fleet This Month
If you live in Pittsburgh and use Uber, get ready to meet some robotic drivers later this month. That’s according to a detailed new report in Bloomberg Businessweek. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick revealed that the company plans to soon add driverless cars—complete with “dozens of sensors that use cameras, lasers, radar, and GPS receivers”—to its … Continued
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Tech News
World’s Largest Aircraft Takes Off for the First Time, Still Looks Like a Butt
The Airlander 10—also known as the world’s largest aircraft, better known as a giant, ass-shaped vessel—took off for the first time today. The “flying bum,” as it’s apparently known, was supposed to take its maiden voyage on Sunday, but the flight was postponed due to “a slight technical issue.” The aircraft’s maker, Hybrid Air Vehicles, … Continued
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io9Television
Television Companies Are Stealing the Internet’s Ad Countdown Clocks
Online streaming platforms like YouTube and Hulu have a method to keep viewers interested throughout commercial breaks: countdown clocks. Now, traditional TV broadcasting companies are getting in on the action. According to a report from Variety, Turner Broadcasting has started testing out an ad countdown clock during the show “Animal Kingdom.” Shows like “Good Morning … Continued
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Tech News
At This Incredible Hotel in Antarctica, You Can Freeze Your Ass Off in Style
If, unlike me, you look ineffably cool wearing a giant parka, slogging around in the snow and freezing your butt off, you might consider a jaunt to the White Desert camp in Antarctica. Also, you’ll need $72,000 for an 11-night stay. The camp has been around for some time—it’s supposedly played host to members of … Continued
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Tech NewsArtificial Intelligence
Elon Musk’s OpenAI Wants to Teach Robots to Speak Like Redditors
Reddit is known for many things: lively communities, a dedicated user base, cum boxes, incest. Now, the Elon Musk-and-Peter Thiel-backed nonprofit OpenAI wants to use Reddit’s vast array of content as a guide for its new machine learning programs. MIT Technology Review reports that OpenAI has partnered with NVIDIA to use the latter company’s new … Continued
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Tech News
Creators of the Roomba Admit That It Smears Shit Around People’s Homes ‘a Lot’
Sometimes, life gets you down. Sometimes, a dick cuts ahead of you in line at the airport and you miss your flight. Sometimes, you bite into a moldy peach. And sometimes, your Roomba smears pet shit all over your house. In the latter scenario, at least, you’re not alone. According to iRobot, the company behind … Continued
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Tech News
The ‘Mufgel’ Is the Latest Foodie Abomination
If you pronounce “Mufgel” one way, with a soft g, it sounds like the name of a failed Kickstarter project to treat vaginal dysfunction. If you pronounce it the other way, with a hard g, it sounds like a rejected creature from the Harry Potter universe that J.K. Rowling woke up to and thought, “Wow, … Continued
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Tech News
Turbulence on a JetBlue Flight Was So Bad a Toilet Blew Off the Wall
Last night, a JetBlue flight destined for Sacramento, California encountered turbulence so bad it sent 24 people to the hospital. After taking off from Boston, the flight had to be diverted to Rapid City, South Dakota because of what CNN described as weather-related turbulence. Though a replacement flight eventually landed Sacramento, 22 passengers and two … Continued
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Tech News
Even Volunteers Don’t Want to Show Up for the Olympics
According to former International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, volunteers are invaluable at the Games. “Volunteers are true Olympians. They transmit the true spirit of the Olympic Games,” Rogge said in 2012. Unfortunately, many volunteers this year appear to have ignored this and said “fuck it” instead. As the Wall Street Journal reports, organizers are … Continued
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Reviews
Review: My Local Bagel Place’s iPhone App
Like many people who live in New York and possess an enthusiastic appreciation for carbohydrates, I eat a lot of bagels. They are one of the things I will miss most about the city should I ever leave. I put them ahead of dollar slices, bodega cats, and free entertainment, like that time I saw … Continued
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Tech News
F-22 Raptor Gets Owned By a Bunch of Honey Bees
The F-22 Raptor is one of the military’s most powerful weapons, but everything—man, woman, sentient rotted orange—has a weakness. For the fighter jet, that weakness is BEEEEEEEEEES! In June, one of the fleet was found with a massive swarm of honey bees—as many as 20,000, according to the Air Force, which described the incident this … Continued
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Tech News
The DNC Hack Was Much Bigger Than We Thought
The recent hack that targeted Democratic officials and led to the resignation of Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was much bigger than initially suspected, according to a new report from the New York Times. Sources tell the paper that over 100 officials and groups had their private email accounts breached, and the primary … Continued
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Tech News
Snapchat Got Racist Again
It seems like only yesterday Snapchat was putting out a blackface Bob Marley filter. Now, it appears the company has moved on to yellowface. As various people have pointed out on Twitter, Snapchat’s new filter—which has since been taken down—turned users into, uh, this: The company tells the Guardian that the filter was “anime-inspired,” and … Continued
Sophie Kleeman
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